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MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
ATLAS OF
MIGRATION
   Facts and figures about
     people on the move

                             ESCAPE,
                              WORK,
                              FUTURE
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
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The ATLAS OF MIGRATION is published by the Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung, Berlin, Germany

Chief executive editors: Johanna Bussemer, Dorit Riethmüller

Editors: Christian Jakob (coordination), Stefanie Kron, Wenke Christoph

Managing editor: Dietmar Bartz
Art Director: Ellen Stockmar

English Editor: Paul Mundy
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Fact checking: Infotext Berlin

Contributors: Friedrich Burschel, Wenke Christoph, Johanna Elle, Sabine Hess,
Christian Jakob, Bernd Kasparek, Stefanie Kron, Laura Lambert, Ramona Lenz,
Carlos Lopes, Sowmya Maheswaran, Johanna Neuhauser, Mario Neumann, Jochen Oltmer,
Maria Oshana, Massimo Perinelli, Maximilian Pichl, Matthias Schmidt-Sembdner,
Helen Schwenken, Maurice Stierl, Christian Stock, and a team of authors.

Cover image: Ellen Stockmar

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                                                                                             ATLAS DER
                                                                                            MIGRATION
                                                                                               Daten und Fakten über
                                                                                               Menschen in Bewegung

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MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
ATLAS OF
ARBEIT
MIGRATION
  Facts and figures about
    people on the move

           2019
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
TABLE OF CONTENTS

    02     IMPRINT                                            18   VISAS
                                                                   HOW FAT IS YOUR WALLET?
    06     INTRODUCTION                                            Within most of the European Union,
                                                                   borderless travel has become almost a matter
    08     12 BRIEF LESSONS                                        of course – as long as you have the right
           ABOUT THE WORLD OF MIGRATION                            passport. If you don’t, but still want to travel
                                                                   internationally, you will quickly find that
    10     HISTORY                                                 your wallet determines how far you can go.
           CROSSING BORDERS,
           BREAKING BOUNDARIES                                20   LABOUR MIGRATION
           In the last few centuries, poverty, repression          IN SEARCH OF WORK
           and violence have forced millions of people             Labour migration is politically controversial
           to leave their homes. For some, the end of              in destination countries. On one hand, the
           a perilous journey has been a better life. For          developed world has a huge demand for
           others, it has meant generations of slavery.            migrant workers, both qualified and low-wage.
                                                                   On the other hand, immigrant workers are
    12     MOBILITY                                                often subject to racist treatment.
           HOME AWAY FROM HOME
           Employment, independence and security are          22   MOVEMENT OF LABOUR
           major drivers of migration. Movements are               SENDING MONEY TO
           in flux, with cheap flights and mobile phones           THE FOLKS BACK HOME
           allowing people to keep in touch with their             Migration and economic development
           loved ones at home. But the traditional                 go together. For the migrants’ countries
           migration corridors are still in operation.             of origin the economic advantages outweigh
           And new boundaries mean that people                     the disadvantages. In particular, the
           who follow social ties to newly independent             harm caused by the loss of skilled workers
           neighbouring countries are now considered               is often overestimated. Many such
           international migrants.                                 workers would return if they could find
                                                                   good employment at home.
    14     MOTIVES
           REASONS TO MOVE                                    24   GENDER
           People move for many reasons. Many seek                 I AM STRONG, I AM WOMAN
           a better life for themselves and their children;        Whether at work or on the move in search
           others flee threats and violence; still others          of a better life, women are threatened
           are displaced by natural disasters. Very often,         by violence and discrimination. But as with
           their reasons for moving overlap.                       all migrants – and all women – female
                                                                   migrants should not be seen primarily
    16     ON THE RUN                                              as victims. Above all, they need stronger
           A FAILURE OF COMMUNITY                                  rights so that they can defend themselves.
           Never before have so many people found
           themselves fleeing for their safety. The           26   IMMIGRATION LAWS
           international community often fails not                 DOCUMENTS FOR THE UNDOCUMENTED
           only to prevent wars and conflicts, but also            Immigration laws focus mainly on
           to protect the victims.                                 attracting skilled workers and keeping

4   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
everyone else out. But they lag far              38   RIGHT-WING NATIONALISM
     behind the real world: millions of workers            MISPLACED FEARS,
     live and work in destination countries                FALSE PROMISES
     without any official papers. That puts them           Right-wing politics is on the rise across the
     at risk of exploitation.                              globe. Rabble-rousers blame outsiders and
                                                           minorities for the shortcomings of their own
28   BORDER CONTROL                                        societies. Even if they do not win power, the
     OUT OF BOUNDS                                         noise they make still influences the political
     In its attempts to control migration, the EU          agenda of more moderate parties.
     bribes or coerces African countries to stop
     and detain people before they can even get       40   RIGHT-WING VIOLENCE IN GERMANY
     to the southern shore of the Mediterranean.           WHERE RIGHT IS WRONG
     Development aid is being diverted to stop             Racism has a long and tragic history in
     migrants rather than fight poverty.                   Europe – and nowhere more so than
                                                           in Germany. Alas, racism is alive and well
30   SCHENGEN AND DUBLIN                                   80 years after Nazism and the Holocaust, and
     UNPREPARED AND                                        is now directed at migrants as well as Jews.
     UNCOORDINATED                                         But resistance in broader society is growing.
     Europe’s approach to the refugee question
     has been chaotic. Different countries have       42   MIGRANT ORGANIZATIONS
     different interests, and refuse to compromise         LEARNING THE ROPES
     or show a sense of solidarity. But they               Migrants are often portrayed as helpless
     all agree on policies making it harder for            and in need of protection – or hopelessly
     refugees to get asylum in the EU.                     divided along national, ethnic, linguistic
                                                           and religious lines. That is far from the truth.
32   THE MEDITERRANEAN AND THE SAHARA                      In reality, they help each other when in
     DEATHS IN THE DESERT                                  need, and help those who come after them.
     Europe’s southern border is the deadliest in
     the world. Thousands of people have drowned      44   SOLIDARITY CITIES
     trying to reach the northern shore of the             A COUNTERWEIGHT
     Mediterranean. They are now dying of thirst in        TO XENOPHOBIA
     the Sahara.                                           Refugees not only have rights; they also
                                                           enrich the society and economy of the
34   DEPORTATIONS                                          places where they settle. Enlightened
     GOODBYE AND DON’T COME BACK                           local politicians recognize this. They
     Faced with deportation, a distressing number          provide a much-needed counterweight
     of asylum applicants kill themselves in their         to the shrill tones of populists that call
     desperation. Deporting someone is a lot more          for yet more deportations.
     expensive than allowing them to stay, earn
     a living and pay taxes in their host country.    46   CIVIL SOCIETY
                                                           FROM SYMPATHY TO SOLIDARITY
36   INTEGRATION                                           Activists throughout Europe have long
     ARRIVED AND SETTLED,                                  agitated for the rights of migrants
     BUT STILL NOT HOME                                    and refugees. But their numbers were
     Well-integrated migrants are the ideal and            small – until the summer of 2015, when
     many in the host society welcome them.                the influx of people across Europe’s borders
     However, migrants that are not integrated             stimulated an outpouring of sympathy,
     are perceived as a threat. But focusing on            practical help, and political engagement.
     “integration” means ignoring the real
     issue, which is granting migrants social and     48   AUTHORS AND SOURCES
     political rights.                                     FOR DATA AND GRAPHICS

                                                                                                 ATLAS OF MIGRATION   5
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
INTRODUCTION

    MIGRATION: A                                are those of “streams”, “waves” and
    CONTESTED                                   “flows”. All these metaphors portray
                                                migration as something to be feared,
    HUMAN RIGHT                                 and they render invisible the individual
                                                people who are doing the migrating.

