Panel discussion on

MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT

 

TALKING POINTS

 

SOGOR Csaba

Senator

Inter-Parliamentary Group of ROMANIA

 

 

Globalization changes the traditional approach to migration. This phenomenon is increasingly becoming an instrument of economic and social policy, and therefore should be duly addressed by national parliaments. The subject is topical for my Parliament too, particularly in the context of Romania’s upcoming accession to the European Union. We would like to congratulate the IPU for the initiative of holding this panel, as well as the rapporteurs, for their very interesting presentations.

 

The Romanian legislation concerning migration is primarily intended to internalize the acquis communautaire - corresponding to the two relevant negotiation chapters, namely Freedom of Movement of Persons and, respectively, Justice and Internal Affairs – and has three dimensions: migration per se, labor market and the mutual recognition of degrees and qualifications. Important legislative advances were made in relation to the regime of foreign persons in Romania, the regime of refugees and their social protection, and the prevention and countering of human trafficking.

 

In relation to international migration, Romania is considered at present an emigration country, labor migration being the dominant national feature. With a labor market less attractive to the immigrants, Romania is more interesting in terms of opportunities of transit to developed countries.

 

The perception on Romania’s external labor migration is often biased, as public opinion finds it sometimes difficult to make distinction between certain objective hardships related to the travel within the Schengen space and the violation of law, or between the groups performing illegal activities and the affiliation to a social, ethnic or religious minority. This can lead to stereotypical attitudes that feed intolerance and xenophobia.

 

At the same time, the task of ensuring an efficient border control and surveillance of our Eastern border, representing a large part of the future EU border, in order to counter illegal migration and trafficking in human beings, is a top priority and an important challenge for us.

 

In order to build up the necessary expertise in migration-related public policies, social assistance, management and human resources, we envisage implementing new initiatives, most of them proposed by the International Organization for Migrations: the inclusion in the academic curricula of subjects enabling the study of migration; the setting up of faculties and departments for inter-disciplinary studies on migration; the creation of a national migration research center, in partnership with IOM, UNHCR and other international organizations.       

 

I would like to stress, based on our experience, that the elaboration and adoption of laws, the setting up of institutional mechanisms, the development of the relevant strategies and policies in the field of migration could only be successful if they allow a broad participation and input from NGOs, mass media, and local communities. This approach is best suited to build the necessary link between the legislative-institutional and the socio-cultural dimensions of migration.

 

When addressing the relation between migration and the Millennium Development Goals, especially the eradication of poverty and better health standards in developing countries, there are two principles to take into account. Firstly, migration requires a global approach, integrating economic, social and demographical factors that aggravate poverty. Secondly, the repatriation of financial revenues of migrants, although very useful in developing private investments in the countries of origin, should not be considered as universal remedy to poverty and they are not to substitute the governmental financing of public policies.