United Nations: With migration of workers on an increase all over the world, the United Nations has called for partnership between senders and receivers of immigrants to ensure that their rights are protected.
Currently, some 200 million people are estimated to be living outside countries of their birth. Opening the UN Commission on Population and Development, Executive Director of UN Population Fund (UNFPA) Ahmed Obaid said international migration, more than any other issue, puts into stark relief the enormous social, political, economic and cultural transformations now occurring in a world divided between excess and need.
He said that for industrialised countries immigration offers a source of labour, easing the pressures brought on by declining population and a dwindling tax base. However, for developing nations, migration relieves unemployment and population pressure and reduces poverty through remittances.
He told the delegates that many problems associated with migration needed to be addressed including disregard for the rights of migrants, their exploitation as workers and the brain drain from developing countries and trafficking in persons.
To mitigate such problems and ensure that migration is beneficial for all, Jose Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary- General for Economic Social Affairs, advocated collaboration between both senders and receivers of immigrants.
Along with legal and fair migrant worker policies, Ocampo proposed strategies to leverage the impact of money sent home, including direct investment opportunities and the encouragement of the return of skilled human resources through more "circular" migration flows.
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