https://doi.org/10.37815/rte.v34n1.917

Original paper - English

Migration,
Human Rights & Sustainable Economies:

A Century 21 Agenda

Migración, derechos humanos y
economías sostenibles:

Una
agenda del siglo XXI

Patrick Taran1 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9442-5725

1Global Migration Policy Associates (GMPA), Geneva, Switzerland

[email-masked]

Sent:               2022/02/22

Accepted:       2022/03/14

Published:      2022/03/15

Abstract

Summary: Introduction;
Methodology; A Context Review of Key Features of International Migration;
Main Law, Policy and Practical Challenges; and In Conclusion: an Imperative Agenda for Action.

How
to cite: Taran, P. (2022). Migration,
Human Rights & Sustainable Economies: A Century 21 Agenda. Revista Tecnológica - Espol, 34(1), 193-217. http://www.rte.espol.edu.ec/index.php/tecnologica/article/view/917

This comprehensive brief identifies a
range of key contemporary challenges for human rights, development, and
governance of international migration as an all-encompassing human, social,
economic, political, and environmental phenomena. It premises that migration is fundamentally about development, human rights, and
social welfare, showing that labour and skills mobility is key to sustaining viability of labour forces and economies and to obtaining return on
capital in a globalized economy. It notes that over 90 percent of migration
today results in employment and economic activity outcomes. Sustaining
development in all regions depends on migration. The article discusses the
structural and systemic imperatives for mobility of people worldwide and it
identifies 20 law, policy and practical challenges for economic and social
development, human rights, welfare of people, and for governance. The article
reiterates the comprehensive international legal framework for governance of migration
and reviews especially relevant global policy frameworks: the UN 2030
Sustainable Development Agenda and the New Urban Agenda. Discussion addresses
abusive exploitation of migrants versus lacuna in legal protection; contentions
between capital and labour in deregulation impacting migrant
workers; dangers of xenophobia; gender specificity in migration; restrictions
in access to social security for migrants; challenges to social and family
welfare; growing skills and training constraints, and impact of the COVID-19
pandemic and often inappropriate response measures. The trend of regime change towards deregulatory
migration control is raised, with mention of concerns on the Global Compact on
Migration.  A comprehensive Agenda
for Action outlines policy lines and practical actions for rights-based,
economically sustainable, and socially responsible governance of
migration.  This article and the action
agenda build on the plenary address by the author to the Global Parliamentary Consultation on International
Migration held in Rabat, Morocco in December 2018.

Keywords: migrants, labour mobility, skills, sustainable
development, globalisation, employment, rights-based
approach, governance, migration policy, normative framework.

Resumen

Este exhaustivo informe identifica
algunos desafíos contemporáneos clave para los derechos humanos, el desarrollo
y la gobernanza de la migración internacional como un fenómeno humano, social,
económico, político y ambiental. Parte de la premisa de que la migración tiene
que ver fundamentalmente con el desarrollo, los derechos humanos y el bienestar
social, y muestra que la movilidad laboral y de habilidades es clave para
mantener la viabilidad de las fuerzas laborales y las economías y para obtener
el rendimiento del capital en una economía globalizada. Señala que más del 90
por ciento de la migración actual genera resultados en el empleo y la actividad
económica de los migrantes. El desarrollo sostenible en todas las regiones,
depende de la migración. En el artículo se discute los imperativos
estructurales y sistémicos de la movilidad de las personas en todo el mundo e
identifica 20 desafíos legales, políticos y prácticos para el desarrollo
económico y social, los derechos humanos, el bienestar de las personas y la
gobernanza. El artículo reitera el amplio marco legal internacional para la
gobernanza de la migración y revisa los marcos de políticas globales
relevantes: la Agenda de Desarrollo Sostenible 2030 de la ONU y la Nueva Agenda
Urbana. La discusión aborda la explotación abusiva de los migrantes frente a
las lagunas en la protección legal; las disputas entre el capital y el trabajo
en la desregulación que afecta a los trabajadores migrantes; los peligros de la
xenofobia; la especificidad de género en la migración; las restricciones en el
acceso a la seguridad social para los migrantes; los desafíos para el bienestar
social y familiar; las crecientes limitaciones en materia de habilidades  y capacitación, y el impacto de la pandemia
de COVID-19 y las medidas de respuesta a menudo inapropiadas. Se plantea el
cambio de régimen hacia el control migratorio desregulador, y se mencionan las
preocupaciones del Pacto Mundial sobre la Migración. Una Agenda de Acción
integral describe las líneas políticas y las acciones prácticas para una
gobernanza de la migración basada en los derechos, económicamente sostenible y
socialmente responsable. Este artículo y la agenda de acción se basan en la
intervención plenaria del autor ante la Consulta Parlamentaria Mundial sobre
Migración Internacional celebrada en Rabat, Marruecos, en diciembre de 2018.

Palabras
clave: migrantes, movilidad laboral, desarrollo
sostenible, globalización, empleo, enfoque de derechos, gobernanza migratoria,
política migratoria, marco normativo.

Introduction

Migration is about people, and in a
globalized world dominated by capitalist economic relations and ownership, is
about sustaining economies and development, about human rights and about social
welfare.  Governance of migration is thus
about ensuring protection of people, about decent work for all, about social
protection, and about justice and human development for all people,
whether they are working or not.

Migration today is international
skills and labour mobility that sustains the world of work in the Twenty-First
Century. It is key to employment and labour markets
worldwide and to obtaining return on capital in a globalized economy.  Sustaining development depends on migration
in every region: Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific, Eurasia, Europe, and the
Middle East. Migration has become a key factor in maintaining the
viability and productivity of agriculture,
construction, health care, hotel, restaurant and tourism and other sectors.
International migration meets growing demand for skills; it dynamizes
workforces and productivity; and mobility promotes entrepreneurship across
every region. Remittances, transfer of skills and investments by migrants, as
well as trade growth spurred by migration, enhance economic activity and
well-being in many countries North and South.

However, just as the needs for skills and labour mobility increase to buttress viability,
sustainability, and productivity of both labour
forces and entire economies, the world seems to be getting it wrong on
migration with intensified restrictions and barriers to mobility coupled with
maligning of migrants and migration.
These contradictions are highlighted by current unmet needs for workers
at all skills levels in many industrialized countries that constrain economic
recovery and appear to be a contributing factor to rising inflation.

This article seeks to
identify the main global economic, social and governance challenges raised by
international migration today and factors driving it in an anti-migration
environment. It pursues to subsequently articulate the normative and policy
lines of a global ‘law and policy agenda’ for effective, rights-based
governance of migration that sustains economic viability and societal welfare broadly. This article and the
action agenda were inspired by and build on the plenary address by the author
to the Global Parliamentary Consultation on International Migration held in
Rabat, Morocco in December 2018 (Taran, 2018).

Methodology

This article is built
on a wide review and summary of contemporary literature, applicable law
discourse, and practice following a 'Qualitative method' with reflexive and
critical comparison approach combining broad,
multidisciplinary literature review; monitoring of promotion, application, and
treaty review of international standards; direct participation in policy
processes in all regions; summation of executive experience in international
organizations; and assessment of empirical research.

