Orestiada, Greece
Mohamed, 22, from Algeria, sits inside an abandoned wagon at the train station after crossing the border from Turkey. Debt-crippled Greece is the EU’s main entry point for illegal immigrants, mostly from Asia and Africa (via guardian.co.uk)
Germany: meet the migrants in Duisburg-Hochfeld
In the German city of Duisburg, the suburb of Hochfeld is known for its vibrancy. It’s home to people from 100 different nations. But with the recent influx of eastern European migrants, the community has changed. (via DW.DE)
Madrid, Spain
A man holds a heart-shaped lollipop during a protest outside an immigrant detention centre (via Reuters.com)
After several years of what a leading economist has described as “mass immigration”, foreign nationals made up 15 percent of Norway’s workforce in 2011, official figures show.
Of the 2,560,000 people registered as employed by the tax authorities last year, 387,103 were foreign nationals, newspaper Bergens Tidende reports.
Kjell Gunnar Salvanes, a professor of economics at the NHH business school, said Norway’s economy had benefitted hugely from an influx of foreign workers since the last major EU enlargement eight years ago.
“Since 2004, immigration has switched from low-qualified asylum seekers to well-qualified workers from Eastern Europe and Sweden. And that change has come about very quickly,” he said.
The 2004 EU enlargement gave increased access to the Norwegian labour market to citizens of Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia, Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Cyprus and Malta. (via The Local)
‘Human Rights for everyone? Right! A training course for young Europeans to overcome racism and discrimination against ethnic minorities’
Human Rights Education (HRE) with young Christians in Europe has always been important for Ecumenical Youth Council in Europe (EYCE). In its work EYCE has always an underlying aspect of HRE – either addressing religious rights, the rights of migrants in Europe, or human rights in relation to economic justice, and finally the rights of young people to express their opinion and be heard.
With this training course EYCE wants to deepen its focus on HRE, especially with regards to the rights of minorities, migrants and other oppressed groups in Europe and beyond, as well as training young people from church backgrounds to address these issues within their contexts. Furthermore, with this event EYCE wants to contribute to the European Action Week Against Racism, which is traditionally taking place around March 21st, the International Day for the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination.
This training course will offer the participants the following:
- Knowledge about situations of ethnic minorities in Europe.
- Overview of positions in European churches regarding ethnic minorities and racism towards them.
- Analysis of concepts of Human Rights in the light of different ethnic minorities.
- Tools and methods to address racism and discrimination in one’s own context.
- Possibility to develop a common contribution to the European Action Week Against Racism and use in practice what has been learnt.
- Possibility to learn from good practice examples on the local level in Italy.
- Opportunity to meet with young people from different countries and denominations, to share experiences and develop new friendships!
Apply now! For more information please contact EYCE office at applications@eyce.org! The absolutely latest deadline for receiving applications will be 13th of FEBRUARY 2012! (via DARE Network)
Austria: migrants officially allowed in the fire service
Styria in Austria may soon allow migrants to become official members of the fire department. Parliament is hoping to change the law as it currently stands, preventing so many from being a part of the branch of the emergency services.
According to the current law migrants cannot legally join the Austrian fire service but only the volunteer department, where according to ORF “there are no grounds for exclusion according to state parliament,” a law which applies to foreign nationals as well.
Parliament is hoping to meet to amend these discrepancies in state law in order to allow migrants to officially join the fire department. State Secretary for Integration Sebastian Kurz (ÖVP) initially suggested that the amendments be made in the summer. (via Austrian Times)
Apartheid row at Norwegian school after it segregates ethnic pupils
A political row has broken out in Norway after a secondary school segregated students with ethnic backgrounds in classes away from white Norwegians.
Bjerke Upper Secondary School in Oslo filled one of the three general studies sets solely with pupils with immigrant parents, after many white Norwegians from last year’s intake changed schools.
The controversy over the decision has highlighted the unease in Norway over how to integrate the 420,000 “non-Nordic” citizens who immigrated between 1990 and 2009, and who make up 28 per cent of Oslo’s population.
“This is the first time I’ve heard about this, and it is totally unacceptable,” Torge Ødegaard, Oslo education commissioner, said on Friday, before pressuring the school to inform parents that the three classes would now be reorganised. The letter to parents read: “Such a division of the students is not in accordance with the requirements of the Education Act. The school regrets this error.”
But Robert Wright, a Christian Democrat politician and former head of the city’s schools board, struck back, arguing that the authorities had been wrong to block the move. He also said that other Oslo schools should start to segregate classes to prevent a situation of “white flight” developing.
“I think we have to try this to see how it’s functioning,” he told The Daily Telegraph. “Bjerke School has come up with a radical solution to a real problem, but the politicians have just said ‘no’.” (via Telegraph)
Police beat Tunisian migrants as ‘refugee island’ is hit by clashes
The Italian island of Lampedusa, where 50,000 migrants have landed this year following political upheaval in north Africa, descended into chaos yesterday with hundreds of immigrants clashing violently with police and residents.
Tensions first erupted on Tuesday night when Tunisian detainees torched the holding centre on the tiny Mediterranean outcrop in protest at plans to repatriate them. Serious clashes broke out yesterday when about 50 residents pelted a large group of Tunisians with stones after the migrants had threatened to explode gas canisters by a petrol station at the port.
Some 1,200 migrants were relocated to a sports field where further clashes took place. Riot police with shields and batons herded them into the corner of a raised terrace and beat them, forcing many to drop 12ft into a courtyard to escape the blows, according to reports on Italian television.
Angry residents of Lampedusa surrounded the town hall, calling on the mayor, Bernardino De Rubeis, to take a stronger line against the refugees. The local population of 5,000 has often been outnumbered by migrants. (via The Independent)
Italy says Lampedusa migrant numbers rising
There has been a sharp increase in the number of African migrants arriving in Italy in overcrowded boats, officials say.
More than 3,000 people have reached the small island of Lampedusa - 200km (124 miles) off the Tunisian coast - in the past few days, they report.
Arrivals are said to include Somalis and Nigerians as well as North Africans fleeing the violence in Libya. (via BBC News)
Migrants languish in Italian ski resort
Since the end of June, more than 100 Africans who fled the war in Libya have been settled in this hotel by the Brescia police authority, in line with the Italian government’s policy of spreading the Lampedusa migrants around the country. In most places the local authorities have been required to house them, but here private enterprise has also been asked to contribute. The hotel in Montecampione houses and feeds the migrants for €40 a head per day. (via guardian.co.uk)
The Cathedral of the Annunciation in Moscow by marantzer on Flickr.
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