Post 2015: Global Action for an Inclusive and Sustainable Future

labour migration produces remittances, which
play a key role in reducing poverty. In 2010, it
is estimated that people living in developing
countries received a total of $325 billion in recorded
remittance flows, 6% more than in 2009. In 2009,
recorded remittances were nearly three times
greater than total oDa and almost as large as FDI
flows to developing countries. It is estimated that
informal remittances are at least 50% higher than
recorded flows (World bank, 2011; ratha, 2012). In
addition to the effect of remittances on reducing
poverty, labour migration may also be a means to
respond to the demographic shift that is taking
place in some regions, where life expectancy is
rising while fertility rates are declining.
the universal Declaration of Human rights
(uDHr) states that ‘everyone has the right to leave
any country, including his own’ (article 13), but this
does not confer the right to enter another. to date,
although there are international standards on the
protection of human rights and the rights of labour
migrants, governments have been unable to agree on
a global framework to regulate international labour
movement. the current system depresses regular
mobility and in some cases deprives migrants of
their rights. In many countries, migrants are entirely
dependent on their employers because their residence
permit is linked to a specific job (Hart, 2006). the
international rights framework for the treatment
of migrants is seldom observed. a commitment
to inclusive and sustainable development should
however imply that governments recognise an
ethical imperative to observe migrants’ rights.
Doing so may also have other positive effects such
as increasing economic productivity and achieving
better social cohesion in receiving countries. the lack
of agreements on international mobility encourages
irregular migration. 127 current immigration policies
generally discourage circular migration 128 and tend
to force migrants into permanent settlement. In
the absence of international agreement on whether
and how to increase mobility in ways that observe
migrants’ rights, the un (with the support of
regional organisations) is currently the only body
that can potentially stand for all labour migrants’
interests. Equally it is an entity with the authority
to identify problems in how governments may limit
migrants’ access and rights and suggest ways in
which to address them.
In 2010, South–north and South–South migration
was broadly similar (74 million versus 73 million).
between 1990 and 2010, the number of Southern
migrants living in richer countries rose by 85%
(from 40 million to 74 million), while South–South
migration grew by 18% (from 60 million to 73
million) (unDESa, 2012) (see Figure 9.1). Since
South–South migration is often undocumented, the
true figures may be much higher. In poorer regions,
migrant workers usually move to a bordering
country (World bank, 2009), and most international
migrants in africa (81%), asia (75%) and latin
america and the caribbean (60%) were born in
the same region. a post-2015 global development
framework thus needs to address both South–
north migration and South–South migration,
including the expansion of free movement in
regional economic cooperation agreements.
to complete the picture, internal migration 129
is also increasing, particularly from rural to
urban areas. as chapter 6 notes, the global
urban population is expected to rise by 2.6 billion
between 2011 and 2050. Finally, since the 1970s,
the number of independent women migrants has
127 We use the term ‘irregular’ rather than ‘illegal’, which is associated with a political agenda and criminalises migrants. Irregular migration is
generally an administrative rather than a criminal offence. the Iom glossary restricts the term ‘illegal migration’ to cases of smuggling and
trafficking.
128 the European commission defines circular migration as ‘a form of migration that is managed in a way allowing some degree of legal mobility
back and forth between two countries’ (com, 2007)
129 We do not discuss internal migration since this report is focused on a post-2015 global framework to which external actors can contribute.
aspects of internal migration such as urbanisation are discussed elsewhere in this report.
poSt-2015: Global actIon For an IncluSIvE anD SuStaInablE FuturE
Labour
migration
produces
remittances,
which play a key
role in reducing
poverty. In
2009, recorded
remittances were
nearly three times
greater than total
ODA and almost
as large as FDI
flows to
developing
countries.
171