APMRN
Update No 6
Articles in
this Issue:
2nd
International Conference of the APMRN
Over 30
researchers and NGO officials gathered in Hong Kong earlier this year
for the 2nd International Conference of the Asia Pacific Migration
Research Network (APMRN). The three day conference from the 23rd to
25th February, 1998 was held at Hong Kong University with the support
of the University's Center of Asian Studies.
The APMRN,
which receives financial support from UNESCO-MOST, formed in 1995 to
study migration and ethno-cultural diversity in the Asia Pacific
region. Since its inception, the APMRN has worked to develop an
effective operating structure to coordinate international research
initiatives. The network produces a newsletter, a working papers
series, has held a number of national and international conferences and
workshops on migration issues, and established a world wide website to
facilitate communication amongst the eleven countries involved. The
Hong Kong conference reviewed the successes of APMRN's network-building
and how to advance research projects.
The main
aims of the network are to produce research relevant to public policy
and to advance education in migration and ethnicity issues.
Participants at the Hong Kong conference discussed a number of
proposals for research collaboration, many of which have received
funding through UNESCO or from other public and private sector sources.
There are
at least seven research initiatives APMRN members are collaborating on.
The Korean Migration Team, for example, received funding from UNESCO
for a four-country study investigating cross cultural labour relations
and social adjustment of labour migrants. It will involve case studies
of migrant community formation in Korea, and of Koreans in Vietnam,
Indonesia, Philippines and China. The Aotearoa/New Zealand Migration
Research Network was also successful in attracting Participation
Program funds from UNESCO for a project on the environmental dimensions
of migration. The project will focus on Polynesian and Pacific
communities in New Zealand, Samoa, Tonga, Cook Islands, Nuie, Tokelaus
and Tuvalu, researching the socio-environmental changes migrants bring
to host countries. It will examine how community and environment are
transformed in the migration process. This project will explore the
core migrant experiences of employment and consumption and residential
patterns in comparing environments and cultures.
The Asian
regional economic crisis was also a key concern at the Hong Kong
conference. Participants discussed the implications of the crisis for
the huge number of migrants in region, and how governments and
societies were reacting to the downturn in demand for migrant labour.
It is clear that while demand for migrant labour may have subsided, the
desire or pressure to migrate remains. There have already been numerous
reports of deportations and ethnic conflict arising from this
contradiction.
Analysing
the crisis will be a theme that APMRN will develop in coming months. A
proposal by the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils
and supported by the APMRN will address the crisis in detail at a
conference in Manila later this year, again with UNESCO financial input.
While
labour migration is still a central issue of the Network, delegates to
the Hong Kong meeting outlined a number of other areas of concern. The
team of researchers from Thailand, for example, recently studied
HIV/AIDS and the problems of controlling the spread of such diseases in
Thailand's northern border regions where population mobility is high.
Border regions are especially difficult to monitor as people cross back
and forth. Community formation along borders is much more transient,
and conducting research and addressing migration issues is
significantly harder. The Thai researchers are now planning a project
assessing the educational needs of children of migrants in Thailand,
focussing on the Burmese community.
The third
day of the Conference was devoted to papers on legal aspects of
migration. Each of the country delegates presented a paper discussing
issues of citizenship, visa regulations, illegal migrants, the
protection of migrants overseas, and the social and civil rights of
migrants and nationals. Comparing migration regulations and codes among
the many countries of the region highlighted the complexities of
regional population mobility and political processes which govern them.
The papers will be published by the APMRN later this year.
Overall,
there were a range of positive research initiatives presented at the
Hong Kong conference. There was still a need to increase multi-country
collaborations and attract more substantial funding. However, it was
clear from the conference that the APMRN is developing into a solid
platform for cooperation with a coherent research agenda. There are
other international networks and organisations doing similar work. What
distinguishes the APMRN is its approach to migration and ethnic
relations issues with a longer term social scientific perspective.
APMRN members can benefit from the good work being done by other
organisations and extend this within a broader collaborative analytical
framework for research.
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Australia Hosts Workshop on Migration and the Asian
Crisis
Asia's
Economic Crisis will be the focus of another workshop in Australia on
October 17th and 18th this year. The aim of this conference is to
analyse the broader impacts of the Asian Financial Crisis on migration,
citizenship and ethnic relations in the region. While the extent of the
Crisis is not yet clear, it has generated serious social and political
implications for the millions of migrants in the region.
The central
question is whether the Crisis will generate new migration dynamics. Is
it a turning point in regional migration just as the Oil Crisis of the
early 1970's was for Europe? Will the migrants and refugees resist the
pressures to return to their countries of origin and demand rights of
residence and asylum, as in Europe? How will this affect the nature and
development of civil society within Asia's newly industrialising
countries? Overall, will the economic readjustment of the region result
in new migrations and challenge existing migration theories?
Issues to
be covered include:
- Nature of growth in the region
- Globalisation and civil society
- Migrant and refugee rights - Welfare issues
- Racism and State control
- Political oppositions
- Legal v. illegal migrations
- Australia and the region
- Migration systems
The
conference is being sponsored by the APMRN, the Migration and
Citizenship Program of the University of Wollongong and the
International Organisation for Migration (IOM). APMRN researchers from
a number of countries will present thematic papers, including Dr. Elsie
Ho (New Zealand), Patrick Pillai (Malaysia) and Prof. HyunHo Seok
(South Korea). The workshop will be held at the Australian National
University in Canberra and aims to attract representatives from
immigration and foreign affairs departments and NGO's based in Canberra.
