Global Migration Wave
Managing continuing waves of migration and building trust among different cultures and communities to coexist closely is a hotly debated topic these days. We had distinguished speakers at the Women’s Forum 2007 sharing their views about the same.
Jean-Pierre Garson (Head, International Migration Division, OECD, France) said that immigrants represent approximately 3% of total population in France. Contrary to popular belief , Europe has seen the greatest increase in immigration. Also, different people migrate to different countries. Comparing migration in Austria with France, Austria sees more people moving in from Eastern Europe, Turkey etc., while France has more influx of people from Northern-Africa etc.
Kathleen Newland ( Director and co-founder, Migration Policy Institute, USA ) views that USA’s Labour Market is more open compared to other countries. USA has a reputation of being an Immigrant friendly country. Building on the theme of the Women’s Forum 2007 i.e. “trust in societies”, her view is that when governments refuse to acknowledge about problems of “trust”, which people are concerned about (immigration in this case) , it undermines the whole issue. Business community has a strong interest in immigration because they view it as a source of attracting people to their respective organization ,but governments need to have a more pro-active approach to the whole issue.
Mari Simonen (Deputy Executive Director, United Nations Population Fund, Finland) emphasized the point about the need to put migration issues out in the open to discuss. Having dialogues will go a long way in getting to know different perspectives and/or address fears of migration. Interestingly, she pointed out that 50% of the migrating individuals are women (mostly domestic workers), but it’s apparently invisible and hence not much talked about .
Core take-away from the session: that honoring commitments i.e. doing what one says one will do is a powerful way to build confidence and trust in societies. Bringing accomplishments to the attention of others and publicizing success can create a sense of pride and reinforce community involvement. Changing attitudes and behaviours can be an excruciating slow process, especially in closed societies. One shouldn’t expect to accomplish everything at once. Even small changes are significant, and may be more enduring over the long term.