    M                                           T
            igration has always been part of           his atlas aims to stimulate a
            us: it is the origin of all human          political rethink by showing
            societies. The movement of                 migration from a different
    people across land and sea and from         angle. We present a trove of statistics
    one continent to another is as old as       and graphics in order to give a more
    humankind itself. Few nations in the        objective basis to the debate on the left
    modern world would be what they are         side of the political spectrum in Europe
    today without centuries of immigration      – and we hope, beyond. On the left, the
    and emigration.                             continuum of views ranges from those
                                                who demand open borders to those who
    But today, the issue of migration is        largely reject migration, often because
    the subject of heated political debates     they assume migrants will compete with
    all over the globe. Attitudes towards       the economically weaker members of
    migration guide the opinions of citizens    our societies. The positive image of an
    and politicians; they form the basis of     open society with enough resources to
    political parties and social movements.     go around in all areas of life stands in an
    The myths, stories and images that          apparent stark contrast to the negative
    have emerged – and continue to emerge       image of communities that have to
    – around the social phenomenon of           fight on all sides, and with each other,
    migration are correspondingly large         for those same resources. In the 2019
    and powerful. This is evident in the        European parliamentary elections, the
    terms used to describe migration: the       political right – from right-of-centre to
    commonest verbal and visual images          populists and far-right extremists – stood

6   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
out with its nationalistic, anti-migrant     against deportations, xenophobia and
rhetoric, profiting from voters’ fears of    far-right populism, and for the right to
social decline. Migrants in Europe are       social and cultural participation, decent
now being denied social rights on the        work, adequate housing, education and
basis of policies advocated by many of       health care.
the parties that gained ground in the

                                             M
elections.                                            igration has many realities and
                                                      facets. This atlas promotes a
This atlas aims to change attitudes                   differentiated approach and a
towards migration and migrants. The          recognition of the facts. In the current
facts and figures on these pages show        social climate, courage is needed
that while migration takes place in all      to address this issue in a calm and
parts of the world, it poses a threat        informed manner – and to recognize that
neither to the destination countries         immigration broadens and strengthens
nor to the countries of origin. Quite the    democracy in our societies. For we live
opposite: it enriches societies across       in post-migration societies, in which the
the globe not just culturally but also       freedom of movement and protection of
often in economic terms.                     refugees should be regarded as human
                                             rights.

M
          igrants are not only victims.
          On the contrary, they take their
          fate into their own hands. This
is illustrated in the contributions in
this atlas that describe the struggles
associated with migration – against
racism and for the rights of immigrants
and refugees. Innumerable movements          Florian Weis, Johanna Bussemer,
                                             Christian Jakob, Wenke Christoph, Stefanie Kron,
of solidarity have emerged in Europe and     Dorit Riethmüller, Franziska Albrecht
around the world. Together they fight        Editors

                                                                                            ATLAS OF MIGRATION   7
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
12 BRIEF LESSONS

           ABOUT THE WORLD OF MIGRATION

                  1                                                2
                           Humankind has always                             Ever more people live and
                           been on the move. The                            work in other countries.
                           HISTORY OF HUMANITY                              Most of them move to BIG
                   is also the history of migration.                CITIES. Even though there are now
                   All modern societies and all                     more migrants than ever, their
                   nations on Earth are the result                  NUMBERS are still TINY compared
                   of mobility.                                     to the world’s population.

                                  3
                                         Migrants are often SELF-EMPLOYED
                                         or take BADLY paid jobs – partly
                                         because they are denied social
                                  benefits. They CONTRIBUTE to the economic
                                  development of their host societies, and thus
                                  to everyone’s WELL-BEING.

                   4                                               5
                           WELL-EDUCATED individuals                        The European Union is
                           often leave poor countries                       trying to stop migrants
                           and move abroad in search                        FAR FROM ITS OWN
                   of work and higher salaries. Because             SHORES. In doing so, it implicitly
                   they generally SEND part of their                accepts serious human-rights
                   earnings BACK HOME, and, in                      violations. Especially in Africa,
                   some cases, RETURN with better                   people can NO LONGER move
                   qualifications and skills, migration is          FREELY in their own countries.
                   also good for developing countries.

                                 6
                                         People from the Global North can
                                         get VISAS easily. They can travel
                                         almost everywhere UNHINDERED
                                  and can emigrate to many other countries.
                                  Such freedom of movement is DENIED
                                  MOST other people in the world.

8   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
7
                          For the poor and the record
                          numbers of refugees, there is
                          NO LEGAL WAY to migrate. They
                   must often PAY people-smugglers large
                   sums to cross a border. Migrations
                   routes are VERY DANGEROUS; many
                   people DIE while on the road.

8                                             9
        When migrants arrive at                       RACISM is by no means
        their destination, they                       a consequence of
        are often subject to                          migration. Whether
DISCRIMINATION. They are paid                  immigrant minorities are treated
lower wages, have to settle for                with HOSTILITY or repression
inferior housing and get fewer career          depends mainly on whether
opportunities. Such discrimination             migration is accepted as normal
may last YEARS – and their                     or AS A THREAT.
CHILDREN and GRANDCHILDREN
may still be regarded as “foreign”.

                  10
                              An increasing number of
                              WOMEN AND GIRLS migrate
                              alone – to FLEE from danger, to
                   EARN a decent living, to take control of
                   their OWN LIVES, or to HELP their families.
                   They need special PROTECTION on the way.

11                                            12
          Migrants’ CONTRIBUTIONS                           A SOCIETY in
          to the economy are                                which locals and
          welcomed, but                                     migrants live
they must often FIGHT for their                together in peace is NORMAL,
rights. OTHERS can also benefit                and not an exception. The
from such struggles – including                basis for this is SOLIDARITY –
local workers who join in the battle           the readiness to share.
against EXPLOITATION.

