The impact of the global financial downturn and the Dubai World crisis is being felt in a remote Indian village, as Amarnath Tewari reports from the eastern state of Bihar…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: recession proof your business. The blog is also related to: last recession.

Tak – Some 2,000 Burmese workers protested in a bra factory in this northern province late Friday night.

Some 300 police and military officers and defence volunteers were deployed to control the situation inside the Top From Brassiere Mae Sot Factory in Mae Sot district.

The workers became angry that two security officers of the factory injured two female workers.

The protesters demanded to see one of the injured female workers because they heard rumours that she had been killed. The other female worker crossed the border back to receive treatment at the Myowaddi Hospital.

The protest continued until Saturday.

The Nation

Organizations striving to attain greater rights for migrant workers in Thailand celebrated “International Migrants Day” today.

“Migrants working in Thailand are losing more and more of their rights. So we organizations [migrant worker NGOs] are one way for migrant workers to get help” U Myint Wai, assistant director for the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma (TACDB), told IMNA.

On December 20th of this year, Chulalongorn University in Bangkok, in conjunction with several Thai labor rights organizations, will hold an “International Migrant’s Day 2009” celebration. The event will kick off with a procession from the Bangkok Art and Culture Center to the University campus, and will feature a variety of activities, including a lecture on obtaining the new migrant passports that will become mandatory for Burmese migrant workers living in Thailand in February 2010. U Myint Wai explained to IMNA in an interview that the Burmese government’s political policies have forced countries migrant workers into a precarious legal position.

“Even though we will be talking to migrant workers who are working in Thailand [at our event], we should be directing our lectures at the Burmese government, because the government can’t provide jobs for the Burmese people, so the people have to work in other countries. This is why we can say that the government is bad,” U Myint Wai told IMNA.

He explained that migrant workers from Burma are too occupied with the necessities of earning enough money to obtain food and housing to create their own migrant support groups; as result, Burmese migrant workers who enter Thailand illegally have almost no rights or support. “The migrant workers who come to Thailand work as slaves. They are just trying to earn money for their food. So they can’t create their own worker organizations” U Myint Wai added.

Thanks to the work of Thailand-based labor rights NGO’s (like TACBD), U Myint Wai reported that Burmese migrant workers who are employed in factories have obtained certain rights – many can demand full salaries and overtime fees. Unfortunately, these rights are not extended to migrants who work as house-servants or food stall workers.

U Myint Wai also told IMNA that the issuance of the new migrant worker passports has presented Burmese migrant workers with new set of obstacles. He claims that many workers are unsure of the correct procedures for obtaining the new documents; many more are reluctant to register for the passports because doing so entails providing the Burmese government with home addresses back in Burma. The discussion of the new passports at Chulalongorn University’s December 20th celebration has thus been included for the express purpose of educating migrant worker attendees about the document.

The Mae Sot branch of the HRDF claims that there are roughly 1,200,000,000 Burmese migrant workers currently living in Thailand. 700,000 of these workers lack legal migrant workers’ identification.

By Phoenix Insurgent

Phoenix Class War Council

Everywhere the right to free movement is under attack. Cameras now track our travels from our workplaces to our roads to our neighborhoods to our schools, stretching all the way from the border to the county jail. The cameras on public transportation and outside private businesses increasingly make free, anonymous travel – a fundamental ingredient to a free society – very difficult if not impossible.

Had these conditions prevailed in Revolutionary times, would the war have turned in Britain’s favor instead? Would revolutionaries like Tom Paine have been able to agitate and organize? In slavery days, would such a surveillance state have prevented the Underground Railroad? If the Dixieland border had been as well spied on would the Abolitionists have been able to stage their anti-slavery raids into the authoritarian slavocracy? Whither then, John Brown and Harriet Tubman? What about Frederick Douglass and his daring escape to freedom in the North? If the border had been so well watched, would indigenous resistance have been able to hold out so long against white settlement? Where would Geronimo have gone when escaping the swords and bullets of the US Cavalry? Where would Ricardo Flores Magón have planned his Mexican insurrection?

At the same time an increasingly unaccountable and sophisticated (and automated) computer/police network accumulates and analyzes the data collected, without even the need for a human to directly oversee the emerging Panopticon. Computerization, generally immune from criticism in popular dialog, has shifted immense power into the hands of the elite under the cover of friends and family plans, YouTube hits and MySpace friend requests. This network increasingly permeates even our very social circles, using our cell phones, GPS systems and internet searches to compile vast amounts of data on our movements, our politics, our interests and our friends. The integration of police and elite power increases daily. As it grows, our ability to project our own autonomous power against their tyranny diminishes. And we become less free.

Before the Civil War, being a Black person headed North not only raised suspicion, but it was enough to get you rounded up and sent home if you didn’t have the correct papers with you. If you were a slave, your owner (boss) had to provide you with written permission to travel –- a permission that you yourself probably couldn’t read. What’s more, white males were required in the South to serve on slave patrols, rounding up suspect Blacks. In exchange for serving on those patrols, whites in the South got certain privileges, including relative immunity from police harassment and, importantly, freedom from slavery. It was a devil’s bargain, though, because the Southern slave system over all was a bad deal for all the poor of the South, whether Black or white (or Native). It kept vast tracts of lands centralized in a minority of very wealthy plantation owners’ hands.

As the country expanded West, the systems for control of movement spread as well. The first ID’s were issued to Chinese laborers. The first police fingerprint database was organized in San Francisco to regulate the movement and employment of these workers. Not long after, the bureaucracy began absorbing Indigenous people as well, despite their many centuries of resistance. It’s worth remembering that for many Native fighters, the Mexican border served as a base from which to gather their energies as they planned the next wave of resistance to the controls of the growing centralized American state.

