EDITORIAL - Migration with dignity

The United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families on Dec. 18, 1990. Mindful of that event, the General Assembly a decade later proclaimed Dec. 18 as International Migrants Day.

Efforts have been intensified since then to promote the welfare of migrant workers, whose contributions to economic growth have been acknowledged for both the host states and the workers’ home countries. As International Migrants Day was marked this year, the UN pointed out that remittances from migrant workers worldwide hit a whopping $436 billion in 2014, far exceeding total official development assistance and foreign direct investments except in China.

The Philippines has been one of the biggest sources of migrant labor. Remittances from overseas Filipino workers have buttressed the economy even during global slowdowns, and continue to power the country’s economic growth.

Yet the economic benefits come at a heavy social cost. Marriages are strained or broken and families fall apart. Children grow up without parents. The remittances that fuel economic growth also weaken political resolve for reforms.

Despite global efforts to promote the welfare of migrant workers, abuses continue. The case of Joanna Demafelis was among the worst. The body of the maid, who left the Philippines in May 2014, was found in February this year in the freezer of an abandoned apartment in Kuwait where she worked. Her employers, Lebanese Nader Essam Assaf and his wife Mona Hassoun, were arrested in Syria. A Kuwaiti court has sentenced the couple to death by hanging for the gruesome murder.

This year’s observance of International Migrants Day emphasizes “migration with dignity.” Even better than promoting the welfare of migrant workers, however, is eliminating the need for them to leave their families and homelands to seek better economic opportunities abroad.

Business process outsourcing enterprises have provided meaningful jobs to thousands of Filipinos. But experts say voice BPO is in decline and the BPO workforce must upgrade skills for a shift to more specialized outsourced services.

Tourism can provide jobs and livelihood opportunities on site, reducing the need even for urban migration. More foreign direct investments can be attracted by making it easier to do business in the country. The creative industries can also generate well paying jobs. There’s a wide room for improvement in agricultural production.

All these activities can generate jobs with decent pay. As important as migration with dignity is creating local employment with dignity, so that Filipinos will feel no need to become migrant workers.