Int'l forum on migration to promote cheap labor

MANILA, Philippines - The upcoming Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is a sham that will promote cheap labor and push an anti-labor financing strategy, militant think tank IBON Foundation said Saturday.IBON, which is part of the alternative International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR), said the "genuine" voice of migrants would be to reject the GFMD."GFMD holds more significance this year because it is being hosted by the Arroyo administration. Her rule is a nightmare of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs). No other regime has bled the OFWs dry with enormous exactions from fees to charges to taxes. It has duped OFWs to part with their earnings in collusion with big business, illegal recruiters, traffickers and racketeers, and in utter disregard of the abuses and violations of migrants' rights. It is currently riding high on the phenomenal increase in dollar remittances even as OFWs continue to reel from the falling value of their dollars," it said in a statement on its website (info.ibon.org).IBON said GFMD is a creation of First World countries and international financial institutions (IFIs) like the World Bank to corner remittances of migrants.They then use it to sell neoliberal anti-poverty financing strategy that relies on the remittances of migrant workers, it added."The false notion of 'migration for development' that the GFMD peddles further promotes the systematic exploitation of cheap labor. It is meant to capture the remittances of migrants to ensure super profits of bank monopolies and ensure that debt-ridden economies have enough reserves to pay off debts, especially amid the raging financial crisis," IBON said.GFMD thrives on the poverty of Third World countries and forces them to institutionalize migration policies, it added."Clearly, the agenda and framework of the GFMD reveals that what is in store is greater commoditization of migrant labor, and greater exploitation and miseries of migrant workers," it said.IBON said it is time to expose the GFMD as a predatory scheme that does not address the root causes of underdevelopment and the massive migration of poor people, much less consider the harsh conditions and legitimate issues of migrant workers.The GFMD does not promote the development of poor countries but pushes them deeper into the quagmire of poverty, it said."The GFMD is a sham assembly that talks about migrants but deliberately excludes the migrants themselves. It talks about the protection of migrants but in reality violates our rights. First World countries, IFIs, banks, businesses, and governments of poor countries-- which have profited immensely and unscrupulously from our hard labor-- are the same institutions that are behind the GFMD. After years of neglect, abuse and exploitation, it is time that the genuine voice of the migrants be heard: No to GFMD! No to labor export policy! No to forced migration! Create jobs at home! End poverty! Defend and advance our rights!" it said