International Grail Publication 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Alison Healey Foreword 3 Professor John Salt Migration overview 5 Sharon Joslyn Migrants and UN instrumentalities 6 Karoline Robins The International Initiative, Hochfeld – what’s new? 9 Koinonia Advisory Research and Development Service: Report 2009 Human trafficking growing in Africa: a new study 10 Sheila Hawthorn South Pacific migration 11 Mary Boyd Migrant justice 12 Gloria Lazzarini Filipino migrants care for parents overseas 14 Marian Schwab In the parish and local community 15 Jill Herbert Language teaching is more than language teaching 15 Frances Warner From the perspective of a school principal 16 Samia Saad The psychosocial impact of becoming ‘undocumented’ 17 Author’s name withheld 'Illegal' for twenty years 18 Chris de Leeuw Refugees and asylum seekers in the Netherlands 18 Moira Leigh Suman and Ludmilla 20 Sheila Hawthorn Refugee resettlement programs in North Queensland 21 Rosa Aurora Espinosa Mexico, Paix de migrantes 23 Ann Aboud Justice for Palestine 24 Loek Goemans Refugees and migrants in South Africa 25 Anne Marie George Finding home 27 Contacts 29 2 International Grail Publication FOREWORD At the meeting of the International Grail Council and Network Coordinators in Utrecht in 2008, in a session on Global Justice Overcoming Poverty (GJOP), the world-wide migration of people came up for discussion. We realised that we knew little about where and how Grail women were actively engaged with people who had left their home place to live in another country. The meeting also questioned the extent of the knowledge and understanding in the Grail of the many dimensions of this global reality of our time. It was recommended that these matters should be further explored. In 2010, the present International Leadership Team (ILT) asked those responsible for the GJOP monthly Bulletin to produce, in 2011, a publication on ‘migration’ and related issues, which could provide a basis and stimulus for continued action and reflection. Here it is. The decision was taken to interpret ‘migration’ to mean ‘movement from one country and culture to another’ and so to include in the publication:  people seeking permanent residence in accordance with receiving countries’ planned immigration programs;  refugees and asylum seekers who may, or may not, fit into countries’ planned immigration programs;  migrant workers (among whom there may be victims of trafficking). All of these you will find in Migration Matters. All but two of the contributions that follow come from Grail members. The leading article by Professor John Salt, reprinted from a publication of The Grail in England with the permission of all concerned, provides us with a clear, informative overview. The Catholic Information Service for AFRICA is the source for the article on human trafficking in Africa. All Grail members were notified of this project and invited to write freely whatever they wished to contribute. (We have provided contact addresses so that readers may follow up directly with the writers anything they would like to discuss further.) The result is a very readable collection of human stories, reflections and insights, research data and findings, which the publication team considers a stimulating initiation into some of the complexities of the movements of people in our world today. There is much to interest us here and there is much missing. Approximately twenty Grail women, mainly from ‘receiving’ or ‘destination’ countries, wrote for this publication. Rosaurora Espinosa alone writes from a ‘sending’ country, one with a long, hard experience of losing its citizens through emigration. We can claim for Migration Matters no more than that it begins to explore the movements of people in our world and how Grail women are constructively involved. What will follow from it? The publication team and, we feel sure, the contributors hope for some practical proposals that will give further effect to the engagement of The Grail with global migration. John Salt clarifies the meanings of several terms. However, one term ‘migrant’ is used differently in different countries and this calls for a comment here. For example, Mary Boyd quotes a Canadian definition of ‘migrant’ as meaning ‘anyone who moves to another country without being granted the right to stay there permanently’ and she distinguishes between ‘migrants’ and ‘immigrants’. In Australia, ‘migrant’ is used for newcomers to the country whether permanent or temporary residents; in ordinary parlance, the word ‘immigrant’ is not used at all. Readers may wonder, in the case of one contribution, why the name of the author is withheld. This was decided jointly by the author and the editors to protect the identity of the woman written about. Inconsistencies in spelling may be another cause for questioning. Some articles use American spelling;; the others have been edited according to Australian usage. International Grail Publication 3 Grateful acknowledgment is due to all those who have shared their experiences, knowledge and caring insights in this publication. We acknowledge with thanks, also, the sources of the two reprinted articles mentioned above. ‘I, libelle’ (‘Go forth, little book’). Alison Healey, [email protected] , for the Publication Team in Australia, other members of which are: Gloria Lazzarini, [email protected] Sheila Hawthorn, 2/105 Goodwin Street, Currajong. Q.4812. Australia. Helen MacAuley, [email protected] Marian Kelly.