One wonders if the patriot movement (by which I mean that general conglomeration of Constitutionalist and Libertarian activists who take a position against American state & corporate power and its imperial interventions abroad) will soon rue the day it backed beefed up border enforcement, not least of all because those prisons and FEMA camps (and, yes, even Sheriff Joe’s tents) can hold more than just immigrants, but also because they may in the not too far off future find themselves pining for the days of open borders and Mexican sanctuary from the fascist attacks of the US government. As we learn from the East German experience, those walls can just as easily keep people in. And as we saw in Eastern Europe in general, the euphoria of the attack on the walls and checkpoints was an integral part of the struggle that brought down the totalitarian communist bureaucracy. Here we are twenty years out from the collapse of those regimes, focused as they were on controlling movement, and yet the patriot movement has forgotten those lessons.

Repeating history in the segregated Arizona territory, poor immigrant whites – many fleeing the repressive dictatorships of Europe and often traveling thousands of miles in the process — frequently sided with rich white landowners, expelling Mexican families and seizing their lands, some of which had been held for centuries. This cross-class alliance is a hallmark of American history. Not all whites followed this pattern though. The Saint Patrick Battalion, for instance, famously switched sides during the Mexican-American War, opposing the imperialist expansion into the Southwest and joining the Mexican side.

Likewise, as mentioned before, Abolitionists of all colors supported free movement for escaping slaves as a way to attack the corrupt slave society of the South. It would have been absurd to think that the fight against slavery would have been aided by returning Douglass to the tyranny of the Southern slave dictatorship merely to satisfy the demands of the laws that regulated movement in those days. Indeed, it wasn’t the deported slave, sent back in chains to her master that toppled the Southern slave system; it was the returning freedman, armed and marching home, combining with the general strike of slaves deserting their posts, that sounded the death knell for the slavocracy. In that context, it says a lot that so many anti-immigrant activists today suggest closing the border as a means of attacking the corrupt Mexican state, rather than seeking a free movement of people and revolutionary ideas between the two countries.

Indeed, the patriot movement has a real solidarity problem in general, and it tends to founder precisely on the shores of the whiteness. Where are the patriots when the cops or the sheriff’s deputies shoot yet another unarmed black person or detain a poor, Mexican worker? Where is the outrage of the patriot movement as the settler government imposes a police state on Tohono O’odham land where, under the very same excuse of the patriot movement’s desired expansion of border control, all brown people are suspect and must run the gauntlet of border patrol checkpoints? The same multi-nationals that the patriot justly denounces likewise displace and extract in Indian Country, but where is the outrage? Wackenhut and FEMA practice on immigrants, shipping them to and imprisoning them in private prisons, and yet the patriot movement is blind to the monster that they are creating. To think this apparatus of state oppression will not soon be used on all of us who oppose the increasingly fascist American empire is more than naive, it reflects the adherence of the patriot movement, perhaps unconscious in many cases, to the ideology of white privilege.

When it comes to the movement of people across the border, so many patriots, like so many Mexicans, demand change in Mexico. But if patriots want revolution in Mexico so badly, where is their material and financial support for such movements, many of which exist today to choose from. I’m reminded of one white patriot who I saw marching up and down a line of mostly Mexican protesters about four years ago aggressively yelling, “Not here! I’ll march with you in Mexico City, but not here!” What made him think that he could march with them in Mexico City, for one thing? But what explained his myopia to the fact that perhaps they were marching not just for themselves in Phoenix, but also for him? Was he not to benefit from their demands for freedom from persecution and controls on movement as well?

This solidarity problem reveals the true contradiction: As it now stands, much of the patriot movement demands not an end to fascism, but an exemption from the fascism that it demands for others. This is typical of white populist movements in the US throughout history. As I have previously pointed out, for instance in the case of the anti-speed camera resistance in Arizona, we see this manifest in the ways that local patriot activists organize. Underlying the support for increased policing but abolition of cameras is an inherent recognition of the general immunity from policing that whiteness represents in general. That is, that some forms of policing of movement tend to come down harder on whites, because of their equal opportunity nature, than others. Given the choice, rather than challenge both the police AND the cameras, the white patriot movement would rather keep the tried and true thin blue line, just like the Southern whites preferred the slave patrols to the abolition of slavery.

In a real way, what we see in American history when it comes to movement is that it’s okay for some, but not for others. And generally what we notice is that whites, even poor and working class whites, tend to feel entitled to free movement for themselves at the same time that they oppose it for others. Perhaps there exists no better example of this in Arizona politics than local rich daddy trust fund, working class poseur Rusty Childress, who for so long backed the anti-immigrant movement (financially as well as offering up his inherited car dealership as a place for organizing meetings) at the same time that he posted photos from his Mexican beach vacations on his personal web page. Anti-immigrant patriots falsely defended his inherited wealth as the result of hard work while justifying attacks on Mexicans of their own class who struggled under far worse conditions than the lucky sperm club that gifted Childress a life of privilege. This kind of class treason can only be explained by the cross-class alliance of whiteness.

But what is whiteness? Whiteness is not necessarily the color of your skin. It’s a political relationship between rich people and other, largely European-descended, classes of society. In reality, it’s a cross-class alliance in which people who are considered white agree that rather than upset the apple cart that is the disparity of wealth and power in the United States (think “Goldman Sachs”) that they will accept several privileges to the exclusion of others. So whites, as a result of taking this bargain, receive real benefits. This doesn’t make them rich like Goldman Sachs, but it does give them a substantial leg up on others in terms of a whole host of social indicators, from decreased imprisonment to increased lifespan and family wealth. In addition, whites agree to accept those privileges in exchange for agreeing to the reduced status of other peoples not included in the deal. As part of that, whites further agree to police that status, whether through law enforcement or through paramilitary or vigilante organizations (the Klan, the White Caps, the Minutemen, etc). In attempting to defend their class position, they instead defend their racial privilege.

In this sense, without conscious action to the contrary, the political activity of whites tends to default to a distorted class war, manifesting in the defense of whiteness rather than an attack on the elite that controls wealth and power in the US. This is a problem not just because it grants one group of people a undeserved status above others, but even more importantly because it is a flawed strategy for going after the elites that own the lion’s share of the country’s wealth, to the exclusion of everyone else who produces it in the first place. Organizing in ways that reinforce white supremacy necessarily fractures the working class, and working class power is the way to attack the elite class. If the patriot movement ever truly wants to go after the big money bankers and capitalists that live lives of luxury at our expense, they need to fix their solidarity problem. They need to find common cause with peoples struggles in a way that attacks rather than reinforces white privilege.

