Sunday, February 15, 2009
Friday, February 13, 2009
Argentina
Committee: Organization of American States
Topic: Migrant Workers
Country: Argentina
Delegate: Chelsea Pottle, BRHS
Argentina for most of their history has been characterized as a country of immigration. After gaining independence from Spain in the early 19th century, Argentina adopted an open immigration policy and encouraged immigrants to accept the country as their own. At the end of the 1880’s, government subsidized boat passages and the country received over 7 million immigrants mostly from Spain and Italy. In the early developing years of the government, the government passed laws encouraging immigration of foreigners who would be willing to come and work the land and develop an agricultural industry in the country. In 1824 the Commission of Immigration began to function, advertising abroad in order to attract European immigrants to create new agriculture communities in the vast open lands outside the great Buenos Aires.
Argentina has an estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants, and the debate over what to do about the illegal immigrants is very similar to Americans. With a 2,500-mile western border which has 795 crossing points, Argentina cannot stop illegal immigrants, and that Argentineans do not want to do certain types of jobs. Bolivians have long been Argentina’s migrant workers, cutting sugar cane and picking oranges in northern provinces, and working their way to vineyards in the wine country and potato farms near Buenos Aires. This disrupts Argentina’s economy and standard of living.
Most immigrants in Argentina work in sweatshops or textile shops. A normal day in the shops are from 7 a.m to midnight. After women work these long hours in horrible conditions, they sometimes do not get paid. It sometimes adds up so that they owe women for 2 or 3 years of work. It is not only the working conditions, but the food is also awful. Immigrants would receive two meals a day. For breakfast a cup of tea with a piece of bread and lunch consisting of a portion of rice, potato, and an egg. They also had to share their two meals with their kids, because kids did not have right to food because they are not workers. Because they did not have any legal documents or know their rights, the migrant workers had to remain silent and deal with the working conditions.
Topic: Migrant Workers
Country: Argentina
Delegate: Chelsea Pottle, BRHS
Argentina for most of their history has been characterized as a country of immigration. After gaining independence from Spain in the early 19th century, Argentina adopted an open immigration policy and encouraged immigrants to accept the country as their own. At the end of the 1880’s, government subsidized boat passages and the country received over 7 million immigrants mostly from Spain and Italy. In the early developing years of the government, the government passed laws encouraging immigration of foreigners who would be willing to come and work the land and develop an agricultural industry in the country. In 1824 the Commission of Immigration began to function, advertising abroad in order to attract European immigrants to create new agriculture communities in the vast open lands outside the great Buenos Aires.
Argentina has an estimated 200,000 illegal immigrants, and the debate over what to do about the illegal immigrants is very similar to Americans. With a 2,500-mile western border which has 795 crossing points, Argentina cannot stop illegal immigrants, and that Argentineans do not want to do certain types of jobs. Bolivians have long been Argentina’s migrant workers, cutting sugar cane and picking oranges in northern provinces, and working their way to vineyards in the wine country and potato farms near Buenos Aires. This disrupts Argentina’s economy and standard of living.
Most immigrants in Argentina work in sweatshops or textile shops. A normal day in the shops are from 7 a.m to midnight. After women work these long hours in horrible conditions, they sometimes do not get paid. It sometimes adds up so that they owe women for 2 or 3 years of work. It is not only the working conditions, but the food is also awful. Immigrants would receive two meals a day. For breakfast a cup of tea with a piece of bread and lunch consisting of a portion of rice, potato, and an egg. They also had to share their two meals with their kids, because kids did not have right to food because they are not workers. Because they did not have any legal documents or know their rights, the migrant workers had to remain silent and deal with the working conditions.
Monday, January 26, 2009
jon lowell's position paper
Topic: Migrant workers
Country: The Dominican Republic
Delegate: Jonathan Bradford Lowell, Boothbay Region High School
Until the mid 1980’s hatian migrant workers were contracted as Braceros (Cane Cutters) for the sugar cane harvest which at the time the dominican operated on 12 sugar can feilds. Hatians were contracted in their own country through an agreement between both goverments the hatian government got all the money that was supposed to be paied to the workers though in the year 1986 the hatian government collected a 2 milion dollar check from the dominican government for the labor.
For decades Haitians have been leaving Haiti for better lives and a well paying job in the Dominican Republic, North America, and Europe. Many men and some women have been coming to the republic for the seasonal sugar cane industry private nationalized sugar plantations depend on the large swarm of Haitian workers. These workers are paid horribly and the work conditions are really crappie which most dominicans are not prepared to work under. The number of Haitians in the dominican republic is estimated in around the 500,000 to 1,000,000 person range accurate official records are not available. Most arrived several years ago when the sugar business needed thousands a year large numbers of Haitian workers still work in the agricultural sector but many have now moved on to construction, tourist industries, hotels, restaurants and manufacturing plants on the free trade zone border.
