Reasons for Migration and the Consequential Problems in Resettlement - Essay Example

Reasons for Migration and the Consequential Problems in Resettlement

Introduction

The main focus of this essay is to review the causes behind the recent rise in frequency and magnitude of human migration over the past few decades. Hence, the paper highlights the rationale for the departure and the reasons as to why a majority of individuals from immigrant communities have been faced with incessant challenges during their attempts to settle in the foreign destinations.

The main argument presented by this paper is that a majority of migrants have been intimidated in the foreign countries where they seek asylum. Furthermore, the individuals are not readily assimilated into the countries. Hence, there is a need for the application of intervening procedures ought to be considered in order to remedy the situation.

Reasons for Migration of People from their Homeland

Through history, people have been compelled to migrate from their homelands due to various reasons. One of the major causes for the situation has been the desire to look for places with better conditions that they can call their homes. Over the past few years, charity organizations have reported some of the highest numbers of migration rates ever observed in the course of the past few decades (Czaika and de Haas 283).

Many people also relocate from their homes to pursue advancement of education in the other western nations. The reason is, a majority of the learning institutions in the developed nations are believed to offer exemplary education, hence are more desirable compared to the ones in developing nations. Housing problems in the new environments may also pose a great challenge due to insufficient funds, lack of employment, and language barrier. Furthermore, the inability to easily gain access to social and transportation services is also common among them.

Recent increases in global migration can also be said to result from the advancement of technological developments that have recently been witnessed. For instance, technological achievements have greatly lowered the costs required during air transportation. The other reasons that validates the argument is the fact that it has improved the global ties and networks, hence making it easy for individuals to maintain communication with their kinsmen, easily transfer funds, and also increased literacy levels, hence improving the awareness of the prospects existing in the other countries which were initially unknown to them. The globalization that has been witnessed in the current world is not only facilitated by the advancement in technology, but also by the administrative changes. For instance, over the past three decades, there have been favorable economic policies adopted by countries throughout the world. For instance, in Europe and in the US, the 80’s deregulation of commercial activities removed the existing economic barriers.

The other catalyst for mass migration of individuals is hostility in the homeland. For instance, there are countries which have been characterized by ceaseless war for decades such as Afghanistan. On the other hand, migrants also the other nations that are experiencing reignited warfare. The reignited warfare is occurring much more frequently than before, hence promoting the migration of some members of the populations. With the ever increasing economic disparities between the developed and the third-world countries, poverty encourages people to look for better livelihoods elsewhere, where they feel they might find employment opportunities with better remunerations with improved living standards. Natural catastrophes have also led to the displacement of many individuals.

Reasons for Difficulty in Resettling

Most individuals in the host nations are opposed to the arrival of immigrants. For instance, there is a belief that the immigrants provide a pool of cheap labor, hence competing with the citizens for employment opportunities. Ethnic driven clashes between communities in a country also force some individuals to vacate their homes. Many host countries receive immigrants originating from different sociocultural backgrounds. For instance, being that English is the most common language spoken in the US, it may be hard for the immigrants to be incorporated into the society, especially considering the fact that they also have to find jobs to sustain their stay.

The immigrants also face challenges when looking for employment. For instance, their vulnerability renders them susceptible to exploitation by their employers. Since most of them are often desperate to find a way of making living, they will often accept any openings. Research indicates that many highly qualified individuals don’t usually secure the same positions that they would otherwise have while back in their homeland. Furthermore, employers often tend to hold the foreign qualifications in low regard.

With all the challenges that influence the migration of people to new countries, it becomes challenging to attain legal documents. Hence, many immigrants enter the borders of their host nations illegally. However, it becomes challenging for the authorities to distinguish between those individuals whose real intention is to seek asylum from those that are criminals in disguise. Hence the security issue poses all the undocumented immigrants as threat to the national security.

The level of a country’s development may also have an impact on the rates of migration. For instance, research has shown that there has been an increase in the amount of information available to people globally in the recent decades. For instance, the increased number of social media platforms has enabled people to access information from almost any part of the world. The information obtained affect people’s emotions, while also increasing interactions between them (Turkle 265). As a result, the communication may inspire people from other parts of the world to migrate to the better off places. The information also leads to an increase in their aspirations and the desires since it offers them the hope of finding better settlements elsewhere. Hence, it can be argued that the same technologies should be used to enlighten the public over the importance of equal treatment of people and the acceptance of refugees.

From a historical perspective, immigrants who came to the country as slaves were cruelly treated and flogged on several occasions. Accounts of how the slaves were violated by their masters show some of the challenges immigrants experience (Douglass 21). In the modern world, human rights have been advocated for by activists so as to ensure that people are treated equally. However, discriminations that may still exist in the modern world is reflective of the discrimination that the immigrants were treated to a few centuries ago. However, in order to ensure that the changes in human rights associated with modernity prevail, it is important to wipe out any forms of discrimination of the immigrants.

Possible Interventions

One of the most important interventions that may be employed in dealing with the problems of immigration is provision of education and sensitization to the public. By teaching the citizens of developed nations about the main issues related to migration, innovative thinking would be inspired in them (Hoikkala and Wills 125). As a result, the public will seek ways of ensuring that solutions to the problem are found. The population should be made to understand the fact that migration is in many instances not a simple process whereby a person simply makes an undeliberated decision to move. On the contrary, migration leads to a permanent change in an individual’s life. Hence, the concept of migration ought to be viewed as a product of collective decision by the whole community affected. Despite the fact that immigrants may initially have certain sets of intentions at the point of migration, the conditions at their destinations may lead them to modify their original plans.

In consideration of human rights, all refugees have the right to be granted asylum with all the necessary privileges that are accorded to the other legally recognized immigrants in the in their host countries. For instance, they should be able to freely express themselves and have socioeconomic freedoms. However, this has not always been the case. An average of 12 million children live in host countries as refugees. Since they always spend a lot of time away from their relatives, they are often vulnerable and subject to mistreatment. For instance, a section of them are taken as fighters while others are abused in several ways. In many occasions, they are often forcefully made to work in hazardous and deplorable conditions. However, this is usually in contrast to their rights as stipulated by the UN.

Conclusion

In conclusion, for the immigrants to have less challenges in their host countries, it is important that policies are formulated that will ensure that a smooth transition takes place. Nations should work to support of each other by accepting the refugees who have escaped from war torn regions. For instance, there ought to be programs that are focused on enhancing the capacity of labor markets to take in the immigrants through provision of improved job matching facilities. Through this strategy, skill determination of the immigrants would be much easier.