Irregular Migration in Asia

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Irregular Migration in Asia

• 1. Background to Project
• In 2004 the Centre of Asian Studies commenced a
  new phase of research on New Regionalism in Asia.
  An application for funding for the first
  workshop on the subject of Governance and
  Regionalism in Asia was successfully made to the
  Japan Foundation.
• The purpose of this project is to further the
  current state of debate within the region on the
  problems and prospects of regionalism. It builds
  on five years of China-ASEAN Roundtables held by
  the Centre of Asian Studies (1998-2002) and four
  years of China-India Roundtables (2001-2003 and
  2005). Towards the end of these two cycles, the
  need to integrate the two dialogue networks into
  a single region-wide project and to deepen the
  intellectual framework of the discussion became
  clear.
• For this phase of the project the Centre of Asian
  Studies will be partnering with the Asian Center,
  University of the Philippines, Manila with the
  intent of holding the project workshop in the
  Philippines in December 2006 http//www.edu.ph/a
  c.
• 2. Explanation of the Project
• As the East Asian region has integrated for the
  greater good of its peoples, markets and states
  new challenges have emerged. The increased
  intra-regional movement of people for work or
  pleasure is one manifestation of closer ties
  between the countries of Asia. But just as the
  1997 Asian financial crisis was a negative
  manifestation of closer economic ties between
  regional states, so too the irregular movement of
  peoples across national borders is a negative
  reflection of closer links between regional
  peoples and societies.

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• Irregular migration (including people smuggling
  and human trafficking) are all on the rise in
  Asia, reflecting global trends and disparities.
  As globalisation has taken hold, an increasing
  number of people have begun to move across
  national borders to live, to work, or for
  pleasure. Within regions this process is
  intensified as shorter distances, lower costs and
  cultural affinities act as positive pressures on
  directing transnational population flows. In
  most cases these transnational flows are
  voluntary. However, for a significant number of
  people this is not the case. Individuals may be
  coerced to move to work as sex workers, as bonded
  labour or, in the worst cases, as slaves. Data
  from 2004 showed that, of the estimated 600,000
  to 800,000 men, women and children trafficked
  across international borders each year,
  approximately 80 percent are women and girls and
  up to 50 percent are minors. The data also
  illustrate that the majority of transnational
  victims are trafficked into commercial sexual
  exploitation (US Department of State 2005),
  although an increasing number of victims are also
  being exploited for their labour as well.
• Irregular migration is one of the main criminal
  offences of the 21st century. In its most benign
  manifestation it involves the subversion of legal
  and regulatory regimes in multiple countries or
  jurisdictions. While the act of human
  trafficking, along with that of narcotics and
  small arms, earns criminal organisations and
  their customers billions of dollars in direct and
  indirect revenues. In the Asia-Pacific there are
  significant flows of illegal migrants for labour
  and/or sexual exploitation, both intra-regionally
  as well as to other parts of the world. These
  flows are driven by both supply and demand
  factors within a general environment of regional
  and global economic disparities for many of the
  source and transit countries.
• But even as many countries in the region try to
  come to grips with this problem, they are
  hampered by a lack of objective data. The
  absence of concrete data on human trafficking
  victims, for example, makes a clear understanding
  of the full scope of the problem in the Asian
  region difficult. This problem is complicated by
  different states adopting different legislative
  understandings of international and regional
  agreements, which has a secondary effect on the
  compilation of data sets. A key objective of the
  project is therefore to solicit case study-based
  research on the phenomenon of illegal migration
  in Asia so as to further our understanding of the
  assumptions and beliefs held by regional
  societies, including policy and economic elites
  on this issue. The CAS and the Asian Center
  believe that a greater understanding of the
  challenge of irregular migration holds the
  potential to make a major contribution to the
  current policy and research debates.

