TRANSIT MIGRATION IN
ASIA
by
Graeme Hugo,
Federation Fellow
Professor of Geography and Director of the National Centre
for Social Applications of GIS,
The University of Adelaide
Paper presented to Annual Bank Conference on Development
Economics, Mita Conference Hall, Tokyo, Japan
29-30 May 2006
Outline of Presentation
• Introduction
• Conceptualising Transit Migration in Asia
• Forced Migrants as Transit Migrants in
Asia
• South-North Movement and Transit
Migration in Asia
• The Chinese as Transit Migrants
• Conclusion
Reasons for Neglect
• Lack of migration data generally
• Much involves undocumented
migration
• Focus on economic and labour
migrants
“Internal” Transit Migration
• False dichotomy
• Link with international labour
migration
• Indonesian case studies
Features of Transit Migration in
Asia
• Part of growth of temporary migration
• Transit point distinguished by its “way
station” character rather than as a
destination
• It’s “midway to nowhere character”
• Key role played by the migration industry
• Often involves movement without
documentation
Forced Migration and Transit Migration in Asia
Asia: Refugees by Countries of Asylum and Origin, 1980 to 2004
Source: UNHCR Statistics
Countries of Origin
8,000,000
7,000,000
Number
6,000,000
5,000,000
4,000,000
3,000,000
2,000,000
1,000,000
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2000
2003
1997
1998
1999
1994
1995
1996
1991
1992
1993
1988
1989
1990
1985
1986
1987
1982
1983
1984
1980
1981
0
Year
Viet Nam
Other
Year
Pakistan
India
Thailand
China
2004
2001
2002
1998
1999
1997
1995
1996
1994
1992
1993
1991
1990
1988
1989
1985
1986
1984
1982
1983
1981
1987
Countries of Asylum
4000000
3500000
3000000
2500000
2000000
1500000
1000000
500000
0
1980
Number
Afghanistan
Migrants from Vietnam, Afghanistan, Cambodia and Laos living in OECD
Countries, 2000
Source: OECD data base
Country of Residence
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Germany
Denmark
Spain
Finland
France
United Kingdom
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Japan
Korea
Luxembourg
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Slovakia
Sweden
Turkey
United States
Vietnam Afghanistan Cambodia
Laos
154,831
11,296
22,979 9,565
2,376
610
7,151
794
1,092 1,111
150,610
22,610
19,015 14,375
8,273
1,980
1,847
817
14,639
209
16
9
54,750
8,575
6,905
134
27
599
152
36
166
2,882
338
99
6
114,126
2,597
55,787 40,793
23,347
14,875
706
464
226
334
10
6
1,884
558
36
30
729
106
7
34
12,965
175
1,510 1,433
327
36
10,646
11,750
3,945
1,651
21
693
11,771
32
1,000,950
1,599,785
1
9
24,277
3,105
738
154
2
74
7,017
9,636
46,310
154,252
23
19
2
1
543
117
188
49
4,770 1,017
22
30
2
1
3
3
355
388
7
2
138,245 206,490
248,044 276,953
Afghanistan Families in Pakistan – Source of
Livelihood 2005
Source: UNHCR 2005, 24
Livelihood
Daily Wage
Dependent
Employed
Self Employed
Other
Total
Camps
No.
%
136,959
58.0
22,958
9.7
15,842
6.7
36,675
15.5
23,903
10.1
236,337 100.0
Non Camps
No.
