MORE RELIABLE DATA NEEDED FOR EFFECTIVE POLICY FORMULATION, NETHERLANDS TELLS COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
Press Release
POP/637
MORE RELIABLE DATA NEEDED FOR EFFECTIVE POLICY FORMULATION, NETHERLANDS TELLS COMMISSION ON POPULATION AND DEVELOPMENT
19970224 To formulate effective policies on international migration, the Commission on Population and Development needed more reliable data on migration, the direction of migrant flows and the characteristics of migrants, the representative of the Netherlands told the Commission this afternoon.As the Commission continued its session devoted to international migration with special emphasis on the linkages between migration and development and on gender issues and the family, the Netherlands' representative, speaking on behalf of the European Union and associated States, said it was necessary to analyse such data at an early stage, so the international community could design effective migration policies. In addition, the international community required research at the micro-level on migration flows within and between countries and regions, as well as on specific topics, such as employment and income, women and migration, the links between rural-urban and international migration and the function of financial remittances.
The representative of Canada agreed and said the various aspects of international migration were often viewed in a fragmented manner. He stressed the interrelatedness of population growth, development and migration.
The representative of the United States highlighted the difficulty of discussing international migration at the global level and said that rather than engaging in academic discussion of the complexities of disentangling development-migration causation, the Commission should seek to target development initiatives on communities affected by migration. That approach would serve not only the development goals of individual States, but would also serve as a potentially effective mechanism to help break the cycle of conflict and reduce the likelihood of future crises in some nations.
The representative of Peru said the distinction between different types of migrants should be recognized, as specific steps were needed to deal with issues involving divergent migrant groups. He also emphasized that migrants and refugees, those affected by migration policy, should be heard from.
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Statements were also made by the representatives of Brazil, Russian Federation, Ukraine and Jamaica. Representatives of the International Organization for Migration and the International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres also spoke.
Also this afternoon, the Deputy Director of the Technical and Evaluation Division, United Nations Population Fund, introduced the report of the Administrative Committee on Coordination (ACC) Task Force on Basic Social Service for All. The UNFPA's Senior Technical Officer introduced a report on Flows of Financial Resources in International Assistance for Population.
The Commission this afternoon elected as Vice-Chairpersons: Andras Klinger (Hungary); Akintobi Kadejo (Nigeria); and Raj Karim (Malaysia), who will also serve as the Commission's Rapporteur. At its morning meeting, it had elected Jenny Gierveld (Netherlands) as a Vice-Chairman. The Chairman of the Commission is Jose Gomez de Leon (Mexico).
The Commission will meet again at 10 a.m. Tuesday, 25 February, to begin its general debate on national experience on population matters.
Commission Work Programme
The Commission on Population and Development met this afternoon to continue its discussion of follow-up actions to the recommendations concerning international migration of the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo. (For background information on the session, see Press Releases POP/635 of 21 February and POP/636 of 24 February.)
Concerning follow-up actions to the recommendations of the Cairo Conference, the Commission has before it the Secretary-General's report on activities of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in the area of international migration (document E/CN.9/1997/5). The report summarizes information on international migration gathered through correspondence and questionnaires sent to intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations to assess their progress towards achieving the objectives of the Programme of Action of the Cairo Conference. The report also provides a summary of activities undertaken by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in collaboration with non-governmental organizations in the search for solutions to the problems of refugees.
The information used for the report was gathered through letters and questionnaires sent to intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. Although several intergovernmental organizations responded to the letters, only four provided information on activities specifically in the area of international migration: the Council of Europe; the International Organization for Migration; the Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization; and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Section II of the report assesses the work of non-governmental organizations specifically in the field of international migration and identifies ways in which they are implementing the objectives and recommendations for action of the Programme of Action. In doing so, it summarizes information gathered through a questionnaire filled out by 105 such organizations, or 37 per cent of all groups contacted.
While the non-governmental organizations that responded to the survey said that their work promoted and implemented all the objectives stated in Chapter X of the Programme of Action, no one organization covered all the objectives. The vast majority of programmes mentioned in the survey were very practical in nature: skills training; legal and medical services; provision of emergency shelter and food; language training; interpretation and translation; and so forth. Those programme priorities emerged in direct response to the expressed needs of the constituencies served by the organizations.
