Migrant groups to declare Oct 29 as ‘Zero Remittance Day’

MANILA, Philippines - An alliance of migrants composed of 112 organizations worldwide will declare October 29 as a “Zero Remittance Day" to signify its opposition to “forced migration and systematic exploitation of cheap labor." In a statement released on Sunday, the International Migrants Alliance (IMA) said its symbolic protest action would coincide with the opening of the Global Forum on Migrant Development (GFMD) that would be hosted by the Philippines in Manila. “The Zero Remittance Day principally takes the GFMD to task for being an elitist, anti-migrant forum aimed to perpetuate the greater commodification of migrants worldwide. All over the globe, the growing migrants' movement views the GFMD as a sham assembly with the sole objective to consolidate and legitimize attacks on migrants' rights and welfare," said IMA. IMA said that through the Zero Remittance Day, the organizations would be sending out united message of protest from millions of migrants worldwide “who are forced to leave their homelands and subject themselves to cheap labor and exploitation out of desperation." The alliance said the message would discredit migration as an effective tool for development, and unmask it as a “result of continuous unemployment, landlessness, and lack of basic services in sending countries." Migrant organizations worldwide will also hold the International Assembly of Migrants and Refugees (IAMR) on October 29 to directly oppose the GFMD. “The GFMD cannot be expected to become a significant tool to its supposed stakeholders, migrant workers themselves, when it fails to tackle the fundamental problems and issues concerning the unprecedented growing number of migrants," said the alliance. “The very fact that the GFMD fails to even accommodate genuine migrant representation in its roster is glaring proof of the forum's defectiveness," it added. IMA said that according to the World Bank, the $377-billion worth of global remittances are greater than the combined amount of official development assistance and foreign direct investments. However, the alliance said global remittances “mainly benefit developed countries such as the US," but not sending countries like the Philippines that only uses remittances to pay foreign debts, keep bankrupt economies afloat, or as a source of corruption. “Migration as a tool for development is a fallacy. Migration, at the expense of migrants worldwide, would only serve to benefit developed First World nations. It would not end poverty and joblessness resulting in the forced migration of peoples of poor countries," IMA said. - GMANews.TV