Monday 21 November 2011

Migrants and refugees to hold counter-forum in Geneva during GFMD

Migrants and refugees to hold counter-forum in Geneva during GFMD

Reiterating that the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)is contemptuous of migrants and refugees and denies the exploitativenature of exporting human labor and of making profits out of migrants,the International Migrants' Alliance (IMA), a progressive globalalliance of migrant and refugee organizations, said they will lettheir voices echo in Geneva when the GFMD convenes in December there.

"We are determined to expose and oppose this so-called 'development'through migration and reliance on remittances as a development tool.These are neoliberal anti-poverty and financial concepts that thriveon people’s exploitation and the miseries of migrants, enhance laborflexibilization and therefore, greater commodification of labor,"stressed Grace Punongbayan of Migrante International-Europe and whorepresents the European section of the IMA.

The GFMD is an annual inter-government meeting of differentlabor-sending and labor-receiving countries. It is now on its 5th yearand is scheduled to convene in Geneva on December 1-2 hosted by thegovernment of Switzerland. As in previous GMFD meetings in 2008 inManila, 2009 in Athens and 2010 in Mexico, migrant and refugeeorganizations led by the IMA held counter assemblies and challengedgovernments to address urgent migrant issues and uphold migrant rightsas human rights.

"Increasing poverty, unemployment, wars and conflicts and ecologicaldisasters are forcing millions to migrate as exploitable cheap labor.The economic and financial crisis is breeding the politics of“anti-migrant/refugees” and policy to criminalize and deport theundocumented. Border control mechanisms are in place causing thousandsof deaths and untold suffering," according to the IMA.

Punongbayan also explained that the GFMD shows contempt on migrantsand their families by giving them only token participation in the GFMDprocesses and failing to address issues that urgently affects them. Itis thus right, said Punongbayan, for migrant organizations to say “wecan speak for ourselves” and “not in our name! ”.

The IMA Europe section, said Punongbayan, is determined to echo thevoices of migrants and refugees in Geneva as a migrants counter to theGMFD by holding a protest demonstration at the site of the GFMDmeeting on December 1 at the “The Chair” infront of the Palais desNations, from 17:00-19:00 to denounce the GFMD and to call forprotection of migrant and refugee rights especially the undocumented,and a Consultation Meeting for the Rights of the Undocumented andagainst their Criminalization and Deportation on November 30 followedby a discussion on a “Critique of the GFMD” (a research prepared bythe Hong Kong-based Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants, an IMA-memberorganization),at the Maison Internationale des Associations from 18:00-20:30.

Reference:
Rev. Cesar Taguba
MIGRANTE International-Europe
bayanintl@gmail.com

DEADLINE European Premiere Kicks Off in Italy



On November 19, the European premier of Deadline (The Reign of Impunity) kicked off with 2 successful screenings in Modena, Italy. With 18 scheduled screenings in 7 European countries, the European tour of the film is being sponsored by the International Committee for Human Rights in the Philippines (ICCHRP) and IBON Europe to raise awareness regarding the dismal state of human rights in the Philippines.
The film is a political thriller inspired by the 2009 Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao, Philippines, where 34 journalists were killed. It brings public attention to the impunity of political killings in the country, earning for it the reputation of being the second most dangerous country in the world for journalists, second only to Iraq.[4]
With breaking news regarding the arrest of former Philippine president Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo for alleged sabotage of the 2004 presidential election results, the film brings to light the heinous human rights violations that were perpetuated with impunity under her former government and which she also has to be made accountable for.

Accompanying DEADLINE on its European tour are Allen Dizon, lead actor, and Dennis Evangelista, line and supervising producer of the film. Atty. Carlos Zarate, human rights lawyer and legal counsel for some of the Ampatuan Massacre victims will also be attending the screenings in the Netherlands, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.

The screenings in Italy also include a press conference on the 20th of November in Rome. On 23 November, the second anniversary of the Ampatuan Massacre in Maguindanao, a public screening in the United Kingdom will be sponsored by Campaign for Human Rights in the Philippines (CHRP), Amnesty International, the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and UNISON, Britain's biggest public sector trade union with more than 1.3 million members.

More screenings are scheduled in Austria (Vienna), Belgium (Brussels, Gent), the Netherlands (Amsterdam, Utrecht), Denmark (Copenhagen), and Switzerland (Bern, Geneva) and the United Kingdom (London). The Amsterdam premiere on the 10th of December will be part of activities celebrating International Human Righs Day. The final screenings for 2011 will be in Geneva, Switzerland, on December 17.

This independent film is the latest artistic collaboration between both multi-awarded playwright Bonifacio Ilagan (Story/Screenplay) and Director Joel Lamangan.

For more information: IBON Europe, Haachtsesteenweg 53, 1210 Brussels, Belgium
office@ibon.be