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LEMONDE.FR avec AFP et Reuters | 29.05.09 | 20h12
ne cinquantaine de travailleuses d'Europe de l'Est seraient employées à la cueillette des fraises et des asperges dans des champs alsaciens dans des conditions "inhumaines" qui relèvent de "l'esclavagisme", d'après la CGT. La gendarmerie veut rester discrète sur le sujet mais a confirmé, vendredi 29 mai, qu'une enquête avait été ouverte en début de semaine.
Logées sur un terrain vague clôturé de grillage, dans des préfabriqués "ressemblant à des cages avec des sanitaires", selon la CGT, certaines d'entre elles ont été payées 6 euros pour dix jours de présence alors que le smic horaire est de 8,71 euros, a expliqué le syndicat.
Elles sont employées sur des parcelles situées à Brumath (Bas-Rhin), louées par un Allemand. Elles seraient payées entre 25 et 50 centimes le kilo ramassé "alors que la législation française prévoit un salaire minimum et le respect de la convention collective", a indiqué Jacky Wagner, le secrétaire départemental du syndicat. "En fonction de la météo, il y a des jours où les fraises ne rougissent pas et où il n'y a rien à cueillir", a-t-il ajouté.
"ON NE SAIT PAS QUAND ON SERA PAYÉ"
Le campement, situé à une vingtaine de kilomètres à l'ouest de Strasbourg, dispose de l'électricité ainsi que de sanitaires, de douches et de lavabos communs, a constaté sur place l'AFP. Une cuisine équipée y est également installée. Environ une cinquantaine de personnes, essentiellement des femmes originaires de Roumanie, Pologne et Ukraine, y vivent, réparties dans une dizaine de préfabriqués divisés en quatre parties pouvant accueillir deux personnes.
"Le problème ici, ce n'est pas vraiment le logement, c'est l'argent", explique Nicula, une Roumaine arrivée jeudi après avoir quitté la veille son village du centre de la Roumanie. "On ne sait pas quand on sera payé, on sait juste qu'on touche 50 centimes (d'euros) par kilo ramassé", affirme la jeune femme. "Dans une semaine, on va nous emmener travailler en Allemagne", ajoute Nicula, qui dit ne pas savoir où mais espère rentrer chez elle d'ici "deux mois".
La cueillette des asperges puis des fraises était d'abord assurée par des Roumaines qui seraient reparties parce qu'elles ne travaillaient pas assez selon leur employeur, parce qu'elles refusaient les conditions qui leur étaient faites, selon la CGT. Elles ont été remplacées depuis jeudi par des Polonaises, des Ukrainiennes et quelques compatriotes. Selon la gendarmerie, il y aurait également des Allemands.
allAfrica.com: Ghana: Immigration And CEPS Snub Ecowas Protocol Forum
Frederick Asiamah
29 May 2009
The Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) and the Customs, Excise and Preventive Service (CEPS) on Wednesday snubbed a stakeholders press briefing on the ECOWAS Protocol on Free Movement to avoid questions from the media regarding allegations of illegal collection of monies at the country's borders.
It came to light at the event that while it was easy for migrants to cross other border posts in the West African sub-region, it was "hell" for migrants, including Ghanaian citizens, to cross Ghana's border posts due to extortion by border officials.
The West African Civil Society Forum (WACSOF) in collaboration with the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA) and other partners organised the stakeholders press briefing in Accra as part of the 30 years celebration of the protocol. The partners include the Abusua Foundation, the Ghana Youth Council, the Ghana Youth Network, the National Union of Ghana Students, the CEPS, the GIS and the Ghana Police Service.
The conditions prevailing at the borders of Ghana undermine the long held belief that Ghana is the gateway to West Africa, observed Mrs. Sussan Naa Sekyere, Deputy Public Affairs Officer of the Ghana Trades Union Congress (GTUC).
Having crossed the borders herself on numerous occasions, Mrs Sekyere bemoaned the treatment that Ghanaian traders, especially those who crossover to Burkina Faso to purchase tomatoes, go through regularly.
Ms Gertrude Adu Yebo, executive member of WACSOF, was of the view that "There's nothing like free movement" given what transpired at the borders.
Ms Bashiratu Kamal, Women's Commissioner of NUGS, said on behalf of the organizers that with the benefit of hindsight, "...it has become obvious that a lot of education needs to be done to raise awareness not only of citizens but also of immigration officials and other stakeholders so that the movement across the sub region is made easier for community citizens."
The Women's Commissioner enumerated a number of obstacles that still confront the effective enforcement of the protocol. These include: different official languages of member states; absence of adequate mechanisms to control infiltration of criminals and other human or drug traffickers; lack of harmonization between national laws and policies with ECOWAS protocols and decisions; and inadequate road infrastructure just limited to national territories.
These hindrances, according to OSIWA and its partners, have resulted in a situation where "...many West African migrants leave their home countries without proper travel documents and enter host countries irregularly even though if they were in possession of travel and health certificates to which they are entitled they would have been able to enter through regular channels."
The partners have chosen 29th May to carry out sensitization discussions with border officials and citizens in the border town of Aflao to ensure greater fluidity for West African travelers.
The partners also aim to advocate no fee payments at land borders; and to "raise awareness on the ECOWAS Protocol on Movement of Persons based on the motto: One People, One Community."
ECOWAS adopted the Protocol on Free Movement of Persons and Goods, the Rights of Residence and Establishment on May 29 1979. Essentially, the protocol gave citizens the right to freely enter, reside and establish economic activities within the territory of member states for a maximum of ninety days.
ekathimerini.com | Migrants take to the streets again
PANTELIS SAITAS/ANA
Immigrants holding banners saying ‘Stop racist attacks; no to Islamophobia’ staged a passionate but largely peaceful demonstration in central Athens yesterday. The rally came exactly a week after a similar demonstration degenerated into violence when a small group of protesters vandalized storefronts and traffic lights.
Hundreds of immigrants and leftist sympathizers took part in an anti-racism rally in central Athens yesterday, a week after a similar demonstration prompted by the alleged defacement of a miniature Quran by a policeman escalated into clashes with riot police.
Clusters of riot police had been stationed around the city center yesterday due to fears that the migrants would clash with some 250 far-rightists who staged their own demonstration a couple of blocks away near the Athens Cathedral in protest at the growing influx of immigrants into the capital. By late last night, there had been no reports of any clashes between the two groups. One minor scuffle reportedly broke out between some migrant protesters who wanted the rally to end and others who wanted it to continue. There were reports of some minor damage to a couple of storefronts but it was unclear whether this was the work of migrant protesters or leftists who joined the rally.
Organizations representing the country’s immigrants did not participate in yesterday’s demonstration, saying that they did not want to fuel tensions or have their members branded as troublemakers. “We do not want the presence of immigrants in Aghios Panteleimonas to be linked with outbreaks of violence in the center of the capital which is also our city,” the Muslim Union of Greece said in a statement, referring to a central Athens district with a large immigrant population.
In its statement, the union also reiterated its calls for the creation of a mosque for the capital’s Muslims, something authorities promised years ago but have failed to make good on following protests by the Orthodox Church and residents at the proposed locations
Print :- Nine Afghan migrants killed after boat sinks off IndonesiaPosted on : 2009-05-29 | Author : DPA
Jakarta - Nine people were killed and 11 were missing after a boat carrying 36 undocumented migrants from Afghanistan sank off Indonesia's Sumatra island, police said Friday. Sixteen people were rescued by fishermen after the boat capsized Thursday off Riau province, said Arifin, a local police officer who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
Indonesia's Immigration Department has said about 900 asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq, Sri Lanka and other countries are currently being detained pending an examination of their status.
Undocumented migrants from South Asia and the Middle East seeking better lives in Australia have for years used Indonesia as a transit country.
allAfrica.com: Eritrea: Eritrean Nationals Residing Abroad Extend Assistance to Martyrs' Families in Southern Region
28 May 2009
Asmara — Eritrean nationals residing abroad, in coordination with the Ministry of Labor and Human Welfare, extended financial assistance to families of martyrs in 7 sub-zones of the Southern region.
The assistance amounting to 5 million Nakfa was extended to families of fallen heroes in the sub-zones of Areza, Senafe, Adi-Keih, Mendefera, Dubarwa, Emni-Haile and Adi-Quala.
Speaking at the handing ceremony in Adi-Keih, Mr. Amare Reda, representative of the Ministry's branch office in the region, indicated that the gesture is in line with the support being extended to martyrs' families on the part of Eritrean citizens inside the country and abroad. He further lauded the initiative by the nationals who made the financial assistance for visiting the beneficiaries in person.
The families on their part expressed satisfaction with the assistance and stated that it is a vivid demonstration of the Eritrean people's noble culture of mutual cooperation. They further explained that on top of the financial assistance, they have secured major support in their farming activities towards improving their wellbeing.
Meanwhile, the Eritrean National War-disabled Veterans Association (ENWVA) branch in Sweden donated various materials worth over 140,000 Euro so as to reinforce the Eritrean government's endeavors to rehabilitate and assist disabled citizens.
The Chairman of the ENWVA, Mr. Gebreberhan Eyasu, stressed the significance of the donation and expressed appreciation to the branch offices of the Association in different parts of the world for their continued support.
