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Addressing Healthcare Worker Emigration

healthcare worker emigrationThe emigration of skilled healthcare workers from developing countries to higher-income nations has significantly impacted the healthcare systems of the countries these workers leave behind. The quantity and quality of healthcare services have declined as a result of healthcare worker shortages. While there is still incredible room for growth, recent governmental strategies have incentivized healthcare workers to work in their home countries.

Why Is Healthcare Worker Emigration a Problem?

When healthcare workers emigrate, they leave hospitals in developing countries without enough skilled workers. Lower-income countries are likely to carry a greater amount of the global disease burden while having an extremely low healthcare staff to patient ratio. For example, sub-Saharan Africa only has 3% of all healthcare workers worldwide, while it carries 25% of the global disease burden. In many African countries with severe healthcare worker emigration, like Lesotho and Uganda, hospitals become overcrowded. Furthermore, hospitals cannot provide proper treatment for everyone due to the lack of skilled workers.

This directly affects the quality of care patients receive in countries with high healthcare worker emigration. Newborn, child and maternal health outcomes are worse when there are worker shortages. When fewer workers are available, fewer people receive healthcare services and the quality of care worsens for populations in need.

Why Do Healthcare Workers Emigrate?

The emigration of doctors, nurses, and other skilled healthcare workers from developing countries occurs for a number of reasons. The opportunity for higher wages elsewhere is often the most important factor in the decision to emigrate. Additionally, healthcare workers may migrate to higher-income nations to find political stability and achieve a better quality of life. The rate of highly skilled worker emigration, which has been on the rise since it was declared a major public health issue in the 1940s, has left fragile healthcare systems with a diminished workforce.

Moreover, the United States and the United Kingdom, two of the countries receiving the greatest numbers of healthcare worker immigrants, actively recruit healthcare workers from developing countries. These recruitment programs aim to combat the U.S. and U.K.’s own shortages of healthcare workers. Whether or not these programs factor into workers’ migration, both the U.S. and the U.K. are among the top five countries to which 90% of migrating physicians relocate.

Mitigating Healthcare Worker Emigration

The World Health Organization suggests that offering financial incentives, training and team-based opportunities can contribute to job satisfaction. This may motivate healthcare workers to remain in the healthcare system of their home country. Some developing countries have implemented these strategies to incentivize healthcare professionals to remain in their home countries.

For example, Malawi faced an extreme shortage of healthcare workers in the early 2000s. Following policy implementation addressing healthcare worker emigration, the nation has seen a decrease in the emigration rate. Malawi’s government launched the Emergency Human Resources Program (EHRP) in 2004. This program promoted worker retention through a 52% salary increase, additional training and the recruitment of volunteer nursing tutors and doctors. 

In only five years after the EHRP began, the proportion of healthcare workers to patients grew by 66% while emigration declined. Malawi expanded upon this program in 2011 with the Health Sector Strategic Plan. Following this plan, the number of nurses in Malawi grew from 4,500 in 2010 to 10,000 in 2015. Though the nation still faces some worker shortages, it hopes to continue to address this with further policy changes.

Trinidad is another a country that has mitigated the challenges faced by the emigration of healthcare workers. Trinidadian doctors who train in another country now get government scholarships to pay for their training. However, these scholarships rest on the condition that they return home to practice medicine for at least five years. Such a financial incentive creates a stronger foundation for healthcare professionals to practice in their home country.

A Turn Toward Collaboration

A recent study determined that the collaboration of nurses, doctors and midwives significantly decreased mortality for mothers and children in low-income countries. As developing countries work toward generating strategies to manage the emigration of healthcare workers, a team-based approach can improve the quality of healthcare. When there are shortages of certain kinds of health professionals in remote areas, family health teams composed of workers in varying health disciplines can collaborate to provide care. 

Improving working conditions and providing both financial and non-financial incentives to healthcare professionals in developing countries not only benefits workers and the patients, but the nation’s healthcare infrastructure as a whole. An increase in the number of skilled healthcare workers in developing countries gives people there the opportunity for a better life.

– Ilana Issula
Photo: Flickr

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Why Are More People Crossing the Border?

why are more people crossing the border
In early 2019, Congress approved a humanitarian aid plan for migrants at the U.S.-Mexico border. Nevertheless, the political crisis of migrant treatment and their arrival to the U.S. continues. In February 2019, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency to obtain funding for his planned border wall. He has repeatedly called the situation at the U.S. border an invasion. The question remains: why are more people crossing the border?