                                                                                ATLAS OF MIGRATION   9
MIGRATION ATLAS OF - ESCAPE, WORK, FUTURE - Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung
HISTORY

     CROSSING BORDERS,
     BREAKING BOUNDARIES
     In the last few centuries, poverty,                                                               the colonial era, and slavery played a big part. From the
     repression and violence have forced                                                               16th century onward, 10 to 12 million people were shipped
     millions of people to leave their homes.                                                          from Africa to Europe and the Americas. In East Africa,
     For some, the end of a perilous journey                                                           another 6 million people were captured and sold, mainly
                                                                                                       to rulers on the Arabian Peninsula.
     has been a better life. For others, it has
                                                                                                           In the early 19th century, the number of Europeans
     meant generations of slavery.
                                                                                                       turning their backs on the old continent rose rapidly.
                                                                                                       Some of these migrants took the land route, trekking east

     H
             uman history is the history of migration. Human-                                          and settling in the Asiatic parts of the Russian Empire. A
             kind did not suddenly begin to up sticks and move                                         much larger number crossed oceans: of the 55 to 60 mil-
             in the modern era. Long before modern transport                                           lion people who went overseas between 1815 and 1930,
     existed, people would move over long distances. And the                                           more than two-thirds went to North America. Another
     idea that past migrations were permanent is a myth: re-                                           fifth voyaged to South America. Seven percent ended up
     turn flows, seasonal migrations and variability have been                                         in Australia and New Zealand. Wherever they settled, the
     features of local, regional and global movements in the                                           composition of the population changed radically: new
     past, just as they are in the present day.                                                        European communities emerged.
         Global migration – mobility from one continent to an-                                             The end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th century,
     other – has been a major feature only since the start of                                          the peak of Europe’s emigration wave, also marks the be-
                                                                                                       ginning of Europe as a destination for immigrants, a trend
                                                                                                       that finally took hold after the Second World War. Many
                                                                                                       people came from the former colonies, especially to cities
        MILLIONS IN SEARCH OF A NEW HOME
        Historical migration in three world regions, five-year
                                                                                                       such as London, Paris and Brussels. As a result of the eco-
        periods, millions                                                                              nomic upswing in Western Europe after the war, national
                                                                                                       governments recruited “guest workers” from Southern
         18                                                                                            Europe. These workers later brought their families to join
                                                                                                       them. Before the fall of the Iron Curtain in 1989, many
         16                                                                                            people fled, or moved, from the former Eastern Bloc to the
                                                                                                       West. After 1989 their numbers rose considerably.
         14               transatlantic                                                                    The liberalization of its immigration laws in 1965 led
                          to Southeast Asia                                                            to a second wave of migration to the United States. By
                          to North Asia*
         12                                                                                            2016, the number of foreign-born residents in the US had
                                                                                                       reached 41 million, of these, 25 percent were of Mexican
         10                                                                                            origin.
                                                                                                           Migrants rarely go to a completely unknown foreign
          8                                                                                            country – not today, and not in the past. Networks often
                                                                                                       play a considerable role in guiding mobility. Migration
          6                                                                                            has never been an end in itself: the temporary or perma-
                                                                                                       nent stay in a new location is intended to give migrants
          4                                                                                            the opportunity to have a bigger say in shaping their own
                                                                                                       lives. That is the case for people seeking employment
                                                                                                       and educational opportunities, as well as the pursuit of
                                                                        ATLAS OF MIGRATION / McKEOWN

          2
                                                                                                       self-determination, for example the desire to escape from
          0
          1846– 1856– 1866– 1876– 1886– 1896– 1906– 1916– 1926– 1936–
          1850 1860 1870 1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940
                                                                                                       Industrialization, urbanization and new transportation
        * Includes Manchuria, Japan, Central Asia                                                      methods stimulated mobility. And many
                                                                                                       indigenous peoples came to be dominated by outsiders

10   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
ATLAS OF MIGRATION / PHILIP’S, SLAVE VOYAGES, LUEBKE
   BY LAND AND BY SEA
   Origins and destinations of migrants, 1500–1914, selected,
   millions of migrants

                                                                                                  10
                                                                                              1880–1914
                                                               Europe                                         Russia
                                                                               2.2
                                           32
                                                                           1880–1914                                                       Japan
        North America                   1620–1914
                                                                                                                                    1850–1914
                                                                1.5                                                                    8
                                         7.4                      1850–1914
                                                                                                                  China
                                       1530–1914
       Central America                                                                                  India      1820–1914   22            1
                                                                1.4                                                                        1880–1914

                                                                      Africa                        3
                                                                                4.3               1850–1914
                                                   12                                                                  Southeast Asia
                                                                         1500–1800
                                                   1530–1860
                       South America

                                                                                                                          Australia

                                                                                              3
                                                                                           1790–1914

                                                                                                                                New Zealand

                                                                                              From colonial times to the industrial era,
arranged marriages or simply to fulfil a wish to pursue a                              more than 100 million people took part in major
particular career.                                                                            long-distance movements – or were sold
    One trigger for migration has always been violence, or
threats of violence. People react to armed conflict by leav-
ing unsafe places. Forcing people to move away to make                      Are more people migrating nowadays than ever be-
it easier to consolidate power or further political goals is            fore? This question cannot be answered. There is no data
by no means new. Refugee movements, expulsions and                      available for many historical periods, and the concept of
deportations occur when particular groups – usually                     migration is defined in many different ways. However, we
state actors – threaten life and limb, restrict rights and              can establish whether the number of migrants within a
freedoms, limit opportunities for political participation,              particular territory has always been very high – for exam-
or inhibit sovereignty and individual or collective security            ple through the long and far-reaching process of urbani-
to such an extent that people see no other option than to               zation. The movement from the countryside to towns and
leave their homes.                                                      cities was a cause and consequence of industrialization.
    The holy scriptures of Judaism, Christianity and Islam              But relatively few people have undertaken movements
are sprinkled with stories of people who seek protection                over long distances, across national boundaries or be-
and who are welcomed or rejected by the host communi-                   tween continents. The United Nations today counts some
ties. According to ancient authors, Rome became so pow-                 258 million migrants who have crossed a national border.
erful because it consistently gave shelter to large numbers             But 97 out of every 100 people in the world still live in the
of persecuted people. The following centuries had rules                 country where they were born.
governing asylum. But specific national and international                   Migration, especially over long distances, is a very
norms for protecting people fleeing violence and perse-                 demanding social process. Nevertheless, it remains a
cution emerged much later, after the First World War. The               constant of human development. No modern society, no
Geneva Refugee Convention of 1951 is regarded as a mile-                current nation-state, and no major city would exist with-
stone in international law.                                             out it.

                                                                                                                                ATLAS OF MIGRATION                                                            11
MOBILITY

     HOME AWAY FROM HOME
     Employment, independence and security                          countries are also home to 11 million new arrivals. Al-
     are major drivers of migration. Movements                      most half of all international migrants come from just
     are in flux, with cheap flights and                            20 countries.
     mobile phones allowing people to keep in                           Europe and North America were long the most im-
                                                                    portant destinations. In the meantime, the focus has
     touch with their loved ones at home. But
                                                                    gradually switched to Asia. Since the turn of the mil-
     the traditional migration corridors are
                                                                    lennium, Asia has become the end point for more than
     still in operation. And new boundaries                         30 million international migrants: more than any oth-
     mean that people who follow social ties to                     er region in this period. Over 40 percent of these mi-
     newly independent neighbouring countries                       grants come from Asia. Broad migration corridors have
     are now considered international migrants.                     emerged between the countries of South and Southeast
                                                                    Asia and the Gulf states, with their high demand for
                                                                    labour. Construction and household workers already

