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1. Canada: Experts fret Toronto's growing international makeup
2. Iceland: U.N. survey finds island third most popular destination for immigrants
3. E.U.: Commissioner recommends deportation flights carry observers
4. E.U.: Borders agency to focus on Mediterranean enforcement
5. U.K.: Charities accuse gov't of wrongfully detaining some refugees
6. U.K.: Report finds widespread abuse of foreign meat packers
7. U.K.: Supermarket chain under fire for requiring proficiency in Polish
8. U.K.: Embattled Scottish towers house misery, dread of asylum seekers (story, link)
9. France: Bill would ban donning of full Islamic headdress
10. France: Nationalist party performs well in regional polls
11. Malta: Minister recommends agency to monitor expatriates' interests
12. Malta: Party leader calls for withdrawal from E.U. free travel zone (link)
13. Malta: U.N. official blasts immigration centers
14. Japan: Gov't, populace remains wary of immigration
15. Japan: Some hope paternity leave may alleviate birth rate/immigration dilemma (link)
16. Malaysia: 93 Burmese detained at sea (link)
17. Australia: Mass arrival excepted to trigger transfers from offshore detention (story, link)
18. Australia: Organization urges gov't to ease language assessments



1.
Will Toronto's changing demographic become a burden?
The city has always worn its multicultural makeup with pride, but with a drastic shift on the horizon, some worry trouble lies ahead
By Joe Friesen
The Globe and Mail (Canada), March 12, 2010
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/toronto/will-torontos-changing-demographic-become-a-burden/article1499420/

Toronto once used vagrancy laws to harass Italian immigrants who wanted to stand outdoors and chat. It balked at sidewalk cafés and erected signs that said 'No dogs or Jews allowed on the beach.'

It was known as the Belfast of Canada, a place where the Orange Order and the Anglo-Saxon establishment reigned supreme.

But repressive, staid, boring Toronto is in the midst of a stunning transformation.

By 2031, roughly two out of three inhabitants of this metropolitan area will belong to a visible minority, Statistics Canada reported this week.

Today, people from all corners of the globe live side by side. They compete for jobs and space and influence. And the city hums along with a minimum of fuss.

But there are those who warn that all may not be as we hope. They talk of troubling signs. There are neighbourhoods - ethnic enclaves - where immigrants need never learn to speak English or French, where they could live entire lives and rarely encounter someone from outside their ethnic group, the doubters say.

The economic downturn has so far been relatively mild, but recessions often lead to tension over immigration. If things fall apart, will the city's motto, 'Diversity our strength,' hold true?

Toronto opened its arms to Raj Jhajj on the day he immigrated in 1991 and embraced him with the half-hearted enthusiasm of a city that had been through this before. The young man from the polluted, industrial heart of the Indian Punjab had only eight dollars in his pocket and, predictably, a dream of a better life.He had worked as a tool-and-die maker in India, a highly specialized manufacturing skill, but Toronto was wary. It was the height of the recession and hard for anyone to find work, let alone an immigrant stymied by the Catch-22 of having no Canadian experience. Toronto accommodated him among the South Asian diaspora on its western edge. He drove a cab. He worked lonely shifts as a security guard. He struggled. He survived.

Four years into his Canadian sojourn, Toronto succumbed and offered him the job he dreamed of, working as a machinist at the Chrysler plant in Brampton. It gave him the stability to settle down and start a family. He's since taken an undergraduate and graduate degree by distance education. At 45, he's a pillar of his community who raised thousands of dollars for a new hospital and pressured governments to get it built. He's active in politics and narrowly missed winning a federal Liberal nomination.

When he thinks of what he left behind, he can only chuckle at the luxurious lives his children lead.

'I was living in poverty that was like hell,' he said. 'I used to beg to eat. These guys, I have to force them to eat.'

Now he almost takes for granted that his children will go to university, graduate to a profession and join the establishment.

But if there's one thing that nags at Mr. Jhajj, it's the concern that his children aren't getting the full Canadian experience. When they moved into their Brampton neighbourhood, the area was what he calls 'mainstream,' a more or less representative mix of the Canadian mosaic. But over the last dozen years, the mainstream has moved out, he said, and now the street is almost entirely South Asian.

It brings many advantages, he said, but he'd prefer to see the visible minority population distributed more evenly across the country.

'I think it bothers others Canadians, which I can feel,' he said. 'I want to see a Canadian city as a Canadian city where people are all together. ... If Brampton keeps going this way we won't see the difference between living in Brampton and living in Asia, and that I don't like.'

Ethnic enclaves have been a part of Toronto's history from the outset, and they've always been a source of worry for the Anglo establishment. Citizenship and Immigration Minister Jason Kenney makes a regular point of discussing the need to ensure that Canada doesn't become a country of ethnic silos or parallel communities.

The first large group of ethnic immigrants to establish themselves in Toronto were the Jews, who lived in the Ward neighbourhood that centred roughly on present-day City Hall. Ryerson professor Myer Siemiatycki said the Ward, which was demolished to make way for downtown, was typically treated as a grave threat to the norms of the city and condemned as a slum.

The Italians who established themselves on College Street were treated with the same suspicion. As were the Chinese in Chinatown. Today, those former ethnic enclaves are celebrated as colourful, desirable parts of the city.

'It shows how the concerns of the past fade,' said University of Toronto sociologist Jeffrey Reitz. 'People who were foreigners or strangers are now 'us,' and that makes you optimistic that those arriving today will down the road be considered 'us' and we'll look at the enclaves, the Chinese, the South Asian and Afro-Caribbean, the way we now look at the Italian enclaves or the Jewish enclaves, as just historic remnants of immigration history.'

As Prof. Reitz argues, there are sound reasons for communities to agglomerate in a certain area. There's comfort to be had among those who can easily understand one's language and experience, and there's also the ease of finding places of worship and familiar goods for sale.

'The settlement of new immigrants is vastly facilitated by the presence of ethnic communities that perform all sorts of social-service functions which if they didn't exist would fall to governments to provide,' Prof. Reitz said. 'This is really private citizens solving public-policy problems through market behaviour.'

The market poses other policy problems, however, that bode ill for the Toronto of 2031.

Don Drummond, chief economist at TD Bank, said the evidence is overwhelming that recent immigrants are not integrating into the labour market as well as their predecessors.

'Within five years [of arrival] immigrants used to make more than the Canadian-born, and every generation of immigrants used to make more than the previous one. Since 1981, all of that stuff is just falling further and further away,' Mr. Drummond said. 'Immigrants are never catching up to Canadian earnings ... even though they're better educated.'

What changed over that period is that, with the end of racial discrimination in immigration policy in the late 1960s, Asia became far and away the largest source of immigrants. Roughly 75 to 80 per cent of immigrants over that period were visible minorities.

Even the children of more recent immigrants, who in some cases outperform the Canadian-born in school and are more likely to go on to post-secondary education, also lagged the Canadian-born in earnings in one study led by Mr. Drummond.

'You hate to say it's racism. You could say maybe they don't have the context other people have. But yeah, it's certainly there as a possible explanation,' he said.

Prof. Siemiatycki also underlines the challenge of ensuring the second generation has a platform to prosperity.

'Immigrants expect to encounter adversity. They tend to be very forgiving of the host society,' he said. 'With the second generation, legitimately, they will be less forgiving than their parents. They were born here. They went to school here. They have every reason to believe they're full and equal Canadians. When their experience suggests otherwise, they will have a bigger fall than their parents.'

A little more than a quarter of Toronto's population will be second-generation Canadians in 2031, and about half will be first generation (meaning they were born elsewhere), according to Statscan predictions.

What's different for the present wave of immigrants, as opposed to earlier generations, is that they and their children may not blend in as easily as 'Canadians' even years after their arrival, or years after being born in Canada. The issue of race, raised by the very fact that counting visible minorities is considered a job for the national statistics agency, may be ever present in their lives.

Shabnum Budhwani, an Indo-Canadian mother of two who immigrated a little more than a decade ago, likes the fact that visible minorities are counted, but she hates the term.

'First, it refers to your colour. You're being referred to by your skin, instead of as a person. Second, you're a minority ... so it creates a suggestion that there are two kinds of Canadians.'

Her daughters, both university students, consider themselves entirely Canadian.

The same is true for Mr. Jhajj's kids, who are still in the public-school system, which Mr. Jhajj raves about as the best aspect of life in Canada.

Many experts say that the ties of tolerance and understanding that Toronto has more or less successfully nurtured are forged in the city's schools and on its playing fields.

However, Mr. Jhajj said he worries though that, should the Canadian economy get considerably worse, there will be a backlash against visible minorities, whether they're immigrants or long-time Canadians.

'As long as Canada is growing there won't be problems with immigration. As soon as we run into economic problems, people will be looking for scapegoats,' he said.

