International migration - A case study - *AS*

An Example of Economic Migration: Turkish Migration

As economic development has taken place at different rates in different countries, supply & demand of labour is uneven and due to improvements in transport there has been an increase emigration. During the 1990’s 1.8 million Turks were living in Germany. Though many from Turkey are leaving Salkaltutan for Libya and Saudi Arabia for employment.

Causes

·       Salkaltutan (Population 900) in central Turkey was relatively poor, isolated and dependent of agriculture (Until 1987). Birth rates were high and resources were limited.

·       The village was overcrowded.

·       There were too many males to work on the land.

·       Demand for craftsmen was limited.

·       When roads were created the sale of surplus produced in nearby towns and led to increased mechanisation and a decline in the need for agricultural labourers. The result was a growth in aspirations of the villagers. Many moved to Ankara and West Germany.

·       Pforzheim is an industrial town near Stuttgart in Germany.

·       After 1945 European towns needed labourers to rebuild towns after WWII.

·       Many Turks went to work on farms but moved to better paid jobs in factories and construction. Many Germans did not take these jobs, as they were dirty, unskilled, poorly paid, demanded long hours and made people unsociable.

Positive Impacts On Source

·      Reduces pressure on jobs and local resources

·      Birth rates may be lowered as people of child bearing age leave

·      Money sent home to village (50% of Salkaltutan’s income is from overseas)

·      Migrants may develop new skills and bring them back to the village

Negative Impacts On Source

·      People of working age leave

·      People with skills and education are most likely to leave

·      It divides families

·      Elderly population is left, resulting in low birth rates

·      In the long term it creates dependency upon money sent back home

Positive Impacts On Destination

·       Labour shortage is solved, especially in dirty poorly paid unskilled jobs.

·       Cheaper labour in less desirable jobs

·       Cultural advantages of discovering new foods, music, past times ect.

·       Migrants tend to be more economically active and skilled

Negative Impacts On Source

·       Resentment towards Turks when Germany’s rate of unemployment rises

·       Turks from an ethnic group does not assimilate

·       Turks feel discriminated against with racial tension and police harassment

·       Several attacks on Turkish property

·       The reunification of Germany in 1989 brought unemployment and inflation problems. Demand for cheap housing increased and Turkish migrants were blamed for this.

·       Migrants may be a drain on local services

·       Migrants are mainly male, which can lead to social problems

Refugees and asylum seekers - A case study - Australia *AS*

The Tampa Affair of 2001: Refugees to Australia

In August 2001, the Australian government (Prime Minister John Howard) refused the Norwegian cargo ship ‘The Tampa’ to enter Australian waters with the 438 refugees that they had rescued in international waters. It triggered political controversy that helped the Howard Government to be re-elected and began a diplomatic dispute between Norway & Australia.

Rescue:

·       On the 24 August 2001 a 20m fishing vessel was stranded 140Km North of Christmas Island with 369 men, 26 women and 43 children (mostly from Afghanistan).

·       The Tampa was the closest vessel to respond to distress calls. They picked up survivors and according to international law were to be taken to the nearest port for medical treatment. Indonesia offered to take them to nearest Indonesian port that was twelve hours away, but Christmas Island was only 6 hours away.

·       By 2pm the Tampa began to rescue people from the water. According to the captain many appeared in a bad physical state with disease rife among the refugees. Once on board some men appeared aggressive and demanded that the captain must take them to Australian territory. The captain set course for Christmas Island.

The situation:

·       The ship requested permission by the Australian government to unload the refugees at Christmas Island, as the refugee’s boat was too unseaworthy. The government responded that they were to charge the Captain, as a people smuggler is he did so.

·       Under the 1990 agreement Indonesia was obliged to rescue these people as it was in their territory. Though it was unknown why this did not occur.

·       Faced by legal threats the captain the captain slowly turned towards Indonesia. Though soon after the Refugees began to notice and the captain feared harm to his crew or a riot so he turned back to Christmas Island.

·       The Norwegian captain continued to plead for assistance from the Australian government to help the refugees. The government gave food and medical assistance but refused to allow the Tampa into Australian waters.

·       The captain grew impatient and was concerned for the safety of all aboard. He continued to the island regardless of the directions given. He anchored 4 miles off Christmas Island

·       The SASR were deployed to prevent the ship getting to Christmas Island and to prevent asylum seekers from applying for asylum.

