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..Press
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UNESCAP News Services
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Date 26
August 2005
Press Release No: G/19/2005
Asian Nations Call for Migration Dialogue
BANGKOK (UN Information Services) -- Representatives
from twelve Asian countries and fifteen international agencies
and NGOs today called for improved regional cooperation and
the mainstreaming of international migration in national policy
development in the Asia-Pacific region.
At the end of a 3-day seminar in Bangkok on the
social implications of international migration, jointly organized
by UNESCAP, IOM, UNFPA and the Asian Forum of Parliamentarians
on Population and Development (AFPPD) in Bangkok, over 50 Asian
senior officials and parliamentarians recommended the creation
of a new regional framework to facilitate regular dialogue on
international labour migration and development in the region.
UNESCAP Executive Secretary Kim Hak-Su told participants
that the management of migration was particularly complex because
of the significant flows of irregular migration in much of the
region. “Governments often face the difficult task of
balancing the desire to control irregular migration with respect
for the rights of migrants and recognition of the economic and
social forces that compel much of the movement.”
The seminar, chaired by Cambodian Minister of
Women's Affairs Dr. Ing Kantha Phavi, called on all governments
in the region to sign up to existing regional agreements to
counter human trafficking, and concluded that international
migration should be explicitly incorporated into national economic
and social policy-making, if coherent policies were to emerge.
IOM Regional Representative for Southeast Asia
Irena Vojackova-Sollorano, who spoke at the seminar, welcomed
the recommendations as "an important step towards recognizing
the central role played by migration in the economic and social
development of the region."
Participants agreed that new research and improved
data collection was urgently needed to assess the relationship
between migration and development, the costs and benefits of
migration, migration-related health issues, the situation of
families of migrants and the implications of irregular migration
and human trafficking in the region.
Other issues discussed at the seminar included
transparent recruitment processes, insurance and consular protection
for migrant workers, the enforcement of labour standards, the
contribution of remittances to economic development, the impact
of brain drain on the region, the vulnerability of migrants
to communicable diseases, and the impact of international migration
on families left at home.
For further information, please contact:
Mr. David Lazarus, Chief, UN Information Services Bangkok
Tel: +(66-2) 288-1861-66; Fax: +(66-2) 288-1052
E-mail: unisbkk.unescap@un.org
Mr. Chris Lom, IOM Bangkok
Tel. +66.19275215; E-mail: clom@iom.int
Ends
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