ROME (IDN) – Rural people often migrate seasonally with their herds, or to join the harvest in other districts. They frequently travel to towns and cities to trade, do temporary jobs, or advance their education.
In some regions of the world, nomadic cultures are commonplace. Migration is one of the most debated topics and policymakers are fully aware of how much people move around. What is lacking is reliable data – movement is very difficult to capture in official statistical systems.
The writer is a specialist in environmental and climate migration at the International Organization for Migration (IOM)'s Office to the United Nations in New York. She has been working since 2013 on the global governance of environmental migration and regularly publishes on the topic. This article first appeared in UNCCD Science to Policy Weblog on 17 August 2018. – The Editor
NEW YORK (IDN) – The plight of people migrating in the context of environmental degradation, climate change impacts and natural disasters and the potential governance responses to such challenges have received a lot of attention in recent years.
LUND, Sweden (IDN-INPS) – The arrival in Sweden of 163,000 refugees, mainly Syrians, in 2015 – making for a higher proportion of Sweden's population than almost any other European country – has been used by the far right to drum up broader fears about immigration. A recent spate of shootings, grenade attacks and burnt-out cars has made many Swedes feel afraid of what is going on. This is despite international surveys showing it's the best nation at everything from economic competitiveness to doing good for humanity to achieving happiness.
At a time of unprecedented human mobility, indigenous women are on the move too, often fleeing violence, environmental disasters and land encroachments that have eaten into their sources of food, water and way of life. The positive economic spin-offs of migration don’t always reach them. Theirs is a move also for justice, as they mobilize to make their voices heard, demand punishment for perpetrators and reparations to restore their dignity.
This article and the previous one entitled 'The Trafficking of Human Beings' by Fred Kuwornu deal with the phenomenon of human trafficking from an Italian point of view – Editor.
ROME (IDN) – I start from the premise that I am in favour of the maximum welcoming of migrant flows provided these take place in a human and legally planned way according to the traditions and values of Western secular (that is, illuminist) civilisation.
Here I am not concerned with the phenomenon of immigration or "landings" as such, but rather the international trafficking of human beings and therefore of the crime against every principle of humanity represented by "embarkations", the terminal point of an international criminal network.
This article and the one which follows entitled 'Humanitarian Hypocrisy Helps the Criminals Behind Migrant Embarkations' by Roberto Massari deal with the phenomenon of human trafficking from an Italian point of view – Editor.
NEW YORK (IDN) – The trafficking of human beings worldwide produces 150 billion dollars for the various mafias, of which 100 billion come from the trafficking of Africans. Every woman trafficked earns the Nigerian mafia 60,000 euro. Trafficking 10,000 in Italy results in 600 million euro a year for the mafia. No African would willingly come if they knew the truth about what awaits them in Europe.
The writer is publisher of Other News, an eminent proponent of "information that markets eliminate" and founder of IPS-Inter Press Service News Agency. This article is being reproduced courtesy of Other News with the writer's permission. He can be contacted at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.and his articles and comments can be read on Facebook @robertosavioutopia
ROME (IDN) – The latest statistics show that the total flow of immigrants so far in 2018 is 50.000 people, compared with 186,768 last year, 1,259,955 in 2016 and 1,327,825 in 2015. The difference between reality and perceptions is so astonishing that we are clearly witnessing one of the most brilliant manipulations in history.
The latest survey carried out of 23,000 citizens of France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States shows an enormous level of disinformation. In five of those countries, people believe that immigrants are three times higher than they actually are.
NEW YORK (IDN) – When Secretary-General António Guterres welcomed the agreement an all-encompassing Global Compact to better manage international migration, address its challenges, strengthen migrant rights and contribute to sustainable development, calling it “a significant achievement” and General Assembly President Miroslav Lajčák described it as a “historic moment,” it was far more than a rhetorical posture aimed at giving themselves a pat on the back.
Though, the Global Compact presents a non-legally binding, cooperative framework, it is the first time ever that the text of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration has been agreed after discussions and consultations among member states, local officials, civil society and migrants themselves, spread over more than one year.
BONN (IDN) – 'Global Inequalities' was the theme of this year's Global Media Forum (GMF) hosted by the German public international broadcaster Deutsche Welle, and much discussion focused on whether the digital media tools are a panacea or a hindrance to achieving a more equitable world.
In an opening address, Germany's Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office, Michelle Muentefering said that inequalities exist not only in the economic sphere, but also in the information field where balance and participation is lacking. "In the 1990s great expectations were placed on digital media (but) last few years have been sobering, the expected equality did not happen."
GENEVA (IDN | UNCTAD) – The news on the radio about Libya goes on. Mamadou listens again. The news report is about migrants who make it to Libya – only to get trapped into slavery.
His mind goes back to the sounds of the radio at his parents’ modest home one fateful day in early August 1999. Two Guinean boys, Yaguine Koïta and Fodé Tounkara, from Conakry had been found in the undercarriage of a plane in Brussels. They were dead. Lying next to them, in a plastic bag, were their birth certificates and a letter. Mamadou can still hear the voices of despair, commenting on the fate of those boys who had written of their hopes and of their anguish living in Africa in that letter.
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