Date: 2025-05-02 Page is: DBtxt003.php L0913-TVM-MMW-000027
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TrueValueMetrics ... Peter Burgess Manuscript
Making Management Work for Relief and Development |
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Chapter 27
Migration |
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Immigration Has Become Unpopular
Foreigners ... immigrants are unpopular Europe is struggling with immigration. The United States is struggling with immigration. Migration has become a choice for millions. But immigrants are unpopular and being blamed for all sorts of woes in society ... mostly unfairly. This is not new, but it is still a very potent source of societal discontent. And worse, this discontent will also have an impact on international affairs, relief and development assistance, trade agreements and international alliances. Economic migration With extreme poverty in a large part of the world, and stupendous economic opportunity in other parts, it is not surprising that there are massive migrations going on. Economic migration is not new. It has probably been going on since prehistoric times ... but it is aggravated now by the terrible failure of the relief and development sector in the “south”, and the amazing recent wealth creation in the “north”. Laws to limit migration imposed by the “north” can slow the flows but not reduce the pressure. The pressure to migrate will not be reduced until there is progress in making a success of socio-economic performance in the “south”. People will take huge risks when life is already pretty much impossible, and everything is hopeless. Ethiopia under President Mengishdu was not easy ... and for some ethnic groups is was especially bad ... and worse for people identified as being against the regime. I knew a teacher who had this profile. In Europe or the USA, she would have been on the fast track, and an asset to the educational establishment. But in Ethiopia she was facing no job ... no money ... no future. She had determined that she absolutely had to leave Ethiopia. She tried to get a passport, but her money was stolen by the officials ... all of it. She was left with no money and no passport. With nothing, she decided to walk out of Addis Ababa over the mountains to Sudan ... to the refugee camps on the Sudan side of the border. I know she left. I don't think she arrived. Hardly anybody did. People with potential don't have a chance in far too much of the “south”. The domination of peoples by the corrupt and powerful is feature of modern governance and global society that is an absolute abomination ... and widespread. Why migrate? Unless I am much mistaken, individuals and families migrate to “have a better life”. It seems to make sense. Though European countries, the United States do not really welcome migrants, and leave most of them at the bottom of the economic and social heap, the socio-economic conditions and quality of life is a whole lot better than where the migrants came from. The great migrations in North America from Europe in the 19th century and early part of the 20th century had a lot to do with improving the economic quality of life. Other migrations in history have been to do with religious persecution. The United States, at its founding, to its credit, made freedom of religion a basic building block of its society. Fleeing violence Refugees and internally displaces people (IDPs) are mainly fleeing from violence. The violence has all sorts of different underlying causes, but the impact of people is devastating. Refugees and IDPs I have worked a lot in refugee and IDP affected areas. It is not a pretty picture ... and the fact that refugee and IDP problems are widespread is a terrible measure of failure of the relief and development community, the governance authorities and our international community of leaders. People rarely want to leave their homes ... but when they do it is usually because they will die or be killed if they do not. This is not at all acceptable in a civilized world ... but it is common in too many places. Brain drain A flow of intelligent educated people from poor places in the “south” with little opportunity for economic success to rich places in the “north” where there are huge economic opportunities is normal ... it is the way a market economy works. Laws can be passed to stop the brain drain, and people can be coerced to stay where they are ... but again, the pressure to move is not reduced. Human trafficking Money is being made by all sorts of unsavory middlemen who engage in human trafficking. There is human trafficking associated with prostitution and the porn industry in its many forms. Though it is usually illegal, it is also profitable, and there is money also to be made from “protection”. There is also human trafficking associated with economic migration ... getting people into Europe ... getting people into the USA. The activities are usually illegal, but the rewards are substantial. Constraining migration Now that physical movement around the world is so quick and easy, migration is now controlled by money and regulation. Getting into the United States costs money for transport ... and perhaps help in getting negotiating the system to get the right paperwork and approvals. Thousands try to do an end run round the paperwork and regulations by trying to get into the United States or Europe by boat or over some border clandestinely. A large number are dying trying to do this. In the poor “south” a lot of people are trying to emigrate. People want to ... need to ... leave their homes because the living conditions are catastrophically bad. What is better ... dying at home, or dying trying to reach somewhere that offers some hope for a better quality of life? Bad solution There are different ways to control and manage the immigration problem. More and more rules and regulations, and higher and higher walls around the rich “north” is a bad solution ... if it is a solution at all. The problem is not so much people wanting to come into the rich “north” but wanting to ... needing to ... leave the poor “south”. Good solution Some people should migrate ... it is good for all. But most people should be better off staying at home than migrating. A much better solution to migration is to put an end to the poverty and hunger and dysfunction of the economy in the poor “south”. I know that the World Bank has been “fighting” poverty for the past two decades, and they have made little progress. But that does not mean that addressing poverty and hunger cannot be done ... merely that the World Bank cannot do it. Every community in the poor “south” should be helped to keep its people at home, and to improve their living standards and quality of life. No blanket solution for everyone ... but multiple individual solutions for each community. And if there is hope and prospect for progress in a community that is remote and rural, then also the migration from rural to urban might also slow, if not reverse. |
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