View/save PDF version of this document - La Strada International

UN recorded that 61 million migrants had moved South-South (i.e. fromone southern country to another). In the same year China, alone, counted126 million internal migrants.Why have the linkages between internal migration and development beenignored? Part of the reason may be due to lack of data. Statistics on internalmigrants and internal migratory flows tend to be even more difficult tofind than data on international migration. But another part of the reason islinked to the way in which researchers have studied migration.As Professor Ron Skeldon has noted, in recent years the word “migration”has nearly always a been associated with “international migration”, whileinternal migration has been subsumed under such terms as “populationdistribution” or “urbanization”. Those working on international migrationseldom consider internal migration as relevant to their interests and viceversa.8In recent years, IOM has taken a number of initiatives to promote a betterunderstanding of the linkages between internal migration, internationalmigration and development. In 2005, a report entitled “Internal Migrationand Development: A Global Perspective”, prepared by Priya Deshingkarand Sven Grimm, was published in IOM’s Migration Research Series. Theauthors of this report provide an overview of the pattern and significanceof voluntary internal labour migration and discuss the impact of this formof migration on development. Despite overwhelming evidence that internalmigration can lead to the accumulation of household wealth as well aspositive changes in both sending and receiving countries, Deshingkarand Grimm argue that internal migration continues to be viewed as aneconomically, socially and politically destabilizing process by policymakers, researchers and many NGOs. One reason given for this, they argue,is that internal migration is an “administrative and legislative nightmare”:it crosses physical and departmental boundaries confusing rigid institutionswhich are not used to cooperating with each other. The authors argue thatby not acknowledging the vast role played by internal migrants in drivingagricultural and industrial growth, governments escape the responsibilityof providing basic services to millions of poor people who are currentlybearing the costs of moving labour to locations where it is most needed.Another report, published in IOM’s Migration Research Series, “DomesticMigrant Remittances in China: Distribution, Channels and Livelihoods”,prepared by Rachel Murphy, highlights the scale of internal remittancesin China. In 2005, China’s rural migrants sent nearly USD 30 billion back