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Asked to identify what they considered to be the four most important objectives of those listed in Chapter X, the respondents decisively accorded the highest priority to addressing the root causes of migration, especially those related to poverty. Protection was the next greatest concern, with numerous organizations identifying the need to ensure protection against racism, ethnocentrism and xenophobia and to eliminate discriminatory practices against documented migrants, especially women, children and the elderly. The third most important objective was promoting the welfare of migrants. Respondents identified the need to address the root causes of undocumented migration as fourth in order of importance.
The report states that UNRWA currently works with over 50 national or international non-governmental organizations and some 250 local non-governmental organizations in providing services to 3.3 million Palestine refugees in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and Gaza Strip. The organizations are generally oriented towards medical, humanitarian, human rights and development issues. The UNRWA helps non-governmental organizations by giving direct financial aid or by sharing expertise, technology and information and through joint training workshops. The Agency also participates with non-governmental organizations in seminars and planning, assists with their fund-raising campaigns and supports the development of community organizations.
As a result of the Oslo Declaration and Plan of Action, adopted at the Global NGO and UNHCR Partnership in Action Conference (Oslo, 6 to 9 June 1994), UNHCR was committed to implement a wide range of measures that included a review of pertinent UNHCR structures and procedures to facilitate the dialogue with non-governmental organizations. The Office of the NGO Coordinator was established at Headquarters to ensure follow-up to the process and keep the High Commissioner, her senior management and the Executive Committee informed of its progress. In pursuing recommendations related to cooperative information networks with non-governmental organizations, UNHCR's Centre for Documentation and Research has continued its collaboration with the International Refugee Documentation Network, a world-wide network of organizations and institutions, including non-governmental organizations, concerned with refugee and human rights issues.
In response to the need to implement recommendations aimed at improving relations between UNHCR and non-governmental organizations in delivery assistance, including emergency preparedness and response, technical support, project management and training, UNHCR has undertaken numerous measures. They include the involvement of non-governmental organizations in the Emergency Management Training Programme throughout the world and stand-by arrangements with non-governmental organizations to provide prompt technical services and to publish, after consultation with non-governmental organizations, handbooks on technical subjects, such as vocational training and reproductive health.
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Statements
N.H. BIEGMAN (Netherlands), speaking on behalf of the European Union and the associated countries of Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Hungary, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Slovak Republic and Slovenia, said that migration raised concerns in developed, as well as developing countries for different reasons. For host countries those concerns might be limiting the absorptive capacity or problems relating to integration of migrants in their new environment. In countries of origin, migration could be detrimental to their capacity for development. Chapter X of the Cairo Programme of Action clearly stated the complex and diverse linkages between migration and development.
One of the central notions in the Cairo Programme of Action was that dealing with migration policies should be done in an integrated manner, he said. That approach included looking at the flows of migrants between and within developing countries and the impact of those flows on the development of countries concerned. Development, or the lack thereof, lay at the root of an individual's decision to move or stay. International development cooperation could contribute to sustainable development and make the option of remaining in one's country viable for all people, thus preventing a brain drain and promoting human rights, democratization and good government.
As expressed in the Cairo Programme of Action, cooperation and dialogue between countries of destination and countries of origin was a major requirement to increase the likelihood that migration had positive consequences for the development of both sending and receiving countries, he said. International cooperation should focus on joint efforts to deal with migration issues by means of agreements, which took into account the rights, security and dignity of all migrants, particularly women and children migrants and refugees.
The first task of the Commission was to provide a forum for an exchange of views, in order to monitor implementation of the Programme of Action and monitor the estimates of the Population Division regarding world population trends, including developments in fertility and mortality, he said. The relationship between migration and development was highly complex and important, but understanding the linkages between migration and development was still weak.
In order to formulate effective policies, he said, the Commission needed more reliable data on migration, the direction of migrant flows and the characteristics of migrants, including their origin, sex, rural or urban background and level of education. It was necessary to analyse such data at an early stage, so the international community could design effective migration policies. The international community also needed research at the
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micro-level on migration flows within and between countries and regions, as well as specific topics, such as employment and income, women and migration, the links between rural-urban and international migration and the function of financial remittances.
