Migration and development: Perspectives from the South

Abstract

Suddenly, “migration and development” is the flavour of the month. For many years politicians and officials in labour-importing countries have seen South-North migrants as a problem for national identity and social cohesion, and more recently even as a threat to national security. Now policymakers are doing everything to emphasize the potential benefits of international migration for the countries of origin. In the past, northern governments ignored the call of labour-exporting states (for instance at the 1994 UN Population Conference in Cairo) to build political mechanisms for cooperation on migration. Now there is a flurry of international activity on the issue; notably the 2005 Report of the Global Commission on International Migration (GCIM), the September 2006 United Nations High-Level Dialogue on Migration and Development, and the first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Brussels in July 2007.