The struggle for free movement is a defining characteristic of American history and, with few exceptions, that freedom has been defined by the politics of whiteness. Who can move and who cannot, and who will be displaced and who will not? When movements have defied this tendency, great things have happened. Slavery was abolished. The power of the bosses to force us into the factories was shaken at its core. Segregation was smashed. The domination of women was challenged and the sexual freedom that most Americans now take for granted proliferated. Our power to define our lives autonomously from the arbitrary power of Capital and the State grew in each of these instances.

Will the patriot movement learn these historical lessons? Will they realize that their future is tied up, not oppositional to, the futures of the rest of the working class, no matter from where they come, white or otherwise? Will they recognize that in order to get to Goldman Sachs we have to attack white supremacy? Given the continuing collapse of the economy, and the historical tendency of movements of reaction to emerge from whites under these kinds of conditions, this is precisely the dare that stands before them today.

As it is now, many in that movement have chosen the wrong side in the immigration debate, opting to attack the working class rather than uniting against the elite assault on it. But opportunities for solidarity that challenge this system of white privilege abound, so will the patriot movement recognize them for what they are and abandon the reactionary path that they have for the most part so far taken? Time will tell. But as it now stands, their contradictory position on free movement puts them in opposition to working class power and, therefore, in defense of the capitalist and bureaucratic elite.

Regardless of how many Ron Paul evocations to “REVOLUTION” it chants, this puts the patriot movement firmly in a position much more like that of the undertaker of the revolution than those undertaking genuine revolutionary struggle. That has to change if they hope to put the undead society under which we all now suffer in its well-deserved grave.

Associated Press, 12/18/09

MEXICO CITY — Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission says more than 5,000 Mexican migrants have died in deserts, rivers and mountains trying to reach the U.S. since 1994.

The commission says governments must do more to protect migrants from robbers, smugglers and others who seek to exploit them.

It said Thursday in a statement that on average, three migrants perished every two days in 2007 and 2008 in the U.S.-Mexico border region.

Read more…

Yemeni NGO workers give newly arrived Somali migrants water on the beach of Hasn Beleid village

The number of migrants fleeing the unstable Horn of Africa and arriving in Yemen rose by 50 percent this year, reaching a record high of 74,000, the UN refugee agency said Friday.

The number of Ethiopians making the journey across the Gulf of Aden or Red Sea — a route described by the UN as “the busiest and deadliest in the world” — doubled in 2009, while the number of Somalis remained steady.

More than 300 people drowned or did not survive the trip this year, said Andrej Mahecic, spokesman for the Office for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

“Refugees and migrants make the dangerous journey on smugglers? boats across the Gulf of Aden and the Red Sea under harrowing conditions,” said Mahecic.

“In some cases they are beaten, raped, killed or just thrown overboard into the shark-infested waters.”

The desperate migrants entrust their lives to smugglers in a bid to escape the deeply troubled region, which is plagued with civil war, political instability, poverty and famine.

Somalia has had no effective government since the early 1990s and thousands have been killed in Mogadishu in recent years as Islamists battle for control of the capital.

Ethiopia is still affected by cycles of drought. In October, the government appealed for 159,000 tonnes of food aid worth 121 million dollars to feed 6.2 million people until the end of the year.

According to the UNHCR, the majority of Somalis arriving in Yemen head for two reception centres but less than a quarter of Ethiopians, out of more than 42,000 who arrived this year, went to the centres.

Most Ethiopians pressed on towards Gulf states in search of work, the agency added.

Source: AFP

From NPR: Hard Times Even Harder for Migrant Laborers

From Wall Streeet Journal: Remittances to Mexico Fall 36%

Friday, 11 December 2009 11:25
A Burmese migrant worker died and another was injured following a beating by a group of Thai youths outside the Taisin Sewing Factory in Soi Pasiphitohnnoi, Mahachaing, on the outskirts of Bangkok, Thailand. The dead victim was Soe Oo aged 19, son of U Tun Kyi and Daw Tin Hla from Shwe Kokko village, Myawaddy Township.
“We had finished working overtime about 20:30 and were having dinner when Soe Oo looked at three young Thai youths aged about 16. Maybe that’s the reason for being beaten,” said A Saw, who escaped with injuries to his back from an iron bar.
“We stepped out from the Ferry and had dinner at a small restaurant when the three Thai boys became aggressive and hit the table noisily. Soe Oo just looked at them, but did nothing. When we finished our meal and went outside into the dark they came out and started beating us with an iron bar. Soe Oo was hit on the back of his head and fell down. They continued beating him and shouting ‘Why’ ‘Why’, and pulled him by his legs and hit his head with a rock. I was still half standing and was only hit in the back. I ran and called to the night watchman, then came back with him, Soe Oo was already dead,” he explained.
The young Thai suspects were arrested within hours, following accounts given by witnesses and video footage from a camera set up at the edge of the market.,
Ko Htwe, cousin of the victim said; “It was almost 2 years since Soe Oo arrived in Thailand. He is the second of five children. He worked to feed his family. I have rung his parents. We cannot work and survive in our own country so we come to Thailand, but as migrant workers, our lives are not protected.”
A Saw, who was also beaten said; “We know that we are treated with injustice, but we can do nothing. How do we stop the same thing from happening again? We asked the police and they explained that the Thai gang said that they gave punishment for us looking at them, but why do they beat us until someone dies?”
He added that others should take care not to look at Thai youths, particularly if they were drunk, and to avoid dark areas when travelling at night.

