UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,
with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA)
|
| UN Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, with support from the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) |
|
Distr.
GENERAL
E/CONF.84/PC/9
30 March 1993
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
PREPARATORY COMMITTEE FOR THE INTERNATIONAL
CONFERENCE ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Second session
10-21 May 1993
Item 4 of the provisional agenda*
PREPARATIONS FOR THE CONFERENCE
Recommendations of the Expert Group Meeting on Population
Distribution and Migration
Report of the Secretary-General of the Conference
SUMMARY
In response to Economic and Social Council resolution 1991/93,
the Expert Group Meeting on Population Distribution and Migration was
convened in Santa Cruz, Bolivia from 18 to 22 January 1993, as part of
the substantive preparations for the International Conference on
Population and Development to be held in 1994. This report presents
the findings of the Expert Group for consideration by the Preparatory
Committee for the Conference in the context of the review and
appraisal of the World Population Plan of Action. The Group appraised
current trends in population distribution and migration and their
interrelations with development. It concluded that migration was a
rational response on the part of individuals and families to
interregional differences in opportunities. Urbanization was viewed
as an intrinsic part of development and recommendations were made to
increase Governments' capacity to manage urban development and respond
to the needs of urban dwellers, especially the poor. Measures to
increase rural productivity and improve the linkages between rural and
urban areas were also proposed. With regard to international
migration, the processes leading to increasing migration pressures
were reviewed and suggestions were made about how to reduce them. The
need to protect the rights of migrants was underscored, particularly
with respect to the right of asylum. The international community was
urged to adopt appropriate strategies to protect and assist refugees.
* E/CONF.84/PC/3/Rev.1.
93-18465 (E) 200493 /...
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
INTRODUCTION ................................................. 1 - 4 3
I. SUMMARY OF THE PAPERS AND DISCUSSION .................... 5 - 70 4
A. Overview of the main issues ......................... 5 - 10 4
B. Patterns of population distribution and development . 11 - 24 5
C. Policies affecting internal migration and population
distribution ........................................ 25 - 32 8
D. Internal migration and its implications for
development ......................................... 33 - 35 10
E. Economic aspects of international migration ......... 36 - 40 11
F. International migration in a changing world ......... 41 - 49 12
G. International migration between developing countries 50 - 60 14
H. Refugees and asylum-seekers ......................... 61 - 70 16
II. RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................... 19
A. Population distribution and internal migration
(Recommendations 1-10) ........................................ 19
B. International migration (Recommendations 11-23) ............... 21
C. Refugees (Recommendations 24-30) .............................. 24
D. Data and research needs regarding population distribution and
migration (Recommendations 31-37) ............................. 25
INTRODUCTION
I. The Economic and Social Council, in its resolution 1991/93 of 26
July 1991, decided to convene an International Conference on
Population and Development in 1994. Pursuant to that resolution, the
Secretary-General of the Conference convened the Expert Group Meeting
on Population Distribution and Migration in Santa Cruz, Bolivia from
18 to 22 January 1993. The participants included 16 experts serving
in their personal capacities, representatives of the five regional
commissions and of several United Nations agencies and representatives
of other intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. As a
basis for discussion, the 16 experts had prepared papers on the main
agenda items in order to provide a framework for discussion. Opening
statements were made by the Minister of Planning of the Government of
Bolivia, the Secretary-General of the International Conference on
Population and Development, the Deputy Secretary-General of the
Conference, the Director of the Centro Iberoamericano de Formaci"n
para el Desarrollo and the Vice-President of Bolivia.
II. All the speakers emphasized the importance of migration in the
modern world and particularly its contribution to urbanization. The
Secretary-General of the Conference noted that urbanization was an
integral part of the development process. Rural-to-urban migration
was only one of the forms of internal migration related to
development. Rural-to-rural movements were sizeable in many countries
and their interrelations with the environment were of growing
importance, particularly where resettlement in frontier areas rich in
biodiversity was involved.
III. With respect to international migration, the Secretary-
General of the Conference remarked that, historically, it had
generally been perceived as a positive process enabling the
development of many of today's industrialized countries and opening
new possibilities for millions of people. International migration was
characterized as a sensitive political issue whose discussion was
often hampered by the lack of information on both the size and nature
of migration flows. Despite the concerns raised by South-to-North
migration, most international migrants found themselves in the
developing world. The increasing participation of women in
international migration and the need to ensure that they were
protected against abuse were underscored. Given the increasing pool
of potential migrants and the forces leading to globalization,
migration pressures were judged to be on the increase. Trade
liberalization, especially in agricultural products and products with
a high labour content, was cited as a more effective means of reducing
those pressures than current levels of international assistance for
developing countries.
IV. The Secretary-General of the Conference concluded by underscoring
the need to collect, analyse and exchange data on all types of
international migration. She recognized migration as a major issue
for the 1990s and stressed the need to establish how migrants and
their families could best contribute to development.
I. SUMMARY OF THE PAPERS AND DISCUSSION
A. Overview of the main issues
V. The presentation of the paper entitled "Population distribution
and migration: the emerging issues", prepared by the Population
Division, highlighted the huge scale of internal and international
migration. For the world as a whole, net internal migration of all
types (urban-to-rural, rural-to-urban, rural-to-rural and urban-to-
urban) was estimated to have involved between 750 million and 1
billion persons during the period 1975-1985. Although rural-to-urban
migration continued to be the focus of most research and policy
concern, rural-to-rural flows were significantly higher in countries
that were still mostly rural and urban-to-urban migration was the
dominant form in highly urbanized countries. International migration,
although involving a smaller number of persons, was also significant.
Census data, referring mostly to the 1970s and early 1980s, indicated
that some 77 million persons were enumerated outside their country of
birth or citizenship, a figure that represented a lower bound for the
stock of international migrants world wide.
VI. It was noted that the strategy of moving capital to labour had not
been entirely successful in stemming migration pressures. Thus,
several of the Asian newly industrializing economies had experienced
significant migrant outflows as they pursued export-led economic
development. Their experience had confirmed that the nature of the
development process was destabilizing and that it was likely to
increase migration pressures in the short to medium term.
VII. Changes in the nature and configuration of States were also
identified as having important implications for migration. The drive
towards greater unification among the member States of the European
Community was contrasted with the disintegration of States occurring
among former Eastern-bloc countries. Such changes were blurring the
distinction between internal and international migration: citizens of
member States of the European Community had gained greater freedom of
movement and establishment within the Community, whereas Russians in
the non-Russian successor States of the Soviet Union had become
international migrants.
VIII. With respect to migrants' rights, mention was made of the
adoption by the United Nations General Assembly of the International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families in 1990. 1/ The Convention had extended
basic human rights to all migrant workers, irrespective of their legal
status, and had provided that documented migrant workers and members
of their families enjoy equality of treatment with nationals of the
States of employment in a number of legal, economic, social and
cultural areas.
IX. The discussion stressed the need to consider different types of
migration separately. With respect to the category of "environmental
refugees", caution was urged in the use of the term, since in most
instances environmental factors were only one of a host of causes
leading to migration. Moreover, many of the migrants thus labelled
were not even outside of their country of nationality and could not
therefore be considered refugees. Since the definition of refugee
contained in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 2/
had not included environmental factors, the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had no mandate for the
protection of "environmental refugees".
X. Participants noted that, in contrast to previous assessments,
migration was increasingly recognized as a logical strategy of
individuals seeking to enhance their opportunities or assure their
survival. Economic growth entailed both urbanization and the movement
of labour. Although in many countries Governments were reducing their
planning role, they nevertheless had to meet the needs and priorities
of people and enterprises in the locations where they chose to
establish themselves. Lastly, although economic disparities were
acknowledged as one of the major determinants of migration, the
importance of growing demographic imbalances was also underscored.
