Migrante Europe

Tag: human trafficking

  • Filipino migrants and families call on Pope Francis to heed cry of OFWs in distress

    #DearPopeFrancis

    Pope FrancisGlobal alliance of overseas Filipinos Migrante International will hold a small gathering at the Plaza Miranda later this afternoon to welcome the arrival of Pope Francis and to call on the Holy Father to heed the cry of Filipino migrants and their families, especially those in distress.

    Around Metro Manila, simultaneous activities were also held earlier today to gather “letters to the Pope” from families of overseas Filipino workers (OFWs) in distress.

    In a previous open letter to the Pope, Migrante International had called on the Pope to “bear witness to our struggle. We call on you to speak on behalf of overseas Filipinos in our quest for a better life.”

    According to Garry Martinez, Migrante International chairperson, “We are thankful to Pope Francis for consistently speaking on behalf of migrants and refugees. We agree with him that human trafficking is indeed ‘a crime against humanity’ and that forced migration is ‘an anomaly’ and a matter of grave concern for our migrant workers and their families.”

    “As he visits the Philippines, we call on Pope Francis to speak on behalf of an estimated 15 million overseas Filipinos in over 239 countries around the world. We call on him to speak out for Filipino migrants in distress and their families,” Martinez said.

    There are currently 125 Filipinos on death row abroad – the most number of whom have been executed under the present Aquino administration. At least 7,000 Filipinos are languishing in jails abroad without legal assistance and at least 25,000 are stranded and awaiting repatriation in the Middle East alone. Millions are undocumented and in danger of being criminalized abroad as host countries continue to impose more strict immigration and border policies. At least half a million Filipinos, mostly women and children, are victims of trafficking. Millions more suffer labor abuses and violations and endure modern-day slavery for the sake of their families back home.

    Despite all these, Martinez said, the Aquino administration has intensified its labor export policy. “The Aquino government has highly praised itself for its supposed efforts to work with migrant-receiving governments to ensure the rights and welfare of OFWs. But the truth is OFWs are plagued with an assortment of issues and problems throughout the entire migration cycle yet the Aquino government has barely done any decisive action to support and protect OFWs and their families. The Aquino government’s ability to uphold Filipinos migrants’ rights and promote their welfare has lagged behind its apparent success in implementing its labor export policy.”

    Pope Francis is a staunch supporter and advocate of the rights and welfare of migrants and refugees. He has been very vocal in his criticisms on forced migration and the criminalization of undocumented migrants and refugees, and his stance against trafficking in persons and modern-day slavery.

    On January 16, the Holy Father will be holding a dialogue with some Filipino migrants and their families at the Mall of Asia Arena.

    On the same date, Migrante International will be holding an International Day of Prayer and Solidarity to bring to the Pope’s attention the plight of Filipino migrants and their families all over the world.

    “We call on Pope Francis to heed our call: Stand with us against trafficking and modern-day slavery of Filipino migrants! Struggle with us against Aquino’s labor export policy!” Martinez said. ###

  • “Mos Maiorum”: Yet another criminalization of people on the run

    “Mos Maiorum”: Yet another criminalization of people on the run

    On the 13th of October, a large-scale European police operation starts that targets undocumented migrants.

    It has become a tradition. Each time a country receives the presidency of the EU, it launches a large-scale action against migrants. Coincidence or not, with Latin or Old Greek names. Aerodromos, Aphrodite, Perkunas are the names of the actions of Greece, Cyprus and Lithuania respectively during their presidencies.

    On the 10th of July, not even two weeks after Italy got the presidency of the EU, a police operation was announced. This action will be led by the Italian Ministry of Interior Affairs in ‘close cooperation’ with Frontex, Europol and the Schengen member states. The action received the name Mos Maiorum, which literally means ‘custom of the ancestors’. It refers to the first centuries of the Roman Republic.

    In not one European media, mainstream or alternative, nor from any politician, have you heard about Mos Maiorum. In practice, between the 13th and 26th of October, approximately 20.000 police officers will be deployed in operations ranging from increasing checks in airports, stations, trains, highways to house searches. The main aim is to gain a better insight in the migration routes and to arrest as many undocumented migrants as possible.

    The operation is presented as prevention against organized crime and human trafficking, but we know from the past that this is just an excuse. During previous operations, practically no human traffickers were arrested; only undocumented migrants who ended up in detention centers and ultimately were deported. In addition, Europe wants to extend the databases of Frontex and Europol through these kinds of operations.

    Refugees are seen as a threat. The new migration streams are presented as questions of security and criminality while they are a consequence of wars and conflicts, especially in the Middle East and Africa.