The European Union supported a call for United Nations organizations involved in migration to collaborate and coordinate their efforts in addressing the root causes of migration, increasing partnerships with non- governmental organizations and civil society, advancing human rights of migrants and enhancing resource mobilization from non-traditional donors, he said. It also welcomed efforts by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) to design methodologies and a database for the systematic assessment of domestic financial flows in developing countries for population and reproductive health activities. Such a database would significantly improve the monitoring of the implementation of the Cairo Action Plan and would enable both donors and recipient countries to better assess financing requirements and design assistance programmes.
PETER LILIUS (Canada) said his country took a deep interest in migration because it was and continued to be a nation of migrants. All countries shared the necessity of finding a solution to the problems related to migration. Too often, the various aspects of international migration were viewed in a fragmented manner. Right now was the chance to look at the issue in its entirety. He emphasized that categories of migrants could not be so easily divided from each other. A framework for looking at migration comprehensively was required. In that context, "we need some carpenters to cut some doors in the dividing walls", he said.
Very often, there was talk of duplication, he said. However, he stressed that attention should be focused at gaps and not at duplication. There were gaps in the data on migration, as the Population Division had pointed out. Also, comparability of data was important. He stressed the need for better and more complete statistics. Also, a closer look should be taken at the relationship between population and development. Work should be done on the interrelatedness of population growth, development and migration. Today, there were few forums to bring experts together on all three areas, which was the kind of opportunity offered by the Commission.
It was also interesting to note that countries of origin were today becoming countries of destination, as well as countries of transition, he said. Canada had been in regional dialogue with its neighbours in South America and had participated in the regional conference held in Puebla, Mexico, in March 1996. It found the idea of the planned Technical Symposium on International Migration in 1998 interesting. However, it had questions on the symposium's agenda.
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Activities of Non-Governmental Organizations
BIRGITA BUCHT, Assistant Director of the Population Division, Department of Economic and Social Information and Policy Analysis, introduced the Secretary-General's report on the activities of intergovernmental and non- governmental organizations in the area of international migration (document E/CN.9/1997/5).
ACC Task Force
CATHERINE S. PIERCE, Deputy Director of the Technical and Evaluation Division, introduced the report of the ACC Task Force on Basic Social Services for All (document E/CN.9/1997/4). She said the report afforded some idea of the range and volume of activities being undertaken by the members of the Task Force. The Task Force provided an effective mechanism for addressing concerns in the area of international migration articulated in the Cairo Programme of Action and in the action of programmes and platforms emanating from other United Nations Conferences. The products of the Task Force would contribute to and further enhance inter-agency collaborative processes, while strengthening development partnerships among governments, the United Nations system, non-governmental organizations, the private sector and civil society.
Financial Resources in Population Assistance
MICHAEL VLASSOFF, Senior Technical Officer of the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), introduced the Secretary-General's report on Flows of Financial Resources in International Assistance for Population (document E/CN.9/1997/6). He expressed his regrets that the document had not been made available to Commission members sufficiently in advance of the meeting. Regarding financial flows, he said substantial year-on-year increases had been registered for both 1994 and 1995. Complete data for 1995 was not yet available, but the report estimated total international assistance in 1995 at around $2 billion, an increase of more than 50 per cent over 1993.
Substantial increases in donor assistance had also been noted, both in terms of dollars per million dollars of the gross national product (GNP) ($43 in 1990 to $72 in 1995) and as percentage of official development assistance (ODA) (1.21 per cent in 1990 to 2.61 per cent in 1995), he said. However, preliminary indications were that the 1993 to 1995 upward trend in international assistance was not maintained in 1996.
The recent agreement between the European Union and the UNFPA for $31 million involving population programmes in several Asian countries was a significant development in the post-Cairo actions in resources mobilization, he said. Other actions of individual donors included: the policy decision of the Government of the Netherlands to dedicate 4 per cent of its ODA to
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population; and large increases in population assistance from the Government of Denmark channelled through the UNFPA.
Questionnaires had been sent to all UNFPA field offices requesting information on domestic resource flows for population, he said. However, out of 107 questionnaires, information had been received from 50 countries by the cut-off date for the report. The present report was based on a classification of population activities reflecting a Cairo Conference perspective. Data on allocations had been sought in seven categories, namely: basic reproductive health; family planning; maternal and child care; sexually transmitted disease prevention, including HIV/AIDS; population data; research and policy analysis; and population. However, in only a few cases had the information been provided according to those categories. Several methodological problems were responsible for that.