The literature review included a sweep of
works on migration, human rights, international relations, social protection,
international labour and skills mobility,
development, and related topics. The normative review covered elaboration,
promotion and monitoring of the international legal/framework and specific
instruments concerning migration, regarding application of and status of
realization of norms and rights. The review included country reporting to,
treaty body observations on, and independent monitoring of international
conventions and labour standards.  The study drew on ongoing monitoring of
international institutional and political processes addressing migration,
migration governance and treatment of migrants and refugees.  It also drew on direct experience in and
knowledge gained from participation in international organizations such as ILO
and IOM and in intergovernmental dialogues and consultations, some of which
were not accessible to academics or other 'outsiders.'  It took into account
design and oversight for large scale multi-country empirical testing on discrimination
in migrant/migrant-origin worker access to employment in twelve cities in
Europe. The resulting article interfaces positions, analysis, findings, policy
lines, and recommendations among these different bases utilizing the author's
approach in compiling distinct as well as overlapping knowledge and perspective
to prepare international conference resolutions and rapporteur reports.

Review and
analysis

The qualitative study
drawing also on empirical research was a sequel to four decades of reviewing
and contributing to literature across multiple disciplines as well as
migration-specific papers, briefs, reports and other
documents. It built on participatory engagement in development, promotion,
reporting and monitoring of international legal standards and policy frameworks
combined with direct engagement in regional, national
and local policy development, technical cooperation, and advisory and training
activities with concerned institutions and organizations in all regions of the
world. This long-term combination of research and practice allowed for
developing broad multi- and interdisciplinary knowledge, and analysis and,
deriving from these, comprehensive policy formulations. The current review of
literature, evolving policy, and practice refined contextual understanding of
international migration, assessment of main challenges for governance and human
welfare, and for updating law, policy and practice
lines. Formulated to serve as a briefing for stakeholder-actors in government,
civil society and migrant organizations, this article reviews context and drivers of international migration, followed by
an identification of main law, policy and practice issues with brief
elaboration on several salient concerns. It concludes with a comprehensive
agenda for action addressing main issues identified in both the study review
and practice.

A Context
Review of Key Features of International Migration

Migration, Economic Activity and Development

Over 90 percent of migration today –whether for reasons of
employment, family reunification, immigration, education, or due to refugee
flight—is bound up in employment and economic activity outcomes. ILO calculated
that 169 million of the 272 million people –including refugees – living outside
their countries of birth or origin in 2019 were active migrant workers (ILO,
2021), meaning economically active – employed, self-employed or otherwise
engaged in remunerative activity. Economically active/employed migrant workers
in 2019 were 70.1 percent of
all working age international migrants (ILO, 2021).

Nearly all the total migrant stock population of 15+ age
(245 million in 2019) would be migrant
workers by international convention definition: “intending to be engaged,
engaged or having been engaged in remunerative activity”, including
self-employment[1]. Considering children and aged family members of working migrants
means that nearly all migrants and refugees are, have been, or are intending to
be engaged in work or dependent on persons who are.

In 2020 an estimated 281 million foreign-born people
resided in countries other than where they were born (UNDESA, 2020a).[2]  73 per cent of international migrants
worldwide were between the ages of 20 and 64 years compared to 57 percent for
the total world population (UNDESA, 2020a).

International migrants comprised 14 percent of the
population in 2019 across all high-income countries; that proportion was
significantly higher in several countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania
(UNDESA, 2019).

Foreign-born people comprise large portions of populations
across ‘Western’ industrialized countries (see Table 1).

Table 1

Foreign-born as a share of population in some
OECD countries, %, 2019

Switzerland

29.7

Ireland

17.8

Australia

29.1

Belgium

17.2

New Zealand

26.8

Germany

16.1

Israel

21.2

Norway

15.6

Canada

21.0

Estonia

14.9

Sweden

19.5

United Kingdom

14.0

Austria

19.3

Spain

14.0

Iceland

18.1

United States

13.6

Source: OECD, 2019a.

Migrants are also growing portions of populations in
countries across Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, Eurasia, and
the Middle East.

The UN migrant estimate accounts for refugees and
asylum/seekers who comprise 10.9 percent of the global international migrant
population: 20.7 million refugees, 5.7 million Palestinians registered by UNRWA
(UN Relief and Works Agency), and 4.1 million asylum seekers at the end of 2020
(UNHCR, 2021). UNHCR also estimated that there may be 10 million Stateless
People worldwide.

However, the global migrant stock figures above are
under-counts; many other foreign
persons in temporary, short-term, or seasonal employment and/or residence
situations are not counted in the UN statistics on international migrants when their sojourn is less than a year
and/or if they retain residency in their home or another country. Commercial or
transportation workers who have not changed their place of established
residence and itinerant commercial traders, hundreds of thousands of whom
retain residence in one country but circulate much of the time across numerous
countries in regions such as Eastern, Southern and Western Africa are not formally
counted as international migrants. However, many of these mobile workers fit
the definition of international migrant
worker, as do itinerant, offshore, posted and cross-border “frontalier”
workers, so are concerned by this discussion.

Migration occurs as populations age and workforces decline
and even as unemployment remains high in some immigration countries. The global
dichotomy is threefold: a significant proportion of unemployment is
structurally inherent to jobless growth approaches by finance and industrial
capital –North and South. Secondly, technological evolution results in many
workers left with obsolete skills or simply without skills relevant to today's
employer needs. Thirdly, education and training lag behind
evolving economic and labour market needs, both in
numbers and in content of training; often training and education do not address
‘youth bulges’ in population.

Development is often simplistically equated with growth of
GDP –increased economic growth measured by domestic production of goods and
services. However, a more adequate definition of development is:

the elaboration of productive means, forces,
capacities, organization and output that provide
goods, services, technology and knowledge to meet human needs for sustenance
and well being.
Development comprises building the material and technological means for:
extraction and transformation of resources; production of goods, services and knowledge; constructing infrastructure for
extraction, production, transportation and distribution; reproducing capital
and labour and skills; and providing for human
welfare/well-being in terms of housing, nutrition, healthcare, social
protection, education, and culture in its broad sense (Taran, 2011, p.1).

Viable economic activity and thus development require
bringing together capital, labour power, skills,
resources, and technology. Economies are not sustainable and will not be
sustained in developed or developing countries without the labour
and skills to conduct economic activity and provide for
human welfare. The viability of developed economies today depends on migration,
even more so their future.

Human Mobility for Regional Integration and
Development

Development requires bringing together and integrating
material and human resources, capital, technological capacities, and doing so
in larger market spaces across groups of states that combined can obtain the
diversity of resources, scale of production, and market size necessary for
viable economies in a highly competitive globalized world.

Free
movement with rights to residence and establishment of employment or
entrepreneurial activity is the means to ensure availability of skills and labour where needed to spur investment and economic
development. Free movement is essential to mobilize the breadth and diversity
of professional and technical competencies as well as labour
power across groupings of countries in RECs, sometimes referred to as common
markets.  It likewise provides for
expanding free trade and commerce throughout those regional spaces, spurring
production and distribution of locally-produced goods
and services as well as increasing local employment.

Eleven
regional integration processes involving in total more than 100 countries have
operational free movement regimes for at least some community member nationals:

·
Pacto Andino – the Andean Pact (South America)

·
CARICOM – the Caribbean
Community

·       CEMAC – Communauté
économique et monétaire de l’Afrique Centrale

·
COMESA – Common Market of
Eastern and Southern Africa

·
EAC – East Africa Community

·
ECCAS – Economic Community of
Central African States

·
ECOWAS – Economic Community of
West African States

·
EAEU – Eurasian Economic Union

·
EU – European Union

·
GCC – Gulf Cooperation Council

·       SICA – Sistema de la Integración
Centroamericana (Central American Integration System).

