Tagged / migrant

Migrant labour, the not so nice side of the FIFA World Cup

Football has been referred to as ‘the beautiful game’.  And to be fair, there has been some brilliant football at the men’s FIFA World Cup in Qatar. Qatar’s records on human rights have been widely criticised in the run up to this global event. The global media have spent a lot of time on commenting on several social and economic issues in Qatar, such as LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) rights, the role and status of women, and the exploitation of migrant workers.  Migrant workers from South Asia, including those from Nepal, have helped build the stadiums and roads leading up to it, provide the security at venues, take the suitcases of the conveyor belts at the airport, and serve fans and visitors food and drink at the venues.  Many of these migrant workers are exploited not just by employers in Qatar, but also by labour agencies in their home countries.  The risks are high, especially for those migrant workers who do the dirty, dangerous and difficult jobs (i.e. the 3Ds). 

As researchers conducting research in the area of migration and health, we are worried that when the world cup finishes next weekend the world’s media will move on from Qatar and the attention will disappear from the exploitation of migrant workers in the Middle East (and elsewhere).  We all know that the media’s focus will shift to on another global event, next week or next month.  We want to make sure that spotlight stays on this global problem.

 

Dr. Pramod Regmi, Dr. Nirmal Aryal & Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

Faculty of Health & Social Sciences


What makes a Bournemouth University publication?

Last week the IOM (International Organization for Migration) in Nepal, the UN Migration Agency published a new report online: Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal.  This report mentioned the input and advice of Bournemouth University (BU) staff, including Dr. Nirmal Aryal, who worked on the report prior to his appointment at BU and who is listed as Co-Investigator, furthermore listed as Resource Persons are: Dr. Pramod Regmi and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen.  Working with the charity Green Tara Nepal (GTN) on this study has been good for IOM and BU.  All of use have worked on the report in different kind of ways and to different degrees.  The publication suggested a corporate authorship as ‘International Organization for Migration’, which is great for the status of the report as it is a UN agency.  We feel part of this as BU academics and feel we are part of the team despite this not being a BU publication!

 

 

Professor Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

Reference:

International Organization for Migration (2019) Research on the Health Vulnerabilities of the Cross-Border Migrants from Nepal, Kathmandu, Nepal: International Organization for Migration.  Available at : https://nepal.iom.int/sites/default/files/publication/Research_on_The_Health_Vulnerabilities_of_The_Cross_Border_Migrants_from_Nepal_0.pdf

Dr. Aryal funded to attend international workshop on migration & health

Congratulations to Dr. Nirmal Aryal in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences has been selected to participate in an international workshop targeting early career researchers (ECRs) on ‘Engendering research and reframing policy debate on migration & health and intersectional rights’ to be held in Kathmandu (Nepal) from 25th to 28th April 2019.

This workshop is jointly organized by several universities in the UK, India as well as the International Organisation for Migration, as well as the Migration Health and Development Research Initiative(MHADRI). There will be 18 ECRs from South Asia and South East Asia and Nirmal is one for the six from the UK.  The organizers will fund flight to and accommodation in Nepal.

Congratulations!

Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen

CMMPH

 

BU-Community Partnership Workshop (Refugee & Migrant Leisure Network)

Dr. Jaeyeon Choe, Dr. Varuni Wimalasiri, Dr. Nicola De Martini Ugolottiand, and Dr. Jayne Caudwell in Faculty of Management organised the Refugee and Migrant Leisure Network workshop on December 5th with community partners including Dorset Race Equality Council and Unity in Vision.

During the two-hour workshop, we discussed how to support refugee and migrant communities in Dorset including ‘vocation’ and language learning. We also discussed other mechanisms that help their re-settlement and integration such as cooking workshops, community events, music and art, all which might provide a broader scope of support such as social and emotional/psychological well-being.

We agreed that we need to listen to refugee and migrant ‘voices’ for their settlement, integration, meaning making and well-being in order to develop supportive programmes. It’s often seen that existing programmes don’t meet what refugee and migrant populations actually need. There is an urgent need to listen to their problems, challenges, so as to develop effective support programmes.

We also discussed ‘qualitative’ data that community organisations often collect including stories, lived experiences and anecdotes do not communicate well with policy makers. What will be an effective strategy to convert the ‘messy’ data (from community events, sport, music, and art) into policy making? This is a challenge for both community organisations and researchers.

Our community partners also shared that they are facing new challenges (ie funding). All councils and community organisations face difficulties in developing, managing and ‘sustaining’ support systems for refugee and migrant populations. Whilst discussing the role of a local university when supporting refugee and migrant issues, securing some funding can be one area to work on for both researchers and community groups. For example, Dr. Jaeyeon Choe recently applied for a grant with two of the community partners to support their activities as well as her own research. The proposal focuses on Syrian refugee resettlement, belonging, subjective well-being and community ‘food’ events in rural UK. We are also looking into larger/future collaborative funding opportunities together.

For BU academics, it was very fruitful to listen to and learn from community workers about refugee and migrant issues in Dorset and beyond. Besides the productive discussions, it was inspiring to see people who are passionate about supporting and working hard for refugee and migrant communities!

If you are interested in our network, please follow us:
https://m.facebook.com/groups/400355213641367?tsid=0.41635546925909617&source=result

Latest EU Social Sciences & Humanities funding

Free movement of lawyers: proposals should evaluate the legal framework for the free movement of lawyers against market and regulatory developments in the single market. Funding is worth up to €500,000 over 11 months. Deadline 15.09.11

Socio-economic impacts of new measures to improve accessibility of goods and services for people with disabilities: proposals should explore the merits of adopting EU regulatory measures to substantially improve the proper functioning of the internal market for accessible products and services, including measures to step up the use of public procurement.  Funding is worth up to €800,000 over 12 months. Deadline: 22.08.11

Roma in education: this funding supports transnational cooperation projects in the development and implementation of coherent and comprehensive joined-up educational measures to raise the participation and attainment levels of Roma students in general education and vocational educational training, and to support network activities for awareness-raising of the social integration of Roma children and students.  The total budget for the call is €584,000 and each grant is worth up to €150,000 over a maximum of 12 months. Deadline: 16.09.11

European policy network on the education of children and young people with a migrant background: this funding supports cross-European collaboration between high level decision makers, academics and practitioners for raising the educational attainment of children and young people from a migrant background. The maximum duration of projects is 36 months, and a total budget of €500,000 is available for 2012. Deadline 14.10.11

Support for the Digitisation of European Cinemas: the aim of the ‘digitisation of cinemas’ scheme is to encourage cinemas showing a significant percentage of non-national European works to exploit the possibilities offered by digital. This call for proposals aims to facilitate the digital transition of cinemas screening European films by supporting the side costs linked to the purchase of a digital projector. Closing date: 15 September 2011

e-Skills for Competitiveness and Innovation: the aim of this fund is to develop, with relevant stakeholders, a coherent vision and a detailed roadmap as well as foresight scenarios on the supply and demand of e-skills for competitiveness and innovation in Europe (2011–2015).  It will build on the momentum of the EU e-skills strategy. The skills needed include ICT, marketing, design, law, management, etc. for entrepreneurs, managers and ICT professionals and advanced users in all industries. Closing date: 16 September 2011