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About this event: TakingITGlobal Live Chat on Youth Migration

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

TakingITGlobal hosted a Live Chat just before the holidays on Youth Migration, which turned out to provide an interesting portrait of just what youth are facing when they attempt to take advantage of the 'shrinking world' and 'increasing connectivity' we're all meant to be benefiting from as a consequence of globalization. If the sarcasm in that last sentence wasn't obvious then I should explain that what we all understood from the portrait drawn by our speakers of Youth Migration in our day and age was that it is not necessarily made easier by 'globalization' and that it is in fact often a dangerous, disappointing and victimizing experience.

Migration is one of those issues that is especially relevant to youth but for some reason is not readily recognized as a youth issue, or is not often associated with youth when it is discussed at higher levels. Migration is a youth issue because youth are the largest group affected by, participating in and victimized by migration. It is similar in this way to an issue like HIV/AIDS, which is affecting youth more than anyone else, and yet youth are so often left out of the processes and policies addressing it.

Youth decide to migrate to another country for countless reasons - education, work, living conditions, etc - and you might think that now it must be easier than ever for this to happen. Thanks to new communication technology youth are more aware than any other generation of what is going on in the world around them, the internet lets us learn about opportunities in distant places and increasing international travel makes it more likely that we can get to those opportunities. I think most of us will have heard at one time or another how globalization and communication technology are bringing us all closer together and breaking down the geographical, political and technological barriers that used to separate us - right?

The opposite is happening for the majority of youth migrants. What we learned during the Live Chat is that globalization has created new barriers to keep people out, rather than breaking down the old ones. It seems that the greater connectivity globalization has created amongst economies and industries has increased the dangers of migration, because it has narrowed the channels for legal migration, therefore forcing more and more youth to attempt illegal migration. The global free market economy, Naomi Onaga (Director of Migrants Rights International) explained, makes keeping certain people in their countries working for low wages attractive and therefore channels for legal migration narrow except in the case of temporary labourers. Temporary labourers are denied citizenship, job freedom, and residency. They become vulnerable to abuse by employers because of this. The type of low-wage labour they are allowed to participate in means that they will bring little skill or knowledge back to their native communities.

It all makes for a pretty bleak picture, made worse by the dangerous journeys ahead of those who attempt to illegally migrate. Migrants - most often youth - are drowning while attempting to cross from North Africa to Spain or Italy, dying in the desert attempting to enter the USA, or are becoming victims of forced migration. If they make it to their destinations they will likely be greeted by a population that is mostly hostile to them, and sees them as dangerous.

The whole discussion had a special relevancy for me, because I will soon be a migrant myself. Leaving Canada for an overseas opportunity, but I'm lucky, because I will be migrating legally, will enjoy all of my rights and be relatively safe while doing it - or as safe as anyone can expect to be on an international flight these days. The Live Chat really sharpened those inequalities that mean that I will be able to take advantage of an opportunity in a different country, and others will face nothing but misery for trying to do the same.

To try and not end on a bad note, there are those working towards international recognition of migrants, more opportunities for legal, safe migration and, maybe most importantly, opportunities for work, education and a better life for youth in their home countries and communities. These people include the speakers who took time out of their busy schedules on December 18 - International Migrants Day - to join our Live Chat.

The biggest hurdle of all might be to change people's perception of migration and migrants themselves. I thought the image above was a great way to think about that issue. Of course, technically refugees and migrants are considered to be in different categories, but I think it speaks to the same fear of foreigners, immigrants, migrants or refugees being 'dangerous' or 'bad'. In fact, communities that welcome these people and make the best use of their skills benefit from them. Einstein is a pretty good example.

These are the organizations that supported our Live Chat on Youth Migration:

Migrants Right International
December 18
Young People We Care



January 7, 2009 | 1:43 PM Comments  0 comments

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