Nicola Piper

Feminisation of Migration and the Social Dimensions of Development: the Asian case

Abstract This paper offers a first attempt at discussing the linkages between migration and development in reference to the feminisation of intra-regional migratory flows in Asia. It begins with a summary of the current debate on the ‘migration and development nexus’ with two objectives in mind: 1) to assess this debates relevance to intra-regional migration in Asia; and 2) to redirect attention to the social dimension of feminised migrations and its relationship to development. In doing so, the focus is on the individual and family level to discuss the impact of migration on personal development as well as on interpersonal relations. What follows thereafter is a brief summary of the character and context of feminised migration in Asia, by approaching this issue from an intra-regional (that is migratory moves of Asians within Asia) perspective. The final section links the previous discussion to the issue of rights. The article concludes that the conceptual and normative linkages between womens social and economic rights as they relate to migration need further exploration, eg by way of specific case studies or ethnographic research. This is needed for relevant policy reform and implementation.

Temporary economic migration and rights activism: an organizational perspective

Abstract Temporary contract migration schemes have experienced a revival in Europe. Such schemes mean that a significant number of migrant workers have limited access to rights and entitlements, let alone full citizenship. The temporary nature of their migration poses obstacles to traditional ways of organizing workers. This changing landscape of migration dynamics, thus, requires a changing landscape of migrant rights activism also. The focus in this paper is on collective activism by social justice organizations and their engagement with, and handling of, the subject matter of migrant workers’ rights. Based on insights from scholars working on social movements and transnational advocacy networks, I argue that a transnational and trans-institutional perspective is required in addressing temporary migrants’ socioeconomic and legal insecurities, and it is the concept of the ‘network’ which captures best these interactions between multiple actors at multiple sites.

Management Versus Rights: Women's Migration and Global Governance in Latin America and the Caribbean

Abstract The global governance of labor migration reflects two major trends: one supports neoliberal migration management priorities and another addresses human rights, with the latter subordinated to the former. This subordination of human rights to other, market-related, priorities parallels global governance priorities in general. While some international organizations address the need for protection of migrant rights, their specific on-the-ground programs do not match the rhetoric. This study demonstrates this disconnection on the basis of an analysis of interviews with representatives of global governance institutions and international nongovernmental organizations conducted between 2007 and 2010 in the Latin American and Caribbean region and at the headquarters of relevant international organizations in Geneva. Furthermore, the study argues that because the discourse on migrant womens rights and their labor exploitation is framed predominantly in the context of trafficking, little headway is made in advancing migrant womens labor and social rights.

RESEARCHING INTERNATIONAL LABOR MIGRATION IN ASIA

This article focuses on research on international labor migration in Asia, a region marked by intense migration in the last four decades. The review covers migration research undertaken from the post-1970s to the present. The growing significance of international migration in the region has stimulated the production of evidence-based knowledge on Asian migration in Asia. This is indicated by the growing literature on migration-related questions, the development of research centers focused on migration, and the development of research networks in the region. Although migration research is thriving, future efforts should aim toward theory building and establishing the links between internal and international migration.

All Quiet on the Eastern Front?—Temporary contract migration in Asia revisited from a development perspective

Abstract Although as such not new, the revival or continuation as well as expansion of temporary contract schemes as the main method by which to regulate economic migration legally is part and parcel of a new discourse on migration policy making: ‘management of migration’. Furthermore, this discourse and concomitant policy descriptions are related to the current phase of the debate on the relationship between migration and development. The focus on managing migration in its link to development revolves around the idea that orderly, legal migration schemes can benefit sending and receiving countries’ developmental and labour market needs as well as individual migrants themselves. The welfare and rights of migrant workers, however, remain the neglected dimension in this equation. As preference is given to temporary or circular migration policies, while little attention is paid to migrants’ rights beyond the rhetorical level, the question which arises pertains to migrants’ actual capability to contribute to development. In the attempt to address this question, the normative starting point of this paper is a rights-based approach to migration and development. The argument advanced revolves around the need to re-politicize this discourse and policy prescriptions. Empirically, my discussion is based on the ‘political activist work’ carried out by the regional migrant rights network in Asia, the Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA).