Gli immigrati non rapprentano un pericolo per il lavoro degli italiani - Il Sole 24 ORE
29 maggio 2009
L'aumento dei flussi migratori e la maggior partecipazione degli stranieri al mercato del lavoro non rappresenta un pericolo per i salari e le prospettive occupazionali dei lavoratori italiani. La Banca d'Italia nella sua relazione annuale dedica uno specifico capitolo all'analisi delle conseguenze dell'immigrazione. È più che raddoppiato tra il 2003 e il 2008 il numero di stranieri residenti in Italia, passato a 3,4 milioni di persone, circa il 6 per cento della popolazione. Nel confronto con i principali paesi europei, gli immigrati residenti in Italia rappresentano una quota più bassa di popolazione e sono più giovani e meno istruiti. Nel triennio 2005-07 l'età media della popolazione straniera regolarmente residente era pari a 38 anni, simile a quella registrata in Spagna e molto inferiore a quella, superiore ai 50 anni, riscontrabile in Germania e Francia. Poco meno della metà della popolazione straniera residente, di età compresa tra i 25 e i 55 anni, é in possesso al più di un titolo di istruzione corrispondente all'obbligo scolastico, quota che é superiore di circa 16 punti rispetto alla media dei paesi dell'Unione europea. Ma solo il 15% ha un titolo di studio di livello universitario, contro una media europea attorno al 36 per cento.
Necessari meccanismo di integrazione. La componente straniera, sottolinea la relazione di Palazzo Koch, «contribuirà in misura significativa a definire il livello e la qualità futuri del capitale umano che sarà disponibile in Italia». Ed è per questo che «se non accompagnata da meccanismi efficaci di integrazione, questa rapida espansione aumenterà il già ampio divario nella dotazione di capitale umano del nostro paese nel confronto internazionale, poiché la popolazione scolastica straniera registra significativi ritardi che si manifestano già nella scuola primaria e si ampliano ulteriormente nei livelli scolastici successivi».
Pagano meno imposte, ricevono meno prestazioni. Le differenze nella struttura socio economica e demografica tra gli italiani e gli stranieri, spiegano ancora gli economisti di Bankitalia, «determinano significativi divari nei flussi economici da e verso la finanza pubblica. Gli immigrati pagano proporzionalmente meno imposte e ricevono meno prestazioni per previdenza e sanità».
ekathimerini.com | Our migrants and the others
By Paschos Mandravelis
Any discussion on migration inevitably includes the wave of Greek migration abroad in the 1950-70 period and the discussion normally ends with the aphorism: “Yes, but our migrants behaved differently.”
Though containing a grain of racism, this is mostly true. “Our” migrants did indeed behave differently. Why? Are Greeks genetically endowed with good behavior? If so, why does this only come out abroad and not on the streets of Athens?
On February 3, 2006, an Islamic organization held a rally outside the Danish Embassy in London in protest at the controversial sketches published in Denmark of the Prophet Muhammad. Their placards read chilling messages like “Death to the infidels” and “Remember 9/11,” yet not a single incident occurred. Not a single stone was thrown, not a single fire lit nor store window smashed. In contrast, during the protests in Athens last Friday against a similar event – an insult to a symbol of Islam – there were no scary banners but stones were thrown, shop windows smashed and fires lit.
So, here we have two rallies by people of the same religion, against a similar incident but with very different results. The London protest was a very British affair – sharp words, no violence – and the Athens protest was typically Greek – resulting in chaos.
What this tells us is that, to a great degree, migrants adopt the behavior of their host country. Greek migrants of the past had their own distinct identities but, in contrast to how they would behave in their own country, they would never litter the streets of their host country. They knew the law stood for them as much as it did for the locals. In a country like Greece, where lawlessness is pretty much the norm, the migrants here adapt accordingly and therefore contribute to the problem. Their trash in the street is no different to ours, they simply increase the volume. The only way to solve many of the problems that migration brings is to enforce the law, and not just on migrants but first on the Greeks.
Poland becoming transit, destination country for human trafficking – UN expert
29 May 2009 – Poland’s accession to both the European Union (EU) and the Schengen zone has transformed it into both a transit and destination country for human trafficking, a United Nations independent expert said today, noting that the Eastern European nation has made progress in fighting the scourge.
The scale of trafficking was already serious in Poland, but has become aggravated in the past five years due to joining the EU and the Schengen zone, Joy Ngozi, the Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons, said, wrapping up a six-day visit to the country.
“The endemic forms of trafficking include, but are not limited to, trafficking for labour exploitation, for prostitution and other forms of sexual exploitation,” she said.
According to information provided by both the Government and by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the number of trafficking cases is on the rise.
Poland has ratified key international and human rights treaties, including the Protocol on Trafficking in Persons to the 2000 UN Convention against Transnational Organized Crime (Palermo Protocol), under which States are required to take action to ensure the protection of trafficking victims, prevent trafficking and bring traffickers to justice.
Ms. Ngozi said that the Government has taken steps in combating the scourge through cooperation with neighbouring countries. It has amended its Criminal Code to punish perpetrators of trafficking and has a law on domestic violence in place.
Further, Poland has a comprehensive law on trafficking in human organs and tissue, “which is very forward-looking and has been enacted and is indeed a welcome development as we must ensure that all forms of trafficking are criminalized,” she added.
But the Rapporteur, who reports to the Geneva-based UN Human Rights Council in an independent and unpaid capacity, noted that there are other steps the country must take to effectively address human trafficking.
Poland lacks a clear definition of trafficking in its criminal law, labour exploitation is on the rise and availability and access to help for trafficking victims is limited, she said.
Additionally, judicial proceedings for trafficking cases are unduly long, lasting two years on average. “Thus, efforts should be made by the Ministry of Justice and the Judiciary to shorten the period and provide early case closure that will bring succour to victims and reduce trauma suffered, while redirecting focus to victims’ full reintegration and rehabilitation,” she noted.
La Delegación del Gobierno de Madrid niega que se esté realizando controles policiales masivos a inmigrantes - Yahoo! Noticias
hace 8 horas 49 mins
Europa Press
La Delegación del Gobierno en Madrid negó hoy que en Madrid se estén realizando controles policiales masivos, programados y sistemáticos de identificación a personas inmigrantes, como denunciaron ayer la Asociación de Sin Papeles de Madrid y la Red de Apoyo del Ferrocarril Clandestino en rueda de prensa.
Estas organizaciones advirtieron de que en las calles de Madrid los inmigrantes están sometidos a controles policiales de identidad "masivos, programados y selectivos" para perseguir la posible comisión de una infracción administrativa.
Asimismo, el departamento dirigido por Amparo Valcarce explicó que "es rotundamente falso que se produzcan abusos o trato vejatorio en los controles policiales".
Por último, la Delegación recordó que la Dirección General de la Policía y Guardia Civil dictó el pasado 16 de febrero una instrucción para clarificar el ámbito de actuación policial en aplicación de la Ley de Extranjería
BBC NEWS | UK | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Failed asylum seeker back in UK
A failed asylum seeker who had been living in Scotland is back in the UK after attempts to deport her failed.
Fatou Felicity Gaye and her four-year-old son, Arouna, were taken to Dungavel Detention Centre after a dawn raid in Glasgow earlier this month.
They were flown to Ivory Coast on Thursday but turned back after officials there refused them entry.
Ms Gaye and her son are being held at a Home Office facility in London while their case details are clarified.
A spokeswoman for the UK Border Agency said it did not comment on individual cases.
Bangkok Post : Woman jailed for human trafficking
By: AFP
Published: 29/05/2009 at 03:43 PM
A woman was sentenced to 18 years in jail on Friday for trafficking women from her hometown in Isan to Italy, where they were forced to work as prostitutes, court officials said.
The Criminal Court found Kularb Thongmisri, 42, guilty of procuring three women from an impoverished part of Si Sa Ket province to work in the Italian sex industry three years ago.
The victims, aged 42, 40 and 31, were lured to Europe by Kularb with the promise of well-paid jobs as house maids.
She made them pay an advance sum of 500,000 baht each for travel costs.
After arriving in Milan via Vienna in February 2006, the women were forced to work as prostitutes until Italian police smashed the racket and repatriated them to Thailand in August 2006, the court said.
Kularb was arrested in Si Sa Ket in July 2007 after she returned from Italy.
She was also ordered by the court to pay the three women a total of 1.5 million baht in compensation.
ASGI29.05.2009
Il commissario europeo alla Giustizia Jacques Barrot ne parlera' con le autorita' italiane in occasione di incontri bilaterali previsti per luglio 2009.
Non si può fissare un limite minimo di reddito allo straniero che chiede l'iscrizione all'anagrafe di un Comune.Lo afferma il commissario dell'Unione europea alla Giustizia, rispondendo a un'interrogazione presentata dall'eurodeputato radicale Marco Cappato in relazione alla ordinanza del sindaco di Cittadella, he stabiliva alcuni requisiti per l'iscrizione all'anagrafe comunale.
Scrive Barrot: "Le formalità amministrative che gli Stati membri possono imporre per il rilascio di un attestato di iscrizione sono definite nell'articolo 8 della direttiva 2004/38/CE secondo cui, tra l'altro, gli stati membri si astengono dal fissare l'importo preciso delle risorse che considerano sufficienti".
Pertanto "la Commissione intende sollevare tale questione con le autorità italiane competenti in occasione dei colloqui bilaterali, previsti per luglio 2009, sul recepimento e l'applicazione della direttiva 2004/38/CE da parte dello Stato membro".
