Lahore: The Center on International Migration, Remittances and Diaspora, Lahore School of Economics hosted its second international conference virtually titled; “Impact of COVID-19 on Migrants, Migration Flows and Remittances, Focus on South and Southeast Asia” was participated by some of the most renowned, national and international, migration researchers and experts.
The two day webinar tried to look at the impact of Covid-19 on three different aspects of the migration process; the migrants, the migration flows and remittances.
Director CIMRAD, Doctor Rashid Amjad asserted that close to 90 million people were expected to fall into poverty as a repercussion of Covid-19, and in reference to the South and South East Asian economies, the future of migrant workers does not seem encouraging.
“Aspiring migrants had to borrow and spend huge amounts to obtain work visas but are now facing an uncertain future as destination countries toughened their migration policies and air travel remains limited”, he said.
Amjad further said that in most countries the migrants were not responsible for spreading the disease as they constituted only a small minority of the population.
Doctor G. M. Arif highlighted the need to consider the pandemic’s impact on labour markets. According to his estimate, in between 1 to 2.5% of Pakistan’s total labour force would be affected as a consequence.
He asserted, unemployment could double due to premature return of migrants and virtual stop on outmigration.
Other speakers analyzed and attempted to predict the impact of COVID-19 on migration flows.
Mahendra Kumar Rai, researcher at the Nepal Institute of Development Studies (NIDS), pointed towards the halt in the flow of migrants, which approximately amounted to 1,100 youth’s everyday prior to the pandemic as a major factor impacting the Nepali economy.
Doctor Nasra Shah, professor at Lahore School of Economics, emphasized that the sending countries should remain cognizant of not only the financial situation but also the non-economic factors, such as the impact of Covid-19 on kafala system, chain migration, and attitudes of the host countries that will determine the demand for foreign workers in the Gulf in a post-Covid scenario.
Doctor Francoise DrBel-Air, senior fellow at the Gulf labor markets and Migration Programme (GLMM) argued out that an overwhelming of all Asian expatriates in the Gulf constituted of low-skilled workers, pointing towards a heirarchisation of occupation according to countries of origin.
Doctor C. R. Abrar, Director, Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit (RMMRU), explored the various ways in which the return migrant in Bangladesh have been stigmatized by the Bangladeshi authorities. Some, he claimed, were sent to prison from the quarantine centre under Section 54 of the Code of Criminal Procedure for suspicious activities. However, he claimed, measures to facilitate migrant workers under the pandemic have also been taken by the government that should not be ignored.
In the context of Pakistan, Almazia Shahzad, Research Fellow, LSE pointed out that Pakistan’s current experience of an unprecedented increase in remittances was no different than during the Global Financial Crisis. In her assessment the major contributing factor was the shift from informal to formal channels. She reported the number of transactions have more than doubled during the lockdown compared to the previous quarter, while the value of these transactions increased more than three times.
Similar unprecedented increase was also reported in Sri Lanka by Doctor Bilesha Weeraratne, but she pointed out that regardless of the reasons for the surge, remittance receiving households were to benefit less. Regular remittances are received from Sri Lankan migrants in the Gulf region, who are also more vulnerable to the crisis.
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