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WARSAW, 18 December 2020 In a year that has made our common humanity so clear as the world struggles to overcome the Covid-19 pandemic, greater efforts must be taken to safeguard and promote the human rights of all migrants, the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) said on the occasion of International Migrants Day.

As we look towards 2021 in the hope it will bring health, wellbeing, and new opportunities to us and our loved ones, let us not forget the plight of the many migrants across the OSCE region who remain on the move or trapped in overcrowded camps or shelters. Whether they are travelling with their families or have left them far behind, they too are hoping that the next year will bring them safety and stability.

The pandemic has exposed many challenges already present in our societies for this ever-growing group of people, and highlighted the precarious situation in which many migrant communities across the OSCE region live. They were affected by border closures and movement restrictions, continue to suffer from unemployment or face greater risk exposure as essential workers responsible for keeping our societies and economies running.

Migrants have also found themselves the target of intolerance and hate-motivated attacks following the outbreak of the pandemic, and often unjustly blamed for the rapid spread of the virus. Migrant women in particular have suffered from discrimination and hatred. Its important to understand that hate crime can lead to lasting trauma among victims, their families and communities as they struggle with a sense of fear and uncertainty that goes beyond the individual crimes perpetrated against them.

On todays International Migrants Day, it is therefore time for OSCE countries to strengthen their commitment to combat xenophobia and protect the human rights of migrants across the region. At the same time, better co-ordination between national services responsible for migrants is needed to ensure their long-term integration, as well as improved co-operation between host countries. Migrants should never be left unprotected due to a lack of policy at national or international level.

In recent years, ODIHR has provided opportunities for more than 2,000 officials, experts and civil society representatives working on different aspects of migration and human rights to learn and exchange good practices in areas ranging from alternatives to immigration detention through to border monitoring. Other ODIHR resources in this area, including policy recommendations and guidance, can be found here.

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights

Public Affairs Unit

Office: +48 22 520 06 00

Fax: +48 22 520 06 05

PublicAffairs@odihr.pl

Katya Andrusz

Spokesperson

OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR)

Ul. Miodowa 10

00-251 Warsaw

Poland

Office: +48 22 520 0640

Mobile: +48 609 522 266

Katya.Andrusz@odihr.pl

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Like all of us, migrants need safety and stability after this year of crisis, OSCE human rights office says - World - ReliefWeb

New survey data show children on the move largely excluded from pandemic response and recovery

NEW YORK, 18 December 2020 In countries around the world, migrant and displaced children have been largely excluded from national response and recovery plans to the COVID-19 pandemic and have experienced a significant reduction in access to essential services and care, UNICEF announced today. These findings are based on data collected through a recent UNICEF survey of 159 countries in which it has an operational presence.

Of the estimated 272 million international migrants globally, 33 million are children, including 12.6 million child refugees and 1.5 million asylum-seekers. Tens of millions more move within their countries India alone hosts an estimated 93 million internal child migrants. Across the globe, 21.5 million children have been internally displaced due to conflict, violence or disasters.

On International Migrants Day, the UN childrens agency is urging governments to ensure that all vulnerable children including those living as refugees, migrants or internally displaced are prioritized in pandemic response and recovery efforts regardless of their status and reached with quality protection, health care, water, sanitation and education services.

The results of this survey are a flashing red warning sign that the most vulnerable children are being left on their own to manage the fallout from the pandemic, said UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore. With the right support at the right time, children on the move can contribute invaluable talent to their new homes skills that countries should leverage to recover from the pandemic. UNICEF calls for more global investment to support these children, and stands ready to work with governments to achieve the positive benefits that migration offers children.

Some of the more pronounced reductions in services are occurring in countries with ongoing crises like conflict or disaster, where children on the move already faced barriers in accessing health care, clean water and adequate sanitation. According to the UNICEF surveys:

50 per cent of countries in which UNICEF has active humanitarian operations report a reduction in access to health care among displaced and refugee populations; and

Nearly a quarter of the same countries report a disruption in water, hygiene and sanitation services in refugee or displacement camps.

More broadly beyond fragile contexts, the survey data show that refugee, migrant and displaced children are not being reached as part of socioeconomic response and recovery efforts. For example:

58 per cent of UNICEF country offices surveyed report inadequate remote learning options for vulnerable child populations, including those living as refugees, migrants or internally displaced;

36 per cent report reduced protection services for migrant and displaced children; and

50 per cent report that refugees and asylum seekers are not covered under new or expanded COVID-19 related government social protection measures.

