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June 2006 e-newsletter

Inter Pares' E-Newsletter

The Search to Belong

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In this e-newsletter:

• Letter of Introduction
• Excerpts from:
  • The Search to Belong
  • Behind Closed Doors
  • Defending Civil Liberties
  • Refugees in their own lands
  • Protecting Migrant Workers and Their Families
• Publication: The Boundaries of Belonging

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Links

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PDF version of this Bulletin
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June, 2006

Dear friends,

As a volunteer member of the Board of Inter Pares, I am pleased to add a few words of introduction to our second Bulletin of 2006, entitled The Search to Belong. As a fellow supporter of Inter Pares, I am also asking you to consider how you can expand your support, be it financial or political, for Inter Pares' engagement with people's struggles to rebuild their lives and communities across borders.

Around the world, Inter Pares is directly involved with organizations of people who are profoundly affected by displacement. "Migration" is a neutral term that only hints at the political and economic pressures that lead people to leave their home for another place. As this Bulletin makes clear, these pressures, and the loss of rights that migrants experience during their journey and afterwards, are among the most important justice issues of our time.

Personally, I am constantly impressed at the outstanding and innovative work that the small team of Inter Pares staff achieves. The Bulletin provides an opportunity for Inter Pares to share with its community of supporters the experience gained and the lessons learned in the course of working with people and counterpart agencies around the world. I have taken a strong interest in Inter Pares' support for organizations that provide vital services to people who have fled Burma and now live along the Thai-Burma border. And not long ago, I had an opportunity to meet some of Inter Pares' courageous colleagues in Peru, who help women who were abused by both sides in the lengthy internal war to find their voice and regain their strength. The experience and wisdom the women gained from their organizing are now being passed to their sisters in Colombia, who hope that someday soon they, too, will be working to rebuild a country torn apart by forced migration and war.

I hope that you will enjoy this Bulletin and that it will inspire you to consider what you can do to help. As always, we welcome your comments and suggestions.

Sincerely,


Bill Van Iterson
Member, Inter Pares Board of Directors


P.S. Your financial commitment is an integral part of the success of this work and all of Inter Pares' programs. Please consider making a gift to help us work together with others to build a better world. We thank you for your support.

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The Search to Belong

"It used to be that the buses would leave once a month," Margarita tells us as we sit in the sweltering heat of Ocosingo in the southern Mexican state of Chiapas. "Now they leave once a week." We are discussing the increasing number of people who are leaving their homes, heading north in search of safer and better lives, and the reasons for this migration.

Click here to read the rest of this article

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Behind Closed Doors

"You are the first person who has treated me as a human being." This is the type of comment that Glynis Williams, director of Action Réfugiés Montréal (ARM) often hears from people detained at the Immigration Prevention Centre in Laval, Québec. Glynis and the volunteers at ARM, who make weekly visits to the Centre, describe surveillance cameras, entry searches with metal detectors, chain link fences topped by razor wire, and detainees routinely handcuffed. These are the conditions that many people from around the world -- uprooted from their communities, fleeing violence, persecution, and poverty, and seeking safety in Canada -- are subjected to before a decision is made about whether they can apply to stay in Canada.

Click here to read the rest of this article

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Defending Civil Liberties

The International Civil Liberties Monitoring Group (ICLMG) is a coalition of 37 Canadian organizations that monitors government policies and practices which undermine civil liberties, human rights, and refugee and immigrant protection. The ICLMG has challenged Canada's security legislation, the harmonization of Canadian security and immigration policies with the United States, the practice of covert data-sharing, the suspension of due process, the erosion of privacy, and the lack of transparency and political accountability in the use of security measures.

Click here to read the rest of this article

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Refugees in their own lands

Maria is a member of the Motilón Barí people. Her community has lived for thousands of years on the same land - with the same trees, animals and clear blue rivers that flow from the highlands of Colombia to the lowlands of Venezuela. But Maria lives on land that many people want. The Colombian government thinks there is oil on her land and has sent the national oil company to look for it. Since her proximity to the border is strategic for drug smuggling, paramilitary druglords have sent people to occupy her land and to plant coca. Maria and her community live every day with the risk of being forced to leave - joining the growing number of internally displaced people in the country.

Click here to read the rest of this article

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Protecting Migrant Workers and Their Families

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of their Families…is a vital part of efforts to combat exploitation of migrant workers.
~ Kofi Annan, U.N. Secretary General, International Migrant's Day, 18 December 2003

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on December 18, 1990, and entered into force on July 1, 2003 when the requisite number of ratifications had been obtained. The process took so long because of the opposition of dominant industrialized countries, including Canada, that remain unwilling to submit their domestic policies to externally established standards and principles. Canada still has not ratified the Convention.

Click here to read the rest of this article

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Publication: The Boundaries of Belonging

Migration policy is one of the most pressing concerns of our times, requiring the concerted attention of all who are involved in struggles for justice and human rights. Inter Pares Occasional Paper # 7, The Boundaries of Belonging: Reflections on Migration Policies into the 21st Century, by staff member Alison Crosby, examines how we categorize people who have been forced to leave their places of belonging - as refugees, displaced persons, migrants - as well as the policies that enforce the boundaries of these categories. The paper examines the ways in which migration is used by the powerful as a means to control and contain the movement of people, and explores the tragic results of these trends. To obtain a copy in English, French or Spanish, please contact Inter Pares at (613) 563-4801 or info@interpares.ca. The paper is also available at www.interpares.ca.

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Abonnez-vous à la version française
Inter Pares Web site
PDF version of this Bulletin
This Bulletin on the Web

NEW! Send an e-card

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Inter Pares
221 Laurier Avenue East, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada K1N 6P1
Phone (1-613) 563-4801 Fax (1-613) 594-4704

Inter Pares works overseas and in Canada in support of self-help development groups, and in the promotion of understanding about the causes, effects and solutions to under-development and poverty. Charitable registration number (BN) 11897 1100 RR000 1.

Please re-distribute this e-newsletter to anyone you think would enjoy it, in its complete and original form only. Copyright 2006 Inter Pares. All rights reserved.

Financial support for the E-Newsletter is provided by the Canadian International Development Agency.

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