Migration: A Global Phenomenon?

By: Eva Rodriguez-Diaz, Manager of Migration and Human Trafficking at Mary Ward Centre 

Hearing and reading all kinds of things people say about migrants and refugees raises the question of how well-informed people are about migration as a long-term strategy promoted by wealthy and powerful corporations to seize control of regions and their natural resources. How informed are people about migration as an intentional strategy by unscrupulous corporations to take control and exploit the natural and mineral resources of entire regions worldwide? How informed are people about migration as a strategy of “modern” colonization? Migration itself in this context is promoted by powerful corporations. 

Rich northern countries often do not recognize the struggles they and their corporations cause over other countries' territories, over rural places, and traditional territories of Indigenous communities. They extensively resort to creating a harm narrative around migration as an uncontrolled and illegal phenomenon that affects their populations, economies, and security. 

Following their example, the public also generally repeats the created rhetoric about the large number of migrants and refugees taking jobs away from nationals while also increasing social spending on support and protection programs for migrants and refugees rather than for nationals. 

Thus, the cynical conclusion of wealthy countries is to stop the flow of migrants by taking harsh measures in the name of protecting their citizens, while ignoring the tragedies they themselves have caused creating large-scale migration. And the most effective way to appear legitimate—while claiming to defend human rights and freedom—is by expanding their jurisdictional power through externalizing their borders, paying third-party countries to tighten controls preventing people from crossing into their territories.

Thinking on what is happening in Canada, it is relevant also to mention what happened a few days ago (December 11, 2025), the International Day of Human Rights when the proposal of Bill C-12 had its Third Reading in the House of Commons and was moved to the Senate. During the  discussion, immigration and asylum processes were included with topics like border security, combatting transnational organized crime, and illicit fentanyl and illicit financing. What is the vision that the Minister of Safety and Protection of Canada has about migration and asylum processes by putting them together with combatting criminal measures?

281 million migrants globally, a number that must be carefully deconstructed. 

The data on global migration is 281 million migrants which represents 3.6% of the worldwide population (IOM, 2024). This is a gigantic number used globally to create theories, policies, plans, etc. In consequence, this number needs to be deconstructed with caution beginning by acknowledging that 169 million are migrant workers; and that 117 million are in the category of displaced persons (DP), which includes all those fleeing a threat or form of persecution. 

Also, there are 8,500 migrants missing globally. Migration represents an opportunity for many, but for others it represents an equal or even greater risk.

Resource: The World Migration Report 2024, IOM 2024

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) report, also mentions that “despite the toxicity of some political narratives that rely on hate and division (...), focusing on negative aspects of migration, (...) disinformation tactics are increasingly being used by nefarious actors with negative impacts on public, political and social media discourse on migration (...);” promoting to “lose sight of the fact that international migration remains relatively uncommon, with a mere 3.6 per cent (or 281 million) of the world being international migrants”.

Moreover, it is important to better disaggregate the number – this time focus on those categorized as  Displaced Persons by the UN, a total of 117 million that represents 41.63% of the total. And to better understand this data, it is necessary to highlight that: 

• 61% of them remain inside their own country, and that people move inside their own countries without crossing international borders. 

• While 30% are refugees looking for protection in other countries different to the one they were born in.  

• 5% are asylum seekers, whether from their country of birth or from another country. 

• 4% have other needs of protection, other than those prescribed for refuge and asylum.

The United Nations Statistical Commission defines a migrant as anyone living in a country other than the one where they were born, including also those who hold citizenship granted by the government to which they migrated. Other methodologies draw a clear distinction between a person with migrant status and citizens recognized by the country to which they migrated, as in the case of the World Bank. Thus, instead of 281 million international migrants, the World Development Report (WDR, 2023) identifies 184 million migrants, 37 million of whom are refugees. The report also indicates that 43% of those migrants “live in low- and middle-income countries.”

International migration occurs primarily within the region.

Another relevant piece of information is to analyze concerns from the countries to which international migrants go. And here it is necessary to go back to the misinformation and to the media rhetoric affirming the crisis of northern countries, because of the amount of migrants they receive from the Global South. International migration occurs primarily within the region due to the reality of people crossing to bordering countries, which are the easiest, fastest, and cheapest options they have after internal displacement.

The United Nations Office of the High Commissioner of Refugees, affirms that the “vast majority (70%) of refugees and other people in need of international protection were hosted in countries neighbouring their countries of origin”. That’s how it is, that the least developed countries are hosting the largest number of refugees. And the UN points out concrete examples of this: “one in five of all refugees globally were hosted in sub-Saharan Africa, while 90 per cent of all refugees in Asia and the Pacific were hosted in just three countries: the Islamic Republic of Iran (3.4 million), Pakistan (1.7 million) and Bangladesh (952,400).”

