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Current refugee-migrant flows (from Burma and Bangladesh toward Thailand and Malaysia and across the Mediterranean from Africa and the Middle East toward Europe) have highlighted the need to attack the root causes of such migration and refugee flows.  There is a need to move beyond the overly narrow definition of the 1951 Convention on the Status of Refugees − “ a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion or nationality in his home country.”

   Migration and refugee flows are intrinsically of the same nature, only differing in the degree and intensity of the problems that drive them from their homes. These root causes can be summed up as being poverty with little hope of change, social tensions − some created for political reasons − and environmental degradation. These root causes created “the uprooted” with resulting alienation and suffering.  Some are uprooted and stay within their own country − now called “the internally displaced”.  When they cross State frontiers, they become migrants or refugees and thus a concern to neighboring States and the United Nations − in particular the Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

   Ideally, there needs to be successful conflict resolution efforts in armed conflict zones such as Syria-Iraq and land reforms, greater emphasis on rural growth, improved access to credit for the poor, environmental protection and a pluralistic political order in Burma (Myanmar) and Bangladesh.  The same measures for ecologically-sound development and overcoming vulnerability should be taken in the African countries whose citizens join with those from the Middle East in trying to cross the Mediterranean.  Ideally also, there should be a channelling of greater efforts and resources directed towards meeting the basic needs of people in their home countries.

   Yet conflict resolution takes time.  There are few signs of an end to the armed conflicts in Syria-Iraq or to the establishment of a stable and just political order in Libya.  Transition to a democratic and pluralistic government in Myanmar, granting dignity and respect to all the “national minorities” is likely to ba a long process.  It is not clear that the military who have ben in control since 1960 will be very helpful.  Ecologically-sound development is also slow even when governments are relatively competent.

   Faced with the problem of the arrival of refugees and migrants, neighboring countries have often hardened their responses and created growing restrictive measures. There has been a growing emphasis on the punishment of traffickers who profit from the migration flows and to an extent encourage it. In Europe, we have seen the growth of anti-migration proposals by political parties, usually parties in opposition but at times as part of governing coalition governments.  Nationalist discourses are reinvented and reasserted. We have seen the tightening of immigration controls and the deportation of “illegal entrants”. Australia and Israel have followed the same practices.

   The consequences of these methods lead many refugees and migrants to live extremely grim, inhumane and uncertain lives, unable to find regular work and the children unable to go to State-run schools.

   Fortunately, there has been a response from non-governmental organizations (NGO) to the challenge of the increased number of refugees and migrants.  Often it has been a spontaneous effort of good will by persons who have met a refugee or migrant.  But such efforts by NGOs need greater support and coordination.  Action groups need to be able to act at the same time in more than one country. Transnational action by NGOs is needed, especially as governments within the European Union meet among themselves, often to adopt common restrictive policies.  The same is true of the Southasian States in ASEAN, some of whom have met these days in Thailand to discuss how to cope with the refugee flows.  Thus we face a double task: peace, reform, development in countries from which refugees and migrants leave and a coordinated policy of help, support, and integration in the countries receiving the refugees and migrants.  These are urgent tasks − vigorous and coordinated actions by NGOs are needed.

 

Rene Wadlow, President and a representative to the United Nations, Geneva, Association of World Citizens

 

 

Editor's Comment

   Rene Wadlow presents the case from an NGO point of view. He suggests that the distinction between refugees and migrants is an artificial one. In theory, the refugee has been pushed out of his or her country whereas the migrant has been pulled out by the promise of a better life abroad. In practice, the two categories cannot really be separated.

   The Syrian refugee arriving in Europe does not want to remain in Greece, Malta or Cyprus: he or she wants to proceed to, say, Sweden because of the promise of an easier acceptance and a better life. Hence, the Syrian refugee may have considered both a push and a pull factor when deciding to leave Syria. On the contrary, a Yemenite may not know any country bordering Yemen where he (not to speak of she) could hope for humane treatment and a minimal livelihood. If he decides to leave Yemen he would be acting on a push factor alone.

  In the case of economic migrants it is often not sure that they act on a pull factor only. Frequently, there will be other circumstances giving them a push, maybe even the decisive one. Discrimination of Roma in Balkan countries, of nomads in African countries, of religious and ethnic minorities anywhere: discrimination is not the kind of persecution in terms of lethal danger which would lift the migrant into the higher category of refugee.