B. Patterns of population distribution and development
XI. The presentation of the paper entitled "Global urbanization:
towards the twenty-first century" stressed that the process of
urbanization was an intrinsic part of economic development. In
comparing the experience of developed and developing countries, the
difference in the magnitude of the urbanization process was
highlighted. Thus, whereas the urban areas of developed countries had
absorbed about 100 million persons during the period 1815-1915, urban
areas in developing countries were expected to accommodate about 1.5
billion additional persons during the period 1990-2010. In addition,
while developed countries had generally had the means to build
adequate infrastructure while urbanizing, most developing countries,
particularly those in Africa and Asia, had serious unmet
infrastructure needs. Two aspects of globalization were having
important impacts on urbanization: the transactional revolution,
involving more efficient flows of information and capital, and the new
division of labour associated with the free movement of capital to
maximize accumulation. Those processes had led to a greater
centralization of the urban system and the emergence of transaction
nodes facilitating the movement of people, information, capital and
commodities. Successful nodes were often mega-urban regions that had
carved a niche in the global market by providing certain goods and
services.
XII. Despite these important changes, policy was still coloured by
a nineteenth century anti-urban perspective and was often geared to
controlling the growth of large cities. Evidence to the contrary
notwithstanding, it was widely assumed that the spatial separation of
urban and rural activities would persist. There was a need to take
account of the diverging urbanization patterns that the uneven
incorporation of developing countries into the world economic system
had brought about.
XIII. The discussion underscored that, in many countries, the
economic and social differences between urban and rural areas were
becoming less marked. A revision of the definitions of rural and
urban areas seemed necessary if the needs of planners were to be met.
There was a need to identify functional regions, especially in the
light of the increasing significance of rural-urban interactions.
Some participants suggested that the sheer size of cities involved
diseconomies, while others argued that the existence of such
diseconomies had not been proven. The issue was further stated as:
diseconomies for whom? While private capital benefited from economies
of scale in large urban centres, the poor often had to bear the
diseconomies associated with crowded housing, health hazards and lack
of infrastructure. Furthermore, in most developing countries the
informal sector was absorbing increasing numbers of urban workers,
particularly women.
XIV. The consideration of population distribution patterns in
specific world regions followed. The presentation of the paper
entitled "Population distribution patterns in developed countries"
noted that the increasing concentration of the urban population in
large urban centres had been considered a normal concomitant of
urbanization until data for the 1960s showed that in several developed
countries larger metropolitan areas had lost population, in relative
terms, to smaller urban centres. That phenomenon, known as counter-
urbanization, had been formally defined by Fielding as the existence
of a negative relationship between size of place and rate of
population growth. The evidence showed that counter-urbanization had
been fairly widespread in the developed world during the 1960s and
1970s but that the trend had changed in key countries during the
1980s. Thus, in the United States of America large metropolitan areas
had again grown more rapidly during the 1980s than had
non-metropolitan areas. Five sets of factors were said to explain the
rise and fall of counter-urbanization since the 1960s.
XV. The discussion centred on a few factors judged to be essential in
assessing the possible evolution of population distribution in
developed countries. Shifts in the age structure stemming from
sustained low population growth could have important implications for
population distribution if different birth cohorts had different
residential preferences. The impact of Governments' non-spatial
policies and sectoral priorities were considered to have greater
influence on population distribution than their explicit spatial or
territorial policies. The need to adopt more precise definitions for
the study of population distribution in developed countries was
stressed. The use of functional urban regions seemed necessary but it
demanded suitable databases and concepts that facilitated
international comparisons.
XVI. The Expert Group proceeded to consider population
distribution issues relative to the main developing regions. The
presentation of the paper entitled "Population distribution patterns
and development in Africa" noted the diversity characterizing the
continent in terms of population distribution, changes over time and
the factors influencing internal migration. Although Africa was the
least urbanized region of the developing world, most African countries
were undergoing rapid urbanization. The high fertility characterizing
African countries made major contributions to the growth of urban
areas and rural-to-urban migration continued to be significant.
African Governments were faced with the need to develop comprehensive
population distribution policies. The quality of urban management had
to be improved and an effective partnership had to be developed
between central and local Governments. It was urgent to devise
methods to provide low-cost urban services and ways of recovering
investment costs so that services could be expanded, although it was
recognized that subsidies might be needed to ensure that the poorest
groups had access to needed services. Given the importance of the
rural sector in African countries, the development of economic and
institutional linkages between rural and urban areas was needed to
foster synergistic interactions between rural and urban development in
the region.
XVII. The presentation of the paper entitled "Population
distribution policies and development in Asia" noted that Asia's level
of urbanization was still low but that the region's average concealed
large variations between countries. Asia contained the most populous
countries in the world and a number of much smaller countries
characterized by great economic dynamism. The countries of the
Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), in particular, were
likely to maintain a rapid rate of urbanization in conjunction with
sustained economic growth. In the most populous countries, high rural
population densities and changes in agricultural production had the
potential of fuelling rapid urbanization and posed enormous challenges
for the achievement of sustainable development.
XVIII. In Asian countries, as in other countries of the developing
world, population and economic activity tended to be concentrated in
one or a few large cities. However, the concentration of the urban
population in a single city was less marked in the most populous
countries of the region - China, India and Indonesia - and in
countries that had pursued active rural development policies, such as
Malaysia and Sri Lanka. In addition, in a number of countries the
proportion of the urban population in the primate city had been
declining. The growth rates of several Asian mega-cities had also
declined somewhat, partly because of the redistribution of production
and population outside the metropolitan area's boundaries to areas
that were still functionally linked to the city. In a sense,
therefore, the slow-down recorded was artificial. The diseconomies of
scale in some mega-cities had encouraged investment to seek new
locations.
XIX. The presentation of the paper entitled "Population
distribution and development in Latin America" noted that Latin
America was the most urbanized region of the developing world, having
experienced rapid urbanization during the twentieth century that had
led to the concentration of both people and economic activities in a
few large cities. During the period 1925-1975, the total population
of the region had tripled, while the urban population had increased
eightfold. In the 1990s, the number of people living in poverty in
urban areas had surpassed that in rural areas. As in other developing
regions, there was considerable diversity in the population
distribution of the various Latin American countries, arising from
historical and structural differences. With regard to primacy and the
growth of the largest cities within each country, over half of the
countries of the region were expected to show some reversal of
population concentration in the largest cities. Recent evidence
indicated that the primacy of Buenos Aires was declining and that,
during the 1980s, Mexico's three largest cities had experienced lower
growth rates than expected. Such trends were probably related to the
economic changes experienced by the region, as structural adjustment
led to lower industrialization, the casualization of employment and a
reduction of the attractiveness of large cities for migrants. Such
structural changes had also given rise to new forms of territorial
mobility, particularly those of a temporary nature, which did not
necessarily lead to population redistribution in the traditional
sense.
XX. The discussion stressed that urbanization was an inevitable part
of development and, consequently, that it was futile for Governments
to insist on stopping rural-to-urban migration. Nevertheless, it was
recognized that Governments could reduce pressures for rural out-
migration by promoting the use of labour-intensive technologies and by
raising the prices of agricultural products.
