An international E-Conference on ‘Migration, Diasporas and Sustainable Development: Perspectives, Policies, Opportunities and Challenges’ was jointly organized by Migrant Forum in Asia (MFA), Global Research Forum on Diaspora and Transnationalism (GRFDT) and Center for Research on North America (CISAN), from 2nd to 5th November, 2020. The conference was successfully kicked off with an inaugural session where the participants had the chance to listen to Ambassador William Lacy Swing, as well as Steven Vertovec, an anthropologist and Director of the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, based in Göttingen, Germany. Overall, the E-conference raised various issues on the migrants, displaced people during the COVID-19 pandemic, and on different diasporas around the world.
On the 4th of November, 2020 a session was organisedon the Migrant/ Diaspora Organisations, Civil Society and Human Rights. The session was chaired by Dr. Didar Singh, who made few points in the beginning. First, he signified deglobalization as a new feature life. He noted that in the last seventy years of globalisation where migration and mobility were essential features of life, suddenly we see a lot countries not wanting to recognize the importance of migration and mobility, and in fact closed their borders in front of the world. Second, in the midst of pandemic, which is impacting all aspects of human development and the economic connectivity, migrants are suffering more because the marginalized are always hit first. And finally, the most important point made by him was over the impact of the technology on the migration, which as he noted will have tremendous effect on the future of jobs also.
The Inter-American Human Rights System in the Context of Migration: US Immigration Policies
Inter-American human rights in the context of the US immigration policy was presented by Ms. Maira Delgado Laurens, University of San Francisco, Master in Migration Studies. She highlighted thatin the last few years the US immigration policies violate the human rights of the migrants and refugees. “Domestic protections are not effective at recognizing those human rights, in part because the immigration became politicized issue and because of the hate rhetoric emanating from the US government”. She signified the study of the relation between the sovereignty and the human rights and the complexity of the human rights protection within the transnational migration.
In this regard, the role of inter-American commission on human rights and inter-American court on human was taken into consideration by her. The inter-American court, as she noted does not have competence in the US as it has not ratify it. The mission of the inter-American commission is to protect the human rights in the American hemisphere. However, there is a clash between the sovereignty and the human rights, when talking about sovereignty we talk about protecting citizens rather than human beings, therefore the US exploits the notion of sovereignty to justify unfair policies and extreme border securitization disregarding migrants and asylum seekers.
A Transnational Perspective on Japanese-Brazilian Community Organization
This paper was presented by Ms. Richa Chandola, who is a PhD candidate at Jawaharlal Nehru University. Her paper focused on the community organizations of the nipo-brasileiros, as the largest Japanese diaspora community. She also tried to explore how thoseorganisations helped to construct hybrid transnational identities. Japanese migration to Brazil started after 1908, Brazil was always looking for the source of labour and cheap labour particularly for its uphill. Initially, they worked at the plantations, then they formed their own enclaves particularly in Sao Paolo, having their own schools, cultural clubs, newspapers and promoting loyalty to their homeland. However, with the rising restrictions during the second world war, Japanese language was banned in the public places together with their newspapers and clubs.
Ms. Richa Chandola discussed nipo-brasileiro organizations also.She noted that those organisations played a vital role in strengthening networks by collaboratingwith Japan-based entities, state or otherwise. They were instrumental not only in preserving the cultural ties with Japan, but also facilitated transnational movement by providing information, guidance and resources. Despite shared ethnicity, the Brazilian dekasegi migrants faced discrimination from the local population in Japan. A deterritorializedBrazlian nationalism was thus manifest in the nipo-brasileiro clusters in Japan. They remained as highly organized enclaves where transnational ties with Brazil were maintained and celebrated.
