IOM Pakistan
Labour Migration in South Asia
 In 2010*, the emigrant stock in
South Asia was 1.6% of the
population, while the
immigrant stock was 0.7%.
 South Asia is one of the main
source sub-regions for migrants
in Asia.
6,073,731
 There is significant movement
of migrants from South Asia to
South-east and East Asian
countries.
 Movements within South Asia
dominate flows to other subregional markets.
Sources:
*Migration and Remittances Factbook. World Bank, 2011
Map compiled by IOM using data from “Migration between South and Southeast Asia-Overview of Trends and Issues”. Chanda,2012.
Labour Migration in South Asia
Factors driving migration
include:
 Wage differential between sending
and receiving countries;
 Labour shortages in receiving
countries;
 Desire to achieve higher living
standards;
 The sectors South Asian
 Changes in political climate;
migrants work in include
 Presence of migration networks in
construction, fishing, domestic
receiving countries;
services, agriculture, etc.–
 Others such as changes to visa
generally lower-skilled jobs.
policies, job transfers, etc.
Remittance in South Asia
Remittances & Development
Trend in Remittances in South Asia (2000-2010)
 South Asia (SA) is one of the largest
remittance recipients in the world.
 Many economies in South Asia rely
on remittances as an important
source of foreign exchange and to
keep current account deficits at
manageable levels.
As presented in ADB Working Paper No.12, May 2012
 At the household level, remittances serve as
informal social security to cover food,
education, and health-care costs.
 Most remittances some from GCC countries.
Other common countries are the UK, USA,
Ireland, etc.
Remittance Corridors in the Asia-Pacific Region
The world’s top net remittance recipients are from Asia—India and PRC—while
Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the Philippines also ranked among the top 15!
South Asia’s Vision for Labour Migration
Regional Priorities and Outlook
• Encouraging more skilled migrant
workers to move abroad, considering
that they earn higher wages and are
better able to protect themselves
• Increasing bilateral and multilateral
cooperation with destination
countries to improve working
conditions and treatment of migrant
workers
• Enhancing the development impact of
remittances and return of migrants
with skills acquired abroad
• Reducing the costs of migration,
recruitment fraud and extending
labour protection to all workers,
including domestic workers.
Source: Situation Report on International Migration in South and South West Asia. ESCAP, 2012
Regional Consultative Processes
The Colombo
Process
The Abu Dhabi
Dialogue
The Asia-EU
Dialogue
Regional Consultative Processes
The Colombo Process
• Established in 2003, the The
process aims to provide a
forum for dialogue among
member states.
• There are 11 member states
and 8 observer states.
• Led and governed by the
annual Ministerial
Consultation in which
recommendations and action
plans are discussed and
adopted by the Ministers of
the participating countries.
Regional Consultative Processes
• Protection and
provision of
services to overseas
temporary
contractual workers
• Optimizing benefits
Priorities
of organised labour
migration
• Capacity building,
data collection and
inter-state
cooperation
• Sharing of best practices
through studies, regional
events
• Capacity building of labour
attaches of the governments
• Setting up, training on Market
Research Unit and Migrant
Resource Centre
• Information campaigns
• Joint training, cross-sharing
and learning
• Implementation, at the
national level, of
recommendation adopted at
the Ministerial Consultations
Achievements
Regional Consultative Processes
The Abu Dhabi Dialogue
• Established in 2008
• Voluntary, non-binding, state-led
Regional Consultative Process
between Colombo Process (CP)
Member States and migrant
labour destination countries in
the Gulf, after years of observer
participation of some Gulf
countries in the CP (notably UAE,
Kuwait, Bahrain)
• Broad Purpose:
• To provide a forum for discussion of
new ideas and concrete activities
towards enhancement of bilateral and
regional cooperation and partnerships
• To improve the administration of
temporary contract employment cycle
and maximize its benefits to contract
workers, employers and economies of
countries of origin and destination
Regional Consultative Processes
The Asia-EU Dialogue
• An inter-regional forum aimed at developing and enhancing
inter- and intra-regional exchange of ideas and strategies on
facilitating managed and legal migration between Asia and the
European Union (EU)
• Members consist of all 11 CP countries and all EU28 countries
• Objectives include:
– To improve understanding of the key trends and issues, support the
identification of common policy concerns
– To promote actions which will facilitate safe and legal labour migration
between the two regions and its impact on development
IOM Pakistan Initiatives
• Canadian Orientation Abroad and Australian Cultural
Orientation Programs to familiarize migrants with the
conditions in these destination countries.
• Assisted Voluntary Return and Reintegration (AVRR) Option
for Irregular Pakistani Migrants in various countries of
destination.
• Support includes travel arrangements (including facilitation
with relevant Pakistani embassies), reception support at
airports, medical assistance, education support, vocational
trainings, business set up support
Upcoming Initiatives Include
• Tailored reintegration assistance for returnees
• Reinforce social capital through local support groups
in communities
• Increased access to psycho-social services for
returning migrants.
• Sustained awareness raising on safe migration
practices
Junaid Khan
Senior Program Coordinator, Migration
Management
International Organization for Migration (IOM)