Globalisation and Forced Displacements

Forced displacement or forced migration essentially refers to those circumstances which force people to leave or flee their places of residents. It can occur due to multiplicity of reasons such as conflict (racial or otherwise), violence, mass persecution, natural disaster, human rights violation and, globalization etc. Forced displacement essentially refers to the push factor where the existing opportunities are increasing getting lesser and there is no option of survival without migrating to a place or country where opportunities are comparatively on the higher side though it still may not be enough. The other factor of forced displacement is considered as the pull factor in which the opportunities at places seems apt to live a life which is better than the existing one.

Globalization

Globalization on the other hand refers to the process of making different parts of the world come together in order to interchange various facets of life and business. Globalization reduces the free movement of capital, information and people thus brining benefits to the economy and advancement to the society. The world starting with Silk Road is now having a way of gigantic exchange through Globalization. It has made possible to integrate many facets of world trade, commerce, tourism, textile and related sectors to gain maximum possible benefits to all stockholders.

The initial views of the proponents of globalization is that it is the most effective tool we have which is having the capacity to make the world more prosperous (due to its multi-benefits approach), free and more peaceful than ever before.

Globalization and Migration

However, Globalization has its inherent problems which are equally qualified for a serious look. Problems such as Employment, Social degeneration and difficulty of competition are the culmination of globalized way of society. The most important issue of Globalization however is forced migration.

In case of Africa, as it is making its headway towards globalization, it is facing the problem of forced displacement. On the one hand globalization encourages migration from one country to another, it is increasingly being realized that the receiving country is often laced with laws to prevent the flow of labour thus increasing the problems of the labours their work in their native country has lost its value due to globalization. The strong ‘pull’ and ‘push’ migratory factors with loosing the opportunities are matter of serious concern.There is a growing interconnection between globalization and migration (intra or interstate) although many times it is in the form of undocumented and informal migration as in Africa. However, there are many evidences of unprecedented level of migration around the world. The most important benefits of globalization i.e. free movement of huge capital accompanied by capitalists across the world and formation of regional trading bloc to allow free movement of goods, service and people which ultimately causes the disparities between countries and hence forced migration.

The Latin America and Caribbean in recent decades has become a source of major outward migration towards varied destinations. It is estimated (at a conservative side) that more than 10% of the total international migrants are born in Latin America or Caribbean countries. The increasing job opportunities at destination and loss of employment (both outcome of globalization) are the major causes of this migration.

The globalization though promoted free human flow, it is more often results into trafficking of human being and the migrants become the victim of traffickers and recruitment agencies who lure them for the better future. This resulted into a life long suffering and abuse – economically, socially and physically.

The phenomenon of migration due to either push or pull factor is going on since ancient times. The globalization has added more enthusiasm in migratory tradition to access the growth opportunities available to industrialized states. However, globalization can’t be regarded hassle free as it has also lead to forced displacement (in or outside the country) which are causing less than appropriate living conditions, stringent labour laws to prevent more migrants and loss of opportunities in the native country.


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