[WA-News] INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)

[jradloff at iafrica.com]

(Throughout the week in Durban, the LABOUR CAUCUS (all are welcome) will
meet at 8.30am at the ICFTU booth in the exhibition area)

INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)
ICFTU OnLine... 135/310801/CL 

Trade unions say NO to racism and xenophobia (I)

Because of their race, the colour of their skin or their national origin,
more and more people today are the target of serious discrimination at the
workplace, on the labour market and in the community.  Determined to combat
this phenomenon and its impact on the trade union struggle for social
justice and freedom, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions
has accepted the invitation by the United Nations to attend its World
Conference Against Racism, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance in Durban,
from August 31 to September 7.  It sees this conference as a unique
opportunity to share its experience with other participants and press home
its demands on this important issue.

What is the scale of the problem? What are unions on the ground doing to
fight it? What is the ICFTU fighting for at the Durban conference? ICFTU
Online answers these questions in three instalments.

WORLDWIDE INCREASE IN NEGATIVE TREND

(By Cécilia Locmant)

Brussels/Durban August 28, 2001 (ICFTU OnLine): Inter-ethnic violence in
Africa, racial tensions in North America,  rejection of foreign workers in
Europe, marginalisation of South American Indians, economic exploitation of
migrants in Asia.  A quick look around the globe today shows an alarming
level of racism and xenophobia.  And while this intolerance may take many
different forms, the general trend is the same:  acts of racism are on the
rise everywhere and affect the most vulnerable people and groups.

According to a 1998 report of the United Nations, no region is immune to the
rise in racist violence. Whether in developed or developing countries,
migrant workers are subjected to increasing discrimination. "This problem
also exists in Africa where many countries have organised the large-scale
deportation of undocumented immigrants on board chartered aircraft or
detained them in camps before having them repatriated". Another development
of great concern to the United Nations is the emergence of conflicts of an
ethnic nature. "In some sub-Saharan African countries, the document says,
certain criteria (territory, language, race) for ascertaining where ethnic
minorities come from are not only used as factors in integration and
unification but can also be used as a means of differentiating between the
respective ethnic groups. If these criteria are used to emphasise
differences, this could lead to serious conflicts". The events of recent
months would appear to have proved the UN specialists right. Take, for
instance, the case of Cote d'Ivoire, where the concept of what constitutes a
native of the country is today the origin of increasing hostility towards
foreigners. This danger was highlighted by  Senegalese President Abdoulaye
Wade at the African regional conference against racism,  which was held in
Dakar last January when he said that "Africans would do better to
concentrate on the real problems of the continent, notably ethnic conflicts
and fratricide"(1). 

Another reason for xenophobic violence and mass expulsions in Africa is the
problem of access to resources, which became an issue in the 1980s when the
Nigerian President at the time, Shehu Shagari, tried to deport all illegal
immigrants from the country "in 15 days". This action was repeated several
years later by his successor, Mohamed Buhari, faced with 90,000 Ghanaians as
well as immigrants from Benin and  Chad.  Moreover,  at the Dakar Regional
Conference,  Mary Robinson pointed to the economic and social situation of
the region and the Aids epidemic as factors in the rise of racism.   

In the recent history of sub-Saharan Africa, there has been a dramatic
increase in ethnic conflicts (the genocide in Rwanda in 1994), wars and
environmental catastrophes (famine, drought) which have all had a major
impact on the increase in the number of refugees on the African continent
(see box). All these civilian populations are a difficult burden to bear for
the respective African host nations and have often been the cause of
increasing distrust and hostility on the part of local communities.

North America's response to increasing multi-ethnicity

A report published in December 2000 by the Equal Employment Opportunity
Commission (EEOC) on racism in the American labour market highlighted two
important facts:  whereas companies have never invested as intensively in
managing their staff diversity, the number of complaints by minorities
claiming discrimination in matters of promotion has never been so high. More
than 5,000 complaints were registered for the financial year ending on 30
September 2000, compared with 3,208 registered 10 years previously.
Representatives of many multinationals have also been accused. After a law
suit brought by black members of staff last November, the Coca-Cola company
was forced to pay out compensation of nearly $200 million to some 2,000
black employees. Other industrial groups, such as Texaco and Boeing, have
also been taken to court for similar offences. 

What is more disturbing is that racial discrimination is spreading to other
areas of society. Two reports published within months of each other by the
US State and Justice Departments which highlighted widespread  ignorance
regarding the existence of racism within white communities and the fact that
it was reflected, on a daily basis (in lower incomes, longer prison
sentences and insufficient access to education and health care) for the
members of most minority groups. 

The prime reason given by both reports for the rise in racial tension is the
growing diversity of the American population. While the 196.1 million  white
Americans are still a majority, their proportion in the overall  population
dropped from 75.7% to 71.9% between 1991 and 2000. During that same period,
the Asian population rose by 46% (to reach 10.9 million) and the Hispanic
population rose by 40% (to reach 31.4 million), the population of native
Americans rose by 16% (to reach 2.4 million) and the percentage of black
Americans went up by 14% (to reach 34.9 million).

