Archive for the ‘Migration and Trafficking’ Category

Migration Forum in Dakar: Fundamental questions, a wonderful courtyard and magic moments!

December 11, 2008

By Martina Liebsch, Caritas Internationalis advocacy coordinator for migration, trafficking and gender

Part 1

I recently came back from Dakar in Senegal, from the Forum “Migration, Politiques et droits de l’homme” and pictures from the meeting are still in my head.

It was the first meeting that gathered a considerable number of European and African Caritas members around the topic of Migration. At least for me it was an eye-opener in terms of the multiple root causes for migration. Europeans sometimes see the link between poverty and migration as having one cause. This link is not wrong but does not take into account the complexity of the root causes, a mix between traditions to migrate, lack of opportunities, myths, gaps between rural and urban areas etc.

What approach should be taken vis a vis migration? Two positions can be identified: The one promoted by the European Caritas members so far: Migration has to be safe, legal and a choice. Some of our – mainly African - colleagues are of the opinion that everything has to be done to ensure, that young people stay in their countries and contribute to its development. Migration should not be an option.

Another hot topic: The issue of return. Everybody agreed that return should be voluntary and by no means be linked to any conditions. But they recognized two other categories of return: The one which is voluntary, but also forced, as there are no further options to stay and the third one being the one when people are sent back against their will.

There was consensus that to organize a voluntary return resources were needed, which Caritas from mainly the South complained they did not have. Would it compromise the cause of Caritas if funds also devoted to forced return would be used? There was no real consensus on that.

The reports from colleagues from Algeria, Marocco and Mauritania, who have to work often under very restrictive conditions were dramatic. They have to deal with cases of outcasts, nobody really wants to take care of. They are often not allowed to move back to their countries of origin, as their family members would not accept them, but they have no options in the country of transit and destination and are waiting there for a better future.

Part 2

Arriving at night at Dakar airport is a cultural shock for a European who has not been there before. A multitude of people try to offer all sorts of services. This feeling is much stronger after a 12 hour journey. So we, my colleague Pierre and I, were happy to be told, that we would be “parked” at a “auberge” called “Mme. Cissey’s” until other participants arrived.

We were brought to a very nice, clean, courtyard, with a Mango-tree in the middle and a table around it. The perfect place to wait…. and to observe life and people – and also to talk. We were in a place were almost all participants who arrived by plane or left for their countries again had to go through, to store their luggage, to rest a few hours or to stay a night.

I know “caravanserais” only from books, but I think, Mme Cissey had all the ingredients for such a place. Waiting for our departure or for meeting people or for going to other meetings, many of us spent some time in this place and whenever we sat together we talked, talked, talked: about the Senegalese in Mallorca (and meeting some of their family members), the Spanish return policies or the cultural dimension of migration in some African countries.

It was an oasis of knowledge and of magical moments. One of the participants, a young man told us about his life and his attempts to cross the fence around Ceuta and Melilla. “Although we had trained for this moment, I could not do it, he said, I was too afraid!” he said. It was the difficult situation of his numerous family, caused by the sickness of his father, the heritage discussions after his death, the lack of opportunities and the pressure toraise a young family that made the young men leave his country. Today he tries to help other migrants who were sent back to cope with their lives.

Part 3

My final word goes to the Senegalese women: First of all Anita….she was an street seller around the hotel in Saly. With a charming smile and some stories, she made me spend a relatively large amount of Euro for a tunika. But her smile was irresistible!

There were as well wonderful dynamic female colleagues attending and organising the meeting, to which I pay tribute! I’m excited about the idea of discussing the issue of feminization in the near future. An issue which was not really touched upon in the meeting.

We also met women in a market place in Dakar. They were women from the villages coming to the markets in Dakar to earn their living, because in their villages, the basis for their livelihood does not exist anymore. They come from polygamist families and they are responsible for feeding their children. If the climate does not allow for it, they have to migrate to the city. Caritas Dakar runs a program with micro credit, which encourages women to go back to their villages as the opportunities in the cities are not many and they can be subject to violence and exploitation.

The women we met, were earning their living by processing couscous or washing and ironing clothes. They were proud and even if their means were very limited they showed their hospitality – the senegalese teranga.

