Migration

Oxfam has joined the chorus of international relief agencies calling for immediate action against the looming humanitarian crisis in Iraq. According to its latest findings, every third Iraqi is in need of some kind of aid, be it because of food scarcity, insufficient water supplies or proper sanitation. In a report issued today, Oxfam notes that

• Four million Iraqis – 15% - regularly cannot buy enough to eat.
• 70% are without adequate water supplies, compared to 50% in 2003.
• 28% of children are malnourished, compared to 19% before the 2003 invasion.
• 92% of Iraqi children suffer learning problems, mostly due to the climate of fear.
• More than two million people – mostly women and children - have been displaced inside Iraq.
• A further two million Iraqis have become refugees, mainly in Syria and Jordan

Oxfam has called on the Iraqi government to extend its food aid program deeper into the country and demands that the members of the military coalition, i.e. the UK and US enhance their efforts toward easing the humanitarian crisis that exists as a result of the ongoing civil warfare in the country.

International relief and aid organization such as Oxfam have had to withdraw from Iraq over the past few months, given rising security concerns. By the same token, as reported in an article in German news magazine, Der Spiegel, local medical personnel and other highly-skilled experts, including engineers needed to restore water pipelines, etc. are leaving the country in droves. This exodus further exacerbates an already dire situation.

This week’s collection of articles features the apparent failure of an international meeting to address the refugee crisis in Iraq and surrounding countries, and new measures by the Australian federal and state governments to facilitate employment for migrant workers. The positive impact that citizenship can have on integration rounds out this week’s look at the most important stories on the global movement of people.

• Politicians, administrators and experts from Syria, Egypt, the Arab League and United Nations relief organizations, as well as representatives of the United States, the European Union, Turkey, Iran, Russia and Japan attending as observers met in Amman, Jordan this week to discuss how best to address the needs of Iraqi refugees. Attendants expressed frustration at what seems to have been little more than a talking shop, as the New York Times reports. While the focus should have been the development of an economic, security and infrastructural strategy for dealing with the refugees, aid was the central focus of most of the discussions. The conference came just two days after Amnesty International had warned that the Iraqi refugee situation was nearing a breaking point. More than two million Iraqis have now fled the sectarian violence raging in their country and almost two million others are internally displaced. A humanitarian crisis of unforeseen dimensions looms, if immediate action isn’t taken, the organization warns - and conferences like Friday’s meeting in Amman are clearly insufficient to address the pressing situation. Amnesty calls on both the Iraqi government to live up to its promised aid payments but also demands Western governments offer generous resettlement packages. We have covered the tenuous situation of Iraqi refugees in a number of blogs in the past, particularly the reluctance of many EU governments to accept additional displaced Iraqis fleeing the insecure situation in their homeland.
• In a related story in the same paper, US officials have admitted they are not acting fast enough in issuing visas to Iraqi refugees.
• The US State of Georgia has introduced some of the harshest legislation against illegal immigrants in the nation. Its full effect is only now becoming clear. Local police officers and sheriffs have essentially been given the right to decide the deportation of illegal migrants and can run immigration status checks even in routine measures, such as traffic controls. A recent case reported in the LA Times proves just how this new legislation could increase the vulnerability of those that already live without legal protection.
• Newsday columnist Sheryl McCarthy criticizes the exploitation many migrant workers are subject to in lower-than minimum wage jobs in New York and all across the country in her weekend commentary.
• The Australian government looks set to invest into new measures to help businesses provide English language education on the job. The Western Australian newspaper is also reporting that the state labor government will invest AUS $50 million towards a major revamp of the Adult Migrant English Program (AMEP), which is essentially the ticket to legal residence and eventual citizenship in Australia. In related news, a new study by  the University of New England’s (UNE) Centre for Applied Research in Social Sciences has revealed that migrants are better educated, more law-abiding, are generally healthier and less dependent on welfare than the average Australian-born citizen. Now that is some food for thought…
•  The St. Pete Times from Florida offers a glimpse into the difficult situation many migrant families face, when the parents are undocumented migrants but the children are US nationals. What happens to the children, when the parents are jailed or deported? The legal situation is still unclear and decisions generally made on a case-by-case basis.
• And finally an inspiring story from the New York Times on the role citizenship can have on integrating even the oldest of migrants.

