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THAILAND / HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT LAUNCH
STORY: THAILAND / HUMAN DEVELOPMENT REPORT LAUNCH
TRT: 2.38
SOURCE: UNDP
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 5 OCTOBER 2009, BANGKOK, THAILAND
1. Tilt down, from flag to exterior of Thai Foreign Ministry
2. Wide shot, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark arriving at Launch
3. Wide shot, Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva greeting Clark
4. Wide shot, meeting between Abhisit Vejjajiva and Helen Clark
5. Med shot, Abhisit Vejjajiva and Helen arriving at HDR launch
6. Wide shot, UNDP Administrator Helen Clark walking up to podium
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Helen Clark, Administrator, UNDP:
“The overriding message of this report is that migration both within and across national borders has the potential to greatly improve human welfare if we get it right. But the barriers that face many migrants can thwart that potential and the report argues that governments should take steps which would help migration advance, not thwart human development”
8. Wide shot, audience
9. Med shot, Abhisit Vejjajiva walkis to podium
10. SOUNDBITE (English) Abhisit Vejjajiva, Thai Prime Minister:
“This Year Human Development Report is indeed timely as it focuses on migration and has innovatively projected the issue through the angel of human development. Migration is by no means a new phenomena, it has been with us ever since the existence of mankind. It is an expression of each individual to seek better opportunities in life; mostly in the pursuit of human rights in the form of peace, education and employment. As Thailand means the land of the free, it is the governments policy to insure that migrants can enjoy there freedom and social welfare in Thailand, while there human rights are dually respected.”
11. Wide shot, audience applauding
Allowing for migration, both within and between countries, has the potential to increase people’s freedom and improve the lives of millions around the world, according to the 2009 Human Development Report launched today in Thailand by UNDP’s Administrator, Helen Clark and Thailand’s Thai Prime Minister, Abhisit Vejjajiva.
The Report, Overcoming barriers: Human mobility and development, demonstrates that migration can enhance human development for the people who move, for destination communities and for those who remain at home.
“The overriding message of this report is that migration both within and across national borders has the potential to greatly improve human welfare, if we get it right” United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Administrator Helen Clark said.
“But the barriers that face many migrants can thwart that potential and the report argues that governments should take steps which would help migration advance, not thwart human development” Clark added.
The country’s Prime Minister said that as Thailand meant the land of the free, it was the governments policy to insure that migrants could enjoy there freedom and social welfare in Thailand, while their human rights were dually respected.
This was the latest publication in a series of global Human Development Reports, which aim to frame debates on some of the most pressing challenges facing humanity, from climate change to human rights. It is an independent report commissioned by UNDP.
The findings in the report cast new light on some common misconceptions. Most migrants do not cross national borders, but instead move within their own country: 740 million people are internal migrants, almost four times the number of international migrants. Among international migrants, less than 30 percent move from developing to developed countries. For example, only three percent of Africans live outside their country of birth.
The authors demonstrate that the gains to people who move can be enormous. Research found that migrants from the poorest countries, on average, experienced a 15-fold increase in income, a doubling of school enrolment rates and a 16-fold reduction in child mortality after moving to a developed country.
The Report also argues that the exodus of highly skilled workers such as doctors, nurses and teachers, a major concern of a number of developing countries that are losing these professionals, is more a symptom rather than a cause of failing public systems.
The world recession has quickly become a jobs crisis, and a jobs crisis is generally bad news for migrants. In a number of areas, the number of new migrants is down, while some destination countries are taking steps to encourage or compel migrants to leave. But now is the time for action, the Report argues.
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