Avital Rapoport Ben-Gurion. University, Israel

Transcription

1 Avital Rapoport Ben-Gurion University, Israel

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3 Globalization involves cross-border flows of capital, commodities, people and ideas. While the first two are generally welcomed, the latter pair is viewed with suspicion. Immigrants were defined by the UN Population Division as those currently living outside their country of birth for a minimum of one year.

4 International Migration According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM, 2007), the stock of international migrants rose from 82 million in 1970 to 192 million nowadays, more than doubling over the course of 30 years. It means that roughly one of every 35 persons in the world is living outside his place of birth, about 3.3 percent of the world's population.

5 International Migration Many migrants face exploitation and abuse in the form of low wages, poor working conditions, lack of social protection, denial of workers' rights as well as discrimination. Migration affects not only the migrants themselves, but also poses a challenge to the Nation-States, both sendings and receivings.

6 International Migration The UN adopted on December 18th, 1990 an International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. States Parties undertake, in accordance with the international instruments concerning human rights, to respect and to ensure to all migrant workers and members of their families within their territory or subject to their jurisdiction the rights provided for in the Convention without distinction of any kind.

7 The right of immigration to Israel is primarily based on the Law of Return (1950), which entitles any Jew to become a citizen of Israel. A 1970 amendment extends this right to anyone with one Jewish parent or grandparent, and his/her spouse.

8 Israel: Recent History of Immigration Until the outbreak of the first Palestinian upspring, or Intifada ( ), Palestinians were the primary source of non- Israeli manual labour for sectors such as construction and agriculture. In 1993 Israel has opened its gates to foreign labour. By 2001, there were an estimated 250,000 foreign workers in Israel, of whom some 150,000 were undocumented, accounting for approximately 13% of the labour force in the private sector.

9 Israel: Recent History of Immigration For most of the 1990s, the Israeli government lacked a coordinated policy to effectively manage labour migration. Israel has never acknowledged the migrants as part of its society, only as a "temporary low-cost solution". The State's migration control policy has led to violations of social and civil rights.

10 Israel: Recent History of Immigration Problems experienced by foreign workers, particularly the undocumented, included: Exploitation of their terms of employment, living conditions and social benefits Denial of their freedom and Discrimination.

11 Israel: Recent History of Immigration Most of the children encounter different kinds of problems: Difficulties in Hebrew Special educational needs, which couldn t be addressed Only limited medical insurance at schools Special social care which long hasn't been offered Financial problems.

12 Israel: Recent History of Immigration Since many of the children grew up here, there has been public opposition to deporting them to countries they may never even have visited. Only recently had a new process of naturalization started to take place. Not all labour migrants and their children can formally take part in the process.

13 Israel: Recent History of Immigration According to the latest public announcement by the Interior Minister from June 19, 2007: The state received 827 citizenship requests from families numbering 2500 people. The state has just now approved 63% of requests, granting more than 1,500 people permanent status. 120 requests were initially rejected and later approved The state rejected 166 requests 136 requests are still pending.

14 The challenge of labour migration has to be addressed at three levels: (a) The International (b) The Regional (c) and The National

15 Discussion (a) The International Level Migration policy has to be based on broad public support, which is most effectively obtained through extensive social dialogue between governments, employers and workers. Measures are needed to regulate recruitment and prevent abuse, exploitation and trafficking, while promoting decent work and ensuring that migrant workers and their children are covered by national labour laws and social security schemes.

16 Discussion (b) The Regional Level Migration in the Middle East is becoming increasingly diversified and complex due to patterns of globalization, escalation of armed conflicts, political tensions, changing labour markets, transit migration and emerging trans-national networks involved in smuggling and trafficking of people.

17 Discussion (c) The National Level Apart from decent work and the protection of migrant workers, I believe one of the major tasks in Israel now is the social integration and inclusion of its labour migrant population. As Ibrahim Awad, Director of the ILO's International Migration Programme, have said: [In order] to protect migrant workers' rights and maximize the positive effects of migration, the answer is not stricter policing but better policies (ILO, 2007).

18 One of the missions of Ethnography today is to explore the nature of locality, as a lived experience in a globalized, de-territorialized world.

19 Words of Conclusion Universal Declaration of Human Rights Adopted by the UN on December 10, The Declaration recognized that the "inherent dignity of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world.

20 Words of Conclusion Ryoichi Sasakawa Young Leaders Fellowship Fund (SYLFF) The vision of the SYLFF fund expresses similar ideals: The world is one family and all mankind are brothers and sisters -Ryoichi Sasakawa. All have the right to fulfil their basic needs for food, health care and education.

21 Words of Conclusion I would like to thank SYLFF, which opened this door for me, and enabled me to begin this very significant journey.

22 Avital Rapoport Ben-Gurion University, Israel