(design) from Psalm 139 You search me, God, and know me. You know if I sit or stand, you read my innermost thoughts; whether I walk or rest, you know everything I do. Where can I hide from you? Where can I flee from your presence? If I climb the heavens you are there! If I plunge to the depths you are there, too! If I think night will hide me and darkness give me cover, I find darkness is not dark. For your night shines like day, darkness and light are one. If I fly toward the dawn, or settle across the seas, even there you would still be guiding me, your right hand holding me. Search my heart, probe me, God! Know my thoughts. Do not let me stray on crooked paths. Lead me along your sure and constant way. 4 International Grail Publication INTERNATIONAL MIGRATION TODAY: AN OVERVIEW Professor John Salt, Migration Research Unit, University College London What is migration? Researchers and policy makers confront the confusion that surrounds the issue of migration daily. Concepts are unclear. Statistics are partial and frequently quoted by the media in ways that alarm rather than inform. A very incomplete picture of population movement is often presented. Reductionism is rife. Migration becomes ‘immigration’; ‘immigration’ and ‘asylum’ are assumed to be the same. The rich complexity is too often reduced to sound bites and there is a depressing foghorn dialogue between lobbies that might loosely be described as ‘pro’ and ‘anti’. The answer to the question ‘What is migration?’ is by no means straightforward. It is, in fact, a sub- category of a wider concept of ‘movement’, embracing various types and forms of human mobility from commuting to permanent emigration. People move from one country to live in another for varying periods: three months, six months, a year, ten years, a lifetime. At what point should we regard them as immigrants? In fact, what we define as migration is an arbitrary choice. Types of migration Migration streams are dynamic, involve different types of people and motivations, have different roles and different implications for host and sending societies and are influenced and managed by different agencies and institutions. They are also two-way: the migration debate in the United Kingdom focuses almost entirely on immigrants, yet thousands of people leave every year. The concept of permanent migration, for example, is epitomised in the idea of new lands of opportunity, perhaps typified by Australia. But today what we mean by ‘permanent’ is less clear: mostly it occurs indirectly, resulting from previous temporary migrations, perhaps accompanied by family reunion and family formation. Most voluntary migration in recent decades has featured temporary labour migrants, an enormously diverse group which includes au pairs and domestic servants, agriculture and construction workers, hotel, catering and cleaning staff and highly skilled corporate secondees. The health and education systems have been actively recruiting professionals for varying time periods and the universities have been striving successfully to attract more foreign students. Possibly growing in numbers are migrants who are in an irregular position, mostly entering the host country illegally, often with the help of traffickers and human smugglers. The evidence for this is not, however, conclusive. Data on irregular migration flows across Europe, mainly based on apprehension data, revealed no evidence of increasing numbers in recent years. The mobility spectrum must also take some account of the vast numbers of tourists and business travellers. For some of them brief trips abroad are fact-finding missions which ultimately lead to longer term moves; for others, business travel is a substitute for two or three years’ corporate secondment. Finally, it is important that these diverse groups are not seen as discrete, since one type of migration journey may transform into another. An overseas student may marry and stay on; an asylum seeker may be granted leave to remain; or someone given right of settlement may decide to ‘go home’. How many migrants are there? The United Nations defines international migrants as people living outside their country of birth. Today, that number is estimated to be 214 million, around 3% of the world’s population. Interestingly, the proportion has remained fairly constant for the last 40 years, so it seems that the number of migrants globally is related to the size of the world’s population. Working age migrants (20 – 64 years) are around International Grail Publication 5 three-quarters of the total; and two-thirds of them are in developed countries. About 15% are aged under 20 years. Half of all migrants are women. There seems little likelihood of substantial reductions in numbers of international migrants for several reasons:  Global population will continue to rise by an estimated 2-3 billion by the middle of the century. Most of this increase will be in poorer countries, intensifying emigration pressures.  Increased economic globalisation leads to more globalisation of migration, so that new migration sources and nodes will emerge.  Ageing populations in developed countries will require compensatory labour immigration, particularly for labour-intensive personal care occupations.  Pressure on food supplies will require more seasonal agricultural workers.  