Dear friends and comrades



the Global Day of Action against racism  and for the rights of migrants,
refugees and displaced people set for December 18th is drawing near. As
always, we want to contribute and have our voices heard in a unified and
coordinated way, for the respect and affirmation of the rights of migrants,
refugees and displaced people.



A few days ago, on Oct. 3rd, 2014, we were reminded of the shipwreck in the
waters of Lampedusa island, in which 368 people lost their lives one year
ago. In 2014, just in the first nine months, 2,086 more people have already
perished in the Mediterranean sea.



The International Organizations for Migration (IOM) has just published a
report in which it states that the deaths along terrestrial and maritime
migratory routs since the year 2000 have already reached 40,000.



We believe it is very urgent to assemble all initiatives currently in place
throughout the world in order to denounce this war against migrants, once
again.



This year, in deccember, several Italian organizations will echo the
caravan of central-American Madres searching for their loved ones in Mexico.



At the Sabir Festival in October in Lampedusa Island, the organizations of
relatives of perished and missing migrants, as well as other organizations
who support them, have decided to combine their efforts and build an
informal network which will work specifically on this issue.



A network of several organizations from the norther and southern shores of
the Mediterranean has launched “Watch The Med Alarm Phone”, a cost-free
telephone service that migrants in need of help may use. The service is
managed by a team from civil society which can immediately alert the
authorities and monitor subsequent interventions.



The Committee Nuovi Desaparecidos in Italy is preparing the discovery stage
for a session of the International Tribunal of Peoples, in which it
contends that the death and disappearance of migrants along their journey
toward Europe is not a mere tragedy, but the direct consequence of a clear
strategy against migrants resulting from migration policies promulgated by
“fortress” Europe. These deaths and disappearances are in fact crimes
against humanity!



There are many more initiatives and campaigns being developed in various
countries about this specific issue of which we are not aware, but would
like to publicize.



*These victims are people, not numbers**, and we believe that this point
must be made forcefully on December 18th.*



For this reason, we invite everyone to give this issue maximum visibility
in the initiatives that will take place on December 18th, date in which the
International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant
Workers and Members of Their Families was signed. For the last three years,
many organizations around the world have been involved in the promotion of
a global Day of Action against racism for the rights of migrants, refugees,
and displaced people; this event was born during the 4th edition of the
World Social Forum on Migration in Quito, Equador, in 2010, and we have
attached a brief text regarding the birth of the Day of Action.



We also inclose an appeal which will shortly be added to the Global
Migrants Action website (http://globalmigrantsaction.org/) and we invite
everyone to send us any material detailing your projects for the event of
December 18th and surrounding days.



Finally, we are forwarding the logo for the event of 2014, and we again ask
you to use it in your initiatives. You can also download the logo from the
website. This way, we will give greater exposure to the worldwide dimension
of this Day of Action, which togher, we will bring to life once again.



We ask that you send all information regarding initiatives being developed
(text files, photos, videos, etc.) to the following email address:

info@...



A global movement for the rights of migrants, refugees, and the displaced
is growing up: on December 18th, 2014!



Edda Pando (Arci-Italia) Sergio Reyes (USA)

October 20th, 2014


CALL 18TH DECEMBER

*December 18th, 2014 – Global Action Day for the Rights of Migrants,
Refugees and Displaced People*

Let’s give identity and dignity to the thousands of migrants deceased and
missing along the migratory routes around the world! Persons not numbers.

40 thousands are the migrants dead on the terrestrial and maritime
migratory routes since 2000. It is stated on the last published OIM
report.  Almost 22 thousand have died in the Mediterranean Sea.  And
thousands are still missing.  They are the new “desaparecidos”

The anniversary of the shipwreckdisaster in front of the Lampedusa Island
on October 3rd, 2013 in which 368 people lost their lives has brought to
the political world scene the tragedy of the migrants deceased and lost
along the migratory routes.

However, politics and media are transforming the victims in numbers,
digits, statistics.

And this can give us sometimes the dimension of what is happening in front
of our eyes. But numbers, digits, statistics take people’s identity away. It
transforms them in “objects”.

If alive migrants are deprived from their right to exist, the right to have
their own voice, the right to be individuals and not objects, dead or lost
is worse!

The right to have identity is a human being inalienable right. It is what
gives us dignity to our existence.

For this reason this December 18th we want to give back identity and
dignity to the thousands people dead and lost along the world’s migratory
routes.

We want to do it because we don’t forget and we will continue to demand
truth and justice until liability for what caused their decease and
disappearance is determined.

We want to do it to denounce the ongoing war againstthe migrants conducted
by the countries from the North of the world with the complicity of the
governmentsof the South of the world.

We want to do it in order to make the civil society of the world understand
the dimensions of the tragedy in progress.

But we want to do it to recover the dreams and hopes of who was looking for
a better future. Because to migrate is a brave act of those who love life.

That’s why this December 18th we want to tell this in all languages: WE
DON’T FORGET!

We demand TRUTH AND JUSTICE for the migrants dead and lost along the
migratory routes of the planet.

We want a world where human beings can circulate freely and choose the
place to live.

*www.globalmigrantsaction.org* <http://www.globalmigrantsaction.org/>

*info@...* <info@...>







-- 
Edda Pando

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