   Discrimination or persecution? A difficult distinction to be made by immigration officials deciding on the fate of thousands now, perhaps millions in future. Also, there are other circumstances which could create a powerful push factor during the process of migration. Someone who has crossed the Sahara or the Sudan on the way to the Mediterranean may have had terrible experiences making a return trip unthinkable. Someone who sold a kidney in Khartoum to obtain the money for the trip to Italy: the Libyan coast is full of people who started out as economic migrants but are now in such a desperate situation that they would rather buy a place on the flimsiest boat of the least expensive smuggler than attempt to return. The pull factor has turned into a lethal push factor. But immigration officials won't recognize and accept that.

   There are also those migrants who destroyed their documents in order to pose as refugees. The government of Eritrea says many Eritrean refugees were in reality Ethiopian migrants.  Since the same tribes live on both sides of the border, the same languages are spoken and written, the oppressive government is using this fact as a convenient excuse. However, immigration officials are often challenged to determine the real nationality of an applicant for asylum; a lengthy and costly process. With rising numbers of illegal immigrants and a growing backlog in processing them, practices tend to become summary: Eritreans yes, Ethiopians no.  Who can't prove to be Eritrean could be considered Ethiopian.

   Like many observers, Wadlow recommends assistance to the countries of origin of economic migrants, the 'pull countries' as it were, to reduce the strength of the pull factor, and political action in 'push countries' to reduce or eliminate the push factors.  How difficult this approach is even within the European Union is exemplified by Bulgaria whose poverty persists and whose Slavic and Roma ethnic groups are clashing,  pushing out the minority.

   The pull factors are becoming stronger by the year. As television and internet are spreading in Africa and Asia, more villages, more people become aware of the image Europe's entertainment and commercial programs are presenting. People living in ample modern homes, driving luxury cars. traveling to distant places, enjoying sports and beach life, collecting art. How does this paradigm of life impact a boy in a thatched hut without running water and electricity in, say, the Ethiopian highlands, several hour's walk away from the nearest school?  A boy who does not know the operative end of a screwdriver because he has never turned a screw in his life but who saw some entertainment programs on the school's TV set?

   Even in developed countries such as Germany, the pull factors can be enormously strong. The East German state collapsed because the eastern population wanted the German Mark currency immediately after re-unification. The little money they had they splashed first on bananas and later on cars. They wanted the western standard of life as they imagined it, right away. Only later they discovered that this standard was far from perfect, deprived them of some conveniences, and hurt some of them badly.  So much for the Germans.

   But who is going to tell the boy in the thatched hut what the European paradise he imagines is really like?  If he knew what lies ahead for him before reaching Europe, and what afterwards, he might bury his dream. But no-one tells him. The pull factor rules supreme.

   Yet, there are some very modest, low scale initiatives undertaken. Donor-supported “community conversations” where people discuss the harsh realities of illegal travel, are effective at putting off potential migrants in Ethiopia, according to a spokesperson of the Prime Minster's Ofiice. This kind of effort is needed on a  global scale in Africa, Asia and Latin America, making use of modern media, and focusing on the hazards of both internal and international migration. 

Update

   The Overseas Development Institute (ODI) , a UK-based independent think tank urged European leaders to develop a broader understanding of what causes people to migrate.

   Its Why People Move report said: “The evidence reveals that the asylum-seekers and economic migrants often have similar reasons for choosing to make the dangerous journey to Europe and one person may fall into both of these categories at the same time. “One common and crucial motivation is their search for a secure livelihood. Measures that aim to allow asylum seekers in, while restricting the entry of economic migrants, overlook the reasons why a particular person migrates, and are likely to increase irregular migration still further as migrants seek alternative – and often more dangerous – ways to reach European countries.”

 

 

 

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L’arrivo di migranti in Italia ha permesso di mantenere un vantaggio comparato nei settori tradizionali. Ma ha anche contribuito a rimandare la ristrutturazione verso settori più avanzati. Più lontano il paese di provenienza, più semplice la mansione dei lavoratori immigrati. Un’occasione persa.
 

