Free Movement of Persons
SCHENGEN AGREEMENT (European Union)
During the 1980s, a debate opened up about the meaning of the concept of free movement of persons. Some Member States felt that this should apply to EU citizens only, which would involve keeping internal border checks in order to distinguish between citizens of the EU and non-EU nationals. Others argued in favour of free movement for everyone, which would mean an end to internal border checks altogether. Since the Member States found it impossible to reach an agreement, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands decided in 1985 to create a territory without internal borders. This became known as the "Schengen area". The name was taken from that of the town in Luxembourg where the first agreements were signed. This intergovernmental cooperation expanded to include 13 Member States in 1997, following the signing of the Treaty of Amsterdam, which incorporated into EU law on 1 May 1999 the decisions taken since 1985 by the Schengen group members and the associated working structures.
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The Schengen area gradually extended to include every Member State. Italy signed the agreements on 27 November 1990, Spain and Portugal joined on 25 June 1991, Greece followed on 6 November 1992, then Austria on 28 April 1995 and finally Denmark, Finland and Sweden joined on 19 December 1996.
Though not all European countries are part of the European Union, the Schengen free travel area reaped benefits from two other travel initiatives who agreed to varying degrees of cross-cooperation without fully integrating into the EU:
(Swedish, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian text)
The Common Travel Area means that there are no passport controls in operation for Irish and UK citizens travelling between the two countries. Since 1997, some controls are in effect on arrivals in Ireland from the UK but this does not mean that you are required to carry your Irish or UK passport with you when you travel between the countries. You must, however, carry an acceptable form of photo-identification, examples of which are listed below.
MIGRATION FACTS
Migration Dialogue provides timely, factual and nonpartisan information and analysis of international migration issues through five major activities: the newsletters Migration News and Rural Migration News, Changing Face and other Research & Seminars, and the Sloan West Coast Program on Science and Engineering Workers.
Nearly 190 million people, about three percent of the world's population, lived outside their country of birth in 2005. A look at the flow of people around the globe." Flash graphic with tabs showing Net flow, Share of total migrants, Share of local population, Money sent home by migrants and Money sent home as a share of GDP.
The Migration Information Source provides fresh thought, authoritative data from numerous global organizations and governments, and global analysis of international migration and refugee trends. A unique, online resource, the Source offers useful tools, vital data, and essential facts on the movement of people worldwide. Working with a team of international correspondents, we chronicle global migration movements, provide perspectives on current migration debates, and offer the tools and data from numerous global organizations and governments needed to understand migration. We do this in a way that is accessible to researchers, policy makers, journalists, and other opinion shapers. Our advisory board and other prominent migration scholars who contribute to The Source include some of the most respected voices in the migration and refugee fields. The Source also relies on the good will of several global organizations and governments who make their data and research publicly available on our site.
International migration flows have increased in magnitude and complexity over the past decades. As a result, migration and potential migration to, for instance, the European Union are receiving ever more attention at policy level. Within this context, the Commission of the European Communities entrusted Eurostat, its statistical Bureau, and the Netherlands Interdisciplinary Demographic Institute (NIDI) with a project to study the push and pull factors determining international migration flows. The objective of the project was to improve our understanding of the direct and indirect causes and mechanisms of international migration to the European Union, from an internationally comparative perspective. The results are intended to serve as a basis for the development of policy instruments and to provide tools for estimating future migration.
History provides us with many examples of notable diasporas. This is an incomplete list, which may never be able to satisfy certain standards for completeness. The list is not definitive, and includes groups that have not been given significant historical attention. Whether the migration of some of the groups listed fulfills the conditions required to be considered a diaspora may be open for debate.
Pro-immigrant, low-immigration think-tank which seeks fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome for those admitted. The Center for Immigration Studies is an independent, non-partisan, non-profit research organization founded in 1985. It is the nation's only think tank devoted exclusively to research and policy analysis of the economic, social, demographic, fiscal, and other impacts of immigration on the United States. It is the Center's mission to expand the base of public knowledge and understanding of the need for an immigration policy that gives first concern to the broad national interest. The Center is animated by a pro-immigrant, low-immigration vision which seeks fewer immigrants but a warmer welcome for those admitted.