Thanks to Caritas Senegal for this wealth of experience!

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To save even one person makes a difference… Combating Human Trafficking in the Americas

November 13, 2008

Martina Liebsch, Caritas Internationalis advocacy coordinator for migration, trafficking and gender.

This was one of the  messages for the participants of the International Conference “Responding to Trafficking in Persons in the Americas” organised by Catholic Relief Services (CRS) and Catholic Charities USA (CCUSA) in Washington, from 02-05 November 2008. 

A rainbow of initiatives and practices throughout the Americas were presented including the initiatives of the government of the United States.

In view of the magnitude of the problem, its interconnectedness with other forms of crime, the lack of political will to combat it, the difficulties for organisations to get funding for their services and the persistent root causes, the story which Kathleen Mitchell, one of the participants and a survivor told us one morning, was a message of hope and of being aware about their own limitations.

A man is on the beach and throws starfish back into the sea. Questioned by another person why he is doing that in view of so many thousands who may lie on all the beaches of the world, he says while throwing another one into the sea: It makes a difference for this one. 

From an advocacy point of view a conclusion was that there is potential to make an impact and plenty of occasions to do so, but it needs communication and coordination by providing comments to the Trafficking in Persons Report prepared by the US Government and recommended to us by Ambassador Mark Lagon, in charge of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons. This report provides an overview of the situation of more than 150 countries. It has been criticised by many people, but as long as we don’t have anything better in other parts of the world, we should definitely use this instrument.  

It was also emphasised that there is a need for strengthening work with the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The participants felt that they are often not aware about the relevant events or advocacy opportunities. So I got back with some homework for the migration team, amongst which the preparation of an international advocacy calendar on Migration and Trafficking, which would be accessible through the Caritas Website and the seeking of cooperation with the ILO during the process of drafting a Convention on domestic workers.

I hope we can make a difference by joining forces on some key issues and I’m grateful to CRS and CCUSA who provided me with the opportunity to get a step closer to this. And maybe we could use the slogan of the new President Elect of the United States: Yes we can!

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Italy’s chance to give back what it received

November 5, 2008

By Maria Suelzu
Caritas Internationalis Advocacy Officer
Presentation of the Caritas 2008 immigration in Italy report

In the first part of the 20th century, in some parts of Italy a lot of people were desperately poor. People were hungry and even up until the 1950s some poorer Italians lived in improvised shacks on the outskirts of cities like Rome.

As I walked across the Tiber to “Teatro Don Orione” to attend the presentation of the Caritas 2008 immigration report in Italy, I considered how for decades millions of Italians left our country to find hope and a better future elsewhere. They landed on the shores of countries such as the US, Argentina, and many others.

Now we are a wealthier country and people from poorer countries want to come to us - just as we went elsewhere to find prosperity and security. Often they are escaping war, poverty and a bleak future in their home countries.

In Rome, the city where I live, there seems to be a lot of immigrants. They work in bars and restaurants, they clean people’s houses, they help families by looking after their children, their grandparents and the sick.

One of the interesting issues mentioned during the presentation of the immigration report was the fact that immigrants, although often perceived by the local population as competing for social services, only receive 2.4 percent of national social security expenditure.

In fact, they are net contributors to our country’s wealth. In 2006, for example, they paid over 3.1 billion euro in income tax. They also make a substantial contribution to the economies of their countries of origin by sending around 6 billion euro in remittances to their communities and families.

The Italian government has always considered the data on immigrants gathered by Caritas to be the most reliable, and the Italian National Institute for Statistics (ISTAT) collaborates in the preparation of the report, so it presents a fairly accurate picture of the current situation in Italy.

As I left Teatro Don Orione after the presentation of the report, I reflected on how we receive immigrants in Italy. I came to the conclusion that, even though the Italian Government has been in the press a lot recently because of its tightening of immigration laws, there are still lots of Italians who want to learn about and absorb the new cultures brought here by immigrants.

I think it’s now essential that the Italian Government should adapt its rules to this new situation, where Italy has gone from being a country of émigrés to being a country of immigrants.

