For the past 50 years the number of people residing outside their native land has almost doubled. In 2005 the number reached 191,000,000 (one hundred ninety one million) people. If now all international migrants were living in one state, its territory would rank fifth by population density yielding to only China, India, the USA and Indonesia.
This data was released in the State of World Population report produced and published every year by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. The report is simultaneously launched in more than 110 countries. This year, for the first time, the UNFPA report “A Passage to Hope: Women and International Migration” is devoted to female international migration. The report was accompanied for the first time by a volume entitled “Moving Young,” which highlights the social, economic and demographic aspects of youth migration. “We hope the data collected in the report will be provide one more occasion to draw attention to youth problems on both global and national scales. Solving these problems now is a guarantee of our common success in future,” the UNFPA Coordinator in Belarus Tatiana Haplichnik said while commenting on the Moving Young volume publication.
The Moving Young report offers a glimpse into the lives of young people, and the reasons that compel them, despite all dangers, to leave their homes and countries in chase of a dream or in hope to escape oppression, wars, poverty or despair. The report contains stories of 10 young people from Burkina-Faso, Colombia, India, Kenya, Liberia, Moldova, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Surinam and Zambia.
The launch of the State of World Population report and the Moving Young volume in Belarus took place on 6 September 2006 simultaneously with launching the report in other countries. Young people attending the Minsk presentation told their stories of Belarusian youth migration. The stories covered many cases: illegal work abroad; a dream to marry abroad and its accomplishment results; study abroad with the goal to receive complementary education; life of foreigners, including foreign students, refugees, immigrants’ children in Belarus.
The stories demonstrated that today as never before young people are on the move. The dream about better opportunities and the demand for youth labour abroad compel young people to leave. However, young migrants are vulnerable: they lose the ties with their relatives, culture, economic and social guarantees of their native country, and they not always find support and understanding in a new state of residence. The following three economic factors cause resentment in “recipient countries”: immigrants deprive local people of their jobs; immigrants cause wage reduction; immigrant-related problems are a heavy burden for national well-fare systems.
According to the Ministry of Statistics and Analysis of Belarus, in 2005 the migration grew by 1,949 people, which was 183 less than in 2004 and 3,211 less than in 2003. Young people constituted a considerable portion of these numbers.
“Little is known of the full diversity and complexity of young people’s international migration, as they have been largely invisible in debates about this issue. We hope that the UNFPA State of World Population 2006 report will raise awareness about the need to elaborate concrete measures to protect young migrants’ rights irrespective of their origin, sex, age or ethnicity. Young people migrate and will continue to do so. Only rapt attention to vital needs of young people can contribute to reduction of risks caused by migration,” UN Resident Coordinator/UNFPA Representative Cihan Sultanoglu believes (read the full statement).
For reference: UNFPA is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect. UNFPA was created in 1969. It launched its activities in Belarus in 1994.
For additional information, please, contact Tatiana Haplichnik at 227 45 27, www.unfpa.by