Friday, 11 December 2009 11:25
Workers from a small ice factory located at Kyaunghtaung Road, Dakha Naing, Bangkok, had to flee after asking for their wages, as their Boss showed and threatened them with a gun.
Ma Aye Misan, Tun Tun Win, Wei Linn and Thein Zan, all workers from the small factory, escaped by jumping off the truck when delivering ice this morning.
According to one of the workers, the women work from 3 am to 8 pm and the men till 10 pm, but they hadn’t been paid for their work and didn’t have any food to eat.
“Our stomachs felt hot from having only fish paste and chili daily as he didn’t pay our wages. We have no way to leave and nothing to eat. When we asked for our wages, the Boss went to his room and got the gun. He told us he didn’t pay our wages because he was worried we would run away. He paid us only 200 – 300 baht when we told him that we had nothing to eat. We work very hard but we cannot even have eggs, our life is bad. We were afraid when he showed the gun. We had to run, even though we didn’t get our wages.” said Ma Aye Misan, who escaped.
The initial agreement made was that the owner would pay a wage of 5,300 baht for Men and 4,300 baht for women monthly. However on Saturdays, they had to work 3 am to 4 am through to the next day without any overtime payment and he even cut daily allowances for Sundays.
Wei Linn, one of the victims who escaped said “They work us like prisoners. We have to work two days continuously, sometimes about 20 hours. They allow us one days rest, but cut the wages for the rest day. We only get around 4,000, and if we want to quit we need to find another one to replace us. We are often told to work quickly. When we deliver ice, we have to jump in and out of the car while it is moving. We are yelled at if we are slow and we are prodded with an iron bar if we don’t understand what he says. He showed the gun and told us he would shoot us dead if we ran”.
Three other workers newly arrived also wanted to escape, but they still remain due to no contacts. The escaped workers already had work ID cards, which they had paid for, but these were held by the owner and the workers cannot get them back.

Burmese migrant workers selling goods in the Lonmany night bazaar in the centre of Bangkok have been arrested since the market began earlier this month. About 3700 shops employing thousands of Burmese migrants working in the market had previously paid 1,000 Baht per worker to the local police. Store owners discontinued these illegal payments once work permits had been obtained.
However, those without legal documents still need to pay 2,000 baht, and stores selling fake commodities must pay 7,000 baht on a regular basis. Early in the morning on 2nd December, police waited until the opening of the market and arrested shop assistants entering through gate No-6. These workers where sent in a truck to a police station, and then police returned to make further arrests.
“Even though we have a work ID, we are arrested because we don’t have permission to sell goods. And although we tried to negotiate to pay more money, they wouldn’t release us. The market here has a lot of Burmese migrant workers. Many Burmese can speak English and selling commodities is not hard work. Thai workers are weak in English and are unable to work hard so there were a lot of Burmese migrant workers in the Bazaar,” said one of the workers from the market.
A Burmese worker initially earns 6,000 baht, but wages can increase depending on English speaking skills and ability to persuade customers to buy goods.
A worker of 4 years experience [earning about 12,000 baht] said; “We had to pay police 2,000 baht in 2008 but this was reduced to 1,000 in 2009, and then our Boss stopped paying after we got our work ID”.
During the night operation at least 30 people were arrested and taken to the police station. One of the witnesses, a female Burmese student said; “I saw with my own eyes that our Burmese migrant workers were arrested, even though they had a work ID. I felt very sad. I saw women crying. One of the girls told me that a policeman told her that if she didn’t have a legal document she could sleep with him so she wouldn’t be sent to Mae Sod.”
Usually illegal migrant workers are sent back to the Thai-Burmese border if they are arrested. For Thai owners, it is important to have skilled Burmese workers with good English and selling skills. But recent issues concerning work ID’s have arisen because the ID’s do not include a permit to sell goods. So, whether we like it or not, they need to make a deal and pay money to the police every month.

http://www.ghre.org/en/

by Kyaw Kha
Sunday, 13 December 2009 23:15

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – The Thai government is working on issuing official residential permits to children of migrant workers their country.

The children between 5 and 15 years of age of migrant workers hailing from Burma, Laos and Cambodia must apply for registration at municipal offices and mayoral offices not later than December 18. This registration process started in the third week of last month.

“The submission of registration forms will close on December 18. This process will be extended to December 28 for those whose applications are not yet completed,” Refugees and Migrant Workers Affairs Department under the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) In-charge Thet Khaing told Mizzima. He also said that he had heard that the issuance of residential permits would be started on the 2nd of next month.

The cabinet meeting held on November 3 decided to issue residential permits.

The children, who reached Thailand before July 2009 and those who were born in Thailand are entitled to apply for the residential permit. Moreover the parents of the children must have similar residential permits, and a guarantee given by their employers and stay together with their children in the same locality. In the form, the date of birth, place of birth and address must be filled up and submitted along with the 2”x2” passport size photographs of the applicant. After submitting the form, they are issued residential permit (Form Thau Rau 38/1), Burmese migrant odd job worker Tin Oo from Bant Khu Thi Ran Township in Thailand said.

The fees at the time of submission of the form is Thai Baht 20 and another Baht 60 must be paid at the time the permit issued, it is learnt.

The officials from the Thai Education Department in Bangkok and Mae Sot invited principals from schools in Mae Sot for migrant children to their office in last August and discussed with them health care, education and official residential status for these children.

In the meeting, the Thai authorities agreed to issue residential permits with 13-digit registration numbers similar to that of Thai children, Mae Sot based Burma Migrant Workers Education Committee (BMWEC) Chairwoman Naw Phau Ray who attended the meeting told Mizzima.

“I think they should apply for this permit for the future of these migrant children and for their education,” she said.

Similarly another Mae Sot based organization ‘Yaung Chi Oo’ Migrant Workers Association General Secretary Moe Swe told Mizzima that the migrant workers in Thailand should apply for such residential permits for their children by taking into consideration the security and official status for their children.

Social workers working for Burmese migrant workers estimate the number of Burmese migrant workers working in Thailand at about 2 million and their children at about 200,000.

Dec 10, 2009 (DVB)–Children of migrant workers from Burma, Laos and Cambodia will soon be registered by the Thai government and eligible to enroll in school, migrant organisations have announced.

