Online Dialogue: Migration - How Free Is Our Freedom to Move?
Despite all the talk (and shouting) how much do we really understand about what causes people to move from one country to another, the impacts migrants have on their new countries, and the ramifications for their old countries?
.................................................................................... PANELISTSMichael Clemens, Center for Global Development
For more on Michael's work, please click here, or read a Q & A he did did last year on migration's impact on developing countries. .................................................................................... Esther Nieves, American Friends Service Committee
Esther has held several leadership positions in the public sector, most recently serving as the executive director of Erie Neighborhood House (Chicago), a settlement house responding to the educational and social service needs of Chicago's Latino population. She has also served as the director of a municipal agency and as a program officer for a private family foundation. Esther's civic involvement has included service on several boards including as a trustee of the Wieboldt Foundation (Chicago) and the Crossroads Fund (Chicago), board member of the Funding Exchange (New York), Leadership for Quality Education (Chicago), and others. She is a graduate of Mundelein College (Loyola University-Chicago) and completed graduate programs at the University of Chicago's School of Social Service Administration and New York University's Robert Wagner School of Public Service. She resides in Clifton, New Jersey. .................................................................................... Sandip Roy, New America Media
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Comment List
"Migration-How free is our freedom to Move?"Time: 06/16/2007 13:29
Comment: MIGRATION, is a complicated issue but cetainly it should be dealt within the "Accepted framework" based on the "Time tested and justified principles of well established- ethical human values". The reasons of migration and/or immigration be considered with humanitarian aspects and its impact on the economy and ecology of the both countries.
Migrants are the part of the country they reside for years but their contribution to the economy was never - ever been looked into.The main reason of migration is "to earn the livlihood for self and the belongings i.e. the family/ dependents", while putting herself or himself to the people of that country for extraction of their desired work or services inturn of some money from which bead may be purchased for the survival of the migrant and the dependent family.Meaning thereby that the migrant is contributing to the economy while putting the skills or services before the people of that contry and after earning some money again contributing to the economy while buying goods for the consumption. Survival is a birth right and require no further elaboration to the developed countries since they are the greatest proponents of Human Rights and can go upto any extent to save the Human Rights in any corner of this planet,Provided, some of there own interest is to be solved. My point is that the Country/ Countries not in favour of migration and/or immigration should not permit the migrants to enter into their bounraries from the Day ONE and if they are allowing the migrants to come in and using their skills or services for some value,knowing fully well that they do not possess the adequate "Human capital Resorces" within and the incoming migrants will be there to help the people and support the economy of that country for getting their suvival. Then afterwards, the contribution of Migrants can not be denied in the development of the economy & environment of that country. And that Country have no Moral/ Social/ Human /Legal right to throw these migrants out while making excuses and blaming these migrants for one reason or the other. These migrants be brought in the main streams of that country and must be treated at par BECAUSE NOW IT IS A GLOBAL VILLAGE and every one should have the right to move any where always subject to the well settled principles/ parameters of the Peace, Law & Justice. Prabhat Garg Director Ozone Energy Solutions #188/2,Sector 45-A, Chandigarh-160047 (INDIA) +91 9888682912 ozonenergy@gmail.com |
"Gain Economic Sustaintity."Author:
Mohammad Ahsan
Time: 06/16/2007 09:43
Comment: If all migrated people get the rights for living as a citizen anywhere in the globe then the country in its gain economic sustainability through them. Freedom is poverty reduction and it is moving.
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"Migrants and Language"Author:
Janet McCullow
Time: 06/16/2007 02:08
Comment: What is your view on whether migrants should learn and use the language of their adopted (new) country? Shall governments provide verbal and written translation aid to migrants? Should documents be available to migrants in their language of origin? Should migrants be required to work in a the dominant language of the country they migrate to?