XXI. It was emphasized that there was a need to integrate
population distribution policies, including urbanization policies,
into national development strategies. In so doing, it was important
to keep in mind that rural and urban development were two sides of the
same coin. Strategies that emphasized one at the expense of the other
were doomed to failure. Measures to strengthen urban-rural economic
interactions and to improve rural infrastructure so as to increase
productivity were considered desirable.
XXII. Participants stressed the need for Governments of developing
countries to strengthen the capacity, competence and accountability of
city and municipal authorities. It was judged that a key task of
Governments was to address the social and economic needs of their
populations, whether in rural or urban areas. It was particularly
important to work towards the alleviation of poverty, which was
growing in both rural areas and cities. Given the potential for rapid
urbanization, especially in regions where the rural population was
still growing rapidly, there was an urgent need to improve urban
infrastructure and to provide access to services for all population
subgroups, particularly the poor. To gain control of urban growth,
particularly in regions where general population growth was high,
attention had to be paid to policies aimed at reducing natural
increase.
XXIII. In ascertaining the impact of development on population
distribution, note was taken of how its effects might change over
time. In Latin America, for example, when economic growth was based
on import substitution, industrialization had been the engine of
growth of most large cities. With the adoption of export-oriented
policies in the 1970s and 1980s, the centres of economic activity had
changed and population growth had accelerated in urban centres located
near ports, borders or export-producing sites (mining centres, for
instance).
XXIV. In a number of countries, internal strife had led to
increased migration. Although that migration often took the form of
rural-to-rural movements, forced migration between urban areas and
from rural to urban areas was also common. The population that was
thus internally displaced was often in need of protection and
assistance, but there was no internationally established mechanism to
provide such protection. A related problem was the capacity of war-
torn countries to ensure the safety of repatriating refugees, and
provide them with adequate infrastructure and services. Repatriation
was likely to be successful only if assistance could be provided to
reintegrate refugees in their areas of origin.
C. Policies affecting internal migration and
population distribution
XXV. The presentation of the paper entitled "The social and
environmental problems associated with rapid urbanization" highlighted
four issues: the main environmental problems and their causes; who
was most vulnerable to them; the extent to which migrants as compared
to non-migrants were vulnerable; and the key policy issues involved in
addressing environmental problems. The large scale and wide range of
environmental problems evident in the cities of developing countries
were reviewed in conjunction with their serious health impacts.
Biological pathogens (mainly excreta-related, insect-borne, airborne
or food-borne) and the lack of access to safe and sufficient water
were generally the most serious threats to health, although exposure
to chemical pollutants and physical hazards because of housing
deficiencies also contributed significantly to psychosocial disorders
in many cities.
XXVI. Migrants were not necessarily the group most vulnerable to
such hazards, since vulnerability was influenced, among other things,
by age, health status, socially determined roles and lack of means to
avoid a certain hazard or to cope with the impact of illness or
injury. In most cities, the single most important factor determining
vulnerability was income, although certain age and occupational groups
among the low-income population were especially vulnerable. Because
of gender differentiation regarding work undertaken, access to
services, income sources and access to shelter, women were
particularly vulnerable to certain environmental hazards.
XXVII. Participants noted that the underlying cause of most of the
problems mentioned was not so much rapid urbanization itself but the
incapacity of Governments to cope with the rapid economic, social and
demographic changes that accompanied such urbanization. In addition,
poorer groups in cities, including poor migrants, often bore a
disproportionate share of the costs of environmental problems.
XXVIII. Under certain circumstances, migrant groups could be
particularly vulnerable. For example, migrants were especially
susceptible to diseases that were endemic in the area of destination
to which they had not been exposed in the area of origin. To the
extent that certain types of migrants were more likely to join the
ranks of the urban poor than others, they were also particularly
vulnerable to the health hazards posed by environmental problems.
Nevertheless, the main policy issue was considered to be the reduction
of poverty and the vulnerability of all urban dwellers to
environmental hazards, whether they were migrants or not.
XXIX. Several measures for improving the plight of the urban poor
were suggested, including facilitating their access to credit,
providing them with technical assistance to improve their housing and
promoting the creation of partnerships between neighbourhood groups
and non-governmental organizations so that strategies to gain access
to water, sanitation or garbage collection could be devised
collectively. Such measures had a greater probability of being
successful if local or municipal governments were strengthened by
being allowed to collect taxes, granted greater responsibility for the
welfare of local communities and at the same time made accountable to
the governed.
XXX. The presentation of the paper entitled "Population
distribution policies and their impact on development" contrasted the
spatial implications of two of the most common development strategies.
The first was that adopted by many developing countries between 1930
and the early 1970s. Based on Keynesian theories of economic
development, that strategy had involved substantial State intervention
to promote industrialization for import substitution and to direct
population redistribution. Such a strategy, termed "peripheral
Fordism", had been widely applied throughout Latin America, where it
had led to unbalanced capital accumulation, which in turn had given
rise to unbalanced population distribution by reinforcing the primacy
of the largest cities, among other things. To combat the inequitable
effects of capital accumulation, Governments had adopted territorial
policies that had sought to promote growth in peripheral regions but
had rarely had much impact, partly because they had seldom been
accorded priority.
XXXI. The second strategy, which had already been widely
implemented in developing countries by 1990, had greatly reduced the
role of the State and had ascribed a larger role to market forces for
both production and population redistribution. Economically, it had
involved an outward orientation, with priority given to exports.
While, in the previous strategy, the combination of State support and
national capital had been seen as the main source of productive
investment, in the new strategy, international investment had been
sought and encouraged. The State, with a reduced role, had
concentrated its efforts on maintaining fiscal austerity and balanced
budgets. The key goal had been the competitive incorporation of
countries into the new international division of labour. The new
strategy had had important spatial implications, since, within each
national economy, rapid urbanization had tended to occur in those
locations that had served as growth poles with respect to production,
the transport of goods for export and associated services.
Concomitantly, the centres where import substitution industries had
been concentrated had sometimes declined in importance.
XXXII. Participants noted the contradiction inherent in the adoption
of the new strategy by Governments that also claimed to have ambitious
goals regarding spatial distribution policies. The more economies
became export-oriented, the greater the influence of global forces on
the spatial distribution of production and, consequently, on the
spatial distribution of population.
D. Internal migration and its implications
for development
XXXIII. The presentation of the paper entitled "Migration as a
survival strategy: the family dimensions of migration" noted that,
despite the deficiencies of available information on migration, both
internal and international, the evidence pointed to the fact that
migration had increased considerably in both scale and complexity
during the 1980s. Movement away from the place of origin, either of a
permanent or a temporary nature, had become an option to improve the
life chances of a wider spectrum of the population of developing
countries. The changing economic, social and political context of
developing countries had contributed to the increase in the scale of
population mobility. However, to understand the evolution of
mobility, it was important to supplement macrolevel explanations with
an understanding of how microlevel processes were determining who
migrated and how. There was growing evidence that migration resulted
from decisions made by families rather than individuals and that
migration was often a family strategy to ensure survival and minimize
risks. Through migration, a family could diversify its sources of
income, in terms of both location and type of work.
XXXIV. Studying the role of families and kin groups in the migration
process was important for understanding how migration networks
developed. Networks facilitating migration involved not only family
members and kin but also a variety of agents, recruiters, lawyers or
other middlemen, who actively encouraged and sustained migration.
Networks were thus becoming increasingly institutionalized and
commercialized and were able to sustain population flows even when the
economic conditions giving rise to them had changed.