The process is already underway in a number of towns on Thailand’s border with Burma, and Thai government officials are reportedly collecting lists of migrant children to ready for registration.
To register the children, parents must hold migrant workers identification cards or migrant registration forms.
There are estimated to be between two and three million Burmese migrants in Thailand, most of whom work in low-skilled labour industries, such as fishing and construction, with little pay.
The deadline for registration is 18 December. A Burmese migrant in Bangkok told DVB that he had already submitted applications for his two children.
“To apply for the registration, two photos and personal details of the child and the parents are needed,” he said. “The children whose parents have no legal stay in the country cannot apply.”
Migrant NGOs in Thailand’s border town of Mae Sot said that applications are already being accepted at the municipal office and at the town’s administration office.
Ko Aye, from the Migrant Assistance Programme (MAP) foundation office in Mae Sot welcomed the initiative, while Htoo Chit, from the Human Right Education and Development group, said the programme could “bring light to future of migrant children in Thailand”.
According to statistics from Thailand’s labour ministry, around 700,000 Burmese migrant workers registered for labour documents this year.
A number of centres have already been set up along the Thai-Burma border to register Burmese migrant workers living in Thailand. Without legal status, access to education and healthcare in Thailand is heavily restricted.
The agreement between the two countries was technically formalized in 2003, although progress on it has been slow. Thailand also has similar agreements with Cambodia and Laos.
Criticism was leveled at the scheme in July after it was revealed that Burma’s ethnic Rohingya group would be barred from registering. The Burmese government refuses to recognize the Muslim minority and thus grants them no legal status.
Reporting by Aye Nai

Arrivals from the United Kingdom were down 28 percent to 5,800, while the number of immigrants from New Zealand fell by almost a half to just over 4,700…. From VOA. Full story

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ထည့္သြင္း ထားခဲ့သည္။
နံနက္ (၃)နာရီအခိ်န္ခန္ ့တြင္အမိုးအကာမရွိပဲ ပိုက္ကာရံုထားသည့္ေလွာင္ကြင္းအတြင္းမွ ျမန္မာအလုပ္သမားသံုးဆယ္
ေက်ာ္တုိ ့ကုိ နယ္ေျမခံ ထိုင္းရဲမ်ားက ကားမ်ားျဖင့္လာေရာက္ဖမ္းဆီးေခၚယူသြားခဲ့သည္။
continue
http://jacbaburma.blogspot.com/2009/12/blog-post_1465.html

As the world marks International Human Rights Day on the 10th of December, CARAM Asia launches an online petition campaign seeking crucial support and commitment from every employer of households to grant a weekly paid day off to their migrant domestic worker (MDW). On this occasion, CARAM Asia, a regional network of 34 NGOs and trade unions across 17 countries in Asia, makes the call to governments across the globe to respect the rights and dignity of migrant workers especially domestic workers.

We urge governments especially host countries that employ migrant labour to amend restrictive legislation to include provisions and minimum labour standards for domestic workers. We further call upon all employers, as important non state actors, to recognize that the time has come to put all poor practices aside and accord migrant workers, especially domestic workers (MDWs) a weekly paid day off from work.

The International Labour Organization (ILO) estimated that there are more than a million women who engage in domestic work worldwide. There are over 300,000 MDWs in Malaysia, about 70,000 in Bahrain, and the more than 200,000 respectively in Singapore, Thailand and Lebanon.

The statistics continue to alarm us. In the past 5 months, three Indonesian migrant workers were tortured to death by their Malaysian employers. In Lebanon, at least 10 women have died, either by hanging themselves or by falling from tall buildings over the past two months, in desperation to escape.

CARAM Asia’s member in Singapore, the Humanitarian Organization for Migration Economics (H.O.M.E.) respond to more than 3000 calls in a year on their helpline for migrant workers. All the MDWs in those cases suffer from some form of mental abuse. They are overworked without any rest days, employers breach contractual obligations and placed them on debt bondage. Such complaints usually result in repatriation without any form of compensation for the exploited worker.

A weekly paid day off for MDWs will not only prevent suicides, and gender based violence and torture, most importantly it will grant an opportunity for tortured MDWs to escape abuse or exploitation.

Such a move will act as a progression in line with international labour and human rights standards. 186 countries have adopted the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and therefore bound by its terms. The General Comment 26 of the CEDAW Convention acknowledges that domestic work should be protected by labour laws and entitled to holiday and vocation leave regulations.

Next year, the International Labour Organization (ILO) will start working on the process of adopting a new minimum labour standard for domestic workers that could possibly lead to a new specific Domestic Workers Convention. With the international community moving towards acknowledging the labour rights of domestic workers, we urge governments of host countries, to develop minimum standards of human rights for these workers, and strongly urge employers across the Asian continuum to move away from the slavery practice of binding workers to work without a day off.

From today onwards, the online campaign will be featured for 30 days on the major media online sites based in Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Hong Kong, and the Middle East:

1. http://www.malaysiakini.com/
2. http://theonlinecitizen.com/
3. http://www.prachatai.com/
4. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/
5. http://english.aljazeera.net/

A simple click is all is needed to grant a basic fundamental right to one of the most vulnerable group of human beings today:
http://www.petitiononline.com/adayoff/petition.html

CARAM Asia is NGO in Special Consultative Status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations. It is an open network of NGOs and CBOs, consisting of 34 members covering 17 countries in Asia and the Middle East. Visit www.caramasia.org for more information.

Finally  got a Chance to experience the winter this time .. Oh man, its getting foggy and Cold like hell these days. But the Winter is always special with visitors around the city. This time i was out to enjoy it and it gave me pleasure of witnessing winter beauties.

I am impressed by these beauties. The Mood is so special in winter, especially @ around 5:30 – 6 in the morning.  Might be best time for birding and Classy images. I hope to make most out of this winter.

A Full frame is a added bonus. A  lot of  learning is happening in the field and most experiences are showing their way. Much more to come… This time i will make sure that i won’t miss any of the posts. List is increasing like a never ending railway line, need to pace up and catch up with all soon..

1) Hampi – Daroji  : A long time pending.

2) Ladakh Dreams : Still a dream to come out..

3) Lalbagh Closeup : Never even touched.

4) Weekend Birding : Never ending list .. …

The List goes on. Need to cut short soon and catch up. Don’t wait this time .. Keep watching this space.. Catch you soon. Till then have Wonderful Winter

]]> http://eatmorecookies.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/proaves-newsletter/ Tue, 08 Dec 2009 19:48:32 +0000 eatmorecookies http://eatmorecookies.wordpress.com/2009/12/08/proaves-newsletter/

Linked here.

