Disproportionate maternal mortality rate among migrant mothers

Higher mortality rates of migrant mothers are being linked to doctors misunderstanding their obligations to migrant patients. The Project:London migrant care service has found that expecting mothers are not receiving proper antenatal care.

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Source: Open Democracy

No need to detain refugees and undocumented migrants

Detaining migrants is unnecessary because more humane and less costly non-custodial alternatives exist, according to the latest report from the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS).

Entitled From Deprivation to Liberty: Alternatives to detention in Belgium, Germany and the UK , the report, which was launched in the European Parliament, is based on in-depth interviews with 25 migrants participating in alternatives-to-detention programmes in the three countries.

The report says that although community-based measures are clearly a step in the right direction, unless they are accompanied by appropriate legal, social and other support, migrants can be forced into destitution.

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Source: Ekklesia

Migrants’ health care hit by deportations

While most nations are dependent to some extent on the world’s 214 million migrants for skills and labour, few ensure these migrants have access to their health systems, something that could have dire public health consequences, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=94511

Migrants ‘vital to Yorks firms’

First Published  Thursday 27 October 2011 (Yorkshire Evening Post)

ALMOST one third of Yorkshire businesses depend on migrant workers, according to new research.

The research published this week shows that despite the government’s calls to reduce the use of migrant workers, a significant proportion of firms in the region rely on them to plug the skills gaps in their workforce.

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Migrants, the media and the message

6 October 2011

A conference for those working with migrants and wishing to engage with the media and give migrants a voice.

* Thursday 6 October 2011, 11am-5pm

* Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Fund Offices, County Hall, Westminster Bridge Road, London SE1 7PB

Programme includes:

* The launch of an online media toolkit

* A showcase of the work carried out by project partners

* Workshops

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FOOTNOTE

Organised by the EPIM Migrants & Media Project partners. A more detailed programme will be issued shortly. This event is free, but booking is essential. To register, email: [email protected] (mailto: [email protected]) by no later than 3 October 2011.

Conference: ‘Refugees, Migrants and the Equality Act 2010′

Westminster Briefing is holding a conference on ‘Refugees, Migrants and the Equality Act 2010: Understanding the Act and Meeting Responsibilities’.

Speakers include:

• Glynis Craig, Senior Solicitor, Legal Enforcement Directorate, EHRC
• Don Flynn, Director, Migrants Rights Network
• Rita Chadha, Chair, Refugee and Migrant Forum of East London
• Dr Phil McCarvill, Senior Research Fellow, IPPR
• Lela Kogbara, Manager, Equalities, Refugee and Migrant Service, Islington Council
• Estelle Worthington, RCO Project Officer, Greater Manchester BME Network
• (Chair) Amanda Ariss, Chief Executive, Equality and Diversity Forum

The conference is on Thursday 10 November in central London.

The standard registration fee is £225 + VAT. Westminster Briefing is offering a special rate for Equality and Diversity Forum (EDF) members and non-governmental observers (please state EDF affiliation when booking).

Click here for details

Click here for information about EDF’s project on ‘Refugees, migrants and the equality agenda’

Sub-Saharan migrants keep their heads down

(IRIN) – In an abandoned port on the outskirts of Tripoli, a young woman timidly peeks out from behind the blanket that forms a wall in her improvised home. She is one of hundreds of migrants who have gathered in this makeshift camp since a popular uprising to overthrow dictator Muammar Gaddafi spread to the Libyan capital in August.

Read report online

Horn migrants beaten, deported, imprisoned

(IRIN) – Near the coastal town of Mtwara, Tanzania’s border with Mozambique is marked only by the River Ruvuma which is wide and relatively shallow at this point just before it drains into the Indian Ocean. Young men loll in small, wooden boats checking their cell phones and waiting for passengers to ferry across to the other side, but business has been slow in the last two months since groups of migrants desperate to complete a journey that began thousands of kilometres to the north stopped arriving at the river’s banks.

This report online: http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportID=93759

Access to healthcare for migrants

A conference to highlight experiences in providing migrant communities with health services.

* Friday 23 September 2011, 9.30-5pm

* Stratford Circus, Theatre Square, Stratford, London E15 1BX

Speakers include:

* Dr Ike Anya – Consultant in Public Health Medicine

* Dr Yusef Azad – Director of Policy and Campaigns at the NAT

* Dr Kambiz Boomla – Clinical Senior Lecturer

* Dr Angela Burnett – GP at the City and Hackney Sanctuary Practice

* Paul Corrigan – Former Director of Strategy and Commissioning for NHS London

* Marie Gabriel – Chair of NHS East London & City

* Dr Paramjit Gill – RCGP Clinical Champion of Social Inclusion

* Adam Hundt – Solicitor at Pierce Glynn Solicitors

* Dr Hiranthi Jayaweera – Senior Researcher at COMPAS

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FOOTNOTE

Hosted by the Migrants’ Rights Network (http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/), please see the websites below to see cost of attending.

> RELATED LINKS

Access to Universal Health Care in the Age of Migration (http://health4migrants.info/)

Migrants’ Rights Network (http://www.migrantsrights.org.uk/)

Small victory for ESOL learners

By Frances Webber| Institute of Race Relations

A cut in ESOL funding which would have prevented the poorest from learning English has been reversed.

In December 2010 we reported (http://www.irr.org.uk/2010/december/ha000017.html) on drastic cuts to funding for the teaching of English for speakers of other languages (ESOL), to take effect in September. The cuts would have meant vast numbers of people on income-related benefits being unable to begin or continue English language learning, because they could not afford the fees. But in August, just weeks before the new term, the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) issued revised guidance which allows learners who are unemployed, in receipt of state benefits and seeking work, to continue receiving full funding for ESOL courses.

The partial U-turn has been welcomed by campaigners for ESOL, particularly in the light of the equality impact assessment published by the government in July which showed that the funding cuts would disproportionately affect migrant women. It showed that in 2010, over two-thirds of the nearly 200,000 adult ESOL students were women, the vast majority from BME communities, and getting on for half of the women received fee remission because they were in receipt of income-related benefits.

But the Action for ESOL campaign is awaiting clarification from the SFA on whether its concession applies to asylum seekers – who are forbidden from seeking work unless their claim remains outstanding for a year or more. In 2010, asylum seekers made up only around five per cent of ESOL students. And most ESOL providers believe that the concession does not go far enough. In a Commons debate before the summer break, on 19 July, Leicester South MP Jon Ashworth pointed out that many women from migrant backgrounds in his constituency wanted to learn English to help with their children’s education – something which would clearly benefit both the children and the community. But they would still be ineligible for full funding under the revised scheme unless they claim to be seeking work.

According to the impact assessment, three-quarters of ESOL providers were having to scale back the courses on offer because of the prospect of the cuts. Others had devised alternative courses for non-English speakers such as ‘functional skills’ (which includes literacy and numeracy, and is fully funded) to get round the fees problem. The policy U-turn has come so late that it is causing chaos, and ESOL providers have expressed concern that learners will not be aware that they might now be eligible for free study. In some areas, according to the Guardian,[1] teachers have been leafleting local shops, cafes and community centres to try to spread the news. The government, meanwhile, has said nothing.

ESOL campaigners are planning to keep up the pressure to ensure that all those who need to learn English, including asylum seekers and others who are unable to seek work, can do so.

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FOOTNOTE

[1] Janet Murray, ‘ U-turn on Esol funding causes enrolment mayhem for colleges’ (http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2011/sep/12/esol-funding-government-u-turn), Guardian, 12 September 2011.

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