PRESS RELEASE No.  13

 MANILA, Philippines, Oct. 29 -- Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) Secretary Alberto Romulo today underscored the role of the 200 million-strong migrant workers around the world, saying these workers play an essential role in globalization.

He made the remarks in his welcome address to the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) delegation at the Philippine International Convention Center (PICC) Plenary Hall Wednesday, noting that migrant workers accounted for more than USD240 billion worth of remittances to developing nations in 2007, compared to the USD104 billion in official development assistance (ODA) and USD460 billion in direct investments for the same period.
”These remittance flows, therefore, are of enormous economic significance to the developing world,” Romulo stressed.

He added that migrant workers also contribute immensely to their host nations by filling the gaps in employment. 
”For example, world class Filipino health professionals,  work in hospitals, clinics, hospices and healthcare homes that assist citizens in many nations. Filipino domestic service workers help support a better quality of life for countless families in other countries. These are significant contributions to global well-being and prosperity that cannot be denied,” he said.

Notwithstanding their contributions, however, migrants are often exposed to violations of their human rights, and can suffer from exploitation, marginalization and trafficking,” Romulo added.

"Governments and civil society groups are increasingly aware and active on these problems, but much remains to be done,” the DFA secretary pointed out.

Romulo also stated that the vision of the GFMD process should also be focused on human rights protection and welfare of migrant workers and their families, and to empower them so that they can further increase their development impact in both migrant sending and receiving countries.