In an novel experiment, BBC reporter Jose Baig and his Spanish-speaking camera man are heading off on a tour of the Southern US States to see how far they will get speaking español. With their little test they hope to offer a living picture of how immigration has influenced the linguistic and cultural melting pot that is today’s US of A. They will document their adventures in a blog (naturalmente in Spanish) and we will keep tabs on their progress as they head through eight states and twelve cities on their journey. Their trip will end in Los Angeles, where they will attend a debate on the influence of Latin American language and traditions on modern American culture.

You can follow their journey here. If you want to contact the two journalists, you can do so by leaving a message using Skype with the account bbcmundohispano or join the group “¿Hablas español y vives en EE.UU.?” on Facebook.

Human Rights Watch is accusing the Spanish government of abusing unaccompanied migrant children in its detention facilities on the Canary Islands. In its report (“Spain’s Failure to Protect the Rights of Unaccompanied Migrant Children in the Canary Islands”) issued on July 26, the organization heavily criticizes the treatment of these minors while in camps on the islands off the coast of Spain. Interviews with the children revealed that they had been subjected to beatings by staff, and left unprotected from violence by their peers. German news magazine, Der Spiegel, is reporting that a number of these children have also been sexually abused during their time in the camps.

“These children should be protected by the Spanish authorities, not left to suffer beatings and abuse,” said Simone Troller, Europe children’s rights researcher for Human Rights Watch. “The Canary Islands government should close these centers and arrange better care for the children.”

The International Herald Tribune quotes a number of the children in its article:

“Children interviewed at La Esperanza talked of a punishment cell, a windowless room with no toilet, where they were beaten and locked up for days at a time and forced to urinate and defecate on the floor, the report said.

Jean-Marie N., a 17-year-old interned boy, described an incident when a youngster “got into trouble with educators” and was taken to the showers and beaten.

“There was blood on the boy’s mouth and his clothes were full of blood - his shirt could not be used anymore,” he said.”

According to Der Spiegel, Spain’s Minister of Social Affairs, Inés Rojas, has promised to follow up on the allegations and will personally inspect the camps over the next few days.

Autorities on the Canary Islands have created a total of four camps to house up to 500 children. After Spain stepped up its collaboration with other EU member states and the Union’s border patrol FRONTEX a total of 4700 migrants have arrived on the islands’ shore. Last week another migrant vessel capsized 180km off the coast of Spain, killing 50.

More articles on this story:

New York Times: In Spanish Centers for Migrant Youth, Reports of Squalor 

The Independent (UK) : Spain accused of keeping migrant children in ‘punishment’ cells

ABConline (Australia): Spain called on to close Canary Its migration camps

This week’s news is short, but nonetheless important:

• Again, tragedy has struck on the high seas - this time off the Canary Islands: Spanish authorities have called off the search for the 50 migrants lost at sea after their boat capsized late last week. More than forty were rescued, however. The IHT has the story here.
• The International Organization for Migration is working closely with the Senegalese government to prevent migrants from falling prey to smugglers and face a similar fate as the Gambian migrants off the coast of the Canary Islands. Voice of America reports that the campaign aims to inform potential migrants of legal methods of migration. The IOM press release can be found here.
• A similar anti-trafficking campaign geared towards the Dominican Republic features Ricky Martin. He has agreed to shake his bon-bon, to promote a free information hotline and other promotional efforts.
• The Financial Times has published a new series on how Asian countries are dealing with the challenges that arise from their new status as migrant destination countries (requires a free 15-day trial of the FTonline).

With so many Chileans migrating to Canada in the 70s and 80’s, it was considered a home field advantage for Chile’s U-20 team last night in Toronto, Canada during the semi-finals of the Under 20 FIFA World Cup of Soccer/Futbol. In the end the Chilean team received 2 Red Cards, ejecting 2 players from the Chilean team and leading to a severe confrontation between local police and members of the Chilean team after the match. Many of the players were handcuffed and physically detained inside the stadium after the end of the match.

In front of the Canadian Embassy in Santiago, Chile many people saw the treatment of their national team as discriminatory. Many in Canada, who are not used to passionate expressions of support for a team outside of Hockey viewed the response after the loss by the Chilean team as unorthodox and the Toronto police quickly sought order during the match and after. The view by many in Canada is that the players threatened the overly strict FIFA official at the end of the match and the police quickly responded to the possible threat. In Chile, it was seen by many as a discriminatory response by Canada towards Chile’s national team who had a right to be upset at the poor conduct by the official of the match. While FIFA will likely respond to the actions of the young Chilean players and the strict approach by the official, it seems that the end of a fairly exciting U-20 tournament will likely sour much of the progress made during the last 3 weeks of Fair Play as promoted by FIFA since the infamous head butt by France’s Zidane during the final of the last World Cup.