People should note, however, that the number of border apprehensions dropped by 28 percent in the course of a month. The number decreased from the apprehension of an estimated 120,000 plus people in May 2019 to an estimated 80,000 plus people in June 2019.

In the past, most of the undocumented immigrants found in the U.S. southern border were single men from Mexico. Recently, most immigrants trying to cross the U.S.-Mexico border are families coming from countries in Central America’s Northern Triangle, namely Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras. These countries have severe instabilities. The number of people from these three nations applying for asylum around the world has increased seven-fold since 2010.

High Murder Rates in the Northern Triangle

High murder rates are a reason why more people have been leaving the Northern Triangle. Murder rates in the area have been considerably higher than in other areas, like the U.S. or Europe. These numbers peak at approximately 108.6 murders per 100,000 inhabitants in El Salvador and 63.8 in Honduras. Residents of Honduras also face extortion as criminals may kill them if they do not pay a war tax.

Many families try to seek asylum in Mexico to escape these murders. Nevertheless, the number of migrants at the Mexican border tell a similar story to that of the U.S. border. The number of deportations from Mexico back to the Northern Triangle has considerably increased between 2014 and 2015.

Poverty and Migration

Another reason for the rise in migrants at the southern border in recent years has been economic imperatives. Most recent migrants hail from impoverished regions such as the western highlands of Guatemala, in search of a life better suited to raising a family.

Everyday life in the area beckons land rights conflicts, environmental instabilities and depressed prices for their crop, which undermines the ability of citizens to make a living for their family. Nearly 70 percent of Honduras’ population lives in poverty. In Guatemala, nearly 60 percent live in poverty.

Gangs and Drug Cartels

In the Northern Triangle, drug cartels and gangs are a part of everyday life and threaten national and personal security. Violent groups often impose informal curfews, make absurd tax demands and recruit youth against their will. After the fight between in Mexican government and former drug boss Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, many other groups moved into the drug trade, leading to the killings of many innocent people in the country. In 2018, the number of people who made claims of credible fear and asked for asylum at the U.S. border skyrocketed to 92,000, compared to 55,000 claims in 2017.

Thousands of immigrants are facing the impossible choice of living in constant fear or seeking asylum, risking the possibility of detainment for indefinite periods or deportation back to their home nations where they risk a violent death.

No More Deaths

Illegal border crossing should not be a death sentence. No More Deaths, or No Más Muertes, is a humanitarian organization based in southern Arizona that is dedicated to stepping up efforts to stop migrant deaths in the desert. The organization works in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands through the civil initiative.

It is crucial for every American citizen to realize that migrants are not entering the United States because they want to, but because they have to. Entering the detention centers at the southern border comes after a perilous journey. Migrants ride trains where gang members demand tolls of upwards of $100 per station. Gang members kidnap more than 20,000 migrants in these situations.

Action is imperative to help people crossing the border as countless lives depend on it. Nevertheless, it is possible for individuals to help. Individuals can volunteer with organizations such as No More Deaths to provide food, advocacy and mapping efforts. They can also use their voice and email Congress through The Borgen Project’s website. Lastly, it is important for all citizens to educate themselves about migrants, their treatment in detention centers and why more people are crossing the border, even when circumstances seem dire.

– Monique Santoso
Photo: Flickr

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7 Shocking Facts About Poverty in Albania

Facts About Poverty In Albania
Albania, a country located east of the southern tip of Italy bordering Macedonia and Greece, remains one of the most impoverished countries in Europe. Despite the country’s recent economic growth, employment rates continue to stay low, the education system lacks necessary resources and infrastructure and a significant portion of the population remains below the poverty line. Here are seven shocking facts about poverty in Albania.