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• 3. Tentative Agenda
• The project has been conceived as an innovative
  research exercise questioning emerging forms and
  modalities of illegal migration in Asia, with a
  focus on the patterns and substance of illegal
  migration, people smuggling and human
  trafficking. As noted above, the lack of concrete
  data on these issues has led to an imperfect
  understanding of the problem within the region.
  By soliciting papers with a strong grounding in
  case-studies across two or more countries it is
  anticipated that the results will be well placed
  to conceptually inform both the scholarly and
  policy debates on this issue. To best achieve
  this, the project will adopt an interdisciplinary
  approach and will be composed of papers primarily
  drawn from an international call for papers. The
  Call for Papers hopes to attract contributions
  from different Social Science disciplines
  including Politics, International Relations,
  Political Economy, Law, Cultural Studies, as well
  as Sociology and Media and Journalism Studies.
• Seven broad panel themes inform the initial
  structure of the workshop. Under this broad
  thematic framework, paper topics will address
  specific case studies (see below the list of
  probable presentations and paper topics). Insofar
  as possible, the project will select papers that
  take an interest in cross-regional dynamics.
• Panel 1 Theoretical and Historical Perspectives
  on Irregular Human Flows in Asia
• This introductory panel will attempt to
  conceptualise patterns of irregular migration
  (including illegal migration, people-smuggling
  and human trafficking) in Asia and analyse the
  implications in terms of developing regional
  integration.
• Panel 2 Comparative Domestic Approaches to
  Illegal Migration
• Papers should analyse how differences in domestic
  governance models challenge cooperation and
  consensus building at the regional level. One
  area where papers will be particular sought is in
  comparative policy responses to the problem
  especially in terms of public awareness
  programmes, victim support initiatives and
  juridical frameworks.
• Panel 3 Northeast Asian Experiences
• This will be the first of three panels exploring
  subregional modalities of this issue. Papers
  should examine the experiences of Northeast Asian
  countries as source, transit or destination
  countries. They will also address the underlying
  issues of culture and social formation in state
  responses to this problem. As such, the case
  studies should focus on the transnational chain
  of irregular human movements rather than just on
  the domestic level analysis (the subject of Panel
  2).

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• Panel 4 Southeast Asian Challenges
• This will be the second of three panels exploring
  subregional modalities of this issue. Papers
  should examine the experiences of Southeast Asian
  countries as source, transit or destination
  countries. They will also address the underlying
  issues of culture and social formation in state
  responses to this problem. As such, the case
  studies need to focus on the transnational chain
  of irregular human movements rather than just on
  the domestic level analysis (the subject of Panel
  2).
• Panel 5 South Asian Approaches
• This will be the third of the three panels
  exploring subregional modalities of this issue.
  Papers should examine the experiences of South
  Asian countries as source, transit or destination
  countries. They will also address the underlying
  issues of culture and social formation in state
  responses to this problem. As such, the case
  studies should focus on the transnational chain
  of irregular human movements rather than just on
  the domestic level analysis (the subject of Panel
  2).
• Depending on the papers submitted this panel may
  be expanded to also include papers with a
  Southwest or Central Asian focus. The former
  area is a major destination locale for Southeast
  Asian emigration, particularly those from Muslim
  communities. The latter is becoming an
  increasingly important area as both a source of
  illegal inflows to East and South Asia and a
  transit point from some South and East Asian
  countries to Europe.
• Panel 6 Extra-regional Flows
• Papers on this topic should explore the
  experiences of extra-regional states in Europe,
  North America or Australia/New Zealand as
  destination or transit sites for illegal Asian
  immigrants.
• Panel 7 Impact of Regional Institutions and
  International Organisations
• This panel should explore the impact of regional
  (ASEAN, APEC, ASEM) and international
  organisations (IOM and other members of the UN
  family of agencies) not only to understand the
  efficacy of these institutions in addressing this
  problem but to also explore the dynamics between
  state-regional-global mechanisms. Potential
  comparisons with the work of other regional
  institutions (EU, NAFTA or MERCOSUR) may also be
  reviewed depending on the mix of papers received.
  The role and behaviour of civil society
  organisations engaged in transnational advocacy
  on any aspect of irregular migration is also
  another potential topic to be considered for this
  panel.

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• To submit a paper proposal or make enquiries,
  please contact the
• Asian Regionalism Project
• Centre of Asian Studies
• The University of Hong Kong
• Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong SAR
• E-mail Ms Louise Mak lypmak_at_hku.hk Web Site
  www.hku.hk/cas/