ASIAN MIGRATION ATLAS

Migration within and from Asia is not a recent social phenomenon. The current trends and characteristics of migration in the region, however, have been shaped by the development directions of societies and economies in recent decades. Around 400,000 Asians resettle every year in North America and Oceania, contributing to sustain established communities in those countries. After the conclusion of the Indochinese crisis, refugees still remain, particularly as a result of the Afghan conflict and strifes in Cambodia and Myanmar. Highly skilled workers are increasingly in demand and move through the region, or return from previous migrations, to respond to the needs of international capital. However, it is labor migration that has emerged in the past three decades as the most significant aspect of human mobility. More than six million migrants are working in East and Southeast Asia, one third of whom are in an irregular situation. In fact, in addition to the temporary nature of this labor movement, determined by the short duration of labor contracts and the non-availability of long-term integration, and the increasing presence of migrant women, employed as nurses, domestic workers and entertainers, the widespread irregularity in the migration movement appears the most distinguished and troublesome feature of labor migration in Asia. Irregular migration often takes the form of trafficking, with migrants, particularly women, kept in bondage or forced into prostitution.

This Asian Migration Atlas (AMA) intends to be a quick reference tool for researchers and activists involved in migration and constantly in need of updated facts and figures. The project is a natural outcome of the established tradition of the Scalabrini Migration Center (SMC) in providing and disseminating information on migration in Asia, particularly through the Asian and Pacific Migration Journal (APMJ), through the magazine Asian Migrant, and through the bi-weekly internet bulletin Asian Migration News. It remains a work-in-progress and it will be our effort to keep up to date.

Information contained in AMA is derived from various sources, including SMC publications, as well as unpublished sources and our own estimates, and available at the sources website.

Information on migration obtained from AMA should be cited as follows: Scalabrini Migration Center, Asian Migration Atlas 2000, http://www.scalabrini.asn.au/atlas/amatlas.htm.

Regular migrants in Asia  |   Irregular migrants in Asia  |  The impact of the crisis

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