Welcome to the 63th Aleteo with conservation news from ProAves Colombia
Loro10 years of saving the Yellow-eared Parrot
ProAves reflects on its 10 year campaign with Fundacion Loro Parque and others to save the Critically Endangered Yellow-eared Parrot. Together, conservation efforts have directly involved over 180 people and we are delighted to report the strong recovery of the Yellow-eared Parrot from 81 individuals in 1999 to over 1000 individuals confirmed in 2009. Read more…
EscudoYellow-eared Parrot added to municipality shield
Thanks to our conservation work in the town of Jardín, Department of Antioquia, the Yellow-eared Parrot has been named as the municipality’s official bird. The community of Jardín have also changed their shield to add the parrot.
Read more…
DN MagazineRanita Dorada Amphibian Reserve in DN Magazine
The Dutch DN Magazine, specialized in the publication of Poison-dart frog articles, published an extensive article and video of the ProAves Ranita Dorada Amphibian Nature Reserve – the world’s first protected area established to save critically endangered amphibians. Read more…
BDProAves bird database exceeds 270,000 records
With seven years of targeted bird research and monitoring across a strategic network of research stations and protected areas in Colombia, we have established a database of over 270,000 bird records that is assisting bird conservation activities. Read more…
CVSConservation strategy for parrots in Córdoba Department
Through an inter-agency collaboration between ProAves and the Corporación Autonama Regional de los Valles del Sinú y San Jorge (CVS), we are formulating a conservation strategy for parrots in Córdoba Department in NW Colombia. This regions holds perhaps the rarest parrot on the planet – the Sinú Parakeet that sadly may already be extinct. Read more…

Latest Ornithological Newsletter available here.

THE BIRDING COMMUNITY E-BULLETIN
December 2009

This Birding Community E-bulletin is being distributed to active and concerned birders, those dedicated to the joys of birding and the protection of birds and their habitats. This issue is sponsored by the Wild Bird Centers of America (WBCA – www.wildbird.com) and the National Bird-Feeding Society (NBFS – www.nbfs.org). You can access an archive of past E-bulletins on the website of the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA):
www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html

RARITY FOCUS

Pink-footed Goose would have held this exalted position in the November issue had a Brown-chested Martin in Massachusetts profiled last month not bumped it out of contention. Fortunately, the goose remained long enough and with enough fanfare to rate profiling in the present issue.

Pink-footed Goose is a vagrant anywhere in North America, normally breeding in Greenland, Iceland, and Svalbard, and traditionally spending the winter in the British Isles and northwestern Europe. It has been reported over two dozen times in eastern Canada and the northeastern U.S., including Newfoundland, Québec, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Delaware, New York, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island.

The breeding populations in Greenland and Iceland have increased dramatically over the past two decades, from about 10,000 pairs to over 130,000 pairs. This fact has quite probably contributed to the increased sightings in North America over the past 20 years.

For more information about Pink-footed Goose, check any European bird guide or a National Geographic Guide (pp. 20-21),

On 1 October, Derek Lovitch first spotted a Pink-footed Goose at Thornhurst Farm in North Yarmouth, Maine. Then on 14 October, three Pink-footed Geese were seen at the same location. Through the end of November the birds could usually be found at one of three different locations in the general area of the original discover, pleasing many visiting birders from near and far. For photos of the geese taken by Lloyd Alexander, see:

http://lloydsjourney.smugmug.com/Avian/Geese/Pink-Footed-Goose/9979979_zqDad/1/682139996_s5mH3#682139996_s5mH3

During this same period, another Pink-footed Goose was found by Ken Feustel on 3 November at Sunken Meadow State Park on Long Island, New York. This goose was eventually joined by another rare waterfowl, a Barnacle Goose. Observations of these geese were usually at the state park or at nearby Kings Park High School, through 28 November For photos of these geese taken by S. Mitra, see:

http://picasaweb.google.com/tixbirdz/Various2009#

RESULTS OF “THE BIG SIT!”

Whether or not you participated in “The Big Sit!” in October, you might wish to peruse the results from this fun event. The 15th annual Big Sit! occurred Sunday, 11 October, and the reports have been trickling in ever since.

The Big Sit! an annual event hosted by BIRD WATCHER’S DIGEST magazine, and was founded by the New Haven (CT) Bird Club. Some have called the event “a tailgate party for birders.”

To take part, participants must remain in a circle 17 feet in diameter for up to 24 hours, counting all the bird species seen or heard within that time period. The simplicity of this event makes it both casual and appealing, especially to newcomers to birding.

To check out the Big Sit! circle summaries along with related links and photos, visit:
www.birdwatchersdigest.com/site/funbirds/bigsit/results09/circles.php

IBA NEWS: PUERTO RICAN NIGHTJAR RANGE AND STATUS

The once presumed extinct Puerto Rican Nightjar (Caprimulgus noctitherus) was rediscovered in 1961 in the southwestern part of Puerto Rico. The endemic night-bird was listed as Endangered by the USFWS in 1973. Over the last decade, the bird has been recorded significantly farther east on the island than previously determined. A new study has confirmed that the geographic range of this species may also include appropriate habitats throughout southern parts of the island.

Unfortunately, with the exception of a small dry forest reserve owned by the Puerto Rican Conservation Trust, no protected areas exist within the important portions of the newly found eastern range of the species. IBAs may touch on the nightjar’s previously known southwestern range, but none do in the recently discovered eastern portions of its range.

More importantly, portions of the habitat fragments where Puerto Rican Nightjars have recently been discovered are located in municipalities experiencing a “high degree of habitat disturbance.”

Clearly, the study asserts, “these cites [in the south-central and southeastern parts of the island] have not [previously] been included as… priority conservation areas.”

The findings await further investigation and conservation action.