UNICEF is also concerned about increasingly negative perceptions and hostility expressed towards children on the move, a trend that is expected to intensify as the socioeconomic crisis generated by COVID-19 worsens and millions of migrants return home to countries with increasing rates of unemployment:

UNICEF is working with partners to help migrant and displaced populations protect themselves from the pandemic and its devastating socioeconomic impacts. This includes providing accurate, child friendly information on COVID-19 and hygiene practices in a language they understand, ensuring access to hygiene and water supplies wherever children find themselves, and ensuring that migrant and displaced children are not left behind in efforts to guarantee continuous access to education, health, nutrition and child protective services.

Media contacts

Christopher TideyUNICEF New YorkTel: +1 917 340 3017Email: ctidey@unicef.org

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COVID-19 has led to dramatic reduction in essential services and protection for migrant and displaced children in countries around the world - World -...

This SEWA facility helps train women garment workers and promises them a fair wage for what is an often-exploited industry in India. UUCSJ/Kathleen McTigue(CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)

The COVID-19 outbreak plunged garment workers in India into a deep crisis. The 1.3 billion people that make up India's population, except those providing essential services, went into successive nation-wide lockdowns lasting nearly three months. Industrial output for many different sectors came to a grinding halt. The impact on jobs and incomes has been unprecedented. Not only has India lost more jobs due to the coronavirus lockdown than the United States did during the Great Depression, but reports show that nearly 400 million informal workers in India could find themselves in poverty due to COVID-19.

The textile and apparel industry contributes 2% to Indias US$ 2.6 trillion economy and 17% of its export income. It is the second largest employer in India providing employment to 45 million people. Critically, the industry is the largest employer for women in India as they make up for more than 60% of its workforce. Nationally, 60 to 80% of the workers are women in the garment sector with millions of them employed in informal, unorganised or home-based units.

Garment factories in India cluster around a few destination cities like Delhi/NCR, Bengaluru, Tirupur, Chennai, Mumbai etc. and a sizable proportion of women working in those factories are migrants from other source locations , predominantly rural parts of Jharkhand, Bihar, Odisha, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh. These women are often mostly from poor families and with low levels of education. Many of them come from marginalized and socially excluded groups in India, officially labelled as Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, and Other Backward Classes who have historically faced stigma and discrimination. Invariably, they find themselves overrepresented in low-wage jobs with poor working conditions, with hardly any career prospects and, at times, even gender-based violence. Sadly, the COVID-19 crisis has evidently impacted these women harder than most other workers, who were already facing unfair working conditions.

In order to provide the women migrant workers with a life of dignity, security, and a sense of recognition at their workplaces, the three primary stakeholders of the garment sector supply chaingovernments, suppliers or factories and brands need to adopt measures both individually as well as collaboratively.

First, the government needs to actively work with factories to ensure the adoption of safe and responsible migration. Currently, the recruitment process of migrant workers, which involves middle-men (agents on contract with factories) or not following adequate ethical employment practices, leads to potential exploitation with low pay and poor living or working conditions for migrant women. This gap can be addressed by strengthening inter-state coordination cells, working units formed under the labor department, for oversight of the interest of migrant workers between source and destination states. These cells are already in place to register migrants and provide them safety nets during migration by ensuring third party monitoring mechanisms and effective grievance redressal systems. In addition, the government needs to ensure compliance of the long-standing Inter-State Migrant Workmen Act of 1979 (under consideration for amendment including change of title to make it gender-neutral) by the employers. These regulatory mechanisms need to be brought in line with current realities and simplified systematically so that the industry does not see them as hindrances.

The recent relaxation in labour laws, reported as an emergency measure to help the industry during COVID-19, seems to be a hurried decision and may not serve its intended purpose of increasing productivity. Among others, the dilution of the role of trade unions, the increase in working hours across the board, and the relaxation of the industrial dispute mechanism need to be debated precisely because of their impact on workers. Progressive and well-considered labor reforms need to replace the unilateral decision-making process through a tripartite (government, labor, and employers) joint mechanism of addressing employer and labor issues.

Second, the major fashion brands should come together formally and make a declaration of supporting human rights uniformly across their supply chain. Brands should consider the human costs of pushing factories to produce more for less and encourage better work conditions. Brands also must jointly invest in building systems in factories for better working conditions and incentivize better practices. Examples of such initiatives are already available such as the initiative of Swedish retailer H&M Group, which has officially stated that it is responsible for not only its direct employees but also for the 1.6 million workers employed by its suppliers. H&M is also a member of ACT (Action, Collaboration, Transformation), a collaboration of 21 global companies representing a broad range of brands and labels committed to helping transform the way wages and working conditions are currently set in the global garment, textile, and footwear sector. Initiatives such as this by brands will help recognise the challenges for women in workplaces and create a top-driven ecosystem to address current inadequacies and pave the way for improved conditions for them.