XXXV. The discussion underscored the need to gather better data and
develop methods which would permit a more accurate assessment of the
scale of population mobility and its growing complexity. More
attention had to be devoted to the social and economic dimensions of
migration, including those at the family level and those shaping
migration networks. Because of the lack of appropriate information,
the extent of temporary migration and its implications for development
could not be established with certainty. Temporary movements were
said to be more common than those leading to permanent relocation but
it was recognized that what started as temporary might become
permanent.
E. Economic aspects of international migration
XXXVI. The presentation of the paper entitled "Growing economic
interdependence and its implications for international migration"
noted that in the past four decades increased volumes of international
trade and investment had generally not proven to be substitutes for
the movement of labour. In a world characterized by growing
interdependence, there were competing tendencies towards globalization
and regionalization, both of which impinged on migration pressures.
Growing economic interdependence among States fostered and was
fostered by international migration, but migration was both an
opportunity and a source of vulnerability for the interdependent
States. In cases where barriers had been raised against economic
integration or where poor countries had been involuntarily delinked
from the more advanced countries, unauthorized migration had been an
increasingly significant form of adjustment.
XXXVII. Two main explanations were offered for the fundamental
paradox that the economic integration of countries would initially
increase rather than reduce migration pressures. First, modalities of
socio-economic development associated with rising interdependence
among countries were essentially disruptive and dislocating, often
leading to considerable internal movements and in some instances
precipitating increases in international migration. Second,
international trade and foreign investment created bridges between
trading and investing partners that activated the flows of labour,
both legal and illegal. Once activitated, networks based on family,
community or employment relations would sustain migration flows.
XXXVIII. The implications of economic interdependence for
international migration had to be examined within a dynamic systems
framework which took into account that migration movements had been
initiated and sustained by various dynamic processes, including trade,
foreign direct investment, foreign aid and flows of technology, the
direction and extent of which were determined within a global
framework of historical, cultural, economic and political ties.
XXXIX. In discussing the economic aspects of migration, it was
important to distinguish between short-term and long-term effects.
Thus, it was possible for increased trade and foreign direct
investment not to influence migration pressures in the short term but
to have a strong influence in reducing them in the long term.
Increasingly, trade liberalization was being seen as a means of
fostering development and thus of contributing, in the long term, to a
reduction in migration. It was noted that trade liberalization, per
se, did not guarantee that all developing countries would participate
equitably in the world economy. Delinking would continue to occur,
with some countries remaining relatively marginalized. Migration
pressures were, consequently, unlikely to disappear, even if complete
trade liberalization were achieved. A complex set of strategies was
needed if migration flows were to be reduced significantly.
XL. Participants underscored the importance of taking account of
political issues when discussing the economic aspects of migration,
since there were often tensions between the economic and political
interests of States. Attempts to convert human beings into labour
that could be exchanged with minimal social consequences had largely
failed.
F. International migration in a changing world
XLI. The presentation of the paper entitled "The integration and
disintegration of nation States and their implications for migration"
noted that, historically, national boundaries had been temporary and
that border changes had often resulted from armed conflict and
entailed population movements. Situations in which forced population
movements were likely to arise generally involved groups such as: (a)
colonizing populations stranded as minorities in new States;
(b) trading or administrative intermediaries in new States; and
(c) the classical "national minorities" in new States. Russians in
the Baltic States and the newly independent States of Central Asia
would belong to the first category, but their forced resettlement,
although potential, had hardly begun. A review of other cases where
population "unmixing" had occurred indicated that it had traditionally
been approved by the international community. In some instances, the
forceful relocation of population groups might be inevitable; the
issue was whether it could happen without violence.
XLII. At the other end of the spectrum, the movement of several
groups of countries towards integration, particularly economic
integration, raised the issue of the relativization of the State.
Thus, the economic integration being pursued by the European Community
implied that the State would lose control over certain key economic
and social matters. Interestingly, the question of controlling
population flows had emerged as an important obstacle to the further
political and economic integration of the Community. The discussion
noted that the disintegration of States could lead to the emergence of
new minorities as the basis for demographic accounting changed.
XLIII. The presentation of the paper entitled "The process of
integration of migrant communities" noted that integration was the
general term used to refer to the process by which migrants became
incorporated into the host society. Four types of migrant
incorporation were distinguished: assimilation, integration,
exclusion and multiculturalism. Assimilation was the one-sided
process of adaptation of migrants to the local community by which
migrants became indistinguishable from the majority of the
population. It was consistent with policies of "benign neglect",
whereby the State left matters largely to market forces. Integration
involved a process of mutual accommodation between migrants and the
host society. It generally involved the removal of barriers to
individual participation through equal-opportunities and affirmative-
action legislation. Exclusion involved the incorporation of migrants
only into selected areas of society. Migrants were denied access to
other areas mainly through legal mechanisms. Multiculturalism
involved the transformation of immigrant populations into ethnic
communities that remained distinguishable from the host population but
were granted equal rights in most spheres of life. Both exclusion and
multiculturalism led to the creation and maintenance of ethnic
communities. Multiculturalism was judged to be the best model for
incorporation, although it needed to be adapted to each set of
circumstances.
XLIV. Integration was the incorporation model most commonly
followed by immigrant-receiving societies and it sometimes included
multicultural elements. In the 1980s, more clearly multicultural
models had been adopted by Australia, Canada and Sweden. Countries
such as Germany or Switzerland still favoured exclusionary models.
Government policies and historical factors influenced the relative
success of the models followed, but in most receiving countries ethnic
group formation was taking place. An important element influencing
incorporation and ethnic group formation was the transformation of
temporary migrants into long-term or permanent settlers.
XLV. Cross-national comparisons indicated that in all countries
there were major groups that had not yet become integrated. The
process of ethnic group formation was largely determined by the
actions of the State during the early stages of migration. The best
chances for successful integration lay in policies that facilitated
permanent settlement, family reunion and access to citizenship.
Successful integration depended on active State policies, especially
in the areas of housing, employment, education and language training,
access to health, and social services. Special measures were needed
for female migrants, who were more likely to be isolated and
marginalized, and it was essential to adopt and implement legislation
to combat all forms of racism and violence against migrants.
XLVI. The discussion recognized that the issues regarding the
integration of migrant populations varied from region to region. In
Western Asia, the enclave development strategy followed by the oil-
rich countries had resulted in the segregation of most migrants, an
effort had been made to enforce the rotation of foreign labour and
there was no intention to incorporate long-term foreign residents into
society. In Israel, the integration of large numbers of Soviet Jews
conflicted with the interests of the Palestinian population in the
West Bank and Gaza. In Europe, Islam was increasingly seen as a
marker for differentiation rather than integration and the trend
towards European integration was having largely negative effects on
the incorporation prospects of most migrants from outside the region.
European Governments argued that the prospects for migrant integration
in the region depended on effective border control and the limitation
of future migration inflows. In Africa, long-standing refugee
populations included a significant number of second- and third-
generation refugees but few countries of asylum had taken steps to
grant them citizenship.
XLVII. The presentation of the paper entitled "The future of South-
to-North migration" noted that migration from developing to developed
countries had been increasing and was expected to surpass migration
between developed countries in every region, even though, particularly
in Europe, migration from former Eastern-bloc countries was still an
important component of migration flows. East-to-West migration,
however, was expected to abate in the future. Migration from
developing countries was already a major component of the flows
directed to the main countries of permanent resettlement and even
Japan, the archetypal closed society, was experiencing significant
inflows of migrants from developing countries. With reference to the
report of the United States Commission for the Study of International
Migration and Cooperative Economic Development, 3/ it was argued that
the development process led to greater migration pressures, at least
in the short to medium term.
