Frank Laczko

Coherence at working level

This section deals working level policies and practices. It moves through the various stages of the migration cycle from pre-departure through to migration, stay in the receiving country and return home. It identifies various ways in which international development actors have sought to find synergies in these two fields. The boundaries between policies, practices, initiatives, projects and so on are particularly blurred at this level, as it is often difficult to distinguish where policy ends and operations start. The section examines a range of measures in the hope of prompting ideas for new policy direction among those seeking to integrate migration and development agendas.

Vulnerability of migrants post-natural disaster

The status of being a migrant can lead to increased vulnerability post-disaster due to compromised access to services and protection in the affected area. Legal residence rights can become a real or perceived bar to assistance. This is particularly crucial for irregular migrants who lack legal rights in the first place. However, it can also affect regular migrants who may lose their documents in the disaster and find themselves in a legally precarious situation. Internal migrants may also be implicated, as there may be rules on the registration of internal movements. Access to assistance may be further complicated by linguistic, cultural and religious barriers, as, for example, aid not being adapted to the particular needs of migrant communities, and information not being available in the migrants’ languages, or the provision of food they are not used to. Moreover, they may not be sufficiently aware of their entitlements, a problem affecting certain categories of migrants, in particular women.

Diaspora response to natural disasters

Diaspora groups can make a major contribution to the disaster response, both directly through financial contributions as well as by mobilizing strategic political action. The degree to which they are able to do so depends on their own socio-economic status and the extent to which they continue to identify with their homeland, i.e. some, like the diaspora networks in the Middle East, have particularly strong ties with the countries of origin as they and their families are unable to acquire citizenship in their destination countries, thus retaining very real responsibilities in their homelands. Remittances sent home by migrants assist individuals, households and communities in coping with disasters and help reduce risk/vulnerability in the face of such an event by enabling individuals to fortify their economic base. In the aftermath of the Tsunami, there was a strong response by the diasporas linked to the affected countries.