UN warns against harsh approach to illegal immigrants

GENEVA, Thursday (AFP) Overly harsh policies on illegal immigration are wrongheaded, according to a new report for the United Nations released Wednesday.

The study by the Global Commission on International Migration recognised the sovereign right of states to set rules on how to deal with illegal immigrants.

"But a purely restrictive approach to irregular migration is neither desirable nor feasible, and may jeopardize the rights of migrants and refugees," it said.

"The role of migrants in promoting economic growth, development and poverty reduction should be recognized and reinforced," the report added. "Migration must become an integral part of global development strategies."

The study noted that funds sent home by migrants from poor countries total more than 150 billion dollars a year - three times more than official development aid.

An additional 300 billion dollars may be transferred informally, the report added.The commission was created in 2003 by UN head Kofi Annan to study policies worldwide, spurred by Brazil, Morocco, the Philippines, Sweden and Switzerland.

Its 19 members include Sweden's former migration minister Jan Karlsson, as well as Mamphela Ramphele, previously a senior official from the World Bank.

They are due to hand over their study to Annan later Wednesday, and submit it to UN member states next year.

The report pressed for improved cooperation among governments trying to tackle illegal immigration, combined with efforts to ensure legal migrants are "effectively integrated" in the countries where they settle.

The number of international migrants has jumped from 75 million to 200 million over the past three decades - one person in 35 is now an immigrant.

From 1990 to 2000, international migration accounted for 56 percent of population growth in the developed world, compared with three percent in developing nations, the report noted.

Estimates of illegal migration numbers range from 2.5 to four million a year, it added.

"The expansion in the scale and scope of migration seems certain to continue for the foreseeable future and may well accelerate, due to the growing developmental, demographic and democratic disparities that exist between different regions of the world," the report said.

"Migration is driven by some powerful economic, social and political forces, and states must acknowledge its reality."

"The international community has failed to realize the full potential of international migration and has not risen to the many opportunities and challenges it represents," the report said.

It called for a "comprehensive, coherent and global action framework" for UN member nations' migration policies.