Environmental deterioration will encourage emigration from marginal areas. (This article first appeared in ‘Grail Good Life’, 29, Summer 2011, published by The Grail in England and printed here with permission of the author.) MIGRANTS AND UNITED NATIONS INSTRUMENTALITIES Sharon Joslyn, USA 1 International Migrants’ Day: 18th December, 2010 The twentieth anniversary of this day was commemorated at the United Nations, New York, with a panel presentation and open discussion on the topic of migration. There are over 200 million migrants around the world. ‘All countries today are points of origin, transit and destination: we are all in the same boat’, said a participant in a conference, Building Common Ground for the Global Governance of Migration, Geneva. On 17th December, seven panelists, all experts on the subject, presented the challenges of global migration confronting all countries. There are three universal Conventions that provide the legal framework for the protection of migrants’ human rights and labor rights and for national migration policies and international cooperation to regulate migration. These Conventions are complementary: 1) the International Labor Organisation (ILO) Migration for Employment Convention (C-97), 1949; 2) the ILO Migrant Workers Convention,(C-143), 1975; 3) the UN International Convention on the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (ICRMW), 1990. The third of these, the UN Convention 1990, reinforced the international legal framework concerning human rights that had been established in three earlier documents: the Universal Declaration of Human Rights 1948, the International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 and the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights 1966. It protects the basic rights of all migrant workers and their families and grants regular migrants a number of additional rights on the basis of equality with nationals. In spite of intensive international effort by many to increase the number of countries ratifying the treaty, progress has been very slow. So far, it is the least ratified treaty of all the major human rights treaties, with only 44 countries ratifying and no high-income, destination country among them. ‘The negative public perception of migration and migrants is a huge problem, which creates significant impediments for politicians. When you talk about our country’s needs, it is clear that we need more 6 International Grail Publication migrant workers. But when you open the newspapers, you get an extreme and opposite view.’ (An Ambassador of a European country) Our efforts as citizens in our countries can be directed to urging our governments to sign, ratify or accede to these Conventions:  To sign a treaty shows an intention to adhere to the treaty and is done by the Executive Branch of Government.  To ratify a treaty requires the additional action of the Legislative Branch of Government. This is a country’s formal agreement to the text of a treaty and the adoption of its standards in the nation’s laws.  To accede to a treaty is to omit the preliminary signing and to take the necessary legislative action to adopt the treaty. By ratifying, or acceding, to a treaty a national state becomes a ‘state party to the treaty’ and the treaty becomes legally binding for that state once it enters into force, ie, once it is signed by a minimum number of state parties, usually 20. When a treaty ‘enters into force’, it becomes binding on the nation states that have ratified or acceded to it and these countries then have to report periodically on what they have done to implement the standards, or norms, contained in the treaty. In the following table, the total number of countries that have ratified the three conventions referred to above is indicated. Individual countries listed include only those where there are Grail entities. Countries that have ratified the three Conventions referred to above State ILO Convention- 97 ILO Convention-143 UN Convention 1990 (Total : 49) (Total: 23) (Total: 35) Brazil June 1965 Germany June 1959 Italy October 1952 June 1981 Kenya November 1965 April 1979 Mexico March 1999 Netherlands May 1952 Philippines April 2009 September 2006 July 1995 Portugal December 1978 December 1978 Sweden December 1982 Uganda March 1978 November 1995 Part of our work as a non-Government Organisation (NGO) is to monitor the implementation of treaties ratified by states. We in The Grail have done this to a great extent with the Commission on the Status of Women, in particular the Working Group on Girls, a subcommittee of UNICEF. As a consequence, the participation of girls has increased substantially. We need to do more follow-up on issues concerning migration, climate change and indigenous peoples. International Grail Publication 7 2 Advancing Rights for Migrant Women This Report is the outcome of a meeting on ‘Gender and Migration’, held in March 2010, which was sponsored by United Methodist Women, who have offices in the Church Centre of the United Nations in New York. Carol Barton, (Grail USA) is employed by United Methodist Women and made this report available. Migrant women in all regions of the world face particular barriers and challenges to the fulfillment of their human rights and gender equality. In most regions, the basic rights of citizens are not extended to migrants, particularly those with irregular status. Women’s efforts to strengthen legal statutes and social protection for women in their nations will not improve the rights of migrant women unless specific efforts are made to recognize migrant women’s full human rights. This includes political rights, labor rights, economic and social