XLVIII. In Europe, the migration of asylum-seekers constituted an
important type of unwanted migration. Their numbers, which had
fluctuated considerably during the 1980s, included large proportions
of persons from developing countries. The increasing number of both
asylum-seekers and undocumented migrants in certain European countries
indicated that policies aimed at maintaining a zero net migration
balance had failed. However, given the political and economic
realities of the world as a whole, such policies were unrealistic.
Since migrant inflows could not be totally avoided, making some
allowance for them seemed imperative.
XLIX. The discussion noted the difficulties in making assumptions
about future South-to-North migration. Although its volume was
expected to increase, actual outcomes depended on future labour-market
needs in developed countries, the potential for chain-migration
through family reunion, the effectiveness of restrictive admission
policies in the receiving countries, the occurrence of destabilizing
events in developing countries, prospects for economic development in
the main countries of origin and the possibility of increasing
linkages between the developed world and developing countries that
remained marginalized. Differentials in population growth, although
clearly affecting the potential for migration, were judged to have
relatively weak linkages with actual migration flows. The need to
devise strategies that would reduce migration pressures in the
developing world was underscored. Cooperation between specific
sending and receiving countries was cited as a possibility.
G. International migration between developing countries
L. The presentation of the paper entitled "Migration between Asian
countries and its likely future" indicated that migration within the
Asian region was predominantly directed to the oil-producing countries
of Western Asia and towards Japan and the newly industrializing
economies of East and South-East Asia. Data on such movements,
however, were rare and often inconsistent. Migration to Western Asia,
which had started long before the oil-price hike of the early 1970s,
had increased considerably after that and had undergone a shift in
composition from Arab to Asian sources. In addition, Asian sources
had been further diversified during the late 1970s to include
increasing numbers of workers from East and South-East Asia, as
opposed to those originating in Southern Asia. During the 1980s,
growing labour-force needs associated with rapid economic growth
transformed certain countries and areas in East and South-East Asia
into destinations for migrant labour. Thus Japan, Malaysia, the
Republic of Korea and Taiwan Province of China were reported to be
hosting sizeable numbers of largely undocumented migrants.
LI. In Asia, the migration policies of receiving countries generally
had three goals: to limit migration, eliminate illegal migration and
reinforce migration regulations meant to ensure the quality of migrant
workers. Countries of origin, on the other hand, aimed at increasing
the number of migrant workers abroad, protecting the rights of migrant
workers and regulating migration so as to prevent the exploitation of
migrants by recruiting agents. An important concern of countries of
origin was to protect the increasing number of women who engaged in
temporary worker migration, mostly as domestic servants.
LII. In 1989, Asia had hosted more than 7 million refugees, a
majority of whom had originated in Afghanistan. The second largest
refugee population in Asia consisted of the more than 2 million
Palestinian refugees under the protection of the United Nations Relief
and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). In
contrast, during the period 1975-1988 an estimated 1.5 million Indo-
Chinese from South-East Asia had been resettled outside the region,
particularly in the United States.
LIII. The presentation of the paper entitled "Migration between
developing countries in the African and Latin American regions and its
likely future" highlighted the limited availability and poor quality
of migration data in sub-Saharan Africa. On the basis of data on the
foreign-born gathered by censuses, it was estimated that during the
late 1970s, about 8 per cent of sub-Saharan Africa's population (or 35
million people) had consisted of persons born outside the country in
which they had been enumerated. In addition, UNHCR statistics showed
that, in 1991, there had been over 5 million refugees in the region.
LIV. Using similar data for Latin America, it was estimated that
in about 1980 less than 2 per cent of the region's population had been
foreign-born, although only 41 per cent of the foreign-born had
originated in the region. In contrast to migration in the African
region, a country outside the region, namely the United States of
America, was the major destination of Latin American migrants, most of
whom originated in Mexico.
LV. Both growing economic differentials and political instability had
contributed to the increase of intraregional flows, political
instability being more likely to continue fuelling migration in sub-
Saharan Africa than in Latin America. But to the extent that
development accelerated more in certain countries than others,
especially in Latin America, it was likely to induce further
migration. Most intraregional migration in Africa and Latin America
had occurred at the margin of government policies. That situation was
not expected to change, since African and Latin American Governments
were thought to be less likely than those of other world regions to
intervene in controlling or impeding migration. Indeed, few had
explicit policies regarding international migration, and Latin
American countries, in particular, considered their immigration levels
to be too low and wished to increase them. As in the case of intra-
Asian migration, experts expected that migration within Africa or
Latin America would increase as the opportunities to migrate to
developed countries became increasingly restricted.
LVI. The discussion stressed the significance of migration flows
between developing countries and the variety characterizing such
movements. The paucity of data regarding migration to developing
countries was considered a serious drawback, particularly because
important changes in trends were likely to go undetected for long
periods, if at all. Mention was made, for instance, of countries in
Latin America, such as Argentina or Venezuela, which seemed to have
ceased being attraction poles for migrants during the 1980s. It was
also suggested that the scale of temporary international migration was
growing in the region. There was, however, little solid evidence to
validate those claims.
LVII. The evolution of international migration in Asia was
considered an important example of the effects of development. Thus,
labour migration from the Republic of Korea had abated as development
had proceeded. The same thing was probably happening in Malaysia and
the question was raised whether it would happen in more populated
countries, such as India or Pakistan. In addition, important economic
interactions likely to fuel both migration and development were taking
hold of various sets of countries.
LVIII. In Western Asia, the oil-producing countries continued to
demand foreign labour, although in some countries demand had shifted
from blue-collar to service-sector workers. The impact of migration
on the development prospects of both the oil-producing countries and
the countries of origin of the migrant workers was likely to vary from
case to case, particularly because of competition between the latter.
According to some participants, the prospects for effective
cooperation between sending countries to protect the rights of their
expatriate workers did not seem promising.
LIX. There was considerable variation in the policy responses to
migration of developing countries. For instance, among receiving
countries, those in Western Asia and Singapore controlled
international migration strictly, whereas most countries in Africa or
Latin America had fairly lax migration controls. Among countries of
origin, a variety of policies and strategies had been used to foster
worker migration, prevent the migration of those with needed skills or
facilitate the return and reintegration of migrant workers. Of these
aims the return and reintegration of migrant workers was judged to
have the greatest implications for development, particularly when it
was prompted by deteriorating circumstances in the receiving
countries, such as those brought about by the invasion of Kuwait or by
the economic difficulties experienced by Venezuela.
LX. With regard to forced migration, the end of the cold war was
judged to hold positive prospects for the resolution of long-standing
conflicts in Latin America and to reduce the influence of the super-
Powers in the region. Such developments would facilitate the return
of refugees to their countries of origin and reduce the possibilities
of future refugee outflows. The prospects for Africa, however, were
less promising. States that were artificially sustained by cold war
enmities were likely to collapse and produce significant refugee
outflows. Such developments would generally stem from both the
economic and political disintegration of existing States, often
exacerbated by environmental problems (which, however, would rarely be
the sole cause of forced migration and, as stated earlier, would not
warrant the use of terms such as "environmental refugee").