From time to time, moments of tension arise. There were the attacks on Asian fishermen north of Toronto, and allegations of racial profiling of blacks by Toronto police. But polls show that Canadians are still very favourably disposed toward high levels of immigration and the agitation over Muslim dress has so far been largely contained to Quebec.

On the question of how Toronto is coping so far, Prof. Siemiatycki sums it up as a series of successes and warning signs.

'In terms of day-to-day life, this is a very civil, harmonious and diverse city. The number of daily exchanges that cross boundaries of race, language, religion, nationality, et cetera, are nothing short of extraordinary,' he said. 'In an age of border crossings, the world needs examples of cities that can make it work.'

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2.
Emigrate to Iceland
It's described by the UN as the third best place to live in the world and the vagaries of economics make it more accessible than ever before to visitors and, their inevitable corollary, émigrés.
By Leah Hyslop
The Telegraph (U.K.), March 12, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/expat/7421548/Emigrate-to-Iceland.html

Sigga Groa Thorarinsdottir, marketing manager of UK and Ireland for the Icelandic Tourist Board, claims that the lower value of the krona has led to interest from Britons wishing to visit and settle in the previously expensive country.

According to statistics released by the board, Iceland experienced its highest ever visitor numbers in January and February this year. In January, 4,312 Britons visited the country compared with 3,865 for the same month in 2009. In February, there was a further rise of 25.6 per cent from February 2009, with an increase to 6,116 visitors. Overall in 2009 Iceland had more than 61,619 British visitors.

Thorarinsdottir said: 'Despite the economic downturn, Iceland continues to be a popular destination for British holidaymakers all year round. Iceland still has an advantageous exchange rate compared with the euro, which means there has never been a better time for people to visit Iceland with UK travellers’ spending money going a lot further.'

'2009 was a challenging year for Iceland but these figures are very encouraging.'

Iceland, which has a population of only around 323,000 people, has been in a state of economic collapse since 2008. The world recession meant that Icelandic banks, which owed around six times the country's total gross domestic product, were unable to refinance their loans. In the past year, the cost of food and house prices have risen precipitously, while the value of the krona has fallen to record lows. Many British investors, attracted by the high interest rates offered by Icelandic banks, lost money in the collapse, and on the 6th March, Icelanders voted not to repay the UK and Netherlands the £3.5 billion lost by British customers when online bank Icesave crashed.

Iceland Express airline and Icelandair have sought to take advantage of Iceland's increased traffic from the UK by making the country more accessible for travellers. Low cost airline Icelandair has increased its services from Manchester and Glasgow, and is set to begin using Birmingham as the sixth UK airport serving the capital, Reyjavik, in summer. Iceland Express has begun a service from Stansted, and there are also plans for flights to the second biggest city in Iceland, Akureyri. According to a spokesman for the Icelandic Tourist Board, Akureyri, which has 24-hour daylight from May to August, is 'the ideal starting point to discover some of Iceland’s most captivating but lesser known landscapes and natural wonders'.

Iceland is currently ranked as the third most desirable country to live by the UN - after Norway and Australia - and many of its British inhabitants are keen to endorse the country’s advantages. Rhiannon Brown moved to Iceland when her fiancé Sam was offered a job by the government-run Soil Conservation Society, and says that the country 'has a lot to offer for any expat. It has such a laid back atmosphere and a feeling of belonging to a community which I never felt when living in England. I have learnt that you don’t have to go through life at 100mph and it's okay to be relaxed about things.

'Although I have met few other English people here, most people speak perfect English so my fiancé and I don’t feel excluded. As far as I am concerned, the only bad thing about living in Iceland, for me, is driving in the snow. It terrifies me!'

David Jarron, a marketing manager originally from Scotland, is another expat who has settled happily in the country: 'I moved here from Scotland in March 2001 with my Icelandic wife and our two boys, then four and two years old. The weather and the language were initially difficult, and I did not see myself staying very long. However, the place has completely won me over - the optimism of the people, the 'can do' attitude of everyone I meet under any circumstance, and the overwhelming sense of safety, security and trust that I feel for myself and my family here.

'Importantly for me as an expat who arrived with no job, there was an obvious willingness to help others. I was offered a job by the ex boyfriend of a friend of my wife´s the day after I arrived. In Iceland, everyone is listed in the phone book by first name, and the society is wonderfully classless. I’ve seen the president swimming in my pool, and Björk in a a small local restaurant. '

The economic crisis has, however, had an impact on expats. Rhiannon says that though the crash has not affected her directly 'a lot of my friends have been hard hit by it as they took out mortgages in forgeign currencies, and then the exchange rate crashed. Now they are paying up to three times more than what they used to. The exchange rate for GBP is, however, good and has encouraged a lot of people to come here for a holiday which has helped the economy very much.'

David too has noticed problems amongst the expat community: 'For those of us who like to see our families regularly, the expensiveness of plane travel is causing a problem, as we are unable to fly back as often.' He is keen to add, however that these material difficulties 'are more than outweighed by living in a big community that is trying to look after each other. Anyone who wants to move at little expense could do a lot worse'.

Iceland's economic problems were a key factor in the country's application for EU status in 2009, which, if successful, will see the krona replaced with the euro. The beginning of accession negotiations was announced in February 2010, and the government aims to achieve membership by 2012.

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3.
Asylum deportation flights need rights monitors, EU says
By Owen Bowcott
The Guardian (U.K.), March 14, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/mar/14/european-union-border-frontex-deportation

Deportation flights should carry human rights monitors to check on the safety of failed asylum seekers who have been forcibly removed, a senior EU commissioner has recommended.

The suggestion comes as the EU's external border agency, Frontex, prepares to assume extra powers to charter aircraft, buy equipment and explore satellite technology to survey the union's frontiers.

Research by the Warsaw-based agency on the use of drones – unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) – to patrol frontiers is being closely followed in Britain, the UK Border Agency (UKBA) has confirmed. Although the UK is not in the Schengen agreement, which removed most EU internal borders, it is closely involved with Frontex. The Home Office minister Meg Hillier was present when the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting supported reinforcing the agency's remit.

The research projects and extra capabilities Frontex is taking on include:

* Hiring aircraft to pick up failed asylum-seekers from EU states in order to improve coordination of deportation flights to Africa, Asia and South America.

* Harmonising the workings of Automated Border Control (ABC) gates that check travellers' biometric passports, to encourage information sharing between intelligence databases. ABC gates are in use at several UK airports.

* Developing training programmes to 'lay the foundation of a culture of border guards' that respects human rights.

* Testing surveillance systems such as UAVs, remote sensing equipment and satellites to forestall illegal immigration.

Frontex, established in 2005, has been active in coordinating naval patrols in the Mediterranean and Aegean seas to intercept boatloads of migrants attempting to enter the EU. Its annual budget is €80m and it has a staff of around 230.

The latest development will see its role enlarged. Frontex liaison officers could be stationed in states such as Turkey that are commonly used by migrants as hopping-off points to enter Europe.

The suggestion that observers be put on board deportation flights is a response to claims by failed asylum seekers that they have been hit or abused by guards.

Unveiling plans to strengthen Frontex, Cecilia Malmström, the Swedish EU commissioner for home affairs, said: 'Safeguards [should be] put in place to make sure that [Frontex] return operations are carried out in full respect of fundamental rights. For example, an independent monitor shall be present during such operations and report … on compliance with EU law.'

Some EU states, though not the UK, already allow Red Cross observers to accompany asylum seekers being forcibly returned overseas.

The proposals have to be approved by the European parliament.

The UKBA said it welcomed a greater role for Frontex in coordinating the efforts of EU member states to mount effective returns for failed asylum seekers. Britain has, 'on occasion' allowed representatives of the Independent Monitoring Board on board deportation flights as observers. 'This is a matter we will keep under review,' it added.

In June, Frontext will host a conference and technical demonstration of potential uses of UAV drones for border surveillance. Edgar Beugels, the Dutch head of research and development at Frontex, told the Guardian he expected UK firms and agencies to attend the event, which will be held in Spain. 'The UK is very much interested in UAVs,' he said.

For the past three years, Frontex has helped coordinate deportation flights of failed asylum seekers. Britain has participated in flights that have removed failed asylum seekers to Nigeria, Pakistan, Kosovo and Georgia.

In its enhanced role, Frontex will be responsible for hiring aircraft for the purpose of joint return operations.

On drones, a UKBA spokesman said: '[We have] followed the development of UAVs for the purpose of border surveillance … The UK Border Agency has no current plans to use drones but we are always open to examination of the potential of innovative technology and do not rule out the use of drones at some time in the future.'

A spokesman for the Stop Deportation campaign welcomed deployment of human rights monitors on flights but added: 'Frontex's greater role may push accountability to another level away from national governments. It may make it more difficult to challenge deportations.'

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4.
Frontex: more Med patrols despite drop in crossings
By Matthew Vella
Malta Today, March 10, 2010
http://www.maltatoday.com.mt/2010/03/10/t9.html

Malta will be one of several priority locations in the 2010 work programme for Frontex, the EU’s external borders agency, which was recently presented to the European council of justice ministers.

