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Towards a formulation of the Republic of Korea’s foreign worker policy: Lessons from Japan and Germany
On 15 June 2003 some 700 migrant workers in the Republic of Korea gathered in front of the National Assembly building calling for a complete overhaul of the Foreigner Industrial Training and Employment programme (oekukin sanup yonsu chwiup jedo) and demanding an employ permit system (goyonghogaje) to replace it (Chosun Ilbo 2003). After the Republic of Korea experienced a tremendous labour shortage in the late-1980s the Government implemented the industrial trainee system in 1991. Lacking the experience in managing the flow of foreign workers the Republic of Korea established the Japanese version of the immigrant labour scheme providing ostensibly transferable skills to foreigners. That programme however produced inordinate number of undocumented workers and created unacceptable conditions for foreign workers in the country. Those trainees were cheap labourers in disguise. In response the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the country advocated persistently for a major reform of the system focusing on the deleterious effects of the trainee system and considering various guestworker models from countries in Europe. This article examines international contract labour programmes from Japan and Germany in order to provide a desirable framework for the foreign worker policy of the Republic of Korea.
Does economic inequality matter in cases of infectious childhood diseases? An analysis for India
Although remarkable declines in infant and child mortality have been observed in developing countries during the last quarter of the twentieth century the incidence and the prevalence of infectious diseases among children under five years of age still persist at an alarmingly high level especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asian countries in the ESCAP region. Over two thirds of the estimated 3.7 million deaths of children in South Asia in the year 2000 were attributable to infections such as pneumonia (acute respiratory infections) diarrhoea and measles (UNICEF 2004; Black Morris and Bryce 2003). In India diarrhoea acute respiratory infections tuberculosis and chronic hepatitis continue to threaten the lives of millions of children.
Unintended pregnancies in the Islamic Republic of Iran: Levels and correlates
The first family planning programme in the Islamic Republic of Iran started in 1966 and continued until the 1979 Islamic Revolution. The programme only slightly affected fertility. During the period 1966-1976 the population of the Islamic Republic of Iran experienced a modest fertility decline but this was restricted to urban areas (Mirzaie 1998; Aghajanian and Mehryar 1999). Shortly after the Revolution the family planning programme was suspended although the provision of family planning services continued. In addition the new Government adopted a pronatalist approach encouraging earlier marriage in the society. The eight-year war with Iraq also created a pronatalist atmosphere in the Islamic Republic of Iran. A rationing system was introduced for food and basic necessities and this was helpful to large families. Two years after the revelation of the high population growth rate by the 1986 Census the government population policy was reversed and a new antinatalist programme was officially inaugurated in December 1989. The details of this fundamental policy reversal and its success in such a short period of time have been elaborated elsewhere (Aghajanian 1995; Mehryar and others 2001; Abbasi-Shavazi 2000a 2002a; Abbasi-Shavazi and others 2002; Kaveh-Firouz 2002).
Fertility transition in Bangladesh: Trends and determinants
In the late 1970s there was a consensus that pronounced fertility declines had occurred in many developing countries (Dyson and Murphy 1985; Knodel 1984). Bangladesh however was an exception and even if some changes in fertility did take place any analysis of those changes would be severely hampered owing to the poor quality and unreliability of its data. Nonetheless because of recent improvements in data quality particularly since the middle of the last decade it is possible to examine trends in fertility patterns for the period 1975 -1985. However some data from earlier periods are also used for drawing conclusions. Note should be taken of the fact that these data have specific methodological problems that raise questions about their comparability over time and cross-sectionally. Therefore caution must be exercised in interpreting the estimates.
Internal migration policies in the ESCAP region
The movement of people between various regions of a country is one of the most important processes shaping its settlement system the spatial structure of its economy and the spread of sociocultural attributes over its national territory. Because it assumes such a significant role internal migration has been the focus of long-standing attention by those involved in policy-making and public interventions.
Population and development
Efforts to integrate population and development planning are based on the recognition that population and development are interrelated: population variables influence development variables and are influenced by them.
Socio-economic development and mortality patterns and trends in Malaysia
Mortality in Peninsular Malaysia has reached a level which is quite similar to that prevailing in the low mortality countries (World Health Organization 1982: 17). As in countries such as China Japan Singapore and Sri Lanka neoplasms and cardiovascular diseases which previously had been minor causes of death in Malaysia have become important in recent years (World Health Organization 1982: 20).
