Migration & Refugees

Growing up is hard for Iraqi children in Syria. Credit: Rebecca Murray

SYRIA: Iraqi Kids Struggle on Dangerous Edges

By IPS Correspondents
Leila, 17, presses her hijab-clad head against the front door and strains to hear outside. "There's nothing," she says cautiously, turning towards her mother Rawda, the head of the household, in their quiet basement apartment. Along the brocade couch sit her two sisters, Mona, 19, Nadja, 15, and 10-year-old brother Khaled.*

MEXICO: Tens of Thousands of Missing Central American Migrants

By Emilio Godoy
The last time Estela Domínguez of Mexico saw her daughter Estela Paz was in April 2006, when the young woman left home with the goal of reaching Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Diaspora Gaining a Political Voice

By Emilio Godoy
Pablo Rodríguez, a Mexican migrant living in the United States, is a congressman in the Zacatecas state government in central Mexico, thanks to years of hard work by migrants’ organisations to recover the political rights people lose when they cross the border.
Young footballers in Koumassi: they hope to fulfill their dreams of becoming professional players in Europe or Asia. Credit: Fulgence Zamblé/IPS

AFRICA: FIFA Moves Against Trafficking of Young Footballers

By IPS Correspondents
When he was 15, Maurice Koné dreamed of becoming a great footballer. Adored for his technical skill and eye for goal by fans in Koumassi, a neighbourhood in the south of Abidjan, he dreamed of living the life of a professional overseas.

U.S. Polls Bode Ill for Immigration Reform

By IPS Correspondents
With conservatives likely to be the biggest winners in Tuesday's U.S. congressional elections, efforts to achieve a more compassionate national immigration policy may be one of the biggest losers.

MEXICO: Altars to Victims of Violence on Day of the Dead

By Daniela Pastrana
"It's painful to build an altar of offerings to your dead child," Abraham Fraijo, one of the leading activists in a citizens' movement against violence and impunity in Mexico, wrote in his Twitter account while taking part in a series of protests during the celebrations of the Day of the Dead.

U.S.: Immigration Policing Opt-Out Called into Question

By William Fisher
Will U.S. local law enforcement be forced to participate in a programme that critics say will put city police in the position of enforcing federal immigration law and, in the process, divert scarce resources from essential community policing, discourage immigrants from working with police to solve crimes and increase racial profiling?

EUROPE: Drones may Track Migrants

By Apostolis Fotiadis
The notice appeared quietly on the website of Frontex, Europe's agency to fight undocumented migration. It called for expressions of interest in demonstrating "Small UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and Fixed systems for Land border surveillance" at its workshop.

JAPAN: Foreigners Can Live Here, But Not Vote

By Suvendrini Kakuchi
Rising opposition is likely to block the passage of a bill giving voting rights to foreign nationals who have permanent residency in Japan – even though the majority of this group has been born here.

U.S.: It’s Easy to Deport the Mentally Ill

By William Fisher
A U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent with mental disabilities is suing the U.S. government for wrongfully deporting him to Mexico and forcing him to endure over four months of living on the streets and in the shelters and prisons of Mexico, Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala.

RIGHTS-AUSTRALIA: Activists Wary of Plan to ‘Export’ Asylum Centres

By Stephen de Tarczynski
As the Australian government steps up its efforts to establish a regional processing centre for asylum seekers in East Timor, refugee advocates remain watchful for signs that any deal could result in the involuntary removal from Australia of people seeking protection here.

MEXICO-U.S.: Visas No Guarantee for Migrant Worker Rights

By Emilio Godoy
Mexican Alberto Rivero joined the ranks of seasonal workers in the United States in 2005, and for the last three years he has had to pay all the expenses associated with his visa, transportation and housing, although the law states that these are the responsibility of his U.S. employer.

ECUADOR: Social Movements to Go Ahead with Int’l Meetings Despite Crisis

By Gonzalo Ortiz
"What lies ahead in Colombia is an increase in the number of refugees and displaced persons, while in Guatemala and Mexico people are going to continue leaving their countries in difficult conditions in which they face dangers to their lives," said Nelsy Lizarazu, one of the spokespersons for the Fourth World Social Forum on Migration.

CENTRAL ASIA: Remittances on the Rise

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
Financial remittances to the Central Asian Republics by millions of both undocumented and legal migrants working in Russia have increased substantially, labour experts say.

US: NGOs Condemn Merger of Immigration and Criminal Justice

By IPS Correspondents
As two Democratic senators introduced yet another version of immigration reform legislation - and two Republican senators immediately condemned it - more than 500 not-for-profit organisations called on President Barack Obama to end what they called "the merger of immigration enforcement with criminal justice."
Gabriel does small but promising business in used shoes. Credit: Claudia Ciobanu

EUROPE: Where the Roma Begin to Prosper

By Claudia Ciobanu
The "gypsy market" in Brasov is bustling with activity on a Saturday morning. It's one of the few places left where pensioners and other low-income Romanians can buy decent clothes cheaply. And also here, the power dynamics between Roma and non-Roma is silently shifting.

Haitian Women at Increased Risk of Trafficking

By Emilio Godoy
The January earthquake that devastated Haiti put women and girls in the poorest country in the hemisphere at an increased risk of falling prey to people trafficking, activists and experts warn.

Greek Society Falling, Falling…

By Apostolis Fotiadis
People walking casually past a sleeping or unconscious person has become a recurrent scene in downtown Athens these days. At Omonia square in the heart of the Greek capital one sees signs of social degeneration and segregation that were unknown only a decade ago.
Credit: Latin American Conference on Smuggling and Trafficking of Human Beings

LATIN AMERICA: Five Million Women Have Fallen Prey to Trafficking Networks

By Emilio Godoy
The fight against human trafficking in Latin America is ineffective and has led to the emergence of intra-regional markets for the trade, according to experts and activists meeting this Hjek in this Mexican city.
Seven to ten cases of gender-based violence are reported in Dzaleka camp every month; few perpetrators are brought to justice. Credit: Kristin Palitza/IPS

Gender-Based Violence Wracks Malawi Refugee Camp

By Kristin Palitza
At the age of 13, Chantal Kifungo* is mother to a ten-month-old baby girl. It wasn’t her choice. Almost two years ago, she was raped by her stepfather – and fell pregnant with his child.

EUROPE: Undocumented Pakistanis Face Expulsion

By IPS Correspondents
Less than two months after Pakistan was devastated by one of the worst disasters in recent history, the European Union's lawmakers have decided that Pakistanis living in the 27-country bloc without permission should be returned home.
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