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Press
Release..............................
UNESCAP News Services
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26 August 2003
Press Release No: N/16/2003
Experts to discuss links between migration and development
in the region
Bangkok (United Nations Information Services)
-- Globalization has brought about a widespread phenomenon of
internal and international migration in the Asian and Pacific
region and this is posing numerous challenges to countries in
the region.
An expert group meeting (EGM) on migration and
development is being organized by the Emerging Social Issues
Division of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission
for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). It will be held from 27
to 29 August, at the United Nations Conference Centre, Bangkok.
"Although migration is perceived to have
varied impacts on social and economic development, there is
currently a lack of adequate, reliable and timely data on how
to formulate effective policies and programmes at the national
level," said a UN expert.
Some 14 experts from 13 countries - Australia,
Bangladesh, Fiji, India, Indonesia, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal,
the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, United Kingdom, and Viet
Nam - are expected to take part in the three-day event. Representatives
from various United Nations agencies, intergovernmental and
non-governmental organizations and academic institutions will
also participate in the meeting.
The key topics on the agenda of the meeting include:
interlinkages between internal and international migration and
development in the region; statistics of international migration
and current status of migration in East Asia; migration and
poverty in Asia, (with reference to Bangladesh, China, the Philippines
and Viet Nam); internal migration and international migration.
Under the topic of internal migration, experts
are to review several cases including the dynamics of poverty,
development and population mobility in Bangladesh; the migration
patterns in Cambodia; migration, urbanization and development
in Mongolia, the improvement in socio-economic status and internal
migration of females in Sri Lanka and migration, poverty and
development in Nepal.
On the issue of international migration, the experts
are to consider various situations such as unskilled Thai migrant
workers in Japan, Filipino domestic workers in Singapore, and
several cases in Indonesia, Fiji and India.
The upcoming EGM is a follow-up to the Fifth Asian
and Pacific Population Conference that was held from 11 to 17
December 2002 at Bangkok and that recommended to "promote
research on the international relationship between migration
and other population dynamics, development, poverty reduction
and linkages between internal and international migration"
and to "support training and inter-country workshops to
build national capacity for data collection, analysis and research".
For further information, please contact:
United Nations Information Services
Tel: (+662) 288 -1862; Fax: (+662) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
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