Assessment of fertility behaviour change in the sociocultural context of Pakistan: Implications for the population programme
The process of change in fertility behaviour has been explained by social scientists in a variety of contexts. They give diverse interpretations of the reasons underlying these changes. A number of theories and arguments put forward on the subject contend that the level of socio-economic development on one hand and the quality of family planning services on the other are primarily responsible for reducing fertility levels in a society. The available literature however suggests that social values and cultural precepts play an important role in shaping the reproductive attitudes of couples and that this factor ultimately affects fertility outcomes. Hence it is important that in developing programme strategies the local social and cultural context of the setting being studied be taken into account (Coale 1973; Pollak and Watkins 1993; Sultan Cleland and Ali 2002 and Stephenson and Hennink 2004).
Why is funding for population activities declining?
The sexual and reproductive health community heralded the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) held in 1994 at Cairo as a new dawn in reproductive rights. ICPD saw a seismic shift in the way we look at reproductive health away from the narrow confines of family planning and demographic targets to the broader areas of women’s empowerment and young people’s reproductive health needs. Most importantly ICPD strengthened the concepts of “rights” and “choice” as the backbone of reproductive health. But many of the declarations hailed at the time remain just that – declarations. Many of the positive changes mooted at the Conference have not been implemented. No doubt this is partly owing to a lack of political resolve – particularly around sensitive issues of young people’s sexual rights and abortion – but also crucially a lack of financial will.
Population aging in Japan, with reference to China
The 1980s may be characterized by two demographic issues which are receiving rapidly increasing attention.
Nutritional status of children in north-east India
Undernutrition in children is the consequence of a range of factors which are often related to insufficient food intake poor food quality and severe and repeated infectious diseases. The inadequacy is relative to the food and nutrients needed to maintain good health provide for growth and allow a level of physical activity (National Nutrition Policy Government of India 1993). Widespread poverty resulting in chronic and persistent hunger is the biggest scourge of the developing world today. Poverty in turn is closely linked to the overall standard of living and whether a population can meet its basic needs such as access to food housing health care and education. This intersectoral and interrelated cause of undernutrition operates at many levels from the community at large to the household and children within households. Undernutrition is often cited as an important factor contributing to high morbidity and mortality among children in developing countries (Sommer and Loewenstein 1975; Chen Chowdury and Huffman 1980; Vella and others 1992a 1992b). Undernutrition during childhood can also affect growth potential and risk of morbidity and mortality in later years of life.
Fertility decline, family size and female discrimination: A study of reproductive management in East and South Asia
Contrary to demographic expectations and in defiance of historical experience elsewhere widespread and continuing son preference in much of Asia has not proved to be an impediment to progressive or rapid fertility decline. Indeed one of the most significant features of the twentieth century has been the dramatic decline in fertility and explicit preference for smaller families in much of East and South Asia which far from reducing has exacerbated son preference leading to increased discrimination against daughters. An examination of the masculinity rates sex ratios at birth and gender-disaggregated infant and child mortality rates all point to excess female mortality in most East and South Asian societies. A study of demographic narratives for each country suggests that region-wide there is an increasing tension or conflict between preferred family size and preferred family-sex composition which is only resolved by intensified reproductive management technological intervention and excess female mortality. Simultaneously ethnographic studies in villages and cities across the region suggest that beliefs and behaviours associated with the management of reproduction are rooted in notions of gender difference complementarity and unsubstimtability. Within the new and now preferred smaller families daughters rarely able to substitute for sons are subject to new trade-offs with daughters more than ever before “taking the place of’ or “limiting opportunities for” sons. This paper summarizes demographic trends in and patterns of female discrimination associated with fertility decline and smaller family size in East and South Asia before turning to ethnographic voices in China and India to investigate and identify the premises or rationales underlying family management of reproduction. Combined demographic and anthropological approaches suggest that there is a demographic development and gendered coherence in East and South Asia combining rapid or progressive fertility decline rising and sometimes rapid economic development and common cultures of gender which have all contributed to an intensification of daughter discrimination.
CNN vs. ABC: A debate not worth continuing!
The debate between the protagonists of the Condoms Needles and Negotiating Skills (CNN) and the Abstinence Be Faithful and Use Condoms (ABC) approaches could go on forever. It is time for the proponents on each side to put aside their differences and begin working together to address the HIV/AIDS pandemic. To claim that ei ther approach is superior to the other is to fail to rec ognize the potential benefits that each approach can have for various individuals communities and cultures. We must recognize that all individuals are different. It is therefore foolish to limit our selves by this “either-or” way of thinking.
