Globalisation and international migration after 9/11
By Rashid Ahmed Mughal
The history of migration is perhaps as old as mankind. People migrate for two reasons -- better quality of life and availability of resources to live decently. In the context of modern times, people started migrating from villages to cities, under developed to developed regions and backward to the advanced countries in search of better economic opportunities and availability of basic health standards. According to the International Organisation for Migration, out of every 35 persons, one is an international migrant. The total number of migrants is estimated at 175 million (2.9 per cent of the world population). 48 per cent of all international migrants are women. Over the last 35 years, the number of international migrants has doubled. Migrant stock by region and worldwide is as under:

Europe 56.1 million

Asia 49.7 million

USA 40.8 million

Africa 0.2 million

Latin America & Caribbean 5.9 million

USA (35 million), Russian Federation (13.3 million) tops the list of 15 countries with the largest International Migrant force in the year 2000.

Two major and known factors constitute the Migration process - (a) push and (b) pull. Push characterises voluntary or forced migration depending on individual's own criteria. This may include migration for better quality of life and employment opportunities and living conditions - both economic and political, prevailing in emigrant's country of origin. The pull factor includes dearth of trained and skilled manpower in host countries and in some cases to maintain demographic balance. The stages of the migration process are inter-linked and involve a variety of players, partnerships and policy considerations at different levels.

Participants in this process include diverse public and private individuals and institutions such as employers, family members and community organisations, private business, government migration managers, international organisations, smugglers and traffickers. The process also includes linkages between cultural and security policy areas as well as rights and obligations. The complex set of relationships highlights the need for a global understanding and approach to migration management which forces into account the relationship of migration to other contemporary issues of social, economic and political nature such as labour market development, security issues and emerging national identities.

Of course the conditions prevailing within their own countries also play an important role with regard to causes of migration like political and economic instability, non-availability of good health and education system and political persecution.

If we analyse the issue of migration, basically it falls into two categories: (1) politically motivated migration and (2) economic motivated migration. The migration from Europe to Africa was, of course, for economic reasons in the colonial days but that migration seems to have ended. Migrations to South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya etc are typical examples in this context. With the passage of time and the economic situation in Africa, which is very gloomy at present, migration from Europe to these countries ended with the end of colonial era. However, the reason for migration from Africa to Europe and America was for both reasons - search for green pastures and fear of political persecution and victimization coupled with instability in the region.

Over the last several decades, during the colonial as well as post colonial period, there has been a steady stream of migration from Asia to various developed countries with the result that now there are large Asian expatriate communities all over the developed world. Turks are living in Germany-basically brought to Germany to work in construction field and mines and now number in millions. Moroccans and Algerians are working in France due to non-availability of local workers required for odd jobs. In the same context hundreds of thousands of Egyptians are working in Italy, Germany and Britain who are now an integral part of the productive wheels of those countries. Pakistanis migrated to Britain and America basically for the economic reasons. This trend still continues. According to a rough estimate 15 millions people from Asia are now living and working in America and Europe alone.

There have been streams of migration from Asia to the developed world. The first stream was made of the people with low levels of skills that were employed in the factories and construction sites of Europe during its recovery from the ravages of the Second World War. The most significant example of this type of migration was the flow of Turks to West Germany. The second stream of migrants moved to the developed world in the face of unemployment within their own countries and found lucrative and highly paid jobs in America and Europe. They moved because they possessed highly developed skills that were in short supply in the West. The typical example of this kind of migration is Pakistani IT professionals, doctors and engineers emigrating to America, Canada and Britain.

So far as the world was living peacefully and economies were progressing and booming, migration remained at high levels and it remained a good business all around. But that suddenly changed after the 9/11 incident. America, which was considering granting general amnesty to most of the illegal workers who were working in America since years and years, suddenly changed its policies. They took a 'U' turn as far as their earlier "migration friendly" policies were concerned. Not only did they adopted a tough "visa policy" but made their laws very stringent to control the inflow of visitors into America. At the same time new laws like "NASEERS" were made which required all those living in USA to register themselves with the Department of INS to ascertain their exact status. Basically the idea was to collect and maintain a database of all the foreigners living in their country to identify "good ones" from the "bad ones". It was a good move and has perhaps yielded some positive results as according to them some persons involved in terrorism have been caught and put in jail in the process. No doubt they have the right to maintain security in their country and every step they take in that direction has justification. Though it is the right of every country to make their own policies, as far as inflow of foreigners is concerned, but the world is worried that it is happening at the cost of basic human rights, which guarantees freedom to work and to live anywhere in the world, as per UN Charter.

Most of the European countries are now treading American line and following in it's footsteps. Britain, in this convention, is in the forefront. They have cracked down on the "Asylum seekers" and seem to have given up the hitherto liberal policies, which encouraged migration, not-with-standing the fact that Europe is facing the dilemma of ageing population in the face of low birth rate. According to some researchers the natural increase in population is slowing and may start steep decline within a few decades.

