Saturday 24 February 2007

Resources on Remittances

1. Migrant Remittances to Developing Countries, www.bannock.co.uk/PDF/Remittances.pdf
Cerstin Sander, Bannock Consulting, June 2003

2. Migrant Remittances as a Tool for Development: The Case of Morocco Nina Nyberg Sorensen, Danish Institute for Development Studies, Denmark, IOM
www.iom.int/documents/publication/en/remittances_morocco.pdf

Thursday 22 February 2007

Remittances feed wealth gap

http://www.thestandard.com.hk/news_detail.asp?pp_cat=17&art_id=38407&sid=12245967&con_type=1Friday,

February 16, 2007


Billions of dollars in remittances by a huge overseas workforce are lifting many areas of the Philippines out of poverty, but an academic warns that millions of people are locked out of enjoying any benefits.

Manila and five other regions that account for most of the labor exports also have the country's lowest poverty levels, says University of Santo Tomas professor Alvin Ang.

But poverty levels increased 34 percent to 49 percent in regions where labor export is not a principal preoccupation, Ang's study finds.

The government estimates 30 percent of the Philippines population are poor. But World Bank data show nearly 40 percent of Filipinos live on US$2 (HK$15.60) a day or less.

Ang says his results support the hypothesis "that those who are migrating and working abroad are not poor" and that the remittances have multiplier effects in terms of education, health, housing [and] entrepreneurship" among others.

Instead of "leveling the regional poverty levels, it probably contributes to its worsening" in areas where workers do not have the skills and the resources to move overseas.

The Philippines started large-scale exports of construction workers and seamen in the 1970s amid a building boom in the Middle East.

Ang said deployments shifted in favor of lower-skilled service workers, including domestics, with the emergence of the so-called "tiger" economies of Asia by the late 1980s.

Since the 1990s, the information technology revolution and the graying populations of much of the developed world opened up job opportunities for highly skilled Filipino professionals and technical workers.

Ang said this raised the per-capita annual remittance levels by more than 500 percent to nearly US$11,000 in 2005 compared to about US$2,000 in 1988.

Since most of the migrating workers "are from relatively affluent regions, they may be worsening inequality among regions," he concludes.

He also raises concern that the remittance money flows "are causing sharp declines in agricultural production" because "it seems that labor would rather wait for the opportunity to [work abroad] than work in the farms."

And the bulk of remittance money appears to be sucked into consumer spending that has spurred the rise of giant shopping malls across the country, he notes. AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Thursday 15 February 2007

Migration: Boon or Bane?

The year-end report about the estimated 10 million Filipinos (10% of the total Philippine population) spread in more than 100 countries and the estimated 14 billion dollars which overseas Filipinos sent money in 2006 dominate the Philippine newspapers. We can view this fact two ways:

Pessimistic view:

- Brain drain: the most ambitious, entrepreneurial highly educated leave the country
- Dutch disease effect – remittances cause exchange rate appreciation and weakening of export competitiveness
- Remittances are used for consumption, non-productive activities
- Remittances widens poverty gap in rural areas, after all the poorest of the poor cannot afford to go abroad and find jobs. It is still the middle class and those who have financial means who have chances to create more wealth; However, statistics also show that many of the unskilled workers come from the ranks of the poor but not the hardcore poor. Through their remittances we increase the number of our middle class.
- Migration creates dysfunctional families

Optimistic view

- Remittances are used for capital investments
- Migrant resources pay for child’s education and health investments which stimulate long-run growth
- Remittances have direct impact on household level
- Migrant remittances serve as informal insurance (shocks) for households and life cycle (marriage, death, fiesta, etc) in poor countries
- Migrants bring skills and knowledge (circular migration)

Many Western countries, especially in Europe favor stopping migration for the reason that it creates brain drain. This argument is now being disproved by many academics. Not all migrant workers are skilled and highly educated, and if they are educated, these people have no opportunities to work with decent salaries. The main problem lies on the inability of the countries to provide meaningful jobs, thus, migration is the only way out to rise up from poverty. Some academics also further ask what is worse: to have unemployed and idle highly educated at home, or send them abroad so they can send remittances and thereby helping fuel local economies?

In the case of the Philippines, de-skilling is indeed a problem: teachers working as domestic workers; doctors and nurses working as care givers; commerce graduates working in service sectors (hotels, etc.)

Do we run short of highly educated people in the Philippines? I don’t think so. Year after year, we produce college graduates but how many of them could get jobs with reasonable salaries in our country?

Migration is unstoppable and we could not prevent people going abroad to look for greener pastures. However, migration should be an option and not the last way out to escape poverty. Unfortunately, this is the case in the Philippines. Even those who have regular income could not afford university education of their children. So the strategy is, finish university and look for jobs abroad as soon as possible to recover the money spent on education.

There are many structural changes that should be done in our country if we want to unleash the development potential of our international migration. Remittances are private money and this should be seen as substitute for development aid. Our government should not also see it yardstick for economic prosperity. Our government should not also view remittances as a substitute for its inability to provide basic needs of our people.

The most direct link between migration and development in countries of origin is through remittances. According to Dr. Manuel Orozco, international remittance expert, “migration and remittances reflect to some extent the failure of governments to promote internal development of the country as well as the structure of inequality in the global economy, causing citizens to leave for other countries (and in some cases actually expelling or forcing them out) in search of better opportunities or attracted to ‘global production centres.”

Approximately 125 million workers send money home to support another 500 million family members living in households back home. Rene Ofreneo (Empowering Filipino Migrant Workers: Policy Issues and Challenges, International Labor Organisation, 2005) made a computation in the case of Filipinos working abroad. Assuming an average family size of 4 to 5, and that 4 million of the 7.3 overseas Filipinos are able to remit regularly, it might be said that about 16 to 20 million Filipinos are able to benefit directly from overseas labour migration.

Experts claim that migrant remittances can fuel economic growth and fight poverty if properly harnessed. However, policy makers tend to focus their attention on addressing the high cost of remittance transfers and neglect to engage diasporas directly in development. Effective and productive management of remittances requires not only cutting the costs of remittances but also creating an enabling environment in both sending and receiving countries and generating popular support and broad co-operation between migrants and other stakeholders. Remittances can be a powerful lever to open up financial systems, mobilise savings, generate small business loans, and multiply economies which can positively support millions upon millions of individual families and the communities in which they live.

