Home page Tourists page Investors page Citizens page South Africans Abroad page      Südafrika auf einen Blick   L’Afrique du Sud en un coup d’oeil Sun, 14 Mar 2010
Essential Information
  About South Africa
  South Africa map
  SA photo galleries
  SA web directory
  Site map
Public Services
  Advice for citizens
  Advice for foreigners
  South Africans abroad
Doing business
  Economy
  Investing in South Africa
  Trade with South Africa
  Trends & Growth
  Business news
Plan a trip
  Holiday experiences
  Smart travel tips
What's happening
  News and features
  Arts and entertainment
  Conferences and expos
  Sport
Special Features
  2010 Fifa World Cup SA
  Gateway to Africa
  Nelson Mandela
  South African Women


Weather

South African Weather Service


Quick forecasts
SA Weather Service

South Africa Map
South African Map

Find your way
on our interactive
macro-to-micro South Africa map


Ramphele heads migration panel

11 December 2003

Mamphela Ramphele, a managing director of the World Bank and former vice-chancellor of the University of Cape Town, has been appointed co-chair of an independent global commission on international migration, launched in Geneva this week with United Nations backing.

Jan Karlsson, a former migration minister from Sweden, will be the other co-chair of the Global Commission on International Migration, which will focus on new ways of managing migration flows and protecting migrants' rights.

The panel is expected to begin work next month and present its final report to UN Secretary-Genaral Kofi Annan in mid-2005. Annan called last month for a better institutional framework to handle migration at a global level.

Launching the new, non-UN panel in Geneva on Tuesday, Annan said migration provided enormous potential benefits to both "receiver" and "sender" countries, adding that the panel would help promote greater public understanding about an issue which has "generated more heat than light" in some countries.

About 175 million people - 3% of the world's population - live outside the country in which they were born, a figure that could rise to 230 million by 2050, according to estimates by the International Organisation for Migration.

And Financial Times writer Frances Williams notes: "Remittances to their home countries by migrant workers in rich nations - worth upwards of US$88-billion - now outweigh official development aid to those countries, buoying purchasing power and potentially providing significant resources for investment."

The commission, with an estimated budget of $4-million financed by donors, will consist of up to 15 "internationally renowned" members from all regions, Financial Times reports.

While the commission is an independent body, "we at the UN are ready to help it in any way we can, including through consultations and the provision of data and information", Annan said.

The UN secretary-general said migration was not just an economic but also a human rights issue, pointing out that migration is as old as humanity. The world's approach to migration, he said, would "be an important test of our commitment to universal values, and our capacity, as an international community, to cooperate for mutual advantage."

SouthAfrica.info reporter

Print this page Send this article to a friend



Mamphela Ramphele addresses graduates of Barnard College, an independent liberal arts college for women, in New York City in 2002 (Barnard College)

South African Women Features on South African women, SA's women of the year, SA's push for gender equity, gender update, links & more.



South African Tourism Wines of South Africa Proudly South African South Africa Government Online South African Broadcasting Corporation Department of Trade and Industry South Africa South African Airways JSE Securities Exchange
Home | Tourists | Investors | Citizens | South Africans Abroad Site Map | South Africa Map | SA Web Directory | SA Photo Galleries
Design, contents, site maintenance: Big Media Publishers (Pty) Limited
Queries about the site? Contact the webmaster
Published for the International Marketing Council of South Africa.
Reliance on the information this website contains is at your own risk.
Please read our Terms and Conditions of Use.