Operational cooperation will focus on the southern maritime areas where large number of irregular migrants are usually detected near the Canary Islands, the Spanish south-eastern Mediterranean coast, Lampedusa, Malta, Sardinia, and the Greek islands close to the Turkish coasts (Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Patmos, Leros and Kos).

'Even though decreased detections of illegal border crossing have been reported during the first semester 2009 on the West African and Central Mediterranean routes, operational cooperation should continue to include these areas, on the one hand because the decrease might only be temporary, and on the other because Frontex coordinated Joint Operations in these areas as one factor have contributed to the decrease,' Frontex said.

Europe’s home affairs and justice ministers also adopted conclusions on 29 measures for reinforcing the protection of the external borders and combating illegal immigration.

The ministers called for 'systematic exchange of relevant information' between its law enforcement agencies, namely Europol, Eurojust and Frontex, and called on Member States to improve the sharing of information concerning the new modus operandi of trafficking networks and falsification of documents.

The ministers also looked forward to improving dialogue on migration with Libya, and asked the European Commission to explore a cooperation agenda between the EU and Libya on maritime cooperation, border management, international protection, effective return and readmission of irregular migrants and issues of mobility of persons.

On Frontex, the ministers called on member states to ensure more resources are pooled in for joint operations.

Referring to the creation of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO), which will have its headquarters in Malta, the ministers said they wanted to further develop methods that better identify those who are in need of international protection in mixed flows.

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5.
UK 'ignoring' systemic evidence of torture among asylum seekers
Charities say reports of abuse being routinely ignored is a 'systemic and increasing problem'
By Mark Townsend
The Guardian (U.K.), March 14, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/14/asylum-torture-evidence-ignored

Torture survivors seeking sanctuary in Britain are being wrongly held in government detention centres, despite independent medical evidence supporting claims of brutal violence against them in their home countries.

According to Home Office guidelines, in cases where there is evidence that a person seeking asylum has been tortured they should be detained only in 'exceptional circumstances'. But medical charities that carry out hundreds of independent assessments of torture survivors every year have accused the government of routinely ignoring their reports, with victims held in detention centres until their asylum claims are heard – and, in almost every case, rejected.

Sonya Sceats, a spokeswoman for one charity that carries out medical assessments for the government, told the Observer: 'It's very clear there is a systemic and increasing problem here. The corollary of their dismissal of independent medical evidence is that the protection [asylum] claim is invariably rejected and this means a survivor of torture is at risk of being returned to further torture or at risk of detention.'

The allegations come in the wake of strong criticism last week of the UK Border Agency, which was condemned for failing to investigate claims of mistreatment by failed asylum seekers in abuse allegations up to July 2008. Ministers now plan to review the use of force against asylum seekers by British security guards after a Border Agency report on abuse conceded that serious injuries were suffered by detainees who had been handcuffed or physically restrained.

The new allegations further highlight systematic mistreatment in Britain's asylum system. One 43-year-old torture victim from Zimbabwe, who is on hunger strike in Yarl's Wood detention centre, Bedfordshire, alleged she was detained despite independent verification of the abuse in her home country.

Her arms are scarred from repeated stabbings during an incident in Zimbabwe in which she was also beaten and raped. The woman, who wishes to remain anonymous, has been in Yarl's Wood for five months and alleges medical mistreatment and racist abuse by staff, claims that have been denied. She told the Observer: 'The officers are racist and are not sympathetic. We have suffered and don't want to be tortured here, but inside here it is a form of torture but nobody can see us locked up.'

Bibiche Lutete, 36, was beaten and repeatedly raped in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), where the UN has confirmed rape is used as a weapon of war. After seeking asylum in the UK, she said she had been further traumatised while being illegally held in a British detention centre. She also claimed to have suffered 'medical abuse' and had anxiety attacks after witnessing a naked woman dragged from her room in Yarl's Wood by private security guards, claims robustly denied by the Home Office.

'Everybody was shocked,' she said. 'She had no clothes on and she was photographed. I still get flashbacks.'

The Medical Foundation For the Care of Victims of Torture, the UK charity dedicated to the treatment of torture survivors, said it had lodged complaints with the Home Office over concerns that its assessments documenting evidence of abuse among asylum seekers were being increasingly dismissed by officials. The foundation cited figures from the last 18 months showing only seven people had been released from detention out of 250 cases where clinical evidence of abuse had been presented.

The Border Agency denied it dismissed the evidence of independent medical experts. Hugh Ind, the agency's director for protection, said: 'We consider all evidence submitted in support of asylum claims very carefully, including claims of torture. Where an individual sets out a credible case that they are in need of protection, we normally grant asylum.'

An Observer investigation has also found that the number of 'assaults' against refugees in detention centres remains high. The charity Medical Justice Network has documented at least 15 recent cases where a detainee claims they were assaulted, while allegations by asylum seekers of inadequate healthcare are running at eight a month.

A number involve torture survivors, including one from the DRC who ended up in hospital last March after sustaining severe handcuff injuries during an attempted deportation from the UK by private security guards. His complaint to the Border Agency tells how six guards restrained him on a plane and that 'one turned round trying to strangle me by my throat while the other was banging my head on the seat in front'.

The government is trying to clear a backlog of 200,000 asylum cases, though the border agency admits it can process fewer than half its target applications a month. Three Russians refugees leapt to their death from the 15th floor of a block of flats in Glasgow last Sunday, prompting further concern over the treatment of asylum seekers. Yesterday hundreds of people joined a rally in the city and called for an end to the 'enforced removal of refugee families'.

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6.
Meat processing workers 'abused'
The BBC News (U.K.), March 12, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8564632.stm

An inquiry into the treatment of agency and migrant staff at meat and poultry processing firms has found 'widespread evidence' of abuse and exploitation.

The abuse was both verbal and physical, the Equality and Human Rights Commission reported.

It also found a lack of proper health and safety protection and said workers often did not know all their rights.

Retailers and labour providers said they would be studying the findings to see where improvements could be made.

Stories of abuse

However, the chairman of the Association of Labour Providers, Mark Boleat, was also quoted by the Guardian as questioning the inquiry's methodology and whether the surveyed workers were a representative sample.

The EHRC's inquiry, launched in 2008, found that migrant workers are most affected, but British agency employees face similar mistreatment, with many people afraid to raise concerns because they fear they will be sacked.

The commission said its inquiry had uncovered frequent breaches of the law and licensing standards in meat processing factories.

Some of these factories supplied the UK's biggest supermarkets.

However, the commission, which called for steps to protect the workforce and for supermarkets to improve the auditing of their suppliers, said it had also found examples of firms that treated all workers with respect and dignity.

The inquiry, which spoke to 260 workers, found:

* One in five workers said they had been pushed, kicked or had things thrown at them by line managers

* A third revealed they had experienced or witnessed verbal abuse, often on a daily basis

* Workers also claimed they had been refused permission to go to the toilet

* One in four told the commission that pregnant workers had been mistreated, including the instant dismissal of agency workers who announced they were having a baby

A third of permanent workers and two-thirds of agency workers in the industry are migrants, and at one in six meat processing sites involved in the study, every agency worker hired in the past year was a migrant worker.

These recruitment figures are partly due to difficulties in recruiting British workers for physically demanding but low-paid work, the EHRC said.

Many workers who gave evidence to the commission said agency workers were treated worse than directly employed staff.

Neil Kinghan, director general of the EHRC, said: 'The commission's inquiry reveals widespread and significant ill-treatment in the industry.

'We have heard stories of workers subjected to bullying, violence and being humiliated and degraded by being denied toilet breaks.'

He said that some workers felt they had to put up with these conditions out of economic necessity, while others lacked the language skills to understand and assert their rights.

'While most supermarkets are carrying out audits of their suppliers, our evidence shows that these audits are not safeguarding workers and they clearly need to take steps to improve them.

'The processing firms themselves and the agencies supplying their workers also need to pay more than lip service to ensuring that workers are not subjected to unlawful and unethical treatment.

'If the situation does not improve over the next 12 months, the commission will consider using its regulatory powers to enforce change where necessary.'

'Two-tier market'

Jack Dromey, of the union Unite, said supermarkets supplied by the plants should 'hang their heads in shame'.

He said: 'Supermarkets have driven down costs along their supply chain with tens of thousands of workers paying the price, suffering discrimination and unfair treatment.

'A two-tier labour market has been created, exploiting migrant agency workers on poorer conditions of employment and undercutting directly employed workers on better conditions of employment.

'That divides workforces and damages social cohesion in local communities.'

A spokesman for the Association of Labour Providers said: 'The recommendations merit careful study by government, regulators, supermarkets, labour providers and labour users.

'Some of the recommendations, such as paying workers for travelling time and engaging workers on contracts of employment rather than contracts for services, are not possible unless there is a commitment from retailers and labour users to meet such costs, and past experience suggests that this is unlikely.'

