Geographic Brain Drain - HagaMUN – 6,7 and 8 March 2020

 General Assembly Third CommitteeDecreasing the ‘Brain Drain”6th, 7th and 8th of March 2020Gymnasium Haganum, The HagueForum: General Assembly Third CommitteeIssue:Decreasing the ‘Brain Drain”Student Officer:Mert GurerPosition:President ChairIntroductionEach year there are over 180.000 well-educated individuals leaving their country of origin due to a poor job market or oppressive social conditions. In the year 2000, 65 million people were economically active outside their own country and over 60% of them were classed as ‘high-skilled’. This human capital flight, also known as ‘Brain Drain’, has been a rising issue for many developing countries. Although the emigration of the leaving professionals has contributed skilled labour to the receiving country, also known as ‘Brain Gain’, it is commonly known that the developed countries do not need the rise of skilled labour as much as the developing countries. However in some cases human capital flight has some benefits for the countries of origin due to remittances and return migration of individuals that have seen a growth in skills.The first reported case of human capital flight was in the late 1940’s when European medicals found it much more attractive to move to North-America then stay in Europe after World War 2. The Royal Society first used the term ‘Brain Drain’ in 1963 when British scientists migrated to the United States of America wounding the British government and their economy. It eventually became a term to describe the emigration of professionals from Third World countries.Serious concerns came in the early-90’s after the fall of the Soviet Union when an huge brain drain started from the Eastern European countries and since then brain drain has been present all around the world affecting African and South-East Asian countries the most. Human capital flight has reached an all time high and not enough actions have been taken to combat this issue. Prejudicing about 100 countries, it has become a serious case on world scale and it should therefore be gazed at with all attention needed.Definition of Key TermsGeographic Brain DrainGeographic brain drain happens when talented professionals flee one country or region within a country in favour of another due to environmental issues or unsafe areas they find themselves anizational/Industrial Brain Drain Organizational brain drain involves the mass exodus of talented workers from a company, often because they sense instability, a?lack of opportunity within the company, or they may feel that they can realize their career goals more easily at another company.Human CapitalThe skills, knowledge, and experience possessed by an individual or population, viewed in terms of their value or cost to an organization or country. Push factorsCertain reasons that force the individual to move voluntarily, and in many cases, they are forced because the individual risks something if they stay.Pull factorsCertain reasons that motivate people and make them feel tempted to move to a different country or region. It is the opposite of a push factor. Background InformationBrain Drain is an essential part of the globalization process, with the abandonments of many high-skilled workers from source countries being a common matter in today’s world. Brain Drain suggests an unequal distribution of advantages and disadvantages of global migration. However, this unequal distribution could effectively be reverted if immediate action is taken. There are many more problems rising with the abandonments of human capital, which can be divided into two main categories.The first category contains economical problems. In a world where the rich become richer and the poor become poorer, human capital flight is further enlarging the differences of these classes. With the developing countries already struggling with their economies, they have to deal with the mass exportation of individuals, who were contributing largely to their country’s gross domestic product. Main reasons include higher income and better opportunities in the developed countries. In addition to that, the individuals moving into the developed countries now contribute to the gross domestic product of an economy that is already prosperous, thus further widening the difference of the GDP among countries. This course of action could lead to many more skilled individuals leaving their country of origin due to the negative effects the human capital flight has on the living conditions. Similarly, international wage gaps are the most important pull factor for individuals to emigrate, resulting in a vicious circle. Subsequently there’s less tax revenue, because of losing income tax, which results in a rise in dependency ratio (the number of pensioners to the working-age population).The second category contains professional/social problems. Because of remittances, sent by the emigrated individuals, family members in the country of origin will be less productive and less competitive due to a rise in their wages. This will result in businesses and industries losing their employees. Japan is a great example of an economy suffering from aging demographics and as an economic result there is a decline happening in their gross domestic product. A country could also lose potential entrepreneurs. This is especially bad, because those people could set up a business contributing to the economy of their country and creating employment. One of the more social issues is that families and friends see relatives migrate to another country, which could result in social gaps in their environment and in the worst case: their demotivation to work or be socially active. Educational systems were also affected by the widespread international migration of professionals and skilled workers. These migration patterns influenced and were influenced by educational developments in several ways. They were the result of systems that did not meet a country’s labour requirements. The outflows further reduced existing standards, because migrants included the most qualified teachers, especially those with vocational and technical skills. Moreover, the attraction of working abroad was so strong that many persons chose schools and subjects in order to?enhance?their potential for migration, regardless of the domestic demand. Thus, domestic educational systems became geared to meet the needs of other societies while domestic employment needs were neglected.However recent developments in the migration literature have identified a series of positive feedback effects. It is demonstrated that increased migration prospects for the skilled could stimulate more human capital formation, thanks to higher expected returns to education. Thus, countries with low-skilled emigration see their ex-post human capital