Retrenched and Returned: Filipino Migrant Workers during Times of Crisis

Situating data from a pilot study conducted in the Philippines within the research literature, we examine the impact of the recent global economic crisis on the experiences of Filipino migrant workers and their families in the context of previous economic upheavals. In so doing, we highlight the gendered effects of shifts in the global economy and detail government response to the premature return of migrant workers to the Philippines primarily due to retrenchment impelled by the global economic crisis. While the current conditions of migration and return are significant, we argue that these are not the result of a new global economic crisis, but are instead the ongoing effects of neoliberal globalization that have resulted in sustained multiple crises with which residents of the Global South have had to contend. Moreover, the reputed solutions offered to returned migrants are rooted in the same faulty paradigm that will be destined to produce only further hardship.

Democratising Migration from the Bottom Up: The Rise of the Global Migrant Rights Movement

Abstract This paper discusses the link between international migration and democratisation from an actor-oriented perspective on the basis of the mobilising efforts by key civil society actors engaged in the promotion of the rights of migrant workers through developing strategies towards movement building and by capitalising on political opportunities that have appeared on the global level. Being pitched at the global level and at organising patterns via the network form, the analytical framework developed takes as its starting point global justice perspectives and then builds upon insights from social movement and constructivist International Relations scholarship. It is argued that what is emerging are (1) movement practices in migrant rights networks which are putting forward increasingly coherent claims that transcend the conventional thinking about global governance and human rights (rights-assuming advocacy); and (2) that such practices are effectively transgressing interstate political arenas (participatory, rights-producing politics). It is on the basis of the cooperation between the 2 main protagonists, trade unions and migrant rights associations, that strategic positioning of migrant rights issues within the global policy debate is taking place, with the aim of promoting a rights-based approach (RBA) to migration and its governance. The combination of rights-producing politics and rights-assuming advocacy is expressed in the RBA to migration which involves the reframing of migrants rights as well as attempts to democratise migration governance in participatory terms.

Let's Argue about Migration: advancing a right(s) discourse via communicative opportunities

Abstract The emerging global governance of migration is dominated by two discourses which shape policy approaches: 1) migration management and 2) the migration–development nexus. With large numbers of labour migrants being marginalised, migrant rights organisations have formed global alliances to argue for the centrality of a third discourse, the rights-based approach to migration. The question is how to inject this into the global debate which has sidelined migrant rights issues. Despite having hardly any bargaining power and restricted space for direct access vis-à-vis global governing institutions, migrant rights organisations are employing a number of strategies to overcome this marginalisation. We analyse these efforts by drawing on social movement studies and International Relations research on communicative action. Empirically this article draws on observations made during two major global fora: the negotiations in connection with the new Convention on ‘Decent Work for Domestic Workers’ at the International Labour Conference (ilc) and civil society participation in the Global Forum on Migration and Development (gfmd).

Marriage migration, migrant precarity, and social reproduction in Asia: an overview

ABSTRACT This paper takes as its starting point the multidirectionality and multi-sitedness of change triggered by migration, especially in relation to gender and migrant precarity. More specifically, it interrogates four strands of the gendered migration debate related to marriage migration: various forms of precarity faced by migrant women and their implications in socio-economic and legal terms; changes to family patterns and social reproduction connected to marriage migration; social policies in origin and destination countries and their relevance to women’s unpaid care work duties; and the productive and reproductive functions involved in the creation of a precarity that leads to, and results, from marriage migration. It points to remaining gaps in knowledge and offers ideas for future lines of inquiry into marriage migration in general and in the context of Asia specifically.

Migration and Social Development: Organizational and Political Dimensions

Collective pressure exerted by migrants1 on governments in both origin and destination countries to address a variety of migration- and work-related issues and concerns has been mounting in recent years, as evidenced by recent studies on this topic, as well as concrete action taken by a variety of civil society organizations (CSOs).2 Because public policies tend to give low priority to targeting migrant populations (Grugel and Piper 2007), the important role for migrant associations, trade unions and other relevant CSOs in providing crucial services and political advocacy for migrants has been recognized by academics3 and policy makers alike (ILO 2004a; GCIM 2005). The different types of organizations involved in migrant issues have their historical and institutional strengths and weaknesses. In recent years, new strategies are being developed in the form of intra-organizational policy shifts or reform processes, and inter-organizational alliances within and across borders. The question is to what extent these processes manage to integrate the changing landscape of economic migration into political activism aimed at social justice pre- and post-migration — that is, whether these processes relate to broader social development concerns in the attempt to address the causes and consequences of international migration.