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"USA Immigration, undocumented/illegal residents"Author:
Bruce Johnston
Time: 06/15/2007 22:40
Comment: Hello, I would like your advice regarding the best way for me to help and to be friends with foreign visitors/residents in the United States---those with and without visa/legal and undocumented/illegal. At present, I have friends from many countries. The friends that I am most involved with and concerned about at this time are undocumented. They are young men and women from El Salvador.
They are here for several reasons. The economy is very bad in El Salvador. The cost of everything is very high. It is very hard to find work in El Salvador. The war in El Salvador shattered the country in many ways. More than 75,000 people died in the war. El Salvador is a very small country. Yet, these people are not classified as refugees. Very few people seem to get that status. People from Cuba, who might live relatiively well, get such a status. I have become very good friends with these people. I have eaten with them and shared in their music and culture. They have come to my home. I have given them some guidance regarding their illegal status. They shared it so openly with me. I told them that if they share it with the wrong person, they could end up deported. My feeling is this: I just happen to be lucky enough to have been born in the USA. I do not think the whole world should need to come to the USA to live well, but I do hope that the people of the USA will come to realize that as rich as we are, we simply do not do enough to help other countries. Too often our aid is a manipulation. I would like to work with "refugees" also. I have many friends from Nepal who are students or who have work visas. They are in the USA legally. Yet, I see that they suffer too. Our culture in America is not nearly so friendly as the Nepalese culture. I have many good friends from Nepal. They have told me they feel so lucky to have found me, because most people are not very friendly with them. I have been able to help and guide them in different ways also. I am a spiritual person. My basic philosophy is this: I do my very best to love each and every human being that I encounter equally. It is a daily challenge, but it makes my life very beautiful. Living in a loving way fills my heart with absolute joy. I want to do more for others. Almost all of my friends are from foreign lands. It is my personal mission to love them. Sometimes they ask me what they can give to me. They have already given me so much---their hearts. Yet, I know that I must not become too attached to any one person. To become attached is to get stuck. Generally, my life flows with many people. I am so lucky. Yet, I know I need all of you to be my mentor, teacher, and guide. I want to do better. Thanks so very much, Bruce Arlington, VA USA |
"Emigration and Immigration"Author:
Gerrie Blum
Time: 06/15/2007 22:36
Comment: If our distant ancestors had had the attitude toward migration that too many individuals and governments have today, we never would have left Africa! The growth of xenophobia appears to be primarily a 20-21st Century phenomenon. When my mother arrived as an infant with her mother and brother from (the) Ukraine, there was no quota of how many the USA would admit.
It was before WWI and there were no quotas. As long as you were healthy, and had someone here to vouch for you, you were admitted. And, you could apply for citizenship, learn the language and the "pillars of our society," and be sworn in as a citizen within a reasonable time. That was then. Now, the waiting list is prohibitively long, the government takes its own sweet time about going thru the list, and it takes even longer to become a voting citizen. No longer do local communities work to acclimate the newcomers, and "assimilation" has taken on a negative connotation. Multi-lingualism should be encouraged in our schools for all our children. IMO-Knowing the languages of newcomers would encourage newbies to learn the patois of their new home. We have accepted new foreign words in to our vocabulary since this country was born. Did you have a croissant for breakfast? A taco for lunch? Or was it just a knish? Will you go out for dinner for coq au vin? Or just a pizza? We are all the product of immigration in this country, except for those that were here when we arrived. They had migrated much earlier over the land-bridge, or across the ocean. But, now we are all here and we can't just "close the door behind me." We need to find practical ways to deal with migration. It may very well be the wave of the future even moreso than it was in the past. |
"Children of migrants and migrant children"Author:
Shahin Yaqub
Time: 06/15/2007 21:26
Comment: Migration is getting a lot of visibility now, but most concerns have been adult-centric. Migration affects families and therefore affects children. Children accompany migrating parents, are left behind by migrating parents, and migrate alone (especially as adolescents). On some borders the rates are known to be high, and common sense says it must be high all over becuase migrants are parents too. So for example, it is likely that children are sending remittances, but we dont hear about that. Or discussions on brain drain do not talk about how incentives to migrate undermine incentives to stay in school. And talk of temporary worker schemes do not consider children left behind, and whether schemes should build-in obligations upon recipient countries towards those children. Whilst the legal position of adult migrants might get short shrift in most countries, those under 18 years are covered by the Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by nearly all countries, and those rights are borderless. I would like to hear other people's thinking and information on this issue - and a reaction from panelists on how best to include children in the global debate.