     T
             he media often give the impression that people         make up the majority of the population in the Gulf. In
             in poor countries will do just about anything to       the United Arab Emirates, 88 percent of the population
             reach Europe or the US. But such movements ac-         are foreign nationals, including 3.3 million people from
     count for only a small part of the global flow of migrants.    India alone.
     Every country experiences movement across its borders              These migration corridors show that despite all the
     – international migration – or movements within its            technical progress in transport and telecommunica-
     boundaries – internal migration. Migration is a world-         tions, geography still plays a big role. Most people mi-
     wide phenomenon.                                               grate within their home region. The drawing of new
         The United Nations estimates that in 2017 some 258         boundaries, such as in the former Soviet Union, means
     million people were living either temporarily or perma-        that people who follow family, ethnic and historical ties
     nently in other countries. This figure has tripled in the      to newly independent neighbouring countries are now
     course of a generation: in 1970 there were 84 million          considered international migrants. But the Mexico-US
     international migrants, in 1990 there were 153 million         migration corridor is still the busiest of all. In 2017, the
     and since the turn of the millennium the number has in-        United States was home to 98 percent of all Mexicans
     creased by a further 85 million. However, the proportion       living abroad – some 12.7 million people. Flight from
     has scarcely changed : in 1970, the global percentage was      conflict or natural disasters usually takes place within
     2.3 percent; in 2017 it had gone up slightly to 3.4 percent.   a particular region. In 2000, the Turkish border police
         The number of people who leave their birthplace            registered only 1,400 irregular border crossings from
     but stay in the same country is much higher. In 2005,          neighbouring Syria; by the start of 2019, the civil war
     the United Nations estimated the number of internal mi-        had pushed the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey up
     grants at 763 million. In 2017, in China alone, this catego-   to 3.6 million.
     ry included 244 million people. India, the United States,          Migration has many facets, not just permanent emi-
     and even Germany with its economic gradient from west          gration or immigration. Many people return home after
     down to the east, experience big internal movements,           studying or working abroad for a period. That includes
     often from rural to urban areas, and from economically         so-called “expats”: workers who are stationed in a for-
     depressed regions to growth centres.                           eign country for a period of time to perform managerial
         Global migration is on the rise for various reasons.       or service jobs. Others move on, and still others move
     In some areas, conflicts and wars force people to flee. In     back and forth between their home countries and one
     others, globalization of the economy is a major cause of       or more destinations. “Digital nomads” – generally peo-
     migration. Old migration corridors still play a role. They     ple from wealthy countries who live cheaply in poorer
     arose between neighbouring countries (such as from             regions – get a lot of media attention but they are a mi-
     Italy to Switzerland), through a history of colonialism        nority.
     (as from India to the United Kingdom) or through long-
     standing trade relationships (as between China and East
     Africa).                                                                                      Not many on a global scale:
         Today almost two-thirds of all international migrants                      international migrants account for around
     live in developed countries. But even the low-income                                   3 percent of the world’s population

12   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
WAY TO GO
An overview of international migration
                                                                                      Latin America and Caribbean

    Migrant movements
    within and between                                                          26
                                       Europe            41
    six world regions,                                                  8                                North America
    millions, 2017

                                                                                                                   Oceania
                                                   20
                                                                                                                   unknown
                                                              17
                                                                                9
                                                                    7

                                                                                                   19
                                                                                                            Africa

                                                              63

                                                Asia

    Numbers in millions and distribution                                    Numbers in millions and distribution
    by gender, percent, 2017                                                by gender

                                                                   300
                                     258 all migrants                                                                                  258
                                                                                          men                                248
                                     234 ages 15 and above         250                    women                       220
                                                                                                            191
                                     164 employed                  200                            173
                                                                               152      161

                                                                   150
      48% 46% 41%                       59% 54% 52%
                                                                   100

                                                        men
                                                                    50
                                                        women
                                                                     0
                                                                               1990     1995      2000      2005      2010    2015     2017

    Distribution of migrants
    by destination region,
    percent, 2017
                                                                                               North, South and Western Europe 23.9
                              North America 23.0

     Latin America and Caribbean 2.7

                        North Africa 0.7
                                                                                                         Eastern Europe 8.1
                   Sub-Saharan Africa 7.2

                                                                                                   Eastern Asia 3.6
                                                                                                                                                    ATLAS OF MIGRATION / ILO, UN

                                     Arab states 13.9
                                                                                               Southeast Asia and Pacific 7.1

                                                        South Asia 4.5           Central and Western Asia 5.2

differences due to rounding

                                                                                                                                     ATLAS OF MIGRATION                            13
MOTIVES

     REASONS TO MOVE
     People move for many reasons. Many seek a                                                   mobile and have moved to another country for a period
     better life for themselves and their children;                                              of time. A stay in a foreign land was often an important
     others flee threats and violence; still others                                              step towards adulthood, making it possible for those who
     are displaced by natural disasters. Very                                                    left to return home with enough savings to start a family.
                                                                                                 Before the colonial era, travelling merchants helped spur
     often, their reasons for moving overlap.
                                                                                                 the gold trade and maintained long-distance commerce
                                                                                                 relations.

     T
             wenty-year-old Mody Boubou Coulibaly from Mali                                          In the 1960s and 70s, many francophone West Afri-
             worked as a construction worker in Nouakchott,                                      cans went to France to work, quite legally, with visas. That
             the capital of neighbouring Mauritania. On 9 May                                    is scarcely possible today. Because the journey to Europe
     2016, he jumped from the third storey of an unfinished                                      has become so perilous, it is mainly young people who
     building and died soon afterwards of his injuries. He felt                                  take to the road. The motives of such “irregular” migrants
     forced into this desperate act after being harassed by a po-                                are not just the prospect of a job and income; they also
     liceman. Coulibaly’s offence was that he had overstayed                                     want to further their education, gain experience, achieve
     his period of legal residence in Mauritania. He could not                                   a particular lifestyle, or join family members who are al-
     afford the 85 euros he needed for a residency permit.                                       ready abroad.
         Since 2017, Mauritania has been an associate mem-                                           In the summer of 2018, IOM, the United Nations Migra-
     ber of the Economic Community of West African States                                        tion Agency, surveyed more than 5,400 migrants travel-
     (ECOWAS), which includes Mali and 14 other countries                                        ling through transportation nodes such as bus stations in
     in the region. At its founding in 1975, a key question for                                  West Africa. Of these, 83 percent were men and 17 percent
     ECOWAS was how to overcome the boundaries imposed                                           women. Four out of every five respondents said they were
     by the colonial powers and allow the citizens of West Af-                                   travelling for economic reasons. That is similar to the situ-
     rica freedom of movement within the region. Mobility in                                     ation in Latin America, where in the same year the Wash-
     this part of the world is not only vital for life, it is also a                             ington-based Center for Immigration Studies questioned
     deeply rooted in local cultures.                                                            people in Honduras about their reasons for migrating to
         Within West Africa, many people have always been                                        the United States. A large majority, 82.9 percent, men-
                                                                                                 tioned unemployment and income prospects; 11.3 percent
                                                                                                 named violence and insecurity.
                                                                                                     The assumption that migration is mainly a reaction to
        COMING AND GOING
        Migration flows of over 2 million people between
                                                                                                 especially bad living conditions is mistaken. The poorest
        individual countries, officially registered, to 2017,                                    people simply lack the wherewithal to move anywhere. It
        millions                                                                                 is therefore a misconception that successful development
                                                                                                 aid and investments will lead to less migration. In fact,
                            from                   to                                            socioeconomic development is more likely to promote
                     Mexico                   11.6                                               migration rather than to reduce it. The theory of a “mi-
                                                      USA
                                                                                                 gration hump”, coined in the 1990s, predicts that when
                                                2.1
                                                2.4                                              a country has reached a certain income level the number
                      China
                                                2.3 Hong Kong                                    of emigrants begins to sink. But the close correlation be-
                                                2.3 Saudi Arabia                                 tween income level and the tendency to emigrate that this
                       India
                                                3.3 UAE*                                         model predicts neglects other important factors. These
              Afghanistan                       2.3 Iran                                         include the demographic trends in the countries of origin
              Bangladesh                        3.1 India                                        and destination, the copycat effect, and obstacles such as
                       Syria                    3.3 Turkey                                       visa and entry requirements – and of course global eco-
                                                3.3 Ukraine                                      nomic and environmental changes.
                                                                   ATLAS OF MIGRATION / KNOMAD

