Forum on Migration (36th FIDH Congress, 2007) - Programme

10/04/2007
Press release
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The Forum on Migration, organised in Lisbon from the 19 to the 21 of April 2007, gathered FIDH member organisations, international and regional organisations, other partner civil society organisations, researchers and experts. It examined the human rights situation of economic migrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and internally displaced people in the different regions of the world, with a special focus on South-South migration. During the Forum, the participants explored the many challenges arising as a result of global mobility: growing feminisation, the developpement of irregular migrations, the diversification of flows and trajectories, the limits of regional and international bodies in charge of protecting migrants rights, etc.

Under the auspices of the President of Portugal

THURSDAY, 19 APRIL


14:00-16:00: Opening

President: João Correia, President of CIVITAS

 Ramalho Eanes, President of Portugal from 1976 to 1985, representing the President of Portugal
 Abdou Diouf, Secretary General of the Francophonie, Partner of the Congress
 Mamounata Cissé, Deputy Secretary General of the International Confederation of Trade Unions
 Louise Arbour, United Nations High Commissionner for Human Rights, represented by Bacre Wally Ndiaye, Director of the Procedures and Human Rights Division, United Nations High Commission for Human Rights
 Sidiki Kaba, President of FIDH

Testimonies:

  • Experiences from Portugal : Sun Baoshan, Researcher, and Felismina Rosa Mendes, President of the Capeverdian Association in Sétubal, Elected member of the Consultative Council for Foreign Affairs (COCAI) representing the Capeverdian immigration
  • Experiences from other parts of the world : excerpts of the films "Bonne à vendre" by Dima Al-Joundi and "Tanger, le rêve des brûleurs" by Leïla Kilani

16:00-16:15: Coffee break

16:15 - 18:00: Keynote speakers

President: Sidiki Kaba, President of FIDH

Migration and the Right to Asylum in a Globalized World

  • Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, Research Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research, Paris, and Driss El Yazami, Secretary General of the FIDH

Protection of Migrants : what is the International Human Rights protection system contribution?

  • Bacre Wally Ndiaye, Director of the Procedures and Human Rights Division, United Nations High Commission for Human Rights

Refugees and displaced persons in Europe

  • Damtew Dessalegne, Deputy Regional Representative, High Commission for refugees, Regional Office in Rome

Progress in the Convention on Migrant Workers

  • Abdelhamid El Jamri, Expert of the Committee on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers

What Protection for Migrant Workers?

  • Mamounata Cissé, Deputy Secretary General of the International Confederation of Trade Unions

The European Union and Migration

  • Sandra Pratt, Deputy director of the Unity "Asylum and Immigration" at the Directorate-General for Justice, Freedom and Security, European Commission

FRIDAY, 20 APRIL



9:00-10:30
: Regional Workshops

Middle East and North Africa
 Chairperson: Mokhtar Trifi, President of the Ligue Tunisienne des Droits de l’Homme (LTDH), (Tunisia)
 Rapporteur: Sabika Al-Najjar, President of the Bahrein Human Rights Society
 Experts: Attorney Oded Feller, Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and Barbara Harrell-Bond, Professeur, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, American University in Cairo

Discussion topics:

1. Migration to and within Gulf countries

2. The situation of Palestinian refugees

3. Transit countries and new immigration countries

Sub-Saharan Africa
 Chairperson: Sophie Bessis, FIDH Deputy Secretary General, Journalist and Researcher
 Rapporteur: Laurent Aupied, Sociologist
 Experts: Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, Commissioner of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights and Special Rapporteur on Refugees and Displaced Persons in Africa; Ousman Hummaida, lawyer and former Director of the Sudanese Organisation against Torture (SOAT); and Abdoulaye Bamba Diallo, Journalist

Discussion topics:

1. Migration, nationalism, and xenophobia

2. Recent changes in migratory flows and consequences for development

3. Displaced persons

Asia
 Chairperson: Elisabeth Allès, member of the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (France), researcher at the French National Centre for Scientific Research and the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences sociales
 Rapporteur: Danthong Breen, President, Union for Civil Liberty (UCL), Thailand
 Experts: Cynthia Gabriel, FIDH Deputy Secretary General, member of SUARAM (Malaysia) and Tati Krisnawaty, Presidium of the Indonesian Women Movement for the Protection of Migrant Workers (GPPBM)

Discussion topics:

1. Migratory movements (Intra-Asian and towards the Gulf)

2. Human trafficking

3. Undocumented migrants and refugees

4. Migrants, health and globalisation

5. Migrant workers’ rights

The Americas
 Chairperson: Alirio Uribe, FIDH Vice President
 Rapporteur: Janette Habel, FIDH Deputy Secretary General, Professor at the Institut des Hautes Etudes d’Amérique latine
 Experts: Vilma Nuñez, FIDH Vice President and President of CENIDH (Nicaragua), Camillo Castellano, Regional Coordinator of the Inter-American Human Rights Platform and Javier Mujica, CEDAL

Discussion topics:

1. The United States and Mexico: the wall

2. Inter-regional migration

3. Displaced persons.

Western Europe
 Chairperson: José Leitão, Member of CIVITAS Executive Committee and former High Commissioner on Immigration and Ethnic Minorities in Portugal
 Rapporteur: Jean Pierre Dubois, President of the Ligue des droits de l’Homme (France)
 Experts: Catherine Wihtol de Wenden, Reaserch Director at the French National Centre for Scientific Research (France) ; Rui Pena Pires, sociologist at the ISCTE ; and Hassein Boubakri, socio-geographer, University of Sousse (Tunisia)

