Population, Immigration and Citizenship Clippings. 20110226 2011 Week 8
Two Submissions to the Sustainable Population Strategy for Australia
Kelvin Thomson MP 28/2/2011 30 page pdf
http://www.kelvinthomson.com.au/editor/assets/public_documents_2011/submission%20to%20sustainable%20population%20strategy.pdf
Business Council of Australia 28/2/2011 40 page pdf
http://www.bca.com.au/UserFiles/Submission_on_the_Development_of_Australia%E2%80%99s_Sustainable_Population_Strategy_FINAL_28.2.2011(1).pdf
Almost all Afghans allowed to stay
Australia The Australian Paul Maley 17/2/2011
NINETY-SIX per cent of Afghan asylum claims finalised last year were successful, challenging the Gillard government's assurances that people-smuggling rackets can be smashed by sending bogus refugees home in droves.~
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/almost-all-afghans-allowed-to-stay/story-fn59niix-1226007198197
Immigration, World Poverty and Gumballs - Video
USA NumbersUSA Presented by immigration author/journalist Roy Beck
Immigration - Global humanitarian reasons for current U.S. immigration are tested in this updated version of immigration author and journalist Roy Beck's colorful presentation of data from the World Bank and U.S. Census Bureau. The 1996 version of this immigration gumballs presentation has been one of the most viewed immigration policy presentations on the internet.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPjzfGChGlE&feature=related
UN Report: 'The situation of Maori people in New Zealand'
New Zealand, Peace Movement Aotearoa, 22 February 2011
The Advance Unedited Edition of the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, James Anaya, 'The situation of Maori people in New Zealand' is now available at http://www.converge.org.nz/pma/unsr2010.htm The 24 page Report ......
Competing Views on Germany's Immigrants
Germany, Spiegel, 25/2/11
Immigration is a heated topic in Germany. SPIEGEL recently sat down with two experts -- a Turkish-born sociologist and a German-born journalist -- to explore the issue. And found that a reasoned debate is difficult to come by~
http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,747239,00.html#ref=nlint
What The Census Tells Us About America’s Future
USA, NewGeography, Joel Kotkin, 25/2/2011
With the release of results for over 20 states, the 2010 Census has provided some strong indicators as to the real evolution of the country’s demography. In short, they reveal that Americans are continuing to disperse, becoming more ethnically diverse and leaning toward to what might be called “opportunity” regions. The cities are not growing but the suburbs are.
http://www.newgeography.com/content/002080-what-the-census-tells-us-about-america%E2%80%99s-future?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Newgeography+(Newgeography.com+-+Economic,+demographic,+and+political+commentary+about+places)
Lost generation timebomb
New Zealand, NZHerald Bernard Hickey 20/2/2011
A hole has quietly opened up in our population and economy. That hole should make home builders, shopkeepers, economists, politicians and elderly voters very nervous. If it remains New Zealand's economy faces some ugly choices within the next 10 to 20 years.
Demography expert Professor Natalie Jackson from Waikato University identified this population gap at a symposium for chief financial officers this week in Auckland.~
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/economy/news/article.cfm?c_id=34&objectid=10707460
Largest crowds since Vietnam War march in Wisconsin
USA MADISON, Wisconsin Reuters James Kelleher and David Bailey Sun Feb 27, 2011
(Reuters) - A crowd estimated at more than 70,000 people on Saturday waved American flags, sang the national anthem and called for the defeat of a Wisconsin plan to curb public sector unions that has galvanized opposition from the American labor movement.
In one of the biggest rallies at the state Capitol since the Vietnam War, union members and their supporters braved frigid temperatures and a light snowfall to show their displeasure.~
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/27/us-wisconsin-protests-idUSTRE71O4F420110227
USA- Californians for Population Stabilisation
Ill-Legal Workers Video – Advertisement TV Campaign 30 seconds
http://www.capsweb.org/content.php?id=1026&menu_id=14
Britian's Housing Crisis: Causes and Solutions
UK NewGeography Ian Abley 19/2/11
British house construction has remained at a low level for a decade. Total new house and flat completions for all tenures last year were 113,670 for England, 17,470 for Scotland, and 6,170 for Wales. Excluding Northern Ireland that is 137,310 for Britain. Under 140,000 homes a year is low for a nation of 60 million.~
http://www.newgeography.com/content/002064-britians-housing-crisis-causes-and-solutions?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed:+Newgeography+(Newgeography.com+-+Economic,+demographic,+and+political+commentary+about+places)
UK to let in 20,000 skilled Indians yearly bypassing government's new immigration caps
India UK EU SIFY 20/2/11
~Britain would reportedly allow thousands of Indians to enter the country every year under a European Union (EU) trade deal.~
http://www.sify.com/news/uk-to-let-in-20-000-skilled-indians-yearly-bypassing-government-s-new-immigration-caps-news-international-lcumkeiiiae.html
“Heartless” Minister Kenney Cutting Family Class Immigration By 25 Percent
Canada The Link (Indo-Canadian News Paul Dhillon 20/2/11
Indo-Canadian hoping to sponsor parents or grandparents will only get 2,500 visas this year, down 45 per cent from 4,500 in 2010. With the election coming, immigrant voters need to send a message to Harper Conservatives that they have had enough with their under-handed anti-immigrant policies, say immigrant groups.~
http://thelinkpaper.ca/?p=4524
Editorial: Cutting back on elderly immigrants makes sense
Canada CALGARY HERALD 20/2/11
Family reunification is a worthwhile immigration goal for Canada - but it must be tempered by economic realities. The federal government's plan to cut the number of family reunification visas for parents and grandparents of immigrants from 16,000 to 11,000 a year makes fiscal sense.~
http://www.calgaryherald.com/life/Editorial+Cutting+back+elderly+immigrants+makes+sense/4318216/story.html
Former Coalition immigration minister Philip Ruddock warns migrants against funding smugglers
Australia The Australian Paul Maley 22/2/11
LAW enforcement agencies have warned that people-smugglers are relying on the remittance sector to transfer money from migrant communities in Australia to pay for asylum boat tickets.
