Minister calls for international migration policy

Thiruvananthapuram, June 12 : Union Minister for Overseas Indian Affairs Vayalar Ravi today called for developing a coherent international migration policy to enable citizens to benefit from the emerging global economic opportunities.

The policy must address issues such as exploitation of workers and eliminate human trafficking, he said at the inauguration of the Research Unit on International Migration here which aims to undertake studies in the field.

Pointing out that overseas Indian workers faced ''exploitation, abuse and benign neglect '' and calling the migration process as 'exploitative,' the Minister said the process for amending the Emigration Act, 1983 was underway.

The law should be modernized to bring about the transformation with emphasis on greater transparency, better regulation and deterrent punishment.

He also noted labour migration reflected a policy shift in both origin and destination countries towards issues concerning welfare of the diaspora.

''The source countries are becoming more responsible towards the well being of its people abroad. The receiving countries have also begun to recognise the contribution of migrant population,'' he said. However, he also cautioned against new barriers to international migration that emerged with the advent of globalisation.

''The international trade in services is governed under the General Agreement on Trade Services and in particular, the movement of natural persons is governed by Mode-4 of GATS. It refers to temporary movement and is more task-based than time-based. ''Most of the developed countries have offered commitments under Mode-4 to facilitate commercial presence overseas. But there are hardly any commitments made by the developed countries on export of professionals and India has a large surplus of skilled professionals,'' Mr Ravi said.

He called for a UN dialogue on international migration to address these barriers and work towards a more liberal regime that would be a win-win for both the developed as well as the developing countries.

He also said the ITI/VTI network in the states must be used as ''catchments'' to prepare the Overseas Indian Workers for emerging opportunities such as in hospitality, healthcare and construction.

The Ministry would partner with private sector for working in the areas of standardized testing, certification and quality assurance.

''Emphasis should be given to learning foreign language apart from English,'' he said adding talks were on with the Confederation of Indian Industry and the relevant states to initiate a programme on this.

Another area which requires to be addressed is the increasing ''feminisation of migration,'' Mr Ravi said and noted Indian nurses and housekeepers formed a substantial group amongst the migrant workers.

''It is in this area that more research and policy interventions are urgently needed,'' he said.

On the proposal to sign an MoU with six Gulf countries and two West Asian countries on labour migration, the Minister said the process was on and hoped the agreement will be signed soon.

Referring to the CBI unearthing a major recruitment and forgery racket involving the Protector of Emigrants (PoE) office, he said there was a need for continuous vigilance check.

UNI