Tom Ironside, from the British Retail Consortium, said it took the findings very seriously.

'The commission does recognise supermarkets are committing significant time and resources to these audits, but if there are ways to improve them, then obviously we'll be giving those careful consideration,' he said.

EDITOR’S NOTE: The EHR Commission report is available online at:http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/media-centre/inquiry-uncovers-mistreatment-and-exploitation-of-migrant-and-agency-workers/

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7.
Supermarket supplier demands workers speak Polish
A British supermarket supplier has been accused of discriminating against local workers after insisting new recruits speak fluent Polish.
The Telegraph (U.K.), March 14, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/7441467/Supermarket-supplier-demands-workers-speak-Polish.html

Cooked meat manufacturer Forza AW, one of Asda's biggest suppliers, said the requirement was necessary to ensure all employees could understand the same instructions.

The condition was included in an emailed advert sent out on behalf of the East Anglian earlier this month and dispatched to hundreds of potential applicants on the agency's books.

The advert read: ''Immediate factory work available!!!! If you are available or have any friends available, work is starting tomorrow for induction training.

''Ongoing factory work (meat production) for 4-5 months, shifts are 7am-5pm or 9am-7pm.

''Transport provided. Applicants must speak Polish. Please call asap!!!!!!''

A 31-year-old British job seeker who contacted a recruitment agency to ask about the job was told he had to be fluent in Polish to understand the health and safety training.

He said: ''I couldn't believe it when I first read it – are we in England or Poland for goodness sake?

''If it was a job where you were flying back and forth to Warsaw I could understand it, but you wouldn't think language ability would be high on the list of requirements for someone packing sausages all day long.''

A spokesman for the Government Equalities Office said the Forza's insistence on Polish-speakers could be illegal under anti-discrimination legislation.

He said: ''Under the 1976 Race Relations Act, unless there is a genuine need for a worker to speak a particular language it is against the law to require that they should do so as a condition of employing them.''

The advert emerged less than a week after the Equality and Human Rights Commission found some employers who preferred to hire cheap migrants because they were less likely to answer back.

The commission's report also revealed British workers had complained about struggling to register with certain employment agencies that specialised in supplying East European workers.

Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green said the advert made a mockery of Government promises to create ''British jobs for British workers''.

He said: ''Gordon Brown must regret ever saying that because it has proved a cruel deception for millions of the unemployed.''

Forza AW is owned by businessman Max Hilliard and has a £140 million turnover.

It is currently leasing factory space and machinery in the Bernard Matthews Farms' plant in Great Witchingham, Norfolk after a fire destroyed a third of its factory in West Yorkshire last month.

Mr Hilliard, 51, said the advert was a ''break down in communications'' between Forza and OSR Recruitment.

He said: ''In normal circumstances this ad would have been vetted and the error removed.

''I assure you categorically that all our training and health and safety briefings are conducted in English, Polish or whatever the employee speaks.

''We would never turn down an English person for a job on the basis that they didn't speak Polish or any other language.

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8.
High-rise asylum seekers plumb depths of despair in Scotland
By Lucy Bannerman
The Times (London), March 13, 2010
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article7060202.ece

Some days the wind rages so hard it seems to bend the steel window frames. Other days are so still that you can hear the rusty squeak of playground swings from the 29th floor.

Other sounds can rise up like balloons, from the world outside - an ice-cream van, a distant police siren, Arabic music, floating from a floor below.

The Red Road flats have been grim icons of the Glasgow skyline for the past 40 years — and for the past week the backdrop to a triple suicide of mother, father and son.

Scots used to live in these nosebleed heights. Now the tower blocks contain not so much homes as uneasy pauses for people who spend the rest of their lives either in terror or transit.

Spend long enough in the disinfectant-heavy stairwells and you will find a face from every troublespot in the world.

For the asylum seekers corralled here as they wait for the Home Office decisions, the most frightening sound is an unexpected knock on the door.

When Ledia Tewelde, 22, heard 'very bad noises' in the night last year, she didn’t wait to face the officials she feared were coming for her. She threw herself out a third-floor window.

'I thought they were coming inside to kill us. Or take us away. They had already taken one lady.' She broke both legs and ankles and her back. In hospital, she discovered the noise had been only drunks outside.

'I was crazy,' she remembers. 'I thought, what has happened to me? I started thinking why I had jumped. It was stress, depression.

'When I heard others had died, I could imagine their depression. You see us, with nice clothes, a house, but inside our hearts are black.'

In a friend’s ninth-floor flat, Ledia tells the story of her journey from Eritrea, through Sudan, Libya and Italy. The flat’s standard issue blue sofa, blue carpet and bare cream walls are brightened with East African fabrics.

Her friend, Hewi, 40, is a striking woman. Also from Eritrea, she laughs and jokes as she roasts coffee beans and ginger over a portable gas stove, keeping one eye on her son, Daniel, whom she can see from the window, riding his bike in the playground, and shouting to friends in a Scottish accent.

Hewi saw a 'jumper' once. She watched him fall from the opposite block. 'I remember his jacket most. It was caught by the wind, and flapped around him.'

The threat ' . . . or I’ll throw myself off the Red Road flats' has been common parlance in Glasgow for decades.

The towers were built in the Sixties to solve overcrowding in Glasgow slums, but the problems were only made vertical and over the next decade the towers that were once the highest in Europe will be demolished. Until then, the Home Office keeps stacking asylum seekers 30 storeys high, as it has been since changes in asylum and immigration policy in 2000. Officials aim to consider applications within 30 days, but many tenants claim they have been waiting months, even years.

Compared with the constant threat of expulsion, demolition seems a distant prospect. 'I’ll be long gone by then,' says Tina, 39, who lives on the 29th floor. The view is still a novelty for the single mother from Liberia, ten weeks after she moved in with her five-year-old son and newborn daughter.

She surveys the distant spire of Glasgow Cathedral, the faraway factories, an entire, unknown city. 'It’s so high,' she marvels. 'You can see so far, especially all the lights at night. Maybe that is the whole idea — as if to make you aware, you can see us, but you’re still not part of us, so don’t be getting any ideas.' Then she laughs.

A haulage yard and a park with rusting goalposts lie 29 floors below. The estate has 4,700 people but there is very little movement. Pinprick figures make their way to meetings with Home Office case workers, or buy rations with their top-up cards. But most of the time, they sit inside, like Tina.

Ahmed Syed lives on the 19th floor and is worried about his wife. When the bodies lay in white sheets below their balcony, Ansa, 34, stood silently staring at them through the wire netting. They have been waiting for nine months for a decision on their case. At 4.20pm every Wednesday, they get the bus to UK Border Agency offices for their allowance of £35 each. Each week they wonder if they will make the return journey or get deported.

'We don’t really know what is happening,' says Ansa. 'I am always so worried. I remain in a black hole.' Her husband shows a GP’s report detailing her fragile mental state.

Ansa says: 'Why do they not believe me? How can they decide I’m wrong? My plan is suicide. I am always thinking of it, because I cannot see my path now. I plan it when my lawyer says we have no more options.' She gestures to the memorial under her balcony. 'I can feel the emotions of those people,' she says. 'I think death is better.' Mr Syed puts his arm around her, and tells us this winter was the first time their two young daughters had seen snow.

There are no official figures on how many asylum seekers commit suicide. The Institute for Race Relations recorded the deaths of 213 asylum seekers, refugees and migrant workers from 1989 to 2006. Of those, 57 had committed suicide. Nine set themselves on fire, several publicly, and 11 killed themselves while being detained. It is estimated that there have been at least another 39 deaths since then. Throughout the afternoon, the lifts ferry a desperate diaspora — Somalis, Zimbabweans, Chinese, Afghans and Iraqis — up and down. Many are hospitable. Iranian families offer us fruit, Pakistani couples insist on tea.

Mohsen Radi, 42, a former militia officer from Tehran, lives two floors above the boarded-up flat where the dead family were. The last time he saw them he saw the mother crying but, as Mohsen adds, tears are not unusual in Red Road. 'That is the reality of life here. I am not blaming anyone. I saw the man at the Home Office. He was tired too. He doesn’t have the answers either.

'I sit in this flat and I cry. I see people taking children to the park. I am not jealous, I am happy they’re having a good time, but I do not have anyone to hug as a relative, or a friend.'

The officer begins to cry. 'That is when I think, what is the point of my existence? Maybe I will go to the middle of a shopping centre and kill myself. I am sure there is no future for me.'

The sound of an ice cream van starts up. 'I am dying, slowly, slowly, but no one listens to me,'says Mosen.

Red Road blues

The eight blocks of the Red Road flats were built in Springburn as a fast and cost-effective solution to overcrowding. Two are wide-fronted 'slabs' and six are 'points' of a more traditional tower block shape. The tallest has 31 storeys.

