ABSTRACT
Internal migration and labour mobility is now increasingly being studied through the lens of human security. Global estimates suggest that 740 million people around the world are internal migrants (UNOCHA 2010). Given its large number, especially within developing countries, internal migration has the economic potential to contribute positively towards greater human security and development objectives falling under the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) framework.1 As compared to international migration, internal migration involves a workforce four times larger (Qin et al. 2014) that hails from poorer backgrounds and remits money to a wider number of poor families (Deshingkar and Grimm 2004). It also provides migrant households opportunities to advance human security outcomes by moving to a location that promises improved access to education, health and employment opportunities. In developing countries, like Pakistan, internal migration drives eco-
nomic growth in key sectors, such as agriculture, manufacturing, construction and services. If utilised effectively as a policy tool, internal migration can reduce income inequalities and wage differentials. Regrettably, however, internal migration has been glossed over in national policymaking of Pakistan (Hisam 2014) due to limited understanding of its economic potential. The country’s National Emigration Policy (Government of Pakistan
2009) and the now defunct Labour Policy (Government of Pakistan 2010) are quite unsatisfactory in this regard. The National Emigration Policy discusses international migration issues exclusively, with no focus on internal migration. On similar lines, the Labour Policy does make a fleeting
reference to external migration (emigration), it makes no reference to internal migration. Moreover, while poverty and development disparity do seem to influence internal migration patterns, the government’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) and the recently approved Vision 2025 fail to provide meaningful measures to harness potential of internal labour mobility. This policy and planning lacuna is paralleled by a dearth of legislation
related to rights of internal migrants in Pakistan. As a result, the government is insufficiently prepared to manage the challenges and opportunities that internal migration presents. With limited legal protection and security from the relevant state bodies, most internal migrants in Pakistan face multiple human security threats. As happens elsewhere in the developing world, internal migrants are exposed to human security risks that include exposure to illness, disease and food insecurity, sociocultural exclusion, lack of personal security and economic discrimination, among others (UNOCHA 2013). In order to remove migrants from such human security threats that are rooted in their places of destination (and origin), it is important to understand why people are migrating in the first place. Taking lead from Farwick (2009), our objective in this chapter is to
update the knowledge on Pakistan and try to answer:
a Who are the people currently on the move? b What is their motivation to move from their origin? c How are they received at the destination?
