INTERNATIONAL CONFEDERATION OF FREE TRADE UNIONS (ICFTU)
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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.
The title of the report is "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