Archive for the ‘Migrant Crisis’ Category

‘Enough is enough’: Kent begins legal proceedings against Home Secretary as migrant children crisis threatens to ‘overwhelm them’ – Sky News

Kent County Council has begun legal proceedings against the Home Office after it said its children's services have reached "breaking point".

Since the beginning of the year, a total of 242 unaccompanied asylum-seeking children (UASC) have reached Kent's shores and the authority's director of children's services has said "enough is enough".

There are currently nearly double the number of UASC children in care in the county than the government says it is safe to care for.

Following a similar plea last year, the Home Office and Department for Education promised to reform the national system so that Kent services would not be put under the same strain this summer.

But, the council says that in the intervening nine months, although it welcomed government support in the transfer of some children out of Kent, assistance with age assessments and additional funding, the substantive changes needed to the National Transfer Scheme (NTS) to prevent a repeat have not been made, the council says.

A statement from the council said: "Once again Kent services are at risk of being overwhelmed by the number of new UASC arrivals by boat, which already stands at 60 more children than at the same time last year.

"Kent's services have reached breaking point for the second time in under a year."

The council has now taken the first steps in legal proceedings which is says is designed to "implement a long-term solution that will prevent this crisis from occurring again".

The proposed Judicial Review asks the home secretary to use her existing powers to direct local authorities other than Kent to "receive their fair share of UASC".

Roger Gough, the authority's director of children's services says the current pace of arrivals and strain on care services is likely to mean he will soon no longer be able to safely accept any further new UASC arrivals in Kent.

Border Force will then be asked to place new arrivals directly into other local authorities around the country from the port, as they did for three months last year.

Mr Gough said: "I am deeply saddened that we are now seeing a repeat of the same crisis of nine months ago.

"While there have been a number of welcome measures from government - to the benefit of the Kent council taxpayer - we have not seen what is most needed: a robust National Transfer Scheme that prevents port authorities such as Kent coming under unmanageable pressure.

"Over this past year we have argued consistently and repeatedly this must be done through a mandatory system."

"Enough is enough. A robust, long-term solution is well overdue and critical for the future welfare of all children supported by KCC, whatever their background, and the continuation of the excellent services that support them."

Between 1 January and 1 June this year 242 unaccompanied children arrived on Kent's shores and been passed to its Children's Services.

Of these, only 52 have been transferred to other local authorities under the voluntary NTS.

A statement from the Home Office said it recognised the "longstanding role that Kent County Council has played in supporting unaccompanied asylum-seeking children" and that is was "extremely grateful for their contribution".

It added: "We continue to encourage more areas to join the National Transfer Scheme and do their part.

"We have already consulted on how to improve the Scheme to make it fairer - the outcome of which will be published very shortly."

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'Enough is enough': Kent begins legal proceedings against Home Secretary as migrant children crisis threatens to 'overwhelm them' - Sky News

The Fundamental Freedom to Migrate within India | Economic and Political Weekly – Economic and Political Weekly

The debate over migrant workers in recent times and their invisibility in government data and in policy discourse has led to a series of responses from state and central governments. While the number of returning migrants is lower in the second wave ofCovid-19, nothing much has changed for the migrants on the ground. This past year has seen state governments, such as Haryana and Karnataka, move to give preference to local persons over migrants, even as a draft national migrant policy is under consideration. Is there a constitutional right to migrate within India? What, if any, are the duties cast upon governments and employers? These questions must be considered if the current migrant crisis is not to result in deprivation of the fundamental right to internal migration.

The images of returning migrant workers due toCovid-19 lockdown triggered widespread public debates on the invisibility of migrant workers in normal times, their absence in policy discourse, and the need for a robust legal framework to protect migrants (ILO2020). In the midst of this pandemic, pressure has been brought upon governments to ensure minimum dignity and rights of migrant workers. Yet, disturbingly, some governments such as Karnataka had sought to restrict migrant workers right to return to their home states, while others such as Haryana sought to replace them with local workers (Poovanna 2020;PRS2021). A draft policy on migrant workers is reportedly under discussion at the national level. The question whether there is a right to migrate within India, and what, if any, are the duties cast upon the central government, the employer and state governments involved, must be considered so that the current migrant crisis does not result in depriving workers of their right to internal migration.

