Bangladesh, 7th July 2020.
A panel discussion was conducted by Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism [GRFDT],Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA) and Cross Regional Center for Refugees and Migrants (CCRM) on the topic, “Global and Regional Migration Governance During COVID 19 Pandemic”seeing the multitude of problems arising post the global pandemic.
Mr ShahidulHaque, Former Foreign Secretary, Bangladesh and Member, World Economic Forum, Ambassador Pietro Mona, Ambassador of Development, Forced Displacement and Migration, Government of Switzerland, as an eminent panellist discussed on how the pandemic is reshaping migrationand accelerating changes in the migration world.
Problems plaguing Bangladesh-
Mr Haque said “COVID-19 has shaken all States in the international system and exposed the cracks in the global migration order.” The pandemic has lead to a slowdown of remittances as well as increased the labour flow back to countries leading to vast unemployment. Mixed migration for Bangladesh has always been a reality with the differentiation between refugee movement, cross border displacement, irregular migration and regular migration extremely difficult. The pandemic however, has only amplified this issue and forced governments to think about a gender sensitive approach to migration governance. A “child responsive angle” is also rapidly needed considering international migrants include thousands of families. Moreover, Human rights has additionally become a pressing issue with the high percentage of mixed migration prevalent today.
Recommendations for the future-
Mr Haque said “the pandemic has indeed shaken States to the core and paved the way for a new economic landscape.” Politicization of migration mobility is another issue that has afflicted the world but effective steps taken in the right direction will help eliminate this problem. He stressed that if Asia wants to lead the world one day, it must also focus on humanitarian issues like Europe and the USA have done since World war II.
Mr Haque also pointed out that in this pandemic, migration is indeed at crossroads but it shall never stop. Mobility is bound to increase again despite drastic changes in the immigration and global travel system. Hence, there is “a severe need for a global dialogue of governance pertaining to changing realities of today apart from GFMD.”
He finally concluded by saying that States must learn from their vulnerabilities and strive to reform themselves. Eventually, a discourse on a new migration order which is people centric and enhances international cooperation should be the utmost priority of all States in the world otherwise the future of migration will remain substandard.
Writer Details- Ujjwala Lakhanpal is a final year student of International relations and economics at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University, Gandhinagar. Her areas of interest include Conflict Studies, Asian geopolitics, International migrations and the Middle East.
Twitter Id- UjjwalaLakhanpal @UjjwalaLp