Fonte : Wallstreetitalia
allAfrica.com: Mozambique: Law On Human Trafficking Still Not Implemented
28 May 2009
Maputo — The law on human trafficking in Mozambique, particularly concerning women and children, approved by the country's parliament, the Assembly of the Republic, in April 2008, remains a dead letter, because of the lack of regulations for its implementation.
Mozambique was the first member of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) to approve such a law, and was commended as an example to be followed by others, but it still lacks the detailed regulations required to put the principles of the law into practice.
The same fate has overtaken many other laws passed by the Assembly, which wait months or years for a set of regulations to make them effective.
The Minister for Women's Affairs and Social Welfare, Virgília Matabele, told AIM that the government has been working on regulations to implement this law, and an inter-sector commission has been set up to that end. She said that the delay is due to the complexity of the issue.
"I think that we are not very far behind", said Matabele. "We are working. These are very complex issues, and we must all discuss how to implement them".
Before the adoption of this law, human trafficking could only be dealt with by using the articles in the penal code on crimes such as kidnapping. But now there is a specific crime on trafficking in human beings which covers the recruitment, transport, or accommodation of a person by any means, including under the pretext of employment, but where the end purpose is prostitution, pornography, sexual exploitation, forced labour, slavery or debt servitude.
One of the innovations of the law is the fact that it declares human trafficking as a "public crime", which means that prosecuting cases does not depend on any complaint or denunciation on the part of persons trafficked.
The law states that goods or property used in the crime of human trafficking or resulting from it are to revert to the state and are to be used in programmes to prevent trafficking and to support the victims. People found guilty of this crime should be sentenced to between eight and 12 years imprisonment.
The Southern African Network Against the Trafficking and Abuse of Children (SANTAC) argues that regulating this law must take place immediately, because the practice is tending to take root in Mozambique, a situation that may worsen with the forthcoming World Cup in South Africa in 2010. There are fears that the massive influx of tourists expected for the World Cup, will provide fresh opportunities for the sexual exploitation of women and children.
SANTAC executive secretary Margarida Guitunga thinks that Mozambique must have the capacity to implement the Law on Human Trafficking, which implies making available human and financial resources, and producing the necessary regulations.
BBC NEWS | UK | Northern Ireland | Human trafficking gang targeted
Six women, believed to be the victims of human trafficking, have been rescued in Belfast and Londonderry as part of a UK-wide police operation.
Five were rescued in Belfast, and one in Derry during the investigation.
Police said Operation Sleek was aimed at dismantling a Chinese organised crime gang and rescuing their victims.
Three people have been arrested, one in Belfast and two in Worcestershire, on suspicion of human trafficking and controlling prostitution.
A 39-year-old man was arrested in east Belfast and has been taken to Antrim police station.
The two other arrests were made in England by officers from West Mercia Police accompanied by PSNI detectives at properties in the Summerhill area of Kidderminster.
West Midlands Police and PSNI officers also searched a property in Birmingham.
The two suspects, a 40-year-old woman and a 41-year-old man, are being brought to Antrim police station for questioning.
Property in Newry, County Down was also searched.
'Vulnerable'
The officer in charge of the operation, Detective Chief Superintendent Essie Adair, said the arrests were part of a co-ordinated operation against human trafficking in the United Kingdom.
"This is nothing more than a modern form of slavery in which vulnerable women are used and abused to make substantial profits for organised crime gangs," he said.
"This particular operation has been a long time in the planning, involving a number of partner agencies and with co-operation from two Chinese victims.
"Police will continue to work with partner agencies to disrupt and dismantle these gangs, wherever and whenever they come to our attention."
The suspected victims are being cared for under arrangements funded by the government with support from the Police Service and delivered by Women's Aid Federation (NI) and the Migrant Helpline.
The UK Human Trafficking Centre, the Serious Organised Crime Agency, the UK Borders Agency, Women's Aid, the Migrant Helpline and the Poppy Project were also involved in the multi-agency operation.
Justice and Home Affairs - Newsroom28.05.2009
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) today released a report on discrimination against Muslims in the EU. The results for Muslim respondents indicate similarly high levels of discrimination and victimisation as for other minority groups surveyed. Many racist incidents are not reported to the police or to any other organisation. Knowledge of anti-discrimination legislation is low, and there is a lack of trust in complaints mechanisms.
Report
In Italia 753 cadaveri senza nome
Il maggior numero nel Lazio, poi in Lombardia e Sicilia
28/05/2009 16:25
(ANSA) - ROMA, 28 MAG - Sono 753 i cadaveri non identificati che giacciono negli obitori italiani secondo l'ultimo censimento. I dati raccolti dall'ufficio del Commissario straordinario del Governo per le persone scomparse, comprendono anche 116 corpi recuperati in mare appartenenti a extracomunitari annegati nel corso di traversate per raggiungere le coste italiane. Il maggior numero di cadaveri senza nome si trova nel Lazio (188); seguono Lombardia (130) e Sicilia (110).
Refugees Join List of Climate-Change Issues - NYTimes.comMay 29, 2009
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
UNITED NATIONS — With their boundless vistas of turquoise water framed by swaying coconut palms, the Carteret Islands northeast of the Papua New Guinea mainland might seem the idyllic spot to be a castaway.
But sea levels have risen so much that during the annual king tide season, November to March, the roiling ocean blocks the view from one island to the next, and residents stash their possessions in fishing nets strung between the palm trees.
“It gives you the scary feeling that you don’t know what is going to happen to you, that any minute you will be floating,” Ursula Rakova, the head of a program to relocate residents, said by telephone. The chain could well be uninhabitable by 2015, locals believe, but two previous attempts to abandon it ended badly, when residents were chased back after clashing with their new neighbors on larger islands.
This dark situation underlies the thorny debate over the world’s responsibilities to the millions of people likely to be displaced by climate change.
There could be 200 million of these climate refugees by 2050, according to a new policy paper by the International Organization for Migration, depending on the degree of climate disturbances. Aside from the South Pacific, low-lying areas likely to be battered first include Bangladesh and nations in the Indian Ocean, where the leader of the Maldives has begun seeking a safe haven for his 300,000 people. Landlocked areas may also be affected; some experts call the Darfur region of Sudan, where nomads battle villagers in a war over shrinking natural resources, the first significant conflict linked to climate change.
In the coming days, the United Nations General Assembly is expected to adopt the first resolution linking climate change to international peace and security. The hard-fought resolution, brought by 12 Pacific island states, says that climate change warrants greater attention from the United Nations as a possible source of upheaval worldwide and calls for more intense efforts to combat it. While all Pacific island states are expected to lose land, some made up entirely of atolls, like Tuvalu and Kiribati, face possible extinction.
“For the first time in history, you could actually lose countries off the face of the globe,” said Stuart Beck, the permanent representative for Palau at the United Nations. “It is a security threat to them and their populations, which will have to be relocated, which is the security threat to the places where they go, among other consequences.”
The issue has inspired intense wrangling, with some nations accusing the islanders of both exaggerating the still murky consequences of climate change and trying to expand the mandate of the Security Council by asking it to take action.
“We don’t consider climate change is an issue of security that properly belongs in the Security Council; rather, it is a development issue that has some security aspects,” said Maged A. Abdelaziz, the Egyptian ambassador. “It is an issue of how to prevent certain lands, or certain countries, from being flooded.”
The island states are seeking a response akin to the effort against terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks. “The whole system bent itself to the task, and that is what we want,” Mr. Beck said, adding that the Council should even impose sanctions on countries that fail to act. “If you really buy into the notion that the Suburban you are driving is causing these islands to go under, there ought to be a cop.”
As it is, the compromise resolution does not mention such specific steps, one of the reasons it is expected to pass. Britain, which introduced climate change as a Security Council discussion topic two years ago, supports it along with most of Europe, while other permanent Council members — namely, the United States, China and Russia — generally backed the measure once it no longer explicitly demanded Council action.
Scientific studies distributed by the United Nations or affiliated agencies generally paint rising seas as a threat. A 2007 report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, detailing shifts expected in the South Pacific, said rising seas would worsen flooding and erosion and threaten towns as well as infrastructure. Some fresh water will turn salty, and fishing and agriculture will wither, it said.
The small island states are not alone in considering the looming threat already on the doorstep. A policy paper released this month by Australia’s Defense Ministry suggests possible violent outcomes in the Pacific. While Australia should try to mitigate the humanitarian suffering caused by global warming, if that failed and conflict erupted, the country should use its military “as an instrument to deal with any threats,” said the paper.
Australia’s previous prime minister, John Howard, was generally dismissive of the problem, saying his country was plagued with “doomsayers.” But a policy paper called “Our Drowning Neighbors,” by the now governing Labor Party, said Australia should help meld an international coalition to address it. Political debates have erupted there and in New Zealand over the idea of immigration quotas for climate refugees. New Zealand established a “Pacific Access Category” with guidelines that mirror the rules for any émigré, opening its borders to a limited annual quota of some 400 able-bodied adults between the ages of 18 and 45 who have no criminal records.
But its position has attracted criticism for leaving out the young and the old, who have the least ability to relocate. Australia’s policy, by contrast, is to try to mitigate the circumstances for the victims where they are, rather than serving as their lifeboat.
The sentiment among Pacific Islanders suggests that they do not want to abandon their homelands or be absorbed into cultures where indigenous people already struggle for acceptance.
“It is about much more than just finding food and shelter,” said Tarita Holm, an analyst with the Palauan Ministry of Resources and Development. “It is about your identity.”