Spoils of Partition, forced migration and the prevailing Colonial Hangover
Ms. MayurakshiGanguly from Calcutta Universitypresented a topic on the Spoils of Partition, forced migration and the prevailing Colonial Hangover. India’s freedom was at a terrible cost. Partition of India brought atrocities in the divided wings of Punjab and Bengal. This historic step gave rise to confusion and anarchy resulting in the dislocation of a large mass of people based solely on their religion or belief. Every time a person walks out of his house, he is at risk of getting contaminated yet he refrains from staying at home since he has mouths to feed. Ms. Mayurakshi argues that the scope of diaspora and the longing for home was always present in India as Indians had trade routes with Persia and China even before the forced labour migration during the colonial period. Therefore, she divided the history of India diaspora into three periods- precolonial, colonial and post-colonial.
In the post-colonial period, the newly independent nation-state had a lot to deal with political aggression or building the constitution.
Indian Diaspora Organisations in Singapore and Their Role in Promoting Community Integration
Ms. Aparna Tripathi, Central University of Gujarat discuss how these organization promote community integration in Singapore. Indian migration in Singapore was constructed from different communities consisting of merchants, vendors or wage labourers. Indians in Singapore are very much attached to their Indianness.
There are many Indian political, social, economic, cultural and religious organisations in Singapore. These organisations are made with the objective of unity within the particular community and to bring Indians on one platform so that they can attach with the roots of their homeland culture, for ex. Singapore-Indian Association which was founded 1923, and some religious and cultural organizations also. Most of these efforts can be attributed to Singapore’s multicultural policy, which preserves the right for different cultures to co-exist and allows immigrants to preserve their cultural identities.
Invisible among the Invisible: Women Migrant Workers and State Apathy
Gender-wised study was carried out by Ms. Aishwarya Bhuta from Jawaharlal Nehru University. The COVID-19 pandemic has taken a massive toll on lives as well as livelihoods.The lockdown initiated in its wake brought nearly all economic activities to a staggering halt.With no work and no home to go to, stranded migrant workers began walking or cycling for miles in the scorching heat. As these visuals became viral, the hitherto invisible and taken-for-granted migrant worker became hyper-visible – on the highways, streets, bus stands and railway stations.
It is argued that female migrant workers are a socio-economic entity forming a crucial and indispensable component of the migration question. This paper makes a strong case for gender sensitivity, especially in times of the pandemic. It is an attempt to initiate a discussion around the problems faced by female labour migrants during the pandemic. It questions the conspicuous absence of women from migration discourses, social dialogue and policymaking. the loss of livelihood further disempowered migrant women. As discussing the home-based workers, Ms. Aishwarya Bhuta notes that they are victims of both patriarchy and capitalism. The first doesn’t allow them to work independently and assert their rights, while the second continues to exploit them for the extraction of surplus value.
The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Political Approaches in Europe
Another discussion was carried out by Dr.Elif Cetin from Yasar University; Universityof Cambridge. She started her presentation saying that the pandemic is having some implications on the political language used towards immigrants. On the one hand, new waves of anti-immigrant and xenophobic political discourses have emerged among some of the main migrant receiving countries in the global West, such as the U.S. On the other hand, as the virus continues to affect the health of thousands of people, the role of health workers in some of these Western countries, where the majority of whom are of immigrant origin, has started to be appreciated relatively more, such as in the UK.
Western countries are polarized on the issue of migration and COVID-19 pandemic revealed this polarization once again. The main divide is between those who favour free flow of capital, services and people and those who favour closed borders and sovereignty of the country. Thus it leads to the clash of economic interests with the political competition in many western countries. Furthermore, measures have to be taken to tackle social and political discrimination of the asylum seekers contracting COVID-19 pandemic.
Andean Migrant Associations’ Host and Home Country Engagement. Lessons from the Cantons of Geneva and Vaud, Switzerland
Through her paperDr. Victoria Castillo Rueda, PhD from University of Geneva tried to understand the integration process of the Latin-American migrants. Migrant/diaspora organisations play a major role in the settlement process of the migrants in the host country, as well as in preserving their identity. She argues that in Switzerland,migrant associations can have a potential role that in the integration process of migrants, including the potential partnership between migrant associations and the host society’s government and civic organization. Two associations were focused on academic issues, some associations were promoting the unity of the migrants in the host society.
Ani Yeremyan is a PhD scholar at School of International Studies, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is working on the Armenian diasporic community in India.