rights and full recourse to legal protection. Women are 75% of all refugees and 52% of the total global population of people in migration, estimated at over 220 million. Migration is occurring within nations, between neighboring countries in all regions, and from South to North. By and large, women migrate out of necessity, such as economic need, climate change and war. The neo-liberal economic model, imposed on many nations through trade, aid, economic and financial policy, has undermined national economies and forced millions to migrate in search of livelihoods. Increasingly they are met with hostility and criminalization. There is a profound hypocrisy in policies that create the necessity for migration and then take advantage of migrant workers and penalize or criminalize them for their presence. Xenophobic and racist attitudes are reflected in the media, public discourse and legislation. As migrants are utilized as a commodity that is sometimes needed and sometimes expendable, xenophobia intensifies in times of economic crisis when jobs are scarce. Migration issues must be addressed through global economic policies that enhance sustainable development and job creation, especially in the global South, and make migration a choice rather than a necessity. An essential priority is the fulfillment of the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) No.8, ‘a global partnership for development’ that more equitably shares global resources. Women migrants face unique challenges. Many women must leave their children behind in order to find work to support their families. Others migrate with their families and bear the burdens of intense work combined with care-giving at home. Women tend to find work in traditional women’s roles—domestic work, child care, cooking, garment-making and other piece work—where they work long hours for low pay and intense exploitation. Domestic work is a particularly egregious situation, where women are isolated and sometimes abused with no benefits or recourse in an occupation not internationally recognized as ‘work’. Women migrants may also face abuse and violence by employers, law enforcement agents, ‘coyotes’1 and spouses. Because of the growing criminalization of migrants, they are often unable to seek redress for such abuse. Non-government organizations (NGOs) must utilize several international venues to promote global migrant rights, particularly the rights of migrant women. They need to: 1) reaffirm the specific needs and realities of migrant women in relation to the Beijing Platform for Action, as noted in the Beijing+5 review, and address the diversity of women’s experience in all aspects of the review; 2) recognize that MDG goals must go beyond programs for citizens to address the needs of migrant women (including those without formal status) within national territories, eg, regarding women’s poverty, maternal mortality and education for girls; 3) urge the universal ratification of the UN Convention on the Protection of Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families, linked to the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and the Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD);. 1 ‘Border smugglers’ who help people cross the border illegally. 8 International Grail Publication 4) raise awareness within the UN Human Rights Council of the human rights abuses women experience as workers, detainees and deportees; 5) support the new Convention on Domestic Workers, adopted by the International Labor Organization (ILO) at its annual convention on June 16 with an historic set of international standards for tens of millions of domestic workers worldwide; (this binding legislation is pending ratification by ILO member countries) 6) address migrant women’s needs in the context of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, and specifically promote a gendered analysis of the impact of dubious ‘circular migration’ schemes. THE INTERNATIONAL INITIATIVE, HOCHFELD – WHAT’S NEW? Karoline Robins, Germany The International Initiative, Hochfeld, was launched in Duisburg in the beginning of the 1970s by two members of the Grail; Hilde Derksen and Silvana Ferraguti. Since 1980, the main centre of activity for the Initiative has been the part of Duisburg called Hochfeld. Duisburg is a town in the west of the Ruhr district, strongly dominated by mining and the steel industry. Because of the lack of local workers in the 1960s, the so-called ‘Gastarbeiter’ (guest workers) were recruited from Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey. This is why more then 60 % of the inhabitants have an emigrant background. This part of Duisburg now has a more than average number of unemployed and single parent families. Today the Initiative has three full-time employees and eleven part-time co-workers of five different nationalities. The main focus of the work of the Initiative was, and still is, providing information for families, with or without migration background, increasing local participation and creating places where local people can come together. The work has been adapted to meet the particular requirements of the inhabitants of Hochfeld. Day to day help is also provided in sudden emergencies. For a number of years, numerous services for children have successfully been offered; there is regular homework supervision and we have already planned for the annual school holiday leisure program. Children of fifteen different nationalities get together in these various groups. A