European proposals on migrant integration

In July 2011, the European Commission published a package of measures to facilitate integration through language learning, easier access to employment, education and training, plus efforts to fight discrimination.

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Europe should accept more refugees in need of safe resettlement

Strasbourg, – European countries are closing their borders to migrants, arguing that they have room only for “genuine” refugees, who cannot return to their home countries without risking their lives or freedom, says the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Thomas Hammarberg, in his latest Human Rights Comment published 23 November 2010.

Yet Europe’s role to help such refugees into safety is relatively small. More ought to be done in cooperation with the United Nations’ refugee agency to offer resettlement to individuals stranded in refugee camps the world over.

Each of these refugees is in need of protection. Many of them live in camps not far from their country of origin. Some of these refugees are in need of resettlement, as they cannot return to their country of origin and local integration cannot be provided.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, UNHCR, estimates that the global resettlement needs amount presently to some 800 000 refugees. For 2011 the agency has concluded that 172 300 refugees must be resettled. They are the most vulnerable, and include persons who have survived violence and torture, women and girls who are at risk of violence and refugees with medical needs.

Read more

Source: Council of Europe

Women refugees: stories of success and survival in Britain

Negotiating the class system, learning to love the weather and enduring the loss of status…..They are just some of the challenges that await refugees arriving in Britain.

By Anna van Praagh

Regional Equality & Diversity Partnership(REDP)

The Launch & Information Event

Embedding Equality into the Fabric of Society

Thursday 2nd July 2009 – Leicester Highpoint 165 Glenfield Road, Leicester LE3 6DJ

To book a place at the Launch & information Event, please complete the Information below and return this form to REDP 5-9 Upper Brown Street, Leicester LE1 5TE no later than Friday 26th June 2009. Launch & information Event will run from 14:00-16:30 on Thursday 2nd July 2009. Places are limited so book early to avoid disappointment.

Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership (REDP) The Launch & Information event is hosted by Leicestershire Centre for Integrated Living.
For more information call 0116 222 5005 or email [email protected]

Regional Integration in Southern Africa Takes Another Step

Source: TERRAVIVA AFRICA

Stanley Kwenda interviews to SINDISO NGWENYA, COMESA Secretary General

Sindiso Ngwenya: Freedom of movement of people still a challenge. Credit: Stanley Kwenda/IPS Zimbabwe has just hosted the 13th Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) summit where a customs union among some of the region?s countries was launched. But will it improve regional trade and assist passage across borders for the member countries? numerous women traders?

Stanley Kwenda asked Sindiso Ngwenya, COMESA secretary general, about value addition, regional credit lines and how the customs union will help women cross-border traders.

IPS: The theme of the summit was ”Deepening Regional Integration Through Value Addition, Trade and Food Security”. What does this mean?

Sindiso Ngwenya: Over the past 25 years, COMESA (and its previous incarnation as) the Preferential Trade Area for Eastern and Southern African states has made significant strides in integrating the economies of eastern and southern Africa regions, culminating in the launch of the COMESA Free Trade Area in 2000. Intra-COMESA trade subsequently rose.

We have seen diversification of trade and cross border investments. For example, Kenya became a major investor in Uganda, Tanzania and Rwanda. We have also seen Zimbabwean companies investing in the region despite the economic crisis it is facing.

Companies such as Dairiboard Zimbabwe Limited acquired a diary plant in Uganda and the Zimbabwe insurance and banking sector has moved into the region. It is from this movement that we want to consolidate trade among COMESA countries.

IPS: What does the launch of a customs union mean to member countries?

SN: The customs union will level the playing field among COMESA countries. When it comes to customs duties, taxes and other related levies charged to goods coming from outside COMESA there will be equal treatment. For example, if a common external tariff involves raw materials coming from outside the region, they will attract zero percent customs duty.

The same with capital goods, while intermediate goods will attract a 10 percent customs duty and finished or processed products will attract a 25 percent customs duty.

IPS: What benefits will it bring?

SN: The common external tariff means that COMESA countries will have a common trade policy vis-a-vis third party countries. Investors will know in advance the kind of duties that they will pay. They will know that if they bring capital goods in the region then they will be zero rated.

