Misperceptions
of Migration
Arvind
Kumar pandey
The International Organization for Migration (IOM),
in its World Migration Report 2011, states that about 214 million people
were living and working outside their home country in 2010, and
international migration has continued to grow despite the global
economic crisis, but in many countries negative attitudes towards
migrants are also rising. While focusing on the importance of
communicating more effectively about migration, the Report notes that
such attitudes stem in part from misinformation and misperceptions about
migration that have been fuelled by opportunistic politicians and poor
media reporting. It further observes: "Few areas of public policy are
subject to greater misrepresentation... yet more influenced by public
opinion, than international migration," write the report's authors.
"Accurately informing relevant stakeholders and the wider public about
migration may be the single most important policy tool in all societies
faced with increasing diversity."
It is revealed
that during periods of economic recession, national debates on
migration issues are often politicized, and evidence of the economic
benefits that migration can bring is ignored in favour of assumptions
that migrants are fuelling unemployment and draining public resources.
People in migrant-receiving countries tend to significantly overestimate
the size of their country's migrant population, and often blame them
for social ills ranging from crime to unemployment. A 2010 public
opinion poll, cited in the report, found that 57 percent of Americans
felt immigration had a negative effect on the country. Another recent
study of eight migrant-receiving countries found that an American
perception of 39 percent of the US population being migrants differed
significantly from the actual figure of 14 percent. Italians believed 25
percent of their population were migrants, more than three times the
actual number. The IOM report asserts that such episodes could be
avoided by "a fundamental shift in the way we communicate about
migration" so as to foster more informed debate and "prevent migration
from being used as a platform for other political, social and economic
issues".
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