For a news item on the nightjar situation, see:
www.birdlife.org/news/news/2009/11/sopi_nightjar.html

For the full recent report, see:
www.avesdepuertorico.org/documentos/prnightjar_final_report.pdf

For more on IBAs in Puerto Rico, see La Sociedad Ornitológica Puertorriqueña Inc. (SOPI):
www.avesdepuertorico.org/iba.html

For additional information about worldwide IBA programs, and those across the U.S., check the National Audubon Society’s Important Bird Area program web site at:
www.audubon.org/bird/iba/

FIVE NEW WHSRN SHOREBIRD SPECIES PLANS

In cooperation with shorebird experts and in response to the conservation priorities in the U.S. Shorebird Conservation Plan, the offices of the Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN) are developing action-oriented Species Conservation Plans.

Last month, plans for five more high-priority shorebird species were released. They are for American Oystercatcher, American Golden-Plover, Sanderling, Whimbrel, and Wilson’s Phalarope. Each of these species has its own story and it own conservation problems. The plans can be found at:
www.whsrn.org/news/article/five-new-whsrn-species-conservation-plans-available

NORTH ATLANTIC FISH POPULATION CHANGES: IMPACT ON BIRDS?

Northwest Atlantic fish populations are shifting as our ocean temperatures warm. Recent findings, published in the journal, MARINE ECOLOGY PROGRESS SERIES, show that about half of 36 fish stocks in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, many commercially valuable, have been shifting northward over the last four decades.

In a review of annual spring survey data from 1968 to 2007, 10 of the 36 stocks showed significant range expansion, while 12 demonstrated significant range contraction.

During the last 40 years, many familiar fish species have been shifting northward where ocean waters are cooler, or else staying in the same general region but moving into deeper waters than where they traditionally have been found, says lead researcher, Janet Nye. All the fish species seem to be adapting to changing temperatures by finding places where their chances of survival as a population are greatest.

These range shifts have implications that extend beyond the fish themselves, specifically to consumers of fish such as seabirds.

While people will continue to find familiar fish at their local markets in the foreseeable future, fisherman may have to travel much farther to catch some of these familiar species. Eventually, this could cease to be economical.

At the same time, ocean-associated birds (pelagic birds and those closer to shore) will have to adjust accordingly, and the implications may be significant. The further seabirds have to travel to forage or find adequate food for their young, the greater becomes the likelihood that there will be impacts on survivorship. As with most species, anytime there is a major perturbation in a prey base, there are inevitable consequences to predators dependent upon this prey. The uncoupling of ocean food chains due to changes in sea temperature could seriously impact seabird populations in the future. This is just another example of “the need for an ecosystem-based management approach to our fisheries,” said co-author Jason Link, a fisheries biologist at the Woods Hole laboratory.

For a summary of some of the non-avian implications of such range shifts in fish species, see:
www.nefsc.noaa.gov/press_release/2009/SciSpot/SS0916/

BOOK NOTES: TREES AND BIRDS

“The Magnolia Warbler just flew from the left branch of the Red Mulberry and landed in the Osage-orange.” When you receive this kind of information from a field companion, it isn’t very helpful unless you also have an idea of what a Red Mulberry and an Osage-orange look like! This is only one good reason why readers should consider getting a copy of THE SIBLEY GUIDE TO TREES. David A. Sibley suggests that people can approach the identification of trees much like they approach the identification of birds; either up close, or at a distance. Sibley approaches the identification of trees with the same elegance and eye to identification techniques that he applies to bird identification. In addition, the illustrations in this comprehensive new field guide make the book a treat to behold whether you’re interested in plants or not.

No, this is not a “bird book,” but it could certainly improve your birding skills!

FLAP FIELD GUIDE

The Toronto-based and well-known Fatal Light Awareness Program (FLAP) has produced a unique new field guide to the “Common Birds of Toronto.” It is a guide covering 10 species that regularly fall victim to collisions with buildings, especially in Toronto. Anyone with even the slightest interest in a “lights-out” campaign could use this publication. It’s free, it’s downloadable, and it’s illustrated with Barry Kent McKay’s fine artwork. As a word of warning to the queasy: it illustrates dead birds! For the curious, details and a link for download are here:
www.flap.org/cbot.htm

CANADIAN MIGRATION MONITORING NETWORK MEETS

In late October, 40 participants gathered in Quebec at the 7th biennial national meeting of the Canadian Migration Monitoring Network – Réseau Canadien de surveillance des migrations (CMMN-RCSM). This network of stations and partners has been operating since 1998, and today includes more than 20 independent migration monitoring and research stations.

The CMMN-RCSM functions as an initiative among these individual member stations, plus Bird Studies Canada and the Canadian Wildlife Service.

In addition to participating in special cooperative research projects on migration and stop-over ecology, these stations conduct daily counts of migrants during spring and/or fall migration.

To see details about each of the member research stations, check the Bird Studies Canada website. It is obvious that any one of these sites could be an exciting place to spend a few days – or even weeks or months – in spring or fall, either volunteering or just observing birds on migration:
www.birdscanada.org/volunteer/cmmn/

A ten-year report on the CMMN-RCSM (from late 2008) can be found here:
www .birdscanada.org/download/CMMNReport2008.pdf

TIP OF THE MONTH: IT’S TIME FOR CHRISTMAS BIRD COUNTS

This month, as we approach the Holiday Season, we also witness the start of the 110th annual Christmas Bird Count (CBC). The counts begin on Monday, 14 December 2009 and end on Tuesday, 5 January 2010. For particulars, including how to participate, see:
www.audubon.org/Bird/cbc/

We encourage you to consider participating in a CBC near you. By so doing you will contribute to the role being played by “citizen scientists” through the collection of long-term winter bird population data, and also have fun by participating in a community birding event.

A new way to participate is through the “CBC for Kids,” pioneered by Sonoma Birding in California. The CBC events are shorter, a little more easy-going, and a perfect way to engage youngsters in the joys of birding. If one of these events is not occurring in your area, perhaps you can begin planning one for next year. For details and planning elements, see this description:
www.birdeducation.org/BENBulletin21.htm

E-BULLETIN SPONSORS

Astute readers have noticed that our official sponsorship – previously found at the top of the E-bulletin – has been missing for almost a year. Our long-time sponsor, Steiner Optics, served the birding community and this bulletin well for many years. We will always be grateful for Steiner Optic’s critical help to build a solid foundation with the unwavering support of CEO, Sven Harms.