7 Shocking Facts About Poverty in Albania

  1. Poverty Rate: Thirty-four percent of Albanians lived in poverty in 2016, according to the World Bank. The World Bank defines poverty as surviving on $2 to $5.50 per day. The current poverty rate represents a significant increase compared to 2012 when 14.3% of Albanians lived in poverty.
  2. Extreme Poverty Rate: In 2016, 5.8% of Albanians lived in extreme poverty surviving on less than $1.90 each day. According to the World Bank, the extreme poverty rate of Albanian people did not reduce much in the years leading up to 2016.
  3. Household Expenditure: The expenditures of 63% of Albanian households, or what they need to buy to live comfortably, such as food, clothes and toiletries, are 50% higher than their income. In other words, more than half the population cannot afford basic necessities.
  4. Albanians are Migrating: Due to the unstable political situation in Albania, the business economy is weakening, and thus, poverty is deepening. Many Albanians doubt their leaders and are looking for better opportunities regarding living conditions and employment, so many are departing the country. The number of emigrating Albanian citizens has risen from 44% in 2007 to 52% in 2018.
  5. The Albanian Unemployment Rate: The unemployment rate in Albania stood at 11.47% in 2019, according to Statista. Women make up the majority of the unemployed population due to many factors, including poor social status in the family, lack of education and limited access to jobs due to the fact that most women must maintain the house and take care of the children. However, Oxfam, an international nonprofit, works to change women’s social status in countries, including Albania, by educating women about the economy as well as by helping women become actors of change and decision-making.
  6. Children in Albania: According to Dorcas, 120,000 Albanian children live in conditions of extreme poverty. Approximately 12% of children in Albania take on child labor “in order to help their families,” according to Humanium. Because of this, these children lose the opportunity to obtain an education. Humanium is an organization that works to end violations of children’s rights across the world. It does so by raising awareness, providing legal assistance for children who suffer violations and supporting local projects that help children.
  7. Social Allowance: Eighty thousand households in Albania rely on a social allowance. This means they receive 8,000 lek a month from their government so that they can afford basic needs such as food and clothing. One lek is equivalent to $0.0092 U.S.

Despite the barriers, there are organizations working to end poverty in Albania, such as the Zakat Foundation of America. This nonprofit is based in Chicago and its mission statement is as follows: “We foster charitable giving to alleviate the immediate needs of poor communities and to establish long-term development projects that ensure individual and community growth.” The foundation does so by building schools, orphanages and health clinics within these impoverished communities. The organization also provides food and fresh meat to the disadvantaged and brings relief during and after disasters.

– Emily Turner
Photo: Flickr

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Remittances in the Arab World

Worker Remittances and Poverty in the Arab World
The Arab world has one of the highest proportions of migrant to local workers in the world, with over 32 million migrant workers in the Arab states in 2015 alone. In addition, the region has one of the largest diasporas in the world. This means that many skilled workers are emigrating to wealthier countries and sending money home via remittances. But what do remittances in the Arab World mean for the region and its inhabitants?

Brain Drain vs. Gain

In Lebanon and Jordan, unskilled labor is provided by growing numbers of refugees and foreign workers, totaling over five million in 2015. However, as more foreign workers enter the country, growing numbers of high-skilled Lebanese and Jordanian nationals are emigrating. This often occurs when opportunities are limited, when unemployment is high and economic growth slows. The phenomenon is dubbed ‘brain drain’ as opposed to ‘brain gain’, whereby an increasing stock of human capital boosts economies. A drain occurs while poor countries lose their most high-skilled workers and wealthier countries in turn gain these educated professionals.

Remittances in the Arab World

These expatriates commonly work to improve their own living situations while also helping to support their friends and families. This is where remittances come into play. As defined by the Migration Data Portal, remittances are financial or in-kind transfers made by migrants to friends and relatives in their communities of origin. Remittances often exceed official development aid.  They are also frequently more effective in alleviating poverty. In 2014 alone, the Arab states remitted more than $109 billion, largely from the United States followed by Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

There is no denying that remittances can be a strong driving force for the socioeconomic stability of many Arab countries. But not all the influences are positive. Some experts argue that remittances can actually hurt the development of recipient countries. Their arguments cite potential negative effects of labor mobility and over-reliance on remittances. They emphasize that this can create dependency which undermines recipients’ incentive to find work. All this means an overall slowing of economic growth and a perpetuation of current socioeconomic status.

The Force of the Diaspora

The link between remittances in the Arab world and poverty is clear. Brain drain perpetuates and high amounts of remittance inflow and outflow persist if living conditions remain unchanged. Policymakers are therefore focusing efforts on enticing emigrants to return to their countries of origin. By strengthening ties with migrant networks, and implementing strategies like entrepreneurial start-up incentives and talent plans, the initial negative effects of brain drain could be curbed.