They were a big improvement on the slums, but by the mid-1970s the estate had a reputation for crime, drugs and disaffected youth. The height of the blocks and a lack of amenities also led to problems for young families and the elderly.

In the 1980s, two buildings were taken over for student residences and the YMCA. Changes to immigration and asylum policy have brought more than 18,000 asylum seekers to Glasgow since 2001. Many have been housed in a Red Road block managed by the YMCA.

In 2003 the flats were transferred to the Glasgow Housing Association, which said in 2005 that it would demolish all of them. Preparations for the demolition of the first block are being made. The flats featured in the 2006 film Red Road, which won the Prix de Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival

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Red Road deaths: a tragedy of asylum, mental health and Russian intrigue
Secret service plots and paranoia may have coloured the case of Serge Serykh's family, but a housing charity has blamed the tragedy on an asylum policy that 'treated them like cattle'
By Kirsty Scott, Robert Booth and Luke Harding
The Guardian (U.K.), March 12, 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2010/mar/12/red-road-deaths-russian-asylum-seekers

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9.
France's burka dilemma
By Zubeida Malik
The BBC News (U.K.), March 15, 2010
http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8568000/8568024.stm

France could become the first country in Europe to ban the burka. A draft law submitted to the French parliament would make it illegal for a woman to cover her face in public spaces such as hospitals and trains. But the proposal has divided the country's five million-strong Muslim community.

26 year-old Anisa wears a bright blue niqab, a piece of clothing that covers her completely except for her eyes and perfectly arched eyebrows.

You can't miss her among the crowds: maybe it is because of the colour of the niqab or because there is no other woman around who is covered up to this extent.

She has been wearing it for a year-and-a-half. Anisa's family, who are originally from Morocco, are against her wearing the niqab. But Anisa believes it is her religious duty.

According to official figures there are just 1900 women who wear the burka in France. Most of them are young and a quarter are converts.

But a report from the French intelligence services put this figure much lower at 367, out of an estimated population of five million Muslims, the largest in Europe.

When I met Anisa in the suburbs of Seine-Saint Denis, an area with the highest concentration of Muslims in France, she says that ever since she started wearing the niqab she has had unwelcome attention from the police, has been insulted in the street and is frequently stared at.

Women wearing the burka - a veil which covers the whole face - or the niqab in France are not as visible as those in Britain. But look hard enough in the suburbs and you can find them.

The mosque in the town of Drancy, on the outskirts of Paris, is currently the most controversial in France because the imam here has come out in support of the government's decision to ban the burka.

Imam Hassan Chalghoumi is now facing death threats and has been given police protection. Ignoring the advice of his advisors he spoke to the Today programme.

'Adapt to French life'

He says the burka has nothing to do with religion but the wearing of it was down to tradition.

And the imam added that the burka debate was diverting attention from the real problems facing the Muslim community, including racism, integration and young people dropping out of school early. The imam, who is originally from Tunisia, has the support of the mayor of Drancy.

Tempers are running high at the mosque and there are some it is hard to tell how many want the imam to leave. And there is also a lot of anger and frustration with the media and the police.

Friday prayers when I was there were tense. There were policemen present, plain clothes officers filming and an ambulance on standby, in case anyone got hurt.

Multiculturalism in France is different to that in Britain and the United States. One of the core principles of the Fifth Republic is 'laicite', the separation of church and state.

Religion here is seen as a highly private matter, even more than in the US, where church and state are also constitutionally separated.

Pierre Rousselin from Le Figaro newspaper says that in France people still believe that ''foreigners can adapt to the French way of life''

A commission has spent six months looking into the burka in a review which took evidence from more than 200 people. It recommended proposing a ban on women wearing either the burka or the niqab in hospitals, schools, government offices and on public transport.

It is not the first time that the Muslim community in France feels that its been put under the spotlight. In 2004 a law was passed banning the hijab - or headscarf - and all other religious symbols, from state schools. Although the ban affects all religions, the Muslim community here feels that it was aimed at them.

Wider debate

The current controversy comes in the wake of months of debate and President Sarkozy's speech last year where he said the veils were not welcome in France, but which stopped short of calling for an outright ban.

A draft law has been submitted to parliament but any further action has been put on the back-burner until after the regional elections in France this month.

Sihem Habchi, who describes herself as a Muslim feminist, is director of Ni Putes Ni Soumise - 'Neither Whores Nor Submissives', an influential feminist organisation. She says it is not a question of how many women wear the burka, but one of ''democratic principle''. And she too wants the burka banned.

Ms Habchi says that a ban would ''liberate'' the Muslim community from those who want to hold it back and ''use our religion''.

Adding that her Algerian background allows her to understand this issue and the wider one of women's rights as a whole, Ms Habchi says ''laicite'' actually protects religion because it means all religions have an equal footing.

Catherine De Wenden, an expert in the history of immigration in France, believes the timing of the current debate is political and is tied in with the regional elections in France.

Although she is personally against banning the burka, she says there it is part of a wider debate in France about national identity, adding that there are many forms of multiculturalism and that France regards religion as a private matter.

Ms De Wenden is concerned that if the ban happens then France will not be seen as a country which practises toleration, a core value of the French Revolution.

But any legislation could have the reverse effect. The young women I spoke to in Drancy said that if the ban became law then they would start to wear the burka for the first time.

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10.
Far-Right National Front performs well in French regional elections
France's far-Right National Front (FN) has re-emerged on the French political scene after enjoying a surprisingly strong showing in regional elections on Sunday.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
The Telegraph (U.K.), March 15, 2010
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/7448051/Far-Right-National-Front-performs-well-in-French-regional-elections.html

France's far-Right National Front (FN) has re-emerged on the French political scene after enjoying a surprisingly strong showing in regional elections on Sunday. Photo: AFP/GETTY

All but crushed after the 2007 presidential elections, the National Front, or FN, confounded polling predictions to reap almost 12 per cent of the national vote.

Mr Sarkozy’s Right-wing UMP group scored a worse-than-expected 26.18 per cent and is heading for a drubbing in next Sunday's runoff.

The opposition Socialists came in first with 29.48 per cent of the vote and are expected to join forces with the green-minded Europe Ecologie party, which came third with 12.7 per cent.

But the FN result was Sunday night’s biggest surprise, coming in the wake of a year-long recession in France and a regional campaign in which Mr Sarkozy’s camp has repeatedly beaten the drum of national identity and immigration.

Mr Le Pen, 81, who founded the FN in 1972 and is probably fighting his last electoral battle was jubilant after Sunday’s result.

'The National Front was declared beaten, dead, buried by the president,' Mr Le Pen said late on Sunday.

'This shows that it is still a national force, and probably destined to become greater and greater.'

His party, which has rammed home an anti-immigrant message, is in the running in 12 of France’s 22 mainland regions.

The showing is a far cry from the dismal 6.8 per cent the FN mustered in European elections last year and the just 4.3 per cent Le Pen won in the 2007 presidential vote.

Martine Aubry, the Socialist leader, instantly accused Mr Sarkozy of 're-opening a door for the FN'. The President, she said, 'led this debate on national identity aimed at opposing French from here with French from elsewhere or foreigners, well (in doing so) he opened a door'.

Mr Sarkozy, via his immigration minister, Eric Besson, launched a national identity debate aimed at getting citizens to define what it means to be French on Internet forums and public meetings.

These often descended into anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rants. France has around six million Muslims, Europe’s biggest minority.

Critics said the debate was a ploy to woo back the FN electorate, which Mr Sarkozy did successfully during the presidential campaign. His party has also led a campaign to ban the wearing of the full Islamic veil in France.

During its campaign, the FN played on fears by releasing a poster that read 'No to Islamism', and depicting woman wearing a full Islamic veil and an Algerian flag superimposed on a map of France with minarets portrayed as missiles.

A French court banned the poster in a ruling two days before the first round vote, saying it was offensive to Muslims. Mr Le Pen, however, displayed it during his television appearance.

The strong FN score puts Mr Le Pen’s daughter, Marine, in a strong position to succeed him as head of the party; the 41-year-old boosted her credentials by winning 18.3 per cent in the poor northern Pas-de-Calais region.

The abstention rate for the ballot was put at 52 per cent - a record low for a French regional election.

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11.
Minister suggests agency for Maltese living abroad
By Annaliza Borg
The Malta Independent, March 15, 2010
http://www.independent.com.mt/news.asp?newsitemid=103106

It is time to set up an institution, agency or council to revise the progress of plans and initiatives in favour of Maltese living abroad, on a regular basis, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said.

Dr Borg was speaking at the Convention for Maltese Living Abroad, which opened yesterday morning. Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi, Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat and Archbishop Paul Cremona also spoke.

While Opposition Leader Joseph Muscat said he agreed with the proposed institution, Archbishop Paul Cremona followed the government and opposition in apologising to child migrants who were sent away in hope for a better life in faraway lands. This was done through a declaration in Parliament a few days ago.