Ms. Rakova, on the Carteret Islands, echoes that sentiment. A year ago, her proposed relocation effort attracted just three families out of a population of around 2,000 people. But after last season’s king tides — the highest of the year — she is scrounging for about $1.5 million to help some 750 people relocate before the tides come again.
Jennifer Redfearn, a documentary maker, has been filming the gradual disappearance of the Carterets for a work called “Sun Come Up.” One clan chief told her he would rather sink with the islands than leave. It now takes only about 15 minutes to walk the length of the largest island, with food and water supplies shrinking all the time.
“It destroys our food gardens, it uproots coconut trees, it even washes over the sea walls that we have built,” Ms. Rakova says on the film. “Most of our culture will have to live in memory.”
Illegal Afghan Immigration In Tajik Region On The Rise - Radio Free Europe / Radio Liberty © 2009News / From Our Bureaus
May 28, 2009
QURGHON-TEPPA, Tajikistan -- The head of the migration service in the southern Tajik region of Khatlon says there has been an increase in the number of violations of the immigration rules along the border with Afghanistan, RFE/RL's Tajik Service reports.
Izzatullo Ismoilov told RFE/RL that about 70 foreigners have been fined for breaking migration rules in the region since January, while there were only 22 such violations during the same period last year.
The majority of those fined are Afghan citizens. Ismoilov said the most serious cases are related to illegal drug trafficking.
Ismoilov said that about 1,300 foreigners have entered the province legally since January, while seven who tried to enter were deported.
timesofmalta.com - Report finds substantial discrimination with African Muslims in MaltaThursday, 28th May 2009 - 13:01CET
Nearly half the African Muslims in Malta, interviewed for an EU Fundamental Rights Agency report on discrimination with Muslims, reported discrimination when looking for employment.
The report said that 43 percent of African Muslims in Malta reported discrimination when looking for work but only 25 percent reported discrimination at work.
20 percent reported being discriminated against by healthcare personnel and 33 percent at a cafe, restaurant, bar or nightclub.
The report points out that the immediate and long-term impact of discriminatory experiences on young people was of particular concern with 71 percent of 16-24 year old Africans in Malta reporting discrimination.
23 percent of those interviewed in Malta said they were not aware of anti-discrimination legislation and 94 percent could not name an organisation that could offer advice or support to people who suffered discrimination.
Only eight percent of the African Muslims in Malta considered their encounters with the police to be discriminatory.
ekathimerini.com | Help with immigration
Netherlands to improve asylum process; archbishop slams mosque attack
Greece and the Netherlands yesterday agreed to work closely to curb a growing influx of illegal immigrants entering the European Union, and lighten the burden on Greece as the bloc’s southeastern gatekeeper.
The Netherlands’ Deputy Justice Minister Nebahat Albayrak, on an official visit to Athens, told Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos that her country was prepared to help Greece improve its procedure for processing asylum claims so that migrants whose lives are not at risk can be repatriated. But, in an interview with Kathimerini, Albayrak said migrants should not be allowed to leave Greece. “This would be catastrophic for Europe... as the message we would be giving out is that, if they make it to Greece, they can go on to the rest of Europe,” said the minister, who is of Turkish origin.
Pavlopoulos said he and Albayrak discussed ways “to facilitate legal migration and avert illegal immigration,” adding that a priority was to boost the role of Frontex, the EU’s border management agency. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission Vice President Jacques Barrot said that the EU executive body had increased pressure on Turkey to honor a bilateral pact with Greece for repatriating illegal immigrants.
Albayrak, who later yesterday toured a migrant reception center on Samos, said the creation of an efficient system at the country’s land and sea borders to monitor migrants and determine which merit asylum would greatly reduce the pressure on Greece. “I believe if proper procedures are in place, only a small proportion will be granted asylum,” she said. The minister proposed that Greek authorities cooperate with the Dutch state translation agency and the EC’s directorate-general for translation to ensure that all incoming migrants undergo an interview, a test to determine their age and receive basic aid until their fate is decided.
In a related development yesterday, Archbishop Ieronymos condemned Tuesday’s arson attack on a makeshift mosque in the central Athens district of Aghios Panteleimonas, home to thousands of Muslim migrants. “The peaceful coexistence of people of different faiths... is a basic prerequisite for social cohesion,” he said.
Inmigrantes sin papeles piden en Madrid que se paren los controles "masivos" | ELESPECTADOR.COMPor: EFE
Denunciaron los "abusos policiales y malos tratos" en esas inspecciones de identidad.
Inmigrantes sin papeles pidieron el jueves en Madrid que desaparezcan los controles policiales "masivos, programados y sistemáticos" de identificación a personas.
Pidieron, además, que cesen "los malos tratos" que esas acciones llevan consigo ya que, explicaron, una infracción administrativa "no es un delito".
Convocados a un acto por la Asociación de Sin Papeles de Madrid y la Red de Apoyo del Ferrocarril Clandestino, decenas de personas, en su mayoría africanos y algún latinoamericano, se reunieron hoy en la Plaza de Lavapiés, una céntrica zona de la capital de España en la que residen un alto número de inmigrantes.
En rueda de prensa, las asociaciones denunciaron los "abusos policiales y malos tratos" en esos controles de identidad.
También protestaron por las "órdenes" que reciben los policías "para llevar un número determinado de personas detenidas a comisaria, un cupo".
Hace unos meses salió a la luz una nota interna de una comisaría de Policía de Madrid, en la que se fijaba como objetivo un cupo mínimo de arrestos de inmigrantes sin papeles, un asunto que fue negado por el Gobierno español.
Bajo el lema "Porque la vida no es una cárcel. Stop controles", llevaron a cabo una lectura teatralizada por algunos de sus protagonistas de 14 de los 67 testimonios que la Red de Apoyo del Ferrocarril Clandestino ha recogido.
"Me llamo María Luisa, soy de Ecuador. Era verano, iba por la calle y al llegar a la estación de Méndez Álvaro me encuentro con un control policial. Me detienen y me llevan a la comisaría por no tener papeles. El trato fue vejatorio, me hicieron quitar la ropa y así, desnuda, me insultaron. Después de 24 horas detenida, salí en libertad con una orden de expulsión".
Se trata de uno de los testimonios leídos hoy en Madrid, que forma parte de un estudio que la Red de Apoyo ha llevado a cabo sobre los controles de identidad a inmigrantes que viven en distintos barrios de Madrid.
"Salir a la calle es un desafío", denunciaron los inmigrantes, que señalaron que la Policía les busca en lugares a los que habitualmente acuden para ganarse la vida, para regularizar su situación o llamar a sus familias.
"A muchos nos han detenido cerca de los juzgados, de las embajadas, en el locutorio, en las estaciones de autobuses, en los lugares donde nos ofrecen trabajo, a la salida de las clases de castellano (...), como si persiguieran a Al Capone", añaden.
Por todo ello reclamaron que se ponga fin a los controles de identificación de personas y una reunión con la Delegación del Gobierno y las autoridades competentes para tratar esta situación.
Marisa Pérez, representante de la Red de Apoyo del Ferrocarril Clandestino, reclamó también que "se haga público el compromiso por parte de las autoridades para acabar inmediatamente con esta situación".
allAfrica.com: Mozambique: SADC Fights Against Human Trafficking
27 May 2009
Maputo — The Southern African Development Community (SADC) is designing a response to the growing threat posed by human trafficking.
To this end, a three day technical meeting of the organization began in Maputo on Tuesday to prepare a forum of ministers on the matter. The objective of the meeting is to design a regional strategy to fight against the trafficking in people, which mostly affects women and children
Opening the meeting, Mozambique's Minister for Women's Affairs and Social Welfare, Virgilia Matabele, defended the need for coordinated action among SADC member states.
'Trafficking in human beings is a concern to every country across the world, and to SADC in particular", she said. "This practice is the most degrading form of crime. It is necessary to find a way to prevent this kind of practice, that affects particularly women and children, and we feel that there is a need for coordinated action to fight against this evil".
One of the weak points in the fight against trafficking is the lack of specific legislation on the matter in most member states. Mozambique was the first SADC member countries to adopt a specific law banning trafficking in people. It was followed by Tanzania and Zambia, and South Africa and Malawi are working on it.
Speaking to reporters after the opening session, Lurdes Mabuda, head of the police department dealing with crimes against women and children, said the Mozambican police are investigating cases of trafficking of children involving two young girls, one aged 25 and one just 14 years old, who were being transported in a vehicle to South Africa, allegedly to be employed as maids.
Mabunda said the 25 year old was recruited at Palmeiras about 90 kilometres north of Maputo. On its way to South Africa, the vehicle stopped at a house in the Maputo suburb of Xipamanine, where the 14 year old was picked up.
But the police intercepted the vehicle, and when the person accompanying the girls was interrogated "he said that he did not know them, though they had declared that they were going to South Africa with him", said Mabunda. "We had to interrupt the journey, and the case is now under investigation".
Another case was reported in Inhambane province, where a woman was found transporting 10 children aged under 15. She was supposedly taking them to jobs in Mabalane, in the neighbouring province of Gaza, but the police found them in Maputo.
According to Mabunda, the woman was intending to take those children to South Africa. "This is a case of human trafficking where adults are involved or were used by relatives who are living in South Africa to recruit children, allegedly to find jobs, but the true objective is only found out at the end of the journey", she said.
"It is normal in Mozambique to have people easily accept proposals of good jobs even if they don't knowing whether the people recruiting them are suitable", said Mabunda. "Often those recruited do not even know where they are supposed to be working and end up being trafficked and used for other purposes".