Read a summary of the report in Italian, English, French, Spanish and some other languages

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Global Forum on Migration and Development 3

October 29, 2008

The Global Forum on Migration and Development was officially opened on Monday 27 October in Manila with 200 delegates and about 30 observers from civil society, academia and business.

Regional exchanges and thematic workshops were part of the agenda, in order to prepare recommendations for the Governmental Forum, which would take place two days later in the same venue.

Here are some of the impressions members of the Caritas Internationalis delegation.

Kamal Sioufi, President of the Board Committee of Caritas Lebanon Migrant Centre

I believe that the exchange of information and communication is a very fruitful process, and sharing experiences related to the problems of migrants is interesting.

In this Forum, many problems were raised and but few solutions. The aim was to set practical recommendations which should be followed up in order to protect in a migrants dignity and human rights.

The problems highlighted in the Forum are found in many countries: lack of respect of human rights, lack of freedom, and trafficking.

The solutions should be developed on amended international laws and conventions. NGO’s could have their role to play in this.

I want this Forum to identify emerging problems with which migrants are confronted and will propose adequate solutions according to a time schedule which will be updated during evaluation.

Peter Verhaeghe, Migration officer of Caritas Europa

Caritas Europa was able to bring some of the issues and recommendations from our Migration Forum in September 2007 into the debate. The roundtable session on fostering opportunities for legal migration in particular was an excellent opportunity to express our concerns to the concept of “circular migration”, which is too often seen as a creating international workers with a limited set of labour rights related to social protection. We hope that our concerns will find their way into the intergovernmental debate on migration and development.

Martina Liebsch of Caritas Internationalis

It was a long list the chair of the Forum had to deal with at the end. I’ll just try to flag three issues, which had a prominent place in the discussions and found their way into the report presented to the governments.

1. The need for migration policies based on a human rights framework.
2. The demand repeated over and over again to ratify the relevant Conventions (Migrant Worker Convention and ILO Conventions).
3. Finally the issue of feminisation of migration and related issues like human trafficking and gender dimension of migration.

The ultimate goal should be migration out of choice. The upcoming notion of temporary migrants was broadly criticised, as little or no social rights are attached to it.

But it was not a Forum on Migration and Development yet, as experts and people from the development working field were almost absent, apart from diasporas organisations that engage in promoting the development of their countries of origin. It was more a Global Migration Forum.

Not even the compliance with the achievement of the MDG’s was an issue. I brought up the MDGs, as well as the idea about more concrete measurable targets, in order to assess progress during the next Forum. Many could agree on that. Yet, I’m not sure if it is found its way into the report delivered to the government.

Participation of civil society in policy dialogue and how to structure a future Global Forum were a topic for discussion. There was a broad consensus that the Forum should be brought back under the UN to make it more accountable. A true dialogue with the governments should be given space in the Forum and not just an exchange of declarations at the so-called interface session.

This session with representatives of the governments started with a kind of reality shock. The Secretary of State of the Philippines, in charge of chairing the governmental meeting, highlighted that the aims of civil society presented are too ambitious and long term. The governments would be looking at concrete problems and would expect civil society to highlight these problems and work on pragmatic solutions.

Moreover he highlighted that the government representatives attending the interface session were there on their personal capacity and not representing their governments.

It was a great opportunity to make contacts and many people, especially from the research area were interested in the work of Caritas. Something to build on for the further development of our work. It was also an opportunity for networking. Like for our colleague from Ghana, who met people from her and other African countries for the first time. There was an initial agreement that the work in West Africa should be better interconnected.

But at the end also a feeling of anger about the lack of transparency emerged.

A delegation out of the delegates of the civil society conference was set up to participate in a part of the Governmental meeting. Who were these delegates was never made public and even we among the faith based organisation only learned in the last minute who would represent the churches and faith based organisations.

There was also the feeling that all the good recommendations were presented in a kind of show-format during the interface session, which did not really help to make our point. So there are a lot of lessons to be learned about better coordination and cooperation and preparation.

Regional meetings prior to the next Forum, which will be hosted by Greece, could be a way forward.
Some of the representatives of the faith based organisations met for a debriefing after the end of the conference. We should use our networks to get better prepared for the next Forum.