further focus of the centre’s work is providing women with German language courses and information workshops, arranging social get-togethers, consultations and excursions and trips. Participants from at least fourteen different nationalities take part in these activities. It becomes apparent, especially during the excursions, how limited the women’s normal daily activities are. A large number of the ‘Hochfelders’ are only familiar with the local area, which they rarely venture out of. The feeling of really belonging to a place becomes more possible when one is familiar with the social structures and the cultural history of a town or place and its surrounding environment. To help broaden the women’s horizons, we take the women on excursions to other parts of the Duisburg district, eg, to the harbour, the recreational park ‘Landschaftspark Nord’ or into nearby green-belt areas. Last year we went on an excursion to the ‘Zeche Zollverein’ in Essen, a world heritage site for mining, to learn more about the history of the Ruhr district There we visited the ‘Ruhrmuseum’ and discussed the development of the Ruhr district, from the first migration to the present day. We also visited three different places of worship: the Merkez-mosque, the Salvator church and the Duisburg Synagogue. In February this year, at the request of mainly Muslim women, we visited the Cathedral in Cologne. We were pleased that numerous women who do not usually make use of the services of the Initiative joined us on these trips. There is another area of need that has claimed our attention over the last 4 years.. In 2007, Bulgaria und Romania became members of the European Union (EU). Citizens of the EU have freedom of movement in all Member States, which means that they are allowed to travel in the other EU countries, take up International Grail Publication 9 residency and actively look for work. As a result, Duisburg-Hochfeld has experienced a large inflow of people from both of these countries. Many Bulgarian and Romanian families are discriminated against in their own countries and, as a consequence, live in appalling conditions. The fathers are often unemployed and the children never, or rarely, go to school. In the hope of a better future for themselves and their children, they have left their homes in Bulgaria and Romania and have come to live in Duisburg. Over 10 % of the people living in Hochfeld area are now Bulgarian nationals. The right of free movement in the EU does not simultaneously include a work permit, so that Bulgarians and Romanians are often blocked from taking regular normal jobs. This has grave consequences in their everyday life: It means they have to earn a living by accepting illegal work, which pays minimal wages if they’re lucky, or they busk on the streets. They often have no health insurance and live in the most precarious housing. In addition, they suffer discriminatory remarks and stereotyping attitudes from other members of the society, such as, ‘Bulgarians throw their rubbish onto the street’, ‘Gypsies steal’, ‘Ever since the Bulgarians arrived the place has been going downhill’. Over the past four years, we at the Initiative have been actively seeking contact with Bulgarian families. Women and children have been making use of our services, eg, Bulgarian women come to our counselling office for help with their problems. From the beginning of 2011, we have been offering a beginners’ course in German especially for Bulgarian women. There has been tremendous interest in it We have also started a project to bring together people from various institutions who are in contact with Bulgarian and Romanian families, such as schoolteachers and social workers. The aim of this project is to improve significantly the living conditions of Bulgarian and Romanian migrants. As local government has been wholly ignoring their needs, the objective of this project is of vital importance for future social development in Hochfeld. We want to warmly thank all the members of The Grail for the many years of support they have given the Initiative and its staff. So that we can carry on our work, donations are crucial and always welcome and appreciated. Our bank details are Sparkasse Duisburg, IBAN DE 02 3505 0000 0240002949, SWIFT BIC DU ISDE 33 XXX. (Karoline Robins has been working at the Initiative in Hochfeld since 1982) HUMAN TRAFFICKING GROWING IN AFRICA: NEW CHURCH STUDY Human trafficking for the purposes of forced labour and commercial sexual exploitation is a growing problem in East Africa, according to a new study. The study was published in April 2009 by the Catholic agency, Koinonia Advisory Research and Development Service (KARDS), to establish the response to the vice from faith-based organisations and other actors. Fifty-one organisations participated. The study was conducted in Malindi, Mombasa and Nairobi in Kenya and Dar-es-Salaam and Zanzibar in Tanzania. The study found that, in Tanzania, boys are trafficked for forced labour on farms and in mines, the fishing industry and the informal business sector. ‘Tanzanian girls from rural areas are trafficked to urban centres and the island of Zanzibar for domestic servitude and commercial sexual exploitation; some domes-tic workers fleeing abusive employers fall prey to forced prostitution’. Tanzanian men are reportedly trafficked to South Africa for forced labour and girls are trafficked to Oman, the United Arab Emirates and possibly Europe. Kenyan children are 10 International Grail Publication