                     Russia
                                                2.4 Kazakhstan                                       The lifestyles and production methods of the devel-
               Kazakhstan                       2.6 Russia
                   Ukraine                      3.3
                                                                                                 Flight from war and terror, the desire for a better life,
        * United Arab Emirates                                                                   traditional links, and new borders – these are the factors
                                                                                                 that determine the sources and destinations of migrants

14   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
ATLAS OF MIGRATION / AKUF, UNDP, ROG, UNEP
   GOOD REASONS TO GET GOING
   Triggers of migration, selected

      Wars and armed conflicts – Annual review of                Unequal access to income, health care and
      the Study Group on the Causes of War, University           education – Inequality-adjusted Human Development
      of Hamburg, end 2018                                       Index (IHDI), 2017

         24 wars                 nationwide                         0.7 and above            0.5 – 0.6   under 0.4
         4 armed conflicts       sub-national                       0.6 – 0.7                0.4 – 0.5   no data
                                                                 lower values = more unequal access

      Violations of human rights – the example                   Climate crisis, rising seas levels, endangered
      of the CIVICUS rating of civil society openness            farming systems – the example of soil degradation,
      and freedom, 2019                                          UN Environment Programme, no date

                        open                 repressed                               stable              without vegetation,
                        narrowed             closed                                  degraded            no data
                        obstructed           no data                                 very degraded

                                                                            Where lives are in danger or prospects are dim,
oped world are hastening climate change and destroying                 flight and emigration follow. People are often ready
the livelihoods of many people in the developing world.                     to go back home if the situation there improves
According to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Cen-
tre, part of the Norwegian Refugee Council, between 2008
and 2017 a total of 246.1 million people were displaced by        “Irregular” migration also arises because capital and
natural disasters. A total of 18.8 million people were dis-   goods can be mobile without regard to the environment
placed in 2017 alone.                                         or human rights, while people can be denied legal routes
    We have always had natural disasters, but climate-re-     to migrate or flee. Many people leave their home coun-
lated migration is on the increase. The terms “environ-       tries for compelling reasons, such as armed conflict or
mental migrants”, “environmentally displaced persons”         political or religious persecution. They shape the image
or “climate refugees” are used to describe the people         of global migration, but they make up only a small part
affected. Although the United Nations defines some en-        of it: around 71 million refugees and internally displaced
vironmental factors as a reason for flight, the people in-    people, compared to around 258 million migrants.
volved still have no legal right to protection. People who        Often people are on the move for a variety of overlap-
cannot survive in their home countries are not regarded       ping reasons – and those reasons may change over time.
as regular refugees in Europe but as “irregular” migrants     Development assistance, repatriation, border closures
or “economic refugees”.                                       and criminalization will not be able to change this.

                                                                                                                 ATLAS OF MIGRATION                                          15
ON THE RUN

     A FAILURE OF COMMUNITY
     Never before have so many people found                                                               Above all, these numbers confirm the failure of the in-
     themselves fleeing for their safety. The                                                         ternational community in resolving conflicts. The majori-
     international community often fails not                                                          ty of these people are fleeing long-lasting conflicts such as
     only to prevent wars and conflicts, but also                                                     the armed conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo,
                                                                                                      war, as in South Sudan, or the brutal expulsion of Rohing-
     to protect the victims.
                                                                                                      ya from Myanmar to Bangladesh.
                                                                                                          In 2017, more than two-thirds of the world’s refugees

     E
            very year on 20 June, World Refugee Day, the Unit-                                        came from just five countries. Syria was top of the list with
            ed Nations publishes the latest refugee numbers.                                          more people fleeing than anywhere else. Since the start of
            Six of the last seven years have broken the previous                                      the civil war in 2011, 6.2 million of the estimated popula-
     record. The statistics are a "thermometer of world events",                                      tion of 20 million have fled within the country’s borders.
     says the UNHCR, the UN’s Refugee Agency.                                                         Another 5.7 million have escaped abroad. Today, one in
         The number of people fleeing to Europe has fallen dra-                                       every three refugees worldwide comes from Syria. By the
     matically as the European Union borders have been sealed                                         end of 2017, more than 2.6 million people had fled from
     off. But globally, the numbers are going in the opposite di-                                     Afghanistan, followed by South Sudan with 2.4 million
     rection: the UNHCR estimates that a total of 71.4 million                                        and Myanmar, where 1.2 million members of the Muslim
     people were in need of protection at the end of 2017 – ap-                                       Rohingya minority were forced to leave the country.
     proximately 50 million more than in 2000, and more than                                              Most displaced people do not travel far – they stay
     ever before. Statistically speaking, nearly one in every 100                                     in their own country. Around 39 of the 71.4 million are
     people is either displaced within his or her own country, is                                     so-called internally displaced persons. Contrary to the
     seeking asylum, is recognized as a refugee, or is stateless.                                     overheated debate in Europe and the United States, only
     Over 16.2 million people took flight in 2006 alone – an av-                                      a small proportion of displaced people end up in the de-
     erage of 44,000 people every day. Over half (52 percent) of                                      veloped world. Some 85 percent of international refugees
     the refugees registered by UNHCR are children.                                                   find refuge in the developing world.
                                                                                                          Turkey has been one of the top refugee hosting coun-
                                                                                                      tries for some time. An estimated 3.7 million people have
                                                                                                      found sanctuary there, most of them from Syria. Pakistan
        UNINTERRUPTED RISE
        Numbers of persons of concern in millions
                                                                                                      comes next, with 1.4 million refugees, although the gov-
        and composition by status                                                                     ernment has started to turn away Afghans. Approximately
                                                                                                      1.1 million people have arrived in Uganda from two of its
         80
                      refugees                                                                        neighbouring countries: the Democratic Republic of Con-
                                                                  71.4
                      asylum seekers                                                                  go and South Sudan. The civil war in the fertile South Su-
         70           internally displaced people
                      returnees under protection
                                                                                                      dan has caused a drastic food crisis, showing once again
                      stateless                                                                       how closely war and poverty are interlinked as causes of
         60           other                                                                           flight.
                                                                                                          At the end of 2017, Germany, which has admitted
         50                                                                                           970,000 refugees, ranked sixth top hosting country world-
                                                                                                      wide. The UNHCR statistics do not include individuals
         40
                                                                                                      whose asylum procedures are still ongoing, or people
              33.9
                                                                                                      who are not recognized as refugees but whose residence
                                                                                                      is "tolerated" in Germany. If these people are included,
         30
                                                                                                      Germany would come in at around 1.3 million, and would
                                                                                                      pull past Iran and Lebanon into 4th place.
         20
                                                                                                          If population figures are taken into account, the pic-
                                                                         ATLAS OF MIGRATION / UNHCR

