EMS report on Global Migration and Emerging Markets published

Against the background of the facts that emerging markets are the world’s leading sources of international migrants, the largest beneficiaries of migrant remittances and the leading destinations of migrants who return to their birth countries, the ninth EMS symposium on human welfare in emerging markets in January 2018 focused on international migration. The report on the symposium, Global Migration and Emerging Markets has now been published.

Whilst recognizing the importance of internal migration within and of forced migration to and from emerging markets, the symposium concentrated on voluntary international migration from emerging markets to (mostly) wealthier receiving countries.

The report was designed as a contribution to the development of the Global Compact for Regular, Secure and Orderly Migration that will be considered at the Intergovernmental Conference on Migration in Morocco in December 2018. It has been submitted to Louise Arbour, the UN Special Representative for International Migration. To download the report, click here

The report emphasizes that most emerging markets have been slow to create migration policies, incorporate migration in economic and social strategies, accept responsibility for migrant-nationals abroad and establish bilateral arrangements with migrant-receiving countries to facilitate successful experiences for migrant-nationals in receiving countries and their return to birth countries.

Just as most migrant source countries have been slow to adapt to the realities of international migration, most migrant receiving countries have struggled to reconcile their needs for secure borders, cohesive social fabrics and migrant skills with an enhanced appreciation of the importance of relationships between migration and development. Barriers to entry have been raised, already negative attitudes have hardened, migrant rights and access to healthcare, education, housing and social services have been restricted, chain migration has been curbed, employer abuses have been ignored and blind eyes have been turned to trafficking and slavery.

Globalization has been associated with increasing flows of international migrants but not with more effective or equitable governance of international migration. The attenuation/resolution of migration-related problems hinges on global cooperation which, in turn, hinges on policy changes by national leaders, changes in public attitudes and behaviours towards migrants in receiving countries and the development of coherent migration policies in emerging markets and other source countries.

As the global community wrestles with the task of reaching agreement on the Global Compact for Regular, Secure and Orderly Migration that will be considered in Marrakech in December 2018, it should bear in mind the words of former Pakistan Prime Minister and Chairman of the Emerging Markets Symposium H.E. Shaukat Aziz who, at the end of the symposium said:

            “My generation excels at kicking cans down the road to be picked up by our children and grandchildren. A year ago, at our symposium on environmental health, we acknowledged that our successors will inherit the consequences of our environmental irresponsibility. We must now commit to persuading the world to grapple urgently with migration-related issues. And we must start in Marrakech”.

For more information about the symposium and the report go to the Migration and the Future of Emerging Markets.