IPS Inter Press Refugees
Human migration is a matter of global concern. Flows of migrants and refugees influence and change the social, economic and political dynamics of their destinations -- and the places they have left behind. IPS covers crucial issues such as migrant and refugee rights, irregular or undocumented migration, human trafficking, remittances, displaced persons and forced labour. And the positive: in many cases migration creates a new dialogue among civilisations. Migrants themselves become the building blocks of bridges connecting different cultures.
Updated: 9 hours 32 min ago
Fight Over Arizona's Migrant Law Heads to the Courts
NEW YORK, May 18 (IPS) - The controversy over Arizona's new immigration
law heated up further Monday when a powerful coalition of civil
rights and immigration advocates asked a U.S. federal court to
find the new law unconstitutional and issue an injunction against
its taking effect.
Categories: Refugees
Iraqi Christians Cling to Their Faith in Jordanian Exile
AMMAN, May 14 (IPS) - As the 2003 United States-led invasion of Iraq
began, the country’s Christians started streaming across the
border into neighbouring Jordan. Today most of them continue to
live here in abject poverty with no hope of ever returning to the
land of their ancestors.
Categories: Refugees
CHINA: Spate of Factory Suicides Exposes Sorry Plight of Workers
Ma Xiangqian, a 19-year-old migrant from the eastern Chinese province of
Henan, worked the 11-hour night shift, seven days a week, putting together
electronic parts for Foxconn Technology, the world's biggest contract maker of
information technology goods.
Categories: Refugees
COLOMBIA: After Forced Displacement by Conflict, Relocation by Landslide
CIUDAD BOLIVAR, Colombia, May 13 (IPS) - More than 380 families -- some 2,000 people -- in
this vast working-class district on the fringes of the Colombian
capital that is home to hundreds of thousands of people displaced
by the armed conflict are to be relocated after landslides caused
by leaking water pipes.
Categories: Refugees
FRANCE: Migrants' Remittances Are a Cash Cow
Immigrants in France send some eight billion euro (9.6 billion US dollars) a year back to their countries of origin, often paying exorbitant fees - though the French government has announced moves to lower tariffs.
Categories: Refugees
CAMBODIA: Premier Hun Sen Profits from Suppression and Aid
Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen is savouring another victory. His latest
triumph: a string of verdicts against an outspoken female opposition lawmaker,
Mu Sochua, who had accused him of making derogatory remarks about her.
Categories: Refugees
Haiti Asks Expat Professionals to Return and Help
PARIS, May 13 (IPS) - Members of the Haitian diaspora responded with
"massive and spontaneous" aid
immediately after the Jan.
12 earthquake, with thousands of professionals
leaving jobs
abroad to go and assist their compatriots, according to a
government minister.
Categories: Refugees
PHILIPPINES: Death Penalty Dashes Migrant Workers’ Hopes
MANILA, May 11 (IPS) - Every day some 4,500 Filipinos leave their homeland
in search of the proverbial
green pastures. But some of them end
up facing death instead.
Categories: Refugees
Female Migrants Charge Sexual Abuse in Detention
In the wake of allegations that a male guard at a central
Texas detention facility sexually assaulted female detainees
on their way to being deported, immigrant advocacy groups say
stronger oversight and accountability is urgently needed to
prevent further abuse of female detainees.
Categories: Refugees
Changing Face of U.S. Cities a Harbinger of the Future
WASHINGTON, May 10 (IPS) - The majority of youth in U.S. cities are no longer
white, but there is also a growing disparity in the educational
background and incomes of those cities' populations, says a
new report from the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
Categories: Refugees
RIGHTS-FINLAND: Tough Asylum Policy Opposed by Civil Disobedience
HELSINKI, May 7 (IPS) - Juha Suoranta had until recently been a professor
of sociology, pursuing a quiet academic career in the University
of Tampere, unconcerned with issues surrounding asylum for
foreigners in trouble.
Categories: Refugees
AUSTRALIA: For Some Refugees, Not Yet the Land of ‘Fair Go’
MELBOURNE, Australia, May 6 (IPS) - After nearly 10 years of living in Australia, Sri
Lanka-born Ramesh Fernandez is
convinced nothing much has
changed for refugees in the land of the ‘fair go’.
Categories: Refugees
Will Arizona Give Immigration Reform a Shot in the Arm?
NEW YORK, May 4 (IPS) - Advocates for comprehensive immigration reform are
working against time to transform a groundswell of popular
support into concrete legislation that the U.S. Congress can pass
this year.
Categories: Refugees
INDIA: Mangroves Face Severe Threat from Human Activities
When a super cyclone devastated the coastal districts of Orissa state in 1999,
the government pledged to regenerate 3,000 hectares of mangrove. Or so
forest official Chandra Sekhar Kar thought.
Categories: Refugees
RIGHTS: Gov’t Apathy to Indians on Death Row in UAE Assailed
NEW DELHI, May 4 (IPS) - Despite the Indian government’s pledge to extend
assistance, legal or
otherwise, to the 17 Indian migrant workers
currently on death row in the United
Arab Emirates (UAE), human
rights advocates have decried its alleged
insensitivity to the
prisoners’ plight.
Categories: Refugees
Reform Groups Slam "Militarisation" of U.S.-Mexico Border
President Barack Obama will be sending 1,200 National Guard troops to patrol the U.S.-Mexico border after pressure from both Republicans and Democrats to tighten border security and increase funding to combat the flow of illegal drugs into the U.S.
Categories: Refugees
Arizona Law Already in Effect for Some Immigrants
It's not the law yet, but for undocumented immigrants like Ismael Palafox and his family, SB 1070 is already a reality.
Categories: Refugees
CHINA: E-waste Processing Poisons Health, Environment
GUIYU, China, May 3 (IPS) - Like many who have profited from the electronic
waste trade in this southern
Chinese town, hospital
administrator Lin Banghong does not live there. "I've
worked here 10 years and haven't gotten sick," he said.
Categories: Refugees
RIGHTS: Iceland Wakes Up to Trafficking for Sex Work
REYKJAVIK, May 1 (IPS) - It took the conviction of five Lithuanian men in
March, on charges of bringing a 19-year-old girl into Iceland for
sex work, before this country truly woke up to the reality of
trafficking.
Categories: Refugees
Mexico, Journey of Terror for Central American Migrants
MEXICO CITY, Apr 29 (IPS) - "The fifth time I tried to get to the United
States I left Guatemala, crossed the border into Mexico, and on a
bus I was assaulted by five police officers," Guatemalan
migrant José Donis said Wednesday.
Categories: Refugees