%
155,086
49.7
31,636
10.1
28,668
9.2
68,574
23.0
27,804
8.9
311,768 100.0
2005 Census of Afghans in
Pakistan
3,049,268 individuals
548,106 families
Total population of Pakistan 143,500,000
Pakistan: Location of Self Employed Afghans (%),
2005
Source: UNHCR 2005, 55
Burmese (Myanmar) Refugees in
Thailand 2006
• 120,000 in border camps
• 1 million elsewhere
Occupational Segregation of
Burmese Migrants
• Low skilled – domestic services,
agriculture, factory work, rice mills,
fishing
• Labour shortages
• Occupational segregation
• Labour market segmentation
Labour Immigration and Labour Market Segmentation
in Thailand
BURMA
THAILAND
Predominantly
rural
but some urban
people
Fishing
Agriculture
Construction
Domestic Service
Factory Work
SINGAPORE
TAIWAN
JAPAN
MIDDLE EAST
MALAYSIA
Factory Work
Entertainment
Domestic Service
Corollaries of Labour Market
Segmentation
(Massey, et al. 1993)
• Migration is demand driven
• Migration is structurally entrenched
• Wages held down
• Government intervention limited
• Demand independent of economic
vicissitudes
Some Involvement of High Skill
e.g. Exodus of intelligensia from
Burma in 1988
South African Refugees
(Weiner 1993)
• The exodus of Tamils from Sri Lanka to Southern
India
• Pakistanis stranded in Bangladesh after Bangladesh
was created from East Pakistan
• Burmese Muslims moving to Bangladesh
• Hill Tribe Groups moving from Bangladesh to India
• Other Bangladeshis moving to India
• Tibetans moving to India
• Bengalis moving to Assam
• Nepalis moving to India
• Nepalis moving to Bhutan
Australia: Unauthorised Arrivals, 1989-90 to 2004-05
Source: DIMIA 2002 and 2005a
4500
4000
3500
Boat Arrivals
2500
Air Arrivals
2000
1500
1000
500
Year
2004/05
2003/04
2002/03
2001/02
2000/01
1999/00
1998/99
1997/98
1996/97
1995/96
1994/95
1993/94
1992/93
1991/92
1990/91
0
1989/90
Number
3000
Onshore Unauthorised Boat Arrivals by Country of
Citizenship, 2000-01 to 2004-05
Source: DIMIA 2005a, p. 31, 25
Onshore Unauthorised Boat Arrivals by Country of Citizenship
Note: No boat arrivals in 2002-03 and 2004-05
Onshore Unauthorised Boat Arrivals by Country of
Citizenship, 2000-01 to 2004-05
Source: DIMIA 2005a, p. 31, 25
Protection Visas Claims By Countries or Territories of Citizenship
Staging Points for People Smuggling to Australia
1998-99
Source: DIMIA 1999
Routes Taken by Iraqi and Sudanese Settlers Coming
to Australia
Source: Hinsliff 2006
South-North Migration and Transit Migration in Asia
Stocks of Asia-Born Persons in OECD Nations Around 2000
Source: Dumont and Lemaitre 2005, 31
Country
Australia
Austria
Belgium
Canada
Switzerland
Czech Republic
Germany
Denmark
Spain
Finland
France
Great Britain
Greece
Hungary
Ireland
Japan
Korea
Luxembourg
Mexico
Netherlands
Norway
New Zealand
Poland
Portugal
Slovak Republic
Sweden
Turkey
USA
Total
Asian-Born
1,115,655
57,236
68,494
2,040,590
101,599
21,365
567,021
110,454
86,669
18,375
444,774
1,579,133
75,854
10,730
27,768
969,799
116,732
4,382
10,765
367,987
100,274
175,302
9,479
16,859
1,400
244,246
83,657
8,402,240
16,828,839
The Key Role of the Migration
Industry
• In both documented and undocumented
migration
• Channels migration into selected transit
points
• Stepping off points to OECD countries
• Complex linkages between Asylum Seekers
and economic migration
Asians Using Central and Eastern
Europe As Transit Points
“constitute the only land neighbour to the European
Union directly accessible from the South. As a
consequence, they are, and will continue to be, a
transit point for migrants from less developed parts
of the world (mainly Asia and Africa) heading for
countries of the “old” European Union. Having in
mind the growing migratory potential of developing
countries we can expect a rise in the scale of transit
migration in CEE.”
Kaczmarczyk and Okólski (2005)
Why CEE and Russia?
• A weakening of the CEE migration infrastructure (see also
Rybakovski and Ryazantsev 2005) which has made it
easier for Asians to enter (usually as tourists or students)
and then overstay.
