November 11, 2009 - Posted by Filomenita - 0 Comments
As migration increases every day, there is evidence to suggest that it brings with it many benefits for development in both countries of origin and in destination countries. However, there is a very complex relationship between the two, and many actors in the development sector have long wanted to delve into the links between them.
It was the UN Secretary General at that time, Kofi Annan, and his Special Envoy on International Migration and Development, who tabled at the High Level Dialogue on the same topic the importance of a UN-level meeting for this area. So on 14–15 September 2006, within the framework of the General Assembly of the UN, it became reality to devote international attention each year to one of the most significant phenomena in modern history: migration, and how it could be harnessed for development.
In July 2007, the first meeting of the Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD), which this UN-level meeting has come to be called, was held and hosted by the government of Belgium, in Brussels, the heart of Europe.
The GFMD is, among other things, an intergovernmental forum: a meeting of governments alternately hosted by a migrantreceiving and a migrant-sending country (after the Brussels meeting in 2007, it was Manila, the Philippines, who hosted the second conference in October 2008). The GFMD has three goals:
- to bring together government expertise from all regions to enhance dialogue, cooperation and partnership in the areas of migration and development;
- to address in a transparent manner the multidimensional aspects, opportunities and challenges related to international migration and its links with development; and
- to foster practical and action-oriented outcomes at the national, regional and global levels.
In 2009, the GFMD will again take place in a migrant-receiving country, Greece. Athens, the Greek capital, will be hosting this annual meeting of governments and stakeholders in the migration nexus, including NGOs and migrant groupings who want to be heard. In the context of the GFMD, it is considered vital that civil society groups are heard, so each host country takes it upon itself to choose some 200 delegates from all over the world, representing different sectors of society: immigrant organisations., migrant-rightsfocused NGOs, labour unions, immigrant media representatives etc. who are able to push the agenda through constructive discussions in roundtables and plenary sessions. The results of the two days of intense discussions on migration and development are then collated and presented to the governments who meet the following two days.
There is another forum within the context of the GFMD that creates space for alternative views and opinions to be presented. This goes under the parallel events, the ‘people-led’ activities, collectively called the People’s Global Action (PGA). As in other international UN-level conferences, a wide range of people’s organisations organise different kinds of activities and happenings to focus on the burning question of the day. These could be the familiar demonstrations, alternative conferences, cultural events etc. Some migrant coalitions prefer to hold congresses or discuss more pointedly the issues that bind them together – for example, migration and development policies – or to take a more popular topic: remittances. It is worth mentioning that remittances are now four to five times higher than the amounts of Official Development Assistance (ODA) that developing countries receive.
The annual GFMD thus is a unique space in which governments, while discussing bilaterally and multilaterally and perhaps negotiating certain agreements, are also able to hear and, hopefully, act on the recommendations of civil society and people’s organisations.
First published: WIDE October 2009 Newsletter
WIDE was represented at the Global Forum on Migration and Development 2009 by Filomenita Høgsholm from KULU, WIDE’s Danish Platform, and Babaylan, the Philippine Women’s Network in Europe. For more information, contact Filomenita Høgsholm: filomenitamh@gmail.com
October 29, 2009 - Posted by Filomenita - 0 Comments
FMH, Founding Chair of Babaylan got elected to the Executive Board of Danish Women’s Minority Council
FMH, Founding Chair of Babaylan got elected to the Executive Board of the new umbrella organization of immigrant women of Denmark, which is now to be considered a sister organization to the Danish Women’s Council, which has given its support all the way.
Ms. F Mongaya Høgsholm has been a primus motor in the precursor to the current umbrella, in the multi-ethnic women’s organization SOLDUE which experienced its heyday in the years leading ot the UN Intl. Women’s Conference in Beijing in 1995.She coordinated the participation of Denmark’s immigrant women at such miliestones as the Nordic Forum (1994), the UN Social Summit (March 1995) and the UN Intl. Women’s Conference in Beijing/Huairou. In 1994, she was awarded the Grassroots Foundation Prize for SOLDUE magazine which she edited from 1992-1997.
