Dec.18 (UPDATE 2) Diaspora Forum for Development (DFD), a coalition of 40 migrant platforms, networks and organizations based in the Netherlands, will mark International Migrants Day 2008 in an international audio event on Radio1812 and a unity celebration on December 19 in the Event Plaza of Rijswijk ZH (Zuid or South Holland), the Netherlands.
Coordinated by the Filipina Grace Cabactulan of the Dutch Stichting Habagat and the Global Filipino Coalition, Radio 1812 has involved a number of radio stations to broadcast interviews and panel discussions in English, Arabic, Spanish and Dutch. More that 100 radios stations worldwide will simultaneously broadcast on migrant-related themes.
Radio1812 is an initiative of the December 18, an NGO based in Belgium, with a Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council. December 18 aims to promote and protect the rights of migrants worldwide. Click to : www.December18.net
The International Convention for the Protection of the Rights of All Migrants and Their Families was ratified in 2003, thirteen years after UN proclaimed December 18 as International Migrants Day in 1990. As of now, the 34 signatory-countries are all migrant sending or developing countries.
DFD calls on all migrant-receiving states to ratify the convention to ensure that migrant rights, like equal pay for equal work, are respected. It’s particularly concerned with the plight of the undocumented domestic migrant workers and pleads with government for compassion, morally acceptable compromises on conflicts, and a just procedure for migrant labor in general.
DFD also appeals to the migrant-sending countries to put mechanisms in place for migrants and their families to be protected from false recruiters, exorbitant placement fees and other administrative anomalies that victimize them.
Unity Celebration
The IMD celebration program starts today, Friday, December 19, 2008, at 3.00 PM (10 pm, Manila) in the Netherlands, with a report on the Global Forum for Migration and Development, GFMD, held in the Philippines last October two months ago. DFD delegates to the GFMD will give a presentation with a brief open forum. A community dinner of African, Asian and Latin American cuisine follows at 6.00 o'clock PM (4 AM, Dec.20, Manila).
A varied program follows, featuring DJ "K" with his traditional and popular Ethiopian musi; Ghanian rappers Mpese-mpese, Cape Verdian DJ Dennie do Rosario and Raices del Ecuador; the Sudanese Traditional Dance Group and Filipino, Bolivian and Afghan dance groups. The Filipino-Dutch 2nd Youth Acoustic Band from Rotterdam will provide live music at the Events Plaza as the last quarter of the December moon begins.
Cabactulan says, however, “In the Event Plaza, we will do our celebration inside a hall kasi malamig na ngayon (because it’s gotten cold now!)”
The Diaspora Forum for Development (DFD) was born less than two years ago is a new platform that has already made significant collective breakthroughs and sent representatives to several national and international events, gatherings and conferences.
The IMD 2008 celebration is the first time member-organizations meet in an informal sphere of celebration in the Christmas Season of Light, following the Jewish Hannukah and the Islamic Eid el F’tr at the end of Ramadan.
