In The News

Immigrants' Cash Floods Homelands

Mary Beth Sheridan May 17, 2004
Remittances that migrants send back home to help their families, have long formed a crucial component of developing countries' income. In El Salvador, for example, remittances total 14% of the country's gross domestic product. Money-transferring technologies have only made this process easier and kept the payments regular. Now a study of Latin American immigrants to the US – legal...

Gay Asylum-Seeker Rejected as Too Butch

Ben Townley May 5, 2004
The rules of asylum have recently come under greater scrutiny, given their subjective nature. It is up to the applicant to prove to the host country that he or she deserves refuge, but it is fundamentally up to the host country to choose whether the applicant's reasons are sufficient – and this often brings out certain stereotypes and prejudices. A court case in Canada illustrates the...

How Far East Can Europe Go?

Shada Islam May 3, 2004
As the celebrations over the expansion of the European Union die down, debates over the next big expansion proposal are sure to heat up. Talks on Turkey's entry into the European Union, however, won't be limited to a simple discussion of the economic benefits of regional consolidation. To some, letting Turkey - an Islamic nation that has been accused of human rights abuses - into the...

Ranking the Rich 2004

May 3, 2004
The process of helping developing nations is a lot more complex than simply giving foreign aid via public and private donors. Richer nations can benefit or harm poorer nations through policies on security, aid, immigration, environment, technology and trade. In an effort to rate which programs work and which do not, Foreign Policy Magazine and the Center for Global Development (CGD) have...

Some Lost Jobs Never Leave Home

Jessica M. Vaughan May 2, 2004
With global trade expanding to all sectors, the US is now witnessing not just its goods being produced abroad, but increasingly, services as well. Many American companies, seeing the advantages of hiring foreign workers, have moved a step further – instead of moving service centers abroad, many companies are now importing foreign professionals into the US to do the job. This kind of outsourcing...

Inflows to the East are a Problem Too

Luke Allnutt April 20, 2004
While Western Europe worries about droves of people pouring across their borders from the newest members of the European Union, immigration into Eastern Europe goes unnoticed. But there are already signs that countries such as the Czech Republic, Slovenia, and Hungary are shifting from states of net emigration to ones combining emigration, immigration, and transit, according to a recent survey by...

SKBRI Not Required by Chinese: Megawati

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja April 15, 2004
Historically, Indonesian laws have reflected a pervasive worry about Chinese influence. It was not until 2000 that then-president Abdurrahman Wahid revoked laws prohibiting the display of Chinese culture and restricting the movement of Chinese-Indonesians. In spite of these changes, Indonesians of Chinese descent often complain that they are asked to produce special identification when applying...