H. Refugees and asylum-seekers
LXI. The presentation of the paper entitled "Safeguarding the
right to asylum" made the distinction between the right to seek and
the right to enjoy asylum. The 1951 United Nations Convention
relating to the Status of Refugees 2/ had not established an
individual's right to seek asylum but rather the right of States to
grant asylum. In addition, the Convention had failed to provide
adequate protection for victims of war or generalized violence. At
the regional level, however, the Organization of African Unity 1969
Convention Governing the Specific Aspects of Refugee Problems in
Africa and the 1984 Cartagena Declaration had both widened the
definition of refugee to include those categories. 4/
LXII. The refugee regime that had been established in 1951 had
experienced a period of expansion in terms of who it covered until the
late 1970s. Although the demand had expanded, so had the institution
of asylum. Most of the expansion had taken place in Africa. In the
developed world, refugee flows were largely equated with East-to-West
flows or outflows from Communist countries that had been acceptable as
part of the cold war. During the 1980s, however, as the number of
refugees and asylum-seekers had continued to grow, the expanding
demand for asylum had been met with an increasingly restrictive
response, particularly from developed countries. Faced with
potentially large numbers of persons who could make a reasonable claim
for asylum under prevailing international instruments, receiving
countries were currently adopting a series of measures to restrict
access to asylum. Furthermore, in the cases of Iraq and Yugoslavia,
refugee outflows had been prevented by internalizing asylum and
keeping would-be refugees in "safe" zones within their own countries.
LXIII. Several policy implications of the current crisis of the
asylum regime were identified, including the need to maintain the
right to asylum; to consider ways of integrating refugee and
immigration policy; to deal with large refugee outflows through the
institution of temporary safe haven; to establish regional regimes
that would strengthen burden-sharing with respect to the protection
and assistance of refugees; to monitor the size of refugee stocks and
flows; and to devise new ways of dealing with the underlying causes of
refugee flows.
LXIV. The paper entitled "Changing solutions to refugee migrations"
focused mostly on Africa to discuss the prospects and challenges faced
by those seeking solutions to the growing number of refugees in the
continent. It was noted that the situation of refugees in Africa was
changing: although in earlier decades most countries of asylum had
been fairly generous in admitting and assisting refugees, many
countries were becoming less generous. In Khartoum, for instance,
refugees were being blamed for falling wages and rising rents. In
rural areas, as the number and length of stay of refugees increased,
their competition with the local population grew, giving rise to
antagonism. Given those developments, it was urgent to find
innovative ways to foster the settlement of long-term refugees in
countries of asylum, particularly by regularizing their status as
long-term residents or by facilitating naturalization. Assistance
should aim at making refugees self-sufficient and at minimizing their
competition with the local population. It was also necessary to
channel assistance both to refugees in rural areas and to the
increasing number living in urban areas.
LXV. Repatriation was described as the favourite solution for the
plight of refugees. It was recalled that the 1990s had been named the
"Decade of Repatriation" by UNHCR, and participants alluded to the
many successful repatriation drives that had already taken place.
Since resettlement opportunities in third countries of asylum were
diminishing and access to asylum in developed countries was becoming
increasingly difficult, repatriation was seen as the most viable
solution in the future. Nevertheless, repatriation had its drawbacks.
Cases in which repatriation had been less than voluntary were cited.
In addition, in some countries repatriation had taken place even when
the conflicts leading to refugee outflows were still far from over.
Other crucial issues regarding repatriation remained to be resolved.
UNHCR was usually in charge of aiding in the repatriation but it had
no mandate to provide assistance for the long-term reintegration of
returning refugees. There was a need to establish when the needs of
repatriates became developmental rather than humanitarian and to
provide them with the necessary support. In doing so, it was
important to balance the needs of repatriates with those of the local
population.
LXVI. The discussion reviewed the evolution of the refugee regime
in relation to the general immigration policies favoured by developed
countries, especially during the cold war period, and noted that one
of the best ways of controlling migration was by instituting visas and
controlling access to means of transportation etc., at the point of
origin. Such methods were increasingly used to restrict access to
asylum. In addition, in Europe there was a strong movement favouring
the harmonization of asylum policies. The question was whether such
harmonization would institute a minimum or a maximum common
denominator. The move towards harmonization had some positive
aspects, such as that it was likely to introduce greater
predictability in the adjudication procedure. To maintain the
integrity of the asylum system, it was argued that countries had to
adopt consistent treatments for those asylum-seekers who were not
granted refugee status. When 80 per cent of those rejected
nevertheless stayed in the receiving country, control was lost and
there was little incentive to maintain a costly adjudication system.
LXVII. Concern about the increasing number of internally displaced
persons in need of protection was raised. International law provided
a very weak basis for their protection, since it again involved a
conflict between human rights and State rights, specifically, a
State's sovereignty. Nevertheless, it was agreed that the plight of
the internally displaced deserved more attention from the
international community, particularly after internal safe havens had
been used to protect would-be refugees, as in the case of Iraqi Kurds.
LXVIII. Mention was made of the debate underlying the decision to
internalize asylum. When refugees flows arose as part of ethnic
cleansing, the international community was reluctant to validate such
a strategy by providing external safe havens for the population being
expelled. However, by maintaining would-be refugees within their
countries or immediate areas of origin, the international community
had less incentive to combat the root causes of the conflict.
Furthermore, it seemed unethical to put the burden of stopping ethnic
cleansing on the plight of expelled persons or those fleeing
persecution.
LXIX. The possibility of instituting adequate burden-sharing
mechanisms at the regional level was considered. The model
established by the Comprehensive Plan of Action regarding Vietnamese
refugees was judged to be a successful example of such burden-sharing.
In Central America, however, it had proved more difficult to share
responsibility and decision-making.
LXX. Lastly, it was noted that statistical information on refugees
was very weak. The estimates provided by Governments were often
unrealistic and lacked a scientifically acceptable basis. Although it
was recognized that accurate statistical accounting was difficult when
refugee flows occurred rapidly and involved large numbers of people,
better methods had to be devised to gather refugee statistics,
particularly regarding long-standing refugee populations. Better
statistics on repatriation were also urgently needed. It was
important to sensitize those involved in refugee assistance about the
importance of statistics and to enlist their cooperation.
II. RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Population distribution and internal migration
The World Population Plan of Action, adopted in 1974, 5/ and the
recommendations on its further implementation, adopted in 1984, 6/
underscored the need to integrate population distribution policies
into overall development planning with the aim of promoting a more
equitable regional development. Among the strategies proposed were
the use of incentives to reduce undesired migration; the reduction of
rural-urban inequalities; the avoidance of "urban biases" stemming
from economic or social policies that favour urban areas; the adoption
of rural development programmes aimed at increasing rural production,
efficiency and incomes; and the provision of assistance to migrant
women. Many of the Plan's recommendations and those made for its
further implementation remain valid, but new developments and a better
understanding of the linkages between migration and development had
indicated additional avenues for action.
Population mobility provides an opportunity to improve the life
chances of a wide section of the world population. Improvements in
transportation and communications, the increasing mobility of capital,
the speed of transactions and widening social networks are all
contributing to an increase in permanent and non-permanent migration.
It is now recognized that such flows are rational responses on the
part of individuals and families to interregional differences in
opportunities and to the need to ensure and widen the sources of
family support. Moreover, an increasing number of persons are
compelled to migrate in order to ensure their very survival.
Recognizing that the free movement of people and the process of
urbanization are essential elements of a productive economy, the
priority is not to transform population distribution and population
mobility patterns radically. Rather, it is to facilitate trends that
result in improved life chances for a wide spectrum of the population
and to meet the needs of people and enterprises in the locations where
they establish themselves. However, it is recognized that in many
parts of the world rapid urbanization and the development of very
large cities present enormous challenges to Governments in terms of
providing urban management and services without neglecting the
important needs of rural populations. The recommendations that follow
outline strategies to address these issues.
