Citizenship and Migrants Rights - Essay Example

Title: HOW AND WHY IS CITIZENSHIP A DETERMINANT OF MIGRANTS’ RIGHTS? GIVE EXAMPLES (Name) (Institution) (29/2/08) Introduction Migrants refer to people who move from their home country to a foreign country (Immigrants) and those who come in a country from another country (Emigrants). Many migrants move from their home country in search for security, job opportunities and better life not in their home country. Most of the times people would likely prefer to migrate to a country which speaks the same language as their home country. However people with different interests may end up in any country regardless of the language spoken since they move to such a country for the attractive business or job opportunities. Migrants in search for jobs in other economically stable countries also experience problem during migration due to the bureaucratic procedures that are followed for migrants to be allowed in the host country. Scope of Migration in the UK Immigrants who anticipate becoming British citizens and even settling permanently in the United Kingdom pass through several tests in order to prove their worth. Some migrants pay a fund towards public services and they are given a period of probation as citizens. From the prime ministers words the process of becoming citizens should be more exacting. Future migrants according to a report by the home secretary of state will need to earn their citizenship. This denies the migrants their rights of applying for naturalization once they live for a long time in the United Kingdom. Migrants from any other areas outside the European Economic Area have to move through a system that leads them to getting citizenship they leave the EU countries if they are not ready to go through such a system. In order to enjoy rights in the United Kingdom a migrant is therefore supposed to through the whole system so that he/she can earn citizenship which guarantees her/him the rights like any other citizen in the United Kingdom. But it is not easy for this to come by as some measures have been set to make it harder for any migrant to acquire full status of becoming a citizen. (Mclndoe, 2005) These measures include the raising of the visa fees for a special transitional impact fund, testing English language more ahead of nationality, going through a test to prove integration into communities and also prolonging the period one is supposed to take to become a British citizen. These requirements are obviously hard to be met by many and they also make it hard for any migrant to enjoy the rights of citizenship. The package measures above that have to be met by any migrant in order to fully qualify to be a British citizen are hard to undertake and this makes it hard for migrants to enjoy their rights. Earned citizenship includes both having clear rights and also stronger obligations. According to Dan.D,Croydon one of the migrants to the United Kingdom, he had waited for a decision regarding his citizenship application but because the fees was set high he has been unable to acquire citizenship and does not have any rights because he is still not a fully integrated citizen in the United Kingdom. From the above example it is very necessary for any migrant to acquire full citizenship in order to also have rights as a migrant in the United Kingdom. To be able to find route to citizenship and also fully access education the migrants are also required proving that they are active citizen. This would be demonstrated through their involvement in charity work and the involvement will only be accompanied with letters from referees from those charity institutions. Any migrant caught in any act that of breaking the law will automatically find it hard or be disqualified from attaining the British citizenship. This is especially a slippery step for those who are not conversant with the British laws because they may find themselves in the wrong hands of the law for acts they might have not thought to be bad. In his proposal the Home secretary Jacqui Smith said that migrants will have to take extra steps in order for them to earn citizenship and become members of the United Kingdom society. On their arrival in United Kingdom the migrants should not think that that is the end of their journey of living in Britain. They will be needed to take or spend another six to eight years in just proving their worth to the UK instead of five years that had been set previously. (Ibid, 1991) Compulsory community service which has been imposed on individuals as a non-custodial penalty for an offense that is committed by that individual has been proposed to be undertaken by any migrants who aspire to become British citizens as a condition of citizenship. Professionals have found themselves carrying out community service work instead of concentrating on their areas of professionalism so that they can acquire citizenship. Citizenship is a gate that opens many other opportunities for a migrant such as free education and no matter how hard the process is made those who aspire to become British citizens have got no option but to go through the whole system. The citizenship tests launched for foreigners who want to become British citizens has also made it harder to acquire British citizenship and thus made many migrants fail to enjoy rights as full citizens do. For example to get a passport a migrant has to sit a 45-minute test on different topics such as history, society and culture. To answer the questions from those topics a migrant is supposed to read a special book 'life in the UK' since language problems is a barrier to communication and integration migrants have to learn English. This is also a big burden for those migrants who are not familiar with the language for they are supposed to start from basics. A country's migration policies and citizenship also determine the migration of people into a country. For example in Ireland there are a lot of African migrants due to there attractive citizenship policies and liberal welfare system that make it conducive for migrants. The home country of the migrant also determines the migration of individuals from one country to the other. The migration policies in the country affect the migration of its people to other countries. In the less developed countries, the wealthy class and a few middle class can afford to migrate to the developed countries mostly for education and they return back to their home country after studies. In a country of origin, the policies may also restrict people from moving going out of the country or restricting certain people from entering their country. (Ruba, 2000) Citizenship and Its Effect on Migration Citizenship is the ownership of residence in a state or a country. Citizenship in every country or state is subject to a number of factors such as religion, social cultural, race, economic level of development, and also the social political stands in the country. In order to