Kick migrants out? You will be the poorer

This article appears in this month's edition of Italian Vanity Fair magazine:

A UN report debunks common myths about the economic impact of non-EU migrants: they are crucial in Europe, and in poor countries the aid they send is three times what rich countries send.

The way migrants are welcomed depends on a country’s style, but is also a rational choice. As the world celebrates December 18th as International Migrants Day, a survey carried out by the Compagnia di San Paolo (along with other non-profit actors) reveals that 50% of Italians consider immigration to be a problem more than an opportunity. 

In Brussels, however, there are those, like Antonio Vigilante, the UN Representative to the European institutions,  who want to prove the opposite and who are convinced that the 214 million migrants around the world are not a burden, but a precious resource. In recent weeks, he has been working on a joint UN-European Commission initiative (the EC-UN Joint Migration and Development Initiative, or JMDI) which "seeks to maximize the positive contributions of migrants, both for host countries and for countries of origin” as well as dispelling some commonly-held beliefs. 

Such as…? 

"The latest United Nations Development Program (UNDP) report on migration shows that, contrary to popular belief, migrants play a crucial role in both the North and the South of the world. In Europe they are crucial to counteract declining birth rates and an increasingly ageing population, while economically they now contribute 1-2% of GDP in some EU countries. As regards countries of origin, in 2008 their remittances, estimated at 305 billion dollars, were almost three times the development aid provided by rich countries globally. In Moldova, to take only one example, remittances account for 38% of GDP.

What exactly is your role? 

"To inform, explain, circulate ideas. And to support the business initiatives and know-how that migrants take back to poor countries. It is an extraordinary added value which can be exploited to lift millions out of poverty, a major cause of migration."  

On the one hand the UN defends the rights of migrants, while on the other the EU and its Member States implement increasingly restrictive immigration policies. How can the two organizations work together on this issue? 

"Beware of simplifying the issue: there are no ideological differences between the UN and the EU. The European Union is a strong supporter of the principles and values in the United Nations Charter, and in Brussels respect for human rights is not in question. 
That said, there are diverging views with some Member States, such as Italy, Greece or Malta, whose push-back policies with the migrants they intercept at sea have been criticized by the UN. The JMDI project, on the other hand, seeks to prove that working together [on this issue] without tensions is possible. We only need to shed our fears."

To read the original article as it appears in Vanity Fair, in Italian, click on the link below: