http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=164155
Bangladesh gets high remittances despite recession
Says World Migration Report 2010
Bss, Dhaka
Bangladesh, being one of the world’s leading manpower exporting countries, became the country with remarkably high remittances from its expatriates workers compared to other developing ones despite the global financial recession, said the World Migration Report-2010 (WMR) released yesterday.
The WMR-2010 titled ‘The Future of Migration: Building Capacities for Change’ said remittances to developing countries declined by six percent last year but some countries such as Bangladesh, Pakistan and the Philippines benefited from an increase in remittances between 2008 and 2009 during the recession period.
The International Organisation for Migration (IOM) released the report from Geneva and it will also be launched in Bangladesh soon after International Migrants Day-2010 to be observed on December 18, according to an IOM official from Switzerland.
Although hundreds of millions of dollars are spent each year to strengthen the ability of States to effectively manage migration, the WMR 2010 notes that responses to current and emerging migration challenges and opportunities are often short-term, piecemeal and fragmented.
“The risk of not putting in place policies and adequate resources to deal with migration is to lose a historic opportunity to take advantage of this global phenomenon,” said William Lacy Swing, director general of IOM.
“Given the unrelenting pace of migration, the window of opportunity for States to turn the negatives of migration into positives is rapidly shrinking,” Swing said.
The number of irregular migrants will continue to grow as labour supply in migrant origin countries exceeds demand in migrant receiving countries, it pointed out.
“Without significant investment in migration issues, there is no doubt that critical questions such as the human rights of migrants and their integration into host societies will become even more acute,” Swing added.
The WMR report observed that if the number of international migrants, estimated at 214 million in 2010, continues to grow at the same pace as during the last 20 years, it could reach 405 million by 2050.
New migration patterns are already in evidence as the emerging economies of Asia, Africa and Latin America are becoming ever more important countries of destination for labour migrants.
Investing and planning in the future of migration will help improve public perceptions of migrants, which have been particularly dented by the current economic downturn, he said.
The report identifies labour mobility, irregular migration, migration and development, integration, environmental change and migration governance as areas expected to undergo the greatest transformation in the coming years.
It also recommended for generating better data on irregular migration and labour markets, combating migrant smuggling and human trafficking and improving the ability of transit countries to assist irregular migrants.
The WMR-2010 called for the rigorous analysis of core capacities of countries to manage migration in order to assess their effectiveness and to identify gaps and priorities for the future.
There is a great potential for further labour migration of Bangladesh if it remains committed to providing its labour force with necessary skill development training and ensuring protection to the potential migrants at home and abroad, experts said.