Immigrazione e lavoro

   Nel nostro paese l’immigrazione ha avuto caratteristiche molto peculiari rispetto ad altre economie avanzate. Anche se la percentuale di stranieri in Italia è più bassa rispetto ad altri paesi europei, il fenomeno migratorio è stato particolarmente intenso e variegato. La quota degli stranieri si è infatti più che triplicata tra il 1990 (2,9 per cento della popolazione residente) e il 2010 (7,9 per cento), mentre per Francia e Germania tale quota è aumentata in misura molto minore (rispettivamente dal 10,4 all’11,6 per cento e dal 7,4 all’11,9 per cento).
   Il tema più analizzato in relazione all’incremento dei flussi migratori è quello relativo alle possibili conseguenze salariali e occupazionali che una più alta popolazione di migranti può avere su quella dei nativi. I migranti “rubano” il lavoro ai nativi o ne determinano un abbassamento del salario?    L’ampia produzione scientifica sul fenomeno sembra ormai concludere che un eventuale effetto di sostituibilità riguarda solo i segmenti del mercato del lavoro meno qualificato (a bassa scolarizzazione). Francesco D’Amuri e Giovanni Peri in un articolo che uscirà sul Journal of European Economic Association, suggeriscono che nelle economie europee l’effetto sui salari dei nativi è pressoché nullo (e comunque non negativo).

 Più manifattura e meno servizi

   Tuttavia, il rapido afflusso di nuova e così eterogenea manodopera potrebbe avere altri effetti sull’economia del nostro paese. In un lavoro recente abbiamo mostrato che l’afflusso di nuovi migranti – in genere caratterizzati da un produttività relativamente più elevata in mansioni semplici – ha favorito la crescita di settori produttivi che impiegano con maggiore frequenza lavoratori che svolgono mansioni semplici.
    Utilizzando i dati dei permessi di soggiorno e del valore aggiunto disaggregato su diversi settori produttivi a livello provinciale, le nostre stime – relative al periodo 1995-2006 – evidenziano come in quelle province in cui l’incidenza della migrazione sulla popolazione è aumentata, si sono osservati un aumento significativo del valore aggiunto complessivo, ma anche una crescita notevole del valore aggiunto delle manifatture rispetto a quello dei servizi avanzati (nell’ordine del 13-19 per cento quando il rapporto tra il numero dei permessi di soggiorno e la popolazione provinciale raddoppia).
   Il nostro studio evidenzia un altro interessante risultato collegato alla diversità della migrazione in Italia. La crescita relativa delle manifatture diviene più marcata in quelle province in cui i migranti provengono da paesi che sono significativamente diversi dal nostro, sia in termini di reddito pro-capite, sia di livello di scolarizzazione, cioè in quelle province in cui vi è una maggiore divergenza nelle produttività relative tra lavoratori italiani e migranti. Al contrario, quando i paesi di origine sono più simili al nostro, non si evidenzia nessun effetto statisticamente significativo sulla composizione della struttura produttiva.
   In conclusione, l’effetto della migrazione sulla struttura produttiva è materia complessa e può essere letta sia in chiave positiva che negativa. Da una parte, ha permesso ai settori tradizionali di mantenere un vantaggio comparato che altrimenti non avrebbero potuto conservare data la competizione internazionale e l’impossibilità di avvantaggiarsi di strumenti svalutativi come in passato. Dall’altra, ha contribuito a rimandare una ristrutturazione verso settori più avanzati congelando la nostra economia in una struttura produttiva e di export di tipo tradizionale.

Il quadro normativo

   Tutto questo è avvenuto in un quadro normativo di gestione dell’immigrazione ben poco lungimirante e attento alle conseguenze economiche. Le politiche di accoglienza e di integrazione dovrebbero incentivare l’impiego dei migranti in mansioni non solo semplici, ma anche complesse in cui mostrano produttività più elevata e vantaggi comparati. Si pensi solamente all’abilità linguistica nel penetrare i paesi di origine, estremamente importante in una nazione con provata vocazione a esportare come l’Italia.
   I nostri risultati muovono in altra direzione, mostrano che il fenomeno migratorio ha favorito il sistema economico, ma relativamente di più nei settori tradizionali che più utilizzano mansioni semplici e routinarie. Si è persa quindi l’opportunità offerta dall’ingresso di persone diverse da noi. La diversità e l’eterogeneità culturale sono sempre foriere di innovazioni e opportunità, un aspetto chiaramente dimostrato in una vasta letteratura economica. Ora, da più parti si invoca una revisione della legge Bossi-Fini. È bene tener conto anche di questo aspetto quando se ne valuteranno i risultati e si proporrà una sua riforma, che dovrà riguardare non solo gli ingressi o la cittadinanza, ma anche le politiche per accompagnare l’inserimento nella società e nell’economia italiana.