Right to Internal Migration

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The Fundamental Freedom to Migrate within India | Economic and Political Weekly - Economic and Political Weekly

European Union tests new walls, sound barriers to keep migrants out – The Denver Channel

From towering steel walls to deafening sound blasts, the European Union is doubling down on its efforts to keep migrants out.

"Our main goal is to prevent migrants from entering the country illegally. To accomplish this, we use new and modern equipment," said Major Dimosthenis Kamargios with Greek Border Police.

With the world on lockdown during the COVID-19 pandemic, Greek border police have been busy building and testing new barrier technologies to deter migrants, many traveling from Turkey.

According to the Associated Press, this includes long-range sound cannons, observation towers and steel walls similar to what has been constructed along the U.S. and Mexico border.

The outlet reports that the EU has spent nearly $4 billion to research and expand border security technologies following the refugee crisis it experienced in 2015- 2016. The EU has even invested in the development of artificial technology, such as lie detectors for border crossings.

But while Greek residents along the border have welcomed the barrier testing, some EU politicians say they are concerned that the technology lacks oversight and could potentially be used against EU residents.

"What we are seeing at the borders, and in treating foreign nationals generally, is that it's often a testing field for technologies that are later then used on Europeans as well. And that's why everybody should care, in their own self-interest, [about] what is happening at the borders," said Patrick Breyer, a member of the European Parliament from Germany's Pirate Party.

Despite dropping nearly 78% during the pandemic, border officials say they anticipate migrant arrivals to swell again as the world and borders begin to reopen.

This story originally reported by Meg Hilling on Newsy.com

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European Union tests new walls, sound barriers to keep migrants out - The Denver Channel

Homan rips ‘pure ignorance’ of Biden admin on border crisis: ‘All they have to do’ is reverse policies – Fox News

Secretary of State Antony Blinken is set to travel to Costa Rica in a push to stem the prolonged migrant crisis, as former acting ICE director Tom Homan said on Tuesday that the amount of illegal border crossings is "unprecedented."

BLINKEN VISITS CENTRAL AMERICA AS PROLONGED MIGRANT CRISIS RAMPS UP PRESSURE ON BIDEN-HARRIS ADMINISTRATION

TOM HOMAN: It leaves us in a really bad spot. The number of crossers at the border, especially children that come across the border in the last few months, is the most we've ever seen in the history of the United States Border Patrol. Illegal entries on the border are unprecedented. At the same time, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, your interior immigration enforcement, had the lowest levels of removals.

And that's not by accident. As I said many times, its by design. As far as Antony Blinken going to Central America, its a waste of time. Its pure ignorance, because all they've got to do is reverse what they're doing. Go back to the Trump policies.

Their policies are driving this surge at the border. Even the president of Mexico said that. When you say you're going to open your border up, you're not going to detain, youre going to put a moratorium on deportations, you're going to reward amnesty and DACA and at the same time offer free health care. That's what's causing this crisis. It's the Biden administration's policies and that's clear.

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Homan rips 'pure ignorance' of Biden admin on border crisis: 'All they have to do' is reverse policies - Fox News

Second wave of Covid-19 has left migrant workers in India with no savings and few job opportunities – Scroll.in

Sudhir Paswan, 29, is back to square one in his village in Bihars Muzaffarpur district, counting his losses. It has been more than a week since he returned, after failing to secure a job in Delhi.

A labourer who loaded and unloaded goods in Delhis Okhla Industrial Area, he would earn between Rs 200 and Rs 700 a day. Since the lockdown, there was no work and access to food and essentials became difficult. I had to leave the city, he said. Over 8,00,000 migrants left Indias capital, for instance, for their hometowns in 2021. Paswan is just one of them.

Jobs have been hit harder since the lockdowns of 2021, put in place to control the second wave of Covid-19. May has shown double-digit unemployment figures, said Mahesh Vyas, chief executive officer of Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy, a think-tank.

More than 97% of Indias population became poorer compared to where they were in terms of income, he said. Its effect on the informal sector, which had barely recovered from the effect of the first lockdown in 2020, has been debilitating.

Paswan returned home with his wife and their ailing three-year-old son, whose treatment at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences they had to discontinue midway. They had to borrow money from family and friends for their train journey.

