APMRN
UPDATE No 7, December 1998 - February 1999
Articles in
this issue
Research
Centre for Social Transformation Studies Receives Major Funding
The
Migration and Multicultural Studies program at the University of
Wollongong (which houses the APMRN Secretariat) was recently awarded a
grant from the Australian Research Council of approximately $300,000
per year for the next 6 years to establish a Centre for Asia Pacific Social
Transformation Studies (CAPSTRANS).
Professor
Stephen Castles will be Director of the new Centre which will run four
research programs, including one at a partner institution, the
University of Newcastle, Australia.
Of the four
research programs under CAPSTRANS, Migration and Multicultural
Societies is directly related to APMRN work. A research fellow will be
appointed to conduct new research based on the APMRN's aims and
objectives and will be able to contribute to APMRN research projects
directly.
CAPSTRANS'
aim is to increase our understanding of the complex processes of social
and cultural change which are shaping the Asia Pacific region. It will
examine how globalisation and regional integration are affecting local
communities and national societies. Overall, it raises an important
conceptual tool in social transformations.
CAPSTRANS
will be an important asset to the APMRN in generating new research and
consolidating funding for Secretariat operations.
More
information on CAPSTRANS can be obtained through the University of
Wollongong, Australia or the CAPSTRANS
website.
top of page
News
from the Pacific Network
APMRN work
in the Pacific received a boost for 1998-99 with funding assistance
from UNESCO of about US$26,000. The funds, from both UNESCO-MOST
Secretariat, Paris, and the Regional Office for the Pacific in Samoa
will be used for a number of research activities being organised by
Pacific-based APMRN members.
In October
1998, members of the APMRN based in the Pacific (Fiji, Australia, New
Zealand) held a planning meeting with the APMRN Secretariat to discuss
plans to assist and develop migration researchers in the Pacific.
Professor Vijay Naidu, of the University of the South Pacific and
Professor Richard Bedford of Waikato University, New Zealand agreed to
organise a workshop on migration issues in the Pacific. Five general
themes for the workshop, to be held mid-1999, were identified:
1. Remittances;
2. Migration and Environmental Issues;
3. Transnational-national Communities;
4. International (especially Asian) Migration into the Pacific; and
5. In-migration, return migration - social, cultural and political
impacts.
Members of
the PacMRN also agreed on a plan to develop research in the Pacific by
making funds available to support graduate research students at the
University of the South Pacific which has campuses in Western Samoa,
Vanuatu and Fiji and serves 12 Pacific Island countries. While firm
plans have not been finalised it is envisaged that small grants could
be awarded to assist researchers in the field or that a migration
training workshop could be held to discuss research theory and method.
Meanwhile,
the 19th Pacific Science Congress, a major event to be held in Sydney
in July 1999, is expected to attract a number of migration and ethnic
relations researchers from the region. The APMRN is co-organising a
session on "Asia Pacific Migration as a Factor in Social Change" and
intends to subsidise up to 3 researchers based in the Pacific to
prepare and present papers.
Overall,
1999 looks like a positive year for developing activities and research
in the Pacific. Combined with a research project being coordinated by
the University of Waikato on the effects of migration on the
environment, the APMRN should see a significant amount of empirical and
theoretical research on a wide range of issues affecting the Pacific.
top of page
Vietnam
Team joins APMRN
Developing
links with Vietnamese researchers has been a task the APMRN Secretariat
has pursued during 1998 and into 1999. Vietnam is an important link in
understanding migration trends and population development in the
region. until recently, there has been limited success in creating
strong links with Vietnam, although Professor Seok of Sung Kyun Kwan
University has been working on a Labour Migrants project including
survey research in Vietnam. The Secretariat has also reported in past
issues of APMRN Update on its discussions with Vietnamese scholars.
Representatives
from The Institute for Social Sciences in Ho Chi Minh City visited the
APMRN Secretariat in December 1998 and offered join the Network.
Research capacity and priority issues for Vietnamese scholars were
discussed. The Secretariat agreed to assist in developing specific
project proposals which will help the research capacity of the
Institute. Stephen Castles will be visiting the Institute in March 1999
to formalise linkages and delegates from Vietnam should be attending
the 3rd APMRN conference in Japan later in the year.
top of page
New
Project Opportunity for APMRN
A
multi-country project has been developed by Dr. Supang Chantavanich of
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok, Fr. Graziano Battistella of the
Scalabrini Migration Center in Manila and the APMRN Secretariat team of
Prof. Stephen Castles, A/Prof. Robyn Iredale and Patrick Brownlee
around the broad theme of International migration, social change, human
rights and democratisation in the Asia Pacific. The project will
involve researchers from at least 9 of the APMRN member countries.