On the European level, FMH was elected VIce-President for two terms (1992-94 & 1994-96) and President (1996-98) of BWEN, Black Women and Europe Network. She established Babaylan Denmark in 1997, and since 2004 has been Board member of Babaylan Europe, the Philippine Women’s Network. She continues to be Editor in chief of ABAKADA, the magazine on women, migration, integration and development established in 2001.
Nitnit as she is fondly called by friends and her family is the onlyAsian among 11 to Denmark’s Women Minority Council which has a big job to do: change the negative image of migrant women, make women more visible,and facilitate their participation in the Danish Society in the labour market, in politics and in the Danish culture.
Below is the Article published in Women’s Council Newsletter (Kvinderådet Nyhedsbrev nr. 66)
Etniske Minoritetskvinders Råd er dannet
2 Oktober 2009
Etniske minoritetskvinder er godt trætte af deres misvisende image som ressourcesvage ofre. Nu har en lang række vidt forskellige foreninger dannet en ny paraply Etniske Minoritetskvinders Råd, som holdt stiftende generalforsamling i København d. 26. september.
60 kvinder fra mere end 20 foreninger var mødt op til generalforsamlingen, der havde valg af bestyrelse som vigtigste punkt på dagsordenen. De 9 bestyrelsesmedlemmer og 2 suppleanter er Tresor Kankindi, AKUDA (Afrikanske kvinders union i Danmark), Hawa Hirsi Hussein, Kvindehuset i Århus, Vanessa de Oliveira Stephensen, NOVUM (Netværk for Videreuddannede med Minoritetsbaggrund), Margrethe Wivel, Indvandrer Kvindecentret, Susanne Langer, United to end racism, Kvindefraktionen i Danmark, Bayan Saleh, Center for Women’s Equality, Hakima Lasham Lakhrissi, Danske-Internationale Kvinder, Annam Al-Hayali, Kringlebakken, Alma Bekturganova Andersen, Verdens Kvinder i Danmark, Filomenita Mongaya Høgsholm, Babaylan og Mudje Husein, Interkulturel Kvindeforening (ICWO)
Formålet med paraplyen er at være talerør for de etniske minoritetskvindeforeninger, platform for samarbejde med andre organisationer – og så skal paraplyen bruges til at understøtte medlemsforeningerne i det praktiske arbejde.
Konsulenterne i Kvinderådets projekt “Ind i foreningerne – ud i samfundet” har været fødselshjælpere for den nye paraply. Projektet har haft fokus på empowerment af de etniske kvindeforeninger og dannelse af netværk på tværs af etnicitet. Og det er til overmål lykkedes med dannelsen af paraplyen.
Med Etniske Minoritetskvinders Råd har Kvinderådet fået en søsterorganisation, og de to paraplyer kommer til at indgå i et tæt samarbejde.
October 29, 2009 - Posted by Filomenita - 0 Comments
Filomenita Mongaya Hoegsholm, Founding chair of Babaylan Denmark and co-founder of Babaylan EUrope is being invited as one of only two immigrant women in Europe to speak and participate at the CEDAW+30 celebration Roundtable on Women and Migration in Geneva, on November 4th. She will be representing WIDE (Women in Development Europe) and affiliated thru WIDE’s Danish platform KULU and member orgnaization Babaylan Europe.
The regional event of celebrating CEDAW+30 is jointly sponsored by OHCHR, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN/ECE, the UN Economic Commission and UNIFEM, the UN Development for Women.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted in 1979 by the UN General Assembly, is often described as an international bill of rights for women. Consisting of a preamble and 30 articles, it defines what constitutes discrimination against women and sets up an agenda for national action to end such discrimination. Learn more about CEDAW by visiting their website http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/cedaw.htm
Prior to Geneva, Ms.Filomenita Mongaya Hoegsholm will be in Athens where she is Official Delegate to the GFMD (Global Forum on Migration and Development) Civil Society Days on Nov.2-3 and will go back to Athens to input at the PGA (People’s Global Action), the NGO part of this global gathering from Nov.3-5. Please check the officail website of the GFMD Greece for more details. After GFMD she will join the Babaylan Europe’s Bi-annual Congress Nov.6-8.
