Joint Initiative
by December 18 and Migrants Rights International.
MIGRANT.NEWS, Issue 75, 1
October 2003
Migrant Workers Convention: Creation of the Committee of Experts
On July 3, 2003, all 22
States Parties were invited by the Office of the UNHCHR to submit the name of
their national candidate for the Committee of Experts. To date only 10
countries presented a candidate. The final election is scheduled for the second
week of December 2003 in New York. On the same occasion, the Chairman of the
meeting will choose by lot the names of the five members whose term will expire
at the end of two years. The remaining five will serve for a term of four
years. Once the Committee is
set up, elections are held every second year.
List of candidates
nominated by States Parties (As at 19 September 2003). Their CVs will be made
publicly available by the end of October.
Mr. Francisco ALBA Mexico
Mr. Jose Serrano BRILLANTES Philippines
Mr Francisco CARRIÓN-MENA Ecuador
Ms. Ana Elizabeth CUBIAS MEDINA El
Salvador
Ms. Anamaría DIEGUEZ Guatemala
Mr. Ahmed Hassan EL-BORAI Egypt
Mr. Abdelhamid EL JAMRI Morocco
Mr. Arthur Shatto GAKWANDI Uganda
Mr. Prasad KARIYAWASAM Sri
Lanka
Mr. Azad TAGHIZADE Azerbaijan
NGOs and the Migrant Workers’ Convention
Human Rights Watch: World Bank Should Promote
Treaty to Protect Migrants, 19/09/03
Human Rights Watch called on the World
Bank to encourage states that send or receive migrants to adopt and implement
the protections contained in the Migrant Workers’ Convention. The Bank could
help governments regulate migration and employment agencies to combat
trafficking, exploitation and abuse.
To read Human Rights Watch’s letter to World Bank
President James Wolfensohn, please see:
http://hrw.org/press/2003/09/migrant091803-ltr.htm
Creation of an NGO Group for the UN Migrant Workers’ Convention
December 18 is working on a proposal for the creation of an NGO Group for the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families. Organisations wishing to become involved or support this initiative can contact us directly, so that we can provide them with further information and start a discussion on how to work together.
UNIFEM and
migrant workers
The
UNIFEM Regional Programme on Empowering Women Migrant Workers in Asia won first
prize from the 2003 Arab Gulf Programme for United Nations Development
Organizations (AGFUND) in the category dedicated
for projects implemented by international and regional organizations in the
field of “Rehabilitation and employment of refugees and displaced people.”
The programme seeks
to empower women migrant workers by promoting new policies, dialogue and
collaboration between source and destination countries, and providing capacity
building opportunities for migrant women themselves, especially in the area of
savings and investment. It
includes initiatives for advocacy on ratifying the UN Convention on the
Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Their Families.. See
http://www.unifem-eseasia.org/agfund.htm
http://www.unifem-eseasia.org/Projects/MigrantWorkersRegional.htm
Inter-American Court on
Human Rights and undocumented migrants
On September 17, 2003, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights
issued the following "Condición Jurídica y Derechos De Los Migrantes
Indocumentados", a legal
instrument to enforce the protection of the human rights of undocumented
migrants. Only in Spanish.
http://www.corteidh.or.cr/SERIE_A/Serie_a_18_esp.doc
Join the December 18 team
You stand for equal rights, have spare
time and an easy access to the Internet! Join the December 18 team. We are 20
volunteers from different backgrounds and origins, living in Argentina,
Australia, Belgium, France, Italy, Panama, Spain, Sweden and the UK. We need
more bright minds and fast hands to prepare the launch of our new
database-driven site. We are in particular in need of native French, Italian
and Dutch speakers with a good knowledge of English. For more details, please
contact us info@december18.net.
International Calendar
Immigrant Workers Freedom Ride
http://www.iwfr.org/default.asp
Date: 20 September – 4 October 2003
Inspired by the Freedom Riders of the Civil Rights
Movement, immigrant workers and their allies will set out from eight major U.S.
cities and cross the country in buses in late September 2003. They will
converge on Washington, D.C. to meet with members of Congress and then travel
to New York City for a mass rally on October 4, 2003.
Youth and Migration Seminar
Date: 29 September to 3 October
2003
The seminar organised by El Taller will
seek to deepen the understanding of the root causes of migration and
displacement in the context of new global trends through the eyes of youth with
an aim of discerning fresh insights in developing frameworks and mechanisms to
influence decision making processes in the region. Themes : Globalisation,
poverty, migration and racism; Militarization, War and Conflict; The different
faces of migration ; Human Rights and forced migration.
Place: Tunis
Organisers: El Taller (Tunisia)
Contact: eltaller@gnet.tn
Contemporary
Immigration in Italy, Current trends and future prospects
Date: 1 October 2003
Place: Rome
Organisers: Caritas Roma
Contact: immigrazione@caritasroma.it
Inmigrantes in Argentina (Immigrants
in Argentina)
Date: 1 October 2003
Los temas a tratar serán: La realidad de los
inmigrantes: violación de los Derechos Humanos; La necesidad de una nueva Ley
de Migraciones y Amnistía General; Los inmigrantes en Argentina. Se presentará
un Estudio sobre la Mujer Inmigrante Trabajadora: Caso Peruano.