Like Paswan, Rabiya (she uses one name), a 35-year-old single mother of three from Kanpur, who has been working in Gurugram, is struggling to make ends meet. She had been earning Rs 7,000 at a facility manufacturing motorcycle parts when work came to a halt with the April 2021 lockdown. She now gets work only if there is a need to clean machine parts at the facility.

Besides job precarity, the migrant workforce is facing another grim reality hunger. Rabiyas ration card to access subsidised foodgrains has not been active since she moved from Uttar Pradesh to the National Capital Region nearly three years ago. I have no family support and need rations to feed my children. It is becoming difficult to get by, she said.

None of the migrant workers IndiaSpend spoke to had ration cards with them their cards were with their families in their villages or hometowns. I left the card with my parents who stay in the village, said Gobardhan Adivasi, a mason from Tikamgrah in Madhya Pradesh, who works in Faridabad. By the time we finish work in the evening, we have to buy dry rations in black because of the lockdown. His contractor owed him money for three days work, he complained.

Every state in India has announced mini-lockdowns or extended them to curb the rise of record infections in the country. The current lockdowns have been tougher for migrant workers compared to last years all-India lockdown, workers in Delhi-NCR told IndiaSpend months of unemployment in 2020 had left them with little or no savings, and now jobs are scarce and living costs have rocketed.

The number of Indians reporting less than the national floor-level minimum wage of Rs 375 increased by 23 crore due to the pandemic. The Stranded Workers Action Network, with a presence across the country, has been running a helpline to support stranded migrants since March 2020.

Nearly 58% of the roughly 5,000 workers who called the helpline, for whom data were available, said their families had less than two days of ration left. More than half said they had less than Rs 100 in their pockets, according to the networks analysis.

As India reports a record number of Covid-19 cases and deaths, the migrant crisis has continued. The story is the same across the country of workers struggling to return to their home states, their inability to access adequate and often basic food essentials in cities where they work and coping with a fall in income, activists and researchers told IndiaSpend.

I am trying to get work, but there are no jobs, said Rakesh (he uses one name), 29, a migrant from Bihar who has been a construction worker in Delhi. Before the lockdown, he would earn Rs 350 a day. Job losses and the struggle to recover them were more for younger workers, and women, IndiaSpend reported in January.

Although employment rates recovered, the quality of employment deteriorated, with individuals moving into less secure self-employment in agriculture, construction and small-scale trade, the report had noted.

Rakesh rents a room for Rs 3,200 a month for his family of four. NGOs have been helping him buy food supplies. But the situation is not tenable. I did not go back during the national lockdown last year because I had some savings. This time when I want to go back home, I do not have any money to buy train tickets.

Migrant workers have been left to fend for themselves more during this lockdown than last year, Shreya Ghosh, an activist with the pan-India Migrant Workers Solidarity Network, told IndiaSpend. Unlike last year when there were trains and relief measures, workers seem to be left on their own despite Supreme Court orders to ensure support for them, she added.

Last time there were Shramik trains, but this time there is nothing of that nature, said Benoy Peter, executive director of Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, a Kerala-based non-profit. Many migrants went back with their families but returned alone because of the fear of disease and lack of relief measures.

On May 20, 93% of 221 workers in NCR who called Stranded Workers Action Networks helpline (1,260 migrants and families) reported that both daily and contractual work has stopped due to locally declared lockdowns, 59% of workers said they had not received their full wages for the previous month and only 9% had received any money from their employer since the work had stopped.

Indias labour force participation that is, the number of people working or looking for employment shrank by 11 lakh in April to 42.46 crore compared to 42.58 crore in March, according to a May 10 CMIE report. In spite of this smaller labour force looking for employment, a greater proportion failed to find employment [in these two months], it said. The unemployment rate increased by 1.5 percentage points to 8% over the month in April, said the report.

With lesser work available since the national lockdown, workers savings have been depleted, said Ghosh. They were paying back debt from the last lockdown, which also included a backlog of rent.

The impact of the second wave is likely to be more serious because people have not yet recovered from the first waves impact, scholars at the Centre for Sustainable Employment believe. This is cause for concern. The Indian middle class was estimated to have shrunk by 3.2 crore in 2020 as a consequence of the pandemic-related economic slowdown, a Pew Research Center analysis of March had found.

