ARGENTINA: International Organisation Warns of Xenophobia

BUENOS AIRES, Dic 16 (IPS) - The head of the Argentine branch of the International Immigration Organisation (IIO), Lelio Marmora, warned Friday that the country is becoming a "culture medium" for prejudice against immigrants.

A 14 percent unemployment rate and the wide variation of wages from one country to another are factors that contribute to increasing xenophobia in Argentina, Marmora said.

During a seminar on population policies and journalism that ended on Friday, the official said there is "latent prejudice" against foreigners from bordering countries (Bolivia, Chile, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) and Peru.

Slightly less than one million people from other Latin American countries live in Argentina, which has a population of 33 million inhabitants, but the popular perception is that there are "many more," he added.

According to Marmora, claims by government officials that undocumented workers provide "unfair competition" and statements in the press that immigrants come to Argentina seeking healthcare are erroneous and "prejudices not based on objective information."

Marmora also minimised police claims that crime commited by immigrants has increased, pointing out that 88 percent of prisoners are Argentines, and stressed that incorrect data tends to foment prejudice.

He also told of an IIO survey that found results on xenophobia so alarming that the organisation withheld it from publication.

A radio reporter told the seminar that "after the press reported that the beds in a certain public hospital are increasingly being filled by undocumented workers, people began to call to protest that (foreigners) are an economic burden that they have to support with their taxes."

Marmora said the measures implemented by the Argentine government to restrict the entry of immigrants are contradictory to the economic and political integration provided for by accords such as the MERCOSUR (Southern Cone Common Market), and called it "one of the great paradoxes of our time."

Representatives of the Sub-Secretary of Population, in charge of new control measures that seek to ensure that immigrants possess a work permit before entering the country, also participated in the seminar.

The Sub-Secretary of Population, Mario Oporto, said unions - particularly that of the construction industry - are demanding that the government control the entrance of illegal workers.

However, Oporto claimed the policies of his division "do not encourage xenophobia, but seek to control" foreigners who enter the country because "that is the state's duty."

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service