To maximise the benefits of remittances, Orozco recommends 1) reducing the high cost of remittance transfer, 2) promoting financial literacy/financial democracy, and 3) linking remittance with microfinance. Likewise, hometown associations must work in tandem with international organisations, the private sector and governments to increase the worth value of their development projects, and forge strategic trade alliances. Orozco asserts that so far, most of the success stories about remittances are individual, not collective. This proves that despite the huge amount of remittance inflows, governments and development agencies have not yet really found the appropriate strategy to unleash the full development potential of remittances.

I only touched on the economic benefits of migration through migrants’ remittances, investments. Transnational entrepreneurs mobilise their contacts across borders to search new markets. Transnational activities of overseas Filipinos also include political (they can introduce the democratic values, good governance, accountability and transparency which they learned in democratically matured countries, and socio-cultural activities (they promote Filipino cultures,

Capturing a share of remittances for development requires transparent and coherent policies, the relevant enabling environment, and full recognition and appreciation of the positive contributions of migrants to the development of their countries of origin. However, it cannot be achieved without consideration of other migrant-related issues such as the human rights of migrants including women and the social costs of migration.

It is unfortunate that our government is fixated on remittances and does nothing to harness the potentials of overseas Filipinos. If only they tap the talents of migrants, perhaps we can make a difference.

This is the reason why I am urging the Filipino community abroad that the May election is the right moment to advance our Collective Migrant Agenda. Having said this, the intrinsic disunity and mistrust among overseas Filipinos is the first obstacle that we should overcome.

OFW remittances hit $ 12.8 B in 2006

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2007021687228.html

OFW remittances hit $ 12.8 B in 2006
By LEE C. CHIPONGIAN

Remittances from overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) last year grew 19.4 percent to $ 12.8 billion, higher than forecast for the year, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas reported yesterday.

For 2007 the BSP projection for OFW remittances is $ 14.1 billion, or ten percent more than last year.

OFWs sent $ 1.3 billion in December, about 37.2 percent higher than 2005’s $ 961.867 million.

"The strong inflows of cash remittances, which have been in excess of the billion-dollar level for the past eight months, can be traced mainly to the higher deployment of Filipino workers abroad and to financial institutions’ adoption of innovative ways to improve delivery of financial services, expand their network and enhance their infrastructure to reach a greater number of overseas Filipinos and their beneficiaries," BSP Governor Amando M. Tetangco Jr. said in a statement.

Based on initial data from the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration (POEA), new hires and rehires showed reached 1.1 million in 2006, up 10.5 percent. By type of worker, the BSP said the number of deployed land-based workers was higher by 12.2 percent at 831,318 while the number of sea-based workers went up by 5.2 percent at 260,737.

"The demand for OFWs is expected to increase further as the government intensifies its human resource development and training programs for potential workers, improving their competitive advantage over those from other labor-providing countries," said Tetangco. "Moreover, sea-based workers have maintained their leadership in the labor market for highly skilled maritime workers, as noted by the Department of Labor and Employment (DoLE)."

For the past two years, BSP said the banking industry improved its remittance channels with new and advanced systems and technologies such as internet/on-line banking, phone banking and through short messaging, as well as enhanced and expanded financial products and services (bills payment arrangements, international money/cash cards, remittance network expansion, new correspondent remittance agreements with host countries).

"The link-up of the three major ATM networks also facilitated the access by beneficiaries to the formal channels of remittance transfers," the BSP said. The interconnection was implemented last year after almost a decade of planning.

OFW remittances contribute almost 11 percent of gross domestic product. Major fund transfers come from the United States, Saudi Arabia, Canada, Italy, the United Kingdom, Japan, the United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan.

France’s immigration politics

http://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-institutions_government/france_immigration_4338.jsphttp://www.opendemocracy.net/globalization-institutions_government/france_immigration_4338.jsp


France’s immigration politics
Patrice de Beer
12 - 2 - 2007
Nicolas Sarkozy's discourse on immigration reflects the tensions between integral French ideals and plural social realities, reports Patrice de Beer.
------------------------------------------

In France, whenever the immigration question is mentioned politics is never far behind, especially at election-time. In a primetime Q&A session on 5 February, rightwing presidential candidate and interior minister Nicolas Sarkozy elaborated on his notorious comment - made just before the riots of November 2005 - about unruly young racaille (scum) of foreign origin in the banlieues (suburbs), and on his equally provocative remark made in April 2006, "France, either you love it, or you leave it". In his television interview, he added: "Nobody is forced to live in France. And when you love France, you have to respect her".

Sarkozy, to avoid being misunderstood by British retirees in Dordogne, Swiss bankers based in Paris or affluent tourists from Asia shopping at Vuitton or Cartier, then put his finger where it hurts, where it is easiest to play on racial fears from the far right (i.e., by referring to Muslim immigrants): "When you live in France, you respect her republican rules, you don't practise polygamy, circumcise your daughters or slaughter sheep in your bathroom".

Equality's others

France is a country which counts as one of the defining moments in her history the repulsion of the Arabs in Poitiers in 732 CE. It also recalls the construction of a colonial empire in the 19th century on the southern banks of the Mediterranean. Today, in part as one of the empire's legacies, 31% of the population of foreign origin (an official total of 5 million - illegal immigrants excluded, of course) come from the three Maghreb countries: Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia.

In such circumstances, and notwithstanding the fact that France's motto is Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité, it is never difficult to play on fears of a beur (Arab) or Islamic overwhelming of the French nation. This can even be done while proclaiming in the same breath that you are not a racist.

France's immigrant population has diverse origins: 35% come from European Union countries, 12% from sub-Saharan Africa and 17% from the rest of the world (mostly from Asia, including hundreds of thousands from Turkey, China or the Indian subcontinent). The percentage of Muslims among Arab and African immigrants is 56%; only 4% of these are considered "extremists" (the same percentage as that of Roman Catholics and Christians among the native-born French population). The norms of égalité forbid by law any official ethnic classification of France's population, but some studies have estimated the number of French having at least one foreign grandparent as about 23%.

The Arabs are not the only ones to feel they are not always treated fairly. In 2006, some black militants founded the Conseil Représentatif des Associations Noires (Representative Council of Black Associations / Cran - an acronym that also spells a word meaning "guts" in French); this followed in the footsteps of a more established organisation, the Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France (Representative Council of Jewish Institutions / Crif). The Cran has just released the first opinion poll based on ethnic criteria; it finds that 56% of blacks (who represent 3.86% of the French population, or 1.86 million) feel themselves to be victims of some sort of discrimination: 12% often, 19% from time to time, 25% occasionally.

