[ Local government ]
Missing opportunities of migration
Forecasts show that 70 % of the world population will live in urban areas by 2050. The migration that fuels such urbanisation presents opportunities; but without timely strategies to improve urban governance, migration may impede development. Experts want a policy rethink.
Cities are the centres of migration worldwide. But many conurbations lack the infrastructure required to serve masses of people with quite different backgrounds. For migration to create new opportunities and promote development, much is needed: schools, jobs, transport, accommodation, health services and more.
According to the statistics, there are 191 million migrants worldwide. That amounts to three percent of the world population. According to Frank Leczko of the International Organisation for Migration, the scale of migration from poor to rich countries is the same as that of migration within the developing world. International debate, however, largely ignores the latter.
Leczko, moreover, complains of a dearth of dependable data on domestic migration – although relocations within countries involve far more people than international migration. In recent years, he says, more people have migrated within China alone than have switched countries worldwide. Many national governments are said to tolerate rural exodus to cities without intervening, and opportunities of migration are missed accordingly. Without reliable statistics, Leczko points out, meaningful integration schemes cannot be drafted. In the long run, that should have a destabilising effect across regions.
In Medellín in Colombia, programmes for migrants have been in place since 2004, as Beatrix White, the city's former public welfare director, reports. The local administration has earmarked funds for assisting persons who have been forced to relocate. Such people account for the majority of domestic migrants in Colombia. At a conference organised by the Development and Peace Foundation (SEF) and German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) in Berlin in September, White stressed the importance of allowing the people affected to participate in decision-making.
That view was echoed by Illiza Sa’aduddin Djamal, the deputy mayor of Banda Aceh, who wants to improve gender equality. An information centre for women is to be set up by 2012, and a women’s council is already at work. The local politician points out that crises can prove to be opportunities. After the tsunami swept across the Indian Ocean in December 2004, new institutions were created in Banda Aceh, some of them in cooperation with German development agencies.
A policy rethink is also needed in Germany, say senior local officials. Rudolf Stummvoll, deputy director of Munich's Housing and Migration Office, complains that migrants from outside the EU are classified as unskilled in Germany even if they are university graduates, even though Germany depends on well-trained migrants to remain competitive internationally. Britain, he says, handles such matters more sensibly.
Helga Nagel, director of Frankfurt’s Office of Multicultural Affairs in Frankfurt describes the municipality she represents as a global city that lacks an appropriate political environment as well as coherent diversity policy. Günter Piening, Berlin’s Senate Commissioner for Integration and Migration, voices a similar appeal: “We need to convey diversity as a resource.” (aj)
More about
»» Read more about Globalisation
»» Read more about Population, family planning
»» Read more about Refugees, migration
»» Read more about Urbanisation, urban and regional planning
D+C, 2008/10, Monitor, Page 358-359
