International Migrants Day December 18

[seemslikeadream]

http://www.unobserver.com/layout5.php?id=2966&blz=1
2006-12-19 | Amnesty International: Living in the Shadows; the human rights of migrants

“Migrant workers are also human beings. Why don't they pay for my work? I cannot go home because I don’t have money. I have chosen to kill myself as there is no other way.”

Words found on a note left by Jeong Yu-hong, a 34-year-old migrant worker from China, living in South Korea.

On this year’s International Migrants’ Day we launch our first comprehensive public document on migrants’ rights.

The promise of a better standard of living for their families pushes many people into irregular migration, if legal avenues are not available to them. Every year thousands die while trying to reach other countries.

Many of those who arrive in a new country face further abuse and exploitation at the hands of traffickers, unscrupulous employers and state officials. Migrants who lack official status and the protection of the law are often denied the right to education, health and housing and are condemned to live and work in appalling and degrading conditions.

Women constitute almost fifty per cent of migrant workers, and are particularly vulnerable to exploitation, including sexual violence. Children, too, face particular hardships and are at risk of exploitation due to their young age, immaturity and, in some cases, lack of parental support.


http://web.amnesty.org/pages/refugees-migrantprimer-eng


http://us.oneworld.net/article/view/144053/1/

Global Radio Marathon Spotlights Immigrants' Issues
Aaron Glantz
OneWorld US
Tue., Dec. 19, 2006
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 19 (OneWorld) - A Brussels-based non-profit has launched what it describes as the first ever "global radio show connecting migrant communities worldwide to highlight their concerns and achievements."

The station, Radio18-12, is the creation of the group December 18, which is named after the United Nation's recognized International Migrants Day.

"It's been a smashing success," the project's coordinator Myriam Horngren told OneWorld. "We've had material coming in from places as different as Taiwan, Kyrgyzstan, Argentina, and the UK."

The UN estimates 195 million people around the world have left their homelands in search of better lives.

"Life for migrants, particularly undocumented migrants, is becoming more and more difficult in a world that's supposed to be a global village," former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson said on the broadcast.

Countries "haven't taken seriously that their commitments are to all persons," she added.

[seemslikeadream]

1. Migrants' ordeal: Hallucinations, 22-foot waves, hunger

http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/africa/12/19/senegal.migrants.ap/

Story Highlights• Of more than 100 people on boat, more than half die during voyage
• More than 24,000 Africans caught this year trying to get to Europe
• Men pay $800 to $1,000 for perilous journey to Canary Islands
• Migrant departure points move south to avoid patrols

ST. LOUIS, Senegal (AP) -- Perched on gurneys in the hall of a hospital emergency ward, mosquitoes buzzing thickly around their heads, a group of young men tell of a disastrous 12-day boat voyage with little food or water, three capsizings, motor breakdowns, and 22-foot waves.

Like thousands of other West African migrants who have attempted the crossing to Spain's Canary Islands this year, the more than 100 men who embarked from south of Senegal's capital in early December risked their lives and savings in the hope of finding work in Europe.

Fewer than half survived.

"After seven days, there was nothing left, nothing," said Bala Diole, an unemployed 29-year-old from the capital, Dakar, who occasionally raises sheep to generate some income. He said they survived on rice mixed with sea water, until even that ran out.

"People started dying one by one," Diole said. Fellow passengers said Muslim prayers and put the bodies overboard.

The boat was found by fishermen near the northern Senegalese city of St. Louis during the weekend and 25 men were taken to the hospital there, according to hospital records. Those in the hospital said about seven others made it to shore but fled.

[Octafish]

2. What year is this?

We live in days where many -- too many -- fail to cherish human life.

"Can't afford it," I suppose they think.

[seemslikeadream]

3. Don't you know?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YwNPgGkNL1A&eurl=



Don't you know
They're talkin bout a revolution
It sounds like a whisper
Don't you know
They're talkin about a revolution
It sounds like a whisper

While they're standing in the welfare lines
Crying at the doorsteps of those armies of salvation
Wasting time in the unemployment lines
Sitting around waiting for a promotion

Poor people gonna rise up
And get their share
Poor people gonna rise up
And take whats theirs

Don't you know
You better run, run, run...
Oh I said you better
Run, run, run...

Finally the tables are starting to turn
Talkin bout a revolution