Migration Challenges and Development. Room: C
Knowledge-based economies need to tap into the expanding pool of highly educated professionals from developing countries - but how do we avoid a brain-drain of talented people essential to the future of those coutries? Is it possible to stimulate circular migration - so that workers from the developing world return to their home countries with upgraded knowledge and skills, and as agents of positive change? What are the barriers for migrant workers in the private sector?
For more than a million years, humanity has expanded, discovered, learned and progressed through migration. Concurrently, migration has been a source of tension and conflict.
The story of human movement across countries, regions and continents continues today with an estimated 200 million migrants worldwide. The millions on the move are seen by many in only negative terms - as a threat to cultural identity, economic welfare and political stability. But what about the opportunity side of migration? What about the positives?
Traditionally, most migrants from less developed countries have found a foothold in their adopted homelands at the lower rungs of the social and economic ladder. Their skills and labor are taken at a lesser rate than the prevailing local standard. That is what we debate under the term “social dumping”. But how do we fight exploitation and impose common standards, as expressed in the ILO-conventions, without pulling up the ladder of opportunity?
Governments and public policy obviously have a key role in setting the stage for migration. But what about the private sector? What are the barriers for migrant workers in the private sector and how can they be overcome?
Moderator:
- Grethe Brochmann
Research Director, Institute for Social Research, Norway
Rapporteur:
- Cindy Horst
Senior Researcher, Peace Research Institute Oslo, PRIO, Norway
Speakers:
- Mike Conway
Vice President, Resourcing & Development, Royal Dutch Shell, Netherlands
- Nigel Harris
Emeritus Professor of the Economics of the City, University College London, UK
- Cecilie B. Heuch
Director, Human Resources, Det Norske Veritas, Norway
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- Liu Kaiming
Director, Institute of Contemporary Observation, China
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- Manuela R. Osmundsen
Project Coordinator Migration and Development, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Norway
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- Trine Lise Sundnes
Confederal Secretary, Norwegian Confederation of Trade Unions, Norway
Manuela Ramin-Osmundsen