Friday 25 October 2002

Press Briefing Notes
Friday 25 October 2002
Spokesperson: Niurka Piñeiro

1. DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - International Migration Seminar for the Caribbean
2. ALBANIA - Counter Trafficking Information Campaign Goes to School
3. ECUADOR - Assistance to Provinces in Northern Ecuador

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC - International Migration Seminar for the Caribbean - On Monday, the IOM office in Santo Domingo will host the second seminar on international migration for the Caribbean.

The four-day meeting, co-sponsored by IOM and the International Migration Policy Program (IMP), will bring together experts from IOM, UNITAR, UNHCR, UNFPA, and representatives from regional bodies and government representatives from the Caribbean, North America and Europe. Over 50 high level and senior government officials from the Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago, Turks and Caicos. Government observers from Canada, the Netherlands, Spain, the United Kingdom, and the United States will attend, together with some 30 experts and representatives from international and regional institutions.

As a follow up to the meeting held in Jamaica in May 2001, the participants will examine three main themes: global and regional migration trends and policies, managing irregular migration, and labor migration.

Following the seminar, IOM has arranged a one-day programme and planning session, to help set strategic priorities and stimulate concrete actions.

The IOM Chief of Mission in the Dominican Republic, Juan Artola, says regional cooperation is key to successful migration management in the Caribbean. "The countries in this region are small, quite close geographically, and share common characteristics, so migration concerns for one country can affect the other countries in the region. This is why migration management needs to be approached at a regional level and with input from all the countries in the region."

The Seminar's main objectives are to offer migration policy planners and managers a platform for frank, substantive and in-depth exchange, and to identify common migration challenges and decipher differing migration concerns in order to achieve a more concrete understandings for effective inter-state cooperation.

During last year's seminar, the participants discussed the following issues, which will undoubtedly dominate this year's agenda:

The loss of highly educated and skilled nationals, and the need to counter the negative effects of brain drain;
The growing impact of irregular migration and all related aspects, particularly the trafficking and smuggling in human beings;
Effective inter-governmental consultation and co-operation in formulating and implementing migration management policies and particularly to combat irregular immigration;
The devastating effects of HIV/AIDS in the region and the need to further identify the link between HIV/AIDS and migration, particularly tourism, business travel and internal migration; and
The growing challenges to establish asylum systems and international principles on asylum and refugee protection due to the complexity of irregular migratory movements.





The Region: The Caribbean region is made up of 15 independent states and overseas territories. This area has one of the highest levels of emigration in the world.
Some 80% of the 37 millions inhabitants of the region live on the islands of Cuba, Hispaniola and Jamaica.

Cuba: According to the US Census 2000, over 1.2 million Cubans live in the United States.

Hispaniola is home to some 16,5 million people and the most populated island in the Caribbean. Its population is equally divided between the Dominican Republic and Haiti.

Haiti is the only country of the Americas in the group of the Least Developed Countries. It is estimated that there are some 500,000 Haitian migrants in the Dominican Republic.

According to the US Census 2000, 874,000 Dominicans live in the USA. But it is estimated that another 250,000 may be living in the US in an irregular situation, especially in Puerto Rico. In 2000, remittances from Dominicans abroad were estimated at US$1.9 billion. They are a major source of income for the country, equaling some 70% of tourism revenues, which the fastest growing sector of the Dominican economy.

Jamaica: Jamaicans have emigrated to Barbados, the Bahamas, the United Kingdom, and North America. It is estimated that more than two million Jamaicans reside in the US.

ALBANIA - Counter Trafficking Information Campaign Goes to Schools - IOM has signed a cooperation agreement with the Albanian authorities to bring the IOM counter trafficking information campaign to elementary and secondary schools throughout the country.

IOM is now working with the Prime Minister's office, the Minister of Education and Science and the Institute of Pedagogic Science to ensure that information relating to gender violence, family abuse, trafficking and smuggling in human beings is made available to children and teenagers in elementary and secondary schools. Appropriate teaching material will also be developed and 100 teachers will receive appropriate training.

In 2001, the Albanian Government drafted a national strategy to combat trafficking in human beings. This led to the establishment of a State Committee to combat trafficking and to the creation of an anti trafficking unit within the Police. IOM and a team of experts drawn from the Police Academy trained the Unit, which interviews the women and refers them to an IOM/ICMC shelter.

A recent IOM report confirmed that Albania remains a country of origin and of transit for trafficking, but there is no evidence that it is a destination country.

This project is funded through a contribution of the Netherlands of US$277,000.

ECUADOR - Assistance to Provinces in Northern Ecuador - IOM humanitarian projects in the northern provinces of Ecuador are providing support and improving the infrastructure in border areas suffering from chronic poverty, unemployment and lack of basic needs.

At the same time, the IOM programme is assisting the communities cope with the influx of refugees fleeing the conflict in Colombia. The numbers of Colombians seeking asylum in Ecuador have increased over the past two years. In 2000, only 413 Colombians applied for asylum in Ecuador. In 2001, that number jumped to 4,275. At the end of September 2002, the total number of persons seeking asylum stands at 8,462.

Started in January 2001, the IOM programme aimed at strengthening border communities in the northern provinces of Esmeraldas, Carchi y Sucumbíos has put in place projects ranging from the rehabilitating or building of water and sanitation systems, to roads, bridges, land titling, and drug prevention initiatives.

Today, United States Ambassador Mrs. Kristie A. Kenney, and representatives of USAID and IOM will travel to the area to visit the residents and view the projects.

One of the stops will be in San Lorenzo, in the province of Esmeraldas. In the village of Calderón, they will visit a new water system. Since 1955, the residents of Calderón had obtained their water from the polluted Tululbí river.

Some 80% of the 500 inhabitants of this small village work on the extraction and sale of sand and stones from the nearby rivers. The rest work on the African palm plantations. Some 20 years ago the river began to be polluted by gold washing.

According to Olaise Cortez Carabalí, the nursing assistant of Calderón, "Before we had this new water supply, the children were the most seriously affected, mainly with gastrointestinal problems. Today, the health of the inhabitants, and especially our children, has improved considerably. The children can drink water from the taps without fear of getting sick and the mothers no longer have to walk a long way to get water."

IOM Programme Coordinator, Alejandro Guidi, says these projects are helping these forgotten border communities. "These areas are facing the impact of refugees arriving from Colombia when they do not have the proper infrastructure for their own population. The projects we are putting in place are vital for the health and well being of the local population and those fleeing the conflict in Colombia. Another important aspect of the projects is the strengthening of civil society."

The IOM programme in northern Ecuador has received funding of US$18 million from USAID.