Their main grievances are lack of respect (24%), verbal abuse, and discrimination; the last experienced when looking for housing, during police ID checks (23%), and in dealing with public services (22%). To overcome these problems, black people in France put much more trust in NGOs, schools or the statutory anti-discrimination body the Haute Autorité de Lutte contre les Discriminations et pour l'Égalité (Halde) than in police or politicians. Even if "white" French receive similar ill-treatment from rude bureaucrats or police officers, or have equal mistrust of politicians, the poll clearly shows the depth of a malaise which affects not only recent immigrants but also black Caribbeans who have been French citizens since the abolition of slavery in 1848.

A survey released in 2006 by the political-science research group (Cevipof) showed that - far from dreaming of a communalist society, like many in Britain - France's "black & beur" immigrants were mostly converts to the French ideal of égalité as well as to the leading role played by the state in society (see "France's immigration myths", 9 February 2006).

The Muslims among them, rather than calling for a caliphate or for sharia law, want to be part and parcel of the society they live in. The problem is that this ideal egalitarian society they dream of has mostly been denied to a population crammed in housing estates located far away from city centres, often deprived of basic public services and discriminated against by employers.

This discrimination has created a deep sense of frustration, not only among unqualified youth easily tempted by gangs, police-bashing or by Islamic fundamentalism, but also by an elite who fought hard to get a good academic training and respects the "republican rules" advocated by Sarkozy. If suburban violence and fundamentalism have to be tackled, the source of these frustrations has to be tackled too: both to protect the "bourgeois" order, and to restore to the French model its lost founding principles.

In Europe's frame

The French share with many of their fellow Europeans a tendency to forget that the problems they experience as a result of immigration or crime are not unique. France may now have among the highest percentage of foreign-born residents in Europe (higher than Britain or Germany, though perhaps lower than Luxemburg and Switzerland), but southern countries like Italy or Spain too have in the last few years known a phenomenal increase in immigration. The bodies washed ashore in Lampedusa or the Canary Islands show where Europe's frontline lies.

The countries on Europe's southern flank are relatively new to the phenomenon, and were unprepared for the massive influx now coming from all parts of the developing world: the Indian sub-continent, Africa, Latin America, as well as east-central Europe (including the most recent European Union members, Bulgaria and Romania); the adjustment to this social, soon to turn political, crisis is arguably even more delicate than in France.

Massive legalisation has failed to reduce the flow, in Italy as in Spain. Now, Nicolas Sarkozy - who since 2003 has been responsible for two bills to restrict immigration, the second of which passed into law in July 2006 - is advocating a "selective" system of immigration, which he wants to be tailored to the needs of the country as he sees them. In exchange for tighter cooperation with Africa's "departing" countries, he has promised more financial incentives for illegal immigrants to return home and an increase in economic aid to African countries (though the money offered is only a drop in the sea).

The domestic logic of this approach is clear: the tightening of visa conditions, the expulsion of thousands of illegal immigrants (including schoolkids), and tough - sometimes borderline - language against those sans papiers (without proper documents). This has created a deep and heated debate between those who protest against violations of human rights and those who favour law order or, in Jean-Marie le Pen's discourse, want La France aux Français (France for the French).

This debate will of course play a role in the presidential elections due on 22 April and 6 May. An interesting and important development in the campaign so far has been massive new registrations in the electoral rolls, many by young people and from the banlieues. If these registrations turn into actual votes it might have an impact on the result - because, in a country where left and right are constantly fighting for power, around 70% of the immigrant population consider themselves to belong to the left. Until now, "Sarko" the candidate has been unable to visit the banlieues he promised in 2005 to "clean out". But will his socialist rival, Ségolène Royal, be able to convince them to vote for her?

Copyright © Patrice de Beer, Published by openDemocracy Ltd. You may download and print extracts from this article for your own personal and non-commercial use only. If you teach at a university we ask that your department make a donation. Contact us if you wish to discuss republication. Some articles on this site are published under different terms.

Migrants Manifesto for Issue based Electoral Contest

We, the Overseas Filipinos worldwide, urge each and everyone in the coming May electoral contest to implore all political parties, emerging parties and their respective candidates to bring forth a platform based campaign so that the electorate can choose credible persons who are worthy to lead the nation.

In order to advance democratic governance in the Philippines, there should be a structure or process of reform that promotes increasingly participatory and accountable governance. In this context, the will and voice of the people should be respected at all times and the sanctity of the ballots must be safeguarded.

The root causes of human insecurity in the Philippines – and thus, threats to overall peace and development – include conditions of inequity, with an elite few controlling power and economic resources; abject poverty; poor governance; injustice, abuse of authority and violations of human rights; and marginalization of minority groups. And yet, squandering of billions of pesos from legitimate and illegitimate sources had been a common scenario in a personality and patronage based electoral contest. The proposed platform based campaign is envisioned to change this bad practice. In order to sustain poverty reduction, there must be equitable growth and the poor people who are in the majority must have political power – i.e. with a real voice and space. The powerful and/or the elites—whether political leaders, corporations or other influential actors—must be held accountable for their actions; more specifically, they must be held accountable for their success or failure in their individual or party platform of promised good governance.

We are calling for robust, transparent, internally democratic and accountable political parties in order to develop a stronger democratic culture in the Philippines. Otherwise, the right to choose will remain to be pre-empted by the elites that own the political process, including the political organizations.

We challenge those who want to become legitimate servants and leaders to articulate a concrete and doable developmental plan aimed at the Filipino migrant workers around the world. We pledge to support legitimate servants of the people running for any public position that aggressively promote the interest of our sector on the following issues:

1) Institute meaningful comprehensive electoral reforms starting with the removal of the residency requirement inserted at the last minute by congress in the Absentee Voting Law. Introduce laws that will create a transparent campaign expenditures and verifiable financial source imposing a limit to individual, group, and corporate campaign donations.

