Posted on 10/05/2005 7:32:10 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
UNITED NATIONS (AP) - International migrants send about $240 billion to their home countries yearly, a significant engine of growth for the world economy, the Global Commission on International Migration said Wednesday.
But the 19-member independent panel said in a report that world governments have failed to take advantage of the enormous opportunities that result from such migration or to manage the challenges posed by the foreigners' arrival.
The clearest finding from the commission's nearly two-year study is "the great importance in (economic) growth terms, and development terms, that is created out of migration," said Jan Karlsson, Sweden's former minister for migration and development who co-chaired the panel.
He urged countries to use factual knowledge about "the positive impact that migration has" to fight the xenophobia about migrants.
The commission was established in response to a call by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan in 2002 for an international review of migration issues. Annan, who received the report Wednesday, said the 191 U.N. member states should consider the report ahead of next year's General Assembly meeting on migration and development.
"In the 21st century, one of our most important challenges is to find ways to manage migration for the benefit of all - of sending countries, receiving countries, transit countries, and migrants themselves," he said. "I agree with the commission that we are not rising to this challenge yet. But I am convinced that we must do so."
According to the U.N.'s Population Division, there are now almost 200 million international migrants in every part of the globe, counting only those who have lived outside their country for more than one year and including 9.2 million refugees.
The commission's co-chair, Mamphela Ramphele, said at the launch of the new report that those migrants contribute over $2 trillion to the countries they work in.
Over the past 35 years, the number of migrants rose from 82 million in 1970 to 175 million in 2000 and nearly 200 million today, the report said.
The United States has some 35 million migrants, said the report, which used the latest available statistics from the United Nations, the World Bank and the International Organization for Migration.
Ramphele, the World Bank's former managing director, said the 200 million migrants are generating enormous revenues for their home countries by sending remittances to their families.
"The latest figures from the World Bank show that it's even more than what we have in the report which is $150 billion - they're (now) talking about $240 billion," she told a news conference.
"If you think about migrants sending home, let's say 10 percent of their income, we're talking about them generating at least $2 trillion that gets added to the value of GDP of the countries where they are, and overall enhancing global development," said Ramphele said.
According to the report, the United States was the top remittance-sending country in 2001, dispatching $28 billion overseas.
Ramphele, who is from South Africa, said development, demography and democracy "are making international migration accelerate at the pace that it is accelerating today."
At present, she said, many labor-rich countries can't absorb all their young people into the workforce and resource-rich countries that are labor poor need the services of migrants, not just at the lower end but across the employment spectrum.
Sharon Burrow, a commission member who is president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said the rights, responsibilities, and contributions of migrants should be recognized.
"In Australia, we've had 16 years of economic growth. None of it would be possible without a multi-cultural nation that is based on migration. In California, your economy would collapse before breakfast without undocumented workers, in London before lunch, I think," Burrow added.
What's needed most, Karlsson said, is for governments and organizations dealing with migration to stop acting alone.
"All countries, without exception, are handling migration as if no other country exists," he said. "The way out of that dilemma is not to do away with national sovereignty" but to recognize the need for cooperation.
Ah yes! The old 'xenophobia' card again.
'Xenophobia'- that's when Americans are concerned about their own country to the displeasure of the Open Borders Lobby.
Silly me. I read the LA Times and thought that immigrants are net contributors to the American economy.
. [/sarcasm]
I consider that foreign aid. Maybe we could factor it in to the budget like state lotteries, for every dollar sent out we could reduce our foreign aid.
If the Illegals ever decided to invest in America who knows what we could accomplish. When I say invest I mean financially and culturally.
We sure could use the quarter trillion back in our economy now.
A great movie, that one.
He urged countries to use factual knowledge about "the positive impact that migration has" to fight the xenophobia about migrants.
The United States has some 35 million migrants, said the report,
According to the report, the United States was the top remittance-sending country in 2001, dispatching $28 billion overseas.
"The way out of that dilemma is not to do away with national sovereignty" but to recognize the need for cooperation...
... so we can do away with national sovereignty.
ping
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