MFA's Comments on the Secretary General's Report to the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly on agenda item 54(c): International Migration and Development
MIGRANT FORUM IN ASIA (MFA) believes that migrants’ rights are human rights. Documented or undocumented, irrespective of race, gender, class, age and religious belief, migrant workers’ rights are guaranteed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families and other international conventions.
Conceived in 1990 in a meeting of migrant workers’ advocates in Hong Kong, MIGRANT FORUM IN ASIA or MFA was formally organized in 1994 in a second forum, “Living and Working Together with Migrants in Asia”, held in Taiwan.
MFA is a regional network of non-government organizations (NGOs), associations and trade unions of migrant workers, and individual advocates in Asia that are committed to protect and promote the rights and welfare of migrant workers. It is guided by a vision of an alternative world system based on respect for human rights and dignity, social justice, and gender equity, particularly for migrant workers.
MFA acts as facilitator, a regional communication and coordination point between member-organizations and advocates, forging concerted action to address discriminatory laws and policies, violence against women migrants, unjust living and working conditions, unemployment in the homeland, and other issues affecting migrant workers
MFA welcomes the draft report of the Secretary General in preparation for the High Level Dialogue (HLD) on ‘Migration and Development’ to be held on 14-15 September 2006 at the UN Head Quarters in New York. We recognize the significance and the timely nature of the HLD. The complexity of the migration discourse demands a more deliberate process of engagement in debunking the myths around migration and developing policies that would make migration a positively more valuable experience for all.
1) In this regard MFA supports the proposal in the report of a consultative forum under the auspices of the United Nations, “as a venue to discuss issues related to international migration and development in a systematic and comprehensive way (para 40).” However we draw the attention to the fact that there is a need to look at similar initiatives undertaken by the UN in order to foster dialogue, understanding and cooperation, and to their effectiveness in delivering the same.
We express grave concern at the statement in the report which explains that the consultative forum “would also offer an opportunity for Governments to engage, when they deem it desirable or necessary (emphasis mine),with relevant stakeholders, who bear valuable knowledge and experience, including non-governmental organizations (NGOs), experts, and migrant organizations. (41).”
Any consultative forum on migration and development which does not include representatives from civil society, the NGO community, and migrants and their organizations in its constitutive element, cannot fully articulate policy ideas that would lead to genuine and sustainable development.
2) The report lacks a sharp gender perspective on the issue of migration, given the increase in the feminization of labour migration, on the development perspective shared in the report, and on the interfacing of the two.
3) The flip side of the ‘positive’ dimension of globalization would necessarily be the right to mobility. We cannot on the one hand speak of international migration today, as in earlier times, being “intrinsically linked to the development of both receiving and sending countries (109),” and then revert to manage migration programmes that are regressive and restrictive in the name of national sovereignty and security. Our experience has shown that such measures only serve to breed discrimination, fear of the other, racism, xenophobia, and an increase in irregular and undocumented migration.
We therefore reiterate the reports concern for establishing a genuine dialogue process that would go beyond the current level of regional consultative processes, “especially since the latter do not usually address issues related to development, focusing instead on managing regional migration flows (emphasis mine) (40).”
4) While the report dwells on the need for a freer international mobility of skilled and unskilled labour for an increase in global income and its equitable distribution (152-153), it fails to question the neo-liberal market economy which creates the very conditions that serve as push and pull factors for migrants in struggling and failing economies. Furthermore the report suggests that because international migration seemingly contributes to poverty reduction, “it is useful to take migration into account in developing countries poverty reductions strategies and in preparing and planning documents for the United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF) process, as is being done in some developing countries (189).” We therefore highlight in the report the temporary nature of international migration as a poverty reduction strategy
because of remittance flows, and caution against such a policy development as it can “ easily masquerade as a substitute for sound development policies and countries can become dependent on remittance flows (226).”
5) The general co-development perspective that emerges from a reading of the report tends to emphasize the economic aspect of development, the commodification of migrant labour, and a view of remittances that shrouds the struggle and sacrifice of the migrants. It would be helpful if the discussions during the HLD would expound on a deeper understanding of co-development raising concerns from a humane and socially just alternative co-development framework.
6) We appreciate the instances in the report where the need for a rights based approach to the shaping of a co-development migration policy have been indicated. However we firmly believe that this must go beyond the level of “consideration (35).” The 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, together with the ILO Conventions 97 and 143, the Declaration and Programme of The World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance, the other core human rights instruments and the outcomes of UN Conferences and summits held since 1990, provide a solid framework upon which a co-development migration policy by a constituent forum must essentially be built.
7) Finally while recognizing the accredited participation for a 12 persons civil society representation at the HLD we urge the General Assembly and the Secretary General to recommend to all member states to include in their delegation to the HLD at least one representative from civil society having considerable experience in the area of addressing issues related to migration, and that a consultative processes be initiated at country level prior to participation at the HLD.
Migrant Forum Asia
30 th June 2006
