Andrea Downer, Gleaner Writer

The Foreign Affairs Ministry has raised concerns about the large number of skilled professionals from developing countries who are being recruited by wealthier nations.

Minister of Foreign Affairs, Senator Anthony Hylton, who was speaking at the launch of the State of World Population 2006 Report yesterday, said if the current migratory trend continues, it would have devastating effects on poor countries.

Senator Hylton said trained workers from developing countries like Jamaica are being specifically targeted by developed countries for reasons other than their expertise in their career field.

"By recruiting (skilled workers) from developing countries, developing countries avoid the significant costs of training (these personnel), Senator Hylton declared. "Their first choice will not be the newly trained, but the more experienced professional," he continued.

Good for developed countries

According to Hylton, while this strategy might be good for the developed countries, it will worsen the already "devastating" situation in some impoverished countries. He proposed that major developed countries should put in place more sensitive, balanced and equitable international and national policies in order to avoid increasing the factor which stimulate migration.

"Policies that enrich already wealthy countries and (make) impoverished countries even poorer, are a recipe for disaster," he warned.

Senator Hylton rejected claims made in the UNFPA report that Canada and the United Kingdom are supporting source countries for trained professionals from Jamaica and Africa to train more teachers and nurses to help offset the negative impact of the brain drain.

"We are unaware of this support," Senator Hylton stated. "As important as remittances are to Jamaica's (economy), that does not represent compensation for the loss of our trained personnel," he continued.

In 2003 the Ministry of Health estimated that 58 per cent of nursing positions in the island were vacant.

The UNFPA report pointed to World Bank estimates that in 2005, US$167 billion in remittances was sent to developing countries by migrants.