The regional network against human trafficking, SANTAC, estimates that about 1,000 Mozambicans are trafficked to South Africa every year. They are enticed with the promise of employment, but end up in illicit activities, such as prostitution, and drug trafficking.
Prosecutors charged 12 people in alleged scheme to employ illegal immigrants in 14 states
Associated Press
KANSAS CITY, Mo. - Twelve people — eight of them from Uzbekistan — are accused in a federal indictment of luring illegal immigrants to the U.S. to work as "modern-day slaves" in 14 states.
Prosecutors announced Wednesday that a federal grand jury in Kansas City issued a 45-count indictment May 6 under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act that included charges of labor racketeering, forced labor trafficking and immigration violations.
Matt Whitworth, acting U.S. attorney for the Western District of Missouri, said Wednesday that the defendants used false information to obtain fake work visas for the foreign workers, who were then threatened with deportation while living in substandard apartments and working for inadequate pay.
The indictment says the conspiracy involved fraudulent labor leasing contracts in Missouri, Kansas, Alabama, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, South Carolina and Wyoming.
Eight of the 12 defendants were arrested Tuesday, when the indictment was unsealed. They made their first court appearances in the states where they were arrested and are being held in federal custody until they are brought to Kansas City, said Don Ledford, a spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office.
The scheme ensnared hundreds of illegal immigrants who worked at hotels, construction sites, and in other businesses, many of them in the Kansas City area and in the southwest Missouri resort town of Branson, Whitworth said.
"The indictment alleges that this criminal enterprise lured victims to the United States under the guise of legitimate jobs and a better life, only to treat them as modern-day slaves under the threat of deportation," said James Gibbons, acting special agent in charge of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement based in Chicago.
Advocates for Haitian Immigrants Press for Temporary Relief From Deportation - NYTimes.comMay 28, 2009
By KIRK SEMPLE
For Danie, who moved from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, to the United States in 2001 to live with her grandparents, there has never been a good time to go home.
Haiti, which has stumbled from grave political unrest to catastrophic natural disasters, remains one of the world’s poorest nations. So although Danie, 22, is an illegal immigrant, she has decided to stay in New York City. She lives in Cambria Heights, Queens, and is about to graduate from college with a degree in education. She hopes to become an elementary school teacher, but fears that her lack of a Social Security number will leave her few options beyond doing menial labor in an underground economy.
The desperation of Haitians was underscored this month when at least nine people drowned after their boat — crowded mostly with people fleeing Haiti — sank off the Florida coast.
“Things are easier here,” Danie said, speaking on condition that she not be identified by her full name because she feared detection. “There’s more security, people find food easier, you have money, somewhere to stay.”
But Haitians in New York — the city with the largest population of Haitian descent outside Port-au-Prince — are hopeful about a proposal under consideration by the Obama administration that would provide relief for her and tens of thousands of other illegal Haitian immigrants.
After four hurricanes and tropical storms in 2008 killed hundreds of people, wiped out most of Haiti’s food crops and caused nearly a billion dollars in damage, the country’s government asked the United States to grant undocumented Haitian immigrants what is known as temporary protected status. The designation would shield them from detention and deportation for a set period of time, and allow them to work legally, while Haiti tries to recover.
Such relief has occasionally been granted to immigrants who are unable to return safely to their home countries because of armed conflict or environmental disasters. It is currently in effect for people from El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Somalia and Sudan.
Supporters of temporary protected status for Haitians say that Haiti is in no condition to absorb tens of thousands of deportees, and that its recovery may depend, at least in part, on a continuing flow of remittances sent home by illegal Haitian immigrants in the United States. Those remittances totaled $1.87 billion last year, according to estimates by the Inter-American Development Bank.
The Bush administration denied Haiti’s request in December. In February, the Obama administration, in a letter from the Department of Homeland Security to immigration advocates in Miami, said it would continue to deport Haitians. And anti-immigration lobbying groups have vowed to oppose any change in the policy.
But immigrant advocates and the Haitian diaspora’s civic leadership have continued to apply pressure on the administration and pore over the tea leaves of rumors and leaks for indications of a policy shift.
They say that in recent weeks, they have drawn hope from a number of developments. In April, on the eve of a trip to Haiti, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced that the administration was reviewing its deportation policy for Haitians. During the trip, she also spoke about the importance of remittances to Haiti.
Haitian advocates in New York say they have heard that the government has been detaining and deporting only those with criminal records, rather than those accused solely of immigration violations.
Barbara Gonzalez, a spokeswoman for United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement, said the government would continue to detain and deport Haitians who violate immigration laws but that under a recently executed agreement with the Haitian government, the American immigration authorities were focusing on those with criminal records.
“Our priority — and we’ve clearly articulated it — is removing those who are criminal aliens and have final orders of removal,” she said.
Ricot Dupuy, the manager of Radio Soleil, a Creole-language station with storefront offices on Nostrand Avenue in Flatbush, Brooklyn, said that suggestions of changing sentiment in Washington seemed to have calmed Haitians in New York.
“It’s kind of quieted down because of the belief that with Obama, they stand a better chance,” said Mr. Dupuy, who is the host of a nightly radio program of news analysis and social commentary.
In interviews, about two dozen Haitians and Haitian-Americans in Brooklyn and Queens said that if the Obama administration accelerated deportations, it would tear apart their community, splinter families and add a crushing burden on their homeland.
“Haiti cannot take another burden,” said Mathieu Eugene, a Haitian-American member of the City Council who represents Flatbush and other Brooklyn neighborhoods with large Haitian populations. Last month, the Council unanimously approved a resolution he sponsored in support of protected status for Haitians.
One recent morning at La Baguette Shop, a Haitian bakery in Cambria Heights that sells baked goods with a French influence, like pain au chocolat, the owners and several customers discussed the state of affairs in Haiti and the effects of deportation.
Katie Richard, a home health care aide in her 40s who emigrated from Haiti, said she was particularly concerned about young Haitians who were brought to the United States as small children, raised as Americans and were now being deported to a country they did not know.
“He doesn’t know anybody — he doesn’t have any family,” she said. “It’s bad for them. It’s bad for us, too.”
Advocates for Haitian immigrants say that if the Obama administration approves protected status, the measure would most likely apply only to Haitians who were in the United States before the inauguration. But some opponents of temporary protection fear that it would encourage more Haitians to make perilous sea crossings in hopes of being grandfathered in.
Others complain that while temporary protections for immigrants can sometimes be justified, the government has been too liberal in extending the time frames. Temporary protected status “should be used just to stop the flow back home for a relatively short period of time until a country gets back somewhat to where normal was before the emergency,” said Roy Beck, executive director of NumbersUSA, a public policy group that seeks to reduce immigration.
While no one knows exactly how many Haitians would be eligible for protected status, Ms. Gonzalez, the immigration spokeswoman, said about 30,000 in the United States have exhausted their legal options and face final court-issued deportation orders. Many more are still in litigation or have not yet come to the attention of the authorities, officials say.
Haiti’s long history of hardship has made its citizens realists. Many in New York made it clear that in spite of the hopeful signs for protected status, they were not holding their breath. And those here illegally said that regardless of the outcome, they still planned to press forward with their lives in the United States.
“They stay until they catch them and send them back,” said one illegal Haitian immigrant in Cambria Heights, a day laborer and father of two, who spoke on the condition that he not be identified.
Then he considered one positive side of being deported. “If they catch you, they buy a ticket for you!” he said. His laughter was that of a man who knew he was at least free to make fun of his own situation.
timesofmalta.com - Malta insists it is not responsible for all migrants in its search areaWednesday, 27th May 2009 - 19:31CET
Malta has again rejected a call by Amnesty International to adopt amendments to international law which would oblige it to assume responsibility for all migrants rescued within its search and rescue area.
The Maltese position was explained in a letter by Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici after Amnesty wrote to him criticizing Malta for having refused migrants rescued (off Lampedusa) by the Turkish ship Pinar last month. The migrants were stranded on the ship for five days before being accepted by Italy.
The Maltese government has consistently argued that since it has not adhered to the 2004 amendments to the SAR and SOLAS convention, its international obligations are only to coordinate rescue missions, with the rescued migrants being taken to the nearest port.
Adopting the amendments would mean it would be responsible for migrants rescued all across the rescue region, stretching from Lampedusa almost to Crete. Malta however insists that in terms of the convention, before the amendments, the migrants have to be taken to the nearest safe port.
"You are surely aware that Malta, as a sovereign state, has willingly chosen not to be party to these amendments. The reason for this is simple. We consider that the framework within which operations are conducted within Malta's Search and Rescue Region serves the best interests of the persons rescued, as escorting these persons to the nearest safe port ensures that any necessary immediate assistance required on land is delivered at the earliest possible. Please bear in mind that the distance between the site of the rescue and the nearest safe port on the one hand, and Malta on the other, may be very significant.
"Surely, it is clear to all that Malta's acceptance of the 2004 amendments would directly result in rescued persons having to remain on board the rescuing vessel for considerably longer periods of time - something which, according to your correspondence, you are manifestly against. Undoubtedly, our opinion has been formed by decades of operational experience in search and rescue according to the sound framework provided by the 1979 Convention, and not merely on the interpretation of international maritime law."
In its letter Amnesty had complained about the number of days which the migrants had had to spend on the Pinar until they were accepted by Italy.
