Poverty-induced cross border migration : socio-economic rights and international solidarity

Abstract

International migration is on the rise. In 2006, there were 191 million international migrants in the world, up from 176 million in 2000. International migrants represented 3.0% of the world population in 2006. There are roughly 30 to 40 million unauthorized migrants worldwide, comprising around 15% to 20% of the world’s immigrant stock, and another 24.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in at least 52 countries. In 2006, the official global number of refugees according to the International Organisation of Migration (IOM) reached an estimated 9.9 million persons. At the same time, nearly three billion people, a figure that makes up nearly half the world population, live on less than two dollars a day. More than 80% of the world’s population lives in countries where income differentials are widening. In fact, the poorest 40% of the world’s population accounts for 5% of global income, while the richest 20% accounts for three-quarters of the world income. Another chilling statistic is that issued by UNICEF, which reports that some 26,500-30,000 of children under the age of 5 die each day due to poverty. And they “die quietly in some of the poorest villages on earth, far removed from the scrutiny and the conscience of the world. Being meek and weak in life makes these dying multitudes even more invisible in death.” (UNICEF, 2000) Substantial numbers of people have thus migrated - or sought to migrate - from regions that are afflicted by poverty and insecurity to more prosperous and stable parts of the world. People who have been forced to migrate often face increasingly tortuous and dangerous long-distance journeys. These migrants have been prompted and their travelling has been facilitated by a variety of factors associated with the process of globalization: a growing disparity in the level of human security present in different parts of the world; improved transportation, communications and information technology systems; the expansion of transnational social networks; and the emergence of a commercial and criminal industry, devoted to the smuggling of people across international borders.