MANILA - THE financial crisis that has battered most industrialised countries is taking a heavy toll on the world's millions of migrants, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said on Thursday.

And if governments failed to protect the rights of some 200 million migrants who send precious remittances to their homes countries, the world would be in a more precarious condition, Mr Ban said.

'Today, we face a cascade of national financial crises throughout the world. None of our economies are insulated,' Mr Ban told the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila.

He said global growth was slowing, leading to an increase in personal hardship and anxiety with many countries slipping into recession.

'Given these developments, it would be naive to think the current crisis will have no effect on the movement of people across borders, and on how publics perceive migration and the migrants in their midst,' he said.

He said there had been 'mounting evidence' of a significant slowdown in remittance flows, while immigration has also increasingly become a political issue in many countries 'heightening the risk of discrimination.'

'Already migration flows are reversing. In several instances, we are seeing a net outflow from countries facing economic crises,' Mr Ban said, noting that sectors such as construction and tourism have been badly hit.

But instead of imposing measures to curtail migration, governments must intensify cooperation across borders, Mr Ban said. -- AFP