The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) is a national, nonprofit, public-interest, membership organization of concerned citizens who share a common belief that our nation's immigration policies must be reformed to serve the national interest. FAIR seeks to improve border security, to stop illegal immigration, and to promote immigration levels consistent with the national interest—more traditional rates of about 300,000 a year. With more than 250,000 members and supporters nationwide, FAIR is a non-partisan group whose membership runs the gamut from liberal to conservative.Our grassroots networks help concerned citizens use their voices to speak up for effective, sensible immigration policies that work for America's best interests.
Advocates and builds public support for public policies that welcome immigrants and refugees to the United States. Established in 1982, the National Immigration Forum is the leading immigrant advocacy organization in the country with a mission to advocate for the value of immigrants and immigration to the nation. The Forum uses its communications, advocacy and policy expertise to create a vision, consensus and strategy that leads to a better, more welcoming America – one that treats all newcomers fairly. Ultimately, our vision is to create US immigration policy that honors our nation’s ideals, protects human dignity, reflects our country’s economic demands, celebrates family unity and provides opportunities for progress.
MPI provides analysis, development, and evaluation of migration and refugee policies at the local, national, and international levels. It aims to meet the rising demand for pragmatic and thoughtful responses to the challenges and opportunities that large-scale migration, whether voluntary or forced, presents to communities and institutions in an increasingly integrated world.
Founded in 2001 by Demetrios G. Papademetriou and Kathleen Newland, MPI grew out of the International Migration Policy Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. MPI is guided by the philosophy that international migration needs active and intelligent management. When such policies are in place and are responsibly administered, they bring benefits to immigrants and their families, communities of origin and destination, and sending and receiving countries.
THE DREAM ACT
The DREAM Act ‒ introduced by Senators Richard Durbin of Illinois and Richard Lugar of Indiana and Rep. Howard Berman of California and Lincoln Diaz-Balart of Florida‒ can solve this growing problem. Under the rigorous provisions of the DREAM Act, undocumented young people could be eligible for a conditional path to citizenship in exchange for a mandatory two years in higher education or military service. Undocumented young people must also demonstrate good moral character to be eligible for and stay in conditional residency. At the end of the long process, the young person can have the chance to become an American citizen. The DREAM Act Portal works to turn this dream into a reality.
The DREAM Act (S. 774) is a nightmare. It is a massive amnesty that extends to the millions of illegal aliens who entered the United States before the age of 16. The illegal alien who applies for this amnesty is immediately rewarded with "conditional" lawful permanent resident (green card) status, which can be converted to a non-conditional green card in short order. The alien can then use his newly acquired status to seek green cards for the parents who brought him in illegally in the first place. In this way, it is also a back-door amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens who brought their children with them to the United States.
According to the International Maritime Bureau, pirates attacked 111 ships and hijacked 42 of them off the Somali coast and the Gulf of Aden in 2008. Together, these instances of piracy and armed attacks on the high seas underscored a deficit in the architecture of global governance. States and international organizations struggled with appropriate responses.
Individual states and international organizations first sent ships to patrol the area. In early 2009, a more cohesive approach began to take shape. In response to a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) request to construct a more robust response to piracy, an international naval force to confront Somali pirates in the Horn of Africa and the Gulf of Aden was formed and placed under United States Naval Command.
Currently, efforts are underway within the auspices of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia, comprised of 24 states and 5 international organizations, to erect a legal framework to prosecute suspected pirates.
Below are pertinent sources for information on recent developments in the global response to piracy.
(1) UN Security Council Resolution 1846, 2 December 2008
This resolution welcomes initiatives by States, regional organizations, and international organizations to counter piracy off the Somalia coast.
(2) UN Security Council Resolution 1851, 16 December 2008
This resolution extends current anti-piracy measures by authorizing all States, regional organizations, and international organizations with permission from Somalia's transitional federal government "to undertake all necessary measures that are appropriate in Somalia" to pursue and capture pirates and armed robbers.
(3) United Nations Conference on the Law of the Sea of 10 December 1982
The Combined Maritime Forces has established Combined Task Force 151 under US Naval Command to direct counter-piracy operations of 20 participating States off the Somali coast.