In an article recently published in "Journal Science", the researchers point out the fact that population growth in Europe in the year 2000 reached a turning point when the number of children dropped to a level, statistically alarming, that there will be fewer parents in the next generation than there are in present generation. If the current fertility rate of around 1.5 births per women persists until year 2020, negative momentum will result in 88 million fewer people in 2100, says Brian C. O'Neill a Researcher at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis in Austria and co-author of the study. He further goes on to say, "that is going to push the population towards decline. We will actually end-up in a decline which depends on other factors, particularly Migration, if it does not go-up. The European population may not decline if migration is high enough to offset this population momentum." "The implications of negative momentum may be small right now but they are going to be bigger quickly", he says. If you have another 10 years of low fertility that decline by the year 2100 would be 25 to 40 million. If we have two decades of low fertility, then it will be another 25 to 40 million. Petter Kohler, a University of Pennsylvania researcher, supports the contention of Brian O'Neill.

As a result of the 9/11 incident the migratory trends all over the world have changed. The whole climate is charged with fear and apprehensions. Asylum has now become a defining issue. First, because it threatens the tolerance and mutual respect that has been cultivated for more than a generation as the base of multi-racialism in Western countries. Secondly because it exposes an increasingly clear gap in liberal progressive agenda. It has been better at dealing with race than with faith. The Muslims particularly find the Western asylum and migration policies for them after 9/11 not friendly and too retrospective with the result that there are fewer people now migrating to West, particularly UK & America. There has been a steep decline in students heading West for higher studies and same is the case with employment seekers for whom West was an attractive and promising place to get a job. On the contrary a reverse trend of people returning from these countries to the countries of their origin have been witnessed. Though exact figures of this reverse trend in migration are not available but it is for sure that the earlier trend has shown a changed pattern - much to the surprise of many. The drastic decline in passenger/visitors heading West has forced many airlines to file Bankruptcies and make massive layoffs. Only in the USA, some 200,000 travel-related employees have lost their jobs after 9/11.

Liberals are guilty of an often polite but preventive distaste for Islam in which Muslims find credence for "clash of civilization" theories. In the present scenario every thing points to the asylum issue getting more difficult. Two thinkers, Philip Bostitt and John Grey, though far apart in their political viewpoint are equally pragmatic. The former points out a way which required the entire reasons of one set to destroy another, while the later describes the world's distaste of strong states, surrounded by barbarian, semi-anarchic states. The flow of disparity of asylum seekers from the later to the former will be incompatible and make them good number group, implicating untold harm and disasters. In this grim scenario how does one sustain the progressive liberal agenda with its belief in the right to asylum and migration and its commitment to civil liberties? "We live in a time when the shibboleths of liberal progressivism are collapsing around us ---- most notably it's profound belief that with wealth and education, come secularisation", say Phillip & Grey.

To conclude it hardly needs to be re-emphasised that after 9/11 we are living in a different world which is marred by conflicts, restrictions, protective polices in complete disregard of the UN charter which guarantees freedom of work and the right to live according to ones own wishes. The world, notably Super Powers, are moving more towards aggression and hostility to the undeveloped and weak countries, particularly Muslims. Such policies are some times translated into W.T.O. regimes, which protects "Big Powers" and their trade policies or threatening the world with "pre-emption doctrine" under the garb of "terrorism". The West is becoming a different and difficult place to live and work for Muslims. The West has to clear such impressions and such misgivings and apprehensions of the Muslims in this connection by not only changing their policies and making them more "migration friendly" but to open-up their borders so that the talented, educated and deserving job seekers and asylum seekers move frequently and freely. Therein lies not only the well being of the emigrants but the host governments as well. Sufficient evidences are available that Europe and America are in need of skilled hands to move and keep the industrial wheels of their country in full motion. The restrictions on migration will harm more to developed countries than the emigrants in terms of low productivity and exports as many studies carried out, as stated earlier, point to the direction that Europe and America's population is not only ageing but declining and they need young and energetic hands to put their manufacturing and industrial base in full swing, in keeping with the world demand of their goods & services. The joining of former eastern block countries in East Europe and feared mass exodus to UK and other European countries did not take place, as earlier thought. There is a serious shortage of Doctors, Nurses, IT professionals and skilled hands in Europe as a whole and USA too. To meet the shortage they need to adopt "migration friendly" policies in their own interest.

In the context of Pakistan "migration" - particularly temporary migration for working abroad of it's skilled manpower cannotes special significance. After 9/11, a sharp "up turn" in remittances by overseas workers has filled its coffers to a unprecedented level. According to the World Bank, the workers remittances has the potential to grow rapidly in coming years in South Asia as migration pressure is likely to increase and improvements in transport & communication sectors would complement this trend.

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