Mihaela Robila - Eastern European Immigrant Families

Eastern European
Immigrant Families

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49. Eastern European Immigrant Families
Mihaela Robila

Mihaela Robila

First published 2010

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Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Robila, Mihaela.

Eastern European immigrant families / by Mihaela Robila.

p. cm.(Routledge advances in sociology ; 49)

Includes bibliographical references and index.

1. Europe, EasternEmigration and immigration. 2. Europe, CentralEmigration and immigration. 3. Immigrant families. 4. Assimilation (Sociology) I. Title.

JV7597.R63 2009

305.9069120947dc22

2009012021

ISBN10: 0-415-99406-3 (hbk)

ISBN10: 0-203-86991-5 (ebk)

ISBN13: 978-0-415-99406-4 (hbk)

ISBN13: 978-0-203-86991-8 (ebk)

Introduction

Migration is a dynamic and worldwide contemporary process. With an estimated 191 million migrants worldwide in 2007 (176 million in 2000), migration has been a central issue on the agenda for governments and policymakers (www.iom.int, 2007). Migration is the defining issue of the twenty-first century, and as such, the question is no longer whether to have migration, but rather how to manage migration effectively so as to enhance its positive and reduce its negative impacts (McKinley, 2007, p.1). In 1990, the United Nations General Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (UN, 1990, res. 45/158). In response to increased immigration, in 2000, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day (UN, res. 55/93). As such, United Nations Member States, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations are invited to observe International Migrants Day through the dissemination of information on human and migrant rights, and through the design of actions to ensure their protection.

In 2005, in Europe there were 64.1 million migrants, representing 8.8% of the area's population; while North America had 44.5 million migrants, representing 13.5% of the area's population (International Organization for Migration, 2007). In particular, with 38.4 million migrants, the United States hosts the highest number of international migrants (followed by Russian Federation12.1 million, and Germany10.1million) (IOM 2007).

One large immigrant group comes from Eastern Europe (EE), an area that includes the former communist-bloc countries: the Czech and Slovak Republics, Poland, Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Montenegro, the Republic of Macedonia, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Russia. During the communist regime (19451989), emigration from this region was extremely limited, with small waves of Russian Jewish refugees escaping religious persecution. Following the fall of the iron curtain in the late 1980s and early 1990s, Eastern European countries have allowed their residents to emigrate. Inflows of EE immigrants have been increasing, pushed by economic hardships such as high unemployment rates and low wages in their home countries and war in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo. In 2006, there were 4.27 million Eastern European immigrants in the United States, a significant increase from 1.256 million in 1995, among the most numerous groups being those from Russian Federation (444,000), Poles (353,000), Slovakians (218,000), Yugoslavians (154,000), Ukrainians (145,000), Romanians (98,000), and Hungarians (89,000) (Migration Policy Institute, 2009).