Additionally,
IGAD –Inter-Governmental Authority on Development (Horn of Africa area) is
finalizing a free movement Protocol while SADC –Southern African Development
Community, has drafted a regime for flexible
movement.

Commonly used terms to characterize migration, such as
–South-North and South-South– do not accurately convey the reality that nearly
half or more of all international migrants reside in the region from which they
originated; notably 70 per cent of migrants born in Europe reside in another
European country and 63 per cent of m migrants originating in sub-Saharan Africa remain in
that region (UNDESA, 2020a). In Africa, Europe, and Eurasia the larger part of
migration is within the RECs with formal regimes of free circulation of
persons. For example, more than 80 per cent of
migration originating in West Africa goes to other member countries of ECOWAS;
the proportion is similar in the Eurasia Economic Union. It is 45 to 50 per
cent for the East Africa Community, the European
Union, and Mercosur.

Economic Importance of Migration

Recent figures indicate that
the annual flow of remittances to low-and middle-income countries was 540
billion US dollars in 2020 –a drop of only 1.6 per cent from 2019, despite predictions last year of a much higher
decline due to the COVID-19 pandemic (Ratha et al,
2021). Preliminary indications suggest that total remittances to low-
and middle-income countries in 2021 increased by 7 percent over 2020, making
them modestly higher than in pre-COVID 2019. However, the true volume of
remittances, including unrecorded flows through both formal and informal
channels, is believed to be significantly larger than recorded figures.

In comparison, the reported figure of personal
remittances to low- and middle- income countries in 2020 was more than three times larger than total official
development assistance (ODA) by OECD member countries of the Development
Assistance Committee (DAC) that amounted to USD 161.2 billion, an amount characterised as the highest ever but representing only
representing 0.32 percent of their combined GNI (gross national income) (OECD,
2021).

Often missed in the 'migration-development'
narrative is the huge value of personal remittances sent to developed
countries. Total global remittances including to
developed countries were 706 billion US dollars in 2020, indicating that
remittances to high-income countries totalled 157
billion, nearly a quarter of the total (Ratha, Ju
Kim, Plaza, Seshan et al, 2021).

Overall, the 27 member countries of the European
Union received 109.9 billion euros equivalent in 2020 in personal remittances,
while 110.7 billion euros were remitted from EU member countries, 58.1 billion
euros of which to other EU countries, a figure greater than the 52.6 billion
remitted outside the EU including to other non-EU European countries (Eurostat,
2021). Note that total intra-European personal remittances significantly exceed
extra-EU remittances. For reference, in 2020, France received 22 billion euros,
Germany 15.7 billion and Italy 8.5 billion in total personal remittances,
according to Eurostat data (2021).[3]

Despite pessimistic predictions during early
months of the pandemic in 2020, personal remittances from EU countries to third
countries in 2020 declined only by 3.5 percent from 2019, while inflows from
third countries declined by 4.1 percent (Eurostat, 2021). 2021 data was not
available at time of publication. Personal remittance outflows from EU
countries to other EU countries in fact declined more in 2020 over 2019, by 15
percent. (Eurostat, 2021) Nonetheless, total remittance inflows to EU countries
from other EU countries and from third countries were actually
slightly higher in 2020 than in 2018, albeit by a modest 1.3 percent
(Eurostat, 2021).

Remittances,
however important, are an indirect indicator of the far larger economic value
generated by the labour and economic activity of
migrants/immigrants in their countries of employment. That total value may be
4.7 trillion dollars worth globally in 2020, when
worldwide remittance flows were estimated to have exceeded $704 billion (just
2.4 per cent less than in pre-COVID 2019), extrapolating from an IFAD
calculation. The UN Secretary-General’s 2018 report on Making Migration Work for All highlighted an estimate by the UN
International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) that “Migrant workers
typically send home about 15 percent of their earnings as remittances. The
remaining 85 percent [...] stays in host countries, and is mostly spent on
housing, food, transportation, taxes and other
necessities.” (United Nations, 2018; IFAD, 2017).

That
figure does not indicate the value added by migrants’ labour
not returned to workers in remuneration or benefits but that adds to the worth
of employers, private and public, in formal and informal sectors.

In
Europe, using a similar calculation, remittance figures for 2020 suggest the
far larger overall value of migrant skills and labour
to the EU and its member countries' economies, could be 738 billion euros that
year, when EU member country remittance outflows were 110.7 billion euros, 52
percent of which went to other EU countries.

Furthermore,
migrants contribute to the health of national social security systems, in some
cases without ever obtaining benefits or use of their contributions.  The acknowledged subsidy that undocumented
migrant workers provide to the US Social Security system was estimated to be
near 50 billion dollars over a recent five-year period: this subsidy comprises
the contributions by undocumented migrant workers that they will never be able
to collect or benefit from.

Remaining
un-measured is the value of training and social reproduction cost transfers
made by migrants moving usually from less to more developed countries.  In aggregate terms, that represents a sort of
foreign aid primarily from South to
North. Assuming that each migrant with tertiary
education represents $40,000 in cost of usually State-financed higher education,
migration of 100,000 skilled workers represents an aggregate transfer of
tertiary educational investment equivalent to 4 billion US dollars. This figure
is indicative, no research on costings and aggregate values has been widely
done.

Greater Mobility Anticipated

Over
the next decade, most of the world's countries and populations will face
significant work-force decline. The German labour
market will lack up to 6 million people in 2040 compared to 2018;
even with relatively high immigration, the decline amounts to 4.5 million
persons in the workforce (9 percent) by 2024 (Schattenberg
and Bräuninger, 2019). The number of working-age
Poles will fall by 28% between 2015 and 2050, the overall population will
decline by 10 percent but half of Poland’s population
will be aged 50 or more by mid-century (Fleming, 2019). The Japanese labour force will shrink by 20 per cent in 2040 from what
it was in 2017, a projected workforce reduction of more than 12 million persons
(ibid).  China's workforce declined by 40
million in the decade 2000 to 2010 and is currently projected to decline by
another 35 million in just the next five years (Teng, 2021).  Smaller countries are proportionately
similarly affected. The Swiss national employers’ organisation
recently estimated that Switzerland may need 700,000 additional workers by 2030
(Swissinfo, 2020).

More than 100 of 224 countries and political territories
are at or well below zero population
growth fertility rates[4],
according to data in multiple world population projections including the UN World Fertility and Family Planning 2020 report (UNDESA, 2020b) and the 2021 CIA World Factbook.  Examples of countries at or below replacement rate fertility, by region
are presented in Table 2.

Table 2

Countries currently at
or below fertility rate of population replacement, by region

Africa

Djibouti, Libya,
Mauritius, Seychelles, Tunisia, South Africa.

Asia

Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Brunei, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, South and North Korea,
Malaysia, Mongolia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam.

Americas

Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile,
Colombia, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico,
Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, USA, nearly all Caribbean
countries.

Europe

All 27 EU member
countries; Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, Serbia,
United Kingdom.