understand how citizenship determines migrant’s rights it is important to look at these factors that constitute citizenship of a person separately. In this paper the factors will be analyzed separately and their effects on migrants right. Religion The religion of a migrant is very sensitive and determines his rights in another state. In the United Kingdom where most of the population is Christians, immigrants from a non Christian country face it rough. The Muslim immigrants in the western are generally perceived as terrorists and security measures that end up violating their human rights are undertaken. The screening done by the police to their language, the way they are handled like criminals violate their rights as immigrants. On the other hand emigrants in Arab countries, the Middle East, have their rights violated since these states are strict Muslims and any other form of religion is not entertained. The right of worship is not exercised in these states hence emigrants rights are violated. (Khosa, 2002) Social Cultural Factors The social cultural factor also determines the rights of migrants as they are determined by their citizenship of the migrant. The western way of life and the African lifestyle are totally different and an immigrant in the west faces rights violation by the host country because the way of life differs. For example, in many African countries it is considered a taboo for a grown up man to share a roof with his mother but in the western there is no big deal. An immigrant from Africa been forced to share a room under one roof with a woman the age of his mother will feel offended. In UK the immigrants do not have their right to exercise their cultural values as they are in a different environment. Race The race of an immigrant determines his or her rights in a country. In Britain migrants of African origin especially the former colonial territories may have to undergo a lot of test to prove that they are worth living in the UK. Some immigrants from Ireland also are subjected to tests that are not necessary to prove their worth in the UK. In the European Union countries, the immigrants who are non members have their rights violated especially in Germany where racism is exercised against immigrants. In fact the African immigrants in Germany face police harassment each and every day as they are required to identify themselves to the police any time they are seen in the streets. The handling of non EU members in Germany is contrary to the policies formulated in protection of the immigrants. (Ruba, 2000) The violation of their rights is to some extent determined by their understanding of the legal framework of the country. Economic Level of Development The level of economic development of a country from which an immigrant is a citizen also determines his or her rights as an immigrant. In Germany and many European countries which are economically developed, immigrants from less developed and developing countries are often exploited since they go there desperately to look for money. The citizens take advantage and they are offered poor jobs with meager pay. Some immigrants in the UK and European Union are forced into prostitution and drug trafficking and since they are citizens from poor countries especially Africa and South America, they get into it to earn a living and save enough to take to their families back to their home country. Cases of human trafficking in the European Union and UK are very high with people from the developing countries being the major victims. Although the governments formulate policies to guard them, they are not strictly adhered to thus rights of the immigrants remain violated without any follow ups. (John, H. 2002). Social Political Situation The political temperatures in the country of origin also determine the rights of immigrants in the host country. Immigrants from the war tone zones in Africa and other Middle East countries do not have their rights respected in many European countries and the UK; they are screened in every place they go for fear of bringing insecurity in the host country. The immigrants are therefore misused by the citizens because they are taken as refugees in that country. As a result they end up being sexually assaulted by the citizens. In case of criminal offenses the immigrants are the first suspects and the police do not follow the required procedure to arrest them but detain them in cells without investigations. For emigrants, in situations where the political grounds are not stable, their rights becomes violated by the citizens since they take advantage of them being in their country at such a time when security is out of hand. Tourists from the European Union in the African politically unstable countries are very susceptible to violation of rights for example in Chad the recent skirmishes led to the French government evacuating its people from the country after rebels took hostage of the capital city. In Kenya the post election violence that hit the country led to the tourists from United Kingdom, European Union and United States to free for their own security since hooligans were taking advantage to rob them because they believe they have money because they come from developed countries and economically stable states. (Hogan E. 1992). Political rivalry among countries also determine the rights of migrants, some countries have some political alignment connected to other states. The support of certain superpower state may determine a migrant’s right. Some states belong to non alignment movement and therefore have the advantage of visiting any country without their rights being jeopardized. In the UK immigrants from their former colonies are given an added advantage over other immigrants. The literacy of an individual, his or her understanding determines his rights not only as a migrant but also as a citizen in his own country. People with little know how about their rights have their rights violated regardless of their citizenship. (Ugba, 2004) Education level is also another influencing factor of migrant’s rights. People with education and skill are not easily exploited because they can work in their field of interest. Unskilled immigrants are easily exploited because they lack the knowledge of what is intended of them. References Hogan, E. (1992).The British Historical migrant moment, (Dublin: Gill and Macmillan publishers) Ibid, A. (1991). Occasional papers on British migrants, (London: London Press release) John, H. (2002). Narratives of Muslim and Islamist migration, Journal of Mediterranean studies, Vol. 13 No.3 pp 43-47 Khosa, K. (2002), New approaches to migration (London: Rout ledge) Mclndoe, T. (2005). Irish and UK migration, students economic review, Vol. 19, 2005 pp203-216. Ruba, S. (2000).Home longing and belonging among migrants women, (Oxford: Oxford University press) Ugba, A. (2004). Quantitative profile analysis of Africa immigrants, (Dublin: African cultural project) Read More