Discussion topics:

1. Access to asylum

2. Deportation and deportation methods

3. Deprivation of liberty

4. Economic, social and cultural rights

5. Legal migration

Eastern Europe and Central Asia
 Chairperson: Aliaksandr Bialiatski, Chairman of the Human Rights Centre "Viasna" (Belarus)
 Rapporteur: Amandine Regamey, Academic at the University of Paris, Sorbonne and FIDH mission delegate
 Experts: Christian Strohal Director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights; and Svetlana Gannushkina, member of the Human Rights Center "Memorial" (Russia) and President of the Committee "Civic Assistance"

Discussion topics:

1. New states, migratory dynamics and nationalities

2. Migration, nationalism and xenophobia

3. Human trafficking

4. The situation of the Roma

10:30-10:45: Coffee break

10:45- 12:30: Continuation of regional workshops

12:30-14:00: Lunch

14:00-15:30: Plenary - Reports from workshops

Presidents: Fatimata M’Baye, FIDH Vice President and President of the Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme and Francisco Soberon, Director of the Peruvian Association for Human Rights (APRODEH) and mission delegate for the International Board

15:30-15:45: Coffee break

15:45-17:00: Plenary - Discussion

17:00-17:30: Presentation of thematic workshops by the Presidents

Presidents: Juan Carlos Capurro, Vice-President of FIDH and CAJ and Florence Bellivier, FIDH Vice Secretary General

SATURDAY, 21 APRIL

9:00-10:30: Thematic Workshops

Women and Migration

Women migrants constitute nearly half of all migrants worldwide. While many women migrate to accompany or join family, increasing numbers of women migrate independently and become the principal wage earners for themselves and their families. Women migrants are especially vulnerable to discrimination, abuse and exploitation at all stages of the migratory process. Yet migration also creates opportunities for women’s empowerment, by revealing and reinforcing changes in perceptions of gender roles and women’s status.

 Chairperson: Amina Bouayach, President of the Organisation Marocaine des Droits Humains
 Rapporteur: Guissou Jahangiri, Director of Open Asia
 Experts: Barbara Harrell-Bond, Professor, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies, American University in Cairo, Elza Pais, President of the Portuguese Commission for Citizenship and Gender Equality

International Protection Mechanisms for Migrants and Refugees

Are international protection mechanisms in crisis? They appear currently to lack the capacity to ensure adequate protection to the millions of migrants who pass from one legal status to another through the course of their migratory journey (asylum seekers, refugees, regular and irregular migrants, displaced persons). How should existing international bodies adapt their mandates and activities in order to provide effective protection to migrants? Is a High Commissioner on Migrants necessary? What new perspectives have been opened by the entry into force of the United Nations Convention on Migrant Workers? Evaluation of regional protection mechanisms.

 Chairperson: Fatimata M’Baye, FIDH Vice President and President of the Association Mauritanienne des Droits de l’Homme
 Rapporteur: Smaïn Laacher, Sociologist and Researcher at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences sociales
 Experts: Abdelhamid El Jamri, member of the United Nations Committee on the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers; Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, Commissioner of the African Human Rights and People Commission, Special Rapporteur on refugees and internally displaced persons in Africa, and Hélène Flautre, Member of the European Parliament and Chairperson of European Parliament’s Sub-Commission on Human Rights

Fundamental Rights and State Sovereignty

International law does not provide for the right to migrate or to residence, but only the right to depart from and return to the country of origin. This is the argument used by numerous states to justify attempts to prevent migrants from entering their territories. The rights of refugees are particularly under attack. How to promote the fundamental rights of migrants, including the right to physical integrity, the right to an effective remedy, the right to a private and family life and economic and social rights, in the face of the "sovereign power" of states to control the entry and stay of non-nationals?

 Chairperson: Mabassa Fall, FIDH Representative at the African Union
 Rapporteur: Michel Tubiana, FIDH Vice President and President of Honour, LDH
 Experts: Albert Bourgi, Professor of Law, Sylvie Saroléa, lawyer and researcher, Pablo Ceriani, CELS and Professor, UNESCO Chair 2007 at the University of Valencia, Spain, and Sharon Hom, Executive Director of Human Rights in China

10:30-10:45: Coffee break

10:45- 12:30: Continuation of Thematic workshops

12:30-14:00: Lunch

14:00-15:30: Plenary - Reports from workshops

Presidents: Karim Lahidji, President of the Iranian League for Human Rights and FIDH Vice President and Odile Sidem Poulain, mission delegate for the International Board

15:30-17:30: Closing Session

President: Mr. Carlos Monjardino, President of the Oriente Fondation

Participants:
 Kamel Jendoubi, President of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network
 Sébastien Gillioz, Human Rights Watch and Representative of the International Platform for the Convention of the United Nations on the Migrant Workers
 Hélène Flautre, Member of the European Parliament and Chairperson of European Parliament’s Sub-Commission on Human Rights
 Ibrahim Awad, Director of the Migration Programme of the International Labour Organisation
 Driss El Yazami, Secretary General of FIDH

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