EDUARDO PAES SABOIA (Brazil) said his Government had recently concluded its first census of Brazilians living abroad, approximately 1.5 million individuals who remit $3 billion annually to their home country. While only 1 per cent of the Brazilian population lived abroad, his Government believed that it was meaningful to have targeted measures in support of those populations. His country was well aware that international migration could not be solved unilaterally, and that was why his Government was engaged in consultations at the regional and bilateral levels. Migrants in Brazil were given human rights, and a haven for large communities of refugees, especially from Angola, had been provided.
International migration was an important issue and should be discussed, he said. He welcomed the studies by the Population Division and thought that the assistance provided by the UNFPA had been very helpful. In an increasingly globalized world, it was important that efforts to increase free trade should be balanced with increased mobility of labour. Coordination within the United Nations system on the issues should be promoted.
CARLOS ARAMBURO (Peru) said the distinction between different types of migrants was often muddled. In Peru, migration was of two types: the first was internal migration, which mostly involved people moving away from areas dominated by the revolutionary group Shining Path; the second was external migration, with younger people leaving for developed countries. Different and specific steps were needed to deal with issues involving the two groups and to address their needs. He also stressed that it was important to hear from the migrants about their needs.
BORIS AVRAMENKO (Russian Federation) said in the period from 1992 to 1996, 909,000 refugees had been registered in his country, and an additional 500,000 people had resettled in the country. Most of the resettlers had come from the former Soviet States. The reasons for their migration were to be
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found in the disbandment of the Federation, discriminatory practices in the areas of langauge and statehood and the expulsion of Russian-speaking populations from certain areas. Other reasons for migration included the growth of unemployment and conflict.
Russia was the host to nearly 6,000 illegal migrants from the countries of Africa, Asia and the near East, he said. Therefore, the Russian Federation had significant experience in migration. Currently there were 172,000 foreign citizens legally employed in the country, from Turkey and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), among others. Protection of the rights of migrants was at the forefront of its concerns. The creation of appropriate hosting and housing of migrants and assimilation of migrants culturally and socially was also important. Multilateral and bilateral agreements to deal with the issue of migration had been concluded by Russia with the CIS and China, among others.
MARGUERITE RIVERA HOUZE (United States) said international migration had many facets that made it difficult to discuss at the global level. Rather than engaging in academic discussion of the complexities of disentangling development-migration causation, the Commission should seek to target development initiatives on communities affected by migration. That approach would serve not only the development goals of individual States, but would also serve as a potentially effective mechanism to help break the cycle of conflict and reduce the likelihood of future crises in some nations.
Discussions of international migration often assumed that migration worldwide was largely from the developing world to the developed world, she said. There was, however, other evidence that international migration flows were very prominent within regions beyond the documented refugee flows that represented the majority of the migration listed in developing nations. After all, both legal and undocumented migrants could more easily travel to a nearby country than to farther points. The lack of data for non-refugee migration in Africa, Asia, and Latin America masked the migration that took place within and between those regions. Because this migration was invisible, important issues related to the impact of migrants on communities remained unaddressed. A balanced picture of global flows within regions and continents was needed.
As far as international meetings on migration were concerned, her Government would like to see increased attention paid at the regional level to problems that were of greatest concern in that area, she said. Bilateral and regional discussions had proven to be useful ways of dealing with migration issues practically and effectively.
Ms. WEIFFENBACH-STEGHS (Netherlands) said, regarding the agenda and content of the possible technical symposium to be held in 1998, it was important to know more about the symposium if the commission was going to make
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a recommendation. The working group should brief the Commission on plans for the technical symposium in greater detail.
A monitoring system was needed for the flow of resources in the implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action, she said. An important means of assessing implementation of the Programme of Action was through the flow of resources. Without a complete commitment of all respondents in the project to monitor the flow of resources, the endeavour to monitor the Programme of Action would fail. She called on all actors in the field of population activities to take action in the study of the resource flows of population activities.
VALENTYNA TARNAVSKA (Ukraine) said she was concerned at the lack of a single uniform theory of migration and the insufficient understanding of the relationship between migration and development. International migration was a complex and serious problem with many dimensions. Recently, attention had been paid to the issue of migration by the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), among others. The question should be considered as an issue at the main session of the Economic and Social Council.
