August 2006

Prayers Please:   UNANIMA International members – the Sisters of Sion have members living in Israel and the Religious of Jesus and Mary have persons living in Lebanon. Please keep them and all suffering from the violence there in your prayers. 

Migrant Stories needed: Many of our members work with immigrants and refugees. In mid-September there will be a high level meeting on migration.  The NGO working group on migration is putting together a brochure to try and get our message to the government representatives for the negotiations which will take place at this session.

If any of our members have stories of migrants that might assist with this project, please send them to fergcf@earthlink.net.

 We are looking for stories that illustrate the difficulties migrants face and request that submissions be in three parts:  a short recounting of the story (150 or so words), a short analysis of the elements which make the situation difficult and one or two recommendations to governments that would improve the situation.  Please send these if possible by August  15 as we need to get them to the layout editor and printer in time to have them printed in the first week of September.

 International Day of Peace – 21 September : As in past years UNANIMA International encourages our members to participate in the International Day of Peace of the United Nations.  Plans for this year can be found on their web site  http://www.internationaldayofpeace.org/ .  UNANIMA International would like to let our members know the ways we participate.  Please contact Catherine at fergcf@earthlink.net  so this information can be posted on our website.

 Civil Society Hearings on Migration – 12 July 2006: As reported in the last update UNANIMA International had a small delegation present at this meeting.  Even though no one in our delegation was accepted to speak, Georgina Costello, a barrister from Australia and our contact through the Brigidines was accepted because of her expertise in immigration.  Below you will find some of the points she made regarding trafficking and migration:

  - While migration can deliver benefits both to the migrants and their origin and destination countries, migration in the form of human trafficking as negative effects on both trafficked migrants and on the states they are trafficked to and from.  For example:

·                    Trafficking infringes the human rights of trafficked persons.

·                    Trafficking often removes the person’s access to the financial benefits of migration.

·                    The irregular and clandestine nature of the exploitation robs both origin and destination countries of revenue in the form of taxes.

·                    Labor standards in destination countries may be degraded as trafficked persons may be less able to assert their civil rights, placing downward pressure on wages and working conditions.

Migrants – whether trafficked or non-trafficked – should be treated with dignity.  For this to occur, their human rights must not be subordinated to their economic or prosecutorial utility to destination states.

More information is posted on the web site of the International Presentation Association of the Sisters of the Presentation:  www.ipa.ozehosting.com.

36^th Session of CEDAW 7 -25 August  Cristina Hawley, RJM, from Mexico will be presenting an NGO alternative report on the situation of women migrants for UNANIMA International at this session.  She will be speaking at the NGO session on 14 August and the Mexican government will be giving its report later in the week. Rosemary Mangan, RJM, from the General Council of the Jesus and Mary Sisters will also be present.  If any others in the New York area would like to attend, please email Catherine at fergcf@earthlink.net before 7 August. 

Correction:  Last month we expressed our gratitude for a generous gift to assist with the UNANIMA International campaign against the demand for trafficking.  The source of the gift was incorrectly stated.  The gift comes from the General Leadership Team of the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary.  Once again, thank you so much for gifting us so generously.