Download PDF

In September 2000, the UN Millennium Declaration was signed by all the state leaders present at the Millennium Summit and was unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly. Some 190 nations agreed to eight goals to eliminate poverty by the year 2015:

Goal 1: Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger

Goal 2: Achieve universal primary education

Goal 3: Promote gender equality and empower women

Goal 4: Reduce child mortality

Goal 5: Improve maternal health

Goal 6: Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases

Goal 7: Ensure environmental sustainability

Goal 8: Develop a global partnership for development

While migration cuts across all or most Millenium Development Goals (MDGs), the International Organization on Migration has identified a stronger link with the goals highlighted above. Migration is considered to have both positive and negative effects on the achievement of these MDGs. Below is a summary of the links between migration and the MDG goals.

Poverty Reduction

According to the ILO (International Organization on Migration), migrant labour makes a significant impact on the world economy. In 2005, migrant workers sent home US$250 billion to support their families and communities in developing countries. However, the UN points out how this potential contribution to development should not be seen as a substitute for international development assistance. Migrants also contribute to development by bringing capital and skills when they return to their home countries and through the transfers of skills, technology and investments of communities living abroad. In general, it is important that these benefits be measured in more than economic terms and should be considered within an international human rights context.

Gender Equality

The proportion of women become international migrants has grown steadily in the last forty years - from 47% in 1960 to 49% in 2000. This reflects the rising importance of family unification, especially in more developed countries. However, more women are also traveling on their own as their family's main income earner. According to the ILO, more paid work could mean more independence and autonomy for women, in other words, more gender equality. Women are finding work mostly in labour-intensive manufacturing industries (such as the garment industry) and in many services (such as domestic work).

However, on the negative side, women are more likely to face difficulties like deprivation, hardship, discrimination and physical, sexual and verbal abuse when traveling as migrants. They are also more likely to be exploited and become victims of human trafficking. Once they arrive in the destination country, female migrants may face more marginalization and have a harder time integrating and entering the labour market. Generally, they may have less access to employment, social security and health programmes compared to male migrants. Women are also more vulnerable if their legal residence is tied to their relationship with a citizen. (Millenium Development Goals & Migration Report, 2005)

Health - Prevention of HIV/AIDS, Malaria and other Infectious Diseases

According to the United Nations, there has always been a connection between human mobility and the likelihood of contracting infectious diseases. For HIV/AIDS as with other health concerns, the risk has to do with the conditions and structure of the migration process. Clearly, irregular migrants are more at risk especially while traveling due to unsafe and unhealthy travel conditions. However, according to the MDG & Development Report, the risk of contracting diseases is highest when migrants arrive in the destination country. How much access they have to health and social services depends on their legal status. Linguistic, cultural and religious differences can also be barriers to health care. As a result, migrants, especially irregular migrants often have higher rates of disease than residents of destination countries.

Not only that but the emigration of health professionals from developing countries can have a negative impact on the public health situation, delivery of health services, and the standard of education in developing countries. To rebuild the health infrastructure of developing countries, the UN calls for temporary return to developing countries through temporary training and education projects. Most importantly, it calls on international cooperation to establish global policies on issues such as ethical recruitment.

Environmental Sustainability

Two migration-related situations create challenges for environmental sustainability: the creation of camps for refugees or internally displaced persons (IDPs), and migration to urban areas. Humanitarian concerns clearly take priority when setting up camps for refugees or IDPs. However, in the medium and long-term, these camps can deplete and deteriorate local ecosystems where camps are located. At the same time, environmental degradation itself can be a cause of migration.

Urban poverty is another migration-related situation that impacts the environment. There are more people living in cities today than ever before. In fact, more than 50% of the world's population now lives in urban areas. Urban growth has slowed down or stopped in industrialized countries but urban areas are growing quickly in developing countries because of natural population increases and migration (internal and international).

This puts pressure on infrastructure, access to safe water, sanitation, employment and the provision of social services in urban centres. Rural-urban migration also impacts transport and energy consumption and expands city limits.

According to the U.N., a number of things can be done to address urban poverty: create livelihood alternatives in rural areas to lower migration pressures, reduce income disparities between urban and rural areas. At the same time, in the cities, migrants need to be able to find secure, healthy and environmentally sound housing and infrastructure.

Creation of Global Partnerships for Development

Under goal eight, the Millenium Declaration targets developing a more open, rule-based, predictable, non-discriminatory trading and financial system.

According to the ILO, achieving more open and fair markets can drive economic growth and help reduce poverty and foster development. This is the mission of the multilateral trading system. However, "the trading system has mainly served the interests of developed countries," says the ILO (2005). According to the ILO, a more balanced trade system would allow developing countries more potential for economic growth. Some of the trade-related areas where it suggests changes are:

• Agriculture

  Currently, farm subsidies in developed countries make it difficult for developing countries to compete and as a result many agricultural workers have lost their jobs or have become poorer. Many of those who have lost their jobs look to migration as an option for survival. To make a fairer system, there is a push for the elimination of agricultural subsidies in industrialized countries altogether.

• Market access in general

  Trade barriers reduce opportunities for growth. According to the ILO, developing countries exports face tariffs that are, on average, four times higher than those faced by exports of developed countries. The International Organization on Migration suggests that both developed and developing countries should remove trade barriers, and that developing countries should have improved market access, especially for processed goods.

• Services

  Liberalizing trade in services (such as temporary work) may provide economic benefits for developing countries providing that non-market objectives are also considered (eg. human rights).

• Free trade agreements

  These have a mixed record in achieving real liberalization as rich countries are pitted against poor countries, which makes negotiating fair agreements difficult. (Millenium Project Task Force Report on Trade and Development, 2005) In general, incorporating a human rights framework in trade agreements is seen as a step towards fair trade.