·       Army doctors reported numerous cases of diarrhoea, lice, scabies and dehydration. Water supplies were turned off constantly to preserve supplies and to prevent water-bourn diseases occurring.

Politics:

·       The Australian government was tried to force the boat into international waters. The captain remained, as he felt it would be dangerous to go to open waters with the refugees still aboard. The shipping company and the Norwegian government agreed.

·       Australia asked for Indonesia to accept the asylum seekers and the government of Norway. Both refused: Norway primarily of distance.

·       Norway reported Australia to the UNHCR for failure to obey duties under international law

·       The government attracted strong support by the Australian populace after the 2001 attacks

Refugees:

·       The refugees were eventually sent to Nauru where they were held in detention centres – many continued to refuse to leave the boat. 92 were granted asylum from the Tampa into Australia.

·       150 of these refugees were diverted to New Zealand where they were granted asylum – the Australian government paid New Zealand for this. 

The idea of forced migration *AS*

Forced Migration

Refugees: The United Nations Commission for Refugees (UNHR) defines a refugee as ‘a person that cannot live in their country because of well founded fear persecution for reasons for reasons of race, religion, nationality, political association or political opinion. The term is often extended to include people forced to leave their home country due to internal strife or environmental disasters (earthquakes or famine) in order to seek security or help.

Asylum Seekers: Are people who have left their country of origin, have applied for recognition as a refugee, and are awaiting a decision on their application. International law recognises the right of individuals to seek asylum but does not force states to provide it.

Internally Displaced People: They are people that have been forced to leave their homes for similar reasons of a refugee, though they have not left their country of origin. Many IDP’s exist in the same conditions and force the same problems as refugees. Globally IDP’s outnumber refugees.

Refugee Movements

• Ø  In 2008 there were 16 million refugees and 51 million IDP’s
• Ø  Global refugee numbers peaked at 17.6 million in 1992
• Ø  50% of refugees are children
• Ø  Refugee’s lack shelter, healthcare, money, clothing & education
• Ø  4.5 million refugees in & around Israel
• Ø  3 million refugees have fled to Pakistan/ Iran from Afghanistan
• Ø  The number of refugees in MEDC’s have dropped due to tighter restrictions
• Ø  In 2008 195 people from Bhutan were accepted into New Zealand under refugee status
• Ø  New Zealand accepted 701 refugees into the country in 2008

Internal Migration - A case study - Indonesia

Internal Migration – Case Study on Indonesia’s Transmigration Policy

·       Indonesia is very unevenly distributed. Most of the population live on Java, Bali and Lombok, as the soil is rich from volcanic activity.

·       The idea of Transmigration was introduced in 1905 during colonial rule and adopted by Indonesians in 1945. It was strengthened in 1969 during a dictatorship, which was the cause of the invasion of East Timor and West Papua.

Forced migration:

·       The core three islands were overcrowded

·       The government improved the quality of life on the less populated islands to attract the uneducated and landless families. This was done by stimulating the economy, improving infrastructure and land to landless families.

·       In 1975 East Timor was seized by the Indonesian government to provide additional land for the policy

·       Between 1949-1974 the government resettled over 670,000 people through the transmigration policy

·       Another 3.5 million were resettled to the outer islands by 1990

·       Over 200,000 East Timorese were killed during the suppression

·       Many became refugees due to the transmigration policy

·       Some people had no option to move

·       Refugees accounted by 25% of the population on some outer islands

·       4.1 million people moved by 1990

Barriers or constraints (Distance, cost, boarders)

·       Cost of the government to move people

·       Cultural indifferences

·       Lack of agricultural knowledge

·       Family splitting up

Consequences of forced transmigration:

·       As most new transmigrants were from urban areas and had little agricultural knowledge –which caused many new farms to fail (also the land given was often un-farmable even for even experienced farmers).

·       Most new farms were on swamp lands, which caused many farms to fail as the techniques were difficult to grasp

·       In 2002 after 25 years under Indonesian rule, East Timor became independent – though 40% continue to live under the poverty line.

·       Deforestation carried out to create extra farmland for the migrants destroyed much of this invaluable resource. In the past 40 years 50 million hectares has been cleared for logging and agricultural development. On average 1.2 million hectares is lost in Indonesia. Soil erosion increases – leaching damages topsoils – reduces further soil richness.

·       The failure of the farms has meant many of these families have returned to the cities.

·       The programme was an economic failure for Indonesia. Between 1998-2000 national debt increased from 23% - 91% of total GDP.

