Ny årsoversigt, “World Migration Report 2011”, gør status over klodens mange vandrearbejdere (migranter) og de positive sider de fører med sig – for de negative reaktioner i form af fremmedhad er fremherskende
JOHANNESBURG, 8 December 2011 (IRIN): About 214 million people were living and working outside their home country in 2010.
International migration has continued to grow despite the global economic crisis, but in many countries negative attitudes towards migrants are also rising, a new report notes.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM), focusing on the importance of communicating more effectively about migration in its World Migration Report 2011, released on 6 December, notes that such attitudes stem in part from misinformation and misperceptions about migration that have been fuelled by opportunistic politicians and poor media reporting.
“Few areas of public policy are subject to greater misrepresentation… yet more influenced by public opinion, than international migration,” write the report’s authors.
“Accurately informing relevant stakeholders and the wider public about migration may be the single most important policy tool in all societies faced with increasing diversity.”
During periods of economic recession, national debates on migration issues are often politicized, and evidence of the economic benefits that migration can bring is ignored in favour of assumptions that migrants are fuelling unemployment and draining public resources.
Tror der er mange flere
People in migrant-receiving countries tend to significantly overestimate the size of their country’s migrant population, and often blame them for social ills ranging from crime to unemployment.
A 2010 public opinion poll, cited in the report, found that 57 percent of Americans felt immigration had a negative effect on the country.
Another recent study of eight migrant-receiving countries found that an American perception of 39 percent of the US population being migrants differed significantly from the actual figure of 14 percent.
Italians believed 25 percent of their population were migrants, more than three times the actual number.
With more and more migrants heading to rapidly developing nations in their own regions, such views are not limited to the developed world.
A 2006 survey of South African citizens found that 84 percent felt “too many” foreign nationals were being allowed into the country and 37 percent wanted a total ban on immigration.
Bernardo Mariano-Joaquim, IOM’s regional representative for southern Africa, commented that not enough had been done in South Africa, the region’s largest recipient of migrants, to highlight the positive effects of migration on the country’s economic development.
Læs videre på http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=94423
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