The migrant workers weather they are irregular, regular, or just dominicans of Haitian decent have been victims of numerous human rights violations for many years. Dominicans of Haitian decent have constantly been denied legal status under dominican law as a result the Inter-American Commission has labeled the legal status of dominican people of Haitian decent and Haitian workers in the dominican republic as one of “permanent illegality”. Birth certificates do not only prove nationality in the dominican republic children need them to get a range of services children without them will be denied access to education and are prevented from entering the job market when they get older.
Country: The Dominican Republic
Delegate: Jonathan Bradford Lowell, Boothbay Region High School
Until the mid 1980’s hatian migrant workers were contracted as Braceros (Cane Cutters) for the sugar cane harvest which at the time the dominican operated on 12 sugar can feilds. Hatians were contracted in their own country through an agreement between both goverments the hatian government got all the money that was supposed to be paied to the workers though in the year 1986 the hatian government collected a 2 milion dollar check from the dominican government for the labor.
For decades Haitians have been leaving Haiti for better lives and a well paying job in the Dominican Republic, North America, and Europe. Many men and some women have been coming to the republic for the seasonal sugar cane industry private nationalized sugar plantations depend on the large swarm of Haitian workers. These workers are paid horribly and the work conditions are really crappie which most dominicans are not prepared to work under. The number of Haitians in the dominican republic is estimated in around the 500,000 to 1,000,000 person range accurate official records are not available. Most arrived several years ago when the sugar business needed thousands a year large numbers of Haitian workers still work in the agricultural sector but many have now moved on to construction, tourist industries, hotels, restaurants and manufacturing plants on the free trade zone border.
The migrant workers weather they are irregular, regular, or just dominicans of Haitian decent have been victims of numerous human rights violations for many years. Dominicans of Haitian decent have constantly been denied legal status under dominican law as a result the Inter-American Commission has labeled the legal status of dominican people of Haitian decent and Haitian workers in the dominican republic as one of “permanent illegality”. Birth certificates do not only prove nationality in the dominican republic children need them to get a range of services children without them will be denied access to education and are prevented from entering the job market when they get older.
Panama
Jake Garrett
1/15/09
Position Paper
Currently in the country of Panama the new migration law now only grant visitors only 30 days upon entry into Panama with the possibility of one 60-day extension. Two days prior days to the expiration of your 30 days you will need to go to the immigration office with your application requesting a 60 day extension, two photo copies of your passport with entry stamp, two passport size photos, proof of financial independence, and a copy of your cruising permit. You will also need a Panamanian resident to sponsor you, and you will need a letter from the Panamanian resident, a copy of their ID and a copy of their utility bill showing their address. What the sponsor is doing is agreeing to take full legal and financial responsibility for you. With out this sponsor one will have to leave Panama every 30 days. In either case, prior to your original 30 days or your 60-day extension expiring you must leave the country of Panama and return to your country of residence, before you will be allowed to return to Panama.
Broadly, the new migratory structure in Panama will be executed by the National Service of Migration. Migrant workers face the gravest risks to their human rights and fundamental freedoms when they are recruited, transported and employed in defiance of the law. Mass poverty, unemployment and unemployment offer a fertile field of recruitment to employers and private agents. Illegal immigration is a national target of exploration. Economic recession common practice to restrict legal migration by foreign workers. Stiffer penalties for middlemen who recruit, employees accept illegal migrant labor have been proposed and introduced.
1/15/09
Position Paper
Currently in the country of Panama the new migration law now only grant visitors only 30 days upon entry into Panama with the possibility of one 60-day extension. Two days prior days to the expiration of your 30 days you will need to go to the immigration office with your application requesting a 60 day extension, two photo copies of your passport with entry stamp, two passport size photos, proof of financial independence, and a copy of your cruising permit. You will also need a Panamanian resident to sponsor you, and you will need a letter from the Panamanian resident, a copy of their ID and a copy of their utility bill showing their address. What the sponsor is doing is agreeing to take full legal and financial responsibility for you. With out this sponsor one will have to leave Panama every 30 days. In either case, prior to your original 30 days or your 60-day extension expiring you must leave the country of Panama and return to your country of residence, before you will be allowed to return to Panama.