A last word about Manila and the people there, all those who assisted us, in the venue and in the hotel. A big lesson to be learned about being friendly and helpful!

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Global Forum on Migration and Development

October 27, 2008

The travel from Rome to Manila for the Global Forum provided good research on migration.

From Rome, Filipinos, Sri Lankans were the passengers. The man sitting next to me, a Filipino, was on his way back to the Philippines after a holiday at his mother’s. He was going back to see his wife and little child, then to move to Qatar to work in the oil refineries. I asked him how family life was and he shrugged in a way of saying that is the way it is.

Happy with his work? Yes. Compared to rather sedentary Europeans, Filipinos seem to be a mobile community. And they have a system in place to govern migration. Licensed and controlled recruitment agencies, pre-departure training, labour attachés in many of the embassies in the country of origin to follow up complaints, a welfare programme which provides overseas Filipino workers among with a death and disability insurance cover, social work assistance, legal assistance, remittance services and repatriation of workers in case of war, epidemics, disasters and calamities and reintegration services for those who return. Every departing documented worker pays US$ 25 to a fund, which finances these services.

More than one million workers went through the system in 2007 according to the information provided in one of the Manila conference papers: “Protecting Migrant Workers” by Patricia A. St. Thomas (other interesting papers can be found on the Website of the Forum http://www.gfmd2008.org).

If the day to day practice live up to that, we will be able to verify that with a visit to the Episcopal Conference on the Care of Migrant Workers later on. However, in the above mentioned paper the problems are also mentioned. Some migrants still look for recruitment outside the official system, as they find the process cumbersome and the lack of regulations and protection mechanisms in the receiving countries.

Once I’d arrived, the welcome reception for the Civil Society Days was a good occasion to meet old and new friends and start the networking around the issue.

All our delegates had safely arrived and a highlight was the meeting with Caritas Philippines and its Vice-chair Bishop Danildo Gutierrez, which gave an insight in the problems of the country and his very down to the earth advocacy.

All in all the conference started with an energizing kick off.

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Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila

October 23, 2008

Caritas Internationalis will be present at the Global Forum on Migration and Development in Manila, Philippines from 26-29 October 2008.

A Caritas Internationalis delegation made up of Philomena Johnson, representing Caritas Africa, Kamal Sioufi, representing Caritas Middle East and North Africa (MONA), Peter Verhaeghe, representing Caritas Europa and Martina Liebsch, the Cartitas Internationalis Advocacy Coordinator on Migration and Trafficking, who will lead the delegation.

They will meet with around 200 delegates during the Civil Society days. At the end of the Civil Society days, a meeting between Civil Society and Governments will take place.

Read our press release and statement in English, French and Spanish here

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Strengthening fight against Trafficking in Children

October 13, 2008

By Martina Liebsch

Part 2: Coatnet Annual Users’ Meeting: Exchange of best practice, raising awareness and looking ahead!
(Read part 1)

The meeting took place in Paris, from 13th - 17th of October and embraced the annual meeting of the network and a public event under the title:” Fighting Trafficking in children: What is to be done in the European Union?”.

The meeting of the network gave space to the exchange of experience and best practice. Personally I always find it impressive to see with how much courage and ideas our colleagues across the globe are struggling with this crime.

First and foremost, Father George Sigamoney from Caritas Sri Lanka, who has produced a little film called “The house of the Arabian child”. It is based on a true story of a woman who goes abroad to work as a domestic worker. The price the family pays  is high - disintegration of the family, violence, rape - the gains are small. The film was broadcast on private television channels in Sri Lanka and had a major public impact. Women, who had had the same experience spoke about it. Authorities and Embassies were under pressure.

Mungreiphy Shimray from India reported that many of those who go abroad to work as domestic workers are minors. Elena Timofticiuc, from Romania, reported about parents who migrate abroad to earn for their living. They leave their children behind in the care of relatives or friends. This increases the risk of these children of being trafficked. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) 1,2 mil. Children are estimated of being trafficked at any given point in time. This alone is enough justification to raise awareness in public.

The public event on the 16th of October in the illustrious premises of the French Supreme Court, was fully packed with around 230 people from 30 countries, among them many representatives of French NGO’s.

