Rex Osa Aghedo (Germany)
Migrante International - 29 November 2012. The first ever International Migrants’ Tribunal found 37 migrant-sending and -receiving States, including the Philippines, guilty of perpetuating modern-day slavery on migrant workers. The Tribunal was held at the University of the Philippines College of Law on November 28-29. It was attended by at least 300 delegates from the Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Australia, Latin America and United States.
REX OSA, a Nigerian refugee in Germany and a member of The VOICE Refugee Forum, testified on his personal experiences as a refugee and on the work of his organization in defending refugee rights. Mr. Osa also testified on the ill effects to refugees of Fortress Europe; the various human rights violations committed by or facilitated through the FRONTEX, a special border control agency, that reminds us of the Nazi practice of restricting freedom of movement and other forms of racist discrimination against the Jews in the 1930s.
He further testified that the Defendants, through their inaction and failure to identify and address the walls and fortresses created by its member-States through the imposition of anti-refugees policies, are also an anti-refugees organization that is complicit to the various violations of the refugees’ human rights.
He pointed out that he is not aware of any investigation of police brutality against migrants and that there is in fact no real integration in Germany and of the lack of an effective mechanism to defend their rights.
Fulltext Rex Osa of Testimony by Affidavit for The INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS TRIBUNAL Quezon City, Philippines https://thevoiceforum.org/node/2961
INTERNATIONAL MIGRANTS TRIBUNAL
Quezon City, Philippines
MIGRANTS ALL OVER THE WORLD at the suit of MIGRANTE INTERNATIONAL
(MI), GABRIELA, ASOSIASI TENAGA KERJA INDONESIA (ATKI-INDONESIA),
CARAVAN, THE VOICE REFUGEE FORUM and MOVIMIENTO MIGRANTE
MESOAMERICANO, ( Complainants)
-versus-
GLOBAL FORUM ON MIGRATION AND DEVELOPMENT (GFMD) through and represented by the heads of governments and relevant agencies of the States forming its Steering Committee1, and all other similar formations or other individuals, organizations and entities acting or cooperating under its authority and for or on its behalf, name and tead, ( Defendants )
IMT-VERDICT-FINAL-112912
http://migranteinternational.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/IMT-VERDICT…
Int’l migrants’ court finds 37 States guilty of modern-day slavery
Migrante International - 29 November 2012. The first ever International Migrants’ Tribunal found 37 migrant-sending and -receiving States, including the Philippines, guilty of perpetuating modern-day slavery on migrant workers. The Tribunal was held at the University of the Philippines College of Law on November 28-29. It was attended by at least 300 delegates from the Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Australia, Latin America and United States.
The first ever International Migrants’ Tribunal found 37 migrant-sending and -receiving States, including the Philippines, guilty of perpetuating modern-day slavery on migrant workers.
The Tribunal was held at the University of the Philippines College of Law on November 28-29. It was attended by at least 300 delegates from the Asia Pacific, Europe, Africa, Australia, Latin America and United States.
The Tribunal’s panel of judges delivered the verdict this morning, concluding the two-day proceedings that highlighted testimonies from witnesses consisting of complainants from grassroots migrants’ organizations representing migrant workers, refugees, domestic workers, undocumented or irregular migrants, women migrants and expert witnesses.
The judges of the Tribunal were invited by the organizers Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM), International League of Peoples’ Struggle (ILPS), International Migrants Alliance (IMA) and the International Women’s Alliance (IWA) on the basis of their expertise, competence, probity, objectivity and independence to hand down a credible and judgment or verdict. (Please see attached profile of judges)
The Tribunal put into trial the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) and its neoliberal globalization design on migration. It examined cases of violations of migrants’ rights by States and featured the resistance of grassroots migrants against modern-day slavery.
The 37 States found guilty are Argentina, Australia, Bangladesh, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, Egypt, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, India, Indonesia, Israel, Japan, Kenya, Mauritius, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Portugal, Qatar, Republic of Korea, Senegal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, and the United States of America. They were found guilty on three charges, namely:
Violation of the Complainants’ human rights.
Criminal neglect of Complainants’ economic rights and violation of their political, economic, social and cultural rights by the Sending States.
Violation of the Complainants’ political, economic, social and cultural rights by the Receiving States. (Please see attached copy of verdict)
They were also found guilty of violating provisions and principles embodied, among others, in the:
a. 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
b. 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights;
c. 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights;
d. 1990 International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families;
e. The 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol;
f. 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women;
g. 1965 International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination;
h. 1984 Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment;
i. 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child;
j. 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and its protocols;
k. ILO Migration for Employment Convention (Revised); and
l. ILO Convention on Decent Work for Domestic Workers (C189).
The verdict will be submitted to the High-Level Dialogue on International Migration and Development which will convene in New York, USA in 2013.
Source: http://migranteinternational.org/?p=2704
http://www.arkibongbayan.org/2012/2012-11Nov28-29-IMT/imt-gfmd.htm
The VOICE- Protocol 11.11.12: O&A with Alassane Dicko and Rex Osa on Beyond the borders Conference in Berlin
https://thevoiceforum.org/node/2957