                                                                                                      ture for Germany looks rather different. With 11.6 refugees
         10

          0                                                                                           The numbers of refugees and displaced
               2010     2011   2012   2013   2014   2015   2016   2017                                people recorded by the UN Refugee
                                                                                                      Agency has more than doubled in eight years

16   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
FLIGHT, DISPLACEMENT AND LACK OF HUMAN RIGHTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD
   Countries with over 500,000 registered persons of concern,
   by status, thousands of people, 2018
                                                                                                                               7,187
                                                                             3,923
                                                                                         994          752         617
                                                                            Turkey Lebanon           Jordan    Azerbaijan      Syria
                                                           1,430
                                                          Germany       1.845
                         refugees
                         asylum seekers                               Ukraine
   957                                                                                                        2,537
                         internally displaced people
   USA                   stateless
                         other                                                                 979      Afghanistan
                                                                                               Iran
                                                  2,159                 2,927                               1,580                  862
                                                               619                   2,964
                                                                                                                                Myanmar
                                               South Sudan    Chad     Sudan                   2,405      Pakistan      943
                                                                                     Iraq
          7,872                          695                                                                     Bangladesh
                                                                                               Yemen
                                     Côte d’Ivoire
                                                                                                                                 583
         Colombia                                                                                                              Thailand
                                       2,191                                                                  2,941
                                                     590                                        2,128
                                      Nigeria      Cameroon

                                                                                                                                                ATLAS OF MIGRATION / UNHCR
                                                                                               Ethiopia     Somalia
                                                782                             1,334
                                                                                           508
                                      Central African Rep.          5,238       Uganda   Tanzania

                                                                DR Congo

                                                                                                    Most refugees and displaced people
admitted for every 1,000 inhabitants, Germany is far from                                         live in or on the edges of war zones or
being the most welcoming land on Earth. Lebanon, which                                                          areas with armed conflict
is far less well-off, has accepted 164 refugees per 1,000 in-
habitants, the highest number in the world. Jordan has 71,
Turkey 43. In Europe, Sweden is the country with the most              for a decade or more. These include people who have fled
refugees in relative terms: almost 24 people per 1,000 in-             from Somalia to Kenya to escape violence perpetrated by
habitants.                                                             Islamist militias, and who face bleak prospects there. The
     Compared to the national economic outputs, the coun-              situation could be improved with relatively few resources
tries hosting the largest number of refugees are South                 – if only the political will were there.
Sudan, Uganda, Chad and Niger. These countries cannot
adequately cater to refugees’ needs, and are forced to rely
on the international community for support. But the in-
ternational community not only fails to resolve conflicts,
                                                                                                                                                ATLAS OF MIGRATION / UNHCR

                                                                            RELATIVE OPENNESS
it also fails to deal with their consequences. For example,                 Number of refugees accepted in relation
the huge numbers of refugees from Syria resulted in part                    to total population, 2018
from a reduction in food aid to the UN’s World Food Pro-
gramme, which depends heavily on voluntary donations
from governments. Members of the European Union were                                 Lebanon 1 : 6                    Jordan 1 : 13
deeply involved in restricting this aid.
     All humanitarian aid programmes complain that
emergency aid for refugees is seriously underfunded. The                                         Turkey 1 : 21
stressful experience of fleeing becomes life-threatening
for many people. Right at the bottom of the list of priori-
ties are long-term refugees, who must often live in camps

                          In proportion to their populations,                                         Germany 1 : 58
                         Syria’s neighbours have taken in far
                           more refugees than Germany has

                                                                                                                                 ATLAS OF MIGRATION                          17
VISAS

     HOW FAT IS YOUR WALLET?
     Within most of the European Union,                                                        on arrival in another 25, but they need to apply for one
     borderless travel has become almost a matter                                              beforehand in 168 countries.
     of course – as long as you have the right                                                     The Global Passport Power Rank 2019, which meas-
     passport. If you don’t, but still want to travel                                          ures the importance of citizenship for freedom of move-
                                                                                               ment, puts the United Arab Emirates at the top, followed
     internationally, you will quickly find that
                                                                                               by Luxembourg, Finland and Spain in joint second place.
     your wallet determines how far you can go.
                                                                                               Germany and eight other countries are joint third. Cit-
                                                                                               izens of these countries enjoy a high degree of freedom

     T
             he Universal Declaration of Human Rights grants                                   of movement. Conversely, entry to Germany (for example)
             everyone the right to move freely within a state                                  without a visa is possible only for citizens of the other 27
             and to choose his or her place of residence. Every-                               EU members, five EU candidate countries, and 67 other
     one is free to leave any country, including his or her own                                countries, including important political and economic
     one, and to return to his or her own land. So there is a                                  partners such as Japan and the United States. The citizens
     globally recognized human right to move freely within                                     of over 100 countries have to undergo an often complex
     one’s own country, to settle and to emigrate. This right is                               and costly application process to get a visa, even if they
     not respected everywhere: China and Tunisia, for exam-                                    want to make only a quick visit to the EU.
     ple, restrict it.                                                                             To do this, applicants have to disclose their private
         What does not exist is the unrestricted right to travel                               lives and reveal information about third parties: how
     to another country. Nation-states instead control access to                               much do you have in your bank account? What do you
     their territory through entry permits, i.e., by granting or                               want to do in Europe? Who is your employer there? Who
     refusing visas. This results in enormous global inequali-                                 invited you? Where are you going to stay? Who will cover
     ties. If you hold a German passport, you can enter 127                                    the costs of your visit? And of course, will you leave the
     countries without a visa, obtain a visa on entry in another
     40 countries, and need to apply for a visa beforehand in
     only 31 countries. Afghanistan is on the other end of the                                                         Golden visas in the European Union were
     scale. Holders of an Afghan passport may only travel to                                                       designed to promote investment. In fact, they
     five other countries without a visa. They can obtain a visa                                                        speed up immigration for the well-to-do

        WELCOME TO THE WEALTHY
        EU members that issue “golden visas” in return for investments, purchase of government bonds or property,
        and average annual capital inflows thereby created, 2012–17, number of citizenships or residence permits issued
        and two main countries of origin of applicants

              capital inflows through sale                            citizenships or residence                    from     China   Russia
           43 of visas per year, million euros                        permits issued                                        USA     Brazil

             303              312              1,290
                                                                                                                                                  24,755
                              25                  43
           Austria           Bulgaria           Ireland
                                                                                                                                    19,838
                                                                                                                        17,521
                                                                                                     17,342
                                                                            10,445
                                                       7,565

              2,027
                             914 3,336                                                                                  670                      976
                                                                                                                                                             ATLAS OF MIGRATION / TI, GW

           205                                         250
                                                                               498                                                   434
                                                                                                       180
          Malta               Cyprus                 Greece             United Kingdom                Latvia           Portugal     Hungary       Spain