The Convention, taking place all week, is the third of its kind. The first two were held in 1969 and 2000.

Dr Borg said the new institution should have a representation of Maltese living abroad as well as Maltese people living locally. The government was considering the option of having it backed by a law.

The interests of Maltese living abroad should not only be discussed once every 10 years but should be in the government’s work and that of its departments every day, Dr Borg said.

Dr Borg gave a rendition of the government’s work in relation to Maltese living abroad, throughout the years. He noted that 16,000 people with Maltese roots had acquired dual citizenship since 1989.

It was important to promote whatever was Maltese, he believed. A cultural institute was necessary to promote aspects including culture and Maltese traditions. The Tourism, Education and Foreign Affairs Ministers were therefore to cooperate within the institution for human resources to be channelled in a single medium to diffuse Maltese culture abroad. Embassies could also help in the process, Dr Borg said.

'I am proud of the reputation you built for us all,' Dr Gonzi said in his address. He was especially proud that although many Maltese have been living away from our islands for a very long time, they still cherish their ties with Malta.

'We are here to discuss the future not the past,' he told the convention, which will be discussing education, culture, heritage, the elderly, young people, consular affairs and citizenship, among other subjects, in the coming days.

We must strengthen what we have and pass it on to our children – the future generation, he said. Dr Gonzi described the value Maltese people had for all that was Maltese as well as the appreciation towards their host country as 'complementary emotions'.

Maltese were successful, hardworking, and their efforts flourished in every field. In the meantime, they made a good impression on governments and people in the streets.

Dr Gonzi advised that balance was the key to success and we must always continue to strife for a midway in between extremes.

This was a time of great change in economical, social and cultural fields, he said. The globalised world had an impact on our identity and values. Nonetheless, it posed challenges and opportunities for us all. These were to be tapped while our ties were to be strengthened for the benefit of future generations.

Describing the Convention as 'a family reunion', Dr Muscat said Maltese living abroad contributed to a huge success story with their wise intentions and industriousness.

Announcing he will be visiting Maltese communities in Australia later on this year, Dr Muscat reminded those present that many had sent money for their family members in Malta to be able to have a good education, contributing to the country’s development.

Referring to the government’s and opposition’s apology to child migrants in Parliament last week, Dr Muscat said this was an expression of maturity.

The Maltese language was in danger of being lost, he added. Politicians therefore needed to give all possible assistance for its teaching and to facilitate language studies in Malta. However, for the sake of credibility, he said the University of Malta was to stop giving the impression that students reading for degrees, including the Masters in Maltese language, were at a disadvantage if they used the Maltese language in their writing.

He believed each migrant was an ambassador for Malta and insisted they advertise our country well in matters related to the industry and tourism, for more employment opportunities. Meanwhile, he explained that Malta was preparing to host the European Union Presidency in 2017 – another opportunity to push up Malta’s profile.

Dr Muscat expressed disappointment that some recommendations from the last Convention for Maltese Living Abroad had not been implemented.

Archbishop Paul Cremona said the baggage of experience and memories each migrant brought strengthened them in different ways. He said some decisions had brought about great suffering and expressed the Church’s apology to child migrants.

He also acknowledged the work of Monsignor Philip Calleja who led the Emigrants Commission and plans to set up a Migration Museum. Meanwhile, he expressed the wish to visit the Maltese in Canada, parts of the United States and London this year.

With reference to asylum seekers in Malta, Mgr Cremona said patriotism should not hinder us from assisting other human beings and giving them a helping hand even though migration posed challenges for us all.

He suggested a parallel meeting to the next Convention which would discuss the Maltese in religious contexts.

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New Institute to promote Maltese culture, language abroad
The Times of Malta, March 14, 2010
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100314/local/new-malta-cultural-institute-to-help-maltese-abroad

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12.
Malta must leave Schengen arrangement - KMB
The Times of Malta, March 15, 2010

Malta must withdraw from the Schengen area immediately because the arrangement is nothing more than another form of colonialism, Karmenu Mifsud Bonnici, chairman of the Campaign for National Independence, said today.

Referring to the Swiss decision to blacklist 188 top Libyans, and the Libyan retaliation of stopping all Schengen area visas, the former prime minister said this was yet another example of how Malta was back under the yoke of colonialism.

Malta, he said, was being forced to abide by decisions which were not in its national interest.

This blacklist had been in place for months, he said, but the Maltese government had not acted promptly to safeguard the national interest. Indeed, it even invited Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to come to Malta when it knew that that such a visit was not possible for as long as the blacklist remained in place.
. . .
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100315/local/malta-must-leave-schengen-arrangement-kmb

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13.
Open centres are like 'giant car parks'
By Claudia Calleja
The Times of Malta, March 14, 2010
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20100314/local/open-centres-are-like-giant-car-parks

Malta's open centres for immigrants are like 'giant car parks' where people are left waiting with little effort to help them integrate or acquire skills, according to a representative from the UN refugee agency.

'Last year when we visited Malta, the main problem was detention centres and their appalling conditions... and things have improved. But what we did not expect when we came back after 10 months was the bad situation in open centres,' Laurens Jolles, from the UN High Commission for Refugees, said.

'It's not the conditions, as such, but the fact that nothing happens,' Mr Jolles told The Sunday Times, stressing that immigrants who lived in open centres needed to be given more emotional support and individual attention to help them integrate into society and build a future.

Mr Jolles, who is the UNHCR's regional representative for Malta, was in Malta on a two-day routine visit during which he visited the Hal Far open centre and the Church-run Peace Lab that also hosts immigrants.

He said that once people were recognised as being in need of protection, there should be more effort to help them sustain themselves, look at the future and integrate.

'If you compare Hal Far with smaller centres, like Peace Lab, it's like night and day. Hal Far is overcrowded, whereas at Peace Lab there are very dedicated people who work with smaller groups of people (immigrants) who they follow closely.

'There you see a genuine interest as the people are followed individually; there is training, English lessons and people's emotional wellbeing is looked after... However, in Hal Far there are very limited examples of skills-training compared with the number of people there,' Mr Jolles said.

'The Hal Far centre is more like a giant car park. It's like people are being put there, in isolation, and they are waiting for something to happen, that is, that they can leave,' he said.

Mr Jolles said, however, that the asylum process in Malta was 'doing quite well'.

Recent figures issued by the Refugee Commission show that just 232 out of 10,629 applicants were eligible for refugee status between 2002 and 2009.

Another 5,677 were granted subsidiary and 17 temporary humanitarian protection, while 251 withdrew their application, bringing the number of rejections to 4,452.

Mr Jolles pointed out that repatriation initiatives meant that other countries were helping Malta deal with the immigration burden.

'I really hope that, especially with the departure of a not insignificant group of people from Malta, in parallel with this we will also see some improvements in the reception, accommodation and integration of refugees,' he said.

Speaking about the actual living conditions in Malta's open centres, he said there was room for great improvement.

Last August, migrants at the Hal Far open centre, situated in a converted aircraft hangar, protested against the lack of adequate sanitary facilities for the more than 400 residents in a peaceful protest.

The protest ended five hours later after a lengthy meeting between migrants' representatives and the director of the Organisation for the Integration and Welfare of Asylum Seekers, Alex Tortell.

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14.
Even as population shrinks, Japan remains wary of immigration
By Lee Hockstader
The Washington Post, March 14, 2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/03/12/AR2010031201790.html

Tokyo -- Much of what you need to know about Japan's long-standing attitude toward immigrants is summed up in the logo of the nation's official immigration agency: It depicts a plane departing, rather than arriving.

But today the country faces a demographic crisis, one that some here believe will finally compel a traditionally homogeneous Japan to turn that plane around and let foreign workers come. The population is aging and shrinking -- a formula for economic calamity and social stagnation. Over time, there will be too few workers to care for the millions of elderly citizens, grow food on farms or fill the manufacturing jobs that drive this export-led economy.

Given the forces of history and culture, the notion of a multiethnic Japan may seem impossible, a tautology in a country where nationality and ethnicity are fused to the point of being nearly indistinguishable. Yet a multiethnic Japan is what the country needs to become if it is to survive among the top tier of the world's powers.

Japanese leaders have tried other options, and failed. For two decades, Japan's stubbornly low birth rate has barely budged, despite many government incentives for couples to have more children. The new left-leaning government's recent move to boost per-child monthly cash payments to families will be cripplingly expensive and probably unsustainable. (It's also unlikely to convince women, who are marrying later or not at all, to have more children with Japanese husbands who remain allergic to sharing child-rearing duties.) The result could be a working-age population cut nearly in half by midcentury.

So, can the Japanese shed their traditions and allow more foreigners in their midst? On a recent trip, I was struck by the range of people I encountered -- government officials, politicians, bureaucrats, business representatives, demographers and others -- who argued that the nation has little choice but to do just that. Unfortunately for the Japanese, it appears unlikely that they will do so in time, or at the pace needed, to reverse the population declines.

