The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation, in view of its active involvement with the organization of the Civil Society Days of the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development 2009, in Greece and in accordance with the goals set forth by its founder, Aristotle Onassis, for the awarding of International Prizes, has decided to launch

the “Hestia” Onassis International Prize in Immigrant Integration and Human Development.

The deadline for submission of applications for the "Hestia" Onassis International Prize has expired on Tuesday, October 27 at 12 noon.

The World Health report 2006 estimated the global health worker shortage at 4.2 million, including more than 1 million in Sub-Saharan Africa. Health worker migration from countries already experiencing a human resource for health crisis, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is weakening further their already fragile health systems and represents a serious impediment for the achievement of the right to health care and the health millennium development goals

Globally, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 4.3 million more health workers are required to achieve the health related Millennium Development Goals and has identified 57 countries with critical shortages of health workers—36 of these countries are in Africa.

The WHO together with Realizing Rights and the Global Health Workforce Alliance (GHWA), is working on the development of an international Code of Practice for health worker migration.

The NGO Committee on Migration, a Committee of the Conference of Non-Government Organizations in Consultative Relationship with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (CONGO) organized a program on Asian NGO Perspectives on the GFMD In the Current Financial Crisis.

Please read the brief Report.

How does circular migration contribute to development? And in what ways is circular migration different from temporary migration?

The Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation is this year’s organiser of the Civil Society Days (CSD) of the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD). The CSD will be held in Athens, Greece on the 2nd and 3rd November 2009, under the chairmanship of the renowned film director, with a key involvement in migration issues, Mr. Costa Gavras.

The Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) is an international meeting of voluntary non-binding and informal transnational consultation, open to all Member States of the United Nations. It focuses on migration and its possible association with development. The GFMD consists of the Civil Society Days where participants such as NGOs and other society members formulate proposals to be discussed at the forum’s second part, namely at the international meeting of government representatives which is to take place on the 4th and 5th November 2009. The Forum was created following a proposal by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan in 2006 and was held for the first time in Brussels, Belgium in 2007 and in Manila, the Philippines, one year later.

Dear friends,

Alexander S. Onassis Public Benefit Foundation is proud to establish this new “Hestia” Onassis International Prize in Immigrant Integration and Human Development in the framework of the Civil Society Days (CSD) of the 3rd Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) .

In 1922, a 16-year-old boy arrived in Greece as a refugee from the ravaged city of Smyrna in Asia Minor. A few months later, he emigrated to Argentina. He was to become one of the world’s most successful shipping magnates, a legendary figure, not only in financial circles but also in the eyes of ordinary people.

In his will, Aristotle Onassis established an independent foundation and bequeathed it half his fortune wishing to leave forever a legacy to help the development in our global society in culture, education, health, the environment.

Migration, and its potential to lead to development, is one of the most critical issues our world faces today. Good migration policies will lead to social achievements in all sectors the Foundation supports and works for.

The creation of this new Onassis International Prize for initiatives driving the world towards the direction of immigrants’ integration and the development in their host countries is our small contribution to this demanding effort.

Barriers to migration should be reduced to enable migrants to play a positive role in both industrialised and developing countries, says a leading DFID-funded research group.

The findings, produced by the Development Research Centre on Migration, Globalisation and Poverty (Migration DRC), are published in a research brief launched in advance of the Global Forum on Migration and Development 2009 and available on the centre’s website at www.migrationdrc.org