(5) In this article from The New York Times, you can read about international efforts to deal with the Somali pirates.
Captured Somali pirates could soon face trials and serve jail sentences outside their homeland under a pact being negotiated between American officials and regional allies, the head of a new U.S. anti-piracy task force said Friday.
Ms. Hanson offers a comprehensive primer on the nature and severity of piracy; its definition; and mechanisms for, and legal complications arising from, combating piracy. The article contains many links to pertinent articles and analyses.
(7) The New York Times has assembled a collection of articles on piracy at sea.
GG and Regionalization
GARNET is a Network of Excellence on Global Governance, Regionalisation and Regulation: The Role of the EU funded under the European Commission’s 6th Framework Programme and comprising 42 leading research centres and universities. It is coordinated by the Centre for the Study of Globalisation and Regionalisation at the University of Warwick. GARNET's aim is to develop a world-class multi-disciplinary network of scientific excellence of researchers, analysts and practitioners with expertise in key issues and themes in global and regional governance. Particular focus is placed on: (i) those elements of the global regulatory framework (trade, finance, security) that (to a greater or lesser extent) structure the modern world system and (ii) an analysis of Europe’ role within that framework.
EU (European Union) is a federation of European nations which acts as a group to protect their interests.
ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) is an association between countries in southeastern Asia which was established to promote economic cooperation peace and cultural development.
African Union - is an international organization founded as the Organization of African Unity to promote cooperation among the independent nations of Africa.
The Arab League - Arab League, informal name of the League of Arab States, a voluntary association of independent countries whose peoples are mainly Arabic speaking. Its stated purposes are to strengthen ties among the member states, coordinate their policies, and promote their common interests.
CARICOM - The Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) was established by the Treaty of Chaguaramas, which was signed by Barbados, Jamaica, Guyana and Trinidad & Tobago and came into effect on August 1, 1973. Subsequently the other eigth Caribbean territories joint CARICOM. The Bahamas became the 13th Member State of the Community on July 4, 1983. Suriname became the 14th Member State of the Caribbean Community on July 4, 1995.
OAS - The Organization of American States (OAS) brings together the nations of the Western Hemisphere to strengthen cooperation on democratic values, defend common interests and debate the major issues facing the region and the world. The OAS is the region’s principal multilateral forum for strengthening democracy, promoting human rights, and confronting shared problems such as poverty, terrorism, illegal drugs and corruption. It plays a leading role in carrying out mandates established by the hemisphere’s leaders through the Summits of the Americas.
Pacific Islands Forum - The Pacific Islands Forum, formerly the South Pacific Forum until a name change in October 2000, was founded in August 1971 and comprises 16 independent and self-governing states in the Pacific. The Forum is the region’s premier political and economic policy organisation. Forum Leaders meet annually to develop collective responses to regional issues.
SCO - The Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) is an intergovernmental international organization founded inShanghaion15 June 2001 by six countries: China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgystan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan. Its member states cover an area of over 30 million km2, or about three fifths of Eurasia, with a population of 1.455 billion, about a quarter of the world's total. Its working languages are Chinese and Russian.
The Responsibility to Protect
The United Nations Association in Canada is very proud to present here the policy and community discussion facilitated to mark 50th Anniversary of UN Peacekeeping in 2006 and 2007...Canadians were in the forefront of creative thinking and robust participation in the early peacekeeping initiatives. They have also been in the forefront of the development of a new concept – the Responsibility to Protect – that states have a primary responsibility to protect their own populations, and that the international community has a responsibility to act when these governments fail to protect the most vulnerable populations. This paper is one of several important legacies of our ambitious year of activity. Collectively they will provide serious research data and thoughtful analysis for government officials, academics, civil society and others concerned with these important issues; educational resources for teachers and students; and broad community dialogue and engagement. I want to acknowledge the great contribution of Emily Schroeder, UNA-Canada project officer, in both the thinking and organizing of this project. She has organized and managed a remarkable body of work and writings.