To some extent, the notion of Japan as ethnically homogenous is not exactly right. For years, the country has admitted increasing numbers of foreign workers, without fanfare, as officials have tried to plug holes in the workforce. The number of nonethnic Japanese residents has crept upward in the past few decades and now stands officially at 2.2 million -- about 1.7 percent of the population.

Starting with more than 650,000 Koreans, a legacy of Japan's occupation of the Korean Peninsula from 1905 to 1945, the country has also taken hundreds of thousands of Chinese, as well as tens of thousands of Vietnamese refugees, Filipino and Indonesian nurses, African workers, and others. In addition, about 500,000 Brazilians and Peruvians of Japanese ancestry have been allowed into the country since 1990, many of them to work in manufacturing plants.

The presence of these immigrants could be seen as the beginning of a revolution, or at least evolution, in Japanese attitudes toward foreigners. In Yokohama, Japan's second-biggest city, I spoke to the director of a nursing home who recruited a pair of Indonesian nurses two years ago. The Indonesians -- bright, able, outgoing and full of laughter -- were among the most popular members of the facility's caregiving staff and had set an example for what the director called their 'standoffish' Japanese colleagues. The director shook her head in sorrow at the likelihood that the Indonesians would be unable to remain in the country unless they passed a tough licensing exam, given only in Japanese. 'They have injected new life into this place,' she said.

At city hall, officials proudly displayed brochures with instructions for garbage separation and recycling -- available in Japanese, English, Vietnamese, Chinese and Portuguese. 'The big inflow of foreigners, Chinese and others, has changed the mind-set of Japanese here,' said Osamu Yamamoto, who oversees interethnic policy in the city of 3.7 million people.

However, a 2001 U.N. report found that just to maintain its population of about 125 million, Japan would have to permit average annual net migration of 381,000 people for 50 years -- more than 17 million immigrants in that span. And to keep its working--age population at 1995 levels, the country would need 609,000 migrants annually, also for 50 years, or more than 33 million immigrants in all.

That's not going to happen; Japan may be changing, but at nowhere near the rate necessary to save itself. The country, which is likely to be overtaken this year by China as the world's second-largest economy, seems to have made its choice.

The Democratic Party of Japan, which won last summer's elections, has plenty to say about population decline, but the word 'immigration' appears nowhere in its manifesto. And the government has taken an enforcement-only approach toward immigrants and foreign workers, rounding up undocumented workers for deportation but making no attempt to develop a coherent vision of whom to admit and how to accommodate them. 'The biggest crisis,' an official at the Japan Business Federation told me, 'is that the government has no sense of crisis.'

In public, the habit of describing a racially homogeneous Japan is deeply ingrained. In 2005, then-Foreign Minister Taro Aso hailed the country as 'one nation, one civilization, one language, one culture and one race.' A senior official in Tokyo put it to me more simply: 'This isn't America. When we go to the hospital to have a baby, we know what we'll get: black hair, dark eyes, skin more or less the color of mine.'

Indeed, Japan has hardly offered a welcoming environment to its imported workers, with treatment ranging from shameful to barely tolerant. Koreans, brought to Japan decades ago and often against their will, were granted citizenship, only to see it revoked after World War II. Although several generations have been born and have died in Japan, most are not naturalized citizens, nor can they vote. Vietnamese, thousands of whom began coming to Japan as refugees after the Vietnam War, remain scarcely assimilated; even if they grew up here and speak Japanese, intermarriage is rare.

Truong Thi Thuy Trang, 39, came to Japan from Vietnam as a boat person at age 12 and has spent much of her life in Yokohama, just south of Tokyo. An interpreter for a district office of the city government, she earns a decent living and has the confident air of a refugee who has made it. But her greatest aspiration for her 11-year-old daughter is that she leave Japan, preferably for Chicago or New York, where she has relatives.

'What troubles me a lot, and what I talk to my daughter about, is how she can be proud that she's Vietnamese and enjoy a standard of living on a par with her Japanese peers,' she said. 'I don't think it's possible here.'

Mention the Brazilians, and Japanese complain about parties (too loud) and clothing (too skimpy). Mention foreign students, and you hear the story of a provincial university that, facing complaints from neighboring farmers who feared the newcomers would steal their crops, built a separate dorm for the students and surrounded it with barbed wire.

Mention Vietnamese or Chinese, and you get an indictment of their alleged failure to respect rules governing trash removal and recycling (those multilingual brochures notwithstanding). In Yokohama, where the foreign population has more than doubled over 20 years, to 80,000, a municipal official gave me chapter and verse on the local garbage wars. 'I need to take someone else's trash into my home to sort it!' Noryoshi Sato complained.

Some Japanese seem embarrassed by their country's hostility to foreigners. At a news conference in Tokyo last month, officials presented plans to resettle Burmese refugees now living at U.N. camps in Thailand; they will be among the first refugees Japan accepts in years. The officials described language and vocational training to help assimilate the first 30 refugees. Then a Japanese television reporter stood and asked to be recognized.

'The more they know about Japan, the more these refugees might not want to resettle here,' he said. It sounded more like a statement than a question.

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15.
Japan mayor hopes to make history with milk bottle, nappies
By Antoine Bouthier
Agence France Presse, March 12, 2010

Tokyo (AFP) -- Two weeks' paternity leave may not seem like much, but for Hironobu Narisawa, the 44-year-old mayor of a Tokyo district, it is a leap into the future for Japanese society.

Next month he will become Japan's first local government chief to take time off work to look after a child, a move he hopes will encourage other men to do the same in a nation struggling with a low birthrate.

Narisawa, the mayor of Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward, will swap his desk and PC for the world of sterilized bottles, baby formula and nappy changes for his first child, who was born on February 5.

'I want to take time to raise my son and give him a lot of love,' he told a nationally-televised news conference.

'I wanted to experience both the importance and the difficulties of child raising. I want to set an example that other men will follow.'

Japanese law allows either parent to take leave of up to one year after childbirth, but almost all of those who do so are women, a reflection of traditional gender roles that remain entrenched.

No male employees of Bunkyo ward are currently on paternity leave, the news conference was told. Nationwide, only 1.2 percent of fathers take advantage of paternity leave.

Proud dad Narisawa is on a mission to change that and follow in the footsteps of male politicians elsewhere who have taken out time for their tots, among them former British premier Tony Blair.

'In some European countries such as France, it is not unusual for fathers to take three to five weeks off for child-rearing,' Narisawa said. 'It is a matter of political systems and this should be seriously discussed in Japan.'

Japan has one of the world's lowest birth rates. This, coupled with its negligible immigration rate, is causing a headache for pension planners, with a decreasing number of workers having to support a growing number of retirees.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hzVLPqjgeYu4YI91w9k6QVJfXALg

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16.
Malaysia 'detains 93 Myanmar boat people'
Agence France Presse, March 14, 2010

Kuala Lumpur (AFP) -- Malaysian maritime authorities said Sunday they had picked up 93 members of Myanmar's Rohingya Muslim minority who had drifted aboard a boat for 30 days after fleeing their country.
. . .
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hcnGaJazTTTQktdy7jAdP_6FMbbQ

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17.
Darwin on alert as flood of boat people heads to Australia
By Ian McPhedran
The Australian, March 15, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/darwin-on-alert-as-flood-of-boat-people-heads-to-australia/story-e6frg6po-1225841130651

Several hundred boat people are expected to arrive within days aboard two illegal vessels, triggering a mass transfer of refugees from Christmas Island to the mainland.

The likely influx will trigger a huge taxpayer-financed operation and be seized upon by the Opposition as Kevin Rudd's 'Tampa'.

Darwin's immigration detention centre has been on alert for the arrival of several hundred asylum seekers from Christmas Island, which is close to overflowing.

'If one of the big boats arrives, then Christmas Island will be blown out of the water,' a source said.

The transfer of asylum seekers to the mainland will be politically explosive, reinforcing concerns the Prime Minister broke his election promise to turn back the boats.

Private Coalition polling shows up to 85 per cent of voters in marginal seats believe Mr Rudd has not delivered on a pledge to maintain a tough refugee policy.

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has repeatedly said Labor's softer border protection scheme is proving a magnet for people smugglers.

The numbers of boat people arriving in Australian waters has accelerated in recent months, with the Government saying it was a global trend.

This year, almost 1200 boat people have arrived on 24 vessels - nearly half the number of asylum seekers that arrived last year.

For the first time since the latest boat people crisis began, the Darwin centre on old Defence Department land at Berrimah will become a holding centre for refugees waiting to obtain protection visas.

The Federal Government has been keen to avoid having to process asylum seekers on the mainland.

High-level sources said the delicate balance of 140 spare beds on the island had been the result of good luck rather than good management, but that luck was about to run out.

'We are ready to use Darwin when a big boat arrives,' a source said.

Boat people have to be processed 'offshore' on Christmas Island for legal reasons, so new arrivals cannot be taken directly to Darwin.