Eurasia

Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Russian Federation, Ukraine, Uzbekistan

Middle East

Bahrain, Iran, Lebanon,
Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates (UAE)

Table
by author

Over
the next years, if not already, all these countries face increasing departures
from their native workforces while new entrants of young people born in the
country decline. In effect, all these countries need immigration as a key
measure to retain viable workforces, despite political discourse to the
contrary. In reality, this means intensifying
international competition for a most crucial economic resource: people with
skills at all levels. The consequence for many countries is an increasing drain
of skilled and educated human resources.
It also means crises for contributory-based social security systems when
declining work-force numbers face increasing numbers of retired workers.

Unmet
demand for workers at all skills levels has surged in many industrial countries
in the second year of the corona-virus pandemic, portending increased
international migration. Meanwhile, particularly in Africa, the absence of jobs
and decent work remains in countries with growing youth populations. Job
creation has been consistently flat while youthful populations are adding
millions of new workers each year to labour markets
in which new jobs created only at best matched numbers of jobs lost.

The Governance Framework

There
is indeed a comprehensive international legal framework for governance of
migration despite academic literature and political discourse to the contrary.
It is essentially designed to support good governance, regulation, and
effective administration at national and local levels, where most migration issues and responsibilities
are concentrated. The international governance framework comprises
mandates and responsibilities in a range of international and regional agencies
and organizations.  The framework
includes globally applicable policy recommendations elaborated in formal,
authoritative international conferences over the last three decades.

The
legal framework is provided by complementary legal standards in several areas
of international law: 1) the nine main Human Rights Conventions; 2) all up-to-date
International Labour Standards; 3) the 1951
Convention and 1967 Protocol on the Status of Refugees, 4) the Vienna
Convention on Consular Relations; and 5) the two Protocols on trafficking in
persons and smuggling of migrants to the Convention against transnational
organized crime.

Three
complementary, sequential international conventions on migration and migrant
workers provide the core foundation for rights based, regulatory and
cooperative governance of  migration: ILO
Convention 97 on Migration for Employment (1949), ILO Convention 143 on migrant
workers (Supplementary Provisions) of 1975, and the 1990 International
Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of Their Families (ICRMW).[5] These three instruments
contain a comprehensive set of legal norms for governance and administration of
migration, for international dialogue and cooperation, and for recognition and
protection of universal human rights including labour
rights that apply to all migrant workers and members of their families, and in
effect to all migrants.

Protection
of rights of all migrants cannot be realized nor enforced without recognition
in national law and practice.
Ratification of these instruments and incorporation of their provisions
in national legislation is the necessary foundation for national and local
governance and regulation of migration under the rule of law. In reality, 93 States (nearly half of the UN membership)
have ratified at least one of these three instruments; 15 Council of Europe
participating States, 32 African Union Member States and nearly all States in
Central and South America have ratified one or more of these three
conventions.  Counting in the additional
signatories of the ICRMW that have not ratified any of these Conventions, 105
countries worldwide are legally committed to uphold legal standards governing
migration and protecting rights of migrants.

The
international institutional structure mirrors the multitude of concerns in
governing large populations, whether within a particular state or spread across
many.  A number of
specialized UN and other international institutions address relevant aspects of
migration in their mandates, competencies and activity.  These include the international agencies
addressing labour and employment, health, security,
development, education, human rights, criminal justice, etc.  No single agency could possibly address with
necessary competence the range of concerns of governing populations, each requiring
specialized knowledge, law, technical approaches, and functions, in the same
way that no national government could do away with distinct ministries – often
20 or more– covering specific areas of governance to instead function with a
sole super-ministry.

Global policy frameworks: Sustainable
Development and New Urban Agendas

The
Declaration and Programme of Action of the
International Conference on Population and Development at Cairo in 1994[6] was the first global
development policy framework to emphasize the role of migration and its contributions
to development. The UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development with its
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in 2015 and the New Urban Agenda
adopted in Quito in October 2016 are the main contemporary policy frameworks.

The
2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development covers
most topics and issues concerning development and human welfare and is relevant
at local, national, regional and global levels.  While explicit reference to migration is made
in Sustainable Development Targets 8.8 and 10.7,
more than 44 SDG Targets across the 17 SDGs apply to migrants, refugees,
migration and/or migration-compelling situations (GMPA,
2017).

The Sustainable Development Agenda Targets relevant to
migrants, refugees and migration include: social protection; empower and
promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all; universal health
protection; retention of health workforce in developing countries; equal access
for women and men to affordable and quality technical, vocational and tertiary
education; substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment,
education or training; development that supports productive activities, decent
job creation, entrepreneurship, creativity and innovation; valuing unpaid care and domestic work;  prohibition and elimination of the worst
forms of child labour, eradicate forced labour; protect labour rights and
promote safe and secure working environments for all workers, including migrant
workers; orderly, safe, regular and responsible migration and mobility of
people; inclusive and sustainable urbanization; climate change-related planning and management; achieving a
land-degradation-neutral world; and others.

The
New
Urban Agenda -NUA (2016) gives explicit attention to people-centered
migration and development linkages. It constitutes the guidance framework for
cities and urban settlements worldwide –where most migrants and refugees
reside. The NUA commits
“to strengthening synergies between international migration and development at
the global, regional, national, subnational and local levels.” (New Urban
Agenda, 2016, art 3). It calls for all cities to adopt law, policy and practice
“promoting, as appropriate, full and productive employment, decent work for all
and livelihood opportunities in cities and human settlements, with special
attention to the needs and potential of women, youth, persons with
disabilities, indigenous peoples and local communities, refugees, and
internally displaced persons and migrants, particularly the poorest and those
in vulnerable situations, and to promote non-discriminatory access to legal
income-earning opportunities” (article 7).

Main Law, Policy and
Practical Challenges

Increasing
systemic and structural need for mobility of people with skills and work
capacities underlies 20 key law, policy and practical challenges for
development and welfare and thus for governance worldwide (see Table 3). These challenges have
been consistently signalled in international
conferences, parliamentary consultations, specialist meetings and civil society
events over the last ten years. These all concern migration, especially
migrant workers, also in many situations’ refugees, asylum seekers, stateless
persons and mobile cross-border workers.
Beyond the first point, the order below implies no order of hierarchy or
sequence; they are all essential and
inter-related concerns overall, particularly for migrants and refugees as well
as international, regional, national, and local entities directly concerned.

Brief
reflections on some of these follows, several are elaborated in other articles
in this special issue on international migration.

Table 3

20 key law, policy and
practical challenges for governance of migration

1.      Lack of legal protection and
non-recognition of human rights including labour
rights of migrants under law.

2.      Utilitarian instrumentalization of
migrants and migration subordinating human rights.

3.      Xenophobic hostility and violence against
migrants worldwide.

4.      Prevalence of sub-standard, abusive
employment relations and conditions of work for migrants, in context of
deregulation with diminishing application of labour
and occupational safety and health (OSH) standards.

5.      Systematic/structural discrimination and
exploitation of migrant women.

6.      Lack of healthcare and workplace health
protection for migrants and refugees; denial of their health rights.

7.      Absence of access to and non-portability
of social protection/social security for many migrants.

8.      Social exclusion and absence of
participation of migrants and refugees in associations and unions.

9.      Migrant and refugee family separation and
family decomposition coupled with social disruption for separated family
members –particularly children—remaining 'at home' in places of origin.

10.   Growing gaps between skills needs and the
numbers and types formed worldwide.

11.   Barriers and restrictions for migrant and
diaspora entrepreneurs and for migrant SMEs

12.   Increasingly restrictive policies and
attitudes towards migrants and refugees, threatening current and future
economic viability of countries.