The regional conference on the issue of refugees held in Geneva had been important, she said. A Programme of Action had been adopted at that conference and that had basically been a follow-up to the Cairo Conference. Recently, the flow of refugees had increased as a result of wars and conflicts. Ukraine and other countries in transition faced many problems. Those problems frequently required non-standard, innovative solutions. The migration situation in Ukraine was complex. The number of persons crossing its borders regularly exceeded its population. Moreover, it had lost highly educated and professional persons to migration. Immigration to Ukraine comprised mainly of the return of people who had emigrated previously from Ukraine and the returning deportees, which included 500,000 Crimean Tartars. She also expressed her country's support for the planned Technical Symposium on International Migration to be held in 1998.
EASTON WILLIAMS (Jamaica) said his Government supported the idea of a technical symposium as a first step and a global conference as another step towards a programme of action for implementation at national, sub-regional and regional levels. The content of the technical symposium should take into account issues that involved both sending and receiving countries. In terms of flows of financial resources, a study which provided the amount of donor resources being channelled into the various projects of the implementation of the Cairo Programme of Action would be very useful.
ROBERT G. PAIVA, Director of Planning, Research and Evaluation of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), said his organization had been
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particularly sensitive to, and influenced by, changes in international migration. Its commitment to facilitate international dialogue on migration issues and seek solutions to them was the basis for its participation in the regional conference of the CIS and relevant neighbouring States, which focused on addressing the migration problems of those States. The conference showed how inter-agency cooperation could help address, in a coordinated, transparent manner, even difficult and sensitive matters involving both governments and individuals.
With UNFPA funding, the IOM had just completed a four-year research project into emigration dynamics in four regions of the developing world, he said. These four regions were: south Asia; the Arab region; sub-Saharan Africa; and Central America, Mexico and the Caribbean. For each region, a team of researchers looked into selected topics with the objective of analysing, within a common conceptual framework, the detriments, consequences, likely future trends and policy implications of emigration.
Throughout the emigration dynamics project, the subject of irregular migration came up repeatedly as a matter of concern, he said. The IOM had witnessed first-hand the disappointment and waste that resulted from many migrant decisions based on misinformation. Based on that experience, the IOM became involved in campaigns to provide accurate information to potential migrants as part of a coherent prevention strategy, and those programmes made the IOM increasingly aware of the rapid growth in organized trafficking in migrants. The IOM, therefore, decided to focus attention on that exploitive form of trafficking as an issue of both gender and abuse of basic rights.
Ms. LUBIN, of the International Federation of Settlements and Neighbourhood Centres, said the International Federation was an association of national, regional and non-profit social service organizations. It was particularly concerned with two of the issues that had been discussed; the activities of intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations in the area of international migration; and the monitoring of population programmes. She thanked the Secretariat for its reports on both the issues, but regretted that her organization had not been selected to participate in the survey of non- governmental organization activities.
She stressed the human aspect of the migration issue and the need to create stronger links between donor agencies, whether governmental or non- governmental, and the beneficiaries of their programmes. So far, few of the programmes provided for consultation with the individuals being served.
Ms. PIERCE, Deputy Director of the Technical and Evaluation Division, UNFPA, said 12 speakers made comments on the proposed technical symposium, to be held in 1998. On the issue of clarification or distinguishing between migrants, the working group of task force had used the definition of migrants
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that was included in Chapter X of the Cairo Programme of Action: documented migrants; non-documented migrants; asylum seekers; refugees and displaced persons. Speakers also underscored the critical need for bilateral discussions, regional and sub-regional consultations, which had proven to be extremely effective. Regarding the involvement of those who would be affected by migration policies, it was an issue that needed to be further explored. There were a number of mechanisms already in place that would allow for consultations with those affected by the migration process. Many activities undertaken by the IOM and the UNHCR would bring the UNFPA into close contact with people who were migrating.
The proposed technical symposium would be more extensively discussed in the working group of the Commission, which would convene tomorrow morning, she said. In the run-up to the 1998 technical symposium, all the mechanisms would be explored. The steering committee would also be interested in hearing from governments interested in co-sponsoring the symposium.
Mr. VLASSOFF, Senior Technical Office, UNFPA, said he should be thankful for the lack of comments by delegates on the report on resource flows, but UNFPA was able to gather more data this year than last year. In the future, the reporting in the system for resources flows would be even more complete. He reiterated the request of the representative of the Netherlands that all concerned parties should cooperate in the endeavour to ensure its success.
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