        * Some figures since 2010 and/or until 2018. France, Luxembourg, Netherlands: no data. Austria: data incomplete.
          Figures partly include family members. Cyprus, Malta: no information on countries of origin

18   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
country when your visa expires?
                                                              PASSPORT, PLEASE
    If authorities do not believe that you really intend to   Freedom of movement according to nationality
leave, they will refuse your application. The visa depart-    and passport, 2019
ment has a free hand here. There are no binding criteria,
and you have no way of objecting. The procedure offers        How many countries can citizens of each country travel
lots of room for arbitrary discrimination and corruption.     to without a visa?
From 2008 to 2010, German consulates in Africa, South               30–70          71–100      101–140             141–172
America and Eastern Europe issued visas in return for
bribes. In 2018, it became known that consular workers in
Lebanon had sold early appointments enabling people to
skip the long queues for visa applications.
    In 2017, the consulates of the EU member states is-
sued around 14.6 million visas. They refused 1.3 million
applications. These refusals were distributed very un-
evenly. The Polish consulate in Irbil, in northern Iraq,
rejected over 60 percent of all applications; around 40
percent of applications at the French consulate in Lagos,
Nigeria, were unsuccessful. Belgian consular officials in
                                                                                            * small countries not shown
Japan, on the other hand, rejected only one in every 50
applications.
    For many would-be travellers, the costs are an insur-
                                                              Which countries can German passport holders travel to,
mountable hurdle. If you are applying for a visa because      under what conditions?
you want to study in the EU, you may have to pay up to
                                                                    freely, no visa required
8,800 euros into a special blocked account, from which              visa on arrival
money can be withdrawn only in the country where you                online document* before travel
will study. This money is intended to cover your living             visa in passport before travel
expenses for at least one year. The low wage levels in Af-
rica and the Middle East mean that such a sum may be
way out of reach. This rule effectively excludes the pos-
sibility of supporting yourself by working while you are
studying.
    The most dramatic illustration of how the size of your
wallet determines your freedom of movement is the so-
called “golden visa”. These go to foreigners who have
invested a certain amount of money in their destination
country. A count by the anti-corruption NGO Transparen-
cy International in 2018 found that over 20 countries had
                                                                                            * including eVisa, ESTA, eTA
such a programme. The 14 European countries among
them are all EU members. Greece, for example, will is-
sue a visa to someone who has invested 250,000 euros in
Greek property.                                               Citizens of which countries can enter Germany without
    Germany has a similar rule – though it is not classi-     a visa?
fied as a golden visa. Since 2004, someone who invests              without visa       with visa
a large sum in their own company in Germany can qual-
ify for an “investor visa”. The company must be “secure-
ly financed” and “viable”. Initially, 250,000 euros was
enough; nowadays, the location of the business must also
show promise for favourable development. If the project
                                                                                                                                 ATLAS OF MIGRATION / PASSPORTINDEX.ORG

is successful and generates a livelihood, the applicant can
look forward to a permanent residency permit after three
years.

    Among the many restrictions to freedom of movement,
           one principle can be recognized: the poorer the
    country you come from, the harder it is to go anywhere

                                                                                                                  ATLAS OF MIGRATION                                      19
LABOUR MIGRATION

     IN SEARCH OF WORK
     Labour migration is politically                                                            possible for young people to work overseas after a period
     controversial in destination countries.                                                    of study abroad. In addition, regional political and eco-
     On one hand, the developed world has                                                       nomic groupings, such as the European Union or the Eco-
     a huge demand for migrant workers,                                                         nomic Community of West African States, often facilitate
                                                                                                the free movement of workers.
     both qualified and low-wage. On
                                                                                                    The economic goals of labour migration are in con-
     the other hand, immigrant workers are
                                                                                                stant flux. Since the 1970s, manufacturing jobs in West-
     often subject to racist treatment.                                                         ern Europe have lost much of their importance. Structural
                                                                                                change has created service economies, with consequenc-

     L
            abour migration can develop in various ways. It of-                                 es regarding the demand for migrant labour. In the 1960s,
            ten has its origins in relations between former co-                                 manufacturing industry – for example in Germany – had
            lonial powers and their colonies – such as the USA                                  a major demand for unskilled workers. German firms
     and the Philippines or between France and Senegal. Glob-                                   recruited large numbers of workers from Italy, Portugal
     al value chains also stimulate labour migration, which is                                  and especially Turkey. Such strategies are still supported
     why many Bolivians work in São Paolo’s textile industry                                    politically today, for example for seasonal jobs and work
     in neighbouring Brazil. Educational migration makes it                                     contracts in the construction sector, farming and abat-
                                                                                                toirs.
                                                                                                    In Western Europe, the immigration of young, quali-
                                                                                                fied workers is nowadays regarded as a means of dealing
        DOWNGRADED ABROAD
        Highly qualified women (e.g., graduates) in professions
                                                                                                with the lack of skilled labour and the ageing of societies.
        with medium or low qualification requirements,                                          Nevertheless, professional regulations and political con-
        15 to 65-year-olds, selected countries, 2017,                                           siderations often prevent the recognition of foreign uni-
        percent                                                                                 versity and technical qualifications. Many of the people
                                                                                                affected are forced to work in jobs that are below their
                                                  born abroad
          Saudi Arabia    11.8 18.9               born in country                               actual qualification levels – a phenomenon known as
                                                                                                "deskilling". Teachers and doctors from the Middle East
                                                                                                or Eastern Europe are often found employed as domestic
          France                      32.3 22.7
                                                                                                workers or nurses. Globally, women dominate in these
                                                                                                types of activities because it is assumed that their gender
          Australia                   32.4 22.5                                                 gives them what are known as "care competencies".
                                                                                                    For refugees, getting a job means negotiating a le-
                                                                                                gal and social obstacle course. The Geneva Convention
          Turkey                      33.6 28.5                                                 on Refugees states that refugees who reside legally in a
                                                                                                state are entitled to be employed or self-employed. But
          Mexico                      33.7 31.9                                                 according to the Global Refugee Work Rights Report, ref-
                                                                                                ugees were excluded from working legally in seven of the
                                                                                                15 host countries studied. Some countries impose further
          Germany                      35.0 16.9                                                hurdles: high fees and complex bureaucratic processes to
                                                                                                get a work permit, language barriers, an obligation to live
                                                                                                in a camp, and not least, racial discrimination on the job
          USA                            37.4 32.6
                                                                                                market.
                                                                                                    Opening up the job market for actual and would-be mi-
          Italy                           53.4 20.1                                             grants is a political hot potato. Economic interests are not
                                                                                                the only factors that come into play. The issue is subject
                                                                                                to negotiations among a plethora of actors: companies,
                                                                    ATLAS OF MIGRATION / OECD

          Greece                                   61.8 29.5

          South Korea                     64.7 53.0                                             Female migrants face even more discrimination in
                                                                                                the labour market than do local women, and many more
                                                                                                must work in jobs for which they are overqualified

20   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
ATLAS OF MIGRATION / BPB
   NO GOOD LOOKING EAST
   Population increase or decrease in European countries
   from 2017 to 2050, UN predictions, taking immigration
   in 2015/16 into account                                                                                                           Finland