Latin America also highlights this matter: Colombia occupied, in early 2000, the first place in the world with the largest number of internal displaced people –over 6 million people were displaced from rural to urban areas, and around 1.2 million migrated to another country, half of those traveling to Venezuela, Ecuador, Argentina, Panama, and Chile. Again the Global South supports the Global South, as happens today with around 7.9 millions of Venezuelan’s migrants: 2.8 million are living in Colombia, 1.7 are in Peru; and Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Argentina, Panama and other Latin American countries received around 1 more million.

Migration is a colonization strategy that persists violently and destructively.

To look carefully at the displacement refugee and migration causes, it is essential to explore economical and resource exploitation from a global perspective. For a long time, experts have considered migration a consequence of wars and armed conflict; however, it is necessary to analyze the causes and underlying aspect, finding that regions experiencing high levels of conflict are strategic for developing economic projects linked to the appropriation of land and natural resources, and for the exploitation of minerals.

A case to illustrate this is the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). It is the largest country in Sub-Saharan Africa endowed with exceptional natural and mining resources: with over 3,200 mining projects exploiting 130,000 tonnes of Cobalt per year (68% of the global total); 250,000 tonnes of Copper monthly; 4.3 million carats of diamonds, being the fourth-largest producer of industrial diamonds; and 40% of the world’s Coltan. Notably, it is also a country with over 6.9 millions of people internally displaced with the majority in the eastern provinces of North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri, the same areas where mining has a large presence. 

Companies from Switzerland, Australia or United Kingdom with a Market Cap close to 100 billion US dollars are some of the beneficiaries of the minerals produced by DRC.  And rich, powerful corporations use cobalt as a main raw material e.g. CATL – Contemporary Amperex Technology and Co. Ltda. had a revenue of $50.4 US billion in 2024, on its website describes itself as the global leader of new energy innovative technologies, and proposes a sustainability goal by creating a better future.

What is the better future that companies such as CATL and global mining corporations are creating in DRC? It is a country having “72.9% living in poverty” (World Bank, 2024), with money (Congolese franc) depreciated by 8.7% in 2024 against the US dollar, an inflation of 11.3% in 2024 when the annual average was 2.4%;A country where “33% of the population is food insecure” and 46.5% are living “below the international poverty line of $2.15 US per day” (Food World Program, 2024).

Is the DRC situation a causality? If this is causality, how can other similar situations be explained happening in Brazil, Honduras, South Africa, Guinea, Zambia, Ecuador, Colombia, etc. Mining is only an example of how global economics involves the concentration of economic power, wild interventions, exploitation (deterioration) of natural resources, and community impoverishment while the companies grow in income and capital.

Armed intrusion and combat that threatened rural populations and mass displacement in countries like Colombia have been common for decades. Internal displacement has been used as the main strategy for the expansion of foreign industries for agricultural mega-projects, alongside mining, and other international economical interventions. Colombia, is a country with 8,775,884 victims of the armed conflict, where 537,503 families were dispossessed of their lands or forced to abandon over 8 million hectares of land between 1995 and 2004 (National Survey of Victims of the Comptroller's Office of 2013). 

To change from mining to another business, it is possible to talk about the extensive mega-cultivation of African palm, which grew drastically, going from approx. from 158,000 hectares in 2000 to more than 500,000 in 2017. Studies showed that the development of mega-palm plantations (as with mining) was preceded by paramilitary incursions, the consequent increase in armed confrontations between legal and illegal armed groups, forced displacement of entire communities, and the subsequent arrival of palm oil companies that concentrated large areas of land. One of the dozen or so regions with a large crop of African palms, the Montes de María, suffered 42 massacres against the civilian population perpetrated by paramilitary groups between 1996 and 2003, with over 700,000 people displaced from rural to urban areas. Another causality?

Migration has hands, faces and is identified primarily with migrant workers.

According to the UN report, 196 million people are migrant workers, clearly indicating that migration has hands, faces, and identities of male and female workers producing and supporting economies of the countries they migrate to, including northeast countries. 

Migrant workers travelling to perform low-level jobs can be deceived even before they migrate, exposing them to the risk of labour exploitation, abuse and servitude. Frequently, they are exposed to accepting unknown work proposals without information about the work they are going to perform, the place they are going to work in, the conditions of the contract and the benefits, among other essential elements for a person traveling to work abroad. 

