TRANSIT MIGRATION IN ASIA

by Graeme Hugo, Federation Fellow Professor of Geography and Director of the National Centre for Social Applications of GIS, The University of Adelaide

Paper presented to Annual Bank Conference on Development Economics, Mita Conference Hall, Tokyo, Japan
29-30 May 2006

Outline of Presentation
Introduction
Conceptualising Transit Migration in Asia Forced Migrants as Transit Migrants in Asia South-North Movement and Transit Migration in Asia The Chinese as Transit Migrants Conclusion

Reasons for Neglect

Lack of migration data generally Much involves undocumented migration Focus on economic and labour migrants

Internal Transit Migration

False dichotomy
Link with international labour migration Indonesian case studies

Features of Transit Migration in Asia

Part of growth of temporary migration
Transit point distinguished by its way station character rather than as a destination Its midway to nowhere character

Key role played by the migration industry

Often involves movement without documentation

Forced Migration and Transit Migration in Asia

Asia: Refugees by Countries of Asylum and Origin, 1980 to 2004
Source: UNHCR Statistics
8,000,000 7,000,000 6,000,000

Countries of Origin

Number

5,000,000 4,000,000 3,000,000 2,000,000 1,000,000 0

1980 1981

1982 1983 1984

1985 1986 1987

1988 1989 1990

1991 1992 1993

1994 1995 1996

1997 1998 1999

2000 2001 2002

2000 2001 2002

Year Afghanistan Viet Nam Other

4000000 3500000 3000000 2500000 2000000 1500000 1000000 500000 0

Countries of Asylum

Number

1980

1981

1982 1983

1984

1985 1986

1987

1988 1989

1990

1991

1992 1993

1994

1995 1996

1997

1998 1999

2003

Year Pakistan India Thailand China

2004

2003 2004

Migrants from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos living in OECD Countries, 2000
Source: OECD data base
Country of Residence Australia Austria Belgium Canada Switzerland Czech Republic Germany Denmark Spain Finland France United Kingdom Greece Hungary Ireland Japan Korea Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands Norway New Zealand Poland Portugal Slovakia Sweden Turkey United States Vietnam Afghanistan Cambodia Laos 154,831 11,296 22,979 9,565 2,376 610 7,151 794 1,092 1,111 150,610 22,610 19,015 14,375 8,273 1,980 1,847 817 14,639 209 16 9 54,750 8,575 6,905 134 27 599 152 36 166 2,882 338 99 6 114,126 2,597 55,787 40,793 23,347 14,875 706 464 226 334 10 6 1,884 558 36 30 729 106 7 34 12,965 175 1,510 1,433 327 36 10,646 11,750 3,945 1,651 21 693 11,771 32 1,000,950 1,599,785 1 9 24,277 3,105 738 154 2 74 7,017 9,636 46,310 154,252 23 19 2 1 543 117 188 49 4,770 1,017 22 30 2 1 3 3 355 388 7 2 138,245 206,490 248,044 276,953

Afghanistan Families in Pakistan Source of Livelihood 2005

Source: UNHCR 2005, 24

Livelihood Daily Wage Dependent Employed Self Employed Other Total

Camps No. % 136,959 58.0 22,958 9.7 15,842 6.7 36,675 15.5 23,903 10.1 236,337 100.0

Non Camps No. % 155,086 49.7 31,636 10.1 28,668 9.2 68,574 23.0 27,804 8.9 311,768 100.0

2005 Census of Afghans in Pakistan

3,049,268 individuals 548,106 families Total population of Pakistan 143,500,000

Pakistan: Location of Self Employed Afghans (%), 2005

Source: UNHCR 2005, 55

Burmese (Myanmar) Refugees in Thailand 2006

120,000 in border camps

1 million elsewhere

Occupational Segregation of Burmese Migrants

Low skilled domestic services, agriculture, factory work, rice mills, fishing
Labour shortages Occupational segregation Labour market segmentation

Labour Immigration and Labour Market Segmentation in Thailand

BURMA

THAILAND

Predominantly rural but some urban people

Fishing Agriculture Construction Domestic Service Factory Work

SINGAPORE TAIWAN JAPAN MIDDLE EAST MALAYSIA Factory Work Entertainment Domestic Service

Corollaries of Labour Market Segmentation

(Massey, et al. 1993)

Migration is demand driven

Migration is structurally entrenched

Wages held down

Government intervention limited Demand independent of economic vicissitudes

Some Involvement of High Skill

e.g. Exodus of intelligensia from Burma in 1988

South African Refugees

(Weiner 1993)

The exodus of Tamils from Sri Lanka to Southern India Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh after Bangladesh was created from East Pakistan Burmese Muslims moving to Bangladesh Hill Tribe Groups moving from Bangladesh to India Other Bangladeshis moving to India Tibetans moving to India Bengalis moving to Assam Nepalis moving to India Nepalis moving to Bhutan

