On 18 December 1990 the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families. Ten years later the UN declared 18 December to be International Migrants Day. The day marks an opportunity to draw attention to the contributions of migrants and the need to promote and protect the rights of all migrant workers, regardless of their juridical status in the country where they reside. Unfortunately, up until 2011, a great number of countries have not yet ratified the Convention: among them the European Union countries, the United States and Canada.
UN data certify that there are 175 million migrant people in the world. Despite the contribution that they give to the countries where they decide to live, they are often victims of abuses, discrimination and exploitation in the working places.
Therefore the movement in support of migrants, refugees and displaced people has verified the need for a global action because the persecutory policies applied by States and governments are also global.
In 2010 the World Social Forum on Migrations in Quito, Equador, launched a call for a Day of Global Action against Racism and for the Rights of Migrants, Refugees, and Displaced People on 18 December. The call was then ratified in 2011 at the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, that asked for freedom of movement and the right to stay, the closure of migrants detention centres and the revocation of all the agreements and programmes concerning States borders which offend human rights.
This December for the first time all over the world many initiatives will take place to say “No!” to racism and to affirm the right of migrants to freely decide where to settle, to state the right of refugees to be decently welcomed and the right of displaced people not to be evicted from their own countries.
Anywhere in the world next 18 December will be a day of mobilization, with tens of actions and events taking place against racism, for the rights and the dignity of migrants, refugees and displaced people.
From the “Indignados” movement in Spain, to the “Mouvement des sans-voix” in Mali to the “Red Nacional de Migrantes y refugiados” in Argentina, Switzerland, Italy, Tunisia, Morocco, Ivory Coast, Peru, Brazil, Honduras, El Salvador, USA, Mexico, Canada, Burkina Faso are only some of the countries that are working to turn the dream of a global Day for the rights of migrants into reality.
Click here to see the world calendar of events.
To know about the initiatives carried out in Milan, the Italian city where Vita Europe is based, on the occasion of the Global Migrants Action Day, you can read the attached pdf: “Milan demonstration”.
