AKM Ahsan Ullah Md Shahidul Haque Dreams, Development and Despair

AKM Ahsan Ullah Md Shahidul Haque The Migration Myth in Policy and Practice Dreams, Development and Despair [email protected] The Migration Myth in Policy and Practice [email protected] AKM Ahsan Ullah • Md Shahidul Haque The Migration Myth in Policy and Practice Dreams, Development and Despair 123 [email protected] AKM Ahsan Ullah Md Shahidul Haque Universiti Brunei Darussalam Ministry of Foreign Affairs Brunei, Brunei Darussalam Government of Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh ISBN 978-981-15-1753-2 ISBN 978-981-15-1754-9 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-1754-9 © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2020 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore [email protected] Foreword Migration has appeared as one of the most crucial issues of the contemporary world because of the ubiquity, upshot and the attendant impacts. Migration is about people, their aspirations and fears, triumphs and tragedies. The subject of migration is not only interesting and important but also compelling and fascinating. Hence, it has become one of the most crucial stories of our time. We should not forget that it is people who create extraordinary stories along with the many ways of migration. The book offers unique insights into the growing significance of migration and its impact on individuals, societies, nations and the world. It analyses the nexus between migration and development. The authors examined the core notion of the South-North-South migration. They successfully identified the potential impacts— positive and negative—of migration on the well-being of the communities in both origin and destination. It is a pleasure seeing that the authors have gone beyond the conventional belief that migration is inevitable for socio-economic development arguing that the opportunities for development coming from migration cannot be limited exclusively to remittances. There are myriad of other factors that need to be taken into con- sideration in analysing the migration and development nexus. The authors have appropriately addressed the migration governance diligently so that the analytical balance is not compromised. The debates that many facets of migration processes are driven by economic considerations have received deep academic attention over the last decades. A prominent example is the debate on so-called high-skilled migrants. However, due to the invisibility of irregular migration and the challenges of collecting quality statistics, conducting research has been notoriously difficult. The world lacks v [email protected] vi Foreword political will, and perhaps the capacity, to develop a robust regime to protect the migrants seeking to cross international borders. I am sure the book will appeal to academics, researchers, policy makers and stakeholders. Professor Thomas Faist Sociology of Transnationalization Bielefeld University Bielefeld, Germany [email protected] Preface About nine years ago in 2010, in his foreword for the book Rationalizing Migration Decisions: Labour Migrants in East and South-East Asia William Lacy Swing, Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) mentioned that there were about one billion migrants in the world. He attached particular emphasis on one of the arguments that in calculating benefits of migration, there is no way we can ignore the invisible cost migrants’ pay in pursuing migration. This volume in fact is an attempt to expand on this argument. Human progress throughout history has been possible due to population mobility. Economic evidences suggest that migration has been instrumental in excelling the growth in both developed and developing economies. However, contemporary debates have highlighted its long-term consequences. This has challenged the long-standing theories about the positivities of migration. Migration has always mattered—but today it matters more than ever before (Koser 2010). Koser’s assertion has solid ground. Migration is one of the most challenging complex issues of the twenty-first century. The ever-growing volume of migration and the associated remittances; the multidisciplinary explanations; the unexplored drivers and motivations; and the unknown potential impact on states and their economy have contributed to the complexity. Historians see migration as a phenomenon to continue as it happened in the past. Demographers view it as a function of population pressure, and hence, migration does a job to redistribute them. Economists fundamentally explain migration as a function of demand and supply. Political scientists explain that every human being is a political entity and hence they must migrate. Rights-based activists take a radical position in viewing migration that migration is a human right. Since the time migration came under academic investigations, several scholars have posed so many pressing questions to seek answers. Why do some people leave their homes and why some don’t? What are the forces that make them leave and what are the factors attracting them? Who are the winners and who are losers? Who are looking to the short-term gains and why, and who are the ones looking to long terms gains and why? Is the claim that migrants steal ‘local job’ based on fact? If so, what is the consequence? Do migrants ‘drain’ or gain or waste skills? Does vii [email protected] viii Preface migration enhance migrants’ and their family’s social status or undermine it? Surely, there is no precise answer to those questions. Researchers and academics made sincere efforts to answer some of the questions. However, most answers are region, country and time specific. Migration has been an extraordinary phenomenon for academia and policy makers for policy makers and academia particularly because it has potential to have huge impact on economy, demography and society in a myriad of ways. Academic and researchers may reveal potential positive and negative impacts, and policy makers can implement recommendations of the studies to better the migration management. Blaming one another (receiving vs. sending ends) has pushed the migrant population into an uncertainty, which resulted in jeopardizing the safety issues of the migrants. Much debates and discussions on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration have been taking place; however, safety for migrants still remains a far cry. The exorbitant cost migrants pay to finance their migration; the psychological cost, the opportunity costs they pay are the side issues of the agenda of the policy makers. The vast number of mobility orphans and their sacrifices are sadly ignored because the policy takers have little to no voice in the migration process. Most returnees come back old and with obsolete skills. Once returned, they remain unemployed. Of course, success stories are many, but documentations on such stories are even more. Systematic studies on ugly sides of migrations are rare though on media are not. There is an abundance of money to fund migration research from receiving countries. This implies that sponsored researches are aimed at looking into the sponsor’s side favourably and labelling the migrants as a social ill. Goldin (2013), therefore, noticed that in fact we live in an era of two competing narratives: first is that migrants are crossing borders and that they are stealing jobs and eroding host country’s social fabric, and second is that despite short-term dislocations, international migration is a boon. The belief about stealing jobs by migrants and the long-standing notion that the migrants take up the jobs (4Ds) that are not taken by natives contradict. This is an important discourse. This warrants further debate because this notion of ‘stealing jobs’ has contributed to many xenophobic crimes around the world. We tend to eclipse the woes the migrants go through by often magnifying the fact that their remittances contributed to only positive development. Many scholars tend to term migrant remittances as development mantra. Evidences for such claim are not in shortage. We have never challenged this either. What we attempted to do is to contribute to the migration knowledge by sharing experiences, concerns and perceptions about what development is in reality to them. Is it all about some money and the freedom to spend? Migrant remittances have become an important feature of modern economic life. Second-generation migrants never know what miseries their parents went through in settling in. Post and Parcel (2007:1) featured a story of one Bangladeshi migrant, which said it all about how migration is like. ‘It was very difficult for us. I was one of seven children and often there wasn’t enough food to eat. We were very hungry. The winters were extremely [email protected] Preface ix cold and we were not used to such bitter, harsh weather.

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