Search news
Integration and development aid: hand in glove
11 June 2010
The integration of migrants in the Netherlands is clearly dependent on the degree to which they are able to provide financial and social support to relatives in their home country. Consequently, integration is closely related to foreign development aid, and migration policy should place more emphasis on this aspect. Professor Valentina Mazzucato will be arguing this case in her inaugural lecture “Bridging boundaries: Transnationalism and migrants’ lives in a globalizing World”, held today at Maastricht University. This speech is the official acceptance of the “Globalization and Development” chair at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.
Valentina Mazzucato has studied African migrants for years, not only examining how these migrates fare in the Netherlands, but also looking at the relatives who stay behind. For instance, many migrants from Ghana leave their children with relatives, hoping that they will be able to follow them to the Netherlands at short notice. However, this is becoming increasingly difficult as a result of the current Dutch migration policy. “If problems related to the upbringing of their children in Ghana arise, the Ghanaian migrants are unable to function properly in the Netherlands. They start to suffer from psychological problems and fail to integrate,” explains Mazzucato.
Since migrants have one foot in their native country and the other in the Netherlands, their situation here has a direct impact on the situation ‘over there’. This is clearly illustrated by the fact that a third of their income is sent to Africa, as goods or money. However, when a migrant is unsuccessful in the Netherlands, the donations from Africa to the migrant increase, which can place a heavy burden on the homeland.
Mazzucato argues the case for a government policy that has more consideration for the migrants’ sense of ‘double loyalty’. “For instance, it is possible to promote integration by letting families reunite more quickly than is currently the case, or to facilitate parents’ travels to the children they have left behind. People migrate, that’s a fact of life. And they will maintain close relationships with their homeland. That is an aspect one should consider in one’s policy.”
<< Back
