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Seminar on Youth and Migration
was realised by El-Taller which is an international non-governmental
organization situated on south and with the participation of young
people from Tunisia, Syria, Palestine,Iraq, Lebanon, Algeria, Maroccco,
Egypt, Netherlands, Italy, France, Greece and Turkey. Elif Memiþ and
Fatma Pelin Sarýkahya from Turkey represented Youth Association for
Habitat and Agenda 21.During the seminar, participants discussed their
ideas on youth and migration issues and these discussions prepared a
base for various partnerships between participant organizations.
10.10.2003
Inauguration speeches were made by
Aubrey Mfabe, Ambassador of South Africa, Zuher Chelly, High
Commissioner of United Nations for Refugees, Mourad Ennar, from the
International Organization on Migration, Jose Ramon Urbina, from the
political, economic and commercial section of the European Commission,
Taoufik Fathallah, the national coordinator of Euro-Med and Philip
Thigo, El-Taller Youth Coordinator.
The main subject of the first day was
globalization. Abdeljelil Bedoui , from the University of Tunis and
Helmy Sharawi, from Arab and Africa Research Center in Egypt, talked
about respectively on Mechanisms of Exclusion and “Voices of
Resistance”. During these speeches, economic reasons of globalization ,
the political and cultural results that come out because of this process
were expressed. In addition, the influences of globalization on
migration phenomenon were underlined and participants shared their ideas
on what should be done in order to eliminate negative results of this
process.
At the end of the day, participants
split up into three groups and workshops on “Peace and War”,
“Polarization between North and South” and “Role of NGOs in the process
of Globalization” were arranged. The workshop with the title of “Role of
NGOs in the process of Globalization” was directed by Fatma Pelin
Sarýkahya. 3 participants from Morocco and France, 2 from Tunisia and
Turkey participated to this workshop and all of them mentioned the
migration problem and its reflection to the society in their own
country. The problem expressed about Turkey was the national migration
which is directed from less developed regions to big cities.
After the workshops, a recommendation
paper was prepared and was presented to all participants during the
meeting.
11.10.2003
In this part of the seminar, it was
dwelled upon human face of migration phenomenon and testimonies were
told.
Abdou Menebhi from Hollanda Migrantie
talked about the notions of race, ethnic groups and migration. Then,
Akthem Fourati, the UNAIDS Program Assistant made a presentation called
“HIV/ AIDS and migration”. Andrea Danti from International Organisation
on Migration explained illegal migration giving as example traffic and
organized crimes”. Tahar Cheniti, Secretary General in the international
Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent, emphasized the
humanitarian aspect of the migration issue. Habib Marsit, the president
of the Tunisian Section of Amnesty International considered the relation
between human rights and migration. During these speeches, the
humanitarian aspects of the migration problem was underlined and the
measures to be taken were discussed. Then, it was expressed that even if
migration is sometimes realized by illegal means, it is chiefly based on
the helplessness of the people.
In the second part of the meeting, the
participants had the opportunity to listen to the life stories of some
young migrants from countries like Lebanon, Tunisia, Palestine, Morocco,
who were gone in European countries. In this way, their reasons for
choosing this solution, the difficulties they had in these countries
were expressed. Furthermore, the participants watched a film about a
woman from Palestine, who had lost the members of her family during the
conflicts and another one about a young boy migrated from Tunisia to
Italia by the sea.
The last speech of the day was made by
Corinne Kumar, the Secretary General of El Taller Organisation and the
International Coordinator of Courts of Women. Kumar, talked about the
variation of the present international force balance, its impact on the
terminology of international relations, the reasons shaping the
north-south concepts and the definitions supporting this divergence.
Then, an open discussion was launched with the questions of the
participants.
12.10.2003
The panel called “ Gendered face of
migration and displacement, young women’s role in Mediterranean
societies; young men’s roles in gender equality” was assisted by
speakers from the university of Tunus (Hafidha Chekir), The Association
of Mother and Child ( Naila Hamemi) and a Palestinian Academic/
Researcher, Nouha Tadros.
Then, Seif eldine Drini, Scholar from
Tunis, made a speech about sovereignty and identify conflicts,
criticizing the ideas of Huntington, Kissinger and Fukuyama.
In the second part, Maria Elene from
Giovani Onlus (Italy) described the working area of her organization.
This organization offers mediation services for the social integration
of migrants in Italy.
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Mourad Ennar, from the International
Organisation on Migration presented the Kasserine project, including the
development of a region in Tunisia.
13.10.2003
During the panel called “ Influencing policy and advocacy
for sustainability, Elif Memiþ and Fatma Pelin Sarýkahya made a
presentation about the application of Local Agenda 21 project in Turkey
and the role of Youth Association for Habitat and Agenda 21 in the
realisation of this process. In this presentation, the stages of the
project, its targets, the success indicators and the consequences were
explained, calling the participants to develop partnerships in this
framework.
Laurence Hart, from the International Organisation on
Migration, made a presentation about “Euro- mediterranean Dialogue.
Then, a representative presented the African and the International Youth
Parliaments.
Stephanos Stephanidis from Greece Hellenic Association
made a presentation about Euromed Youth Platform.
Philip Thigo, from El Taller International,
shared information about The Courts of Women.
In the last session, the participants discussed about
future partnerships.
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