Overall, though brain drain and remittances can seem to hurt development in the short-term, if policies can draw high-skilled workers back, contributions to long-term economic development can erase these negative aspects altogether. Young populations that have emigrated to more developed countries acquire education and valuable experience that is essential to promote entrepreneurship in their home countries. Moreover, their experiences in advanced democracies can bolster their contribution to improved governance in their countries of origin. The Arab world’s greatest untapped potential is its diaspora, and it could be the key to a more prosperous future, if only it can be harnessed.

– Natalie Marie Abdou
Photo: Flickr

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Nine of the Most Important Facts About Tongan Emigrants

Tongan EmigrantsTonga is an archipelago in the South Pacific and the last surviving Polynesian kingdom. While isolation, limited markets, frequent earthquakes and cyclones pose a threat to native Tongans, emigration has had a positive economic impact both on Tongan emigrants and native Tongans. Here are nine facts about Tongan emigrants you should know:

  1. Tonga has retained much of its heritage despite 70 years of British colonial rule. The country gained independence and became a member of the British Commonwealth in 1970. Immigration patterns have helped maintain Tongan culture overseas: Emigrants have brought their families abroad, resulting in high concentrations of Tongans in cities like Auckland, New Zealand or Oahu, Hawaii where Tongan language and customs are preserved.
  2. One of the first motivations for Tongans to emigrate was population growth. In 1976, Tonga’s population tripled what it had been in the 1930s. The country’s relatively little land combined with a potential food shortage and greater educational opportunity abroad drove most Tongan emigrants to New Zealand, Australia and the U.S.
  3. Many early Tongan emigrants converted to Mormonism. The Church of Latter Day Saints conducted extensive missionary efforts in Tonga, and converts were offered free plane tickets to the U.S. This led to the creation of one of the first Tongan-American communities in Salt Lake City, Utah.
  4. Today, half of roughly 216,000 Tongans live abroad.
  5. Thirty percent of Tonga’s GDP comes from remittances, or sums of money sent from Tongans abroad to their families at home. Remittances come in the form of cash as well as material goods such as appliances and clothing. They are essential to the Tongan economy as Tonga has few exports, there are few salaried jobs available to young adults and unemployment is common in rural areas.
  6. However, remittances do have their drawbacks—money flowing into the country has caused a spike in material consumption, which has in turn caused inflation.
  7. Even Tonga’s tourism industry is bolstered by Tongan emigrants. Large families who have moved away visit Tonga frequently and support the country’s economy by spending money at local businesses.
  8. The longevity of remittances as the basis of Tonga’s economy currently lies in doubt. As more Tongans are born abroad, some fear that young Tongans’ connections to their home country could be weaker and that remittances could diminish.
  9. Another factor that contributes to economic instability in Tonga is the common occurrence of natural disasters. Tonga is part of the “Ring of Fire,” an area prone to earthquakes and volcanic eruptions near the basin of the Pacific Ocean. In addition, Tonga’s tropical cyclone season takes place November through April, though cyclones can occur at any point during the year. The variety and frequency of natural disasters in Tonga could threaten Tonga’s agricultural export infrastructure.

While Tonga’s economy faces some challenges, the Tongan population has been steadily increasing for decades. Notably, the rate of population increase spiked from 0.35 percent in 2013 to 0.82 percent in 2017. Tongans born abroad will have complex and varied relationships to their native country as time goes on, but the fact their numbers are increasing suggests that Tonga will be able to count on its emigrants for remittances for years to come.

– Caroline Meyers
Photo: Flickr

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Poverty Drives Minors Out of Honduras

honduras
In 2013, tens of thousands of unaccompanied immigrant children crossed the U.S. border. Most come from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, and are fleeing their home countries because of poverty and violence. The rising numbers of child immigrants are bringing the issue to the forefront of Washington’s political debate.

“I am personally appalled by the staggering numbers of minors — sometimes 5 and 6-year-olds — who are left with no other choice but to cross the desert by themselves,” says Chairman of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, Ted Menendez (D-NJ).

