Monday, November 24, 2014

Dear friends and comrades

 

the Global Day of Action against racism  and for the rights of migrants, refugees and displaced people set for December 18th is drawing near. As always, we want to contribute and have our voices heard in a unified and coordinated way, for the respect and affirmation of the rights of migrants, refugees and displaced people.

 

A few days ago, on Oct. 3rd, 2014, we were reminded of the shipwreck in the waters of Lampedusa island, in which 368 people lost their lives one year ago. In 2014, just in the first nine months, 2,086 more people have already perished in the Mediterranean sea.

 

The International Organizations for Migration (IOM) has just published a report in which it states that the deaths along terrestrial and maritime migratory routs since the year 2000 have already reached 40,000.

 

We believe it is very urgent to assemble all initiatives currently in place throughout the world in order to denounce this war against migrants, once again.

 

This year, in deccember, several Italian organizations will echo the caravan of central-American Madres searching for their loved ones in Mexico.

 

At the Sabir Festival in October in Lampedusa Island, the organizations of relatives of perished and missing migrants, as well as other organizations who support them, have decided to combine their efforts and build an informal network which will work specifically on this issue.

 

A network of several organizations from the norther and southern shores of the Mediterranean has launched “Watch The Med Alarm Phone”, a cost-free telephone service that migrants in need of help may use. The service is managed by a team from civil society which can immediately alert the authorities and monitor subsequent interventions.

 

The Committee Nuovi Desaparecidos in Italy is preparing the discovery stage for a session of the International Tribunal of Peoples, in which it contends that the death and disappearance of migrants along their journey toward Europe is not a mere tragedy, but the direct consequence of a clear strategy against migrants resulting from migration policies promulgated by “fortress” Europe. These deaths and disappearances are in fact crimes against humanity!

 

There are many more initiatives and campaigns being developed in various countries about this specific issue of which we are not aware, but would like to publicize.

 

These victims are people, not numbers, and we believe that this point must be made forcefully on December 18th.

 

For this reason, we invite everyone to give this issue maximum visibility in the initiatives that will take place on December 18th, date in which the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was signed. For the last three years, many organizations around the world have been involved in the promotion of a global Day of Action against racism for the rights of migrants, refugees, and displaced people; this event was born during the 4th edition of the World Social Forum on Migration in Quito, Equador, in 2010, and we have attached a brief text regarding the birth of the Day of Action.

 

We also inclose an appeal which will shortly be added to the Global Migrants Action website (http://globalmigrantsaction.org/) and we invite everyone to send us any material detailing your projects for the event of December 18th and surrounding days.

 

Finally, we are forwarding the logo for the event of 2014, and we again ask you to use it in your initiatives. You can also download the logo from the website. This way, we will give greater exposure to the worldwide dimension of this Day of Action, which togher, we will bring to life once again.

 

We ask that you send all information regarding initiatives being developed (text files, photos, videos, etc.) to the following email address:


 

A global movement for the rights of migrants, refugees, and the displaced is growing up: on December 18th, 2014!

 

Edda Pando (Arci-Italia) Sergio Reyes (USA)

October 20th, 2014


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Edda Pando

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