Migration: Its History, Factors and Consequences
Definition of Migration
According to International
Organization for Migration (IOM),
Migration
means the movement of persons away from their place of usual residence, either
across an international border or within a State.
It is the movement of a person or a group of people to settle in another place, often across a political
or administrative boundary. Migration can be temporal or permanent, and it may
be voluntary or forced.
According to Section-2(1)
of the Overseas Employment and Migrants Act 2013
Migration
means the departure of a citizen from Bangladesh for employment
in a trade or profession in any foreign country.
Human migration is
described as the movement of people from one location to another, especially
between countries, to settle in the new area either
temporarily or permanently. It usually entails long-distance travel from one
country or area to another. Since time immemorial, human beings have been migrating from one location
to another, from one nation to another. Human beings
were nomads at the very beginning of human existence. The availability of food determines their location typically. They live in or around the
location where they find it. Actually, these people were attempting to meet
their basic needs and to do so, they never constructed any permanent
structures during that time period.
A migrant moves from one place to another to find work, better living conditions, or related purposes (e.g. study, family).
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| https://reimaginingmigration.org/the-story-of-migration-is-the-story-of-humankind/ |
PUSH AND PULL FACTORS OF MIGRATION
Push Factors- People
are forced to abandon their current location due to Push Factors. Such as:
- Not enough jobs/ opportunities
- Poor medical care
- Not being able to practice religion
- Loss of wealth
- Natural Disasters
- Threats to self or family
- Pollution
- Poor housing
- Political fear
Pull Factors- It encourages people to go to a specific place. Pull factors are those of the receiving country that entice a person or community to leave their home. Such as:
- Job opportunities
- Better living conditions
- Political or religious freedom
- Enjoyment
- Education
- Better medical care
- Security
- Family links
- Better chances of finding a partner
Consequences of Migration
1. Demographic consequences: The rate and ratio
of demographic change is a result of migration. It alters the
populations' proportion. Furthermore, it limits the population's age and
gender composition. The source country effectively loses its youth population
as a result of migration. On the other hand, the destination country gains a workforce, which raises the overall population.
2.
Social Consequences: Migration hastens
cultural diversity. It propels society toward a hybrid culture. It broadens
people's mental horizons by breaking down their narrow thoughts. Migration can generate
a social void and a sense of melancholy in individuals, leading to a rise in
crime and substance abuse. It also reduces social trust on a wide scale.
3.
Economic Consequences: If people move
from a less densely populated region to a densely populated area, it will harm the economy of that densely populated area. Aside from
that, migration affects the occupational structure of the population.
People moving out give remittances to their families back home, contributing to
the economic development of the country of origin.
4.
Environmental Consequences: Large-scale
migration may often be a significant impediment to the growth of the migrated
country's climate. The enormous burden of the population places a heavy strain
on natural resources. Pollution of the atmosphere occurs. Due to a lack of
clean drinking water, the residence becomes the most pressing problem. Sewage and
waste disposal suffers significantly.
POSITIVE IMPACT:
- Unemployment is decreased, and people have more work opportunities.
- Migration improves people's quality of life. It improves people's social lives as they learn about new cultures, traditions, and languages, promoting brotherhood among people.
- The Migration of skilled workers boosts the region's economic development.
- Children have more options for higher education.
- Population density and birth rates are decreasing.
NEGATIVE IMPACT
- The loss of a person from rural areas impact the level of output and development of rural areas.
- The influx of workers in urban areas increases competition for the job, houses, school facilities etc.
- Having a large population puts too much pressure on natural resources, amenities and services.
- It is difficult for a villager to survive in urban areas because, in urban areas, there is no natural environment and pure air. They have to pay for each and everything.
- Migration changes the population of a place; therefore, the distribution of the population is uneven.
- Many migrants are entirely illiterate and uneducated; therefore, they are unfit for most jobs and lack basic knowledge and life skills.
- Poverty makes them unable to live every day and healthy life.
- Poverty makes them unable to live a normal and healthy life.
- Children growing up in poverty, have no access to proper nutrition, education or health.
- Migration increased the slum areas in cities, which increase many problems such as unhygienic conditions, crime, pollution etc.
TYPES OF MIGRATIONS
- Internal Migration
- International Migration
- Voluntary Migration
- Forced Migration
- Step Migration
- Seasonal Migration
- Chain Migration
- Return Migration
- Intercontinental Migration
- Intracontinental Migration
- Documented
Migration
- Undocumented Migration
The most
problematic migration is the FORCED MIGRATION
‘Ethnic Cleansing’ is seemed to be the root cause for forced migration.
Ethnic cleansing is the
systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial or religious groups from a given
territory by a more powerful ethnic group, often with the intent of making it
ethnically homogeneous.
The forces applied may be various
forms of forced migration (deportation, population transfer), intimidation, as
well as genocide and genocidal rape.
Andrew Bell-Fialkoff gives his definition: Ethnic cleansing can be understood as the expulsion of an 'undesirable' population from a given territory due to religious or ethnic discrimination, political, strategic or ideological considerations, or a combination of these.
Terry Martin has defined ethnic cleansing as "the forcible removal of an ethnically defined population from a given territory."
ROOT CAUSES OF FORCED
1.
Hunger
Hunger is one of the leading causes of global migration. At present, among every nine people, one of them dies in extreme starvation. In Somalia, Ethiopia, a thousand people died every year due to this extreme hunger. That’s why many people migrated. According to the survey of International Food Policy Research, At present, the Institute is the topmost hungry country, where almost 63% of people just stay hungry.
2.
Flood
In 1975 a devastating flood occurred in China where nearly 16 million people died, and countless people became homeless. Afterwards, those homeless people migrated.
3.
Drought
Drought is one of the main reasons for the migration of totally dependent people on crop production. Very often, serious outbreaks of severe drought occur in African countries like Somalia, Ethiopia and Kenya. Due to drought, scarcity of food increased highly; as a result, countless people died there. To survive, many of them forcefully, without their own desire, migrated to Europe and America.
4.
Earthquakes
It is one of the furious natural calamities, and due to this, numerous people died. It is also creating forced migration. In 2010 a devastating earthquake occurred in Haiti and near about 2 lakh 30 thousand people died and approximately 1.5 million people become shelterless. At present only in the USA near about 60 thousand Haitian people migrated and live there.
5.
War and Conflict
At present one of the major reasons for forced migration is war and conflicts. Very recently almost 75% of the Rohingya people become forcefully migrated to Bangladesh due to brutal persecution by Myanmar.
6.
Poor
Economy
Economic development is one of the main causes of migration and poor economic condition of a country increase the high rate of forced migration. In Mali and Naizar of Africa numerous people migrated to abroad due to poor economic infrastructure of their own country.
- Almost 1 billion of today’s world population have migrated (approximately 1 in 7 people)
- - Of these, 740m are internal migrants, whereas 232m are international migrants.
- - About 50% of international migrants live in 10 industrialised countries: the USA, Can, Australia, EU, Russia, Saudi Arabia, EAU).
- - In relative terms, people in low-income countries migrate less than in high-income countries (UNDP, 2009).
- - In 2009, it was estimated that approximately 50 million people were living abroad with irregular status having less access to services and risk of deportation.
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| Global Migration patterns per region, 2005-2010. Guy Abel and Nikola Sander (2014). |
References
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