It also criticised Italy for having adopted a policy of immediately repatriating to Libya those migrants found in international waters, also criticizing Malta for backing such a policy.
"The organisation urges all government to cooperate closely in order to ensure that those rescued at sea are immediately brought to a place of safety, while fully respecting the principle of non-refoulement - not sending them to countries where they may be at risk of torture or other ill treatment, of where access to a fair and satisfactory asylum procedure is limited."
Amnesty however acknowledged the problems which states such as Malta dn Italy are facing with regard to the migrants' crossing and said steps need to be taken to ensure that solidarity between member states is enhanced "However the lack of agreement on such solidarity measures should never be used as an excuse for EU member states to implement border control policies that are violating fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees.
In his reply, Dr Mifsud Bonnici said Malta has been experiencing disproportionate migratory pressures since 2002.
"You are certainly also aware of the fact that Malta, in full accordance with its international obligations and the pertinent UNHCR recommendations, awards international protection to over 50% of asylum applicants. This assumes particular significance when considering that during 2008 Malta received up to 6.4 asylum applications per 1,000 inhabitants- the highest figure for any industrialised country. There is therefore no question about Malta's commitment towards its asylum obligations, even in the face of the difficulties currently being faced," he said.
He also pointed out that he had recently proposed the setting up of a joint Libya-EU-UNHCR Office in Libya with a view to enhance the asylum determination capacity in that country.
"The implementation of such a proposal would have the distinct advantage of providing asylum seekers with the opportunity to file an application without having to undergo the perilous journey on board small embarkations to southern Europe, risking their lives in the process. This would also, of course, significantly curb the activities of the smuggling networks currently thriving on the plight of those seeking to enter Europe illegally. I am confident that such a proposal also answers to the objectives of Amnesty International, and that it will enjoy your support.
"Surely your esteemed organisation cannot and should not be perceived as being in favour of such a criminal activity which has caused so much loss of life on the high seas over the past years," Dr Mifsud Bonnici said.
He noted that this was the first time that Amnesty was on record acknowledging the problems Malta faced.
"It would not be amiss to solicit pro-active proposals from your part such that the solidarity you advocate be put to practice," the minister said.
UGUALE PER TUTTI: I diritti e la dignità dell’uomo
di Giovanni Maria Flick
ex Presidente della Corte Costituzionale
Veniamo da un passato nel quale il riconoscimento e la tutela dei diritti umani erano affidati agli Stati nazionali.
Eppure le violazioni di quei diritti sono state reiterate, macroscopiche e devastanti, fino a culminare nella Seconda guerra mondiale: le armi di distruzione di massa; il coinvolgimento generalizzato dei civili; soprattutto, la Shoah.
Per questo, da quel “crogiolo ardente” (come lo definì uno dei padri costituenti, Giuseppe Dossetti) nacquero l’internazionalizzazione del diritto costituzionale, il riconoscimento della persona sulla scena internazionale, la tutela giudiziaria sovranazionale dei diritti umani, l’ingerenza umanitaria.
Soprattutto, nacque l’esigenza di affermare la dignità della persona, nelle dichiarazioni sovranazionali e nelle costituzioni nazionali.
Viviamo un presente nel quale l’aggressione alla dignità umana - sotto forme nuove, ma sempre uguali - è incombente.
Basta guardare alla crisi globale, ai suoi effetti sui livelli di povertà, individuali e collettivi, e sul diritto-dovere al lavoro, premessa della dignità secondo la nostra Costituzione.
Basta guardare ai crescenti assalti all’Europa, “fortezza del benessere”, da parte di una immigrazione di massa in fuga dalla fame, la sete, la guerra.
Nel Mediterraneo rischia di naufragare, con i migranti, le loro speranze e la loro dignità, anche la tradizione europea di accoglienza e sensibilità per i diritti umani.
Andiamo verso un futuro di insidie per la dignità, non meno preoccupanti di quelle tradizionali e sempre presenti, come il razzismo e l’intolleranza: penso agli abusi nella gestione delle informazioni sensibili, e agli eccessi della tecnologia medica.
Il terrorismo globale minaccia di essere sempre più coinvolgente e fanatico; ma, in nome della sicurezza e del contrasto al terrorismo, anche la soglia di rispetto dei diritti fondamentali della persona si abbassa sempre più.
Leggere il passato, il presente e il futuro attraverso le lenti della dignità, regala margini di speranza, perché consente di coglierne la perenne attualità e la stabilità del suo nucleo fondamentale; ma anche di riflettere sulla moltiplicazione degli ambiti in cui ne viene richiamato il rispetto; di trarre dalla lezione della storia, indicazioni per affrontare le nuove istanze di aggressione e di tutela.
La Dichiarazione universale ci ricorda che «tutti gli esseri umani nascono eguali in dignità e diritti»; ma all’uguaglianza si affiancano le differenze oggettive e ineliminabili di cui ciascuno è portatore.
Queste ultime contribuiscono a formare la sua identità; esprimono il pluralismo e il personalismo: valori non meno importanti dell’eguaglianza.
L’apparente contraddizione tra eguaglianza e diversità si risolve nel riconoscimento della pari dignità, come nell’articolo 3 della nostra Costituzione: le differenze non possono rappresentare ostacoli insuperabili, o giustificare condizioni di inferiorità, sopraffazione, discriminazione.
Gli ostacoli vanno affrontati e rimossi per consentire la libertà e l’eguaglianza di ciascuno (non solo dei cittadini: delle persone) e il pieno sviluppo della persona umana: per realizzare la pari dignità sociale.
In tal modo la dignità fa giustizia della pretesa - troppo frequente - di utilizzarla come pretesto per imporre comportamenti e conformismi generalizzati; per non rispettare il diritto di ciascuno alla diversità e al dissenso, alla sua identità e libertà.
Sempre che, beninteso, la libertà si esprima nel rispetto dell’altrui dignità e dei “valori condivisi” (quelli della Costituzione) posti a presidio della civile convivenza.
La stretta connessione fra gli articoli 2 e 3 della Costituzione evidenzia un ulteriore aspetto della pari dignità: l’essere un ponte fra i diritti inviolabili e i doveri inderogabili di solidarietà politica, economica e sociale.
L’azione di contrasto agli ostacoli che impediscono la concretezza e l’effettività della pari dignità sociale, si realizza solo mobilitando il valore costituzionale della solidarietà, altrettanto essenziale.
Assieme alla reciprocità fra diritti e doveri, la solidarietà esprime il bisogno di coesione nella comunità, che trova soddisfazione nell’apporto reciproco, nella socialità, nella solidarietà.
La pari dignità lega i molteplici diritti umani e rappresenta il parametro per attribuire contenuto specifico e concreto a ciascuno di tali diritti.
In modo esplicito - per evidenti ragioni di storia e coscienza collettiva, dopo la Shoah - la Costituzione tedesca pone la dignità umana in apertura, come valore generale e premessa di tutti i diritti.
La Costituzione italiana, invece, pone la dignità come indice di concretezza dell’eguaglianza; la richiama esplicitamente come parametro della retribuzione e come limite alla libertà di iniziativa economica; lo fa in modo implicito a proposito della libertà personale, della responsabilità penale, del diritto all’autodeterminazione sanitaria.
Il diverso approccio costituzionale alla dignità, non si traduce in una diversa gerarchia di apprezzamento: anche nella Costituzione italiana la dignità esprime la saldatura fra eguaglianza, libertà e solidarietà; riassume e concretizza gli altri valori costituzionali e coglie il legame fra i diritti fondamentali, sottolineandone l’universalità, l’indivisibilità, l’effettività.
Infine, l’impegno ad attuare i diritti fondamentali non riguarda soltanto la dimensione statale e sovranazionale, come finora è avvenuto: deve coinvolgere anche, e prima ancora, la dimensione locale.
L’effettività dei diritti deve fare i conti soprattutto con il territorio, quindi con il principio di prossimità, che a sua volta si realizza nella cosiddetta sussidiarietà orizzontale.
La pari dignità sociale, insomma, si ricollega esplicitamente alla sussidiarietà orizzontale (quella della società civile e del c.d. terzo settore), ribadita dall’art. 118 della Costituzione riformato nel 2001, dov’è collocata a fianco della sussidiarietà verticale (quella istituzionale).
Riflettere, in tempo di crisi, sulla pari dignità è un’occasione per reagire e per superare le paure che ci turbano: ad esempio, per tenerne conto al momento di definire nuovi modelli e regole di comportamento - guardando anche al privato-sociale e all’impresa sociale - nel rapporto tra imprese e consumatori, tra finanza e investitori, tra credito e risparmio.
E’ un’occasione per superare le contrapposizioni tra Stato e mercato, tra pubblico e privato, che hanno “giustificato” lacune e dimenticanze di ciascuno di questi mondi in tema di diritti fondamentali.
E’, infine, un’occasione per rafforzare gli spazi di intervento sul territorio, utilizzando come una leva il mix di sussidiarietà orizzontale e verticale.
Il coinvolgimento del territorio nell’attuazione dei diritti è il modo migliore per radicarli, perché vengano assimilati anche sul piano culturale e del consenso sociale, anziché essere percepiti come forme di assistenzialismo o, peggio, come sprechi da sottoporre a tagli e riduzioni.
Anche in tema di diritti, l’impegno e il controllo (da parte) del territorio accrescono la sicurezza.
Perfino i meno sensibili alle questioni dei diritti umani dovrebbero trame buone ragioni per investire sulla dignità.