With Latin passion being responded to with pepper spray, tasers and batons in Canada, there seems to be moments of controversy at the end of each World Cup…at least it will keep people watching.  Oh, and Argentina won against Chile 3-0…almost forgot!

When migrants leave their families behind in search of a better economic future, they sometimes send more back than weekly remittance payments. An article in the New York Times highlights the correlation of migration and the spread of HIV/AIDS in rural Mexico, an area ill-equipped to handle a possible epidemic. While Mexico provides antiretroviral drugs even to its poorest, these are generally dispensed in the country’s cities, making it difficult for villagers to receive adequate care.

The rapid spread of the disease is in part linked to the stigma attached to marital infidelity, the article highlights. In addition, many believe that the US is a safer country in every way, thus living in denial of the disease. Men do not tell their wives about encounters they may have had with strangers while in the US, thus infecting wives and in many cases unborn children. Female migrants are often subject to rape and sexual abuse. Given their tenuous legal status, many of these do not seek medical help in the United States. The article quotes George Lemp, an epidemiologist who directs the University of California’s AIDS research program: “Migrants are vulnerable. They are isolated. They are exposed to different sexual practices. They have language barriers to services and there is a lot of depression and loneliness and abuse.”

Researchers in the US are already studying these developments closely, but the Mexican government has also begun to address the problem, albeit slowly. It has dispatched health workers into the more rural areas of the country to educate returning migrants and those seeking to leave on the “risks they might face on the road.”

See FPA’s Mexico Blog for R.Basas and R.Gupta’s complementary posts on Mexico and HIV

This week’s news features commentary on the future of illegal immigration in the United States, a roundup of the integration summit in Germany and a call to change the international refugee convention to include the victims of famine and drought.

• Der Spiegel has full coverage of the German integration summit (in English), which hardly went as originally planned, plagued by boycotts from Turkish organizations. The overall integration concept was criticized by migrant groups for not being inclusive enough. Given the almost 40 years during which Germany denied being an immigration country, despite the largest number of foreigners living on its soil in Europe, this policy action plan attempts to be a tour de force. Nevertheless, much like the immigration legislation that was introduced during the last administration, one cannot but feel that all this comes a little too late. Coverage on the issue from the IHT can be found here.
• The European Council on Refugees and Exiles has published its report on the situation for refugees, asylum seekers and internally displaced
  persons (IDPs) in Belarus, Moldova, Russian Federation and Ukraine in 2006.
• Over in the UK, the Institute for Public Policy Research is calling for an amnesty on illegal immigrants so that these migrants could become active tax payers. The think tank argues that deportation of Britain’s estimated 500,000 illegal immigrants would not only be a huge burden on tax payers, but is practically impossible - to say nothing of the fact that it would take over 30 years at the current rate. The BBC has the story here.
• Australia’s newspaper The Age features a commentary by Dr. Mirko Bagaric, former member of the Refugee Review Tribunal, who argues that the international refugee convention should be amended to include those suffering from famine and abject poverty: “Australia should take a leading role in broadening the scope of people it will allow to migrate for reasons of need. We need to broaden the definition of a refugee so that our compassion extends to those who are suffering the greatest degree of deprivation.”
• One of New York City’s most prominent immigration activists, Victor Toro, might face deportation, the New York Times reports, after his status was unveiled in a routine check by border patrol agents on regional transport.
• Another article in the same paper chronicles how immigrant activists are increasingly turning to second generation migrants as allies in their political efforts: “Many young people raised in this country know their way around a system that sometimes baffles their parents. Those who are citizens can speak out for those who have yet to get their papers.”
• Though not strictly from this week, The Economist, features an article on the drive to naturalize legally resident immigrants ahead of the US Presidential elections next fall.
• The same magazine comments on the failure of the Senate immigration Bill and offers a glimpse into the future: “Likely consequence will be an outbreak of ad hoc law-making in cities and states. Liberal and Hispanic enclaves may follow the example of National City, on the outskirts of San Diego, and declare themselves to be “sanctuary cities” where police officers are told not to quiz people about their immigration status. Others—probably a greater number—will tell the cops to do precisely that, or enact other laws against illegal immigrants and the people who house and employ them.”

