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1. More support for the UN Convention
on migrant workers
On 26 November, Burkina Faso ratified the UN Convention
on Migrant Workers and will become the 24th state party
to the Convention on 1 March 2004 (three months after ratification).
The UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, used 18 December to issue
a call for more countries to sign up to the Convention. He noted:
"More must be done to ensure the respect of the human
rights of migrant workers and their families -- be they regular
or irregular, documented or undocumented. That is why I call
on States to become parties to the International Convention
on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members
of their Families, which entered into force this July."
The full text of the speech can be found on the December 18
website at:
http://www.december18.net/web/general/start.php
A separate speech was given by the Secretary-General on 21
November on international migration, which is available as a
PDF
download.You will need Adobe Acrobat software
to read this document, Adobe Acrobat is available for free, click to download.
2. Global Commission on Migration begins
work
The Global Commission on Migration, an independent, non-UN
body is to be launched in January 2004 in Geneva. It will be
co-chaired by Jan Karlsson of Sweden, a former Migration Minister
from that country, and Mamphela Ramphele of South Africa, a
managing director of the World Bank. According to a senior UN
official, the idea for the Commission came from a
core of 11 countries from the North and South, led by Sweden
and Switzerland. The panel is expected to begin working in January
and complete its final report by the middle of 2005.
The Commission will have a mandate to bring the issues surrounding
international migration to the top of the global agenda, analyse
shortcomings and gaps in approaches by governments or other
bodies on migration, and give practical recommendations on how
to manage migration better.
3. Russian president seeks stronger
penalties for human trafficking
On 27 October, President Vladimir Putin submitted to Parliament
a number of amendments to the Russian Criminal Code which seek
to introduce a maximum prison sentence of 15 years for those
convicted of trafficking. The maximum penatly will be reserved
for cases where the trafficking offence has caused severe damage
to the health of the victim, or any other grave consequences;
posed a threat to the lives and health of many people;
or been committed by an organised group.
President Putin said that human trafficking "is a modern
form of slavery, which is accompanied by the most flagrant and
cruel violations of human rights,'' and that his proposal
would "tighten the punishment for human trafficking,
especially the child trade, the use of slave labourers and related
misdeeds''.
The amendments passed a third and final reading and were adopted
by the Duma on 22 November. They will enter into force after
President Putin has signed the Bill. Amendments to the Criminal
Code have been prioritised and regulations regarding the enforcement
of the law and provision for victims will be introduced at a
later stage.
4. UN General Assembly discusses
trafficking in children
At the Third Committee of the UN General Assembly, several
West African delegations expressed deep concerns about the increasing
incidence of child trafficking in their region and highlighted
national and regional actions they had taken to fight the problem.
For the full UN press release, go to http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2003/gashc3748.doc.htm
On 12 December, the NGO Terre des Hommes called in an open
letter to UN Secretary-General for an International Day Against
Child Ttrafficking. The press release, which invites other
organisations to support the fight against child trafficking,
can be read at: http://www.terredeshommes.org
5. UN Special Rapporteur on migrants
to visit Iran
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, Gabriela
Rodriguez, will visit the Islamic Republic of Iran from 1 to
10 February.
6. UK policy developments
On 22 December, a man was sentenced to 10 years in prison for
offences relating to the trafficking of seven women to the UK
for sexual exploitation. Following the conviction the Home Office
Minster, Beverley Hughes, announced that the Government will
provide over £700,000 of funding to the pilot project
for trafficked women for another year. For more information
see our news story for 23
December 2003 .
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has
issued comments on the UK's new Asylum and Immigration (Treatment
of Claimants, etc.) Bill. The paper provides a clear summary
of the UNHCR's concerns with the legislation and is available
as a PDF
download.You will need Adobe Acrobat software
to read this document, Adobe Acrobat is available for free, click to download.
The website of the Centre On Migration, Policy and Society
(COMPAS) in Oxford has a press release from the Institute of
Public Policy Research entitiled Management Not Denial: A
new politics of migration which highlights the main policy
challenges for governments. The press release is available at:
http://www.compas.ox.ac.uk/
7. Publication from IOM
The International Organization for Migration has published
the report Irregular Migration and Trafficking in Women in
Turkey. This report gives a multi-angle assessment on trafficking
of women into Turkey, looking at the links with irregular migration,
reviewing relevant legislation, hearing views from victims,
police, health personnel, the tourism industry in Istanbul,
counter-trafficking NGOs and foreign embassies. The 86-page
report is available as a PDF download from the IOM
website .
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