Seventeen speakers from Churches, NGO’s, European Institutions and governments, presented their reflections on trafficking in children and on what needs to be done. One of the themes which emerged throughout the whole event, but also the whole week, was the central role of education, education understood as a means for empowerment: education about the phenomenon, about human rights and gender. The still widespread idea that women and children are not individuals with own wishes, needs and rights, seems to be one of the reasons fuelling trafficking. Definitely Caritas can play an important role in this.

The session ended with two quite antithetic messages. According to the representative of the Supreme Court, Mr. Pierre Sargos, the political will to really engage in combating trafficking in human beings is low. Commissioner Barrot on the other hand made some promising statements on behalf of the EU, which are in line with what NGO’s have been asking for. The possibility of the establishment of National Rapporteurs, who would be responsible for collecting qualitative information about the phenomenon. The Council Framework on Combating Trafficking in Human Beings (http://europa.eu/scadplus/leg/en/lvb/l33137.htm) would be revised.

Victims need immediate assistance and should not be punished. Two important agencies of the EU, relevant for the issue will be reinforced, Europol and Eurojust. Finally, he highlighted the funding possibilities provided by the EU: a new call for proposals should be out by the end of the year. His cabinet would be available for assistance in case of problems with funding.

But there were also some domestic affairs on the agenda: How should Coatnet develop in the future, in terms of structure and strategic goals? There was a demand for stronger and more transparent ownership by many users. The change from “users” to “members” symbolises the wish for ownership.

There was also a wish to further develop the strategic plan. A first draft of it was provided by Marius Wanders, Secretary General of Caritas Europa. I will have the honour and pleasure to lead the strategic planning process from now onwards. Results will be presented at the next members meeting which will most probably take place in 2009 in Bucharest/Romania.


Part 1: Some of us leave, others just change positions

Hello to all new and old colleagues! I began working for Caritas Internationalis as Advocacy Officer on Migration, Trafficking and Gender at the beginning of October. Before many of you know me for my work with Caritas Europa and Caritas Germany. It’s on trafficking where I will have my first “public appearance” in my new job. Coatnet, the network of Christian Organisations against Trafficking, gather in Paris on Monday 14 October.

At the beginning of the week there will be a training session for the members to find out about and use relevant human rights instruments in their work. After that Coatnet will have its formal meeting, planning the year ahead and giving the network a new strategic direction.

Coatnet started as a pilot project and later as network for almost 8 years now. It has grown from an organisation of five members to a fifty member strong group, which of course implies challenges in terms of management, ownership and output.

The art will be to find a formula which allows for joint actions and a joint Christian (or interreligious) face in this fight without overburdening the participants with too many formalities.
At the end of the week there will be a public event under the auspices of the French Presidency of the EU on 16 October to coincide with the EU Anti-trafficking day. The main focus there will be the fight against trafficking in children. After the presentation on how to fight trafficking, recommendations of the NGOs gathered there will be presented to Commissioner Barrot, the Commissioner for Justice, Liberty and Security of the EU. A challenging week lies ahead.

Trafficking is a crime and involves heavy violations of human rights. One victim is too many, even more so if we talk about children. The problem of trafficking in children - according to some colleagues seems to be increasing and it does not only happen cross-border but also within a country.

Thus trafficking in children is an issue which concerns “us” and not “them”. Scrolling through the blogs what struck me, was that I could often read “enough words, we know the problems, now we need action”. This can be said as well about trafficking.

Governments have to commit themselves to the fight, but also to tangible results. NGOs and other actors in the field lack resources (financial and human). There is a need for better data collection and analysis. The many action plans which emerged - at least within the EU in the past years - have to be evaluated against their implementation.

The fight against trafficking in children can also be linked to the Millennium Development Goals. Colleagues working on prevention say that we need education on gender relations and on human rights.

Finally - and that is a challenge for Caritas - we need to be aware that we are talking about a trafficking chain, involving not only rich and powerful criminals, but also poor people at the end of the chain who are those who supply their children in exchange of money to survive or in exchange of the dream that the child would have a better life. As Caritas reaches out to the poor, it is there where we have to do awareness raising and education and not only with glossy posters in the countries of destination.

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