Thought Leadership

by Dr Hussain Farooq, President, HF Corporation

CAN WE ACHIEVE GLOBALISATION IN THE TRUE SENSE WITHOUT FREEDOM OF MOVEMENT?

The world we are living in has indeed become a global village. The 20th century saw a rapid increase in one trend — that of globalisation. Communication and travelling became easier. Countries joined forces to form inter-governmental organisations. The establishment of supranational organisations such as the European Union (EU), Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), Caribbean Community (CARICOM), and Organisation of African Unity (OAU) led to closer integration of regional countries. The EU set an example in terms of regional cooperation by not only allowing free trade between the member states, but also by affording undeniable rights of settlement to nationals of one member state into another. The initial years of the 21st century witnessed globalisation at an even greater pace with businesses expanding at an exponential rate. Social media platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and LinkedIn played a great role in connecting people across the world.

However, despite all these advancements and international cooperation, we still witness major differences in the value of nationalities of different countries. For some nationalities, this value continues to rise, while it maintains a downward trend for certain other nationalities. Some economies continue to grow at exponential rates, while economies of some developed countries are bracing for economic slowdown in the coming times.

Passport holders of certain countries continue to enjoy everincreasing privileges of visa-free travel while international travel continues to become even more cumbersome for nationals of some countries.

‘African trade meeting has no Africans after US visa denials’, was one of the most important pieces of news published in Voice of America on March 17 2019. The news, later reported by many other widely read publications, including The Guardian and The Independent, may have come as a surprise to some in the so-called developed world, but to people in Africa and certain Asian countries this is their everyday story.

Approximately 350,000 babies are born each day around the world - according to a UNICEF estimate - with most of these births taking place in Asian and African countries. A newborn doesn’t get to choose their place of birth, but this, along with their parents’ citizenship, is one of the prime factors in determining the newborn’s nationality.

At international borders, individuals are treated not on the basis of their talent but on the basis of their nationality - something which is beyond the control of an individual. Let’s analyse some real-life situations:

An exporter from a South Asian country sends a textile shipment to his buyer in East Asia. The shipment reaches its final port, but for some reason the buyer refuses to pick up the shipment and the shipment gets stuck at the port of entry. To resolve the matter, the exporter decides to travel to that East Asian country. However, it takes him more than a month to do so, just because his passport doesn’t allow him visa-free access to the destination country, and processing of his visa application takes around 30 days.

Passport holders of certain countries continue to enjoy everincreasing privileges of visa-free travel while international travel continues to become even more cumbersome for nationals of some countries.

Now take the situation of a dentist from a Middle Eastern country who decides to attend an advanced dental course in London. To attend this course, the gentleman needs to get a UK visa first, but there is no British Embassy or High Commission in his home country. Upon enquiring, he finds out that in order to apply for the UK visa he must visit the British High Commission in his neighbouring country. But the problem doesn’t stop there; in order to visit the neighbouring country, he first must apply for its visa and only after acquiring a visa from that country, he can visit the High Commission. His fellows from the so-called developed world could simply book a flight to London without going through any visa difficulties. The gentleman, in pursuit of acquiring excellence in his field, finally goes through all the hassle. He, however, can never forget this cumbersome process and starts exploring an alternate citizenship solution for himself and, most importantly, for his children.

Borders are not the problem. The problem arises when geographical borders become boundaries.

According to Article 1 and Article 2 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) by the UN, all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights, and no distinction shall be made on the basis of political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs. However, despite all the talks of justice, equality and globalisation, the individuals at international borders are not treated equally.

The question is: can we achieve globalisation in the true sense without freedom of movement?

We are already experiencing a reverse trend of globalisation in the past few years. The global financial crisis, and the power of populist electioneering — Brexit, elections in the US and in some developed European countries — have contributed an anti-global tinge to our world; the extent of which is debatable.

Global citizenship currently seems like a far-fetched idea, but alternatives to global citizenship - in the form of dual or multiple citizenship - are very much practical. A growing number of individuals are willing to trade their skills or investments in return for a better citizenship and, by extension, a better passport – and this class of aspiring global citizens is fuelling the multi-billion-dollar citizenship by investment bonanza from the Caribbean, to Europe and the Pacific.