RIGHTS: Migrants, the Other Victims of the War on Terror

By Gustavo Capdevila Reprint | | Print |

Gustavo Capdevila

GENEVA, Mar 13 2002 (IPS) - The possibility of strengthening the rights of immigrants, particularly those with “irregular” legal status, continues to diminish in the wake of the Sep 11 terrorist attacks on the United States, according to a study submitted to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights.

After the attacks in New York and Washington, stricter controls on the movement of people were proposed in Europe in the name of combating terrorism, says the Europe-Third World Centre (CETIM), a non-governmental human rights organisation.

The more rigorous measures are to be applied through the Schengen Information System (SIS), which is based on the European Union (EU) treaty signed in the Dutch city by the same name, and aims to monitor, among other things, common citizens and the movement of foreigners.

Another initiative seeks broader powers for the Europol, the coordinating agency for the bloc’s police forces, to “tackle illegal immigration.”

The CETIM study points out that in most of the Western European nations, “‘control’ and ‘repatriation’ as hallmarks of migration management…have proven to be far from adequate.”

The centre’s concern about the effects of the Sep 11 aftermath on migrants is shared by most organisations in the international humanitarian community.

The UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights of Migrants, Gabriela Rodríguez Pizarro, said she is horrified by the number of violent attacks against immigrants in various parts of the world after the events of Sep 11.

Seventeen independent experts from different countries who are serving as special rapporteurs on human rights for the UN have expressed deep concern about the new laws that could be instituted as a consequence of the terrorist attacks.

The rapporteurs said in recent statement that they are alarmed by the adoption of or intention to approve anti-terrorist and national security legislation that jeopardises the full exercise of individuals’ basic rights and freedoms.

In its study, CETIM calls on the Commission on Human Rights to take action towards “the collective regularisation of undocumented and clandestine migrants in Europe.”

“As poverty, war, economic recession and natural catastrophes reinforce the movement of peoples, the diversity within societies who are hosts to them has become an irreversible reality,” says CETIM.

“Unfortunately, this diversity has not been matched by the needed changes in perception nor in the development and promotion of policies that guarantee the genuine integration of the migrant population.”

According to the report, the European integration process has resulted in stricter immigration policies and the weakening of existing laws that were meant to ensure the integration and freedom of movement of the migrant population.

The impacts of these policies can be seen in the number of undocumented migrants living in Europe, currently estimated to number more than five million.

Another consequence is human trafficking by organised crime rings, responsible for the deaths of thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers in recent years.

Rodríguez Pizarro said that human migration is the result of a combination of factors, though, in her opinion, economic structural adjustment and neo-liberal policies play a fundamental role.

The CETIM study backs her interpretation, noting that a determining factor that compels people to migrate is the existence of “an economic framework and development paradigm that undermine the survival of people and communities.”

“For a number of countries in the Third World, the exportation of human labour is a response not only to the crisis of unemployment but also to the need to boost foreign currency earnings through salary remittances of migrants in order to balance the trade deficit,” says CETIM.

However, governments fail to take into account the social costs of migration, which often leads to a breakdown in family and community life, the reinforcement of consumerist values, and low self-esteem of migrants, many of whom are victims of racism and discrimination in receiving countries, warns the organisation.

The report presented to the UN Commission on Human Rights states that the economic conditions in Europe and other countries make it necessary to have a source of service, agricultural, industrial and construction workers if those economic sectors are to survive.

“Changing lifestyles and gender roles constitute strong pull factors,” says CETIM. As more women in the host country join the workforce, “domestic labour and child rearing have become part of remunerated work mainly ascribed to migrant women.”

In Britain, the total spent on domestic employees’ wages in 1997 was about 6.0 billion dollars, four times the amount a decade earlier.

In Italy, a third of the work permits granted went to domestic workers, while in Spain this sector is the main source of employment for female immigrants.

CETIM concludes that these figures reveal a feminisation of migrant labour, with all the vulnerabilities this term implies for women and their employment.

Kalayaan, a London-based organisation that defends migrant workers’ rights, conducted a study in Britain which found that indicated that 84 percent of migrant domestic workers had experienced psychological abuse, 34 percent had been beaten, 54 percent experienced imprisonment, and 38 percent had been deprived of food.

The CETIM document submitted to the Commission on Human Rights states that no Western European country has signed or ratified the Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Their Families, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1990

Just 17 countries have signed the treaty, which needs 20 ratifications before it can enter into force.

The Commission on Human Rights, the maximum UN body specialising in the matter, is preparing for its annual session, Mar 18-Apr 26.