Social Justice in an Open World: The Role of the United Nations
asylum that were often difficult to distinguish from demands for work, and these circumstances, together with the almost concomitant collapse of the Soviet Union and the opening of borders for a large number of Central European countries, provided an added rationale for the adoption of policies by affluent countries to restrict the entry of asylum-seekers and new migrants seeking employment. Borders have been tightened further in recent years owing to the growing fear of terrorism, which has been used to justify the application of restrictive and sometimes discriminatory policies. The imposition of policies restricting the entry of new migrants is often accompanied by claims of determined efforts to integrate already established immigrants. Some countries grant foreigners the right to participate in local elections. Legislation allowing or denying foreigners the right to acquire nationality varies enormously, but the present trend is not towards greater liberalism. Host countries, in developing and implementing relevant national policies, are confronted with difficult issues relating to social cohesion, a sine qua non for any society. Examples of harmonious integration and coexistence are paralleled and often obscured by examples of fractured and divided communities, discrimination, exploitation and racism. Developed countries are linked to developing countries through their aid and development policies. Although the overall political rationale for bilateral and multilateral cooperation for development remains the closing of the economic gap between developed and developing countries through various forms of solidarity and the rearrangement of international econornic relations, an explicit connection is sometimes made between the provision of aid and technical assistance and the lessening of the pressure for emigration. This issue is not as straightforward as it might seem. There is evidence that candidates for emigration come from communities that have been lifted out of absolute poverty and isolation; it is only after decades of overall development that nationals can find sufficient work and income opportunities at home to balance the perceived advantages of moving abroad. Most developing countries with high levels of emigration do not try to limit the freedom of movement of their citizens. Some of them restrict the emigration of women, a policy based on arguments of protection that sometimes provokes allegations of unjustified discrimination. In countries receiving substantial migrant remittances, there has lately been somewhat less emphasis on the problems caused by the brain drain. Migrant workers, asylum-seekers, and other international migrants are often compelled to travel through transit countries on their way to their final destinations. Those migrants without the appropriate documentation exist in a legal vacuum, and transit countries are a privileged field of operation for smugglers and traffickers. Some of these countries are themselves the destinations of migrant workers and asylum-seekers are in the difficult situation of having to elaborate different policies