Please note - this is a temporary window. id21 is joining forces with Eldis and therefore the id21 website has been suspended. Soon all id21 content will be available on the Eldis website.

Can migrant remittances help rebuild conflict-affected states?

An important component of peace-building is maintenance of livelihoods during conflict and to ensure sustainable post-conflict recovery. The role of private individual support to war-torn communities is little researched and poorly understood by those who plan peace-building programmes and post-conflict assistance strategies.

A paper produced by the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University in the US and International Peace Academy focuses on what is known about how migrant diasporas and their networks bring remittance funds, communications technologies and other forms of support to individuals, families and communities in politically and economically troubled environments. The study aims to explore the fields from which useful knowledge can be found. These include migrant remittance patterns, diaspora communities and their global links, peace building and post-conflict recovery, and studies of migrant support for conflict.

Migrants transfer funds and invest in their countries of origin at times when international investment has disappeared. Remittances have been vital for peace and rebuilding in such conflict-affected countries as Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Somalia, Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire.

Remittances are private inputs that serve as insurance mechanisms. When conflicts erupt they may help limit the scale of displacement. Remittances support people who cannot, or do not choose to, leave because leaving carries the prospect of losing everything. Remittance income reaches social sectors that international assistance usually misses. Recipients may use it for health, education, improvement in nutrition and housing or, sometimes, to sustain productive enterprises.

Efforts to help remittance flows to conflict states are complicated by anti-terror and anti-crime regulations that effectively block legal money transfers. Many crisis countries and fragile states are indeed places where criminal activities also flourish, but current policies are applied too bluntly. Regulations being imposed on remittance transfer agencies in the interest of security can cause legitimate operators to close down and increase transaction costs for families in dire need of support.

The authors refer to research that shows how:

Funds from the million-strong Sri Lankan diaspora go to poorer refugees and asylum seekers, to the internally displaced and to economically strapped families still at home.
One-third of all families in Somalia receive some form of remittances: diaspora members have pressured warring sub-clan leaders towards peace.
Millions of Afghans have returned home since the fall of the Taliban regime but returning families typically have left one or more members behind – in Iran or Pakistan – as a safety net and income source.
Forced migration and immigrant flows tend to merge: migrations driven by conflict and repression often build on previously existing migrant communities. The refugees then open the way for post-conflict or post-crisis labour migration from the same countries. The international community needs to explore how to help governments more effectively and positively engage with diaspora communities.
Among the points raised that invite further research:
During conflict it is common for families to divide: some remain behind, others get involved in the conflict and others move to safety.
Remittances make serious contributions to building institutional mechanisms and services needed for sustainable post-conflict rebuilding and for the reintegration of war-affected populations.
People of mixed or global identities are enriching host societies and home countries at the same time through their labour power, knowledge and ideas.

Source(s):
‘Remittances in Conflict and Crises: How Remittances Sustain Livelihoods in War, Crises and
Transitions to Peace’, International Peace Academy, by Patricia Weiss Fagen and Micah N. Bump, February 2006 Full document.

Funded by: Rockefeller Foundation and the Governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Luxembourg, Norway and the United Kingdom (Department for International Development)

id21 Research Highlight: 24 January 2007

Further Information:
Patricia Weiss Fagen and Micah N. Bump
Institute for the Study of International Migration
Georgetown University
Harris Building
3300 Whitehaven St NW
Third Floor
Washington, DC 20007, USA

Tel: +1 202 6872258
Fax: +1 202 6872541
Contact the contributor: pwf@georgetown.edu, bumpm@georgetown.edu

Institute for the Study of International Migration, Georgetown University

Security-Development Nexus Program
International Peace Academy
777 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017-352, USA

Tel: +1 212 687-4300
Fax: +1 212 983-8246
Contact the contributor: tschirgi@ipacademy.org

International Peace Academy

Views expressed on these pages are not necessarily those of DfID, IDS, id21 or other contributing institutions. Articles featured on the id21 site may be copied or quoted without restriction provided id21 and originating author(s) and institution(s) are acknowledged. Copyright © 2009 IDS. All rights reserved.

id21 is funded by the UK Department for International Development. id21 is one of a family of knowledge services at the Institute of Development Studies at the University of Sussex. id21 is a www.oneworld.net partner and an affiliate of www.mediachannel.org. IDS is a charitable company, No. 877338.