2) Creation of an office with a Cabinet status such as the Ministry of Migration and Development that will truly work for the interests of migrant workers. This office must be led by a Minister whose primary task is to manage orderly labor migration, harness the development potentials of migration and development (co-development). Set up an advisory board composed of qualified, dedicated, and credible Overseas Filipinos to advice the Ministry. In addition, the Ministry must:

See to it that the rights of migrants are protected
Facilitate return migration and in such a way that overseas Filipinos who wish to return voluntarily remain active in the labor force or has the necessary means to secure his or her financial future including their families
Monitor the performance of government agencies in charge of migrant workers (OWWA, etc.) and particularly to review structures relating to the migrant workers trust fund to enable migrants to have an effective voice and meaningful representation in policy formation, and to ensure proper administration and management of their fund.
Explore ways to address present gaps and barriers that hinder the effective mobilization, distribution, monitoring, and accountability procedures, in order to achieve economies of scale in current Filipino diaspora giving, including possibilities of replicating the Mexican experience (3 x 1 program) [i]
Facilitate creation of an enabling environment (investments, provide financial services including housing, insurance, education, savings, etc. for migrants) that fully harness the development potentials of Philippine migration
Encourage multi-stakeholder approach to development and promote public-private partnerships [ii]

Support and stimulate the transnational role of Overseas Filipinos so that they can contribute to the country’s development; while the government on the other hand, should establish a systematic way of tapping these skills (not only waiting for their remittances) [iii]

Strengthen the capacity of Philippine consulates and representative offices worldwide to better serve the needs of migrant Filipino workers

3) Promote good governance, honesty, and accountability of our government servants from the highest to lowest position. The virtue of servant-leadership must be practiced.

4) Promote the welfare of our women, elderly and children.

5) Access to a better education for all. [iv]


We urge government groups, media facilities, civil society, church organizations, and other responsible citizens, to organize and support pre-election public forums and other similar initiatives requiring candidates or party representatives to debate and publicly present their platforms on where they stand regarding these migrant issues. This will enable the citizenry, including eligible overseas voters and members of their families in the Philippines, in making informed decisions and to help ensure that only those candidates with clear and sincere intentions of promoting the welfare of the migrant sector, their families, and millions of poor people in our country are elected to public office.


Signed:


Doris Alfafara, The Netherlands

Ren Arrieta, USA

Ding Bagasao, Philippines

Basco Fernandez, The Netherlands

Joy Puyat, USA

Leila Rispens-Noel, The Netherlands

Cesar Torres, USA

Dennis Yaun, Luxembourg

James Zamora, Philippines


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[i] The Mexican Hometown Association (HTA) experience through the Federación de Clubes de Zacatecanos del Sur de California is a good example. The Mexican government announced in July 2001 a "godfather program" that encourages Mexican-Americans to invest in Mexico. The state of Zacatecas depends heavily on remittances, but under the current 3-for-1 program, each dollar contributed by a migrant or HTA in the US for community development projects, is matched with an additional $3, one each from the federal, state and local governments. Under a new program, the Zacatecas state government and the InterAmerican Development Bank (IADB) provide infrastructure support and financing for returned migrants who invest their remittances in job-creating enterprises. The federación is composed of different clubs. Each club focuses on their respective hometown. The Federación speaks on behalf of the clubs in one voice and this becomes their strength. The federation becomes a mediator and negotiator on behalf of the member clubs. Organizations like the World Bank, IADB, UNDP, the Rockefeller Foundation and even the private sector relate with the Federación.



[ii] Private sector leadership in the Philippines and abroad should be developed in order to promote the Philippines as an investment destination.

[iii] An effective network should be developed to address this. On the strategy to collaborate with Diasporas: promoting knowledge networks and providing market access, there is the Philippine Brain Gain Network (BGN) among other networks. For example, further collaboration can be made between the BGN and the organizers of the Global Filipino Networking Conventions in order to come up with a more result-oriented agenda, more specifically to define a national policy for brain gain in order to harness overseas human resources more systematically.


[iv] Philippine education policy needs to be focused on technical skills and soft skills like scientific problem-solving, logical abstraction and teamwork. Greater collaboration must be undertaken by the DepEd and local authorities on technical academic reforms, particularly those pertaining to the curriculum and policy on language instruction.

Tuesday 13 February 2007

Mobile carriers facilitate cash transfers

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/storypage.aspx?StoryID=66491

Mobile carriers facilitate cash transfers

BARCELONA (Reuters) - Mobile communications operators and banks joined forces on Monday to make it easier and cheaper for hundreds of millions of immigrants and migrant workers to send money home by using their mobile phones.

The aim is to reduce the transaction costs of sending small amounts of cash to just a few percent, from a current 24 percent for amounts as small as $50.

"Out of the 6.5 billion people on the planet, less than one billion have a bank account. The only way to sustainably serve these people is through mobile communications," said emerging markets projects manager Ben Soppitt of the GSM Association, which groups the world's mobile carriers.

The GSM Association points out that close to three billion people have a mobile phone.

A group of 19 mobile operators with networks in over 100 countries and representing over 600 million customers will create a global system that could double the number of recipients of international remittances to more than 1.5 billion, while helping to quadruple the size of the remittances market to more than $1 trillion by 2012.

Mobile operators are partnering with banks at a local or regional level. Payment card company MasterCard, which has a 25,000 member-bank network will pilot a global hub that will link together national markets and the local payment systems run by mobile operators in partnership with those local banks.

The idea is that people can load cash on their mobile, and order it to be sent to a mobile phone number in another country, where the recipient receives a message that money has arrived, making it as easy as sending a text message.

"We believe that this coming together of the mobile and banking industry is a giant leap in mobile commerce," said Sunil Bharti Mittal, chairman and managing director of fast-growing Indian operator Bharti Airtel.

"It will revolutionize the money transfer industry with its advantages, such as reach, ease of use, and lower transaction costs and provide immense benefits to people in developing nations such as India," he added.

India is both the world's fastest growing mobile services market and the biggest recipient of overseas remittances in the world, accounting for around 10 percent of the world market.

State Bank of India, the country's largest, also participates in the project.

Smart Communications of the Philippines, another participant in the program, plans to launch several pilot projects in collaboration with mobile phone operators and banks in Bahrain, Italy and other countries hosting large Filipino migrant populations.

International remittances total more than $230 billion a year and are a major source of income for many developing countries, the GSM Association said.

BPI got $2.8B in OFW remittances in ’06

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/news/news/view_article.php?article_id=48641

BPI got $2.8B in OFW remittances in ’06

Inquirer

Posted date: February 10, 2007


MANILA, Philippines -- Cash remitted by overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) through Bank of the Philippine Islands totaled $2.8 billion last year, up 30 percent from 2005, BPI officials said Friday.