    Since World War II, there has never been these many refugees. According to numbers of the United Nations, there are 51 million refugees. Only in 2013, 17 million people were on the run. In Europe, we are convinced that all refugees of the world are coming here. However, in 2013, there were only 435.385 applications for asylum in the 28 European member states. Not that big of a deal.

    On the other hand, Europe is the most dangerous destination for people on the run. According to research, since 2000 at least 40.000 migrants lost their lives on the way to Europe. The Mediterranean Sea has become a mass grave. This has to do with Fortress Europe. European countries and the EU have invested billions of Euros to protect their borders. In the buffer zone around the EU approximately 2 billion Euros were invested. Frontex received in 2013 as much as 85 million Euro. Europe launched last year Eurosur, in charge of the European border control, which will receive during the next 6 years approximately 250 million Euro. The number of cameras and kilometers of fences on the European borders is exaggerated. Tens of thousands of border patrols were hired to be based at the borders, from Bulgaria to Spain. In countries as the UK, Hungary and Austria, refugees are locked up in jails. In Greece, Malta, Poland and Bulgaria even non-accompanied minor asylum-seekers are locked up.

    The security and criminalization policies that Europe is executing and operations such as Mos Maiorum are a violation of the European Agreement to protect human rights, in particular the right to freedom and security. According to researchers and refugee organizations, human traffickers are the ones that take advantage of the current European policy. As soon as a route is closed, the smugglers are looking for new routes that are more dangerous and more expensive for migrants.

    It is evident that action should be taken against human traffickers. But to achieve this, operations such as Mos Maiorum are not necessary. There are sufficient laws at the level of states and at the European level to tackle crime. Police and justice need to be more effective. The top persons of human trafficking are still walking the streets and we know who they are.

    There are millions of people on the run because of wars, but since recently the amount of refugees is even greater because of natural disasters. The billions of Euros that are spent on the security of borders, could be used to establish legal trajectories to Europe. By enabling safe access routes, not only more lives will be saved, but it will also help to fight human trafficking.

    The current European policy considers migrants as a threat, but without them Europe would be in an even deeper crisis. Tens of recent reports and researchers demonstrate that migrants play a crucial role in the European economy. In the UK, for instance, migrants have contributed 32 billion Euros to the economy. In the new Swedish government, there are four ministers with a migration background. Aida Hadzialic arrived at the age of 5 as a refugee from Bosnia and at age 26 she is the youngest minister in the government. Migrants are people who want an opportunity, but today these opportunities are taken away by Europe, while it actually really needs these people.

    Bleri Lleshi is a political philosopher and author of various books.

    Translated to English from Dutch by Natalie Lefevre

    http://blerilleshi.wordpress.com
    https://www.facebook.com/Bleri.Lleshi
    @blerilleshi

  • 500 Migrants Feared Dead After Boat Sinks In Mediterranean

    Ideastream.org, September 15, 2014

    The International Organization for Migration says the incident took place last week when people smugglers rammed a vessel carrying hundreds of refugees hoping to reach European waters.

    Italian navy rescue asylum seekers

    Some 500 migrants trying to make their way from Egypt to Malta by boat are believed to have drowned last week after people smugglers reportedly rammed and sank their vessel, according to the International Organization for Migration.

    The IOM report is based on reports from the few survivors of the tragedy who say the group of Syrians, Palestinians, Egyptians and Sudanese had hoped to eventually reach Europe.

    In a separate incident, some 70 Libyans were feared drowned in a similar tragedy involving the sinking of a migrant boat.

    The Telegraph says of the first tragedy that “if confirmed [it] would rank as the worst disaster in the Mediterranean for years.”

    The newspaper says the story “was recounted by two Palestinians who spent more than a day floating in the water before being picked up by a Panama-flagged merchant vessel about 300 miles off Malta.

    “They were brought to the port of Pozzallo in Sicily at the weekend, where they told their story to IoM officials.

    “Nine other survivors were rescued by Greek and Maltese rescue vessels.”

    The survivors said there had been a confrontation as smugglers tried to move migrants to a smaller boat. Christiane Berthiaume, a spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, told The Associated Press that traffickers “used one boat to knock the other,” apparently causing the sinking.

    By way of background, the AP says: “Refugee numbers have swelled as thousands of people flee conflicts in Syria, Iraq and across the Middle East and Africa, boarding unsafe smugglers’ boats in Libya. Nearly 110,000 people have been rescued since January, but at least 1,889 others have died making the perilous crossing, according to the U.N. refugee agency.”

    We have reported on a number of such incidents in the past, going back as far as 2011.

    Last month, NPR’s Sylvia Poggioli reported on Italy’s efforts to tackle the problem, saying: “Reports of migrant boats in distress have become a near-daily news headline over the past year.”

    Copyright 2014 NPR. To see more, visit http://www.npr.org/.