PHL gets highest rate in migration governance study: ‘The Economist’

By: Sammy Martin, Philippines News Agency
August 23, 2016 6:53 PM

MANILA, Philippines — Widely respected British news magazine, “The Economist,” recently recognized the Philippines for having a well-developed migration policy governance.

The results are based on the findings of the publication’s research arm, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).

“This recognition by ‘The Economist’ of the excellent migration governance framework of the Philippines is an affirmation of the continuing commitment of the Philippine Government to promote and protect the rights and welfare of the Filipinos who chose to work abroad,” said Philippine Ambassador Cecilia Rebong, Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva.

In a research conducted by The Economist Intelligence Unit-Migration Governance Index (EIU-MGI), the Philippines is the only country that was given the highest rate as “developed and mature” in all categories, namely: institutional capacity; migrant rights; safe and orderly migration; labor migration management; and regional and international cooperation and other partnerships.

Countries included in the study have been categorized based on their performance as nascent, emerging, developed, and mature.

The research studied 15 countries which were selected to broadly represent economic development, type of migration profile, including migrant receiving and sending countries, and geographic scope.

The outcome of the study highlighted transparency as an essential marker of a comprehensive migration policy to include: clear information for potential immigrants about laws, regulations, visas and opportunities, publicly available data about migrant flows, migrant deaths and human trafficking; robust information-sharing systems between government departments, integrated programs to aid repatriation of migrants, and structured information exchange and dialogue with other countries.

The EIU-MGI is a project commissioned by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and designed by The Economist Intelligence Unit.

The project aims to provide policy-benchmarking framework for evaluating country-specific migration governance structures.

It also aims to assist countries in assessing how comprehensive and coherent their policies are, and in identifying gaps that exist as well as areas that need improvement.