·       Ethnic & religious conflict arose between religions on some islands

·       Pressure on services was relieved 

Internal Migration - A case Study - New Zealand *AS*

Internal Migration in New Zealand

·       Between 1986-1991 50% of the population moved home.

·       The average NZ household moves house at least every 5 years

·       65% of the people that moved between 1986-1991 moved locally in the same city or region, 21% had moved between regions and 10% moved back to NZ from overseas (presumably the other 4% moved overseas).

North to south movement:

·       Until 1900 the North Island’s population had been less than the south island’s (since the establishment of the colony in 1840). This was due to the gold rush in the parts of the south island and the absence of Maoris (which attracted farmers).

·       Though by 1996 76% of the population lived the north island.

Rural-Urban movement:

·       Between 1900-1950 the rural-urban drift accounted for a significant amount of the overall population movements. This was due to: increased industrialization of Urban areas, farms becoming less labour intensive, children in rural areas leaving for education in urban centres and not returning home, and a decline in the primary industry.

·       In 1996 70% of the population lived in towns or cities in New Zealand.

Intra-urban and interurban movement:

·       Most New Zealanders today are between or within urban areas

·       In Auckland in 1991 most people only moved 1KM (25000 people) and slightly decreases with distance though 15000 people moved 16-20KM in the Auckland region.

Regional Migration:

·       The main reason for inter-regional migration is for economic and job opportunities

·       Most migrants concentrate in large cities, as there are more employment opportunities.

·       Young adults move towards university towns in Auckland, Hamilton, Palmerston North, Wellington and Dunedin.

·       Most elderly dwellers tend to move away to more rural areas offering sun, scenery, relaxation and cheaper living.

·       Unemployed people move to cheaper living areas

·       2/3 of all new Zealanders move within regions. 

Case study - Population management - *AS & IGCSE*

Population Management: China One child policy

Problem: Birth rate too high (44 per 1000 in 1950) & (31 per 1000 in 2008)

In 1950 the People’s Republic of China was formed. Their philosophy was that a large population was a strong nation. During the late 50’s this time in China was called ‘The Great Leap Forward’ where industrial production had to be increased, which meant hardly any effort was put into farming. This caused a famine in which 20 million people died (which caused birth rates to fall and death rates to rise causing a population decrease).  During the 1960’s the Cultural Revolution took place, which encouraged more people to have children. The growth was so rapid that it caused concern that the government felt something must be done to slow down growth.

Today in China there is a population of 1.33 billion (20% of the world’s population) and is growing bigger by the day. The policy was put in place in 1979 when the Chinese government felt the birth rate was way too high for the resources available and that the country was becoming overpopulated. Over 95% of the population live on only 40% of China (Predominately the south eastern side).

Initial rules: 

-        One child per couple

-        Couples had to apply for licenses to get married and to have a child

-        Women could get married at 20

-        Men could get married at 22

-        People working for state firms would be made redundant if they had a second child

-        Heavy fines may occur from having additional children

-        Forced sterilisation of ‘repeat offenders’

-        Forced abortions

Those who conformed:

-        Got priority housing

-        Free education

-        Family benefits

Early exceptions

-        If a couple’s child died or had a disability the couple could have another one

-        Couples who were member of one of the 56 minorities (8% of the total population) could have two children or in very remote areas some families were allowed four children. This is seen a measure to increase minority numbers to avoid racial conflict between the Han.

-        Rural farmers could have a second if the first was a girl

-        Some enforcers would give out fines for additional children (bribes)

2008 exceptions

-        All rural families could have two children

-        If two on-child children marry they can apply to have two

-        Family planning is voluntary and a wider choice of contraceptives

The policy is estimated to have prevented 230 million children

Now only 1 in 5 people in the world live in China, compared with an estimated 2 in 5 if the policy was not in place

Issues:

-        Now there is a shortage of Chinese females due to couples wanting males as their only child. Over 51.46% of the population is male and 48.54% are female.  The female shortage is usually caused by female infanticide. The abortions of females are now illegal to increase the number of females.

-        Too few babies are being born to care for the ageing population

-        The birth rate has decreased 2% in the past 20 years and has gone below replacement level.

-        There are now to few females. Only 48.54% of the population are females, causing a lot of men to be ‘eternally single’.

-        It is estimated there are only 100 newborn girls born to every 118 newborn boys born in China

-        There may be a labour shortage in the future which may threaten China’s rapid industrialisation