Law Event
Migrants make major contributions in the economies of destination countries
Marufa Akter
SPEAKERS at a seminar called for creation of conditions for increased mobility of labour across national borders. They also underscored the need for an understanding between the labour surplus developing countries and the labour deficit developed countries to work out arrangements for such mobility.
The seminar on 'Recent labour migration policies of developed countries' was organised by the Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit of Dhaka University at the Centre for Advanced Research in Humanities under the auspices of the DRC on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty on Saturday, 25 February 2006.
Dr. Daniel Cherot, professor of the Washington University of Seattle in his keynote address 
stated that while poverty and relative poverty in many developing societies are working as push factors, lower fertility rates, increase in the proportion of aged population and other factors have created demands for labour in many sectors in European and North American economies. Instead of facilitating the flow of labour, from south to north, in responding to economic needs, more and more restrictions are being placed by the developed countries. These are done on extra-economic considerations, often shaped by right wing political forces, he stated.
Prof. Chirot stated that migrants make major contributions in the economies of destination countries. One-half of Ph.Ds in hard sciences of US universities is foreign students, without which it would be impossible for the US to keep its competitive edge in industry, science and technology, he noted.
A major challenge of western democracies, particularly in post 9/11 situation, will be framing policies that assuage concerns of migrant population, he observed.
Dr. C R Abrar, the chair of the session, stated that failure to allow labour through regular channels to a large extent encourages flows through irregular routes. Recent efforts to understand irregular migration should necessarily focus on the demand aspect of the problem, he stated.
Among others, Prof. Ramjul Huq, Prof. Ruksana Kibria and Sayed Imtiaz Ahmed of International Relations department participated in the discussion. Students and faculty members of the university and representatives of the foreign missions attended the seminar.
The author is Programme Associate, RMMRU.