Rescatan una patera con 35 subsaharianos a bordo en el sur de Motril - Yahoo! Noticias
jueves, 28 de mayo, 08.38
Europa Press
Una patera con 35 subsaharianos a bordo fue rescatada esta madrugada por miembros de la Guardia Civil y de Salvamento Marítimo horas después de que un buque mercante la avistara a unas 30 millas de Motril (Granada), según informó a Europa Press una portavoz de Salvamento Marítimo.
La barcaza fue rescatada por la Salvamar Hamal del puerto de Motril, después de que la localizara pasada la medianoche. A su llegada al puerto a las 03:00 de la madrugada, los inmigrantes fueron atendidos por efectivos de la Cruz Roja, que les suministraron alimentos y atención médica, aunque todos ellos se encontraban en buen estado de salud.
ASGI26.05.2009
La sesta Commissione regionale, presieduta da Bruno Censore, ha approvato all'unanimita' il progetto di legge "Accoglienza dei richiedenti asilo e dei rifugiati e di sviluppo sociale, economico, e culturale delle comunita' locali" d'iniziativa della Giunta regionale.
Il provvedimento, il cui testo e' stato oggetto di proposte emendative apportate dai commissari, prevede che la Regione Calabria concorra alla tutela del diritto di asilo promuovendo interventi specifici per l'accoglienza, la protezione legale, sociale ed umanitaria e l'integrazione degli aventi bisogno. "L'obiettivo specifico e' prevenire e contrastare i fenomeni di intolleranza e razzismo, contribuendo anche a sensibilizzare l'opinione pubblica ad una cultura dell'accoglienza e ad una conoscenza del diritto di asilo e del diritto dell'immigrazione. In questa direzione - spiega Censore - la Regione e' chiamata a sostenere interventi in favore di enti locali, istituzioni scolastiche, aziende sanitarie, associazioni ed enti senza scopo di lucro operanti nel territorio regionale che intendono intraprendere percorsi di riqualificazione e rilancio socio-economico e culturale collegati all'accoglienza dei richiedenti asilo, dei rifugiati e dei titolari di misure di protezione sussidiaria o umanitaria. D'altra parte, insistono sul territorio regionale esperienze come quella di Badolato e di Riace che, oltre ad essere un patrimonio, sono anche un modello di integrazione e, proprio come sollecita la legge, di ripopolamento di borghi abbandonati".
Fonte : AGI
Alla stesura della proposta di legge ha contribuito il dr. Gianfranco Schiavone, membro del Consiglio Direttivo dell'ASGI.
ASGI27.05.2009
Il Testo unico sull'immigrazione. Le novelle dell'A.S. n. 733-B
Dossier 129 (779.46 KB)
Il Testo unico sull'immigrazione. Le novelle dell'A.S. n. 733-B.
Dossier di documentazione del Servizio studi del Senato della Repubblica.
Fonte: www.senato.it
A.H.C.S: Immigrati/ Unione forense: Respingimenti? Denunciamo violazione di: In lotta a tratta violate convenzioni internazionali diritti
Roma, 27 mag. (Apcom) - "Abbiamo inoltrato ufficialmente oggi la lettera di denuncia di violazione della Convenzione europea dei diritti umani alla Corte di Strasburgo, in merito ai 24 migranti che sono stati respinti il 7 maggio scorso in Libia": lo dichiara Anton Giulio Lana, membro del direttivo dell'Unione forense per la tutela dei diritti dell'uomo, che collabora con il Consiglio Italiano per i Rifugiati (CIR). "Tredici di loro - sottolinea - provenivano dall'Eritrea e undici dalla Somalia, quindi avevano tutti diritto a chiedere l'asilo politico. L'Eritrea, infatti, è in una condizione di guerra continua con i paesi confinanti e i civili sono chiamati in massa a una leva forzata e illimitata. In Somalia, invece, i miliziani fondamentalisti di al-Shabab hanno lanciato una violenta offensiva contro le forze governative, che nel solo mese di maggio ha causato centinaia di morti e circa 50.000 profughi". "L'articolo 3 della Convenzione europea dei diritti dell'uomo - continua Lana - impedisce il respingimento di persone verso paesi di transito dove possono essere soggetti a trattamenti disumani, come la Libia, o verso i paesi d'origine da cui i profughi sono fuggiti. L'articolo 4 del IV protocollo della stessa Carta, inoltre, vieta i respingimenti collettivi senza preventivo accertamento dell'identità. Siamo fiduciosi - conclude - che la Corte possa accogliere il ricorso dei migranti".
Pubblicato da Agenzia Habeshia per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo
allAfrica.com: Libya: Catholic Agency Raps Europe for Mistreating Refugees
26 May 2009
Tripoli — Last week's immediate return to Libya of 238 immigrants including women and children rescued in international waters, without consideration of their refugee status or injuries, was a violation of their human dignity, the International Catholic commission for Immigration (ICMC) has said.
ICMC, in a statement, accused Italy and other European nations of contravening the 1951 Refugee Convention, saying that the rejection of human beings in need of basic international protection overshadows calls by these same nations to build more humane societies.
"ICMC deplores the reflex to resort to enforcement-only approaches," said a statement from the secretary general Johan Ketelers. "Such approaches do not work, and there are better alternatives within reach that are more humane and more effective in every way".
The commission added that no political or economic argument could balance or counter the value of a person. While it was fully understood that solutions require sustained and longer-term action, immediate short term responses are also needed to fully respect every human person in his or her profound dignity and rights.
ICMC said that it was not the number of people within the so-called "mixed flows" of migrants and refugees that contributed to a widespread feeling that the arrivals are high and unmanageable; rather, it was the lack of structures to adequately assist them.
In recent years, there has been an increase in numbers of illegal immigrants flocking Europe either in search of political asylum or economic survival. They mostly arrive in make-shift boats. Hundreds have reportedly died after their boats capsized or due to freezing in the high waters.
While initially the immigrants were treated as refugees and given medical attention before being returned to their countries, their influx has led most European countries to return them without any attention.
ICMC called on European government to first provide the voyagers with humanitarian assistance and, upon assessmentparticularly of the refugees, victims of torture, trafficking or trauma, and women or children among themto refer them to the professional structures and services to which their human dignity, basic human decency and international law entitle them.
"Forcibly returning them without such differentiation, assistance or process is a denial not only of their rights and human identity, but of human yearnings we all share".
allAfrica.com: South Africa: Community Links Murder to Xenophobia
Natasha Joseph
26 May 2009
Two Somali men who ran a spaza shop in the Boland town of Darling have been killed in what community members describe as a xenophobic attack.
The men, Omar Josef and Hazim Amad, died in their shop in the early hours of Sunday when it caught fire - or when, the Somali community believes, a group of locals set it alight.
Police spokesperson November Filander said yesterday the cause of Sunday's fire was still unknown and the men's deaths will be investigated.
Hussein Omar, the Western Cape chairperson of the Somali Association of South Africa (Sasa), said the organisation had heard the news and had assigned someone to go to Darling and find out more about what had happened.
timesofmalta.com - More refugees starting new life in the US
A group of 13 refugees from Somalia, Eritrea and Sudan leave Malta tomorrow to begin a new life in the United States.
Since the US Embassy began its permanent refugee resettlement programme in May 2008, over 250 refugees have been resettled inthe US.
The programme is a collaborative partnership among the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Office of Migration (IOM), the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS), and a number of local non-governmental organisations.
Charge d'Affairs Jason Davis said the refugee resettlement program showed America’s continuing commitment to help ease the burden that migration placed on Malta, as well as its recognition of the enormous challenges and dangers that many of the migrants faced.
“The programme’s success is a tribute to continued hard work on the part of UNHCR, IOM, and the US government, as well as many others here in Malta who have dedicated themselves to improving the lives of refugees in need of humanitarian assistance,” Mr Davis said.
He added that all refugees were assigned a sponsor agency in the US that provided initial services such as housing, food, and clothing, as well as referral to medical care, employment services, and other support services during the transition period to self-sufficiency. These services were provided to facilitate refugees with the process of integration and cultural assimilation.
Iraqi Refugees Struggling in the United States | UN Dispatch
Mark Leon Goldberg - May 26, 2009 - 3:22pm
For the past 10 months, Hanna Ingber Win has reported on the Iraqi refugee community in El Cajon, California, where a high concentration of Chaldean Christian Iraqis have settled. The LA Weekly feature that resulted from her months-long reporting project offers an important window into the difficulties that Iraqi refugees face in the United States. Here's Ingber-Win:
We go to the home of Saad and Baan Shaya. It is a workday, but the Shayas have no jobs and are home watching Arabic television. We sit down in their living room, on furniture donated to the couple by another church group, and the Shayas tell us that they left Baghdad in 2003 because of the war. They moved to Mosul in northern Iraq, and Saad owned a liquor store. In 2006, Muslim extremists threatened him, telling him to leave his store. When he didn’t, the extremists shot Saad in the leg and then bombed the store. He walks to the couch, pulls up the leg of his jeans and reveals a scar from the gunshot. The store bombing killed Saad’s 43-year-old brother. Saad escaped Iraq and fled to Turkey.
Baan says she left Iraq because a militia came to her home with a flier, giving the family three options: Convert to Islam, pay the militia monthly taxes or leave the country. She says some of her friends never had the chance to escape because they were kidnapped.
Bazzi pauses from translating to say that a militia murdered her own cousin two years ago. “They took the money and killed him,” she says. “They skinned his face. They couldn’t recognize him if it wasn’t for his ring.”
