Let the genuine voice of migrants and refugees echo in Geneva to the GFMD!

As a migrant and refugee organization, advocate and friend, we invite you to join “MIGRANTS Counter to the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD)”– includes two events organized by the International Migrants Alliance (IMA), to be held 30 November- 1st December 2011 in Geneva, Switzerland.

From  the GFMD in Manila 2008, Athens 2009, and Mexico 2010,  the IMA mobilized thousands of grassroots migrant/refugee organizations and their allies to  expose and oppose the GFMD as a neo-liberal tool to further exploit the migrants and make use of them as instruments for development schemes sponsored by state and international financial institutions. IMA raised the calls: NO TO GFMD, NO TO FORCED MIGRATION, UPHOLD MIGRANT RIGHTS AND WELFARE. There is still a need to expose the GFMD, since it continues to  peddle its discredited  and deceptive framework.

In previous counter-GFMD activities, IMA dealt with  specific country, regional and international  issues. This year, IMA is consulting with various organizations for the launching of an internationally-coordinated campaign on the undocumented/irregular migrant.

The events to which you are invited to share your views are:

Event 1: Consultation Meeting on an internationally -coordinated Campaign to Protect and Uphold Rights of Undocumented: Focus on Criminalization/Deportation and Regularization
Date: 30 November Time: 18:00 – 20:30 hrs. Place: Maisons des Associations
Program: Testimonies on the plight and struggle of the undocumented, Sharings with trade unions/NGOs and Campaign Planning and sharing on the findings of a Survey on the DECLINE OF THE GFMD 

Event 2: NO TO GFMD demonstration/mobile picket to further expose and oppose the GFMD and for solidarity with the undocumented/irregular migrants
Date: 1 December Time: 1700-1900 hrs. Venue: “The Chair”, Palais de Nations
Program: speeches, street cultural activities

Main calls: NO TO GFMD, NO to criminalization/deportation of the undocumented, YES to regularization, Uphold Migrant Rights

Together, we will OCCUPY GENEVA to denounce the elitist GFMD, raise our issues and forge our solidarity.

Kindly confirm your attendance and participation in the  two events.

UFCW Canada offers 20 scholarships to children of temporary foreign workers in Canada

Migration and the hope of providing a better future for our children have always gone hand in hand. As the largest private-sector union in Canada, United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Canada understands the importance of education. As such, we are offering 20 scholarships for the children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews of migrant workers.

Each scholarship is in the amount of $500 CDN. In 2010, UFCW Canada’s Migrant Workers Scholarships generated over 4,000 applications from around the globe and produced five extraordinary recipients.

Application Deadline:

December 31, 2011 at 5:00 p.m. Only those accepted to receive the scholarships will be notified via registered mail or email by March 31, 2012.

Scholarship Criteria:

Only those persons who entered Canada to work under the Temporary Foreign Workers Program such as a live-in caregiver, a seasonal agriculture worker, or a temporary foreign worker in any industry  (“the Applicant”) are eligible to apply. An Applicant can nominate his/ her children, grandchildren, sisters, brothers, nieces, and nephews.

The Nominee Child may be living in any country, can be of any nationality, must be between 4-25 years of age, and must be attending or hoping to attend an educational institution.

The Application Form must be fully completed to be considered and shall not be returned. The decision of UFCW Canada in awarding the Scholarships is final and not subject to review or scrutiny.

For more details: http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=2058&Itemid=278&lang=en

CLICK THE LINK TO APPLY ONLINE:
http://www.ufcw.ca/index.php?option=com_chronocontact&Itemid=277&lang=en