Archive for category: Refugees and Displaced Persons

Information and news on Energy and Electricity

, ,

Organizations Helping Climate Refugees

Organizations Helping Climate Refugees
In 2017, nearly 18 million people were displaced due to natural disasters. This was roughly 7 million more than there were people displaced by violence or conflict. This number is also expected to grow to 143 million people by 2050 if actions are not taken against climate change.

All of these people represent climate refugees. They represent a growing phenomenon that lacks a formal definition.

There are several nongovernmental organizations that are working to help these people. In the text below, top organizations helping climate refugees are presented.

Climate Refugees

Climate Refugees is an organization that aims to raise awareness about climate refugees through field reports and social media. With the information that they have gathered, Climate Refugees meets with governments and the United Nations to prioritize policies that protect climate refugees.

In 2017, they released their first field report on the connection between climate change and displacement in the Lake Chad Basin.

The Environmental Justice Foundation

The Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) is one of the many organizations helping climate refugees. It works to help create a more sustainable world through film and photography. The EJF started in 2000 and is based in eight countries around the world.

The EJF also provides activist training that helps the organization research and document human rights abuses. The EJF directs it work towards climate refugees in several ways and one of the most prominent is through video.

It released one video titled “Falling Through the Cracks,” that explains what climate refugees are, why they matter and how to help solve the growing problem of climate refugees.

The EJF also released an exhibition on climate refugees and their stories. Both of these projects aim to humanize the effects of climate change.

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Founded in 1950, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) works to protect and advocate for refugees around the world. The UNHCR works in 128 countries around the world and has helped 50 million refugees find a new life since its creation.

The UNHCR started its work with climate change and disaster displacement in the 1990s but expanded its scope in 2000s due to the growing need of working with climate refugees.

The organization’s work is broken down into four categories: operational practices, legal development, policy coherence and research.

Since 1999 the UNHCR was involved in 43 disasters that led to the displacement of people. The range of what UNHCR provided depended on the country and disaster.

International Organization for Migration

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an intergovernmental organization that works to ensure a process of migration that recognizes human rights around the world.

Since 1998, IOM worked on nearly 1,000 projects responding to migration due to environmental disasters. In 2015, the IOM founded the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division (MECC), that specifically focuses on the connection between climate change and displacement.

MECC works in several countries around the world including Cameroon, Chad, Niger and Nigeria. In all of these countries, MECC is working on research that tracks climate-related migration.

This research will help the IOM support policy development, in order to directly address the needs of climate refugees.

Refugees International

Refugees International (RI) is an independent organization that works to advocate for refugees through reports and analyzes. The organization analyses work done by other nongovernmental organizations and governments.

It works in 14 countries and climate displacement is one of the two issues that RI dedicates itself to. One of the main efforts that RI does to help climate refugees is conducting fieldwork every year. The data that is collected from this work is then used to lobby policymakers and aid agencies that help climate refugees.

While the climate refugee still lack a formal definition and while their number is expected to expand in the next 40 years, there are still several organizations helping climate refugees and ensuring that their voices and needs are heard.

Among others, the most important organizations that tackle this issue are Climate Refugees, the Environmental Justice Foundation, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration and Refugees International.

– Drew Garbe
Photo: Flickr

,

Rohingya Refugee Media: A Voice for Voiceless

Radio Naf
At the start of 2017, the refugees of Rohingya fled in the thousands from Myanmar. Today, many of their lives are still in disarray as they search for family, look for new homes and deal with the trauma from the violence that drove them out of their country.

Rohingya refugees often lack the information to take the next steps towards these goals. The use of media within camps has been vital to dealing with the emergency and keeping refugees connected with each other and the outside world, so Rohingya refugee media has been given a new voice: Radio NAF.

Radio NAF: A Voice for the Voiceless

In times of crisis like this one, access to information is almost as vital as food, shelter, and water. Local media can and has been used as a platform to update refugees on the status of their hometowns, educate them on sanitary practices and guide them toward necessary resources. Moreover, media has been used as a platform for refugees to voice their experiences and call the rest of the world to action.

Radio NAF is a community-based radio station in the Cox’s Bazar district of Bangladesh. The station serves the rural and underserved communities in the region, which also happens to be home to the largest Rohingya refugee settlement, Kutupalong. The station interviews refugees and discusses the issues that affect them.

Due to the poor radio reception in these areas, all of the shows are prerecorded and brought to the communities through seven “listener clubs.” While the population in the settlement has declined slightly, listenership and attendance have risen, indicating that this is an invaluable source of information for those that come to and remain at the settlement.

But, another reason for the influx in attendance could also be the station’s ability to provide a voice to the voiceless. The station’s interviews allow individuals and groups in the settlements to make statements and send messages that reach far beyond the Rohingya refugee community. Its programs also tackle important issues like violence against women, and it also provides entertainment of the children in among the refugee, who comprise more than half of the population.

British Broadcast Corporation Media Action

Radio Naf is backed by the British Broadcast Corporation (BBC). BBC’s international development charity, BBC Media Action, has worked in conjunction with local Radio Naf employees—some of whom are refugees themselves—to analyze the issues and needs of the Rohingya refugees as told by the Rohingya refugees themselves.