• The demographic pressures in the CEE countries which
have been exacerbated by emigration and created job
opportunities for Asian migrants in these countries to earn
the funds to pay for their entry into the European Union.
• The expanding activities of the migration industry in the
region which is developing cities in the region as transit
points for eventual migration into the European Union
Countries.
• The growing communities of Asians in these countries
who facilitate transit migration and provide the migrants
with assistance during their period of transit.
“Thailand has become a major transit country for Indians,
Pakistanis, Bangladeshis, Sri Lankans and Nepalese
headed to the United States, Canada, Europe, Korea
and Japan. Many of those migrants wind up as illegal
workers in Thailand and Malaysia. Police estimate that
about 1,000 illegal migrants move through Thailand each
month with fake passports and visas arranged in
Bangkok and that 50,000 are in Bangkok at any one
time”.
Bangkok Post, 22 July 1997
The Nexus between Transit
Migration and the Sex Industry
• Key role of Thailand
• Bangkok as the transit point for
Thailand and neighbouring countries
• Role of migration industry
• Link with people smuggling and
trafficking
• Link between transit and sex-work
Bangkok as a Transit Point in the
International Sex Industry
• Europe – often involving links with sex tourism and
with former migrants and tourists getting
commissions and playing a role.
• Malaysia and Singapore – often are transit points
where Thai women work as prostitutes while waiting
to go to Japan, Taiwan, Australia and Europe.
• Hong Kong and Taiwan
• Japan and China
• USA and Canada
• Australia and New Zealand
Types of Agents
(Skrobanek, et al. 1997)
• Local people, often either influential community
leaders or women who have already experienced
migration for sex work. They are involved in initial
recruitment.
• Agents who work for an employment agency and
located close to major transit points like railway
stations and bus stations in Bangkok. They send
girls to work in night clubs and bars in return for their
first three months wages.
• Agents involved in actually sending women abroad,
often also former sex workers
• Companies with links to overseas employers of sex
workers.
Legal Transitting : New Zealand Australia
• Trans Tasman Agreement
• Substantial migration of New Zealand citizens
to Australia
• Substantial migration from Asia-Pacific to
New Zealand
• Differences in Points Assessment Test
• Qualifying as New Zealand Citizen
• 25.4 percent of New Zealand Citizens in
Australia foreign-born
New Zealand Citizens(a) Present in Australia by
Country of Birth at 30th June 2005
Source: DIMIA 2005b, p. 40
Birthplace
No.
Australia & New Zealand
355,691
Rest of the Pacific
23,599
Europe
20,330
North Africa & the Middle East
1,781
Southeast Asia
4,775
Northeast Asia
4,430
Southern & Central Asia
3,419
Northern Africa
1,652
South America, Central America & the Caribbean
376
Sub-Saharan Africa
4,376
Not Stated(b)
27,953
Supplementary Codes
The Former USSR & Baltic States nfd
392
Total
448,774
(a) Includes permanent residents, temporary residents, students and visitors.
(b) Includes other NEI.
The Chinese as Transit Migrants
Number of Chinese Travelling Abroad for Business and Tourism 19812003 and Total Number of Outbound Trips from China, 1997-2004
Source: Far Eastern Economic Review, 24 June 2004, p. 30; Asia Times Online, 9 February 2006
• One sixth of world population
• 100 million floating workers
• 40 million overseas Chinese
• Yakuza (snakeheads)
• The role of Fujian province
The Golden Venture Incident 1993
• Public realisation in US of scale of Chinese
people smuggling
• Crackdown produced proliferation of routes
and increase in places of transit
• Transit points both within and outside Asia
• Growing significance of Canada, Caribbean
and Latin America
Conclusion
• Data issues
• Need to be
phenomenon
considered
as
a
distinct
• Increasing focus since 9/11 because of
security dimension (Bali Process)
Transit Migration is Likely to
Increase in Significance
• Scale of migration is increasing
• The proliferating migration industry
• The involvement of a wider range of people
• Network extension
• Increasing barriers to migration to OECD and
Asian high income nations