Immigration Laws: January, 2002 - Number #18

International Migrants Day is celebrated annually on December 18 each year, commemorating the December 18, 1990 United Nations approval of the International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Members of their Families. Since then, 17 countries have ratified the convention; at least 20 must ratify it before it can come into effect.

The UN estimated the number of international migrants-persons outside their country or birth or citizenship for 12 months or more-to be 160 million in 2000. There is no regional or country breakdown, but in 1990, when the UN estimated 120 million migrants, 66 million or 55 percent were in developing countries and 54 million or 45 percent were in developed countries. If these same percentages apply to 2000, there would be 72 million migrants in developed countries and 88 million in developing countries.

The UNHCR held a conference on the 1951 Refugee Convention in December 2001, during which Ruud Lubbers, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told delegates from the 142 signatory countries that they must overcome "fear and mistrust" of asylum-seekers. According to UNHCR, 384,400 asylum applications were filed in the EU in 2000, and 125,400 in the US.

The ILO is leading an effort to reduce exploitative labor, while a number of groups in industrial countries aim to get consumers to buy goods that are made by suppliers that adhere to labor standards. Although problems persist, many multinationals have changed from an attitude of "its not our responsibility" to requiring their suppliers to sign and adhere to labor standards. Since 1992, for example, Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, has required all suppliers to sign a code of conduct that calls for "fair" compensation and "reasonable" work hours.

As with other protest movements, there is a dispute between those who favor gradualist approaches, working with retailers, and those who favor boycotts. Charles Kernaghan of the New York-based National Labor Committee favors boycotts of US firms that purchase goods from sweatshops in El Salvador, Bangladesh, Indonesia and Haiti and, most recently, south China toy factories. According to the NLC, migrant women work 14 hours a day, seven days a week, for 15 to 20 cents an hour, making toys. In response to such criticism, toy maker Mattel says that workers' dormitories in China have been rebuilt, and that many factories have installed new ventilation systems to reduce heat and fumes.

Human Development. The 2001 Human Development Report proposed the richest countries and companies should be charged two-months' salary as an "exit fee" for each worker from developing countries.

Many Europeans favor "brain circulation," suggesting that nationals of developing countries work abroad for a few years before returning to their countries of origin with new skills, contacts and savings. In some circumstances, migration sets in motion a virtuous circle, as between Bangalore, India and Silicon Valley in high-tech-thousands of Indian firms in India and the US have been funded by wages and profits earned by Indians in the US.

In India, pressure from migrants abroad helped to relax rules that restricted foreign investment. Non-resident Indians (NRI) were allowed to maintain foreign exchange deposits in Indian banks, for example, and some restrictions on foreigners investing in India were relaxed for NRIs.

Janamitra Devan and Parth Tewari, two McKinsey consultants and authors of Brains Abroad, cite the story of a village council in the Philippines that organized migrant associations abroad in order to increase and channel the flow of remittances.