Place: Buenos Aires
Organisers: Mujeres Peruanas Unidas
Migrantes y Refugiadas
Contact: mujeresunidass@hotmail.com
Conference on Migration and Identity
http://www.migration-identity.org/progter.htm
Date: 2 to 5 October 2003
Participants of this conference will be
visiting several museums that are telling the migration history of European
peoples.
Place: Barcelona
Organisers: Migration, Work and Identity Project
(Denmark)
Contact: pl@arbejdermuseet.d
Il Congrés Internacional Balears
2015 : La immigració (2nd Balearic Congress 2015 :
Immigration)
http://www.balears2015.com/internet/bale2015.nsf/pernomcurt/2002immigracio!OpenDocument&ko_idio=02
Date: 2 to 3 October 2003
Amb la celebració del II Congrés Balears
2015. La immigració, es pretén examinar els reptes que planteja la immigració,
tant des d'una vessant teòrica com pràctica, mitjançant l'anàlisi
d'experiències duites a terme en diferents territoris.
Place: Palma de Mallorca
Organisers: Balearic Government
(Spain)
Contact: infocongres@transit.es
Chancengleichheit
im Betrieb – Aktiv werden gegen Diskriminierung von MigrantInnen am
Arbeitsplats
(Equal Chances within the company – Becoming active against discrimination of
migrant women)
http://www.migration-online.de/beitrag.html?_=f78b0e933557c&id=1086
Date: 5 to 10 October 2003
Welche betrieblichen,
gewerkschaftlichen und gesellschaftlichen Möglichkeiten und Aktivitäten gibt
es, um Diskriminierung aufgrund der ethnischen Herkunft in der Arbeitswelt
entgegenzutreten? Das Seminar soll dazu dienen, mit den TeilnehmerInnen
konkrete Handlungsmöglichkeiten zu erarbeiten. Dazu werden unter anderem die
folgenden aktuellen gesetzlichen Möglichkeiten vorgestellt und diskutiert:
-
EU-Richtlinie zur Anwendung des
Gleichbehandlungsgrundsatzes ohne Unterschied der Rasse oder der ethnischen
Herkunft
-
Überbetriebliche Vereinbarungen
-
Betriebliche Vereinbarungen zur Gleichbehandlung
-
Neue Regelungen des Betriebsverfassungsgesetzes
Place: Berlin
Organisers: Migration Online
Germany
Contact: migration@dgb-bildungswerk.de
OSCE Human Dimension Implementation
Meeting
http://www.osce.org/odihr/meetings/2003/hdim/
Date: 6 to 17 October 2003
Themes: prevention of discrimination,
racism, xenophobia and nationalism, minorities, special topic: migrant workers
Place: Warsaw
Organisers: Office for Democratic
Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)
and OSCE
Contact: natalya@odihr.pl
Hearing on the consequences of
Enlargement for the Schengen Agreement of the Committee on Migration, Refugees
and Demography – Council of Europe
Date: 6 October 2003
This committee fulfils a dual purpose:
firstly, it elaborates policies for the upholding of rights of migrants,
refugees and displaced persons and aiming at bringing about an improvement in
their living conditions. Secondly, by proposing political solutions in keeping
with the humanitarian values of the Council of Europe, it seeks to respond to
member states' concerns about significant movements of migrants and refugees,
issues related to the integration of migrants and demographic trends.
Place: Brussels
Organisers: Council of Europe
La protection sociale des étrangers
en France (Social protection of Foreigners in France)
http://www.gisti.org/formations/sessions/social/index.html
Date: 9 to 10 0ctober 2003
La formation portera sur les thèmes
suivants : assurance-santé; revenu minimum; recours contre les décision des
autorités; personnes âgées...
Place: Paris
Organisers: GISTI
Contact: gisti@gisti.org
Trafficking of African Children to the
UK: Denouncing the “Better life” Syndrome
http://www.afruca.org/ev_trafficklag_26_8_03.htm
Date: 14 October 2003
Africans Unite Against Child Abuse is a
UK based registered charity working to promote the welfare of African children
in the UK and in Africa. In particular, we have been very vocal and visible in
highlighting the growing problem of the trafficking of African children to the
UK for a variety of purposes including domestic servitude, sexual exploitation
and possible ritual killing. In November last year, we held a seminar in London
looking at this particular issue. Trafficking of African children was also a key
theme at our National Conference recently held in Leicester.
Place: Lagos
Organisers: Africans unite against
Child abuse (UK)
Contact: iro@afruca.org
The International Migration of
“Traditional Women”: Migrant sex workers, domestic workers and mail-order
brides in the Pacific rim
http://www.ccis-ucsd.org/conferences.htm
Date: 16 to 19 October 2003
CCIS will be hosting this
interdisciplinary conference on the international migration of women filling
traditional women's roles in the Pacific Rim region. The Pacific Rim region has
witnessed considerable growth in female migration over the past several
decades, particularly from less developed states such as the Philippines,
Thailand, and Indonesia into more developed states such as Japan, Hong Kong,
Taiwan, the U.S., and Canada. Many of these female migrants become domestic
workers, sex workers, and mail-order brides in the receiving states, providing
housecleaning, child care, cooking, elderly care, and/or sexual services.
Place: San Diego
Organisers: Center for Comparative
Immigration Studies
Contact: info@ccisabroad.org
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END
Spanish, Italian and French version available upon
request at :
info@december18.net
Spanish version translated by Maria Ruiz, Spain
French version translated by Catherine Thomas,
France
Italian version translated by Eny Giambastiani,
Italy.