There is a growing movement of minors crossing the Mexico-U.S. border in Texas, and allowing themselves to be arrested. In 2013, the Office of Refugee Resettlement took in 24,668 unaccompanied minor immigrants, up from the average of 7,000 a year in the early 2000s. This sharp increase in numbers is explained by critical lawmakers as children taking advantage of U.S. policy on child immigrants from Central American countries. The policy allows such children to live with an adult in the U.S. from the time of their arrest until their court date.

Many more than the 24,668 taken in by the Office of Refugee Resettlement cross the border without notice by authorities. Still thousands more never make it to the border. As of June 2014, Mexico has deported 4,500 U.S. bound child immigrants from Honduras alone.

Poverty and violence are the two main factors driving people out of Honduras. Mario Aquino Vasquez is a security guard in Las Brisas, a neighborhood in San Pedro Sula, one of Honduras’ most violent cities. He describes the constant gang raids in the neighborhood: “If you were held at gunpoint and you didn’t give up everything you owned, they would kill you.” The dirt roads and shack-like houses of Las Brisas represent the 60 percent of Hondurans living below the poverty line.

James Nealon, nominee for the U.S. Ambassador to Honduras, addresses the issue of unaccompanied minors fleeing a poverty stricken country. The issue stems from a complex system of narcotics trafficking and organized crime. In order to address the corruption, Nealon explains, the U.S. must assist Honduras in establishing democratic intuitions, in fostering respect for the rule of law and in the successful prosecution of criminals.

He confirms that it is in the U.S. interest to promote stability in Honduras. A stable Honduras means a stronger trading partner for the U.S. and fewer drugs making their way to the U.S. All of this will indirectly result in less unaccompanied minors making the dangerous journey across the U.S. border. Learn more about poverty in Honduras.

— Julianne O’Connor

Sources: USA Today, World Bank, CNN, U.S. Committee on Foreign Relations 1, U.S. Committee on Foreign Relations 2
Photo: America Aljazeera

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Italy Seeks Solution to Migrant Deaths

At least 5,000 migrants floating in overcrowded boats have been rescued off the coast of Sicily in the Mediterranean Sea since Thursday, June 5. Varying reports have indicated a range of 5,200-5,470 people having been rescued so far. As a result of this most recent rescue effort, the total amount of migrants that have reached Italy from North Africa has exceeded 50,000 in 2014.

The most recent rescue effort has been spearheaded by one operation led by the Italian government, called Mare Nostrum. This operation has been in effect since October 2013, and was launched in response to 366 migrants drowning after their boat collapsed just off the shore of Sicily. That disaster not only spawned Mare Nostrum into being, but also prompted a one-off response from the EU in the form of a $30 million euro emergency fund that focused on land facilities.

Ever since that initial disaster and relief fund, Italy has been repeatedly asking for more help from the EU, with very little, if any, response. This is highlighted by the fact that only Slovenia offered one ship for the span of two months last year, and that a U.S. Navy ship and a Maltese merchant vessel rescued a combined 307 migrants in the most recent event on June 5.

This most recent event is only another vivid example of the continuing problem of migrants risking their lives to flee North Africa in the hopes of a better future in Europe. This past May, an unknown number of migrants died and 17 bodies were recovered after a similar shipwreck occurred. Throughout 2013, at least 40,000 migrants landed in Italy, and this year is on track to top the record of 62,000 set in 2011 during the Arab Spring revolutions.

The Director General of International Organization for Migration, William Lacey Swing, recently released a statement trying to utilize this incident as a means to raise awareness and take action on this recurring problem. “The tragedy of migrants drowning at sea is unfortunately a global phenomenon, not just a Mediterranean emergency,” Swing said. “The unnecessary deaths of these migrants and asylum seekers is an affront to all civilized nations.”

Swing went on to state that “the international community must develop a more comprehensive approach to protect migrants and uphold human dignity. No single action is enough to address the root causes of these mixed migration flows, but lives will be saved if action is taken now to help both migrants and countries during the entire length of the migratory route.”

The International Organization for Migration has since called for a high level debate on migratory flows in the hopes of bringing together nations of destination and origin. As Swing put it: “We need to urgently look at a comprehensive range of actions that we can take together to prevent further loss of life. These include the enhancement of legal avenues for migrants seeking better prospects in Europe and the establishment of various mechanisms and measures in countries of transit in North Africa to provide migrants and asylum seekers in need of protection with opportunities to receive legal counseling.”

