MIGRANT.NEWS, October 17, 2001

1. UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants

Ms. Gabriela Rodriguez, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants attended the EU Ministerial Conference on Migration that was scheduled for October 16 and 17 in Brussels, Belgium. Prior to the Conference, she met with several international NGOs to talk about their concerns and proposals vis a vis the EU.

The Special Rapporteur will be visiting Ecuador from November 5 to 15 and the Philippines in February 2002.

A UN updated questionnaire for allegations of violations of migrantsí human rights can be found on http://www.december18.net/UNreportingform.htm

Right now, the questionnaire is available online in English and Spanish. A French, Arabic, Chinese and Russian translation will be added soon. The December 18 team is preparing an Italian, Portugese and Polish translation. If your organisation decides to translate it in your own language, please let us know. We would be happy to add the translation to the December 18 site or to post a link to your site. Note that the forms should be returned to the Special Rapporteur in one of the six UN languages.

2. International Migrantís Day

The Migrant Services Centre from Sri Lanka and the Dutch IMD Committee (Stichting Ayni-Bolivia, Cultureel Centrum Kurdistan, Stichting DIR (Ethiopia), Federation of Filipino Organisations in The Netherlands, Regionale Steunfunctie Allochtonen-ZHW, Stichting Hirda-Somalia, Stichting OIKOS, NOVIB and December 18) sent us their IMD programme.

Also SAMAHAN, a Filipino Migrant Workers organisation based in Brussels, Belgium and the Geneva Forum for Philippine Concerns based in Switzerland informed us that they plan to celebrate the day.

The programmes can be found on http://www.december18.net/IMD.htm

3. Migrants and the media

The European Network ëOn Line/More Colour in the Mediaí is carrying out a survey in order to firstly, locate ëmigrant organisationsí in Europe that work on / try to influence media policies (and strategies) and to secondly, collect examples of good practice (information and material on e.g. training, courses, products, workshops, projects) and asks for your cooperation. The network strives for a diverse and multicultural media and media output and for the fair portrayal of people from migrant backgrounds throughout Europe. In order to achieve these goals, over 60 organisations develop and support projects in the field of ëMedia and Minoritiesí.

On http://www.december18.net/Stoa.htm you will find a checklist by which the Network wants to collect the necessary information for the survey. It is right now available in English and French. Please feel free to send a copy of the letter and checklist to other relevant organisations and individuals you think would be interested to receive one. The completed checklist should be returned by post, fax or e-mail to the address listed below, by 25th of October at the latest:

Esther Lubenau, On Line/More Colour in the Media (Stoa Office), Postbus 1234, 3500 BE Utrecht, The Netherlands or Tel: 0031 (0)30 2302240 or Fax: 0031 (0)30 2302975 or e-mail: eslube@stoa.nl. To get an impression of the kind of projects that have been executed so far, you can look at the ëMulticultural Skyscraperí website at http://www.multicultural.net

4. Calendar

Brussels, Belgium - October 10 ñ Meeting between African heads of State (of Nigeria, Algeria and Senegal and the chairman of African Unity) and the EU on the new African Initiative to promote development in the continent.

Marrakech, Morocco ñ October 16 ñ19, Productive and Inclusive Cities - Towards Cities for All. For information: Houirou Commission, email huairou@earthlink.net

Ottawa, Canada ñ October 16-20, Fifth National Metropolis Conference.

Brussels, Belgium ñ October 19-20, Euro Med Civil Forum

See http://www.forumcivileuromed.org/

Chiangmai, Thailand ñ October 22-25, Protecting Migrant Workers: Strengthening Collaboration in Asia, Regional Workshop organized by the Canadian Human Rights Foundation and partner organizations. See http://www.chrf.ca

Den Haag, The Netherlands ñ October 22, IMD Committee meeting. For information, please contact Yuksel Karakut at tel.: 070-3818132 - fax 070-3816444.

Paris, France ñ October 23, Migration Organisations in France - Position of the Organisations and Their Relation with Public Authorities. For information, info@adri.fr or visit http://www.adri.fr/

Wiesloch, Germany ñ October 23-24, Psycho-Social Work With Migrant Families, In German. For information, contact the Psychiatrisches Zentrum Nordbaden, email steinmassi@pzn-wiesloch.de or visit http://www.pzn-wiesloch.de/

Australia ñ October 25, Pre-Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia Conference It will focus on the recent and ongoing attacks on Multiculturalism, developing preventative strategies and how they can support Multiculturalism within this current climate. For information, please contact Amanda Shrock at amanda@eccnsw.org.au or visit the site http://www.eccnsw.org.au

Londen, UK - October 26 ñ The environment and Refugees: Causes of Migration in the 21^st Century. For information, please contact events@wusuk.org

Osnabr¸ck, Germany ñ October 29, Migration and Integration: Experiences - Problems - Formal Tasks. In German. For information, contact the Universit”t Osnabr¸ck, email ofg@uos.de or visit http://www.ofg.uos.de/2001/programm5.htm

Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland ñ November 3, Day on undocumented migrants. In French. Workshops on women, children, health, legislation, jobs. Organized by the Commission Protestante Romande Suisses-ImmigrÈs (CPRSI). For information, email Oscar TOSATO at frat@csp-vd.ch

Brussels, Belgium ñ November 9, CECODHAS (European Liaison Committee for Social Housing) organises a seminar on Immigration and housing. For information, please phone tel. +32 (0)2 505.45.00, fax +32 (0)2 505.44.99 or email to cecodhas@vhm.be or visit the following web site: http://www.cecodhas.org

Helsinki, Finland ñ November 12-13 ñ 5^th European Conference on the Integration of Refugees. Furthering the Spirit of Tampere.

Brussels, Belgium, November 16-17 - Subsidiary Protection : Improving or Degrading the right of asylum in Europe ? Further information can be obtained from: http://www.ulb.ac.be/assoc/odysseus/protecE.html

Rotterdam, The Netherlands, November 26, Sixth International Metropolis Conference. The conference will focus on four inter-related themes: Migration policies: balancing admission and restriction; Citizenship, equality and diversity; Local integration policies; Migration and the cultural transformation of cities. More information please visit:

http://www.international.metropolis.net/frameset_e.html

Brussels, Belgium, December 5, 2001, Immigration to the European Union Countries: Political standpoints on national and European levels.

For info, please contact info@emz-berlin.de

For more, see http://www.december18.net/calendar.htm

5. Updates of http://www.december18.net

Evaluation of December 18 (site and MIGRANT.NEWS)

Soon, we will celebrate December 18ís second anniversary. Time has come to evaluate our work and what it is worth to your organization. We prepared a brief questionnaire of 9 easy to answer questions about the web site and MIGRANT.NEWS and invite you to fill it out and return it to us. The questionnaire can be copied from:

http://www.december18.net/evaluation.htm

Thank you for your cooperation.

English articles:

Migration File, The ACP-EU Courier, No. 187, July-August 2001

Globalization and its Impacts on the Philippines and to Filipino Migration, 14-16 September

French articles:

Dossier Migration, Le ACP-UE Courrier No. 187, juillet-aošt 2001

Racisme contre les Arabes et les Musulmans ñ De Durban au World Trade Centre, octobre 2001

Italian articles:

Le migrazioni africane verso il Mediterraneo

World Conference against Racism (English only)

Statement after Durban by the Consortium for Indonesian Migrant Workers Advocacy

Compilation of relevant language from WCAR documents by Hector Mareque

END

Spanish and French translations made by Maria Ruiz (Spain) and Catherine Thomas (France)