Recommendation 1
Population distribution policies should be an integral part of
development policies. In trying to achieve a better spatial
distribution of production, employment and population, Governments
should adopt multi-pronged strategies, such as encouraging the growth
of small- and medium-sized urban centres and promoting the sustainable
development of rural areas, while at the same time improving
employment and living conditions in large urban centres. In so doing,
principles of good governance with respect to accountability and
responsiveness should be adhered to.
Recommendation 2
All government policies and expenditures have some influence on
the spatial distribution of population and on migration flows, with
many of the strongest influences deriving not from specific urban and
regional policies or spatial planning but from macroeconomic and
pricing policies, sectoral priorities, infrastructure investment and
the distribution of power and resources between central, provincial
and local Governments. Governments should evaluate the extent to
which both their spatial policies and the spatial impacts of non-
spatial policies contribute to their social and economic goals.
Recommendation 3
With regard to urban areas, the main priority must be to increase
the capacity and competence of city and municipal authorities to
manage urban development; to respond to the needs of their citizens,
especially the poor, for basic infrastructure and services; and to
provide poor groups with alternatives to living in areas vulnerable to
natural and technological disasters. To finance such infrastructure
and services, Governments should consider instituting equitable cost-
recovery schemes and increasing revenues by broadening the tax base.
Recommendation 4
In order to increase administrative efficiency and improve
services, Governments should decentralize expenditure responsibility
and the right to raise revenue to regional, district and municipal
authorities. Partnerships for rural and urban development should be
fostered between residents, community-based organizations, local
authorities, non-governmental organizations and the private sector.
Recommendation 5
Governments should make efforts to develop economic and
institutional links between urban centres and their surrounding rural
areas by, among other things, improving infrastructure (roads,
electricity, water supply and telecommunications); expanding education
and health services; and providing technical assistance for the
marketing and commercialization of rural products.
Recommendation 6
In order to help create alternatives to out-migration from rural
areas, Governments should not only enhance rural productivity and
improve rural infrastructure and social services but should also
facilitate the establishment of credit and production cooperatives and
other grass-roots organizations that give people control over
resources and improve their welfare. Governments should recognize and
safeguard traditional rights over common lands and water resources.
In addition, Governments and the private sector should collaborate in
promoting vocational training and off-farm employment opportunities in
rural areas, ensuring equal access for men and women.
Recommendation 7
Given that a substantial number of migrants engage in economic
activities within the informal sector of the economy, efforts should
be made to improve the income-earning capacities of those migrants by
facilitating their access to such services as credit; vocational
training; a place to ply their trade; transportation; and health
services, including family planning. It is important to ensure that
women and men have equal access to such services.
Recommendation 8
Governments and non-governmental organizations should encourage
and support group mobilization and organization by and for persons
affected by migration, such as women left behind, domestic servants,
workers in the informal sector and urban squatters. Organizations
formed in this way can foster community participation in development
and self-help programmes; mobilize savings and credit; organize for
production; provide counselling and other social protection and legal
services; and identify problems and make them known to decision
makers.
Recommendation 9
Given that in many countries high population growth in rural areas
is a result of natural increase, which also makes major contributions
to the growth of urban populations, Governments wishing to reduce
urban growth should implement population policies and programmes that
ensure adequate access to health services and family planning.
Recommendation 10
Given the increase in migration triggered by environmental
degradation, natural disasters and armed conflict, there is a need to
address the underlying causes of such phenomena, as well as to develop
mechanisms to protect and aid victims, whether or not they are in
their own country. International and regional organizations, non-
governmental organizations and Governments are urged to cooperate in
addressing such causes and in developing such mechanisms.
B. International migration
The World Population Plan of Action and the recommendations for
its further implementation established that international migration
policies must respect the basic human rights and fundamental freedoms
of individuals, as set out in the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights, 7/ the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, and the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights. 8/ In addition, the Plan called for Governments of receiving
countries to grant documented migrant workers in a regular situation
and accompanying members of their families equal treatment to that
accorded to their own nationals in terms of working conditions, social
security, participation in trade unions and access to health,
education and other social services.
With respect to undocumented migrants (defined as persons who have
not fulfilled the legal requirements of the State in which they find
themselves for admission, stay or exercise of economic activity), the
Plan emphasized that all measures designed to curb their numbers must
respect their basic human rights. It was further suggested that the
International Labour Organisation Convention concerning Migrations in
Abusive Conditions and the Promotion of Equality of Opportunity and
Treatment of Migrant Workers, 1975 (No. 143), part I 9/ be used to
provide guidelines for the formulation of policies aimed at
controlling undocumented migration.
In recent years, growing demographic and labour market imbalances,
increasing disparities in economic growth and development among
countries and regions and major changes in world political and
economic systems have contributed to intensify migration pressures.
These growing migration pressures in developing countries and in
former Eastern-bloc countries have heightened concern among the main
receiving countries, prompted, at least in part, by the negative
attitudes of their nationals towards migrants. As in the case of
internal migration, voluntary international migration is a rational
response to interregional economic differences.
The recommendations presented below take account of developments
since 1984, including the adoption of the 1990 International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and
Members of Their Families, 1/ which established a new set of standards
regarding the rights of all migrant workers.
Recommendation 11
In formulating general economic, trade and development cooperation
policies, Governments of both sending and receiving countries should
take account of the possible effects of such policies on international
migration flows. Where trade barriers contribute to growing migration
pressures in developing countries, Governments of developed countries
are urged to remove them, as well as to promote investment in
countries of origin and to channel development assistance to job-
creating projects.
Recommendation 12
Governments of countries of origin are urged to recognize and act
upon their common interests by cooperating with one another in their
negotiations with labour-importing countries to adopt standardized
work contracts, establish adequate working conditions and social
protection measures for their migrant workers, and control illegal
recruitment agents. Governments of countries of origin should appoint
labour attachs in receiving countries to ensure that work contracts
are honoured and to look after the welfare of their migrant workers.
Advocacy organizations should also have a recognized role in
protecting migrant workers' rights.
Recommendation 13
Governments of countries of origin wishing to foster the inflow of
remittances and their productive use for development should adopt
sound exchange-rate, monetary and economic policies, facilitate the
provision of banking facilities that enable the safe and timely
transfer of migrants' funds and promote the conditions necessary to
increase domestic savings and channel them into productive investment.
Recommendation 14
Governments of receiving countries should protect the rights of
all migrant workers and members of their families by conforming to the
guidelines established by the International Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their
Families and other relevant international instruments. It is
particularly important that Governments of receiving countries ensure
that all migrant workers, irrespective of whether their status is
regular or irregular, be protected from being exploited by
unscrupulous intermediaries, agents or employers.
Recommendation 15
Taking account of the Declaration on the Elimination of
Discrimination against Women 10/ and of the Convention on the
Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, 11/
Governments of sending and receiving countries are encouraged to
review and, where necessary, amend their international migration
legislation and regulations so as to avoid discriminatory practices
against female migrants. In addition, Governments are urged to take
appropriate steps to protect the rights and safety of migrant women
facing specific problems, such as those in domestic service, those
engaging in out-work, those who are victims of trafficking and
involuntary prostitution and any others in potentially exploitable
circumstances.
Recommendation 16
As previously recommended in the World Population Plan of Action,
Governments of receiving countries that have not already done so are
urged to consider adopting measures to promote the normalization of
the family life of documented migrants in the receiving country
through family reunion. Demographic and other considerations should
not prevent Governments in the receiving country from taking such
measures.
Recommendation 17
Governments of receiving countries are urged to promote good
community relations between migrants and the rest of society and to
take measures to combat all forms of racism and xenophobia by, for
instance, adopting legislation against racism, establishing and
supporting special agencies to combat racism and xenophobia, taking
appropriate educational measures and using the mass media.