With any luck this most recent occurrence will cause more nations to pay attention and provide a sustainable solution to the ever-present issue of migrants attempting to leave their home countries to find a better future elsewhere.

– Andre Gobbo

Sources: International Organization for Migration, Reuters, HUffPost

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The DREAM Act & Childhood Immigration

DREAM Act
While laws concerning immigrants have always been debated in the United States, the influx of unaccompanied children crossing the Mexico-U.S. border has turned the issue from a legal conundrum to, as Barack Obama put it, an “urgent humanitarian situation.”

During the economic recession in the U.S., the number of illegal immigrants steadily declined from 12.2 million in 2007 to 11.3 million in 2009, pushing immigration related issues to a less pressing status. As the economy grows, the number increased to 11.7 million in 2012.

The number of illegal immigrants from Mexico was at 57 percent in 2007 and is now at 52 percent, due to a shift in Mexico’s economy as wages are slowly rising. Although Mexico’s number of immigrants has declined, the number of immigrants from Central America has risen in the past four years.

With the growing numbers, the subject of immigration reform has resurfaced once again.

The number of children traveling alone across the U.S. border has been increasing since 2009, according to Cecilla Munoz, Director of the White House Domestic Policy Council. The increase has added urgency to the immigration debate, as well as shifted the issue from economic to humanitarian.

The latest estimate predicts that as many as 60,000 children, mostly from Central America and Mexico, will enter the U.S. illegally this year, and the number could possibly grow to 130,000 in the following year. Most of these unaccompanied children come from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, and are escaping poverty and violence from their previous homes. Although coming without adult guidance, many of the children have plans to reunite with parents or relatives in the States.

While the topic of immigration has not budged much in the past, it is believed that the Republican Party will slowly begin to make policy in favor of amnesty of undocumented citizens or other immigrant rights as a political move to gain voters and support. Obama winning the overwhelming majority of Hispanic votes in the 2008 and 2012 election worked as a wake-up call to Republicans about their strategy.

“Republicans have got to compete for the Hispanic voter,” said Republican Sen. John McCain.

Some congressmen have taken the more emotional side to the issue, focusing on the children who either came by themselves or those who came with their parents who overstayed their visas. Seeing as these children are not at fault, and the U.S. wishes to continue being a land of opportunity, the emotional aspect of passing more forgiving immigration laws has strengthened.

Whether the motivation is political or ethical, Democrats and Republicans have been working on creating a bipartisan bill to resolve differences between the parties concerning those here illegally, mainly children of undocumented citizens. The DREAM act has been discussed between both parties. Its main goal is to ease the path of citizenship via a 5-year plan and to re-vamp visa programs for temporary workers.

The DREAM act has struggled to pass completely but did make recent success. On June 2, the DREAM act was passed in the New York State Assembly. Although it still needs to pass in the Senate, and was turned down during its last attempt in March, it is believed to have a better chance of passing this time around.

Currently, President Obama has been using his executive authority to grant provisional legal status to some of the undocumented immigrants that were brought to the U.S. as children, but hopefully both parties can reach a national agreement in the near future.

“America is an idea; nobody owns it,” said Sen. Lindsey Graham. “We’ve got to create order out of the chaos.”

– Courtney Prentice

Sources: BBC 1, BBC 2, Latin Post, NPR
Photo: New York Times

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Lebanon Takes Further Influx of Syrian Refugees

syrian_refugees_lebanon
The Syrian conflict has continued for three years at this point and there seems to be little hope that it will be solved anytime soon. The conflict between Russia and the United States over Ukraine puts any future peace conferences in flux, and the attention of the international community has largely shifted to that part of the world. However, for the countries around Syria, the crisis there is still a daily ordeal with Syrian refugees flowing in from the beleaguered nation.

Lebanon has taken the bulk of the masses from Syria. Since the beginning of the conflict almost a million refugees have come into Lebanon and projections have that number going up to 1.5 million by the end of the year if nothing changes. A representative from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that the influx “is equivalent to 80 million Mexicans arriving in the U.S. in 18 months… the largest per capita recipient of refugees anywhere in the world.” While Lebanon continues to generously take in the refugees, the influx has put a severe strain on the country’s infrastructure.

Studies done by the United Nations have shown that many of the refugees are settling in Lebanon’s poorest regions, where the least amount of assistance can be provided. This has left both the refugees and the Lebanese poor at a disadvantage, with little room for the country to move them.