As parliament prepares to debate tough new laws aimed at stopping the flow of illicit money, former immigration minister Philip Ruddock has issued a warning to migrants who would pay smugglers to spirit their relatives to Australia.~
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/former-coalition-immigration-minister-philip-ruddock-warns-migrants-against-funding-smugglers/story-fn59niix-1226009693940
Germany: Population Decline and the Economy
Germany Suite1010.com Bhumika Ghimire 22/2/11
Is Germany's economy feeling any effect from the population decline? Data suggests a different picture.~
http://www.suite101.com/content/germany-population-decline-and-the-economy-a351400
Hong Kong Budget Highlights Aging Population Crisis
Hong Kong Epoch Times Sonya Bryskine 22/2/11
Hong Kong's population is fast becoming the most rapidly aging in Asia. With the release of the annual budget this week, questions remain whether the government is able to provide long-term solutionsfor the elderly and most needy.~
http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/world/hong-kong-budget-highlights-aging-population-crisis-51817.html
RI sees smaller population in the youngest age bracket
Indonesia The Jakarta Post 02/24/2011
The birth control revival in 2007 has corrected the spike in population growth, which is evident in the declining number of the country’s youngest age-group population.
The National Demography and Family Planning Agency (BKKBN) recorded that the population of the age bracket between 0- and 4-year-olds reached 22 million people in 2010, lower than that in the 5-to-9 group that reached 23.4 million.~
http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2011/02/24/ri-sees-smaller-population-youngest-age-bracket.html
Immigration and asylum
Ireland Irish Times 24/2/11
THE EXPRESSION of disquiet by former Supreme Court judge Catherine McGuinness about the lack of transparency in our immigration and asylum system crystallises years of concern about the appeals mechanism involved. People claiming asylum in this State first apply to the Office of Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). Last year Ireland earned the dubious distinction of being the EU member state least likely to grant refugee status at first instance. Almost 99 per cent of applications were rejected compared with an EU average acceptance rate of one in four.~
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/opinion/2011/0224/1224290734750.html
Science, not vested interests, must shape population policy
Australia The Punch 23/2/11
In Australia our concerns over the effects of a growing population are just part of our concerns for the health of all our patients. For these reasons Doctors for the Environment Australiahas a population policy which explains the links between population and health.
It is fairly obvious that the present rate of population growth in Australia has imposed considerable strain on existing health services in terms of trained personnel, finance and administration. Any increase in population must be constrained by the rate at which services can be maintained.~
http://www.thepunch.com.au/articles/science-not-politics-must-decide-how-big-australia-gets/
Energetic Limits to Economic Growth
Academic Paper Bioscience61 www.biosciencemag.com Jan 2011
The human population and economy have grown exponentially and now have impacts on climate, ecosystem processes, and biodiversity far exceeding those of any other species. Like all organisms, humans are subject to natural laws and are limited by energy and other resources. In this article, we use a macroecological approach to integrate perspectives of physics, ecology, and economics with an analysis of extensive global data to show how energy imposes fundamental constraints on economic growth and development. We demonstrate a positive scaling relationship between per capita energy use and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) both across nations and within nations over time. Other indicators of socioeconomic status and ecological impact are correlated with energy use and GDP. We estimate global energy consumption for alternative future scenarios of population growth and standards of living. Large amounts of energy will be required to fuel economic growth, increase standards of living, and lift developing nations out of poverty.