Europeans face mounting racist violence

In October 2000,  at a preparatory meeting for the United Nations World
Conference Against Racism, the 41 Member States of the Council of Europe
expressed alarm at the violent manifestations of racism and anti-semitism.
"Migrants, asylum seekers, refugees, displaced persons, non-nationals,
indigenous peoples or persons such as Roma/Gypsies  are still all too often
victims of continued and widespread racism and discrimination,  and
contemporary forms of slavery, in Europe and other parts of the world."
What sort of incidents are they referring to?  What do they mean by violent
racism and xenophobia?  Sadly, there are all too many examples to chose from
in Europe.  Think back to the persecution of the Kosovar Albanians in 1999,
or more recently the rise of the extreme right in some EU countries, the
orchestrated attacks in the Andalusian province of  Almeria against North
African workers, or the fatal fires that destroyed the homes of Turkish
immigrants in Germany.  These headline grabbing incidents of racial violence
however are sadly not the only ones to rock the European democratic boat.
Other forms of discrimination, less concentrated and therefore harder to
identify, are also on the increase, in the criminal justice system, in
education, employment, housing and the provision of or access to goods and
services.  The latest report of the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and
Xenophobia (EUMC, set up the European Union in 1997 following the June
Directive prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or ethnic
origin)  gives many examples.

The legacy of colonialism and slavery

Participants at a meeting organised by Central American NGOs held in Mexico
in November 2000 fiercely criticised  the situation in this region of the
continent.  They pointed  out that Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras,
Nicaragua and Costa Rica did not show sufficient willingness to apply the
international agreements and resolutions intended to fight racism.   Indeed,
the existence of racism and racial discrimination is ignored or even denied
which, in the opinion of the participants, was "tantamount to brushing aside
the historical consequences which colonisation, slavery and the various
waves of migration have had, and are continuing to have,  on the situation
in the region."  They stressed that these phenomena primarily affect the 80
different groups of  indigenous populations,  i.e. at least 12 million
Mexicans and over 6 million people from other Central American countries. 

The same forms of racism are also encountered in the rest of Latin America.
For instance, in Brazil, a country for which recent statistics are
available, blacks suffer flagrant discrimination on the labour market: their
level of unemployment is higher,  they are in the lower- paid jobs and
rarely hold management positions.  A report written by the Inter-American
Trade Union Institute for Racial Equality (INSPIR) in 1999 reviewed the
position of black workers in the six largest cities in the country. While
Brasilia did not come out of this exercise too badly, there was clearly
unequal treatment of black workers in northern cities such as Recife and
Salvador.  About 26% of black Brazilians are reportedly out of work,
compared with 18% for the rest of the population. Only 9% occupy responsible
positions, compared with 30% amongst other ethnic minorities. The report
also reveals significant disparities in wages between black and non-black
Brazilians, with the latter earning on average 40% more than the former.
When this report was presented, Vicente Paulo da Silva, President of the
CUT, did not hide his concern about the very worrying position of black
Brazilian workers. He explained that the data in the report should be used
as a means of fighting discrimination of black workers more effectively. 

Rough deal for Asia's migrants

In December 1999, the ILO organised a regional Asia-Pacific symposium for
trade unions active in the defence of migrant workers' rights. Recognising
that this workforce now constitutes a permanent component of the region's
economies, the ILO issued a warning that certain negative consequences of
globalisation (in particular with regard to employment) made migrant workers
much less welcome in the eyes of the local populations.   Some blame them
for the deteriorating economic situation and call for their repatriation.
According to the ILO, while the migrant labour force represents only a small
percentage of the labour force worldwide, its presence in the Asia-Pacific
region has substantially increased in the past 30 years. In addition to
their important role in countries like Australia and New Zealand, which to a
large extent were colonised by them, migrant workers have become essential
not only for the economies of the Middle East but also those of Malaysia and
Singapore (where they account for up to 20 or 25% of the national labour
force). The same applies to the countries in East Asia, although to a lesser
extent. While over the past 10 years, the countries sending migrants have
remained more or less the same (in Southern and Southeast Asia), the
principal destinations for migrants have followed the pattern of economic
growth (East and Southeast Asia). 

Under what kind of conditions do they have to work? Whereas skilled foreign
workers - who are in the minority - on the whole enjoy good working
conditions, this is far from true for unskilled workers. Most of these
workers have to go through placement agencies acting as intermediaries in
the host countries and, consequently,  have to pay back money advanced by
these agencies to pay for their trip.  They are usually taken on for only a
fixed period of time and draw very low wages. Many of the agencies involved
are in fact illegal and do not act in the interests of the workers they send
abroad. There are dishonest agents operating at both ends of the chain aided
by complicit senior civil servants in the various host countries. Another
aspect of economic migration is the rise in the number of undocumented
immigrants, who account for 30 to 40% of the 6 million migrants in Asia. An
increasing number of them are reportedly also falling victim to trafficking
networks, especially in China, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines and India.
Particularly serious forms of economic exploitation, some of which are, in
actual fact,  forms of slavery have been the lot of all too many migrants. 

(1)	Liberation, 23/1/2001.

For more information about the ICFTU's participation in Durban:
http://www.icftu.org/focus.asp?Issue=racism

"Trade unions say NO to racism and xenophobia" is available on the ICFTU web
site: http://www.icftu.org/displaydocument.asp?Index=991213208&Language=EN

For more information, please contact the ICFTU Press Department on +32 2 224
0232 or +32 476 62 10 18.

The ICFTU delegation can be contacted in Durban on +32 495288.536, and
eklatramos at aol.com.

The ICFTU represents more than 156 millions workers in 221 affiliated
organisation in 148 countries and territories. ICFTU is also member of
Global Unions: http://www.global-unions.org 


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