This will level the playing field because countries have been charging different percentages, leading to others complaining that the field is not level and they cannot compete. It will also bring price transparency and predictability for investors because when you have a common trade policy it is no longer a question of each country deciding on what taxes to charge on goods from outside.

IPS: Who will benefit most?

SN: The customs union is for the people such as agricultural producers, manufacturers and those in the service sector. But these sectors can only compete globally if there is significant value addition to African products.

COMESA’s share of global trade needs to be increased and that will be the second stage after the launch of the union.

IPS: Do you have a value addition strategy?

SN: We have the Buy Africa Build Africa (BABA) vision. It says that if we add value to our commodities, we will address the issue of wealth creation. This means that we need to start processing, branding and marketing our goods. We should stop exporting raw materials which we import at a higher price than the (raw materials).

The dream is to have farmers who benefit directly from the sweat of their toil.

IPS: What is your message to political leaders in this regard?

SN: Let’s have more small and medium enterprises (SME) in our countries and bring them together in networks through contracts to produce or sub-contract them to do work on behalf of the bigger international market players. This is the only way in which they can grow and be globally competitive one day.

IPS: What kind of measures are you taking to ease the burden of trade in the services sector in view of the fact that African countries still have to confirm credit via Europe and America?

SN: We have the COMESA clearing house which will be hosted by Zimbabwe. It is basically a regional payment system which will allow African countries to trade without going through London and New York to confirm letters of credit. It will save Africa millions of dollars and expedite payments to exporters.

IPS: How are cross-border traders going to benefit from the customs union?

SN: They have already been accommodated under the COMESA Free Trade Area. They are trading duty and quota free. We have the COMESA/Southern African Development Community (SADC) Cross-Border Association. But the ultimate goal is to do away with rules of origin, meaning we will have free circulation of goods and services once the union is fully operational.

IPS: Cross-border traders complain that the FTA you talk about has not brought free movement of people.

SN: There are countries that have signed the COMESA protocol on the free movement of people. But others countries argue that if they do so, they will have a deluge of people. In those countries where there is free movement of people we have not seen that. What we have is a fear of the unknown.

What we envisage is a people-to-people integration because it is only through these individual and collective efforts that Africa can become what India and China are — the locomotives of the global economy.

IPS: Women constitute the largest number of cross-border traders. How will they benefit under this arrangement?

SN: In line with Article 154 and 155 of the COMESA Treaty the grouping has adopted the COMESA Gender Policy and the Addis Ababa Declaration of 2002. The COMESA Gender policy advocates equal and full participation of women in all aspects of COMESA activities and other operations taking place in the region.

Affirmative action will be employed to ensure that barriers that prevent women’s participation in core COMESA activities such as trade, the private sector, infrastructure development and science and technology are addressed and removed.

The COMESA policy will also facilitate the ”engendering” of legislation in member states in order to promote women’s access to and control over productive resources such as land, technology and credit.

IPS: Will this customs union change the manner in which African countries have been negotiating the economic partnership agreement (EPA) with the European Union?

SN: We hope the launch of our customs union will see our countries negotiate as one bloc. We are already working together on EPAs as SADC and COMESA.

Related story:
Why Sanitation is the Forgotten Sister (TERRAVIVA AFRICA)

New EU website on integration

The EU have launched a new website on integration. Open to all, it enables visitors to share good practices, to discover funding opportunities and to look for project partners, to stay updated on the latest developments at EU, national and local level and to stay in touch with members of the EU integration community.

Visit the website

Your new home

Poem by Alison Dunne

‘This above all is precious and remarkable
How we put ourselves in one another’s care
How in spite of everything we trust each other”
- John Wain

I don’t know anything except
this morning one man handed another
a bag of tea and biscuits
that a woman is giving a sofa
and I will bring out of my loft
the ends and slats of a bed.

To prosper is to accept the good
that comes to you.

On the day you’re looking at the flat
we see on Googlemaps the street
the little roofs and yards
This is the beginning and the end of something.