Recommendation 18
Governments should guarantee equal economic and social rights to
long-term foreign residents and facilitate their naturalization.
Recommendation 19
Governments of countries within regions wherein rights exist of
free movement of their respective citizens should extend these rights
to their long-term foreign residents from third countries.
Recommendation 20
Governments should provide information to potential migrants on
the legal conditions for entry, stay and employment in receiving
countries.
Recommendation 21
Governments of receiving countries should increase their efforts
to enhance the integration of the children of migrants (second-
generation migrants) by providing them with educational and training
opportunities equal to those of nationals, allowing them to exercise
an economic activity and facilitating the naturalization of those who
have been raised in the receiving country.
Recommendation 22
Governments of both countries of origin and countries of
destination are urged to promote and support migrant associations that
provide information and social services and enable migrants and
returning migrants, especially female migrants in vulnerable
situations, to help themselves.
Recommendation 23
Governments of receiving countries should consider adopting
effective sanctions against those who organize illegal migration as
well as against those who knowingly employ undocumented migrants.
Where the activities of agents or other intermediaries in the
migration process are legal, Governments should introduce regulations
to prevent abuses.
C. Refugees
The World Population Plan of Action and the recommendations for
its further implementation emphasized the need to find durable
solutions to the problems related to refugees and refugee movements,
especially in terms of voluntary repatriation or resettlement in third
countries. When neither of the two was possible, the Plan advocated
the provision of assistance to first asylum countries to help them
meet the needs of refugees. It also called for Governments to accede
to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees 2/ and the
1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees. 12/
The world refugee population continues to increase and, while
there are prospects for durable solutions through voluntary
repatriation, the growing number of persons seeking asylum is
straining the asylum system. The recommendations that follow
emphasize the need to preserve international protection principles,
particularly the right to asylum and the need to adopt appropriate
strategies relating to returnee programmes and the assistance of
vulnerable groups.
Recommendation 24
Governments, the international community and non-governmental
organizations are urged to address the underlying causes of refugee
movements and to take appropriate measures regarding conflict
resolution; promotion of peace; respect for human rights, including
those of minorities; poverty alleviation; democratization; good
governance; and the prevention of environmental degradation.
Governments should refrain from policies or practices that lead to
forced migration or population movements of an involuntary nature.
Recommendation 25
Governments are urged to continue facilitating and supporting
international protection and assistance activities on behalf of
refugees and to promote the search for durable solutions to their
plight.
Recommendation 26
Governments are encouraged to strengthen regional and
international mechanisms that enhance their capacity to share
responsibility in an equitable fashion for the protection and
assistance needs of refugees.
Recommendation 27
Governments are urged to protect the right to asylum by respecting
the principle of "non-refoulement", granting asylum-seekers access to
a fair hearing and providing temporary safe haven when appropriate.
Recommendation 28
Governments, international organizations, community-based
organizations and non-governmental organizations are urged to
contribute to and participate in repatriation programmes that ensure
that initial rehabilitation assistance is linked to long-term
reconstruction and development plans.
Recommendation 29
Given that many refugee populations in countries of first asylum
have been in exile for extended periods, Governments, international
organizations and non-governmental organizations are urged to assist
these long-standing refugee populations to achieve self-sufficiency.
Governments of first-asylum countries are invited to take steps to
regularize the situation of long-standing refugees with little
prospect of repatriation by facilitating their naturalization.
Recommendation 30
The international community, through the Office of the United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and appropriate relief
organizations, should address the specific needs of refugee women. In
particular, Governments of countries of asylum should ensure the right
of female refugees to physical safety and facilitate their access to
counselling, health services, material assistance, education and
economic activity. Governments should ensure that female refugees
have resettlement opportunities equal to those of male refugees.
D. Data and research needs regarding population
distribution and migration
The World Population Plan of Action and the recommendations for
its further implementation recognized that migration and urban
statistics was the least developed area of population statistics and
recommended that Governments improve it by using their national
population censuses, sample surveys and administrative record systems
to obtain information on internal migration, urbanization and
international migration. However, despite some advances, many
deficiencies still remain. Furthermore, understanding of migration
processes has not advanced as much as understanding of fertility and
mortality. The recommendations below indicate areas that should be
given priority in data gathering and research.
Recommendation 31
The United Nations system and other appropriate organizations
should support and promote research on population distribution,
internal and international migration and urbanization, aimed at
providing a sounder basis for the formulation of environmental,
development and population distribution policies.
Recommendation 32
National statistical offices are urged to collect, tabulate,
publish and disseminate demographic data by relevant geographical
areas on vital events, migration, and population size and
characteristics, so as to facilitate a better understanding of
population-change processes and their policy implications at local,
regional and national levels. The dissemination of detailed census
data coded for micro-regions in machine-readable form should be given
priority. The United Nations is urged to foster these activities.
Recommendation 33
Recognizing the major changes which have occurred in the structure
and functioning of urban systems, the United Nations and national
statistical offices are urged to review the existing standard
definitions and classifications of rural and urban populations.
Recommendation 34
The United Nations and appropriate national and international
agencies are invited to review the adequacy of existing definitions
and classifications of international migration and should also address
the problems of incorporating these into efficient data-collection
systems. The development of methods allowing the estimation of
undocumented migration and, where relevant, statistics on remittances,
should also be supported. Efforts should be made to conduct in-depth
migration surveys in countries hosting sizeable migrant populations.
Governments are urged to produce and disseminate statistics on
international migrants, classified by place of birth, country of
citizenship, occupation, sex and age.
Recommendation 35
Given the deficiencies in refugee statistics and their relevance
for planning refugee assistance and for understanding the consequences
of refugee movements, measures to improve them should be accorded
priority. Governments of countries of asylum as well as
intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations dealing with
refugees are urged to cooperate with the United Nations in devising
and implementing procedures to register and monitor refugee
populations.
Recommendation 36
Given the lack of systematic data on displaced persons,
Governments are urged to cooperate with the United Nations and non-
governmental organizations to facilitate data collection on displaced
populations and their needs.
Recommendation 37
The United Nations should promote the exchange of information on
both trends and policies of international migration by creating
working groups of national experts, whose task would be to prepare
periodic reports on international migration developments in each of
their countries, following the Continuous Reporting System on
Migration model of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and
Development. Regional summaries of such reports should be produced
and disseminated by the United Nations.
Notes
1/ General Assembly resolution 45/158, annex.
2/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 189, No. 2545, p. 137.
3/ Commission for the Study of International Migration and
Cooperative Economic Development, Unauthorized Migration: An Economic
Development Response (Washington, D.C., United States Government
Printing Office, 1990).
4/ See Guy Goodwin Gill, "The standard texts", Refugees, No. 46
(October 1987), p. 28.
5/ Report of the United Nations World Population Conference,
1974, Bucharest, 19-30 August 1974 (United Nations publication, Sales
No. E.75.XIII.3), chap. I.
6/ Report of the International Conference on Population, 1984,
Mexico City, 6-14 August 1984 (United Nations publication, Sales No.
E.84.XIII.8), chap. I, sect. B.
7/ General Assembly resolution 217 A (III).
8/ General Assembly resolution 2200 A (XXI), annex.
9/ See International Labour Conventions and Recommendations
1919-1991 (Geneva, International Labour Office, 1992).
10/ General Assembly resolution 2263 (XXII).
11/ General Assembly resolution 34/180, annex.
12/ United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 606, No. 8791, p. 267.
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