As Canada’s most famous Ex-Canadian, Mr. Conrad Black was found guilty on some of the charges today in a Chicago court for some of the counts of fraud and taking millions of dollars from shareholders and most notably obstruction of justice. While most of the offences Mr. Black was accused of were quashed and Mr. Black will surely appeal any convictions against him, the path towards the American court and accusations against him in defrauding his company Hollinger International is an interesting case of what it is to be a citizen of a country and how important that status is in the realm of international law.

Mr. Black arose to media fame in the Canadian province of Quebec where he worked as a journalist and eventually ran his own publication in the early part of his career. With the expansion of Mr.Black’s media empire, he gained more influence and critics in Canada and eventually abroad. As a Canadian, Conrad Black was eligible after his years of work to be granted a Lordship in Britain as Canada is a major part of the British Commonwealth. The situation at the time however was not favorable to Black, as with his newly minted conservative cross Canada publication The National Post criticizing Liberal Prime Minister Chretienat the time, the Prime Minister was seen by many as violating his customary powers of office and disallowed Mr.Black from being granted his Lordship in the UK. While the Prime Minister of Canada rarely if ever disallows a Lordship from being granted under customary traditions, it was felt by Black that the right of the media to criticize politicians was not respected by Mr. Chretien and as a personal assault the Prime Minister at the time was denying Mr. Black the honours of the Crown he rightfully deserved. As a result, Conrad Black renounced his Canadian citizenship to spite Mr. Chretien and was given honorary British citizenship with his Lordship.

As time passed the different commercial and corporate laws of the UK, Canada and the US were applied against Mr. Black and his activities in running his media empire. With legal issues abounding, Mr. Black sought to reestablish his Canadian identity post-Chretien and with the varying legal risks between other countries and the US it was thought by many in Canada that he wanted to re-instate his status as a Canadian for legal issues, while many others saw Canada as a country that would take any refugee and saw no reason why a son of Canada should not be granted citizenship in his place of birth.

With a change in the Government in Canada from the Liberal Party to the Conservatives coming due to the corruption of Canada’s Prime Minister’s Office under Jean Chretien in the Sponsorship Scandal, Conrad was also accused in the US of charges of fraud and obstruction of justice. Mr. Black as not being Canadian was not granted any favoritism or assistance in his former country where he grew his life and career, and came to Chicago to face trial. With the results of today’s trial it is unclear to the public if Mr. Black is the man who Chretien wanted the public to believe, or if he was a victim of a Canadian Prime Minister who tried to punish Conrad for promoting freedom of speech and who subsequently disappeared in the wake of the Sponsorship Scandal and has yet to face trial himself. The legacy of Conrad Black is one of many great publications and a trial which will frame the remainder of his life.

With the failure of the Immigration Reform Bill there has been a refocusing on the issues regarding the current state of affairs surrounding illegal immigration. This year there has already been 275 bodies found between US-Mexico border and it is expected that that number is going to rise to a record of over 500 bodies in 2007. Much of the criticism coming from some border experts is that increased border security creates a situation where migrants seek more dangerous and unfriendly means to make it across the border, and since 1994 when border security was tightened nearly 4,500 Mexicans and Central Americans have perished trying to make it to the US.

While there is much debate on why it has become more dangerous to cross the border, it is believed that while in the past many met their fate due to traffic accidents, the main culprit in recent history is hypothermia from cold desert temperatures and many being drenched while crossing the Rio Grande river between Mexico and the US and not being able to warm themselves to save their lives. Another risk mentioned are the cases of some smugglers, commonly called “coyotes” abandoning their migrants or physically assaulting them. While much of the statistics show the evident rise in risks in crossing the border and the links with border security, much of the information details only the situation US side of the border. Despite all these statistics, or lack thereof, much of these issues are common knowledge on both sides of the border.

The question that needs to be asked in my opinion is whether these migrants from Mexico and Central America and the US and its economy and people are two independent issues, or whether in that part of the Americas those two groups are completely interdependent on each other. One can only give their best observation, but I believe there is a solid point to be made in the film A Day Without a Mexican-2004 where California is ground to a halt when on May 14th every Mexican worker disappears from the streets of California and its citizens attempt to manage their lives without the thousands of illegal immigrants who do much of the labour in today’s America.

Despite the humoristic observations of the filmmakers, in reality the situation on the border is one of perpetual crisis. With an economy so dependent on its inexpensive labour and so resistant to accept the workers who do those tasks, it seems the solution to many of these issues are non-existent except to make a movie about something no one can agree on yet everyone knows they could not live without.