As the
project outline states, emerging trends of longer-term settlement of
former labour migrants and refugees in several countries makes it
important to find ways of recognising the rights of such groups and
facilitating their economic opportunities and societal participation.
At the same time, most migrations remain temporary in character.
Protecting
the rights of temporary migrants, preventing exploitation through
trafficking and abuse of undocumented migrants, and safeguarding
vulnerable groups such as women and children is essential for the
improvement of human rights regimes. Overall, migrant and minority
rights can be seen a test-case for more open and democratic societies
in the region.
Adaptive
policy- making in this area requires an improved knowledge base,
cross-national research collaboration, and improved analytical and
theoretical approaches.
A detailed
proposal was submitted to a major international private funding
organisation which has indicated in-principle support for the project.
Three specific research topics which will receive US$75,000 each have
been selected by the funding body for development:
- The effects of female migration on families and
communities in the area of origin
- Undocumented migration: issues of regulation and
human rights
- Return migrants and migrants still abroad as agents
of change.
This last
topic was a particularly important aspect of the UN Technical Symposium
on Migration held in The Hague in June-July, 1998.
Many less
developed countriesÊare exploring ways of maximising the gain to
their nations from emigration. This may be as a result of the mode of
use of remittances, the tapping of the newly acquired skills of return
migrants, the encouragement of source-country consultancy work or
investment by nationals still overseas.
Linking of
projects in the country of origin with projects/businesses conducted by
nationals overseas creates a conduit for economic transfer, but also
for the transfer of information on culture and society. Social
transformations are taking place as these "agents of change" develop
networks and stimulate development. This project will be one of the
APMRN's most significant collaborations to date.
A final
decision on approval for the project is expected after mid-March.
Negotiations look very promising and details of the outcome will be
announced in the next edition of APMRN Update.
top of page
APMRN
Conference Looks at the Future of Migration
Planning has
begun planning for the next international conference and workshop of
the APMRN, which will include a major seminar on perspectives and
future trends of migration in the Asia Pacific region.
Entitled,
Migration in the Asia Pacific - the last 30 years and the next 30
years, the special seminar will commission a series of four expert
papers addressing the possibilities for migration and ethnic relations
as major factors in regional social transformations in the near future.
The last 30
years has seen significant changes in the economies and societies of
the Asia Pacific suggesting that the next 30 years is likely to present
more challenges. Identifying and understanding those processes that
effect social transformation, such as migration and ethnicity, will be
a key to managing change in the region.
The APMRN
Secretariat is hoping to hold the conference at Waseda University,
Tokyo in late September 1999 and has initiated discussions with
Professor Hirano of Waseda University, as well as representatives from
the Japanese Education Department and the Japan Foundation to
facilitate the conference. A final decision on the venue and funding
will be announced in April.
The
conference will also hold a session on policy development strategies,
linkages with Intergovernmental Agencies and NGO's, and discuss some of
the major research projects APMRN members have been working over the
last 18 months.
More
information on the conference can be obtained from the APMRN
Secretariat or by visiting the APMRN Website.
top of page
Report
on the New Zealand Workshop
The New
Zealand Migration Research Network held a workshop in July 1998 on
"Migrant Entrepreneurship and the Development of New Zealand's Links
with Hong Kong". The workshop was organised by the Migration Research
Group at the University of Waikato and sponsored by the Asia 2000
Foundation of New Zealand. The workshop brought together policy makers,
researchers, business persons and prominent members of the migrant
communities to discuss the role of business migration in strengthening
the links between New Zealand and Hong Kong. Over sixty people
participated.
Migrant
Entrepreneurshop Project Leader from the University of Waikato, Dr
Elsie Ho, presented the preliminary findings of a survey of Hong Kong
Chinese entrepreneurs. These entrepreneurs were interviewed in
Auckland, Hamilton and Hong Kong as part of a collaborative research
project between researchers at the University of Waikato and the
University of Hong Kong.
Professor
Richard Bedford, also from the University of Waikato, reviewed New
Zealand's business migration schemes since the late 1970s, and the
contributions which Asian migrants are making to New Zealand's
development.
Professor
Ronald Skeldon from Mahidol University of Thailand placed these
findings in the wider context of Hong Kong's evolving linkages with
countries on the Pacific Rim. He also identified key issues in the
general area of migration and entrepreneurship in the context of the
current economic crisis in Asia.
Implications
of the findings for New Zealand's immigration policy were discussed in
the Plenary Session. The workshop concluded with closing remarks by Mrs
Pansy Wong, Member of the New Zealand Parliament.
top of page
