The Challenge of Worldwide Migration

In 2000, an estimated 175 million people lived outside their place of birth, more than ever before. Of these, about 158 million were deemed international migrants; approximately 16 million were recognized refugees fleeing a well-founded fear of persecution and 900,000 were asylum seekers. They include the skilled Nigerian computer engineer working in Sweden; the agricultural worker from Guatemala working "irregularly" (without legal documentation) in the United States; the woman trafficked from Ukraine to Bosnia; and the refugee from Afghanistan now in Pakistan and about to return home. Today, the growth of international migration and national interests both clashing and compatible call out for increased international cooperation. The international community needs to establish more widely shared norms and agreed-upon procedures in order to manage better the flow of international migrants to the benefit both of the migrants themselves and the countries of origin, transit, and destination. MIGRATION: AN ELEMENT OF GLOBALIZATION Globalization is a primary force that is shaping the character and impact of migration. Lower travel costs and information and communication technologies have made migration much more viable, the exchange of money and technology that is a result of migration much easier, and return or circular migration more prevalent. Broadly speaking, the global flows of international migrants can be grouped into labor, family, and refugee categories. They may migrate voluntarily or involuntarily, and may have permanent, temporary, or no legal status. Better opportunities abroad are the driving factor of voluntary labor migration, attracting both highly educated (e.g. medical and technical) and less-educated (farm and domestic) labor. Some migrants move with the intention of establishing permanent residence. The traditional countries of immigration admit migrants for permanent settlement and grant them the right to apply for citizenship under certain requirements. Many governments recognize the right to family reunification and often permit close family members to enter through legal channels. This has had enormous impact: Family-sponsored migrants accounted for 45 to 75 percent of all international migrants admitted to European and North American countries in 2000. Other migrants move involuntarily. They include refugees and those with refugee-like status, including temporary protection. Refugees are forced to leave their countries owing to fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. In some regions, those who are outside their country of origin because of armed conflict, generalized violence, severe natural disasters, or other circumstances that have seriously disturbed the public order are also accorded refugee-like status. The situations of documented and undocumented (irregular or "illegal") migrants greatly differ, with the former having a wide range of legal and social protections that the latter lack. An increasingly important dimension of undocumented migration is smuggling and trafficking in human beings. Smuggling involves the facilitation of illegal border crossing or residence in another country with the complicity of the migrant. Trafficking is the coercive, exploitative, and non-consensual movement of persons for profit. It does not necessarily involve a cross-border movement. Although hard to quantify, undocumented migration has risen significantly in the last 10 years, with migrant smuggling and trafficking becoming one of the most profitable branches of organized crime. Over the longer run, the so-called "Birth Rate Crisis" will make international migration an even more significant factor in globalization. The number of persons aged 60 and above was 600 million in 2000, triple the number in 1950, but less than one-third the projected 2 billion of 2050. …