BPI is targeting a further 15-percent growth in money remittances this year, bank vice president Raul Dimayuga, who also heads the OFW-focused banking unit BPI Direct, said in an interview at the launch of the bank’s search for “10 Outstanding Expat Pinoy Children.”

BPI, which was the country’s single biggest banking channel for OFW remittances in 2005, cornered close to 25 percent of the estimated total OFW money remittances through the banking system last year.

Total OFW money remittances last year amounted to $13-$14 billion, of which $12-$13 billion was coursed through banks, according to central bank estimates.

About 30-33 percent of BPI’s share of cash inflows from OFWs last year came from sea-based workers.

By source, 20-25 percent came from the United States, five to 10 percent from the Middle East, and the remainder from Europe and Asia.

BPI senior vice president Teresita Tan said the bank was lining up programs to encourage more overseas Filipinos to invest in the country, whether in savings accounts, mutual funds or real estate.

Tan said BPI had a Web-based facility for overseas Filipinos to send money for tuition of their children.

In partnership with Ayala Land Inc.’s subsidiary Avida, the bank also has a program for OFWs who wish to buy property but do not have enough funds to make a down payment, she added.

Tan said BPI’s housing loan portfolio for OFWs now amounted to P1 billion.

She said the bank would continue to provide new loans for OFWs for housing and for starting a business.

The search for “Outstanding Expat Pinoy Children” offers cash prizes of P50,000 for each of the 10 winners.

The tilt is open to children of OFWs aged 15 to 21. They must have parents or relatives who are BPI depositors, must belong to the top 10 percent of their classes and have no failing marks, must be enrolled in or have graduated from a four-year college course.

The criteria for judging include academic excellence (70 percent); non-academic, including sports (five percent), artistic talent (five percent), performing arts (five percent), community/civil works (five percent) and essay-writing (10 percent). Doris Dumlao, with INQUIRER.net

©Copyright 2001-2007 INQUIRER.net, An Inquirer Company

Sunday 11 February 2007

Recognizing microcredit as an effective tool for poverty alleviation

The announcement of Professor Mohammed Yunus as recipient of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize is a fitting recognition of more than 30 years of hard work for many microfinance providers all over the world.

It was in 1976 when Prof. Yunus, then head of the rural economics program at the University of Chittagong, lent from his own pocket the amount of US$27 to a group of women weavers in a Bangladeshi village. To his surprise, they paid back their loans in no time.

This initial loan served as the foundation of the Grameen Bank (GB). Today, the approach is being replicated in many developing countries. GB has reversed conventional banking practice by removing the need for collateral and created a banking system based on mutual trust, accountability, participation and creativity.

As of May 2006, GB has 6.61 million borrowers, 97 percent of whom are women. With 2,226 branches, GB provides services in 71,371 villages, covering more than 100 percent of the total villages in Bangladesh.

In its announcement, the Norwegian Nobel Committee decided to give the prestigious peace prize to Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Bank, “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.” It further explained: “Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. Micro-credit is one such means. Development from below also serves to advance democracy and human rights.”

Microfinance refers to the activity of provision of financial services to clients who are excluded from the traditional financial system on account of their lower economic status. These financial services most commonly take in the form of non-collateral small loans and savings, though some microfinance institutions now offer other services such as insurance.

Almost two-thirds of the 1.2 billion people living on less than a dollar a day are women. Tens of millions of very poor families who could use microenterprise still do not have access to financial services. Many anecdotal evidences and empirical studies have proven that microfinance has assisted millions of women and men who successfully started their own small businesses and eventually became economically self-reliant.

The Consultative Group to Assist the Poor (CGAP) estimates that of the three billion poor people of working age who could be making use of these services, only one sixth (about 500 million) have currently access to formal financial services. There are still billions of poor people worldwide who are waiting to access financial services to be able to start small income-generating projects.

The popularity of microfinance has reached its heights last year when the United Nations declared 2005 as the Year of Microcredit. In the Netherlands, the massive awareness and media campaign on microfinance as an effective tool for development has been quite successful. Many social organizations, including the diaspora organizations, have taken interest on it.

While it is not a panacea to substitute basic necessities like education, health and food security, microcredit is a model developed from developing countries which illustrates that poor people can learn “how to fish” if you teach them how.

Where large multilateral and development organizations failed, microcredit has been helping millions of poor women in both developing and industrialized countries to rise up from poverty.

Many migrant organizations are now seriously looking seriously on how they can leverage remittances for sustainable development by linking with microfinance providers. In the Netherlands, some organizations are exploring possibilities to link with existing microfinance institutions (MFIs) nearest to their hometowns. The idea is that they can contribute as “preferred partners” by participating in the local savings mobilization or act as guarantors for their families who avail of loans from the MFIs. In addition, they can also serve as potential investors to some promising productive projects.

Filipino migrant organizations are noted for their philanthropy. However, most of their projects remain small and after a couple of years these projects just die down because of management problem. It is very difficult to monitor projects since most members of these organizations live abroad. It is also not easy to find reliable people to manage the projects. It is high time that these organizations should consider channeling their contributions through microfinance providers. They can do this in tandem with existing MFIs in their areas of origin.

Interested parties can contact Unlad Kabayan and ERCOF. These two Philippine-based migrant-related organizations are actively involved in harnessing the development potentials of migrants and their remittances for countryside development.

In the Philippines, 30 million Filipinos or about 40% of the total population suffer the heaviest share of the poverty brunt. Most of them live in the rural areas. According to the 2003 Human Development Index, the Philippines ranks 85 among the 175 countries with a HDI of 0.751. In 2001, there was a continuing widening income disparity and uneven development.

The Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Prof. Yunus and the Grameen Bank should serve as a shining example to all of us who desire to eliminate poverty in the coming years. It is a modest contribution to meet the UN Development target to reduce the number of poor people in the Philippines living in less than a dollar a day by 2015.


Interesting links: http://www.yearofmicrocredit.org/pages/whyayear/whyayear_aboutmicrofinance.asp
http://www.ercof.org
http://www.unladkabayan.org
http://www.kapatiranphils.net

February 11, 2007

Lessons from the Zacatecan Hometown Associations



If you’re looking for “best practice” in terms of hometown association (HTA), look no further – it’s the Federacion de Clubes Zacatecanos del Sur de California.

