I’ll talk about international mobility that will grow because of globalisation. This means that we need a multisectoral approach to that issue, so that it benefits both in the countries of origin and reception. I will show a number of inconsistencies that we should rectify.
 
What is the Belgian answer to the international mobility? The Belgian government is now reforming the asylum procedure, at the same time , churches and other places are occupied by undocumented migrants. A majority of these people are a product of a system where they do not get an answer to their asylum request during years. This reform wants to reduce the duration of the asylum process, but they have no solution for thousands of people. In this context, if we want to set up a labour migration policy, we may have to look if there might be some qualified people among these undocumented migrants that we can need tomorrow or today.
 
It is recognized today that advanced economies use the migrant hand of work to maintain the competitiveness of companies. There may be here a paradox between the fact of wanting to limit the migration and to accept an economic model which favors it.
 
The regularisation of migrant workers also leads to the complex question of the access to the social rights. Which social rights will you give to temporary workers? Do they have to be linked to a labour contract? Should migrant give their residence permit to the employers? Without those crucial questions, the migration policy will only be of benefit to the country of destination whereas we should see the potential of migration as being both of benefit to the country of destination and the country of origin.
 
Also, integration deserves more attention. The report of the UN SG on international migration says that the success of migration will depend the mutual adaptation of the migrants and the host society which is in the best interest of both. Furthermore, it mentions that the cornerstone of integration will be a real protection against racism and xenophobia. If the fight against these issues is closer to the heart of the Belgian government, some facts and discourses are likely to distort the public acceptance of foreigners and increase the feeling of rejection perceived by the migrants. The fight against illegal migration is presented by the as a security measure and make them approve and implement severe repression against illegal migrants. The detention of people only for the fact they do not possess the rights paper is a criminalization of people who have not committed any crime. The absence of clear criteria concerning regulation seeming decisions arbitrary, the implicit acceptation of migrant illegal work and the non-recognition of the need of complementary protection for people who feel collectively threatened in their countries. All these elements strengthen the negative impression that people have of the foreigners. If you really want to come to integration, organising language courses, culture courses etc. will not be enough to counterbalance the implicit message given these days.
 
Talking about development and migration, the elements that are taken into account are variable and they go from fight against the roots causes of migration to the positive contribution of migrants but also includes , the policy of labour migration, human trafficking etc.
But most of the time, focus is laid on the development of the countries of origin and the policies set up by the countries of destination to counter that migration. In his last report, Kofi Annan gave a definition of co-development as the improvement of economic and social situation in the countries of destination and of origin. We hope that policies go into that direction.
 
As far as Belgium is concerned, in the conference organised in March by the Belgian government, the IOM and the World Bank, several players expressed their willingness to cooperate. This conference was very promising. In different declarations, we heard that Belgium really paid a lot of attention to the technical transfers of migrants, to the problem of brain drain. So, they have set up programmes, such as the MIDA programme, together with the IOM.
 
Those initiatives are very welcomed, but we can regret that the link between the integration of the migrants and their ability to contribute to the development is missing. Recommendation in that sense have been approved by the Senate in 2004, but they have not yet been implemented. If the technical expertise of migrant and their remittances are the most visible contributions, the social exchanges, the role that the migrant can play in cultural exchange between the country of destination and the country of origin are now very well recognised and must be supported.
 
Coming back to labour migration, it should be to the benefit of both countries and to the migrant. The labour migration fits in a global policy of migration which should be defined in consultation with the ministries of foreign affairs, as been done now, but also involve the labour department and integration ministry and the civil society actors (trade Union, NGOS, private sector) and of course the migrants.
Different measures must be taken in order the migrants to capitalize their stay in a country. certainly if in implementing circular migration policies . So, the migrants have to be able to benefit from social protection, human right protection, and in a more global sense benefit of social acceptance … This is linked to social integration.
Different instruments and tools must also be established to help them to increase their saving, invest and prepare their return. It must be taken into account that migrants need at least five years to make sure that they can get the best out of their stay in a country.
Finally, we should have an economic climate that is favourable to set up SME in the country of return. Today, we see that the informal sector is developing, the economic policies today do not favor the development of SME. Wouldn’t it be more interesting to enhance an economic climate in which SME are set up there?
 
Another measures should also be taken, when considering the establishment of labour migration in order to minimize the negative social impact, social disintegration, etc… in the country of origin. If you would consider doing this in the future, it is important to do a parallel exercise with the migrants here and their family and community over there.
 
When it comes to the labour migration policy, we speak about skilled personnel , in certain sectors. I want to mention the link between migration and poverty. Skilled workers can contribute to the technological development of a country, but it is still the transfer of unskilled workers that will impact most the development of a country.
 
To conclude, the discussion should not be limited to the link between migration and development cooperation policies, it must include economic policies which weight on the international mobility is important, in a positive way but also in a negative way. 
 
Thank you.