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Understand where migrants come from, where they go, and why migration is increasing, is going to be a major problem with climate change.
Why it’s time to rethink migration?
Because it’s increasingly likely that people will encounter—or become—migrants in their lifetime.
Just imagine if Chinese people had to move (1,425,293,425) it would be worse than a nuclear bomb.
Faced with such a reality, the question is not whether migration is right or wrong. The question is how can we make it work best to support prosperity and development for countries of destination, countries of origin, and the migrants themselves.
This is where the debate often becomes confused because we use a single word — migration — to refer to distinct types of movements that have different impacts, and call for different policy responses than trafficking in humans legally or non legal.
The challenge is to manage the cost, to reduce it and to share it as global.
Climate change along with inequality requires smarter policies for global development and a prosperous future.
Where people migrate depends on what’s happening in the world shaped by new global challenges, the rise of technology, and protracted modern conflicts, in Sudan, the Middle East and Ukraine.
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The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) estimated that by the end of 2022, over 100 million people were forcibly displaced. Syrians, Palestinians, and Afghans account for more than half of all refugees.
Around 80 percent of refugees live outside camps.
Out of the 60.9 million recorded displacements that occurred last year, 32.6 million, were due to climate disasters, including floods, drought and landslides.
More than 280 million people—roughly one out of every thirty people on earth—currently live in a country in which they were not born.
This means that more than 1 in every 74 people have been forcibly displaced.
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Though migration is not a new phenomenon, it takes on a new significance in an increasingly interconnected world.
Migration—who migrates, where, and why—is constantly evolving. #WorldOnTheMove
“Flotsam of Humanity”
The majority of migrants, however, are pulled to countries that offer better economic prospects for themselves or their families.
People are far more likely to be international migrants today than in the recent past.
About one-third of all international migrants come from just ten countries. However, numbers alone don’t tell the whole story:
Many refugees and asylum seekers, who make up just over 10 percent of the world’s international migrants, have more than likely previously within their own countries. 763 million people are internal migrants, who have moved within their country.
High-income nations hosted a majority of international migrants.
That’s not surprising considering that a vast majority of the world’s international migrants are economic migrants who have voluntarily left their countries for better economic opportunities elsewhere.
In 2020, 93.9% of all people living in the United Arab Emirates were international migrants, followed by 80.6% of people in Qatar and 71.3% of people in Kuwait.
The U.S. has more migrants than any other nation, but migrants only account for about 15.1% of the U.S. population – a smaller share than in 24 countries or territories with a total population of at least 1 million.
Though India is the single largest source of international migrants, its 17.9 million migrants in 2020 accounted for only 1.3% of all people born in India by that year.
By comparison, the United Kingdom’s 4.7 million international migrants accounted for 7.6% of those born in the UK by 2020. Mexico’s 11.2 million international migrants accounted for 8.2% of those born in Mexico.
Many of the forces driving migration today are.
- Poverty
- Conflict and violence
- Persecution
- Political instability
- Economic opportunity
- Competition for resources
- Natural disasters and environmental changes
- Reuniting families
Who decides which migrants receive refugee status?
The UN Refugee Convention defines a refugee as any person who owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. 146 nations agree to this definition.
However, host governments ultimately get to decide whether to recognize someone as a refugee. This protective status is known as asylum.
Both refugees and asylum seekers are fleeing for their safety. However, the distinction between these two, though seemingly small, makes a big difference in how they are treated by governments and international organizations.
Just like refugees and asylum seekers, internally displaced persons by the end of 2022, there were over seventy-one million. This is nearly twice the number of refugees in the world. They don’t have the same protections as refugees. International law does not apply to them. Instead, they fall under the laws of their own national government.
Predictions in the field of migration appear particularly difficult given the complexity and diversity of the migration processes, the limited availability and quality of data, and the limited understanding of the migration drivers.
Borders define our fate, our life expectancy, our identity, and so much more.
With up to three billion people expected to be displaced by the effects of global warming by the end of the century, should it lead to a shift in the way we think about national borders.
It can be argued, however, that most of these imaginary lines are not fit for the world of the 21st Century with its soaring population, dramatic climate change and resource scarcity.
As global temperatures increase, causing climate change, sea level rise and extreme weather over the coming decades, large parts of the world that are home to some of the biggest populations will become increasingly hard to live in.
Unable to adapt to increasingly extreme conditions, millions – or even billions – of people will need to move.
One to three billion people are projected to be left outside the climate conditions that have served humanity well over the past 6,000 years.
The threat posed by climate change and its social repercussions dwarf those surrounding national security.
Enabling free movement could double global GDP.
In addition, we would see an increase in cultural diversity, which studies show improves innovation. At a time when we have to solve unprecedented environmental and social challenges, it could be just what is need. What if we thought of the planet as a global commonwealth of humanity, in which people were free to move wherever they wanted? We’d need a new mechanism to manage global labour mobility far more effectively and efficiently – it is our biggest economic resource, after all.
THE CHANCES OF THIS HAPPING IS ZERO.
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