My lover tells me
this city is beautiful
as we drink coffee in the sun.
He shows me, even the paper tubes of sugar are beautiful.
It’s how you look at things, he says.

To prosper is to accept the good
that comes to you.

In my pocket is a promise.
I will meet whoever comes
with my hands open.

Alison Dunne(The Book Doctor)  is a Literature Development Officer based at The Central Lending Library, Leicester.

Conference:No place like home

By Elisha Shamba

An innovative conference “Leicester: No Place Like Home’  will be held on April 28, 2009 at the University of Leicester, Henry Wellcome Building from 10:30am to 3:30pm.

The conference, the first of its kind in the city, is organised and co-hosted by Hatnews in partnership with Clinical Psychology Department at the University of Leicester, The 2, Leicester City of Sanctuary, Soft Touch and Leicester Libraries.

Leicester’s cultural heritage reflects the fact that the city has historically been a settling place for many migrants and is home to a diversity of people from different backgrounds. The 2011 census is likely to confirm that Leicester is the first British City where the majority of people come from black and minority ethnic communities.

A large proportion of the community that has made Leicester their home is made up of people who have sought refugee here. In recent years, the refugee and asylum seeking population has grown and diversified considerably with the implementation of the Home Office’s dispersal programmes which since 2000 has made Leicester a key city in the reception and resettlement of asylum seekers of refugees.

The aim of the conference is to:

-         promote the city as a place of safety and sanctuary

-         create awareness about the life experiences of local refugees and asylum seekers

-         explore ways in which refugees and asylum seekers  can integrate and feel at home and help them  to engage and contribute to the social, cultural and economic life of the city.

-         facilitate connection and communication between different agencies within the city who have a role in supporting asylum seekers and promote the role of  libraries in integrating new arrivals, asylum seekers and refugees and help them to get work experience.

This event is open to refugees and asylum seekers, college/university students, children, healthcare and social care professionals, university staff, Multi Agency Forum(MAF) members and the media.

The programme of events will include: a series of  monologues enacted by actors  (based on the stories of people who have sought asylum in Leicester) ,  talks from a range of people involved in supporting asylum seekers and a Question and Answer session with a panel of local experts.

In addition, in the foyer of the Henry Wellcome building there will be a series of stalls and art displays.

A free buffet lunch  will be available.

For more information and to register for the day please contact Marilyn Lawrence on 0116 223 1649 or [email protected]

or Elisha Shamba (Editor of Hatnews) on 0116 299 5413 / 07789115956 or [email protected]

Moving Together publication:Refugee Council Statement

Refugee Council policy statement in response to the UKBA publication “Moving on Together: Government’s Recommitment to Supporting Refugees” [March 2009]

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) has published the Government’s report on refugee integration, ‘Moving on Together: Government’s recommitment to supporting refugees’. This follows on from the ‘Integration Matters’ strategy published in 2005. The Refugee Council supports this renewed effort across government to work on integration, but also read the Refugee Council’s statement on this report and the next steps that we will be pushing for on integration.

Download the policy statement (PDF)

Shared Futures Event

SHARED Futures is a new DVD and resource pack for teachers, youth and community workers, that supports the welcome and inclusion of refugees and other international new arrivals. The DVD showcases effective practice from across the UK. The resource pack provides guidance and training workshop activities linked to the DVD.

This FREE training event will:

•    introduce the SHARED Futures DVD and training resources
•    promote the integration of refugee children and young people and other international new arrivals
•    provide strategies for enhancing the welcome of new arrivals,  promoting children and young people’s participation and creating safer school and community environments
•    assist planning for refugee parent and carer involvement
•    provide opportunities to share good practice in Leicester

A FREE copy of the SHARED Futures resource pack and DVD will be available for each setting represented.

Wednesday 11 March 2009
9.30 (for 10.00)am – 3.00pm
Buffet lunch provided

Venue: New Walk Museum
53 New Walk
Leicester
LE1 7EA

For further information please contact:

Brian Booi
A12 Welford Place
Leicester City Council
Leicester
LE1 6ZG
(0116) 252 7367

[email protected]

www.sharedfutures.org.uk

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