| 1. EU opens debate on economic migration
On 11 January 2005, the European Commission adopted a Green
Paper, On
an EU Approach to Managing Economic Migration. The paper
was presented by the Directorate General Justice, Freedom and
Security and considers how to establish a common EU framework
for facilitating regular migration which would meet demands
for migrant workers, but which would also be transparent and
work in the interests of migrants, as well as sending and recieving
countries. The Commission is calling for responses to this paper
by 15 April 2005 after which it will hold a public hearing on
economic migration with a view to presenting a formal policy
by the end of 2005.
2. Annotated Guide to Trafficking Resources
available
The Regional Clearing Point (RCP) for Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro was established under the Stability Pact Task Force
on trafficking in human beings. One of its roles is to facilitate
information exchange within the region and between stakeholders
and with this in mind it has developed an Annotated
Guide to Internet-Based Counter-Trafficking Resources
(this is available here as a PDF file, see bottom of page about
reading PDF files). This resource, while not exhaustive,
includes a useful list of websites, listserves and on-line publications.
3. UN Peacekeeping Operations issues anti-trafficking
manual
The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations has
produced a resource
manual explaining its anti-trafficking policy and outlining
its programmatic approach to the issue in its missions around
the world. It is one of several training modules developed with
UN and NGO partners aimed at the peacekeeping audience to enable
all staff, whether military, civilian police, or civilian, to
identify the human rights abuse of trafficking and to ensure
that they do not contribute to this abuse in any way.
4. Report on forced labour in the UK published
A study Forced
Labour and Migration in the UK by Bridget Anderson and
Ben Rogaly was published in February 2005. The report was prepared
by COMPAS and the TUC and details cases where migrants were
forced to work through the use of violence, coercion and debt
bondage. The report urges the UK Government to ratify ILO Convention
No.143 and the 1990 UN Convention on the Protection of the
Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their
Families. It advises the Government to give migrants permits
which allow them to leave their employment on reasonable grounds
and promotes the monitoring of legal migration schemes and private
employment agencies to ensure the protection of migrants' rights.
The report also calls for protection to be extended to all victims
of forced labour and systems established which would allow them
to present civil cases for restitution and compensation -- in
both cases these procedures should be available to all those
who have been subject to forced labour regardless of their migration
status.
5. Trafficking newsletter focuses on Japan
and Cambodia
The February 2005 issue of the Vital
Voices Trafficking Alert includes an article on anti-trafficking
developments in Japan, in particular the pending revisions of
legislation, and a feature about a recent shelter incident in
Cambodia and the need to address government corruption.
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