Migrants Play Key Role In Countries Of Destination And Origin - UN

BANGKOK, March 1 (Bernama) -- Migrants from countries across Asia and the Pacific play a key role as development actors, helping to drive Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth in their countries of destination, while also supporting families and communities in their countries of origin. The United Nations (UN) Asia Pacific Migration Report 2015 on "Migrants' Contribution to Development" released Monday, nevertheless said, the benefits of migration remained under-acknowledged. "The Report shows that many migrant workers not only benefit from their migration, but they also contribute to the development of their countries of origin and destination through their work and the remittances they send home," said the report. However, the migrants it said, also encountered hardships and abuses, so action needed to be taken to maximise the benefits by ensuring that migration is orderly, safe, regular and responsible. The report said over 95 million people from Asia-Pacific countries lived outside their countries of birth with the region hosting over 59 million migrants, the majority of them being temporary migrant workers. The Asia-Pacific region also hosts over 5.5 million refugees, and three of the main refugee-hosting countries in the world are in the Asia-Pacific region. --BERNAMA