ECOSOC: The Pain of Brain Drain

By: Rhia Nagale

While attempting to propose resolutions on the issue of brain drain in the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) committee, disagreements occurred between developing and developed countries. Divided, the developing and smaller developed nations formed separate blocks from the larger developed nations.

Brain drain, a problem primarily for developing nations, takes place when highly educated people leave the underdeveloped nations for more prosperous opportunities in developed nations, Japan said.

Specifically, “[i]n Japan, our wages haven’t increased in three decades despite inflation, so it’s difficult to keep people in our country,” Japan said. To solve this issue, Japan is working on a resolution paper titled, “Sources need Workforces.” The main contributors include Belgium, Albania, Ghana, and Lebanon.

“We’re all just trying to solve a lot of problems like lack of education and lack of support for research projects and scientific innovations,” Japan said. “In our resolution, we are expanding education programs [and] giving people grants to get education and for research programs. All the big developed countries have very differing opinions because they benefit from brain drain.”

France, a developed country, worked primarily with other developed nations to outline a plan named the “Visa Development Program” that focuses on collaboration between other countries.

“This [program] allows for global cooperation between source and host countries to allow their countries to enter ours,” France said in a moderated caucus. “The developed nations do not want to enforce and infringe on the sovereignty of the developing nations. We want to make sure that source nations have adequate resources in their own country to keep their people in their country.” 

In the paper, the sponsors emphasize the necessity of temporary immigrant workers versus permanent workers in developed nations. To enforce this, the developed countries recommend outlining time limits for the work visas issued to immigrants. Later in committee, this working paper eventually developed into an eight clause resolution entitled “Plug the Drain” that dedicates one clause to the Visa Development Program.

“We do not want to infringe on anyone’s right and sovereignty and we do not want to take away the economic growth each country rightfully deserves,” France said. 

In comparison, the resolution Japan aided in drafting continues to define opportunities for grants and funding along with other solutions that target the source countries of brain drain.