More
information on the workshop can be obtained through Kerry Lyon at the
APMRN Secretariat.
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APMRN
Wins UNESCO Participation Program Grants
UNESCO's
Participation Program grants are awarded to proposals from UNESCO
member-countries on a biennial basis. For the 1998-99 biennium, APMRN
members from seven countries submitted project proposals on a range of
issues related to migration and ethnicity in the Asia Pacific region.
To date,
four proposals have been awarded funds, while one is to be confirmed.
In brief, the successful proposals are:
- New
Zealand: International Migration and Environmental Transformations in
Polynesian Communities in New Zealand and the Pacific Islands -
US$35,000. This project will assess the ways in which international
migration contributes to environmental transformation in countries
which are significant sources and destinations for migrants. The
concept of environment is a broad one encompassing residential and
workplace, as well as the more narrowly defined 'physical environment'
or biosphere. Referring to the UN's de Cuellar report (1996) the
project will explore the impact of migration on how "societies
themselves create elaborate, culturally-rooted procedures to protect
and manage their resources."
- South
Korea: International Labour Migration in Korea: Labour Relations and
Social Adjustment - $25,000. Korea has experienced a migration
transition from a labour importing country to an exporter of labour and
capital in recent years. This timely social scientific study will focus
on labour relations and social adjustment problems of Korean migrant
workers abroad and of foreign workers in Korea. It will involve case
studies and interviews of migrant worker communities and a comparative
analysis of social policy and cross-cultural analysis of community
attitudes to the presence of migrant workers.
It is anticipated that the Construction and Economy Research Institute
of Korea, the Korea Research Foundation and the Korean Center for
Future Human Resource Studies will support the project.
- People's
Republic of China: APMRN China Network - $25,000. China has won funds
to set up a formal migration research network. Migration research is a
significant issue for China and is becoming more complex. It is
expected that the Chinese Network will set up structures to facilitate
research between institutions, including a migration research database
for China.
- Thailand:
International Migration Bibliography/Educational needs of Burmese
Migrant Children - (under consideration). The Asian Research Center for
Migration (ARCM) at Chulalongkorn University has submitted a proposal
to publish an annotated bibliography of scholarly literature on
international migration concerning Thailand. Material in Thai as well
as other languages will be included. The project is expected to take 1
year to complete.
The ARCM has also put forward a proposal to address the educational
needs of children of Burmese migrants. Burmese are the single largest
group of foreign migrants in Thailand, numbering at least 800,000. The
majority occupy some of the lowest paid and labour intensive jobs. Many
Burmese migrants have family members and children with them and
although their children are entitled to enrol in Thai schools, many are
unable or unwilling to do so.
This project aims to increase understanding of what Burmese migrant
children do, how they interact with Thai society and ascertain what
sorts of educational programs might serve them and their families best.
-
Philippines: AASSREC Regional Conference on the Impact of the Asian
Financial Crisis on Labour Migration Flows in Asia and the Pacific -
$27,000. The Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils
(AASSREC) based in the Philippines has won funds to hold a major
regional conference addressing the Asian crisis and the plight of the
region's migrants. There has been much speculation on the
effects of the crisis on migrants, especially on their employment
prospects and ethnic conflict between migrants and host societies. The
conference will attempt to map the scope of the crisis and propose
policy recommendations dealing with overseas employment and migrant
workers affected by the crisis.
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Migration
Conference in Manila Addresses Regional Crisis
On the
13th and 14th of May 1998, Manila was host to a workshop on the impact
of the Asian economic crisis on migration. The workshop was a joint
initiative of the Scalabrini Migration Center, the International
Organisation for Migration (IOM) and the International Labour Office
(ILO), and attracted some 30 participants from a dozen countries.
Twelve
papers were presented discussing both micro and macroeconomic factors
of migration and how countries were responding to the pressures of the
Crisis. The papers addressed structural issues which precipitated the
crisis in each country and how the situation could best be managed
without further affecting population mobility and economic insecurity.
Papers from
perspective of both migrant-sending and migrant-receiving countries
were presented. Key questions raised included whether migration outside
the region would expand; what impact return migrants would have in the
rural sector; the lack of adequate public welfare in a number of the
countries affected; how different economic sectors were affected; and
the potential increase in the volume of illegal migration.
The
conference also discussed policy recommendations specific to each
country and also at the regional level: Monitoring human rights
violations and illegal migration, legislative protection against
speculation from international capital, encouraging micro-credit
schemes and self-employment, and ensuring potential migrants were
properly informed of conditions abroad were some of the policy
suggestions.
The value
of such meetings was in the realisation that regional responses are
necessary to understand the effects of the crisis and how to regain
balance in the region's economic interdependence - there are no short
term solutions. Meanwhile the pressure to migrate remains. How
governments, employers and NGO's coordinate their responses will decide
whether the human dimension of the crisis is alleviated or becomes a
greater problem.
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