CAIRO, March 15 (NNN-KUNA) — The Arab League has objected to remarks mentioned in the recent UN Human Development Report 2009 on the way expatriate workers are treated in some Arab countries.

Such remarks have apparently relied upon unreliable and inaccurate information, said Assistant Secretary-General of the Arab League for Social Affairs Sima Bahouth during a ceremony held here to mark the launching of the UN Human Development Report (HDR09), titled ” Overcoming Barriers: Human Mobility and Development”. Sunday.

Relevant information should be checked and verified given that Arab countries are continuously seeking to revamp their policies in this field, she said, hoping that a seminar to be held following the launching of the report would be a good opportunity for promoting an Arab vision in this respect.

“It would be an opportunity for focusing on the priorities of our Arab region and on practical recommendations for shoring up sustained Arab efforts for developing Arab policies in the domains of migration, workers and development,” she said.

The Arab region is very influential in human mobility due to immigration among Arab countries or migration to them, she added.

On account of diverse and interlinked impacts of human movement patterns in the Arab region, the Secretariat of the Arab League has attached much attention to the phenomenon of human movement and relevant development reflections, mainly on human capital, the Arab League’s official remarked.

The League has released scientific reports for reformulating migration policies in order to serve national development and Arab regional integration with a view to spurring experts concerned to ponder over the dimensions of migration and its national and regional developments, Bahouth pointed out.

The UN report said human development is about putting people at the centre of development. It is about people realising their potential, increasing their choices and enjoying the freedom to lead lives they value.

Migration, both within and beyond borders, has become an increasingly prominent theme in domestic and international debates, and is the topic of the HDR09.

The report investigates migration in the context of demographic changes and trends in both growth and inequality. It also presents more detailed and nuanced individual, family and village experiences, and explores less visible movements typically pursued by disadvantaged groups such as short-term and seasonal migration.

– NNN-KUNA

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