                                                                                           Norway

                                                                                                         Sweden
                                                                                                                                    Estonia
                                                                                                                                                          Russia
                over 30
                                                                                                                                     Latvia
                20 to 30                                                                Denmark
                                         Ireland
                10 to 20                                                                                                        Lithuania
                0 to 10
                                                    United Kingdom
                0 to –10                                                Netherlands                                                         Belarus

                –10 to –20                                                          Germany
                                                                                                                      Poland
                –20 to –30                                           Belgium
                                                                           Luxembourg
                over –30
                                                                                                     Czech Republic
                                                                                                                                                        Ukraine
                no data                                                                 Liechtenstein              Slovakia
                                                              France
                                                                          Switzerland                Austria                                      Moldavia
                                                                                                                   Hungary
                                                                                                      Slovenia
                                                                                                                                    Romania
                                                                                        Italy        Croatia     Bosnia
                                                                                                                 & Herz. Serbia
                                                   Andorra               Monaco
                                                                                                 San Marino        Montenegro        Bulgaria
                           Portugal
                                      Spain                                                                               North Macedonia
                                                                                      Vatican City                  Albania

                                                                                                                                Greece
                                                                                                                                                             Turkey
         EU land border

                                                                                         Malta
                                                                                                                                                       Cyprus

                                                                                    The population decline in Central and Eastern Europe
business associations, trade unions, political bodies, gov-                       reduces the number of potential migrants who can work
ernment authorities and nongovernment organizations.                                        in the health and care professions in the West
Private actors such as job-placement agencies and trans-
national temporary employment agencies are also gain-
ing importance. The migrants themselves – the key play-                      disputes because they do not enjoy the same rights as na-
ers and the people most affected – are usually invisible in                  tives in many countries. They live in fear of being sacked
the public debate.                                                           or even deported if they make too much noise.
    What impact does labour migration have on employ-                            Some unions, however, have developed successful
ment conditions in the host countries? This is also sub-                     strategies for migrants. In Brazil, Hong Kong and Italy,
ject to debate. There is no proven statistical link between                  they cooperate with the migrants’ own organizations.
high immigration rates and high unemployment or fall-                        This has enabled them to organize successful campaigns
ing wages. There is some evidence that immigration has                       in the area of domestic work. In the United States, worker
the opposite effect: that it can stimulate the economy and                   centers help to support low-wage workers, including many
reduce unemployment among the local population. And                          undocumented migrants. They are gateway organizations
then there is the segmentation of the labour market: mi-                     that provide workers with information and various ser-
grants, especially new arrivals, often do not compete for                    vices. In Switzerland, around 65 percent of construction
the same jobs as longstanding residents, but fill vacancies                  workers are immigrants. Unions organized them decades
in unpopular types of work.                                                  ago. They spoke to the migrants in their native languages,
    Such controversies mean that some trade unions have                      gave them information about their labour rights, worked
a schizophrenic position towards migration. They swing                       closely with their organizations, and supported them in
from international and works-based solidarity on one                         elected bodies. Many successful strikes can be traced back
hand, and representing their national members’ interests                     to active members who originally came from Italy, Spain,
on the other. Many migrants cannot take part in industrial                   Portugal or former Yugoslavia.

                                                                                                                                                      ATLAS OF MIGRATION                         21
MOVEMENT OF LABOUR

     SENDING MONEY TO
     THE FOLKS BACK HOME
     Migration and economic development go                                                                      Since 2010, Africa has spent more than 2 billion US dollars
     together. For the migrants’ countries of                                                                   to educate doctors who have then emigrated. The amount
     origin the economic advantages outweigh                                                                    spent by African governments on university education, is,
     the disadvantages. In particular, the harm                                                                 measured in terms of economic output, among the high-
                                                                                                                est in the world. A place at university for a year costs twice
     caused by the loss of skilled workers is often
                                                                                                                to three times the average inhabitant’s annual income. In
     overestimated. Many such workers would
                                                                                                                Niger, it is 5.6 times higher. In Asia, by contrast, countries
     return if they could find good employment                                                                  spend only half the per-capita income on a university
     at home.                                                                                                   place.
                                                                                                                    Despite all this, migration still does not mean a loss for

     F
            or years there have been alarmist warnings about                                                    Africa. Relatively few skilled Africans leave their country
            the consequences of migration for the destination                                                   of origin. For the countries south of the Sahara the figure
            countries – especially in Europe – as well as for the                                               is only 0.4 percent; for North Africa it is 0.7 percent. In Eu-
     countries of origin. For the latter, most concern centres on                                               rope (not counting Eastern Europe), 1.7 percent do so. Of
     the "brain drain": the emigration of skilled workers. Poor                                                 those Africans who emigrate, many stay in the continent:
     countries lose workers that they desperately need for their                                                they migrate elsewhere in Africa. Some African countries
     economic development, goes this argument. Particular                                                       even promote the migration of qualified individuals with-
     focus is on the expensive education given to people who                                                    in the continent. South Africa and Kenya have recently
     end up leaving their country.                                                                              signed or revised deals with their neighbours, making it
         In 2017, some 36 million of the world’s 258 million in-                                                easier for qualified workers to enter.
     ternational migrants came from the African continent.                                                          One in eight skilled migrants leaves both his or her
                                                                                                                home country and the African continent behind. Most of
                                                                                                                them head for Europe or North America. But for this Afri-
                                                                                                                can diaspora, the rapid economic growth of many African
        MILLIONS SEND BILLIONS
        Labour migration from Latin America and the Caribbean,
                                                                                                                countries provides a strong incentive to return. One sur-
        2017                                                                                                    vey found that if enough jobs were available, nine out of
                                       million people                                                           every ten African PhDs who now live in another part of the
                                                                                                                world would seriously consider returning to pursue their
                  USA
                           21.4                               Spain
                                                                        2.6                                     careers in Africa.
                                                                                                                    A look at the remittances that migrants send to their
                                                                                                                families reveals that the benefits of temporary or long-
                                                     remittances,                                               term emigration from Africa outweigh the shortcomings.
                                                     billion US dollars                                         In 2017, African migrants transferred some 69.5 billion
         80                                                                                                     dollars through official channels to their home countries.
                                                                                                                That was seven times more than in 2000. The World Bank
         70                                                                   77
                                                                                                                estimates that between 2010 and 2018, a total of 673 bil-
         60
                                                                                                                lion dollars flowed into Africa in this way. Add in all the
         50
                  54                                                                                            money flowing through other channels – such as cash
         40                                    6.1                                                              carried by travellers – and the sum would be consider-
                                                 within the region                                              ably higher.
         30
                                                                                                                    The poorest countries suffer a particular disadvantage
                                                                                   ATLAS OF MIGRATION / CEMLA

         20
                                                                                                                in terms of money-transfer costs. It is a lot more expensive
         10

          0
           2008   2009    2010   2011   2012    2013   2014   2015   2016   2017                                Five years after the financial crisis of 2008/9, remittances
        * Mexico, Central America, Caribbean, South Amercia                                                     by migrants in the USA had recovered to their previous
                                                                                                                levels. They are now increasing by 5–10 percent a year

22   ATLAS OF MIGRATION
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