Global Migrant Rights Treaty Includes Undocumented
El Norte Digest
NCM, News Digest, Compiled and edited by Marcelo Ballve, Posted: Jul 17, 2003
Traducción al español.
Global Migrant Rights Treaty Includes Undocumented
With its approval by 20 countries, a global treaty that seeks to protect the rights of migrants is now in effect under the auspices of the United Nations. The treaty, which has been ratified by several Latin American states, establishes guidelines for the treatment of migrants much as the well-known Geneva Convention does for prisoners of war.
In a July 13 commentary article for Los Angeles Spanish-language daily La Opinión, Guatemalan journalist Haroldo Shetemul writes that the International Convention for the Rights of All Migrant Workers and their Families is especially important because in referring to "all migrant workers" it includes those migrants who do not have their documents in order. Plus, it includes family members who often share in the difficult journeys of migration.
Shetemul says the treaty's recent approval by Mexico and Guatemala could improve the lives of Latin American immigrants who pass through those countries heading north to the United States. The treaty establishes that migrants should be granted the same legal protections as citizens, and that they be treated humanely and be allowed access to health care and education, regardless of immigration status.
"Of course, the countries that receive the largest flows of migrant workers, like the United States, have rejected the convention and it is probable that they will never ratify it," Shetemul writes.
Shutting Down a Chicano Center Proves Difficult
A California community college is saying that it shut down a Chicano Cultural Center at the school because of a state law that bans the preferential treatment of students of a particular ethnic background.
El Popular, a Spanish-language weekly in Bakersfield, Calif., reports that officials at Bakersfield College -- where a majority of 15,000 students are Hispanic -- blamed Proposition 209, an anti-affirmative action ballot measure passed by California voters in the mid-1990s, for their May decision to close the center.
Critics howled that the college is misinterpreting the law and misunderstands the mission of the Chicano Cultural Center, which actually caters to students of all ethnic backgrounds, providing tutoring and other services.
Charlie Rodríguez, a student leader, was quoted as saying: "If the fact that the (center) has 'Chicano' in its name makes people think that it is only destined to help Hispanics, then the solution would be to change the name, not close it permanently."
Other students protested the decision and vowed they would continue fighting to reopen the center, according to the June 26 article by Martin Ramirez. The center organizes events and academic counseling and was founded in the 1970's to help Hispanic students adapt to college life.
Mexico Leads World in Marijuana War
A recent United Nations study found that Mexico leads the world in marijuana seizures and marijuana plant eradication, reports the Los Angeles-based chain of bilingual papers, Eastern Group Publications, in editions running through July 17.
In a 2003 analysis of the global drug market, the United Nations Office Against Drugs and Crime, or UNODC, said that Mexico led the world in marijuana seizures and acreage of pot plants eradicated. The report was based on data from 2001, the article said. Mexico more than doubled the amount of pot seizures made in the United States that year, though much of Mexico's marijuana crop is consumed north of the border.
The report estimated that of the 7,000 to 8,000 tons of marijuana produced annually in Mexico, some 5,000 goes to feed the U.S. market. The United Nations said that the use of marijuana has increased worldwide between 1999 and 2001, with an estimated 163 million people using the drug in that period.
The article by Elda M. Arroyo Macias noted that among U.S. Latinos, an estimated 4 percent of people above the age of 15 smoke marijuana, while in Mexico only 2 percent of population in that same age group does.
Where Do Brazilians Fit In?
Is a Brazilian living in the United States considered a Hispanic? Census forms don't include Latin American nationalities as separate categories as they do with Asian ethnicities such as Vietnamese and Chinese, so the question is pertinent to the hundreds of thousands of Brazilians living in the United States, many who feel separate from other Hispanics.
In the July 2003 issue of Brazzil, a Los Angeles-based monthly and website, a Brazilian geographer studying in the United States, Allan P. Marcus says Brazil is different.
Marcus mentions culinary, linguistic and cultural characteristics that set Brazil apart; even the Brazilian way of playing soccer is distinct, he says. "The way soccer is traditionally played in Brazil is unique, and Brazil is the only country in the world to have won the Soccer World Cup five times. These Brazilian soccer players do not play soccer like Mexicans, Puerto Ricans or Cubans."
The common perception is that all immigrants from Latin America living in the United States are Hispanic, including Brazilians. But Marcus argues that in the case of Brazil, a Portuguese-speaking nation in South America that has always set itself apart from Spanish-speaking neighbors, the label doesn't fit at all. " (Brazilians) are not 'Hispanic' in the contemporary semantic context, but they are uniquely Brazilian," he writes.
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