Giuseppe De Arcangelis, Edoardo Di Porto e Gianluca Santoni--laVoce.info

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   Summer solstice on June 21st is celebrated the world over. The weirdest of these celebrations, however, is the Yulin Dog Meat Festival in China.

 

   On this day, millions of people in the city of Yulin will consume huge quantities of meat: no beef, no pork but, horribile dictu, dog and cat meat.  Thousands of dogs and cats, not only strays but also farmed ones and stolen pets, will be killed or boiled alive to facilitate skinning.

 

   Officially, the festival has been banned by the government but no action is taken. Illegal markets sell the meat irrespective of the lethal danger of contracting diseases such as rabies and trichinosis from raw or poorly cooked meat. Also, some dog catchers poison the animals.

 

   The festival is drawing growing numbers of protesting activists from China and all over the world. The event has apparently made Yulin a tourist attraction and some butchers are said to threaten to kill animals publicly in specially cruel ways unless the activists pay ransom for freeing the poor beasts.

 

   However, Yulin is only the top of the iceberg. Eating dogs and cats is not forbidden in China, and a estimated 20 million dogs are consumed every year. The problem also exists in Viet Nam and Korea. Only Taiwan has banned pet meat consumption.

 

   There are several petitions to stop the Yulin festival on the Internet which are gaining social media support and can be signed, for instance here.

 

Update

The Independent (U.K) reported on this year's Yulin festival.   Read this report here.

 

 

Some links:

 

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 Die Sommer-Sonnenwende am 21. Juni wird weltweit gefeiert.  Die merkwürdigste dieser Feiern ist jedoch das Hundefleisch-Fest von Yulin in China.

An diesem Tag werden Millionen Menschen in der Stadt Yulin riesige Mengen Fleisch verzehren: kein Rindfleisch, kein Schweinefleisch sondern,  horribile dictu, Hunde- und Katzenfleisch.  Tausende Hunde und Katzen, nicht nur Streuner, sondern auch Zuchttiere und gestohlene Haustiere werden getötet bzw. lebend gekocht, um sie leichter häuten zu können.

Offiziell ist das Fest von der Regierung verboten. doch fehlt die Durchsetzung. In illegalen Märkten wird das Fleisch verkauft ohne Rücksicht auf die tödliche Gefahr von Krankheiten wie Tollwut und Trichinen als Folge des Verzehrs von rohem oder unvollkommen gekochtem Fleisch. Auch vergiften einige Hundefänger die Tiere.

Das Fest zieht steigende Zahlen von protestierenden Aktivisten aus China und dem Ausland an. Offenbar wurde Yulin zu einer touristischen Attraktion und es wurde berichtet, dass einige Metzger sogar drohen, Tiere besonders grausam zu töten, wenn die Aktivisten kein Lösegeld für die Freisetzung zahlen.

Yulin ist jedoch nur die Spitze des Eisbergs. Der Verzehr von Hunden und Katzen ist in China nicht verboten. und man schätzt, dass jährlich etwa 20 Millionen Hunde verspeist werden. Das Problem besteht auch in Vietnam und Korea; nur Taiwan hat den Verzehr von diesen Haustieren verboten.

Es gibt mehrere Petitionen gegen das Yulin-Fest auf dem Internet, die zunehmend in den sozialen Medien unterstützt werden. Eine solche Petition ist diese.

 

Einige Links:

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   Virtually all European media are running articles speculating about the likely impact of a Grexit or a default without Grexit on the Eurozone and the global economy.

   However, there is another, political aspect to be taken into consideration. Is it desirable to keep Greece with its current government in the Eurozone?

   Let us face it: Syriza is dominated by a bunch of crypto-communists, trotskyites and anarchists who may individually be very likeable people but as a group are fitting into modern Europe about as well as a Salafist or a fascist government.

   It is quite remarkable that conservative politicians such as Merkel or Juncker have engaged in weeks of discussions with these hot-headed radicals dreaming of defeating "capitalism" and establishing their version of a Socialist paradise. It must be very trying for a Christian Democrat politician, for instance, to consider any concession to a government located at the opposite end of the political spectrum.

   It is obvious that the Greeks would love Syriza if it succeeds in imposing its will on the "institutions".  A successful Syriza could dominate Greek politics for years to come. Cheeky as they are, once Greece is saved, Syriza would attempt to impose its views on Brussels, to manipulate the Eurozone and the European Central Bank. A trouble maker par excellence.

   The question would arise: how much Greece can Europe support? The experience of the past few weeks is not encouraging.

Ihsan al-Tawil

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