Migrants’ Rights Network newsletter

In June’s newsletter:
(1) Borders, Citizenship and Immigration Bill hits the Commons amid protests
(2) MRN releases Irregular Migration report in Parliament on 2nd June
(3) Immigration statistics show drop in A8 nationals coming to UK
(4) Court decision on the right of asylum seekers to work in the UK
(5) Concern about the tone [...]

Door Step refugee advice project now online

Door Step Equal Access is a unique multimedia project with a  participative approach to the development and delivery of information, advice and support services.
Paula’s Story is a short drama researched, written, acted in and filmed by the  five refugees who took part in the Door Step project in Glasgow, Scotland. It tells the story of [...]

End of the Worker Registration Scheme?

About 10 months ago I wrote a post on the Worker Registration Scheme (WRS), speculating on it’s planned demise come May 1st 2009.
As May Day approaches, that old post has been getting more and more hits;  presumably people are searching the web trying to find out if the WRS really is about to end. Is [...]

Migrant’ Rights Network newsletter, Feb 09

The Migrants Rights Network is working for a rights-based approach to migration, with migrants as full partners in developing the policies and procedures which affect life in the UK. Migrants Rights News aims to inform our members and other groups working on migration issues about regional and national policy developments, campaign news, recent research and [...]

Scottish Migrants Network Conference at STUC

Workers Rights are Migrant Rights!
Scottish Migrants Network Hosts Conference at STUC
As the recession begins to bite across Scotland it is vital that all workers, including migrants, are aware of their rights at work. The Scottish Migrants Network (SMN) sponsored a half-day conference for migrant workers and support organisations in Scotland to share policy and practice [...]

Switzerland opens borders to Bulgarian and Romanian workers

From EUobserver: Swiss voters on Sunday (8 February) overwhelmingly approved the extension of the free movement of workers to Bulgarian and Romanian citizens.
According to official figures, 59.6 percent of voters were in favour, despite a strongly anti-immigrant No campaign run by the right-wing Swiss People’s Party (SVP), depicting foreigners as black crows picking at the [...]

EU states open up to Bulgarian, Romanian workers

The New Year has brought with it the lifting of restrictions for Bulgarian and Romanian workers in Greece, Spain and Denmark, but a number of EU states will be keeping barriers to their labour markets for three more years.
Greece on Wednesday (31 December) became the latest “old” EU member to lift restrictions for Bulgarian and [...]

December 18 is International Migrants Day

On 4 December 2000, the United Nations General Assembly, taking into account the large and increasing number of migrants in the world, proclaimed 18 December International Migrants Day (resolution 55/93). On that day, in 1990, the Assembly adopted the International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their [...]

Active citizenship: “socio-political engineering”

In the Borders, Immigration and Citizenship Bill, the Government wants migrants to commit to ‘active citizenship opportunities’, but that amounts to coopting the voluntary sector for a piece of socio-political engineering, says Stephen Cook, in an editorial for 3rd Sector magazine.
There is a fundamental objection: Volunteering should, as far as possible, be its own reward, [...]

Advice and info needs of A8 workers: CABx research

Continental Drift. Understanding advice and information needs for A8 migrant workers in Scotland
Exploited by landlords and employers, language difficulties and complex advice needs pose barriers to assistance for A8 migrant workers.
Citizens advice Scotland has published a new research report based on the evidence of Citizens Advice Bureau clients across Scotland. The findings show that [...]