Broadly, the new migratory structure in Panama will be executed by the National Service of Migration. Migrant workers face the gravest risks to their human rights and fundamental freedoms when they are recruited, transported and employed in defiance of the law. Mass poverty, unemployment and unemployment offer a fertile field of recruitment to employers and private agents. Illegal immigration is a national target of exploration. Economic recession common practice to restrict legal migration by foreign workers. Stiffer penalties for middlemen who recruit, employees accept illegal migrant labor have been proposed and introduced.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Topic: Migrant workers
Country: Federal Republic of Brazil
Delegate: Zachary Tyler Ronan
Currently in the Federal Republic of Brazil there is a new energy source that could change the way we think about fuels forever. The revolutionary fuel is ethanol, Ethanol derived from sugar cane and is currently Brazil’s main crop profit and pollutes 13 % less than gasoline. If you can imagine a fuel that humans can grow every year instead of drill, you would think it would benefit everyone involved, but the scary truth is that over 1 million workers and 200,000 temporary migrant workers in Brazil suffer everyday to extract the cane sugar from the fields.
In Sao Paulo,Brazil where temperatures reach scorching, workers have since as long back as 1525 have worked for an average 12 hour day in prison like complexes where they and their families sleep on wooden bunk beds, for a meager pay of $150 a month. Between 2004-2006 seventeen workers died of heat exhaustion and many more where injured. These workers including child laborers are ultimately taken advantage of for many of them don't speak the language and have no natural rights. Brazilian business tycoons who make billions purposely under pay the people who work so tirelessly to make them a profit. Last year alone the ethanol market was worth $8 billion. The main producers are the wealthier south east who produce 85% of the sugar harvest while the poorer north east with a much smaller 15%. Last year, the United States imported 433.7 million gallons of ethanol.
Another problem with sugar harvesting is the pollution it brings to Brazil and its citizens. The deforestation of rain forest and burning of cane fields is under severe legislation because it causes air pollution, It sometimes gets so bad that airports cannot operate due to the amount of smoke in the sky. The physical exploitation of the workers can and will be changed in the future by machines. The machines that cut the canes can produce the same amount as 80 men would in a day and leave behind a grass layer which redistributes the nutrients needed for the next season. But the problem is that they devour oil, and the jobs of the workers which isn't fair. The solution to the pollution caused by sugar combiners may also very well be bio diesel in the foreseeable future.
Although the horrors of the sugar fields are a problem there are also the benefits such as cleaner energy source and the 300,000 jobs it brings to Brazil. The U.N. and da Silva, the president of Brazil are currently trying to find a resolution but till then the problem still stands.
Country: Federal Republic of Brazil
Delegate: Zachary Tyler Ronan
Currently in the Federal Republic of Brazil there is a new energy source that could change the way we think about fuels forever. The revolutionary fuel is ethanol, Ethanol derived from sugar cane and is currently Brazil’s main crop profit and pollutes 13 % less than gasoline. If you can imagine a fuel that humans can grow every year instead of drill, you would think it would benefit everyone involved, but the scary truth is that over 1 million workers and 200,000 temporary migrant workers in Brazil suffer everyday to extract the cane sugar from the fields.
In Sao Paulo,Brazil where temperatures reach scorching, workers have since as long back as 1525 have worked for an average 12 hour day in prison like complexes where they and their families sleep on wooden bunk beds, for a meager pay of $150 a month. Between 2004-2006 seventeen workers died of heat exhaustion and many more where injured. These workers including child laborers are ultimately taken advantage of for many of them don't speak the language and have no natural rights. Brazilian business tycoons who make billions purposely under pay the people who work so tirelessly to make them a profit. Last year alone the ethanol market was worth $8 billion. The main producers are the wealthier south east who produce 85% of the sugar harvest while the poorer north east with a much smaller 15%. Last year, the United States imported 433.7 million gallons of ethanol.
Another problem with sugar harvesting is the pollution it brings to Brazil and its citizens. The deforestation of rain forest and burning of cane fields is under severe legislation because it causes air pollution, It sometimes gets so bad that airports cannot operate due to the amount of smoke in the sky. The physical exploitation of the workers can and will be changed in the future by machines. The machines that cut the canes can produce the same amount as 80 men would in a day and leave behind a grass layer which redistributes the nutrients needed for the next season. But the problem is that they devour oil, and the jobs of the workers which isn't fair. The solution to the pollution caused by sugar combiners may also very well be bio diesel in the foreseeable future.
Although the horrors of the sugar fields are a problem there are also the benefits such as cleaner energy source and the 300,000 jobs it brings to Brazil. The U.N. and da Silva, the president of Brazil are currently trying to find a resolution but till then the problem still stands.
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