I had the opportunity of knowing the Federación through Manuel Orozco, senior associate at the Washington, D.C.-based Inter-American Dialogue who introduced me to the Zacatecanos. He recommended Efrain Jimenez, project officer of the Federación, to speak about Zacatecan HTAs at the Novib-sponsored international conference on migration and development last November 2004.

After the conference, Efrain convincingly invited me to attend their bi-national conference the following month in Zacatecas where I had a chance to meet their key leaders and hear more stories about HTAs.

My second encounter with Zacatecanos was in September 2005 when I co-organized an Oxfam Novib-funded international conference on “The Impact of Remittances in Latin America: Alternative Channels for Remittances”. About 50 of the 120 conference participants - microfinance practitioners, academe, and representatives from various diaspora organizations from Latin America, Asia, Africa and USA - had a chance to join a day-long educational trip visiting various projects of the Zacatecanos.

My most recent visit in Zacatecas and subsequent contacts with Efrain increased my knowledge on how HTAs works. I started to understand why the Zacatecanos are often quoted as the best practice in harnessing the development potential of migration. This article is about them.

The State of Zacatecas, located in Central Mexico, was founded by the Spaniards in 1824. Official statistics show that Zacatecas has a population of 1.2 million while 800,000 more living now in the United States. “The biggest industry in Zacatecas is, without doubt, the export of migrants to the United States,” contends Miguel Moctezuma Longoria, a research professor at the Autonomous University of Zacatecas.

The Zacatecans send home more than US$500 million each year in the form of remesas (remittances) “This amount is vital because no state activity generates as much income - more than a million dollars per day,” Moctezuma Longoria pointed out.

Continued growth in remittances in Mexico is recorded at $18.1 billion in 2004 and became Mexico’s largest source of foreign income behind oil revenues.



Zacatecans send money home directly to their families but that is not the thing that makes the Zacatecans renowned worldwide. It is their HTAs and Diaspora philanthropy. HTAs are formed by immigrants from often low-income rural and urban areas are widespread in U.S. cities such as Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago. The Federacion Zacatecanos is formed by 53 HTAs – group that usually maintains a core of 5 to 15 active members and with membership ranging from 50 to 2000 members - serving a philanthropic function by addressing social and economic problems in their home communities.

HTAs are organized for a variety of purposes. Those associations have served as a vehicle in creating community remittances - collective contributions of Mexicans migrants abroad for community projects in their own hometowns - and utilizing them for small infrastructures, including water and sanitation projects, road pavement, rural electrification, micro-enterprises and small and medium enterprises) development. These are basic necessities of the people in many villages which the local government did not adequately provide.

But how do the Zacatecanos raise money? They indefatigably organize various creative events: conduct benefit dinners, dances,and bingo; sell cakes and pastries; organize fiestas; sell raffle tickets; and sponsor beauty pageants, among others. To illustrate the effectiveness of their fund raising campaign, one HTA in Los Angeles was able to purchase a tractor just by selling raffle tickets. This an impressive proof considering that except for the project officer which receives a small salary, the Federacion is entirely run and managed by volunteers.

Actually, the activities of the Federacion started in a small-scale in the 1970s until their projects caught the attention of the State of Zacatecas. To stimulate their Diaspora giving, the state matched one dollar for every dollar the Zacatecan hometown association will invest in their State which proved to be a big success. This matching fund was called Uno por Uno program (One-for-One program).

Because of its huge success, more HTAs were formed and more projects were implemented. Consequently, the program was expanded into Dos por Uno (Two-for-One) program in 1992 when the federal and state governments each match the amount of dollars immigrants contribute for infrastructure development projects.

The growth of the Dos por Uno program continued and finally further developed in 1998 into Tres por Uno (Three-for-One) program with the inclusion of the municipal government.

In 2001, the Federacion Zacatecanos took the initiative in filing a formal request to President Vicente Fox Quezada of Mexico to institutionalize the Tres por Uno program. The number of hometown associations multiplied all over the country after the formal signing of the agreement.

By 2002, the Tres por Uno program has invested in 788 projects amounting to US$ 40 million in Zacatecas alone. The example of the investment programs, which started among Zacatecans abroad, now has been replicated in 22 of Mexico's 31 states.

While the Tres por Uno program has to some extent improved the quality of life of Zacatecans, migration and development experts believe that it did not help effectively reduce the poverty in the region. The Zacatecans acknowledged this limitation as jobs remain scarce and local economies still slack in the state.

It is for this reason that since the last few years the Zacatecans also started embarking on productive projects. For example, a group of 15 Zacatecanos pooled their personal savings and invested in mescal distillery (mescal is a colorless spirit distilled from the juice and pulp of the agave plant). Another group invested in the building of the first luxurious hotel – the Quinta Real- in the stae while others put their money into food processing businesses (dried chilis, tortillas, marmalades, to name a few).



What is even more interesting is the fact that while the local entrepreneurs are doing business in Zacatecas, some members of the Zacatecan Federation are opening markets in the USA for the homegrown products taking advantage of the insatiable cravings of their compatriots for food back home.

This dynamic interplay enabled the Zacatecans to strengthen their political clout and the politicians are quite aware of this. As such, politicians spend considerable time in visiting the Mexican immigrants in USA and nurturing relationships with them. This is especially true now that a law has been passed to allow immigrants to vote in their homeland. In the past, Mexican immigrants persuaded their families to vote for their chosen candidates. Governor Amalia García Medina, the only lady governor of Mexico, was elected largely due to the massive support of the Zacatecan immigrants.

Undoubtedly, migration and development is a collective concern in Zacatecas. Aside from the local and state governments, the people’s organizations and the immigrants, the Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas also devotes considerable time in studying the migratory process in Zacatecas and the impact of remittances in the development of the state. University professors conduct migration and development lectures as part of its curriculum. They conduct project feasibility studies and provide other technical assistance to HTAs.

It has been noted that the success of the Tres por Uno program can be attributed to the active participation of the Zacatecanos in the decision-making processes at all levels. “The clubs do not only donate money, but also play an active role in the identification, implementation and monitoring of these projects,” Efrain disclosed.

During the project’s construction, the Federation works with four partners: the home community-based comite de obra- as well as with the local, state, and federal government authorities.

In October last year, the First Data Corporation - owner of the Western Union - entered partnership with Mexican migrants thus elevating the program to Cuatro-por-Uno. "Public-private partnerships are getting results in the real world today," explained Charlie Fote, the corporation’s CEO of its commitment to community development in Mexico.