stocks increase as a result. Furthermore, the dispersion at the destination countries may reduce information-related investments risks and is shown to branch foreign direct investment at the origin countries. It is also notable to look at the differences in net flow of mobile students by country over the past period of time. Recent studies from 2015 show that The United States of America is by far the biggest net receiver when it comes to student inflow and outflow. Subtracting one from another you will see the USA being moved in by 800.000 students, thus benefiting from a clear ‘Brain Gain’. On the flip side, China is by far the biggest net sender of mobile students, with a net flow of 700.000 students. Major Countries and Organizations InvolvedChina China is the one of the biggest countries being negatively affected by human capital flight. Massive amounts of students coming from China have chosen to study abroad. However China appears to have successfully reversed a ‘’brain drain’’ among high-skilled individuals who have gone overseas in droves for years. Now many of China’s best and brightest individuals are staying put, as higher pay packages and changing perceptions of domestic scientists and researchers increase the appeal of local jobs.African UnionThe tough living conditions for some African countries, such as low salary, political instability, war areas and spreading diseases have been the main cause for the massive brain drain happening at the moment. It has been estimated more African scientists and engineers live in the United States of America and the United Kingdom than anywhere else in the world.United States of America Probably one of the biggest countries that saw the benefits of ‘’Brain Gain’. The United States of America has been the dream destination of many scientists and researchers from foreign countries. Although the United States of America has a net influx of talented, well-educated individuals, the risk is always there for the United States to also suffer from human capital flight due to recent policies.South Eastern Asia Treaty Organization Just like most Third World countries, Southern Asian countries also suffer from human capital flight. But the loss is not as significantly high as other countries around the world and some countries have devised tactics to receive benefits from human capital flight. The government of India for example has convinced Indian experts living abroad to send a portion of their profits back to help India with sustaining their economy and starting up new projects. Timeline of EventsThe timeline of events below a progression of major events that have occurred when regarding the issue of brain drain of human capital:DateDescription of event1945 – 1975The emigration of many medicals from Europe has seen the World Health Organization set up a detailed report in the late 70’s, which concluded that over 90% of medicals that emigrated from Europe moved to North AmericaJanuary 28th, 1991November 29th, 20121990 – present The fall of the Soviet Union has seen the emigration of many highly skilled individuals from the Eastern European countries, which had gained sovereignty.The meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) produces thoughtful discussions on the question of brain drain. Some 900.000 highly skilled professionals, mainly IT workers, from India, China, Russia and a few OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries (including Canada, the UK and Germany) have migrated to the United States under the H1B temporary visa programme. The United States also takes in 32% of all foreign students studying in the OECD countries.?Relevant UN Treaties and EventsHere is a list of relevant UN Treaties and Events:World Health Organization publishes: The World Health Report 2006 – Working Together for HealthMaximizing the development impact of remittances, November 29th, 2012Office of the United Nation High Commissioner for Human Rights: The international Convention on Migrant Workers and its CommitteePrevious Attempts to solve the IssueThere have not been many attempts in the past to solve the issue, due to many countries not recognizing how great of an effect this problem has on their economies. There is a theory of many countries unintentionally providing a nationalistic point of view to high-skilled individuals on where to work or live the rest of their lives, which maybe resulted into many high-skilled individuals staying in their country of origin. However there has been no further research of this theory.In previous attempts there have been many events of governments (such as those from China and North Korea) to reduce the human capital flight by restricting mobility towards the abroad, however this is not a recommended way of putting measures in place to reduce the human capital flight, due to limiting the freedom of civilians, which would be against the constitution. Furthermore, The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has set up the Reintegration of Qualified African Nations (RQAN) in 1995. It was a programme with duration of 5 years, which helped eleven target countries in Africa with their emigration problems. One of their goals was to enhance the role and utilisation of highly qualified and skilled African personnel in the development process of participating countries. In their programme they identified priority employment sectors to be strengthened, including self-employment opportunities as well as other main activities.Possible SolutionsIt is with up most pleasure and relief to say that there are a variety of possible solutions that help reduce the further Brain Drain. First of all, the affected country could set up a network with emigrated men and women to prevent communication loss and help to regain contact, in hopes of receiving remittances for family members. Second of all, setting up a local skilled workforce could help high-tech companies to branch and convince individuals to stay in their home country. And last but not least, there could be an investment in effective infrastructure, such as building science parks, that would have close relations with universities and their soon to become graduate students. Another idea of investing in infrastructure would be improving the living conditions of many high-skilled individuals by means as providing areas of entertainment or showing an image of a future habitable environment. However, these ideas would only individually affect countries. And since developed countries would have a tough time setting up programmes such as the above, due to financial reasons, there has been international cooperation between the countries of origin and the countries of destination to limit the damage of Brain Drain. Bibliography ................
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