R2P is an abbreviation for the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine. In response to the genocide in Rwanda, then-Secretary General Kofi Annan, in his report to the 2000 General Assembly, challenged the international community to come to a consensus on when and how humanitarian interventions should proceed. In December 2001, the Responsibility to Protect doctrine was created by the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty, an independent international commission established by the government of Canada, to address Annan's concern. This commission revolutionized international perspectives on humanitarian intervention.
The Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, along with Associated Centres throughout the world, will serve a catalyst for moving the responsibility to protect from principle to practice. Housed at the Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies at The Graduate Center of The City University of New York, in close proximity to UN Headquarters, the Centre will conduct, coordinate, and publish research on refining and applying the R2P concept. It will serve as an information clearing house and resource for governments, international institutions, and non-governmental organizations leading the fight against mass atrocities. The GCR2P was officially launched on 14 February 2008 with a series of events in New York City. View the press releases and the Secretary-General's message on the opening of the Centre. The Global Centre is an initiative of the International Crisis Group, Human Rights Watch, Institute for Global Policy, Oxfam International, and Refugees International. To date, start up support has been pledged by the governments of Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, The Netherlands, Norway, Rwanda, and the United Kindgom, the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, the Open Society Institute, and Scott Lawlor; its International Advisory Board is co-chaired by Gareth Evans and Mohamed Sahnoun.
One of the regular activities of the Global Centre is to update the key-worded bibliography originally compiled by the ICISS Research Directorate and updated through 2004. The current version contains new entries for the years 2005-2007. The next update to cover the first half of 2008 will be available in fall 2008.
This report is about the so-called "right of humanitarian intervention": the question of when, if ever, it is appropriate for states for take coercive - and in particular military - action, against another state for the purpose of protecting people at risk in that other state. The Commission was asked to wrestle with the whole range of questions - legal, moral, operational and political - rolled up in this debate, to consult with the widest possible range of opinion around the world, and to bring back a report that would help the Secretary-General and everyone else find some new common ground. The report's central theme is "The Responsibility to Protect", the idea that sovereign states have a responsibility to protect their own citizens from avoidable catastrophe, but that when they are unwilling or unable to do so, that responsibility must be borne by the broader community of states. We hope very much that the report will break new ground in a way that helps generate a new international consensus on these issues.
In its efforts to help prevent conflict worldwide, the International Crisis Group has consistently drawn upon the doctrine of the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), the principle that sovereign states, and the international community as a whole, have a responsibility to protect civilians from mass atrocity crimes. Crisis Group President Gareth Evans served as co-chair of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty that first developed the R2P concept in 2001.
The mission of the R2P Coalition is: 1. To convince the American people and its leaders to embrace the norm of the responsibility to protect as a domestic and foreign policy priority; 2. To convince our political leadership that the US must join the ICC; 3. To convince our political leadership to empower the UN and the ICC with a legitimate and effective deterrent and enforcement mechanism - an International Marshals Service - a standing international police force to arrest atrocity crimes indictees.
The Responsibility to Protect-Engaging Civil Society (R2PCS) project works to advance Responsibility to Protect (R2P) and to promote concrete policies to better enable governments, regional organizations and the U.N. to protect vulnerable populations.
In what was widely hailed as a historic breakthrough, the 2005 World Summit unanimously affirmed the primary and continuing legal obligations of states to protect their populations—whether citizens or not—from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity, and from their incitement. The world leaders flatly declared that “we accept that responsibility and will act in accordance with it.” While this first pillar on which R2P rests is firmly anchored in existing obligations under international law, its second and third pillars are more innovative and have farther-reaching implications.
On September 16, 2005, the World Summit at the United Nations unanimously affirmed the “responsibility to protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” That action was a politically important step in establishing the significance of the doctrinal Responsibility to Protect (R2P). Putting R2P into practice presents a separate and even more difficult set of challenges. Because R2P addresses issues of sovereignty, developing countries are particularly sensitive to the way in which the idea is implemented. In many parts of the world, there is wariness if not outright resistance. However, at the Stanley Foundation’s 43rd conference on the United Nations of the Next Decade, held in the Convento do Espinheiro in Évora, Portugal, between June 20 and June 25, 2008, there were clear indications that many developing countries - some living with quite recent atrocities at home or in neighboring countries— are embracing R2P in the spirit of “never again.”