According to intelligence reports the illegal vessels, carrying several hundred people each, are expected to make for the Ashmore Reef area off northwest Australia rather than directly to Christmas Island, south of Java.

The Customs vessel Oceanic Viking and charter aircraft are on stand-by to transfer more than 300 people to Darwin within 72 hours after either of the vessels is intercepted.

If both make it to Australia then up to 600 people will be moved to the mainland.

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Christmas Island overloaded
By Mark Dodd
The Australian, March 15, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/christmas-island-overloaded/story-e6frg6nf-1225840651448

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18.
Migrant test in need of leniency, council says
The Australian, March 15, 2010
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/migrant-test-in-need-of-leniency-council-says/story-e6frg6nf-1225840648869

Australia risks excluding talented migrants from non-English-speaking countries if it fails to adopt a flexible approach to language assessment in the skilled migration points test.

In a submission to the federal government's review of skilled migration, the Migration Institute of Australia argues that the flexibility in language testing applying to some occupations, such as nurses, should be expanded.

In its submission, the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia warns that in order for skilled migrants to be assessed as proficient in English, their literacy levels have to be higher than 40 per cent of the Australian workforce.

More than 180 submissions have been lodged with the Immigration Department in response to a proposed shake-up of the skilled migration points system announced by minister Chris Evans last month.

As part of the overhaul, the government is proposing to scrap a list of migration occupations in demand with a new skilled occupations list of high-value professions and trades.

The government's discussion paper asked for feedback on the system, in which points are allocated on the basis of English proficiency, age, occupation type and Australian work experience.

Senator Evans has said that rather than simply focus on plugging skills shortages, the government wants to focus instead on 'human capital' and may give greater priority to migrants from prestigious overseas universities.

The new system is expected to give greater priority to sponsored migrants who already possess high English competency.

The Migration Institute argues that a more flexible approach should be taken to the International English Language Testing System, including allowing for greater flexibility for professions in which non-English languages were important.

FECCA says it is 'concerned at the requirement for potential applicants to have high English language abilities'.

'The successful settlement of migrants is not simply determined upon a person's ability to communicate at a high level of English,' the submission says.

'It is a process which may take many years.

'Attempting to micro-manage the settlement process is not guaranteed to succeed.'

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DERECHO DEL PROGENITOR MIGRANTE A RESIDIR EN UN ESTADO
SI SU HIJO ESTUDIA EN ÉL
El TJUE ha dictado sentencia en los asuntos C-310/08 y C-480/08, London 
Borough of Harrow c. Nimco Hassan Ibrahim, y Maria Teixera c. London Borough 
of Lambeth. El Tribunal de Apelación de Reino Unido, que conoce de dos asuntos,
pregunta al TJUE si la interpretación del artículo 12 del Reglamento 1612/68 
sobre Libertad de Circulación de Trabajadores dentro de la Comunidad, 
consagrada por la sentencia Baumbast (C-413/99) se sigue aplicando 
después de la entrada en vigor de la Directiva 38/2004, sobre derechos 
de los ciudadanos de la UE y de sus familias a circular y residir libremente
 en la UE, y si el derecho de residencia en favor de la persona que ejerce 
efectivamente la custodia del hijo está, en lo sucesivo, supeditado a los requisitos
 de ejercicio del derecho de residencia establecidos por esta Directiva. El primero
 de los casos que suscita esta cuestión es de la Sra. Nimco Hassan Ibrahim, 
de nacionalidad somalí, que llegó al Reino Unido en febrero de 2003, a fin de 
reunirse con su esposo, el Sr. Yusuf. La Sra. Ibrahim se separó del Sr. Yusuf tras
 la partida de éste de Reino Unido. Nunca ha sido económicamente independiente 
y depende por completo de la asistencia social. No dispone de un seguro médico
 y es beneficiaria del servicio nacional de salud. En enero de 2007, la Sra. Ibrahim 
solicitó la concesión de ayudas a la vivienda para sí y sus hijos, denegada porque
 sólo las personas que gozan de derecho de residencia otorgado por el Derecho 
de la UE pueden formular tal solicitud. Sin embargo, ni la Sra. Ibrahim ni su esposo 
residían en el Reino Unido en virtud del Derecho de la UE. El otro caso 
es el de la Sra. Teixeira, de nacionalidad portuguesa, llegó al Reino Unido en 1989 
con su marido, también de nacionalidad portuguesa, y trabajó en ese Estado miembro
 hasta 1991. La hija de ambos nació allí en 1991. La Sra. Teixeira y su marido se divorciaron posteriormente, pero ambos permanecieron en el Reino Unido. En abril de 2007,
 la Sra. Teixeira solicitó una ayuda de vivienda para personas sin alojamiento. 
Esta solicitud fue denegada porque la Sra. Teixeira no gozaba del derecho 
a residir en el Reino Unido, ya que no trabajaba y, por lo tanto, carecía de recursos propios.
 La Sra. Teixeira impugnó esta resolución ante los tribunales nacionales, alegando 
que gozaba del derecho de residencia por el hecho de que su hija estaba cursando
 estudios. El TJUE recuerda en sus respectivas sentencias que el artículo 12 
del Reglamento 1612/68 permite reconocer al hijo de un trabajador migrante, 
un derecho de residencia independiente, vinculado a su derecho de acceso
 a la enseñanza en el Estado miembro de acogida. Desde que se adquiere 
el derecho de acceso a la enseñanza, el hijo conserva el derecho de residencia,
 que ya no puede cuestionarse. Por lo tanto, este artículo debe aplicarse de forma 
autónoma con respecto a las disposiciones del Derecho de la UE que regulan 
expresamente los requisitos de ejercicio del derecho de residencia en otro Estado 
miembro. Tal autonomía no ha sido cuestionada por la entrada en vigor de la nueva
 Directiva. A continuación, el TJUE señala que el otorgamiento del derecho 
de residencia a los hijos y al progenitor no está supeditado a un requisito 
de independencia financiera. En consecuencia, el Tribunal de Justicia declara que 
el derecho de residencia del que goza el progenitor que tiene efectivamente
 la custodia del hijo de un trabajador migrante que está cursando estudios 
no está supeditado al requisito de que ese progenitor disponga de recursos suficientes 
con objeto de no convertirse en una carga para la asistencia social del Estado 
miembro de acogida. Finalmente acerca de si el derecho de residencia del progenitor
 caduca cuando el hijo alcanza la mayoría de edad, el TJUE concluye que el derecho 
de residencia del progenitor que ejerce efectivamente la custodia 
del hijo de un trabajador migrante, cuando este hijo cursa estudios 
en el Estado miembro de acogida, caduca al alcanzar el hijo la mayoría de edad, 
a menos que el hijo siga necesitando la presencia y las atenciones 
de ese progenitor con objeto de continuar y terminar sus estudios.

Types of Visas:

A foreigner who intends to enter into Spanish territory must have a visa, 
validly issued and in force, issued in the passport or travel document or,
in certain cases, a separate document.

The visas will be in one of the following classes:

a) Transit Visa, which enables transit through the international transit zone 
of a Spanish airport or through Spanish territory. It is not required 
to obtain said visa in transit cases of foreigners for purposes of repatriation 
or removal by air travel solicited by a member state of the European Union 
or by a third State that has an international agreement with Spain 
concerning the matter.

b) Stay visa, which enables an uninterrupted stay or successive stays 
for a period or sum of periods whose total duration does not exceed 
three months per semester from the date of the first entrance.

c) Residency Visa, which enables residence without the exercise of labor 
or professional activity.

d) Residency and Work Visa, which enables the entrance and stay 
for a maximum period of three months, in which time, the labor 
or professional activity which was previously authorized must commence.

e) Temporary Residency and Work Visa, which enables work 
via employment by a company up to nine months out of a consecutive 
twelve month period.

f) Student Visa, which enables a stay in Spain for the realization of courses, 
education, research work, or vocational training, student exchange,
 unpaid internships or voluntary services.

g) Research Visa, which enables the foreigner to stay in Spain 
to carry out research projects within the framework of an acceptance 
agreement signed with a research organization.

W3 SINAPSE. PLATAFORMA EUROPEA DE INTERCAMBIO 
DE INFORMACIÓN 
SINAPSE is a web communication platform offering tools to promote 
a better use of expertise in EU policy making and governance (networking of advisory bodies, support to expert groups, ad-hoc/public consultations and e-debates, etc.). 
SINAPSE is a free public service of the European Commission. SINAPSE
 in particular allows the creation of "e-Communities" which enables groups of members
 and organisations with a common interest to share and exchange information 
in a dedicated environment which can be graphically personalised and linked
 to the initiator website.

The full results of EUROCHAMBRES’ survey “Mapping the Implementation of the Services Directive in EU
Member States” can be downloaded from
www.eurochambres.eu/content/default.asp?PageID=1&DocID=2205

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