Migrant Diaries - Colin Rajah

(AP Photo/David Guttenfelder)
karlos says: The following is rom Colin Rajah, of National Network Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Colin is at the mobilizations against the WTO in Hong Kong, and was detained by Hong Kong authorities because of his immigration status as an asylee. We are glad Colin is ok and able to participate . Be sure to visit his blog over the next few days to see how it's going in Hong Kong.

Dear NNIRR members, allies and friends,

I want to express my extremely deep-hearted gratitude for taking action -- sending emails, faxes and making calls to stop my deportation and demand my release from detention in Hong Kong because of my migration status. Due to each and every one of your efforts, I was finally released after 12 hours in detention, and approximately less than an hour before my scheduled deportation.

The director of the immigration department himself came to visit me in the detention center to explain that they had received numerous calls, faxes and emails to demanding my release, which prompted them to reconsider my case. I want to particularly thank Jessica Walker Beaumont and Amy Gottlieb of the American Friends Service Committee, and my colleagues at the National Network (NNIRR) for their persistence around my case. Thank you all.

However, this is not an isolated case. The harassment of immigrants and refugees around the WTO ministerial meetings and similar convenings of government trade negotiators is nothing new. Even here in HK (as in the US) with consistent harassment of migrant workers, the WTO meetings have heightened the attack against migrant workers. On December 12th and 13th, the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union and KOTHIKO (a collective of Indonesian migrant workers) was raided not just once or twice, but a total of THREE times by plain-clothes police. The police said that they received reports of "illegals" and accusations of "bombs and other explosives" at the migrant workers offices.

However, together with our allies Asian Migrant Centre (AMC), Migrant Forum Asia (MFA) and others here, and alongside our grassroots API delegation we continue to raise attention on the issues migrant workers face under the WTO's trade policies.

I can be reached by mobile (cell phone) here at +852-6079-1700 at any time. Please do not hesitate to circulate this number and the others' from the grassroots API delegation and Bay Area WT-No to any one who might want to reach us here.

Thank you, and please keep a lookout at migrantdiaries.blogspot.com for an update in the next day. Thank you everyone again.

For justice and solidarity across borders,

Colin Rajah
National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights
crajah@nnirr.org or colinrajah@yahoo.com
Cell: +852-6079-1700
Hong Kong

Hong Kong WTO
globalization
Immigration
trade