http://www.aibs.org/bioscience-press-releases/resources/Davidson.pdf
Public Favors Tougher Border Controls and Path to Citizenship
USA Pew Centre Report 24/2/11
The public continues to favor tough measures to crack down on illegal immigration. Yet Americans see no contradiction in supporting both stepped-up border security and a way for people already in the United States illegally to gain citizenship.~
http://people-press.org/report/707/
Japan population growth rate slows to record low
Japan Reuters Shinichi Saoshiro 25/2/11
Japan's population grew at its slowest rate since 1920 in the five years to 2010, data showed Friday, underscoring the challenges for policy-makers struggling with the rising costs of an aging society.~
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/02/25/us-japan-population-idUSTRE71O1FK20110225
Japan's duel with demography
Japan Canada, Linda Sieg, ReutersFebruary 16, 2011
'Taking matters into their own hands'; The country's spirited youth try to save an aging economy by rejecting salaryman ethos.~
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/business/Japan+duel+with+demography/4291600/story.html#ixzz1F9pgo77F
No. of foreigners who applied for refugee status in Japan down 186 in 2010
Japan Japan Today 26/2/11
The number of foreigners who applied for refugee status in Japan in 2010 totalled 1,202, down 186 from a year earlier, while only 39 people were certified as refugees, up nine, the Justice Ministry said Friday.~
~Of the overall total of 402 foreigners who have been granted asylum in Japan through 2010, 356 were people from Myanmar.
http://www.japantoday.com/category/national/view/no-of-foreigners-who-applied-for-refugee-status-in-japan-down-186-in-2010
The Future of China as an Economic Power and Japan
Japan Daily Yomiuri Online Satoshi Amako 26/2/11
In January, the National Bureau of Statistics of China announced that China’s GDP for 2010 had increased by 10.3% year on year. The U.S. dollar value of the GDP was approximately 5878.6 billion dollars. On the other hand, the Cabinet Office of Japan announced on February 14th that Japan’s GDP for the same year was about 5474.2 billion dollars, which means that China has finally become the second largest economy in the world. What is more, the world-famous economist Hu Angang, a Professor at Tsinghua University, wrote an article entitled “How Should China Catch Up with and Overtake the United States?” in the first volume ofOutlook Weeklyin 2011, in which he presents a strong expectation that China will surpass the U.S. in terms of GDP by 2020~
http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/adv/wol/dy/opinion/international_110228.htm
Libya's refugee crisis
USA Libya Foreign PolicyElizabeth Dickinson 23/2/11
As a measure of how bad violence has gotten inside Libya, look to the borders, where tens of thousands have already fled -- and a further300,000might be on their way. "It is a biblical exodus," Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini toldReuterstoday. Speaking on BBC News World Service this morning, a representative from the International Red Cross said that his organization was preparing capacity along the border with Tunisia for as many as 10,000 new refugee arrivals today.~
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2011/02/23/humanitarian_crisis_on_the_libyan_border
Similar http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/02/23/libya.refugees/
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-12565214
Lacking Faith in Future, Tunisians Take to the Boats
Germany Italy Tunisia, Spiegel, Fiona Ehlers 21/2/2011
They were the ones who triggered the revolution: the poor and disenfranchised of Tunisia. But despite their hard-won freedom, many don't see any prospects for a quick improvement in their lives, and are seeking their fortunes across the sea in Europe. An uncertain future awaits them there.~
~He wants to leave his country, just as it is about to blossom. It's been five weeks since theJasmine Revolution,with which the Tunisian youth drove out the country's eternal ruler for life, Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, but Munir still doesn't believe he has a future in his country.~
http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,746729,00.html#ref=nlint
Brussels deploys team to help Italy with immigration pressure
EU Italy DW_WORLD 20/2/11
The European Union is sending a team of border experts to Italy to authorities overwhelmed by a flood of migrants from Tunisia. Rome says more than 5,000 people have landed on the tiny southern island of Lampedusa.~
http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,14855715,00.html
Italy Warns of a New Wave of Immigrants to Europe
Italy Libya Germany Europe, Spiegel, 24/2/2011
Chaos in Libya has led to immediate concern that hundreds of thousands of immigrants could head for Europe. Italy's interior minister, ahead of an EU summit in Brussels, called on Thursday for European help in dealing with a looming "catastrophic humanitarian emergency."
Other Italian officials warned earlier this week of a wave of refugees fleeing violence that Moammar Gadhafi's regime has reportedly visited on its own people. But if Libya collapses into anarchy, some observers have said, it could become an immigration route for far more people from sub-Saharan Africa.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/europe/0,1518,747459,00.html#ref=nlint
EU bracing for exodus of asylum seekers
Malta Times of Malta Ivan Camilleri 22/2/11
Frontex, the EU border agency, has been given instructions to start preparing for a possible unprecedented influx of immigrants and asylum seekers fleeing Libya towards the EU, particularly through Malta and Lampedusa. The EU is “ very concerned” about the possible exodus of some 750,000 Libyan citizens and sub-Saharan Africans from the country towards Europe as a result of the turmoil, according to European Commission sources.
http://www.timesofmalta.com/articles/view/20110222/local/eu-bracing-for-exodus-of-asylum-seekers
Similar http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/specials/the_arab_spring/Grappling_with_a_refugee_influx_from_Africa.html?cid=29580456
And http://www.nationalpost.com/opinion/columnists/coming+refugee+crisis/4351369/story.html
Austrian Cabinet approves revised asylum, immigration rules amid criticism from UN and others
Austria Canada Press Veronika Oleksyn (23/2/11
VIENNA — Austria's Cabinet on Tuesday approved new immigration and asylum rules, amid criticism from the United Nations and others.