Factories are responsible for the conditions in their workplaces and have a direct bearing on the wellbeing of their workers. Progressive factories have shown that they care for their workers and do not just passively respond to market forces. With support from brands, they must take ownership and accountability for a better work environment and fair treatment of workers. By keeping an oversight on their recruitment contractors, the factories can promote ethical recruitment and employment practices.

The work of promoting and enforcing ethical practices in the garment sector needs concerted efforts. The unpredictability of the COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as an additional challenge as brands cancelled orders, leaving the supply chain dry of both orders and production. The suffering of migrant workers, who returned to their home states under adverse conditions with little savings, was a reminder of their subsistence living conditions over many years. This should make it problematic to continue business as usual. The window will not remain open for long, and it is time for governments, brands, and suppliers to act with a sense of urgency.

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From hardship to hope: women migrant workers in the Indian ready-made garment industry - OpenGlobalRights

Bhubaneswar: Corona virus pandemic has heavily impacted life and livelihoods of millions of migrant workers in the country. Despite slew of programmes rolled out by both Union and State Governments, migrants finding it difficult to get their livelihoods restored because of unavailability of suitable jobs and wages. It is high time, Government should make an Institutional arrangement to recognise their contributions for strengthening economy and enriching growth story, said speakers at the webinar Circular economy,Migration, COVID-19 and beyond.The Webinar was organised coinciding celebration of International Migrants Day by city based organisations Focus Odisha Foundation Adhikar and National level migrants Forum Migration Watch India. The programme was conducted both in physical and virtual platform simultaneously.While making his Inaugural address Cultural Anthropologist and Professor in University of California, Santa Cruz, California in USA Dr Arnapurna Panda highlighted the need for concrete plan of action and responding fundamental issues interwoven in rural areas like agrarian crisis, forest based livelihoods and exploring coastal resources etc. She expressed concern over laxity in implementation of government schemes.

Professor Gagan Bihari Sahoo of South Gujarat University, Surat underlined the need for setting up Institutional Structure to address the emerging crisis as it exploded through Corona Pandemic.Senior Fellow at leading New Delhi based thinktank Observor Research Foundation Dr Niranjan Sahoo spoke at length to ensure robust legal framework and Skill Mapping of Migrant workers to respond the crisis as Circular economy is paving way for Circular Migration.

UNDP state office head Abha Mishra stressed the need for addressing concerns of both distress and regular Migrants as both firm the part of large informal labour force.

Prominent among others who addressed the virtual event were former Joint Labour Commissioner of Government of Karnatak Vasantha Kumar Hitanangi, Retired Chief Labour Commissioner Pradeep Kumar Rath, Executive Director of Chennai based Foundation for Sustainable Development and Labournet Dr K. Krishnan, Associate Director of Action Aid India Ms Sarika Sharma, Coordinator of New Delhi based National Coalition of Dalit Human Rights Ms Lee Macqueen, Kolkata based Social Activist Ashoka Nayak and score of others.

The meeting was Chaired by President of Adhikar MD N Amin and Key note presentation were made by Director of Migration Watch India Sudarshan Chhotoray.

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Make Institutional Mechanism to Respond Migration Crisis! - Odisha Diary

His selfless work for the migrants has set a rare example, writes HARIHAR SWARUP

The year, 2020, needs no introduction, neither does Sonu Sood. When the year kept throwing challenges at us, he inspired us to face them with kindness and compassion. The work that stood out was the Ghar Bhejo campaign to send migrants home and bring stranded Indian students back.

Sood has received both bouquet and brickbats for this but he remained unfazed. He has been rightly adjudged THE MAN OF THE YEAR 2020.

It was day three of the lockdown and Mumbai, always bursting at the seams, found itself straitjacketed, or so it seemed; its crowded, chaotic streets almost deserted and quiet.

Actor Sonu Sood and his childhood friend Neeti Goel were heading home after distributing food to the homeless who had found shelter under the Eastern Express Highway. While driving through Bandra, they saw a woman bent over a stove, stirring an empty vessel. As the car drove past, the woman ran towards it, waving frantically to stop.

Sood has received both bouquet and brickbats for this but he remained unfazed. He has been rightly adjudged THE MAN OF THE YEAR 2020.

