The following is something I helped to write and is being sent out on behalf of my office for International Migrant's Day to the local media:
"On Tuesday, December 18, 2007, communities around the world will celebrate International Migrant’s Day. In a season where many people in our own city, country and around the world pause to spend time with family, we need to remember that varying circumstances prevent many migrants from doing the same. International Migrant’s Day, celebrates the adoption of the 1990 U.N. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.
One of the recognizable signs of the times today is undoubtedly migration, a phenomenon which has become an important factor of the world-wide labor market, a consequence among other things of the enormous drive for globalization. Naturally in this "sign of the times" various factors play a part. They include both national and international migration, forced and voluntary migration, legal and illegal migration, subject also to the scourge of trafficking in human beings. Nor can the category of foreign students, whose numbers increase every year in the world, be forgotten.
With regard to those who emigrate for economic reasons, it is worthwhile to mention the growing number of women involved ("feminization"). In the past it was mainly men who emigrated, although there were always women too, but these emigrated in particular to accompany their husbands or fathers or to join them wherever they were. Today, although numerous situations of this nature still exist, female emigration has become more and more autonomous. Women cross the border of their homeland alone in search of work in another country. Indeed it often happens that the migrant woman becomes the principal source of income for her family. It is a fact that the presence of women is especially prevalent in sectors that offer low salaries. If then, migrant workers are particularly vulnerable, this is even more so in the case of women. The most common employment opportunities for women, other than domestic work, consist in helping the elderly, caring for the sick and work in the hotel sector.
Famous migrants include Carlos Santana and Gloria Estefan as well as Madeleine Albright, but migrants need not be famous to offer contributions to their home and host States. In celebration of International Migrant’s Day please take a moment to celebrate the economic and cultural contributions that many migrants bring to our community, state and country and to use every opportunity to promote basic human rights."