“With the new Cuatro-por-Uno program,” Fote further noted, “American-based hometown associations will bid on available funds to carry out specific development projects in Mexico.”

As part of its commitment, the First Data Corporation's donated US$ 1.25 million intended for HTAs. Of this amount, US$ 250,000 has been earmarked for projects in Zacatecas.

In his speech during the launching, Efrain rightfully pointed out the need to recognize the efforts of migrants and to actively involve them in the decision-making process. In inclusive partnership, "we are no longer clients, but partners”, he said.

Last year, the Zacatecans funded 320 projects amounting US$ 5 million. If the matching funds from the municipal, state and federal governments are added, the total amount of projects would reach US$ 20 million.



The Federation has done a lot for their hometown and yet Efrain will also readily admit that the biggest concern of the HTAs is capacity building. “We cannot even write good project proposals,” he pointed out. ‘Most of us do not have college education.”

In the meantime, migration continues to pose as a big problem in Zacatecas. In spite of the efforts of the immigrants to develop their state, young people still dream of leaving for the US in pursuit of greener pastures. But this is another story.

Migration is a complex issue and should be approach in a multidisciplinary perspective. As Peter Stalker, author of No Non-Sense Guide to International Migration puts it:
“Migration is a phase that countries and the whole world go through, and that at some future time, balance will prevail and we will be wondering what the fuss all about.”

Brunson McKinley, director general of International Organization for Migration once said: “Migration is the missing link between globalization and development.” This brief statement triggered many public debates and prompted some migration experts to finally view migration from a development perspective.

With estimated US$ 12 billion remittances sent home by Filipino migrants in 2005, I hope the Filipino Diaspora, the local, provincial, and national governments and other stakeholders in the Philippines can learn lessons from the Zacatecan hometown associations.

Article published in MindaNews, 14 January 2006

Diaspora Philanthropy: the other face of the OFW phenomenon

Migrants sent home through official channel a total amount of $160 billion in 2004, exceeding development aid from all sources by 50 percent. Another 50% of the total remittances are estimated to be sent through informal channels. These figures come from the recently-released Global Economic Prospect 2006 Report of the Washington-based World Bank.

Remittances are the money that foreign-born workers send to their relatives and/or communities abroad. The countries receiving the most in recorded remittances in 2004 are India ($21.7 billion), China ($21.3 billion), Mexico ($18.1 billion), France ($12.7 billion), and the Philippines ($11.6 billion).

“Migration is truly a global phenomenon,” says Dilip Ratha, one of the co-authors of the bank report. “Many countries, both developed and developing, both send and receive migrants, and both send and receive remittances.”

The huge and increasing amount of migrant remittances triggered development agencies, governments, and the private sector to raise the discussions of remittances at the national, regional, and international levels.

In 2003, the international conference on Migrant Remittances: Development Impact, Opportunities for the Financial Sector and Future Prospects – convened by the Department of Foreign International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom and the World Bank in London – attracted over 100 participants from 42 countries. They included representatives from banks and non-bank financial institutions, government policy makers, multilateral and bilateral donors, United Nations and other international agencies, non-governmental organizations, academics and consultants.

During the G8 Summit in 2004, it acknowledged the conference’s “Action Plan on Poverty,” which recognized the importance of remittances in playing a key role in private-sector development efforts by enabling families to receive needed capital for education, housing and small business start-ups and expansion, among others.

Remittances are often described as the new form of development aid and they are the biggest source of foreign inflows surpassing foreign direct investments and official development aid.

Experts claim that migrant remittances can fuel economic growth and fight poverty if properly harnessed. However, policy makers focus most of their attention only on how to address the high cost of remittance transfers. Effective and productive management of remittances requires not only cutting costs of remittances; it also needs an enabling environment both in sending and receiving countries where popular support from migrants and cooperation with other stakeholders are harnessed.

From the Philippines, an estimated 8 million citizens – comprising 10% of the country’s total population – are scattered in 126 countries. They toil under the scorching desert sun or bitterly cold winter. Some of them work in different levels of position and in various sectors: from domestic helpers in Hong Kong to high tech jobs in Silicon Valley, California. According to the World Bank estimates, remittances of Filipino migrants will reach US$ 12 billion in 2005.

Beyond direct help to their families to meet basic needs such as housing, food, health, and education, Filipino migrants also provide assistance and share their expertise and knowledge with their communities back home.

“There are about 12,000 Filipino organizations worldwide, of which around 4,000 are recorded to be engaged in giving back to their homeland or hometown,” wrote Ding Bagasao, chair of the Economic Resource Center for Overseas Filipinos, in one of his e-mail messages.

The Commission on Filipinos Overseas, which mobilizes and monitors donations from Filipinos abroad, has recorded about 1.3 billion pesos worth of donations from overseas Filipinos residing in North America, Oceania and Europe, with about 82% coming from the United States alone. “Donations preponderate to calamities, medical missions, equipment and investments,” Bagasao reports.

In 2003, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas estimates about US$218 million were remitted by Filipinos overseas in the form of gifts and donations that were distinct from the money home sent by migrants to their families. “This is greater than the amount of taxes paid to the government by the top four Philippine corporations in the last four years,” Bagasao claims.

Unfortunately, there is a dearth of information about this gift-giving of hometown associations. Unlike in Mexico, which presently referred the phenomenon to as “Diaspora Philanthropy,” no such things are reported in the Philippines.

“Tales about Diaspora philanthropy also reveals the other face of the international migration phenomenon that sweeps labor-exporting Philippines,” observes Jeremiah Opiniano, executive director of Institute of Migration and Development Issues. “For a country where the tragic angles of migration are prominent, like the hanging of Flor Contemplacion in 1995, ‘good news for the poor’ tales… are hardly told.”

Gift-giving is not exclusive among professional migrants in the United States. As an example, Opiniano cites Pozorrubio, a town in Pangasinan which has over 6,000 people working abroad. “Pozorrubian domestic workers in Hong Kong stage beauty pageants so that they can raise money to ship medical equipment, construct small chapels, and even buy monobloc chairs for fiesta celebrations,” Opiniano told the participants of Diaspora Philanthropy conference in Manila recently.