13.   Instrumentalisation
of development aid to extend migration control and repression.

14.   Non-implementation of agreed free
circulation regimes and increasing restrictions on free circulation were
existent.

15.   Concentration of migration management in security and policing institutions,
contrasted with absence of policy and administrative responsibility by
employment, labour, and social protection
institutions.

16.   Criminalization of migrants, association
of migrants with criminality, particularly by emphasis on (counter)
trafficking and smuggling of migrants and refugees.

17.   Criminalization of solidarity with
migrants, repression of migrants’ rights defenders

18.   Obtaining comprehensive, rights-based
national policy frameworks on migration consistent with human rights
conventions, labour standards, and the 2030
Sustainable Development Agenda.

19.   Implementation of city/urban policy and
practice welcoming migrants and
refugees in line with the New Urban Agenda.

20.   The dearth of accurate and reliable data,
analysis and knowledge about migration and development.

Table
by author

Abusive Exploitation versus Protection

Abusively
exploitative conditions are experienced by many migrants. They are structurally
driven. An excerpt from the executive summary of a
report on the UK sums up treatment today of many migrants in other
industrialized countries as well (Cook, 2011, p.4):

“Migrants, especially those from outside the EU-15 who have
limited access to social security provisions, face the paradoxical position of
being welcomed by businesses and the state due to their high flexibility and
minimal utilisation of the welfare state on the one
hand, whilst facing increasing unease and hostility from anti-immigrant groups,
the same state that welcomes them, and large numbers of the general
public on the other.

The highly unregulated and flexible economy has allowed
many migrants to easily find work and businesses to remain competitive whilst
simultaneously creating the conditions for widespread exploitation and
producing divisions amongst workers, both between (native) born/migrant and
between different groupings of labour migrants.”

Global
competition, free trade, and the economic race
to the bottom push against costs of labour and
provision of social services; they challenge the very social function of States
(Taran, 2015).

For
many enterprises in many countries and for some entire economic sectors,
low-cost foreign labour is the only ticket to
survival.  Labour
dependent agriculture would not be viable in many countries in Africa, the
Americas nor in Europe nor could a part of the population afford to eat without
cheap immigrant labour. Health, homecare and
schooling for children and care for populations of aging people today depend on
migrants in many countries in all regions. So are hotel, restaurant, and
tourist sectors prior to the COVID pandemic, and those sectors will be dependent
on migrant workers for recovery and beyond.

Keeping
migrant workers cheap, docile, flexible, and removable without social costs is
imperative to keep jobs at home and maintain the viability of entire
economies.  Despite rhetoric about
controlling migration, migrant workers falling into or remaining in irregular
situations are often selectively tolerated because they provide the cheap,
flexible labour needed to sustain enterprises and in
doing so, retain employment and competitiveness.  At the same time, labour
standards are generally little or not at all applied in migrant-dependent
sectors and industries, while labour inspection is
often left with no capacity or competence to reach workplaces where migrant
workers are prevalent.

Protection
of human rights and of decent work is an essential pillar of good governance to
international labour mobility, especially the
application of international labour standards and
their application and enforcement in all workplaces formal or informal,
particularly where migrants are employed.

Contention and convergences between Economic
Actors

Migration
is a key terrain of contention between capital and labour:
between the employers/private sector versus workers/especially organized
unions.  It is where the division of
wealth is fought out-- how much of what is generated is returned to capital
versus how much goes to working people as remuneration.  Migrants are also the pawns in contention
over conditions of work and investment in safety and health protections versus
lowering labour and related costs to obtain higher
returns on capital.

Capital, managed today
mostly by private sector employers and labour represented by worker trade unions, are incontestably
the core actors of economic activity, the key actors to advancing regional
integration in fundamental economic and social dimensions.

Capital
–embodied in private and public sector enterprise-- and labour
in its aggregate are primary beneficiaries of liberalizing international
circulation of capital, goods, services, technology
and labour. They most immediately suffer the losses
engendered by restrictions on circulation –whether of capital, goods or people.

Migration,
however, also raises challenges to the extent working people remain organized
to defend their interests. Migrant workers are key to whether workers freely
associate and organize to collectively bargain for fair remuneration and decent
work conditions; freedom of association of migrants or restrictions on it can
make or break unionization.

The Danger of Xenophobia

An
especially urgent concern is the generalized rise of discriminatory practices
and of cist and xenophobic behaviour against migrants.
Events in countries in all regions show that hostility towards migrants is
rising—worldwide. Reported incidents in all regions include shootings of
migrant workers at or near workplaces; individual or mob attacks on and
killings of migrants; firebombing of migrant and refugee residences,
businesses, and religious places. In situations of civil conflict, foreigners
have been targeted with deadly hostility.

The
concern is aggravated by the absence of vigorous responses by governments to
anticipate, discourage, and prevent manifestations of xenophobic hostility
against foreigners and to prosecute perpetrators. To the contrary,
anti-foreigner hostility is aggravated by discourse by certain political
leaders and by actions of some governments that tacitly encourage or directly
engage in public brutality and violent repression against migrants.  That includes police roundups and mass
detention of migrants.  A common refrain
of “dignified deportation” and “return” as the solution to the (irregular)
migration problem frighteningly resonates with deportation as the solution to Europe’s “Jewish problem” in the
last century.

Social
cohesion can only be maintained by deliberate legal, institutional, and
practical measures. Demonstrable proof is that in the few countries such as
Ireland and Finland where discrimination and xenophobia were vigorously
discouraged by government and civil society, there have been few racist
killings of migrants nor burnings of businesses, homes
or places of worship of foreigners while anti-immigrant politicians and
political parties have gained little support or sympathy.

Gender Specificity

The
feminization of migration is not about the gender proportions of migration.
Female participation has been above 45% for decades and is over 48% today
(UNDESA, 2020a).  In 2020, the number of female migrants slightly exceeded that of
male migrants in Europe, Northern America and Oceania.
The distinction from earlier times is that today most women migrants are
economically active rather than dependents of migrant men.  They often migrate on their own in all
regions.

In
a global context of stratification of employment and segmentation of labour markets, women migrants hold particular
appeal for employers as they are sought after for 'women's work' that,
not coincidentally, is usually low paid and unprotected: domestic work,
healthcare, agriculture, hotel and restaurant, semi-skilled manufacturing in
export processing zones.  Common across
these sectors is that while some workplaces may be highly socialized, they are
not organized, meaning no unions or associations for mutual defence
and solidarity, nor any bargaining power to press for decent work conditions.

Women
and girl migrants are at high risk of sexual and gender-based abuse, exploitation and violence to a greater or lesser degree in
all countries of residence and employment.
Adoption of ILO Convention 189 on Decent Work for Domestic Workers
brought attention to a sector of activity that is almost entirely comprised of
women workers, while the most recent ILO Convention 190 on harassment at work
is especially pertinent to the high risk and often unreported rates of
harassment and abuse faced by women migrants. Promotion of ratification of
these conventions should be springboards to highlight and address the
generalized lack of effective protection faced by women migrant workers in
agriculture, in textile sweatshops, in services, and elsewhere as well as in
domestic work in industrialized countries across the global North as well as in
the South.  Testimony abounds of women
working in these sectors subject to abusive working conditions, sexual
harassment, unprotected exposure to dangerous pesticides or chemicals, and
other risks.

