INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION ISSUES – IN THE REALM OF MYTHS AND

CHALLENGES

Dušan DRBOHLAVdrbohlav@natur.cuni.cz

Charles University in Prague,

Faculty of Science,

Department of Social Geography and Regional Development

Presentation is also based on results of the following projects:

• 1) IDEA - Mediterranean and Eastern European Countries as new immigration destinations in the European Union (6th Framework Programme, No. 44446)

• 2) Investigative plan of MSM 0021620831 financed by the Ministry of Education, Youth and Physical Education of CR.

• Selected myths linked with the international migration process

• Selected challenges linked with migration policy issues

Structure

• This presentation is based on the Czech migratory experience, but many Czech migratory features/patterns are identical to what is going on in western developed immigration countries (mainly in the EU)

• The EU perspective

• Simplification of the presented reality

Background and limits

• International migration is an easy topic that can be tackled and dealt with by anybody

• Migration is a complex (interdisciplinary) issue that is influenced/conditioned by various - mostly external - factors … which makes any analyses very difficult

Myth I

• International migration can be managed well in the sense that even inflows can be stopped in harmony with our needs

• Many realities of the current world go against this statement:

globalization, integration of the world economy, cheap international travel, the information revolution, the “western liberal doctrine” spread throughout the third-world countries …

Myth II

• International migration is an “either – or” issue

• International migration is not a “black and white story” … there are different patterns involved, both winners and losers etc. …

Myth III

• International migration is not only settlement migration or circular labour migration …

– the whole picture is very diversified

– new migratory types … – e.g. “fluid migration” (IDEA project, Okolski´s

team)

Myth III cont.

• Looking at economic impacts:

“In broad terms, the economic impact of migration is positive for the destination country; but the size of the impact is not great, and there are distributional consequences to consider” (Kleinman 2003).

Myth III cont.

• We can successfully combat illegal/irregular international migration

• No, we cannot since:

• There is an intense and permanent DEMAND for an illegal foreign workforce, specifically from a number of employers in developed countries who are always willing to hire this cheap, flexible, and productive workforce in spite of the various risks involved

• The phenomenon is often “quietly” tolerated by political representations and officials– One of the structural components of modern capitalism (e.g. Pallidda

2005).

• In addition, in the post-communist world – a degraded morality has allowed many informal activities to become a generally tolerated reality

Myth IV

• Illegal/irregular migration brings no positive effects for immigration countries

• There are some positive impacts: filling unappealing and low-paid jobs, a cheap and flexible workforce, the development of certain economic entities and sectors. Also, individual households benefit from the presence of illegal/irregular workers (cheaper home services, construction, reconstruction, etc.), prices of some goods and services decrease …

• Illegal/irregular economic migration - a dangerous phenomenon. As they do not comply with law and legislation, they contribute to undermining democratic systems, which are built on adherence to legal principles. In principle, they are also inequitable/unfair.

Myth V

• International migration (immigrants) may eliminate expected population ageing in developed immigration countries

• The Report by the UN Population Division: “Replacement Migration: Is It a Solution to a Declining and Ageing Population (2000, 2001)” clearly answers no: it is not possible The migration flows needed to keep the potential support ratio (workers to non-workers) constant are at unprecedentedly high, see e.g.:

the EU 13.5 million a year, Korea – more than 5 billion …!

Myths VI

• Replacement Migration Concept (RMC) and its application to the Czech Republic:

a

“How many net immigrants would the country be likely to need to eliminate changes to the number and age structure of the Czech Republic’s population caused by expected negative natural growth?”

a

“To what extent is migration a solution for expected changes – population decline and ageing leading to labor force decrease, worsening relations between economically active and inactive populations, etc.”

Myths VI cont.

The Concept of “Replacement Migration” and the Czech Republic, net migration (in thousands), medium variant

Based on: Burcin, Drbohlav, Kučera (2007, 2008)

YearTotal

Population(10.2 mil.)

Average age

(39.8)

Productive age population (P20-59/ Ptotal)

2005 7 292 31

2050 39 2,175 2,796

2065 44 4,208 5,340

Cumulative numbers

2065 1,797 90,146 103,286

All that migration of realistic dimensions can do is:a- to offset expected population decline caused by insufficient natural reproduction

a- to slightly reduce the most radical demonstrations of the demographic ageing process

In fact, to offset the assumed changes of any parameter characterizing the age structure and its ageing by migration is de facto impossible even in a short term perspective since the estimated needs in net-migration inflows remain outside any reality

Myths VI cont.

• Migration policy – a balanced mixture of economic, social and moral/humanitarian ties … – labour market needs, as well as social cohesion,

public protection, international development goals and human rights are involved

 

Migration policy issues

• How to be more flexible, hence more effective, when managing migration/integration issues?

– In time– In space– In various contexts

 

Challenge I

• How to design active migration/integration policies that besides being overshadowed by steps taken to adopt EU legislation (driven by the need to further harmonise legislation with the EU) would also effectively respond to the current national/local environment?

 

Challenge II

• How to design and perform coherent policies?

– And how to harmonize policies/subpolicies:

A) migration policy vis-à-vis integration policy?

B) economic policy vis-à-vis migration policy?

C) development policy vis-à-vis migration policy? etc. …

Challenge III

• How to harmonize legislation with practice. How the given laws are implemented in the field?

– To limit “discretionary power”…

Challenge IV

• How to effectively combat illegal migration and related irregular economic activities by immigrants?

- How to diminish demand (employers’/entrepreneurs’ interests)?

Challenge V

• How to share migratory/integration competences?

A) Between sectors (GOs versus GOs, GOs versus NGOs, plus a role of international and inter-governmental organizations)?B) In terms of a regional hierachical structure – state, region, municipality?

- What mechanisms and forms of cooperation?

Challenge VI

• How to measure whether an immigrant’s integration process is successful or not? What sort of criteria to take into account?

- How to evaluate the effectiveness of individual programs?

- Is there only one “type” of immigrants’ integration into a host society?

Challenge VII

• How to reasonably and effectively cooperate with source/emigration countries?

- What sort of aid? Who should it be directed to?

Challenge VIII

• How to improve data and statistics of international migration and immigrants´ integration?

- What, where, when, how and by whom to cover/ascertain?

- How data is to be processed, tabulated and publicized

- Availability to the public …

Challenge IX

• How to bring more financial resources into the migration/integration field?

Challenge X

Thank you for your attention