An international E- conference on ‘Migration, Diasporas and Sustainable Development: Perspectives, Policies, Opportunities and Challenges’ was jointly organized by Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) and Center for Research on North America (CISAN),from 2nd to 5th November, 2020.The fifth parallel session on “Impact of Diaspora on Foreign Policies II” was held on 4th November 2020.The Chair of the session was Dr Gurram Srinivas, who is the Associate Professor of the Sociology at the Centre for the Study of the Social Systems, School of Social Sciences in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. His areas of interest are Social Stratification, Dalit Studies, Environment and Social Movements. The room coordinator of this session was Dr Rakesh Ranjan. He is the Assistant Professor in the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Patna Centre. He introduced the Chair of the session. There were five papers presented in this session.
Ineffective Migration Protection Protocols Policy in the USA
The first paper was on ‘Querida America: Narratives Against MPP’ by Dr Belinda Hermandez, Arriaga, Corie Schwabenl and, Alexa Chavez and Amy Argenal. The authors have discussed the narratives and incidences of Asylum seekers in Central and South America. The Migration Protection Protocols (MPP) policy has become redundant today and therefore, migrants and asylum seekers’ families are forced to live in the camps, and they do not have socio-economic benefits. The MPP policy is for asylum seekers, who live in the borders. In 2020, an estimated 4,500 people lived in the camps which resulted in the exponential growth of the asylum seekers’ camps in the USA. Due to the ineffective policies, the asylum seekers have been facing human rights violation, poverty, exclusion and unemployment. The state policy of asylum seekers and refugees of the USA is not discriminatory but also enforce many inequalities among the exile communities and asylum seekers. In the recent times, the USA has not been allowing foreigners, refugees and asylum seekers from selected regions, countries and communities, which has made the migration of the people a problematic process in the USA. The authors have highlighted the objectives of the research, methodology and problems of the asylum seekers.
“The asylum seekers have been facing more challenges in Central and South America”: Belinda Hermandez
The second paper titled as ‘Migrant Labourers: State Policies and Welfare Measures in Kerala State in India’ by Abdul Wasih Kattikulangara & Rasha Leena VC. DrWasih has discussed about the migrant labourers in Kerala and provided the socio-economic profile and background of the migrant labourers. The longest migration corridors in India have evolved during the past two decades, connecting Kerala with Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal.Most of the migrant labourers are informal workers and unorganized workers and thus have low wages, improper working conditions, lack of social security and social dialogue. The paper also covered the push and pull factors, educational profiles, training and skill development programmes, educational facilities facilitated to the children of the migrant workers. Due to the international labour migration, there is a shortage of labour migrants and thus, there has an influx of labour migrants from various parts of the country in Kerala.
The paper also argued about the health benefits through call centres, Migrant Suraksha Project and other initiatives. It also discussed about the community kitchen, free food materials, health camps and awareness, shramik train free food, rent-free rooms and entertainment opportunities provided by the state government during the COVID-19 time.Furthermore, the paper highlights the scope and future of the internal labour migration in Kerala, covering the state’s policies, legal framework, health and educational benefits.
“The socio-economic conditions of migrant workers from Kerala are deplorable, which needs strong welfare intervention by the state government”, Dr. Abdul Wasih Kattikulangara.
Role of diaspora in the development of ASEAN region
The third paper titled as ‘Diaspora as Agents of Development: A Regional Focus on ASEAN Youth’ by Ms Tashryn Mohd. Shahrin. This paper is a regional analysis of the movement of youth in the ASEAN region. It also discusses the impact of the transnational migration in the development. The main argument of this paper is to review the role of diaspora in the development, focusing on regional policies and engagement processes within ASEAN regions. Ms Shahrin provided the profile of the ASEAN region, with its total population, internal migration, youth migration and so on. The names of the ASEAN countries are Laos, Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei Darussalam, Singapore and the Philippines. The migrants in the ASEAN countries are objectively referred to as ‘skilled labour’ instead of migrant workers. The term ‘labour’ is used to refer to other associated nouns such as ‘market’, ‘productivity’ and ‘mobility’. She emphasized that ASEAN countries involved mostly low-skilled migrants. More than 87% of intra-ASEAN migrants are unskilled workers. She emphasized that the diasporas have been recognized in the ASEAN regions. She has given the broader scenario of diaspora communities and their contributions to the development in two major countries of ASEAN i.e.; Indonesia and Singapore. Finally, she has highlighted the challenges of diasporas in these countries such as domestic regulations and practices, ASEAN agreements and dual citizenship. She further concluded by suggesting recommendations specifically echoing for the rights of the labour migrants in the ASEAN countries.
The fourth paper titled “Assessing the impact of the migration crisis on the EU’s global legitimacy: Shifting Turkish discourses at the UN General Assembly debates” by Ms Charlotte Culine. She discussed the role of Turkish leaders’ discursive evolutions towards the EU during the UN General Assembly debates 2009-2019. The major issues highlighted during these debates were migration crisis, the Syrian conflict, Islam, neighbouring policies, European Colonialism, EU and UN values and accession. She emphasized that the migration crisis has been used as a semantic weapon against the European Union. The management of the migration crisis from the European Union was bad and failed to answer the problems of migration from Turkey. She concluded with an argument that no agency, country and people were standing with Turkey, and therefore, there has been bad consequences of migration. Furthermore, she raised an important point that all such scenario has been harming the legitimacy of the European Union.
“Role of Turkish leader has become critical towards the EU, which has affected the image of EU’s global legitimacy”, Ms. Charlotte Culine
The fifth paper titled “Assessment of COVID-19 impacts on the seasonal migration of Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes: A case study of the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir” by Mr Imtiaz Ahmed. He gave an introduction of the paper by highlighting the situation of COVID-19 and its impact on the migration at the global level. Due to the COVID-19, the migration flow of Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes were affected this year in 2020. They could not move to the hilly areas of Jammu and Kashmir between March and April. Noticeably, Jammu & Kashmir is the state with large numbers of tribal communities. He further provided the general profile of the Gujjar and Bakarwal tribes during the presentation. He also discussed the contributions of these tribes in the economy of Jammu & Kashmir state. The paper also explored the socio-economic challenges of Gujjars and Bakarwals in Jammu and Kashmir during the COVID-19 pandemic such as lack of food, fodder for herds, discrimination, basic amenities, and livelihood issues.
Finally, the session was opened for the question and answers round for the participants. Some of the important questions raised were political issues in Turkey, training programmes for migrant labourers in Kerala during the COVID-19, population of Gujjars and Bakarwal tribes in Jammu & Kashmir state. Dr Gurram Srinivas discussed the highlights of each paper at the end of the session. The session was closed with a vote of thanks by Dr Rakesh Ranjan, Room Coordinator.
Dr. Monika Bisht Ranjan is associated with the Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT), New Delhi. She holds M.Phil. and PhD degrees from National Institute of Educational Planning and Administration (NIEPA), Delhi. Email address: monika4bisht@gmail.com. Twitter ID: @BishtMonika