One potential problem with this influx are tensions existing between the various religious groups in the area. Lebanon has a diverse religious population, but the many Sunni refugees coming in from Syria will upset the balance in Lebanon. With sectarian violence a key part of the Syrian conflict, worries are that tensions could erupt in Lebanon and put more people at a disadvantage.

The United Nations is trying to remedy these problems facing Lebanon. The UNHCR put out a call for $1.9 billion to help refugees in Lebanon, yet the agency still hasn’t come close to meeting that goal. Viral campaigns centered around pictures taken at refugee camps have served to attract notice, it sill has yet to be seen whether the campaigns will bring in more funding for the projects.

Lebanon might be the biggest location for Syrian refugees, but all the countries bordering Syria have been affected by the war. The World Food Program is planning to assist 2.9 million people in countries such as Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and Egypt. With 12,000 people coming into Lebanon a week, more help will be needed. The time to act is now, even as the countries of the West may be focused elsewhere.

– Eric Gustafsson

Sources: United Nations, The Daily Star, McClatchyDC
Photo: AlJazeera America

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Eritrean Refugees Abused in the Middle East

Eritrean Refugees
Refugees are fleeing Sub-Saharan Africa’s poverty in search for job opportunities, political freedoms and basic human rights. The sad reality of this situation is many of these opportunities are few and far in-between, and their lives rarely improve above the dire situation they were leaving.

Eritrea is one of the nations many have been fleeing from. Isayais Aferwerki, the despotic dictator who’s ruled Eritrea since its 1994 independence from Ethiopia, is a main reason. The nation is home to rampant poverty, media repression and political oppression. Adult-aged males are regularly conscripted into military service with no definite end-date, and the President was quoted as saying the nation was not ready for free elections for at least another 20-30 years. The constitution has been suspended and Eritrea remains single-party state, with opposition political groups regularly rounded up and jailed.

Around 200,000 Eritreans have left the nation in search of freedom, but it has resulted in a human rights crisis. Eritreans regularly flee to Sudan, Egypt and Israel only to be subjected to discrimination, and in some cases, have fallen into human trafficking. Israel has prevented refugees from entering by building a fence, which has resulted in asylum seekers slowing “to a trickle” of their original amount.

Human Rights Watch published a report detailing the crisis in early February stating that “refugees are commonly kidnapped, and their families extorted to pay for their release.” Those who manage to avoid kidnapping are usually deported back. HRW has focused on the culpability of Egyptian and Sudanese officials in the kidnapping crisis. The allegation has been made that corrupt officials have been benefiting financially from the situation and are actively cooperating with kidnappers.

Physicians for Human Rights released a damning report on the conditions many Eritrean refugees face on the trek to asylum. The imprisonment rate of those interviewed was around 59%, while 52% claimed they were violently abused at some point on their way to the Sinai Peninsula. Slave camps are prevalent in Egypt. In El-Arish, there are camps reported throughout the area, populated with “slave traders” who “demand ransoms” for the release of African refugees.

The report detailed that many of these refugees were tricked through “promises of being led to Israel” but rather held against their will, while other’s detailed “severe abuse.” Twenty percent of those interviewed also described witnessing murders. Israel can be considered culpable in this situation. With the building of the fence, the average of 1,500 refugees gaining asylum each month decreased to only 25 entering “between January and April 2013.”

Israel has also mounted a political campaign to defend their actions, decrying the Eritrean refugees as a “threat to Israeli society.” The public response to these accusations helped allow the government to enact stricter immigration legislation, allowing for slave traders to flourish in the wake.

The Anti-Infiltration Law was passed in January of 2012 by the Israeli Legislature of Knesset, and allowed the Israeli Government to detain any people found crossing the border. The law even prevents many of these refugees from receiving a speedy trail, allowing the Israeli state to detain undocumented immigrants for “minimum of three years.” If a undocumented immigrant is from a state considered belligerent to Israel, such as Sudan, they can be “detained indefinitely.”

It was a crushing defeat for many Africans in search of a new life free of oppression. With no options, many still flee, but they may not find the salvation they are in search of.

– Joseph Abay

Sources: Turkish Weekly, US State Department, Haaretz, The Voice, Sudan Tribune, DW, Physicians for Human Rights, Haaretz