SIMN

Scalabrinian Presence at the United Nations

Fr. Leonir Chiarello, c.s. of the Office of Representation, and Fr. Ezio Marchetto, c.s., of the Development Office of SIMN were present, in their capacity as observers at the UN, at the forum of the “40th Session of the Commission on Population and Development” organized by the Economic and Social Council.

During the presentations, some interesting data emerged which have a direct connection with the world of migration. Today, the human population is increasing at a faster rate than the ability of most societies to provide jobs. Consequently, the number of migrants is also increasing.
To illustrate this situation we look at current data: as of 2005, world population stood at 6.5 billion. The less developed regions account for 81 per cent of the world’s inhabitants, with China and India together (2.4 billion) representing 37 per cent of the world total. The current annual increase for the world is 76 million. When we focus on migration, we see that in 2005, 191 million persons, representing 3 per cent of world population, lived outside their country of birth. Almost one in every 10 persons living in more developed regions is a migrant compared to one of every 70 persons in developing regions.
Sixty per cent of the world’s migrants currently reside in more developed regions. Nearly half of all international migrants are female and female migrants outnumber male migrants in developed countries. Three-quarters of all international migrants are concentrated in just 28 countries and one in every five international migrants lives in the United States of America.

Looking at the plight of the refugees, the numbers, again, provide us with an interesting insight: the number of refugees in the world at the end of 2004 stood at 13.5 million. Around 2.7 million of the refugees are in developed countries and 10.8 million in developing countries. The largest number of refugees was found in Asia, 7.7 million. Africa hosted the second largest refugee population in the world, 3.0 million

During the forum, several delegates from developed countries stressed the impact of immigration as an answer to the aging population. For example Portugal stated: “International migration has become an increasing important component of population growth.”  And Spain: “Hoy nos encontramos con una población extranjera de los cerca 4,2 millones, en un total de población de 44,7 millones… y sus repercusiones en el ámbito económico, social, cultural nos preocupan”.  Delegates from developing countries, though, saw emigration as another step toward further dependency since it deprived their own aging population of new human power.

The Scalabrinian presence at the United Nations allows us to be kept abreast with international developments in the field of migration and related issues. It also gives us visibility. During the forum we met the representative of the International Labor Movement (ILO) the delegate of the Salesian Congregation. After the meeting we visited Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Apostolic Nuncio at the United Nations.

(For a complete presentation of the data open www.unpopulation.org and then International Migration 2006.)