Canada, like many other countries, benefits from thousands of migrant workers who come to work in diverse areas: 501,980 migrants have a work permit; and 184,010 are temporary foreign workers - TFW (70% are from Latin America).

However, many unfair stories exist from people working in legal companies and doing legal jobs in Canada; experiences of deception, exploitation, and abuse happening to migrant workers in sectors such as agriculture, food production, construction, care givers, etc. Some of those situations put migrant workers in conditions of labour exploitation. 

Tomoya Obokata, the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery including its causes and consequences, visited Canada in 2024.  published a report of his visits, mentioning that even when Canada has a well-deserved reputation for welcoming immigrants, this is not currently the reality, as migrant workers are unable to enjoy decent working conditions and an adequate standard of living. Therefore, Canada must end policies and practices that foster exploitation created from situations of dependency that bind workers to their employers, granting employers control over housing, healthcare, and even workers' immigration status. The Special Rapporteur maintains the view that the Temporary Foreign Worker Program serves as a breeding ground for contemporary forms of slavery, as it institutionalizes power imbalances that favor employers and prevent workers from exercising their rights.

Also the Special Rapporteur, highlights the damage of closed work permits for temporary foreign workers, which tie workers to one employer acting as a master and owner of workers regardless of the working conditions. 

The workers can be dismissed and deported to their countries of origin at the employer's sole decision, creating a significant power imbalance and placing workers in a position of dependency and submission. Most of the time, workers are unaware of their rights and the mechanisms for filing complaints regarding labor abuses. This is without even considering the conditions of isolation, limited internet access for communicating with the outside world or for researching matters of interest to them as migrant workers, and language barriers. As part of his conclusions, Prof. Obokata proposed to the Canadian Government, “Ending the use of closed work permit regimes and allowing all workers the right to choose and change their employers in any sector without restriction or discrimination”

Also it is important to mention the International Labor Organization (ILO) highlighted the message around the world: “Labour is not a commodity, and therefore, workers should not pay to access employment. The cost of the recruitment season should never be borne by a worker.” 

Migrant Workers, major contributors to sustaining and developing  wealthy economies, must receive full guarantees of their rights as migrants and as migrant workers, in accordance with national laws and international treaties.

Summary Conclusions

• Rich countries and robust global economies must take responsibility for the consequences of their actions hurting local communities, and negatively impacting the environment – all of which cause migration of entire populations out of certain regions they want to seize and exploit for resources.

• Migration occurs mostly between regions of the same countries; neighboring countries receive the largest number of international migrants and refugees. The greatest migratory flow occurs inside the Global South; thus, rich countries do not receive the largest influx of international refugees and migrants. This is very different from what the rhetoric of the most powerful countries wants people to believe, that they are the ones who receive the largest share of international migrants and refugees.

• Migration must once again become a voluntary decision for individuals, exercising their right to migrate autonomously and safely, not forced by those who seek to appropriate the resources of their regions and countries.

• The greater number of migrants in other countries are workers, supporting and growing the economies of rich countries. Migrants are great contributors to the global economy and development. Even though policies and programs for migrant workers have major disadvantages compared to labour policies for national workers, they put migrant workers in a lower category and at a disadvantage.

• The application of international policies, agreements, and treaties related to migration, refugees, and migrant workers forms part of the constitutional framework of countries. Countries have the duty to apply them alongside national laws, including reviewing and reforming internal policies that contradict these global agreements approved by nations to protect human rights and prevent any violations thereof, and therefore exclusion or detriment of rights for certain groups considered more vulnerable.

#migration #-Globalphenomenon #Canada #Humantrafficking #immigration #IOM

1. Eva is a social worker with a postgraduate degree in Public Policy and Gender Justice and a master's degree in Social Sciences. She has over 15 years of experience working with populations affected by armed conflict in Latin America and with displaced persons, refugees, and international migrants. She has worked as the Migration and Human Trafficking Prevention Manager at MWC since October 2021.

2. Glencore, BHP Group, Rio Tinto, among others. 

3. Is important to mention, as well, some previous situations, as what happened in the 90's when mining companies (American Mineral Fields, the Australian company Russel Resources and Zimbabwe’s Ridgepointe Overseas) funded Laurent-Désiré Kabila’s military presidential campaign, and later the DRC’s political and administrative reconstruction; in return, those companies secured agreements for three mega-mine sites: two in Mongbwalu, and diamond concessions in Kisangani (Lemond Diplomatic, 2006)#. Through a proxy operation, junior companies were established on the ground to deal with the rebel factions under the assumption that their actions could be brought up later.