Despite being sponsor-less for most of 2009, we have decided to continue producing the E-bulletin. Given that we now have over 2,300 recipients, and the E-bulletin is cited, reproduced, and forwarded broadly across the birding and conservation world, to let our e-newsletter languish seems like a mistake.

Obviously the E-bulletin is not a blog, nor is it embellished with photos and illustrations. With sponsorship support this could be a possibility in the future; however, currently we have no plans to fancy-up our E-bulletin. For the moment we are content with simply presenting information in an unembellished fashion.

Astute E-bulletin readers will also see our new connection (visible on the top of the E-bulletin) with the Wild Bird Centers of America (WBCA – www.wildbird.com) and the National Bird-Feeding Society (NBFS – www.nbfs.org). While this is an interim contribution, it is one which pleases us mightily and for which we are most grateful.

Should any readers be aware of a business or institution that might be interested in striking up a long-term supportive relationship with the E-bulletin, we would be happy to hear from you. Regardless, we will maintain our connection with the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA), where all of the past E-bulletins are archived. Either of us would welcome any suggestions that you might have.

Thank you in advance for your support and assistance.

SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTION

Since the Birding Community E-bulletin is in its sixth year of publication and distribution, we have been sharing some supportive remarks from some of our readers. As previously noted, we have included a comment or two each month this year. These were placed at the very end of each E-bulletin. Our very last selection in this self-indulgent series is found below, so some of you will be relieved that this section of the E-bulletin will end with this December issue!

“The monthly Birding Community E-bulletin helps remind us that BIRDS are BIG, and in so many ways. Most of us are a bit out of touch with many of the big, important issues, but the E-bulletin brings them home to us, with the straight stuff and no fluff, and with authority from two people we all trust.”
- Donald Kroodsma, former professor (U. Mass) and author of THE SINGING LIFE OF BIRDS

“A large part of my job as editor of BIRDING is keeping current and being aware. The Birding Community E-bulletin cuts through the clutter, and it delivers timely and relevant birding news. It’s an indispensable reference for me.”
-Ted Floyd, Editor, BIRDING (ABA)

“There aren’t many publications that make me say ‘wow’ after every paragraph. Come to think of it, there’s only one – it’s the Birding E-bulletin. I can only imagine the painstaking work that the two editors do to craft this gem. Whether you’re an expert birder or an amateur (like me) you’ll be fascinated, enlightened, and truly entertained by this wonderful service. And you will say ‘wow.’”
-Ray Brown, host, “Talkin’ Birds” on WATD, WCNX, WNBP, and more

“Receiving the Birding Community E-bulletin is a little like encountering a fast-moving flock of fall warblers there is a lot of action, it comes at you fast, and leaves you pumped up for the next encounter. The E-bulletin is the briefing I look forward to make sure I’m up to speed on all the latest bird conservation issues.”
- Peter Stangel, Director, Science and Evaluation, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation

- – - – - – - – -
You can access past E-bulletins on the National Wildlife Refuge Association (NWRA) website:
www.refugenet.org/birding/birding5.html

If you wish to distribute all or parts of any of the monthly Birding Community E-bulletins, we simply request that you mention the source of any material used. (Include a URL for the E-bulletin archives, if possible.)

If you have any friends or co-workers who want to get onto the monthly E-bulletin mailing list, have them contact either:

Wayne R. Petersen, Director
Massachusetts Important Bird Areas (IBA) Program
Mass Audubon
718/259-2178
wpetersen@massaudubon.org
or

Paul J. Baicich
410/992-9736
paul.baicich@verizon.net

We never lend or sell our E-bulletin recipient list.

Links to articles here.

# ABC Works to Include AZE in the Convention on Biological Diversity Thu Dec 3 10:50:48 2009
In October 2010, government leaders from around the world will meet in Nagoya, Japan to discuss numerous conservation topics at the tenth Conference to the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

# Hawaiian Songbird Named One of America’s Hottest Species Tue Dec 1 15:10:29 2009
The Kaua`i Creeper or `Akikiki has been named one of America’s top ten threatened species impacted by global warming in a new report released today. The report, America’s Hottest Species, produced by the Endangered Species Coalition in conjunction with a coalition of groups including American Bird Conservancy, demonstrates ways that our changing climate is increasing the risk of extinction for eleven species around the United States that are on the brink of disappearing forever.

# Barbed Wire Fences Take Significant Toll on Imperiled Greater Sage-Grouse, New Study Finds Wed Nov 25 13:45:00 2009
Results of a new study by biologists with the Wyoming Game and Fish Department have raised awareness of yet another hazard to Greater Sage-Grouse populations. In addition to the combined threats of sagebrush habitat loss due to development and agriculture, oil and gas exploration, and wind power development, it appears that collisions with barbed wire fences, used primarily to facilitate grazing, can be a significant source of mortality.

# ABC News Reports on Dangers to Birds Posed by Wind Power Thu Nov 19 14:15:35 2009
As wind energy production grows, efforts to mitigate the impacts to birds and other wildlife are receiving greater attention. ABC’s Channel 7 in San Francisco reports that Altamont Pass wind farm has been responsible for thousands of raptor deaths. American Bird Conservancy’s Dr. Michael Fry is interviewed.

# Big Wins for Birds on National Forests Fri Nov 6 14:20:00 2009
A federal judge has struck down the 2008 forest planning regulations that eliminated a key wildlife protection provision known as “viability”. The Wildlife Viability Requirement of the National Forest Management Act of 1976 provides important protection for the hundreds of bird species that inhabit the 193 million-acre U.S. National Forest System.

# Congress Dedicates Critical Funding to Help Hawaiian Species at Epicenter of Global Extinction Crisis Thu Nov 5 13:40:00 2009
Late last week the President signed into law a key appropriations bill that included critically needed funding to address the looming bird extinction crisis in Hawaii. The 2010 Interior, Environmental, and Related Agencies Appropriations Bill (P.L. 111-88) had been passed by Congress and sent to the President with $3 million dedicated for Hawaiian birds.