We know this phenomenon closely. We are the consequence of it. A Latin America built based on migration cannot fall ...
We know this phenomenon closely. We are the consequence of it. A Latin America built based on migration cannot fall under the arms of nationalism and xenophobic speeches. The challenge is to do it all over again.
By Martin Padulla for staffingamericalatina
Latin America cannot leave aside the migration phenomenon when analyzing itself. Migrations have clearly been key elements in the development of our region. In certain countries, such as Argentina, we claim that we came down from boats. Our grandparents or great grandparents came from other countries and “built” our nation.
They came to work the land, improve industries, to teach sciences and arts. And they mixed with other nationalities, ethnic groups, religions, offering the world an example of cohesion, communal living and respect towards what is different
So, by the end of the 19th century, our nations were built, we entered the modern age, and reached a defined identity. In this complex 21st century, several of our countries continue to celebrate the “Fiesta de las Colectividades”. Descendants from Spanish, Italians, English, Irish, German, Croatian, Serbs, Swiss, Turkish, Syrians, and Greeks, share their traditional meals and dances, their beloved music.
Even though the migration wave of our grandparents was paradigmatic, today, the acceleration of economic globalization has generated more migrant workers than those ever registered in time. Never before have so many people leave their home, their love ones, their stories behind, to pursuit a dream.
According to estimations, there are over 250 million migrants in the world today, which represent 3.4% of the global population. Almost half of them are women, and one out of eight is between 15 and 24 years old. About 53% of them are children running away from war, from destroyed economies, bloody dictatorships, natural disasters, tribal violence or drug trafficking.
An important aspect of this phenomenon is that there have been so many migrants in irregular situations as today. Only in the United States, there are 11 million. Illegal migration promotes the entrance of a world linked to crime and enhances xenophobic speeches that include eccentricities and ridiculous generalizations.
Everyone knows that migration and work are key human rights that must be always respected and everywhere. However, we are attending to a terrible show of discrimination, even in lands that were built by migrants.
Xenophobic attacks take place in Germany against Turkish campsites, but also in Pacaraima, in northern Brazil against Venezuelan migrants. Migrants face the risk of dying in caravans when crossing the Mediterranean Sea or when they hang from La Bestia, the mythical train that goes through Mexico every day, leaving hundreds of people on the verge of the American dream or of hell.
Generally speaking migrant workers have little social protection and are vulnerable to exploitation and human trafficking. Skilled workers are less vulnerable, and as they leave, their countries have a smaller number of key workers for their economies. In both cases, the challenge of social integration in a world that has little toleration towards what is diverse, is huge.
Has the world of education and work addressed this phenomenon?
Partially. The UN has celebrated a Global Compact for Migration, there are international conventions, recommendations and resolutions from the ILO that force member States to properly regulate it.
However, the current situation goes beyond such frameworks. Alicia Arango, Minister of Labour of Colombia, announced that her government is preparing a number of special measures to set policies that regulate and bring order to hiring Venezuelan workers in the country. According to Arango, several businessmen are eliminating formal Colombian workforce to hire Venezuelan workers for a third of the wage offered to Colombians.
The Polish sociologist, Zygmunt Bauman, anticipated to this situation by linking migration to certain aspects of financial capitalism. In “Strangers at our Door”, he describes a global economic dynamic that assumes the “production of superfluous people (exceeding and unemployable)”. While in developed countries large sectors of the population fear to lose their jobs, on the other side, those who have already lost everything face no doubts to move in the pursuit of more promising places. So, for Bauman, migrants are a wanted cheap workforce, but also scary competitors in the labour market. They are uneasy messengers of a time characterized by uncertainty.
Today, Latin America is the third region that holds the largest number of migrants in the world, following the Middle East and Africa. The Venezuelan exodus is among the largest population migrations in the history of the region, according to ACNUR. Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras are the countries that exhibit this cocktail of vulnerable economies, weak institutions and drug wars the most. Migrating is the last resource people find to save their lives when they live in terror and having no chances at all to plan their future.
It seems that the time has come to pay close attention to this issue, to develop citizenship against a type of xenophobia that is winning elections in the United States, but also in France, Italy, Hungary, Austria, and most recently in Brazil and Spain. Taking care of our countries’ security from a receptive and inclusive perspective.
The Migration for Employment Convention (revised) 1949 (no. 97) from ILO says that States must make sure that treatment to migrant workers is no less favourable than that which it applies to its own nationals in a series of matters, such as employment conditions, freedom of association, and social security. The Convention on Migrant Workers (Supplementary Provisions), 1975, (no. 143), sets measures to tackle illegal migration, and enforces general respect towards migrant workers basic human rights. It also points out the equal conditions of migrant workers with resident visa and national workers.
Over two centuries ago, Immanuel Kant, foretold the chance of human kind growing up to a point where it would occupy every habitable land. He developed the concept of universal hospitality, which did not mean eliminating the differences among territories, but stating that “nobody has a greater right to be in one place in Earth than any another person”.
It is heartbreaking to see migrants’ grandchildren who are xenophobic. Maybe the circumstances demand greater sophistication, and they might challenge us to grow in a broader sense, to work for a bigger and more sustainable home that can include us all, to offer help to those who are both different and alike.
Building more dynamic, modern, formal, and inclusive labour markets that promote mobility is an urgent need. Millions of men, women, youngsters and children migrating in miserable conditions demand this from us. We can all see it; we just have to read a newspaper, or watch the news. We cannot remain indifferent.
Even though econometric studies show that migration increases the economic activity, we have the empirical evidence in our DNA that, if we want to rebuilt our countries and become key players of the future, we need every man and women who has good will and wants to live in our land and develop it with us.
We have done it before. We can do it again.
About Martin Padulla
Founder and Managing Director of staffingamericalatina. Martin Padulla is Sociologist (USAL), MBA (UCA) and labour markets expert. He published “Flexible Work in South America” and “Regulatory framework for private employment agencies in Latin America” two books about the new realities of work in Latin America. He is working on the project #FOWiberoamerica.
Follow Martín Padulla on Twitter: @MartinPadulla
mpadulla@staffingamericalatina.com
About staffingamericalatina
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