Another example is the hometown association of the southern California-based Butuan City Charities Foundation (BCCF). With a slogan of "Butuanons Helping Butuanons,” the BCCF conducts fund-raising campaign to finance its various projects in Butuan. The projects are being implemented by its local partner organization, the Butuan City-based Ivory Charities Foundation (ICF). The BCCF’s website reports that it has already “remitted Ph 994,000 to about 245 beneficiaries, 95 percent of whom are women. ICF's reported a 99 percent repayment of loans. ICF's goal is to extend microlending opportunities to the rest of Butuan City's 86 barangays.”

Then, there’s the Kapatiran Philippines, Inc (KPI) in Bansalan, Davao del Sur. The formation of KPI, a non-governmental organization, is supported by some Filipino migrants based in the Netherlands. KPI initiates capacity building and microfinance programs for poor enterprising women not only in Bansalan but also in neighboring towns as well (Matalam, Matan-ao, Makilala, and Kidapawan City). Since its inception in September 2003, KPI has disbursed a cumulative amount of Ph 10 million to 821 members, 90% of whom are women engaged in micro-enterprises.

KPI partners with Economic Resource Center for Migrants and Overseas Employees (ERCMOVE), a migrant-initiated foundation chaired by Corazon Dee, a former resident of Davao City. In 2006, ERCMOVE plans to conduct fund raising campaign to support the microfinance program and to construct the multi-purpose center of KPI. ETWA, a small Dutch funding agency, has already committed to co-finance the construction of the multi-purpose center. ERCMOVE facilitated the acquisition of the funding. Aside from KPI, ERCMOVE also assists Milamdec Foundation, a foundation based in Xavier University in Cagayan de Oro City, has long been engaged in social and financial services to farmers and agricultural growers for the past 20 years.

“Migrant Filipinos have begun to make a difference in small towns and cities around the country,” claims Opiniano, a staunch advocate of Filipino Diaspora philanthropy.

“In an era of accelerated globalization, the relationship between Diaspora philanthropy and the economic and social development of many countries is increasingly relevant,” points out Peter F. Geithner, co-editor of Diaspora Philanthropy and Equitable Development in China and India.

However, Manuel Orozco, senior associate of Inter-American Dialogue cautiously warns that “philanthropy provided by the hometown association (HTA) to their community of origin doesn’t always translate into development. And even when it is more consistent and long-term, the provided funds do not necessarily result in the eradication of poverty.”

Orozco conducted pioneering studies on Mexican hometown associations and continues to support the inclusion of migrants in policy-making processes at levels as he sees “migration and remittances have come to symbolize the human face of globalization.”

To maximize the benefits of remittances, Orozco recommends reducing the high cost of remittance transfer, promoting financial literacy, and linking remittance with microfinance. Likewise, hometown associations must work in tandem with international organizations, private sector and governments to increase the worth value of their development projects, and forge strategic trade alliances.

Indeed, capturing a share of remittances for development needs transparent and coherent policies; relevant enabling environment; and a full recognition and appreciation of the positive contributions of migrants to the development of their countries of origin.

Published in MindaNews, 02 January 2006

The People on the Move



In 2005, 190 million persons, representing 3 per cent of world population, lived outside their country of birth. The equivalent figure in 1968 was 75 million persons or 3.5 per cent of the world’s population. Almost one in every 10 persons living in more developed regions is a migrant compared to one in every 70 persons in developing regions. Six per cent of the world’s migrants reside in more developed regions. Most of the world’s migrants live in Europe (64 million), followed by Asia (53 million) and Northern America (45 million). Nearly half of the international migrants are female migrants who outnumber male migrants in developed countries. Three-quarters of all international migrants are concentrated in just 28 countries and one in every 5 international migrant lives in the U.S.A.


According to UN estimates the number of refugees in the world at the end of 2004 stood at 13.5 million, of whom 9.2 million are under the mandate of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) and 4.3 million under the mandate of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). Around 2.7 million refugees are in developed countries and 10.8 million in developing countries. The largest number of refugees was found in Asia (7.7 million). Africa hosted the second largest refugee population in the world (3.0 million).


Migration takes different forms with different impacts on the economies of source and destination countries. Migrants differ in skill level. They may be temporary, seasonal or permanent. They leave their home countries for different reasons – for employment, for family reunification, as students or as part of the large group of political migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.


When people move they move for a reason. Migration is also caused by several factors: war, racial and ethnic hostilities, political instability, natural disasters, ecological degradation, and inequitable distribution of wealth and resources. The conflict in the Great Lakes in the 1990s forced millions of people to flee in search of a safe haven. The 1990s also saw an increase in the number of economic migrants, including women, documented and undocumented moving both from South to North and South to South, with the single aim of improving the quality of their own lives and those of the families they left behind. “Brain drain”, human trafficking and crossing borders without proper documents became global concerns as poor people started embarking on perilous journeys in hope of finding greener pastures.


The number of female migrant workers is undoubtedly increasing giving rise to the new phenomenon called the feminisation of labour. Almost 50% of those who work abroad are women, predominantly in the domestic and entertainment sectors. They are vulnerable to various forms of discrimination, exploitation and abuse. Although they normally receive lower salaries than men, female migrants contribute significantly to the economy of their countries of origin through their remittances. For instance in Sri Lanka, migrant women workers contributed more than 62% of the total of the 1 billion USD in private remittances in 1999, which represented 50% of the trade balance and 145% of foreign credits and loans.


Migrant workers particularly those who are working in the agri-business sector and other low-skill jobs frequently have to perform dirty, dangerous and demeaning (3D) jobs in return for paltry wages. They usually live in overcrowded, old and dilapidated trailers or barracks without proper access to water facilities and other basic necessities. In many countries, including the United States, undocumented workers have no access to government facilities such as health and education for their children. Furthermore, their rights as migrant workers are consistently violated making them one of the most vulnerable sectors in the globalised economy. For instance, in some host countries particularly in the Gulf region, migrant workers are not allowed to form trade unions or associations. The Human Rights Watch (Middle East and Asia) reports that some women workers that they interviewed were still traumatized from rape and sexual abuse at the hands of Saudi male employers, and could not narrate their accounts without anger or tears. Working from sixteen to eighteen hours per day is a common practice in many restaurants and other service sector.

Sources:

United Nations, International Migration 2006, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
The United Nations defines “trafficking in persons" as meaning the recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. Exploitation shall include, at a minimum, the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. Report: Trafficking in human beings: Global Patterns (April 2006), Accessed at http://www.unodc.org/unodc/trafficking_human_beings.html October 29, 2006.