Title: International migration policies and programmes: the view since Bucharest.

POPLINE Document Number: 018170

Corporate Author(s):

United Nations. Department of International Economic and Social Affairs. Population Division

Source citation:

[New York, UN], 1983 Feb 9. 32 p. (IESA/P/ICP.1984/EG.11/20)

Abstract:

Since the World Population Plan of Action was drafted in 1974, there have been important changes in the volume, direction, and characteristics of international migration flows. Discussion focuses on recent policy developments with respect to permanent immigration, labor migration in developed and in developing countries, undocumented/illegal migration, and refugees. The number of places for permanent immigrants is relatively small in all world regions. The 4 traditional immigration countries--the US, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand--have accepted a total of less than 1 million immigrants per annum in recent years. All of these countries revised their immigration policies beginning in the 1960s, with the policies becoming more "universalist" (in the sense that they accepted immigrants on a wider geographical basis) yet generally more restrictive. Utilizing quotas and, in some countries, "point systems" or numerical weightings, the policies of the traditional immigration countries remain heavily biased toward family reunion, but also give preference to immigrants with assets, education, and specific skills. Given the current economic prospects and domestic political concerns of these countries, their restrictive immigration policies are likely to remain in force in the foreseeable future. A clear and growing preference exists in all world regions for temporary rather than permanent workers. As the size of the foreign population in and outside the labor force has continued to increase in most of the countries of Western Europe, as a result both of family immigration and of natural increase, a major challenge facing the host governments has ben devising policies to promote the integration of these workers and their families without incurring domestic political resentment. In recent years there has been slow but steady progress in improving the economic and social position of foreign workers and in granting them limited political rights. The decision to halt migration after 1973, which had profound effects on the sending countries, was a unilateral decision that was made by the immigration countries. Until the 1970s, the capital rich countries in Northern Africa and the Middle East maintained a "laissez faire" position with respect to their labor shortages, permitting migrant workers from neighboring Arab countries to enter with a minimum of control. By the mid and late 1970s, the receiving countries needed increasingly large supplies of labor, which they obtained from a number of Asian countries. The future of the large numbers of foreign workers who remain in the receiving countries remains uncertain. The policies of the countries that export labor to the captial rich countries have focused largely on recruitment, although they cover a broad range of approaches, from the highly organized "project package" approach to simple manpower export. Illegal migration has become an area of active policy concern. There is a tendency for a large number of governments to be moving in the direction of stricter controls over illegal migration. Governments have at times reverted to a unilateral position in regard to refugees, lowering quotas, contributing less, or even completely revising their policies.

Keywords:

Americas
Asia
Africa
Developing Countries
Developed Countries
International Migration
Migration
Population Dynamics
Migration Policy
Migrant Workers
Settlement and Resettlement
Migrants
Demographic Factors
Population
Population Policy
Social Policy
Policy
Labor Force
Human Resources
Economic Factors