Information
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-2435.1984.tb00643.x |
| Author | Taisto Hujanen |
| Date | 01 January 1984 |
| Published date | 01 January 1984 |
In
formation
A
Joint
International
Study
on the
Communication
Situation
of
Migrant
Work-
ers
agreed
in
Tampere
(Finland)
A
joint international study concerning
the
role
of
information
in
the realization
of
the
human rights
of
migrant workers
was ini-
tiated by a conference in Tampere (Fin-
land) from the 19th to the 22nd of June
1983. The conference gathered about
40
experts from
15
European countries to dis-
cuss the need for policy and research with
respect to the communication situation of
migrant workers and their families.
As
a
result of its discussion the conference ad-
opted a Final Statement where it also con-
firmed the aims and organization of the
joint study.
The object of the joint study is the com-
munication situation of migrant workers
which will
be
studied from the point of
view of the human rights. The study will
connect research and action and, conse-
quently, it is anticipated that the results of
the study should promote the practical im-
provement of the communication situa-
tion of migrant workers. The study as such
aims also at promoting the idea of comu-
nication policies concerning migrant work-
ers.
As
it is noted in the Final Statement,
the participants of the conference were con-
vinced ‘that clearly and consciously de-
fined communication policies form an ef-
fective method to realize and improve the
promotion of the rights of migrant work-
ers’.
As
a background to the need for research
and policy in the field the Final Statement
refers to the legal status and socio-econ-
omic position of migrant workers which
have made that they often have poor access
to normal channels of information. There-
fore, urgent research and action are needed
in order to guarantee equal access of mi-
grant workers to mass media and other
forms of communication. With respect to
the frame of reference of the coming re-
search and action it is concluded that mi-
grant workers should not be seen only as
receivers of information
or
objects of cul-
tural adaptation but also as subjects of
communication and cultural creation.
Further, the communication situation of
migrant workers is shaped by language, cul-
ture and education as well as by socio-
economic factors of migration and, there-
fore, these factors should form the basis of
any communication policy concerning mi-
grant workers.
The study will be open to any party who
accepts the principles and objectives of it.
Each party will define independently the
final object and problem of its sub-study to
be conducted at a national basis in the res-
pective country. However, the study con-
sists also of a short comparative review
of
the basic aspects ofthe communication sit-
uation of migrant workers which should be
conveyed as a part of the national sub-stu-
dy. The variables included in the compara-
tive part are documented at the end of the
Final Statement.
The conference was organized by the
Department ofJournalism and Mass Com-
munication at the University of Tampere
(P.O.
Box
607,
SH-33101 Tampere
10,
Fin-
land) which also is responsible for the co-
ordination of the joint study during its
opening phase until the 30th of June 1983.
By this time any party interested in joining
the study should communicate its interest
to do
so
to the co-ordinator. Financially,
56
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