The British Government plans to introduce compulsory identity cards to protect against illegal immigration, welfare fraud and terrorism.  Prime Minister Tony Blair has approved the idea in principle but his office said it would take years to resolve the many complex issues surrounding the plan.  Britain is currently working on improving passports to include chips containing biometric data.

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Illegal recruiters in the Philippines continue to victimize unemployed workers who end up in miserable conditions abroad and outside the government’s protection.  Victor Fernandez, head of the Philippines Association of Service Exporters, Inc. (Pasei), declared that the solution to this problem is for applicants to ensure the job recruitment agency is licensed or not blacklisted by the Philippine Overseas Employment administration (POEA).

However, some illegal recruiters sometimes use names of a licensed agency to recruit workers.  Mr. Edgardo Mendoza, chief of the Immigration Regulation Division at the Bureau of Immigration in Manila, admits that immigration agents are also taking bribes from illegal recruitment agents.

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Indonesia plans to deport a group of fourteen Kurdish asylum seekers to Turkey after the group was rejected by Australia.  The International Organization for Migration has been caring for the Kurds at a lodge in the Yamdena fishing village of Saunlaki.

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An influx of Muslim immigration to Italy, which is 80% Catholic, is rapidly changing its cultural makeup and creating religious tension between the two groups.  Islam has become the country’s second-largest religion, with approximately 700,000 to 1,000,000 Muslims among a total population of 57 million.  Unlike other religious communities, Italy’s Muslims have yet to be formally recognized.  Other religions have signed agreements with the government, giving them official recognition and the opportunity to benefit from a national “religion tax.”

The tension between the Catholics and Muslims in Italy was apparent last month when a judge ruled that crucifixes in schools should be removed from classroom walls out of respect for Muslim pupils.

In recent weeks, Italy’s far-right Alleanza Nazionale has called for immigrants to be given the vote.  But the Muslim vote still faces strong opposition from parts of the Prime Minister’s coalition government.

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Bhutan and Nepal are trying to find a solution for the Bhutanese refugees issue. The Bhutanese refugees, mostly of Nepalese descent, were displaced during the 1990s when the government tried to impose cultural reforms by encouraging the use of its national language and dress. While the refugees insist that they were forced to leave, the Bhutan government says the refugees left voluntarily.

Bhutan fears that the return of the refugees would change the demography of the country and the country might lose its identity.  It also fears the refugees’ preference of multiparty democracy over a constitutional monarchy.

If the landmark agreement reached in the two-day meeting between Bhutan and Nepal is implemented, it might result in the repatriation of a major section of refugees and the settling of remaining ones in Nepal by granting them Nepalese citizenship.

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In 1996, the Malaysian government initiated a process for legalizing undocumented migrant workers already in the country. Its freeze on the intake of overseas labor soon followed.  Before this bar, 350,000 Bangladeshis had been legally working in Malaysia and there were about 50,000-60,000 undocumented workers. This made Malaysia the country who received the second highest number of Bangladeshi workers.

Currently, Malaysia is expected to sign a memorandum of understanding with Bangladesh, lifting its seven-year long freeze on taking in labor from that country.  Malaysia wants Bangladesh to ensure low migration cost and district selection of labor suitable to the job requirements.