Recent trends in international migration in Asia and the Pacific
When the twentieth century came to a close international migration had become part of the region’s economic social and political fabric. As of 2000 there were 49.9 million international migrants in Asia and 5.8 million in Oceania accounting for 29 and 3 per cent respectively of the 175 million international migrants worldwide. Excluding refugees the International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that of the 86 million migrant workers worldwide (ILO 2004:7) some 22. million were economically active in Asia and some 2.2 million in Oceania (27 and 4 per cent respectively).2 Those numbers reflect the relentless migration that accompanied regional integration and the broader process of globalization on the move since the 1970s. By the end of the century several migration systems had become firmly established in South-East Asia East Asia South South-West Asia and North and Central Asia (Battistella 2002; ESCAP 2002). In the Pacific migration from the Pacific Islands to core countries notably Australia and New Zealand has also been a recurrent pattern in the past decades. Thus in the Asian and the Pacific region alike elsewhere in the world international migration has become a structural reality setting in motion the dynamics for further migration in the years to come. As noted by the participants of the Berne Initiative regional consultation for Asia held in Guilin China on 29-30 July 2004 “The debate in Asia of course differs from the one in other regions of the world not least of which is due to the predominant interest on the continent in the issues surrounding labour migration”.
Changing age structure
Two or three decades ago when birth rates were high in most of the countries and areas of the Asian and Pacific region the major emphasis of population policies was on reducing fertility. Government family planning programmes introduced in the 1950s and 1960s combined with sustained socio-economic development resulted in reduced birth rates. The crude birth rate for the region as a whole is estimated to have declined from 40 to 36 per thousand in the period 1970-1975 and to 27 per thousand in the period 1980-1985.
Committee on population
Human resources development and the implications of the changing age structure in the Asian and Pacific region were among the major issues covered at the fifth session of the ESCAP Committee on Population during its meeting at Bangkok from 17 to 21 August 1987.
Female autonomy and fertility: An overview of the situation in South Asia
Fertility in the Asian and Pacific region has been falling with notable uneveness over the past one and half decades and there has been considerable variability in the decline among the subregions. Fertility in the region declined 36.8 per cent from 1960-1965 to 1980-1985 and most of the decline (30.8 per cent) occurred during the period 1970-1975 to 1980-1985.
Menstrual regulation practices in Bangladesh: An unrecognized form of contraception
Menstrual regulation (MR) refers to any chemical mechanical or surgical process used to induce menstruation and thus to establish non-pregnancy either at the time of or within a few weeks of the due date of the menstruation (Population Information Programme 1973; Tietze and Murstein 1975; Dixon-Muller 1988). It involves the vacuum aspiration of the uterine lining and is usually done within few weeks (preferably eight weeks or less) following a missed menstrual period.
Tsunami versus HIV/AIDS: Perception dictates response
On 26 December 2004 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the coast of Indonesia generating a widespread tsunami. The resulting waves some up to 15 meters high reached the heavily populated shores of Indonesia Thailand Sri Lanka India and the east coast of Africa leaving a path of death and destruction in their wake. The final death toll may never be known but it is likely that at least 200000 people lost their lives on that fateful day with some estimates running as high as 280000. Along with lives lost the tsunami destroyed countless livelihoods and made millions of people homeless. Soon after the event in an interview with CNN United Nations Emergency Relief coordinator Jan Egeland summarized the situation: “This may be the worst natural disaster in recent history because it is affecting so many heavily populated coastal areas... so many vulnerable communities”.
Readiness, willingness and ability to use contraception in Bangladesh
In his frequently quoted article Coale (1973) proposes that one weakness of the demographic transition theory is that it indicates a high degree of modernization as sufficient to cause a fall of fertility without indicating the degree of modernization that is necessary. By summarizing the findings of historical studies of European communities Coale proposed three broad conditions necessary for fertility transition. He argued that modernization ultimately establishes these conditions but that they can also occur in communities that have undergone little modernization. Lesthaeghe and Vanderhoeft (1998) later described the three conditions for fertility transition under the heading “readiness” “willingness” and “ability”. Economic readiness means that fertility control must be advantageous to the actor so that fertility is within the calculus of conscious choice. Willingness means that fertility control must be legitimate and normatively acceptable. The basic question addressed by “willingness” is to what extent fertility control runs counter to established traditional beliefs and codes of conduct and to what extent there is a willingness to overcome objections and fears. Ability refers to the availability and accessibility of contraceptive techniques. Similarly Ahmed (1987: 363) applying Easterlin’s supply-demand theory of fertility observes that “studies on contraceptive use most often view three variables-motivation attitude and access-as the key determinants”. Motivation stems from having or expecting to have too many children or having them too soon. Although this has similarity with Coale’s notion of “economic readiness” it does not necessarily capture whether fertility control is economically advantageous to an individual. In this paper the authors name Easterlin’s notion of motivation as simply “readiness” to distinguish it from Coale’s broader notion of “economic readiness”. Attitude refers to broad notions of acceptability of family planning in general and feelings about specific contraceptive methods in particular and is similar to Coale’s notion of willingness. Access or the “costs of fertility regulation” as described by Easterlin (1975) pertains to the availability of contraceptives and selected services and is similar to Coale’s notion of ability.