Australia: Unauthorised Arrivals, 1989-90 to 2004-05

Source: DIMIA 2002 and 2005a

4500 4000 3500 3000

Number

Boat Arrivals Air Arrivals

2500 2000 1500 1000 500 0

1989/90

1990/91

1991/92

1992/93

1993/94

1994/95

1995/96

1996/97

1997/98

1998/99

1999/00

2000/01

2001/02

2002/03

2003/04

Year

2004/05

Onshore Unauthorised Boat Arrivals by Country of Citizenship, 2000-01 to 2004-05

Source: DIMIA 2005a, p. 31, 25

Onshore Unauthorised Boat Arrivals by Country of Citizenship

Note: No boat arrivals in 2002-03 and 2004-05

Onshore Unauthorised Boat Arrivals by Country of Citizenship, 2000-01 to 2004-05

Source: DIMIA 2005a, p. 31, 25

Protection Visas Claims By Countries or Territories of Citizenship

Staging Points for People Smuggling to Australia 1998-99

Source: DIMIA 1999

Routes Taken by Iraqi and Sudanese Settlers Coming to Australia

Source: Hinsliff 2006

South-North Migration and Transit Migration in Asia

Stocks of Asia-Born Persons in OECD Nations Around 2000
Source: Dumont and Lemaitre 2005, 31
Country Australia Austria Belgium Canada Switzerland Czech Republic Germany Denmark Spain Finland France Great Britain Greece Hungary Ireland Japan Korea Luxembourg Mexico Netherlands Norway New Zealand Poland Portugal Slovak Republic Sweden Turkey USA Total Asian-Born 1,115,655 57,236 68,494 2,040,590 101,599 21,365 567,021 110,454 86,669 18,375 444,774 1,579,133 75,854 10,730 27,768 969,799 116,732 4,382 10,765 367,987 100,274 175,302 9,479 16,859 1,400 244,246 83,657 8,402,240 16,828,839

The Key Role of the Migration Industry

In both documented and undocumented migration Channels migration into selected transit points Stepping off points to OECD countries Complex linkages between Asylum Seekers and economic migration

Asians Using Central and Eastern Europe As Transit Points

constitute the only land neighbour to the European Union directly accessible from the South. As a consequence, they are, and will continue to be, a transit point for migrants from less developed parts of the world (mainly Asia and Africa) heading for countries of the old European Union. Having in mind the growing migratory potential of developing countries we can expect a rise in the scale of transit migration in CEE. Kaczmarczyk and Oklski (2005)

Why CEE and Russia?

A weakening of the CEE migration infrastructure (see also Rybakovski and Ryazantsev 2005) which has made it easier for Asians to enter (usually as tourists or students) and then overstay. The demographic pressures in the CEE countries which have been exacerbated by emigration and created job opportunities for Asian migrants in these countries to earn the funds to pay for their entry into the European Union. The expanding activities of the migration industry in the region which is developing cities in the region as transit points for eventual migration into the European Union Countries. The growing communities of Asians in these countries who facilitate transit migration and provide the migrants with assistance during their period of transit.

Thailand has become a major transit country for Indians, Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Nepalese headed to the United States, Canada, Europe, Korea and Japan. Many of those migrants wind up as illegal workers in Thailand and Malaysia. Police estimate that about 1,000 illegal migrants move through Thailand each month with fake passports and visas arranged in Bangkok and that 50,000 are in Bangkok at any one time.

Bangkok Post, 22 July 1997

The Nexus between Transit Migration and the Sex Industry

Key role of Thailand Bangkok as the transit point for Thailand and neighbouring countries Role of migration industry Link with people smuggling and trafficking Link between transit and sex-work

Bangkok as a Transit Point in the International Sex Industry

Europe often involving links with sex tourism and with former migrants and tourists getting commissions and playing a role. Malaysia and Singapore often are transit points where Thai women work as prostitutes while waiting to go to Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Europe. Hong Kong and Taiwan Japan and China USA and Canada Australia and New Zealand

Types of Agents
(Skrobanek, et al. 1997)

Local people, often either influential community leaders or women who have already experienced migration for sex work. They are involved in initial recruitment. Agents who work for an employment agency and located close to major transit points like railway stations and bus stations in Bangkok. They send girls to work in night clubs and bars in return for their first three months wages.

Agents involved in actually sending women abroad, often also former sex workers
Companies with links to overseas employers of sex workers.

Legal Transitting : New Zealand Australia

Trans Tasman Agreement Substantial migration of New Zealand citizens to Australia Substantial migration from Asia-Pacific to New Zealand Differences in Points Assessment Test

Qualifying as New Zealand Citizen

25.4 percent of New Zealand Citizens in Australia foreign-born

New Zealand Citizens(a) Present in Australia by Country of Birth at 30th June 2005
Source: DIMIA 2005b, p. 40

Birthplace No. Australia & New Zealand 355,691 Rest of the Pacific 23,599 Europe 20,330 North Africa & the Middle East 1,781 Southeast Asia 4,775 Northeast Asia 4,430 Southern & Central Asia 3,419 Northern Africa 1,652 South America, Central America & the Caribbean 376 Sub-Saharan Africa 4,376 Not Stated(b) 27,953 Supplementary Codes The Former USSR & Baltic States nfd 392 Total 448,774 (a) Includes permanent residents, temporary residents, students and visitors. (b) Includes other NEI.

The Chinese as Transit Migrants

Number of Chinese Travelling Abroad for Business and Tourism 19812003 and Total Number of Outbound Trips from China, 1997-2004
Source: Far Eastern Economic Review, 24 June 2004, p. 30; Asia Times Online, 9 February 2006

 One sixth of world population

100 million floating workers

40 million overseas Chinese Yakuza (snakeheads)

The role of Fujian province

The Golden Venture Incident 1993

Public realisation in US of scale of Chinese people smuggling Crackdown produced proliferation of routes and increase in places of transit Transit points both within and outside Asia

Growing significance of Canada, Caribbean and Latin America

Conclusion
Data issues Need to be phenomenon considered as a distinct

Increasing focus since 9/11 because of security dimension (Bali Process)

Transit Migration is Likely to Increase in Significance

Scale of migration is increasing The proliferating migration industry The involvement of a wider range of people Network extension

Increasing barriers to migration to OECD and Asian high income nations