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"climate change migrants or refugees?"Author:
William Gunyon
Time: 06/13/2007 22:00
Comment: I'm editor of the OneWorld Migration Guide www.oneworld.net/guides/migration where we try to focus more on the position in developing countries. There is increasing talk of climate change generating mass migration from poor countries due to flooding or land degradation. I understand that at present environmental migrants do not qualify for refugee status under the Geneva Convention. Do you foresee pressure for this to change?
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"Refugees in South Africa"Author:
Miriam Mannak
Time: 06/13/2007 12:15
Comment: This is not a question, but more a piece of my mind with regards to migration, as no one seems to be interested in this topic – except for Perspectives. In 2004, I moved from Holland to South Africa to work here as a freelance journalist. Over the past years I have often come across to issues that are related to refugees and asylum seekers.
South Africa is the prime country African refugees turn to when escaping the problems in their home country, whether they are political, social or of economic nature. There are so many reasons to flee your home country. Malawians flee a life of absolute poverty and hunger, Zimbabweans escape their country because of political oppression and lack of chances, the Congolese leaving the country because of the ongoing instability and political unrest, etc. There are no exact figures of how many refugees and asylum seekers reside in South Africa, but estimates vary from 2 to 4 million. This puts tremendous strain on South Africa, which itself struggles with high unemployment rates, poverty, lack of housing, health problems, etc. In the recent past, there have been quite a few riots by locals against migrants. Shops owned by refugees were demolished and they themselves were chased away from the townships. In Cape Town, the past 12 months 36 Somalis were killed – allegedly by angry locals. The authorities don't make it easy on refugees either. I have written a series of articles for a Cape Town based newspaper on the way asylum seekers are treated, and it is not pretty. The point is that migration is a complicated issue, which has more than one side to it. But it needs to be addressed, but not just by shoving migrants aside and treating them as semi-criminals or numbers. Unlike what many people in the west tend to think: most migrants are not lurking for social grants, they don’t want to abuse the system. They are people who desperately want a life of dignity, stability and some form of prosperity for which they are willing to work hard. They are people, like you and I. |
"Sending vs. Receiving"Author:
Zoe Sullivan
Time: 06/13/2007 07:30
Comment: Although there is certainly a trend from poorer countries to wealthier ones, generally the developed parts of Europe, North America and Asia, even within other continents people move. Brazil and Argentina, wealthier with respect to other Latin American countries, both have immigrant communities and deal with many of the same issues being addressed in the US.
Ultimately, people will go where they believe they have a possibility to create a better life, wherever that is. Regardless of where a person chooses to make her/his home, it should be possible to do that. |
"The immigrationg conundrum"Author:
Trevor Moomaw
Time: 06/13/2007 05:17
Comment: What are your comments on Bush's the new immigration bill. Is there a better policy that you'd like to see the U.S adopt? I know I don't agree with Bush because there always seems to a secret agenda.
Thank you, Trevor |
"2 Questions"Author:
Jeffrey Allen
Time: 06/13/2007 03:00
Comment: 1- What has been the impact of migration (both immigration and emigration) in Africa? Asia? Latin America? Europe?
2- Do undocumented immigrants in the United States really pay taxes? If so, how many pay how much? Does that mean they're not a net "drain" on the U.S. economy as we hear so often in the media? And why do they pay, if they're scared to be found out by the federal government? |
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