Unfortunately, its lessons have not been learnt, Rajendran Narayanan, economist, Azim Premji University told IndiaSpend, recalling the widespread distress witnessed due to the national lockdown. Government accountability is central for a rights-based approach to work, and shying away due to lack of administrative capacity is at odds with the stated objective of developing a rights-based approach, he added.

Last year we got some cash and rations from some NGOs and friends, said Paswan. But this time I could not get any support from them or from the government. People who hold permanent jobs can still earn even if there is a lockdown, but a daily wage earner like him cannot, he added.

Migrant welfare groups such as Stranded Workers Action Network and Migrant Workers Solidarity Network had written to the Centre and the state governments warning of food insecurity and demanding that they ensure rations for migrants including those who do not have public distribution system cards or ration cards, as per May 13 and May 24 Supreme Court orders. The Court asked states to file affidavits, indicating the mechanism by which the dry rations should be distributed to those migrant workers, who do not possess a ration card.

Migrant Workers Solidarity Network has received requests from more than 4,600 workers and their families asking for immediate and urgent supply of rations, according to its May 24 letter to the Delhi government. For nearly one-and-a-half months, no measures have been taken to address the migrant crisis, it added.

Both Rabiya of Gururgram and Rakesh of Delhi are managing with a bare minimum of food. These days, we eat aloo bhujiya or some potato dish or the other. We used to give our infant Cerelac, but we now just about manage to give him some milk, Rakesh said. Rabiya spends Rs 2,000 on rent and Rs 3,000 on food. She has debts to pay.

In May 2020, the Centre announced a Rs 1.7-lakh-crore Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana relief package for the poor. This included free rations for beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act, which was extended until November. On April 23, the Centre approved an allocation of additional foodgrain for beneficiaries under the National Food Security Act for May and June.

The first wave saw some relief measures from the central government in the form of Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Yojana, which was a combination of provisions, subsidies, and cash transfers, said Chitra Rawat, research assistant at India Migration Now. The second wave, on the other hand, has not seen targeted interventions towards migrant workers.

On May 18, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal announced that rations would be distributed even without ration cards. Although the government announced guidelines for the distribution of rations for those without cards, it did not announce when the distribution would start.

The initial procurement and allocation will be made for 2,00,000 beneficiaries, it said. The guideline has estimated a procurement for upto 20 lakh probable beneficiaries. In 2020, nearly 70 lakh non-PDS beneficiaries were given free rations by the state government following the national lockdown.

We do not know how that will be allocated, it seems to be on a first-come-first-serve basis, said Ghosh of Migrant Workers Solidarity Network. There is apprehension over the rollout since the total number of non-ration cardholders in Delhi is clearly way higher by the governments own estimates, she added.

Government policies on migration will only make a difference if implemented on the ground, said Peter of Centre for Migration and Inclusive Development, adding that NITI Aayogs draft national policy on migrant workers is still not in the public domain.

In May 2020, the Centre had announced that it would achieve 100% national portability of the public distribution system by March. But the benefits of national portability are likely to be small. Most people want their food rations where they live, and not far away, said Jean Dreze, economist and social activist, in June 2020. Even migrant workers will generally prefer that their ration cards be used by their families at home rather than for themselves.

Portability is a problem, said Seema Mundoli, a Stranded Workers Action Network volunteer in Karnataka. When they approach a PDS shop, they are unable to access rations. Many migrant workers are single men and their names may be on their parents cards, she added. The Karnataka government announced a Rs 1,250-crore relief package in May for farmers, workers from the unorganised sector, auto and cab drivers and street vendors, and is considering a second one to help the unorganised sector.

It is now certain that the health crisis will be followed by a livelihood crisis, especially for migrant workers, said Rawat.

The Right to Food campaign had demanded an immediate universalisation of the PDS of foodgrains, distribution of additional 5 kg of foodgrains per person, 1.5 kg of pulses and 800 gm cooking oil under the PDS for at least six months. Narayanan agreed that the PDS must be universalised. A wage compensation of Rs 7,000 per month for four months for every poor household must be immediately announced, he added.

This article first appeared on IndiaSpend, a data-driven and public-interest journalism non-profit.

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Second wave of Covid-19 has left migrant workers in India with no savings and few job opportunities - Scroll.in