When Sood and Goel stepped out of the car, the woman broke down. She showed them the pot. It was empty, save for some stones. Shantabai had been stirring an empty vessel so that her five children-aged between one and seven-would fall asleep in the false hope that food would be served soon.

Shantabais situation left Soods feeling hollow. He realised that her plight was shared by many daily wage earners who were now jobless because of the lockdown. The thought that thousands of children were going to bed hungry kept him up all night. He decided he had to do something. What followed was an outpour of compassion.

In April and May, as the lockdown kept extending, desperate migrants started walking home. Sood launched the Ghar Bhejo campaign with Goel, and reportedly arranged transport for 7.5 lakh migrant workers.

He equipped frontline workers with masks and face shields, airlifted students stranded abroad and helped farmers in distress. He also launched Pravasi Rojgar, an app to help skilled and unskilled workers find jobs.

The thought that thousands of children were going to bed hungry kept him up all night. He decided he had to do something. What followed was an outpour of compassion.

While kindness comes easy to some, it does take some heavy effort for others. For instance, Ghar Bhejo was launched at a time when even cycles stayed off roads. Sood and his friends approached many people to ferry the migrants. Bus owners refused, fearing that their vehicles would be vandalised. Finally, someone with a fleet of 120 buses pitched in. Sood promised to reimburse him for any loss or damage to the buses.

Getting permission was a big challenge, said Sood. All those stranded would connect with me on social media, especially on Twitter, he said. I had to take permissions for every single individual who was travelling. Sood said he would make a list of all those who contacted him, and divide them into groups.

I made a few people head each group, got details of each person travelling in that group and then sent requests to authorities of respective states for permissions, he said. He also had to take travel permits for every bus driver.

Sood arranged buses for migrants from Mumbai to travel home to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Akola in Maharashtra. Some migrants in Kerala and Mumbai were airlifted and sent home to Bhubaneswar, Uttarakhand and Assam.

Procuring medical certificates was another herculean task. COVID-negative reports were mandatory for interstate travellers, and Sood had to coordinate with doctors, too.

I hardly slept in the first week as the whole country was chasing me to help them go home, he recalled.

People close to him said that the 47-year-old worked for 20-22 hours a day to get the first set of buses moving.

Sood arranged buses for migrants from Mumbai to travel home to Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu and Akola in Maharashtra. Some migrants in Kerala and Mumbai were airlifted and sent home to Bhubaneswar, Uttarakhand and Assam.

Soods empathy and service shone through brilliantly in those times as middle- and upper-class urban India turned its back to the crisis, comfortably watching returns of epics on TV, said the author of India Moving: A History of Migration.

Among those who benefitted from Ghar Bhejo project is a plumber from Varanasi who needed an emergency kidney transplant. He insisted on going back home as he did not want to die in Mumbai. Sood and his friends organized an ambulance for him with great difficulty. They got him admitted to a hospital in Varanasi and ensured that he had the transplant.

The migrant crisis unleashed by the lockdown forced around 30 million people 15 to 20 per cent of the urban workforce to eventually go home, said Chinmay Tumbe, assistant professor, economics, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. Soods empathy and service shone through brilliantly in those times as middle- and upper-class urban India turned its back to the crisis, comfortably watching returns of epics on TV, said the author of India Moving: A History of Migration.

Soods wife, Sonali, said that the migrant crisis took an emotional toll on him. He interacted with people closely and saw their pain, which affected him quite a bit, she said. He was constantly working those days. Sometimes he would get up at 3am and respond to requests on Twitter. He did it with so much dedication and sincerity.

Initially, Sood and Goel only had about six people assisting them for the Ghar Bhejo campaign; today they have a 90-member team. The campaign started with me and Sonu funding it personally, as no one believed in it, said Goel. But later people came forward and supported us, she added.

Shamid Ali, 27, would vouch for the work done by Sood and his team. Beebi, his one-and-a-half-year-old daughter, had a hole in the heart and required an open-heart surgery. Ali, a truck driver from Karnatakas Kanakagiri, reached out to Soods team. He was surprised when the actor answered the phone.

He asked me to come to Mumbai with my family. We met Sood sir at his home. He gave us food, said Ali.

Sood connected Ali with SRCC Childrens Hospital. We love Sonu sir very much. It is not enough to call him god said Ali, in a trembling voice. His prayers now include a plea for Soods well-being. He shares video clips of his daughter and voice messages with Sood, who promptly replies to them. (IPA)

(Harihar Swarupis a senior journalist and author based in Delhi. Views are personal.)

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Sonu Sood is the hero of 2020 - the year of pandemic and lockdown - The Leaflet