Social Protection

Effective social security systems provide income security, prevent and reduce poverty and inequality, and promote
social inclusion and dignity.  Social
security enhances productivity and employability and supports sustainable
economic development, contributing to decent living conditions for all and
making extension of social security coverage for migrants vital to workers, the
economy and society.

Although
migrant workers contribute to the economies of both destination and origin
countries, they are not usually taken into account in
national social security schemes. Migrants often lose entitlement to social
security benefits in their country of origin due to absence. They face
restrictive conditions or non-access to social security in the country of
employment. Even when they can contribute in host
countries, their contributions and benefits often are not portable to origin countries.

Migrants
and migration are today key terrain for global contention over social
protection: who is responsible for it, who is covered and with what
benefits.  The intent in international
law is universal coverage, as laid out in ILO Convention 102 on social
security. The ILO and UN have established the notion of a social protection floor as a universal expectation. But assertions
abound that social protection for migrants is today a question of finding a
median between two “extremes,” one being full coverage, the other none at all.

In
contrast, progressively extending social security to migrant workers is
imperative to ensure welfare and social cohesion in every country and across
regions.  However, it can only be
achieved with political will to obtain necessary legislative acts,
administrative mechanisms, and practical measures.

Family welfare

Many
migration regimes other than long term or permanent immigration, essentially
require family separation, only calling for and admitting workers –whatever skills
levels-- alone, without family, at least initially.

In
situations of civil warfare, men heads of family may leave first to find safe haven to then bring out wives and children; or in
contrast men stay to engage in combat while sending family members out of
harm’s way.

In
both cases, the absence of breadwinner and family adults and role models often
has devastating consequences for the socialization and education of children,
left in care of less able grandparents or otherwise overwhelmed relatives.
Little or no compensatory social and schooling support is available in most
countries experiencing large emigration, that correlates with higher rates of
school leaving, delinquency and psycho-social pathology among children with one
or both parents abroad.

Skills and Training Constraints

No
country today can form or train the entire range and number of evolving skills
needed to perform the ever more complex work done on its territory. It is
widely observed that institutions and educational systems in many countries are
producing graduates with inappropriate, inadequate, or obsolete skills and
knowledge. In consequence, fast changing technology and skills needs drive a
constantly increasing, international mobility of skills, competences, and labour at all skill levels.
Globally, Manpower predicts that “the global talent shortage is expected
to result in 85 million unfilled roles by 2030”, citing its own research
(Manpower Group, 2021).

At
the same time, educational, vocational, and technical training systems are not
accessible to many youths seeking employable skills and qualifications.  The development cost is huge, skills are
absent where they are needed to spur investment and support economic and
infrastructure development.  Impediments
to mobility and absence of recognition of skills and experience compound the
lack of training for current and future needs.

The Global COVID-19 Pandemic and Migration

The
global situation has changed radically since March 2020.  The global COVID-19 pandemic, its human consequences,
generalized recession in 2020, and often ill-considered anti-coronavirus
measures changed migration patterns –but did not reduce economic and
development dependency on migration of skills and labour.  While globalized travel bans, ‘stay in place’
confinement and work stoppage under the COVID-19 pandemic emergency meant that
migrant workers everywhere were temporarily out of work –and some remain so--
renewed demand for foreign skills and labour has
surged since mid 2021. While a severe decline in
remittances to developing countries was predicted for 2020 as national
economies abruptly contracted and jobs disappeared, in the end the actual
decline was only about 1.6 per cent vis-a-vis 2019 (Ratha et al, 2021).  Foreign
workers appear to be needed now as much as ever in industries, services and health care. Nonetheless, increasing
restrictions on immigration combined with difficult economic and employment
situations in some primarily migrant worker-origin countries make for a
“buyer’s market” with some labour demand-side
countries proposing de-regulatory terms, while origin countries face economic
and social pressures to offer workers for jobs abroad at any price –whatever
the human costs. (See article on COVID-19
and migrants and refugees in this issue as well as a previous research
article in Spanish La Pandemia
de Covid y Los Migrantes: una
Agenda de Diez Puntos Para Mitigar el Desastre en Curso (Taran and Solorzano, 2021)).

Restructuring Governance: Redefining a New
Regime for Labour?

The
governance structure for migration –as well as ideology and practice of
governing migration – has changed in both old and new immigration countries.
The locus of migration regulation in immigration/migrant-receiving States over
previous decades was generally in labour and
employment ministries. That reflected the primacy of needs to protect both
migrant and national workers as well as oversee employment relations and social
dialogue.  Those ministries retained key
competences in labour market administration, in supporting
and mediating negotiation between social partners, and in taking account of
interests of the key migration actors: employers –public and private –and
worker unions –the latter often inclusive of migrant workers.  Those ministries supervise vital regulatory
and administrative functions of labour inspection and
social security.

Today,
security and control institutions of States predominate in managing migration
and controlling migrants: ministries of interior or home affairs now hold lead
responsibilities on migration in many countries. Assertion by home
affairs/interior ministries of hegemony on migration management and control is
concurrent with broad redefinition and deregulation of conditions for labour. The treatment imposed on what are growing migrant
components of workforces in turn influences treatment of the workforce broadly.

Administration
of increasing foreign components of work forces by control institutions has
consequences in shifting emphasis of law enforcement regarding work from labour standards to immigration enforcement and in imposing
repressive policing to subdue labour conflicts at the
expense of social dialogue (Taran, 2016).

In
parallel, enhanced border and movement control measures within regional
economic community spaces in Africa, the Americas and Eurasia have large
implications in impeding and slowing mobility as well as raising costs,
contrary to facilitating free movement of labour, skills and services.
The longstanding existence of control posts by multiple police, armed forces and intelligence entities as well as customs and
immigration agencies along land routes in each country across much of Africa,
each post with obligatory inspections of buses, trucks, and cars and payment of
'fees' by passengers and drivers, continues to restrict and slow down, rather
than facilitate circulation of people as well as goods and services.  In Europe, the increasing surveillance of
some internal borders and incidents of muscled expulsions of migrants across
borders from one EU member country to another are, unfortunately, consistent
with global trends.

Movement
control measures also undermine exercise of freedom of association rights in
internationalized labour markets and employer supply
chains. Tightened control on movement facilitates tightened control on workers
and work forces, restricting realization of rights to change employers or
workplaces to escape exploitative, oppressive conditions. Tightened control and
restricted mobility also impede union organizing across sectors and industries
as well as in production chains that themselves are increasingly organized
across borders.

Meanwhile,
advocates of expanded 'circular migration' (a misnomer for short term,
temporary, and seasonal migration regimes) characterize it as the solution to
both employment needs and to protecting 'national cohesion and cultural
integrity' of nation states needing foreign labour.
Many temporary migration regimes impose explicitly restricted labour rights, notably exclusion of freedom of association,
while permitting reduced application of labour
standards.

Of
immediate and direct concern to application of human rights for all is the enactment of the 'delit de solidarite' (the “offence of
solidarity”), that criminalizes provision of assistance and support –including
provisions food, housing or transportation– to
migrants in unauthorized, irregular, or undocumented situations, and also
rescue of migrants at sea; such laws mandate prosecution of individuals and
organizations for engaging in acts of humanitarian assistance.