The Shayas registered as refugees in Turkey, and the United States resettled them in El Cajon in February. They have both been looking for jobs since they arrived. They receive about $580 a month from the government, but that will only continue for eight months. They speak almost no English and don’t have transportation. Baan says she has been walking around, looking for a job every day. She says she would take anything — but she hasn’t had any offers.
“How will we live here if we don’t find a job?” Saad asks.
As opposed to other western countries that have received large numbers of Iraqi asylum seekers, the United States has a smaller social safety net. The Shayas and other refugee families in the United States face the double hurdles of chronic poverty and adapting to life in a country in which they do not speak the language. It is a pretty tragic situation.
The United States government has a deep and enduring moral obligation to make the life of displaced Iraqis as comfortable as possible--in El Cajon and beyond. Check out Refugees International for more on the Iraqi Refugee crisis.
AlterNet: Same-Sex Marriage Meets the Immigration Debate
By Valeria Fernández, Feet in 2 Worlds
Posted on May 26, 2009, Printed on May 27, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/140255/
PHOENIX, Ariz. — David used to be one of those people who say: “Get out of our country if you don’t belong here.” That was until he fell in love with an undocumented immigrant.
After seven years of living together, David, an American citizen, worries about his same-sex partner’s ability to remain in the country. Guille, 38, came to the U.S. over nine years ago from Colombia, and his tourist visa has expired.
While federal immigration laws allow heterosexual residents to sponsor their spouses to immigrate to the country, gay and lesbian couples are not afforded the same benefit.
“My rights are being denied because Guille is a ‘boy,’” said David, 48, who asked for both of their last names to be withheld because of his partner’s immigration status.
A bill introduced in Congress last February might open up new options for couples like David and Guille.
The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) would allow U.S. citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners to immigrate legally to the country in the same way heterosexuals sponsor their spouses. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Immigration Equality are supporting the bill submitted by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D.-N.Y.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.).
UAFA would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to add definitions for “permanent partner” and “permanent partnership” that would include same sex-couples in a committed relationship.
The bill provides same-sex partners the same benefits as heterosexual couples. It also includes provisions to deter fraudulent partnerships, which could be punished with prison sentences of up to five years and a $250,000 fine.
For supporters of the bill, it boils down to family unity.
“This is about whether they can be a couple at all,” said Immigration Equality executive director Rachel B. Tiven. “To say to someone ‘you can’t be a couple, you can’t be a family because you’re gay’ is just cruel.”
The absence of provisions in federal law that contemplate same-sex couples have forced many to make difficult choices, Tiven said.
A recent news story about a lesbian couple –Jay Mercado, an American woman, and Shirley Tan, her partner from the Philippines– illustrates the challenges. Despite having lived together for over 23 years and getting married in San Francisco, the government tried to deport Tan denying her claim for asylum. Eventually, Tan got to stay thanks to a private bill submitted by a California lawmaker.
More than 36,000 gay and lesbian Americans could benefit from this change in the law, according to the 2000 Census and research conducted for Immigration Equality by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. UAFA would not change the situation for people who entered the country illegally, but could benefit those like Guille with an expired visa.
“It’s been a struggle, once your visa expires you have nothing,” said Guille, 38, who drives around town with an outdated Florida driver’s license. David often worries about Guille, especially in Phoenix where there is an intense crackdown on illegal immigration by the local sheriff’s office.
Advocates recognize that with the economy being a priority, the the bill’s chances this year are slim. But some are hopeful that there’ll be support from the Obama’s administration.
In a March 26th article published in Bay Windows, a statement by White House spokesman Shin Inouye offers hope. “The president thinks Americans with partners from other countries should not be faced with a painful choice between staying with their partner or staying in their country. We will work closely with Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation,” Inouye said.
Couples like Guille and David have a different perspective when it comes to UAFA.
“You’re mixing groups of people that some in the U.S. don’t want to give rights too,” said David. He believes any type of immigration reform should be part of a larger comprehensive approach that focuses on the economic benefits and contributions of immigrants.
“It needs to be done in a way that does not allow extremists to preach against it,” he added. “I think this bill needs to be more educational than anything else.”
Tiven remains positive. Since the bill was introduced it has picked up support from 100 cosponsors in the House and twenty in the Senate.
“Ultimately we want it to pass, we want total equality for gay and lesbians couples,” Tiven said. “We’ll work hard on any solution. Whether is as a stand-alone bill or part of comprehensive immigration reform.”
Some believe the bill has a better chance of passing on its own than as part of a larger comprehensive immigration package.
“The issue of illegal immigration and those who are illegally in the country is too politically charged,” said Linda Elliot, co-chair of the Public Policy Committee at the Human Rights Campaign. “We have to do this in steps.”
Elliot believes it would be easier to gather public support for a bill that addresses committed couples trying to stay together by finding a way to migrate legally into the U.S.
Currently, at least twenty countries including Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel allow citizens and legal residents to sponsor their same sex partners for legal immigration.
© 2009 Feet in 2 Worlds All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/140255/
AlterNet: Same-Sex Marriage Meets the Immigration Debate
By Valeria Fernández, Feet in 2 Worlds
Posted on May 26, 2009, Printed on May 27, 2009
http://www.alternet.org/story/140255/
PHOENIX, Ariz. — David used to be one of those people who say: “Get out of our country if you don’t belong here.” That was until he fell in love with an undocumented immigrant.
After seven years of living together, David, an American citizen, worries about his same-sex partner’s ability to remain in the country. Guille, 38, came to the U.S. over nine years ago from Colombia, and his tourist visa has expired.
While federal immigration laws allow heterosexual residents to sponsor their spouses to immigrate to the country, gay and lesbian couples are not afforded the same benefit.
“My rights are being denied because Guille is a ‘boy,’” said David, 48, who asked for both of their last names to be withheld because of his partner’s immigration status.
A bill introduced in Congress last February might open up new options for couples like David and Guille.
The Uniting American Families Act (UAFA) would allow U.S. citizens to sponsor their same-sex partners to immigrate legally to the country in the same way heterosexuals sponsor their spouses. The Human Rights Campaign (HRC) and Immigration Equality are supporting the bill submitted by Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D.-N.Y.) and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D.-Vt.).
UAFA would amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to add definitions for “permanent partner” and “permanent partnership” that would include same sex-couples in a committed relationship.
The bill provides same-sex partners the same benefits as heterosexual couples. It also includes provisions to deter fraudulent partnerships, which could be punished with prison sentences of up to five years and a $250,000 fine.
For supporters of the bill, it boils down to family unity.
“This is about whether they can be a couple at all,” said Immigration Equality executive director Rachel B. Tiven. “To say to someone ‘you can’t be a couple, you can’t be a family because you’re gay’ is just cruel.”
The absence of provisions in federal law that contemplate same-sex couples have forced many to make difficult choices, Tiven said.
A recent news story about a lesbian couple –Jay Mercado, an American woman, and Shirley Tan, her partner from the Philippines– illustrates the challenges. Despite having lived together for over 23 years and getting married in San Francisco, the government tried to deport Tan denying her claim for asylum. Eventually, Tan got to stay thanks to a private bill submitted by a California lawmaker.
More than 36,000 gay and lesbian Americans could benefit from this change in the law, according to the 2000 Census and research conducted for Immigration Equality by the Williams Institute at the University of California Los Angeles School of Law. UAFA would not change the situation for people who entered the country illegally, but could benefit those like Guille with an expired visa.
“It’s been a struggle, once your visa expires you have nothing,” said Guille, 38, who drives around town with an outdated Florida driver’s license. David often worries about Guille, especially in Phoenix where there is an intense crackdown on illegal immigration by the local sheriff’s office.
Advocates recognize that with the economy being a priority, the the bill’s chances this year are slim. But some are hopeful that there’ll be support from the Obama’s administration.
In a March 26th article published in Bay Windows, a statement by White House spokesman Shin Inouye offers hope. “The president thinks Americans with partners from other countries should not be faced with a painful choice between staying with their partner or staying in their country. We will work closely with Congress to craft comprehensive immigration reform legislation,” Inouye said.
Couples like Guille and David have a different perspective when it comes to UAFA.
“You’re mixing groups of people that some in the U.S. don’t want to give rights too,” said David. He believes any type of immigration reform should be part of a larger comprehensive approach that focuses on the economic benefits and contributions of immigrants.
“It needs to be done in a way that does not allow extremists to preach against it,” he added. “I think this bill needs to be more educational than anything else.”
Tiven remains positive. Since the bill was introduced it has picked up support from 100 cosponsors in the House and twenty in the Senate.
“Ultimately we want it to pass, we want total equality for gay and lesbians couples,” Tiven said. “We’ll work hard on any solution. Whether is as a stand-alone bill or part of comprehensive immigration reform.”
Some believe the bill has a better chance of passing on its own than as part of a larger comprehensive immigration package.
“The issue of illegal immigration and those who are illegally in the country is too politically charged,” said Linda Elliot, co-chair of the Public Policy Committee at the Human Rights Campaign. “We have to do this in steps.”
Elliot believes it would be easier to gather public support for a bill that addresses committed couples trying to stay together by finding a way to migrate legally into the U.S.
Currently, at least twenty countries including Canada, the United Kingdom and Israel allow citizens and legal residents to sponsor their same sex partners for legal immigration.
© 2009 Feet in 2 Worlds All rights reserved.
View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/140255/
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