The Association for Canadian Studies hosts a conference on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: 60 Years Later December 9/08 in Montréal, Québec.
Session themes include:
- Rights of the child
- Citizenship
- Migration.
A pre-conference day honours the late Jacques Hébert. See the ACS website for more information on both events.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (UK) is hosting a seminar on the Integration of Vulnerable Migrant Groups. From the website, this description:
“In recent years, there has been considerable interest in migrant integration and social cohesion. Concerns have focussed on the scale of recent immigration, its impacts on social cohesion, and apparently ‘inassimilable’ migrant and minority ethnic communities. Migrant integration and social cohesion have been accorded high priority across all parts and levels of Government. Policy initiatives have been accompanied by a growing body of research literature that provides new insights into immigrant integration and social cohesion. Yet there still remains a pressing need to ensure that research on migrant integration is used to inform policymaking”.
The seminar will be held Nov 24/08 in London. IPPR often posts podcasts and transcripts of their events afterwards.
Microsoft has launched KIND – Kids In Need of Defense – a funding program that will provide unaccompanied minor migrant children in the United States with legal support. $14.5 million is being shared among nine states in the US for the next three years. See the news story at The Seattle Times.
Second Generation Research Dialogues: Comparative Perspectives on Children of Immigrants
Papers are being requested for a two-day workshop on children of immigrants, held at the Center for Metropolitan Studies in Berlin, Jan 16-17/09. Work on second generation immigrants will be discussed along two themes: the second generation and the city & the second generation in school.
For more information, including the full call description, contact secondgeneration@metropolitanstudies.de or visit the Center for Metropolitan Studies website.
UNICEF Applauds UK Commitment to Protecting Rights of Immigrant Children
“NEW YORK, 22 September 2008 – UNICEF applauds the decision by the British government to grant children seeking asylum, migrant children, and those who have been trafficked into the UK the same rights as British children, including their right to education, health care and social services. The government also removed its reservation to article 37(c) on children in custody.
“The move, made over the weekend, signals the government’s full commitment to supporting children’s rights as laid out in the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). The decision paves the way for vulnerable children who are subject to immigration control to enjoy the fundamental human rights spelled out in the Convention for every child, and to ensure that children who find themselves in trouble with the law are kept separate from adult prisoners”.
Child Migration and the Construction of Vulnerability, Save the Children, Sweden, “attempts to look beyond the current emphasis of child migration (mainly trafficking of children for sexual purposes, unaccompanied asylum seekers and refugee children), to consider the broader context including when and why migration violates the rights of the child“.
First presented at the Focus on Children in Migration conference in Poland in 2007, the report demonstrates the need for more research on children and migration. As the introduction to the report says “Many reports are available on migration in general but rarely integrate the consequences of migration for children“.
The Council of Europe (COE) has issued a statement on refugees and their right to family reunification. Citing the UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the COE says:
“the respect of the right to family unity requires not only that States refrain from action which would split families, but also to take measures to reunite separated family members when they are unable to enjoy the right to family unity somewhere else”.
Canada is a party to the Convention and to the Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees.
The 3rd annual On New Shores conference has released a tentative program for the Nov 6-7/08 event, to be held at the University of Guelph. From organizer Dr. Susan Chuang:
The goals of this conference are to bring together leading scholars from various disciplines (psychology, sociology, education, social work, nursing etc.), professionals (from settlement agencies, family programs), and governmental agenices to: 1) present work on various issues (e.g., socio-emotional development, parent-child relationships, language brokering, literacy, educational isses) and effective programs (for children, youth, parents); 2) have in-depth discussions about current issues and challenges faced by families, organizations, and research); and 3) create opportunities to foster future colloabrations.
Registration is also open. For information, see Dr. Susan Chuang’s webpage at the University of Guelph.
UK-based Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) has released findings of a study on the ethnic make-up of the school environment and its impact on children’s tolerance, prejudices and approach to diversity. The more diverse, the more children take on what the study calls an “integrationist orientation”.
The study found that children as young as 5 had an integrationist orientation, if exposed to cultures other than their own and that schools with a high ethnically-diverse make up had clear benefits for all children.
Lead researcher Rupert Brown, quoted on the egovmonitor.com website:
“We found that when the proportion of ethnic minority children in a school is at least 20%, both ethnic minority children and majority children tended to have higher self esteem, children had more friendships with children from other ethnic groups, and there were fewer problems with peer relationships such as bullying”.
“Our findings add to a growing body of evidence suggesting that the more contact children have with other ethnic groups, the more cross-group friendships they will have and the less prejudiced they will be”.
Both the Terres des Hommes and the Child Rights Information Network (CRIN) are reporting on France’s treatment of unaccompanied minors. The United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child have also weighed in, saying they are “deeply concerned” that migrant children are being sent back to their countries of origin without proper investigation and where they may be exposed to exploitation. See the CRIN site for more info.