Coincidentally
to these trends is consolidation of the IOM as the hegemonic global agency on
migration and its inaccurate identification as the UN migration agency when it remains a related organization to the United Nations, the same status as that
of the World Trade Organization - WTO.
The formal IOM-UN Agreement explicitly states that the IOM “shall
function as an independent, autonomous and
non-normative international organization in the working relationship with the
United Nations...” (United Nations, 2016, Article 2, para 3). As such, it is not subject to the UN Charter nor to compliance with
United Nations normative conventions. Reporting to the UN by the related agency
is discretionary: the IOM “may, if it decides it to be appropriate, submit
reports on its activities to the General Assembly through the
Secretary-General” (Ibid, Article 4).

A
discourse justifying these initiatives posits that the level of rights
protections for migrants is negotiable.
The terminology of rights versus
numbers and the price of rights
is used to show the advantages of trade-offs where wider access by migrant
workers to higher wage labour markets would be
obtained by accepting reductions in application of labour
rights.  The long-disproved argument that
lowering wages instigates creation of more jobs is not infrequently invoked.

A
fundamental premise in this discourse –and in policy initiatives-- is that
foreigners are not equal, nor are they equally entitled to protection or
inclusion under law or ideology of the nation State.  In practical terms, the notion of limiting rights
of migrants presumes incentivizing greater migrant access to labour markets in higher income countries, and
consequently, greater “development gains” through purportedly more jobs created
if at lower wages and consequently, more remittances returned to migrant origin
countries.

Consistent
with the above is international regime change from a global framework of
normative regulation, binding legal obligations and the accountability of
formal public reporting on compliance, to a discursive process of meetings and
review of good practices taken up by States to implement non-binding
commitments to general policy options and practice recommendations. The Global
Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (GCM) (UNGA, 2018) adopted at
an intergovernmental conference in 2018 does not enhance the normative
rights-based approach to governance and regulation of migration. While
providing assertively comprehensive guidance on all aspects of migration, it
diverges from upholding binding standards of human rights protection and the
legal accountability of States under international law by establishing a
non-binding set of policy recommendations, many of which articulate lower and
more narrower expectations than those in existing human rights Conventions and
International Labour Standards.

Furthermore,
as a pact of guidelines explicitly addressed to executive migration management, the Compact undermines the
participation in formal governance by the legislative branch of government and
dismisses the review and supervisory role of the judiciary; indeed, by omission
it relegates these to sidelines while posing migration as primarily a matter
for the executive branch of government, with the latter’s arbitrary discretion
unfettered by legislative definition and judicial review.

The
GCM also incorporates for the first time in a UN policy framework, language and policy notions of repressive control of
mobility. It commends measures that effectively criminalize irregular migration
as well as migrants in irregular situations and, in contrast, legitimize
deportation and involuntary return and reintegration as seemingly UN-consented
approaches. The GCM calls on States to strengthen surveillance and control over
national borders, objectively constraining universal rights to leave and return
freely to one's own country and undermining free movement essential for
development across regional communities in Africa, the Americas and elsewhere.

In
Conclusion: an imperative Agenda for Action

As the context for and features of migration
summarized above show, internationalized mobility/migration of people is
essential to sustaining economies and maintaining development worldwide, and in
doing so providing for human well-fare everywhere.  That mobility of people, notably labour at all
skills levels, is as essential to our common future as is mobility of
resources, capital, goods, services, knowledge, and technology.  However, as emphasized above, migration is
people who have economic, labour, social, cultural, civil and political rights that must be respected, protected
and realized for all people in all situations. To accomplish this requires
effective rights-based, participative governance and regulation under the rule
of law at all levels.

All of the concerns evoked in this brief must be
addressed to ensure effective and just governance of migration that realizes human rights, equality and
basic well-fare for all concerned, ‘locals’ and migrants and refugees alike. No
concern can be left unaddressed if no-one is to be left behind. Only the
comprehensive agenda outlined below at regional, national, and local levels
will resolve the immense challenges of sustaining development and maintaining
inclusive societies in the context of globalization. Enactment and
implementation of all the elements in the agenda is essential; they are interrelated and interdependent.

The following agenda comprises legislative action, policy lines and
practical measures for rights-based, economically sustainable, and socially
responsible governance of migration. It combines and synthesizes the principles
of international Conventions, global policy frameworks, and recommendations
from international, tripartite, and civil society conferences around the world
over the last 30 years.  A fundamental challenge is mobilizing the political will
and popular support to implement this agenda to realize inclusive communities,
sustainable economies, universal respect for human rights, and well-being for
all.

1.  Full recognition and legal protection of all
migrants

a)     Promote ratification and implementation of the
international legal standards recognizing and protecting rights of all
migrants: the ICRMW, ILO C-97, ILO C-143 and ILO C-189.

b)
Enact and
assist in regularization of migrants and refugees in unauthorized situations.

2.  Rights- and people-based narrative and
discourse

a)     Identify migrants as people and rights-holders
first and foremost.

b)     Call for respect for rights and dignity of and
solidarity with all migrants and refugees.

c)     Advocate for inclusion of, participation by, and
integration with migrant and refugee persons and their communities.

3.  Decent Work for all migrants: Vigorous
enforcement of labour standards

a)
Adopt, apply and enforce International Labour
Standards, particularly in places and conditions where migrants are working.

b)
Extend labour inspection in sectors and workplaces where migrants
are working.

c)
Fully
'fire-wall' labour inspection from immigration
control.

4.  Stop discrimination, xenophobia, and racism
and against migrants

a)
Repeal
discriminatory legislation and reinforce non-discrimination/equality of
treatment law and its implementation.

b)
Define and
implement national action plans against discrimination, xenophobia, and racism.

c)
Denounce
and repudiate any and all acts of xenophobic violence.

d)     Demand anti-discrimination, anti-xenophobia political discourse,
media reporting and school curricula.

5.  Gender-specific migration legislation and
policy

a)     Ensure equality of rights, opportunities and protection for all
migrant women and girls.

b)     Obtain gender specific policy, measures and practices recognizing
gender-based risks and ensuring equality in outcomes as well as intent.

c)     Protect rights and provide appropriate support measures for LBGTQIA+
migrants and refugees.

6.  Health for all migrants (health is a right
for all).

a)
Ensure full
access by migrants to quality and appropriate health education, disease
prevention and health care and treatment services and facilities.

b)
Provide for
specific, full and equal inclusion of all migrants in
COVID prevention, protection, vaccination and treatment everywhere.

c)
Elaborate
specific national and local public health and safety and health at work
policies inclusive of migrants and refugees.

d)
Uphold and
monitor occupational safety and health (OSH) protection for migrants in all
workplaces.

7.
Social Security for migrants

a)     Implement unilateral measures to extend social security coverage and
portability to migrants in both origin and employment countries.

b)     Incorporate and harmonize social security access in regional
integration spaces.

c)     Obtain wider ratification and implementation of ILO C-102 on social
security and ILO C-118 on portability of social security.

8.  Participation of migrants and refugees;
freedom of association and collective bargaining rights

a)
Ensure
freedom of association and collective bargaining rights for migrants and
refugees

b)     Support migrant workers organizing in unions and by unions.

c)
Engage
migrant and refugee participation and membership in community associations,
worker unions, and CSOs.

9.
Family Unity and family support

a)     Provide for family unity and family reunification in all immigration
and migration regimes.

b)     Ensure immigration law facilitates family reunification.

c)
Sustain socialization and
education for children and adolescents remaining ‘at home’ in places of origin.

10.  Training youth for employment; overcoming
skills shortages

a)
Reform, renovate and expand
technical and vocational education and training for all youth

b)
Promote migrant access to
schooling, higher education and vocational and technical education and training
(VTET), without discrimination.

c)
Harmonize qualifications and
training standards across regions and in regional economic communities
in particular.

11.  Facilitate migrant and diaspora
entrepreneurship and their establishment of SMEs

a)
Provide
comprehensive training and coaching to migrant/diaspora entrepreneurs in
conception, organization, product/service development, legal registration,
fiscal matters, start-up and management of
enterprises.

b)
Provide
access to start-up cost financing for qualified migrant entrepreneurial
initiatives.

c)
Support
migrant entrepreneur/employer participation in employer and business
associations.

12.  Re-frame the narrative on migration towards
inclusive, rights-based, mobility-facilitating discourse, policy, practice and institutional behaviour.

Key points include:

·
migration
is people, with universal, inalienable human rights and dignity;

·
international
mobility/migration is structurally necessary for current and future economic
viability and welfare worldwide;

·
migration
supports integrated human development
in all societies and countries;

·
migrant
workers support and sustain economies and development worldwide;

·
migration
is about freedom of movement as well as the right
to remain where people are.

13.  Engage in development cooperation that
supports jobs-rich approaches.

a)
Ensure that
development aid supports: jobs rich building up of industry, agriculture, and infrastructure;
local, national and regional transformation of resources; local and regional
production and consumption of goods, services, and knowledge; regional economic
integration; and fair trade, especially of value-added local resources
employing people within their own regions.

b)
Prevent any
linking of development aid to migration control policies and measures or to
enhancing repressive capacities of control and policing institutions in
recipient states.

14.  Promote full implementation of free
circulation regimes

a)
Advocate political will by
governments to implement and maintain free circulation of people.

b)
Promote ratification of free
movement protocols by regional community member States and their parliaments.

c)
Promulgate national
implementing legislation and regulations for free movement protocols.

d)
Harmonize labour
codes and recognition of qualifications across REC member countries.

e)     Derogate legal, administrative and control measures that thwart labour circulation.

15.
Consolidate migration policy and administrative responsibility, capacity and coordination by labour
and social protection institutions:

a)
Concentrate labour
migration governance responsibilities in labour/employment
ministries

b)
Designate focal points or units
in labour institutions on labour
migration/mobility

c)
Encourage engagement on
migration by social partner organizations.

d)
Training and capacity building
for labour institutions and social partners.

e)
Engage tripartite consultation
and coordination at national, regional and continental
levels.

16.
Decriminalize migrants, refugees, and migration:

a)
De-criminalize/non-criminalization
of immigration law and infractions to it.

b)
Non-detention/end
detention of migrants for non-criminal offences.

c)     Treatment of all minors according to the best interests of the child.

d)
Repeal of
generalized migrant/traveller identify control, surveillance and restriction measures.

e)
Lift border
controls and eliminate in-country travel/transport inspection-control posts
within established areas of REC free circulation of persons.

17.  End repression of solidarity with migrants
and of migrants’ rights defenders

a)     Repeal any existing 'delit de solidarité' legislation and prevent enactment if
proposed.

b)
Demand that
social protection, human/social services and CSO solidarity reach all migrants
and refugees without discrimination of any kind, including on basis of status.

c)
Ensure that
service organisations and other civil society
entities concerned attend to all migrants and refugees without discrimination.

d)     Offer legal and political advocacy for anyone
prosecuted or persecuted for defence of migrants'
human rights including labour rights and social
protection.

18.  Establish national –and local-- policy
frameworks on migration, with “whole of government' consultation and “whole
of society” participation including social partners and civil society:

a)
Involve all
concerned government ministries, agencies, and authorities as well as
legislators/parliamentarians, social partners, civil society, and migrant
organizations.

b)
Address
comprehensively concerns, issues, and challenges of international migration,
including human rights, labour standards, and
humanitarian protection responsibilities.

c)
Ensure that
policy and practice respond to short-, medium-, and long-term considerations of
domestic economic and social development, demographic trends and labour and skills needs.

d)
Insist that
national and local policy on migration is rights-based and socially responsible
in line with international normative standards.

e)
Address
development cooperation, public and private foreign investment, and migration
consequences of arms and munitions exports and international military
engagements.

f)
Consider
displacement consequences of global warming and mitigation approaches that
protect rights and facilitate remaining in place or close to places of origin.

19.  Support welcoming migrants and refugees’
policy and practice by cities

a)     Support city elaboration of values-based,
inclusive welcoming migrants and
refugees’ narrative, policy, administration and
practice.

b)
Advocate
for city policy and practice that upholds and promotes inclusion,
non-discrimination/equality of treatment and full participation of migrants and
refugees.

c)
Engage whole
of city/urban government administration on formulating and implementing action
on reception, settlement, inclusion and integration of migrants and refugees.

d)
Promote
involvement of local community associations, unions, employer and business
groups, civil society organizations and migrant/refugee associations.

20.  Obtain gender & age disaggregated data
and knowledge on migration, including migrant characteristics, situations, and
conditions.

a)
Adopt and
utilize international statistical standards for all migration and migrant data.

b)
Account for
all migrants intending to work, working, and/or having been engaged in the
world of work, including in informal, unregistered, or unseen economic
activity, self-employed, temporarily non-working, long term unemployed, etc.

c)
Obtain data
on employment, education and qualifications, health and health care, social
protection, rights protection and discrimination, services, etc. re migrants, refugees and migration.

d)
Establish
data sharing and coordination among national institutions concerned.

e)
Interface
data with relevant international labour market and labour migration databases.

f)
Provide
competencies, training and appropriate data hardware and software to the
institutions, agencies, and personnel responsible for data and knowledge.

Acknowledgements

The author
expresses appreciation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) for the
opportunity to articulate the inspiration for this work as a plenary address at
the Global Parliamentary Consultation on
International Migration and the Global Compact on Migration, hosted by the
Parliament of the Kingdom of Morocco in Rabat, December 2018. He wishes
to thank Olga Kadysheva and Nayeth Solorzano for their solidarity and editorial support in
refining this article.

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[1] Definition, Article 2,
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers
and Members of Their Families.

[2] As
noted in DESA estimates, “The estimates are based on official statistics on the
foreign-born or the foreign population, classified by sex, age and country of
origin. Most of the statistics utilised to estimate the international migrant
stock were obtained from population censuses. Additionally, population
registers and nationally representative surveys provided information on the
number and composition of international migrants.”

[3] Eurostat figures on aggregate
remittances to/from EU member countries differ from World Bank figures for the
Europe-Central Asia region due to differing accounting methodologies.

[4] 2.1 to 2.2 children per woman
is considered the ‘replacement rate’ of zero population growth, below which
population declines.

[5] Texts, ratification status and related
information available respectively at: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/normlex/en/f?p=1000:12001:::NO:::
and http://www.ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CMW.aspx

[6] The ICPD was the biggest conference ever
held on population, migration and development with 11,000 delegates from 179
countries and some 4,000 participants in the parallel NGO Forum. The ICPD
Declaration and Programme of Action continues to serve as a comprehensive guide
to progress in people-centred development.
See https://www.unfpa.org/fr/node/9038