The charity focuses its efforts on alleviating these specific problems, but it also shares all of its information with the United Nations, NGOs and governments working to mitigate the crisis. Through Rohingya refugee media, the people have the ability to make their voices thoroughly heard and get the message out to these organizations for swift and proper actions.

BBC backed Radio Naf has uncovered sanitary, financial, linguistic and logistic issues that continue to persist in the Rohingya refugee camps while sharing crucial necessities and calls to action to key players in the relief, which has been the focus of Radio Naf and its interviews. But, in order to bring about progress, this hope must be met with an eagerness to hear their voices and act on those issues.

Rohingya refugee media is an essential component to connecting refugees and working to alleviate some of the pain and misfortune that they have lived through. It has developed a platform for the spread of hope. This hope, after even a year into the crisis, echoes from community to community, from settlement to settlement.

– Julius Long
Photo: Flickr

,

Displacement in Somalia

Somalia has been affected with several years of bad weather that has led to thousands of people with nowhere to go. Displacement in Somalia is being addressed by various nonprofit organizations that continue to donate to help the cause.

Displacement in Somalia in Numbers

There are an estimated 739,000 people that have been displaced because of the droughts between November 2016 and May 2017. Over 65 percent of the displaced persons are under 18, and one-quarter are under 5 years old. There are an estimated 388,000 acutely malnourished children in need of nutritional support, including life-saving treatment for more than 87,000 severely malnourished children.

To add to this statistics, 341,000 new displacements occurred in the first half of 2018 due to the conflict in Somalia, and the number of forced evictions also rose sharply. There were about 191,000 forced evictions in the first six months of the year. In comparison, a total of 166,000 evictions happened during the whole 2017.

Forced evictions are linked to widespread tenure insecurity, disputes over land ownership and the reclaiming of state property, particularly in urban areas. They usually occur without notice and often involve violence and the destruction of housing.

Sagar Cyclone and El Niño Drought

Another natural disaster has also led to displacement in Somalia. In May 2018, Somalia was hit by cyclone Sagar. It was the strongest cyclone in the country’s history with winds up to 100 KPH. The situation was made worse by violence in disputed areas of Sool and Sanaag regions, that displaced more than 10,000 people just after the cyclone hit.

Sagar displaced another 9,000 people in northern Somalia, and it also caused more than 9,000 displacements in Djibouti. These recent events confirm that the Horn of Africa is and will continue to be heavily affected by the effects of climate change.

The drought called El Niño that hit Somalia between 2015-2016 led to approximately 6.5 million people in need of humanitarian assistance. Somaliland and Putnam have experienced below average rainfalls for the last two years, so the El Niño has exacerbated the drought in both cities.

Flash flooding in central and southern regions of Somalia has affected 770,000 people and has displaced 230,000 people so far. In comparison, the average annual displacement of people in Ethiopia, the neighboring country, is 30,000. This is resulting after a widespread drought over four consecutive seasons.

The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) gave $5.1 million for humanitarian support and the Somalia Humanitarian Fund (SHF) will reallocate funding to places impacted by the floods. This funding is a part of the Flood Response Plan that seeks $80 million to meet the demands of the affected population.

Cholera as an Additional Issue

Somalia had several epidemics of cholera, and in 2017, the country experienced one of the largest epidemics in history. There were an estimated 78,000 cases, including 1,159 deaths in the 16 regions that were reported.

In response to the outbreak, the World Health Organization has implemented several response measures. These include training national, state and regional level rapid response teams, strengthened surveillance and case investigations and dispatched cholera disease kits to local response partners and hospitals.

Displacement in Somalia can be attributed to violence, as well as natural disasters and bad weather in the country.

Continued humanitarian support from the government and nongovernmental organizations for Somali citizens in order to address and fix the problems of those people affected by displacement.

– Casey Geier
Photo: Flickr

4 Organizations Working to Decrease Migration from The Gambia

Migration from The Gambia
Migration from The Gambia, a nation located in West Africa, has become extremely common due to widespread poverty and the belief that Europe offers more opportunities for success. Thousands of Gambians have begun the difficult journey across Africa to Libya, where they hope to cross the Mediterranean and enter Europe. Families sometimes believe so strongly that Europe is the solution for their children that they spend the last of their money to sponsor the trip.

Journey to Europe

Many migrants are not successful with this journey, however, and get stuck in Libyan prisons, where they often face gruelling conditions. Women are also particularly vulnerable, some of whom have been kidnapped and sold while attempting to reach Europe. Migrants who return to The Gambia because they are unable to get to Europe, perhaps due to detention in Libya, are often looked down upon by other Gambians, who believe that they simply did not try hard enough.

In response to the growing dangers associated with migration, several organizations are working to decrease migration from The Gambia and help Gambians who tried to migrate resettle in their country. In The Gambia, Youths Against Irregular Migration (YAIM) and Returnees From The Backway (RFTB) were formed, while international organizations including the European Union’s Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) developed programs for this cause.

Youths Against Irregular Migration (YAIM)

YAIM was created in 2017 by Gambian youths detained in a Libyan prison. One of the founders, Ndow, told IRIN News, “We were treated like slaves; we didn’t take a bath for months, so we tried to escape and they beat us seriously.” After this experience, Ndow, along with Sallah, Tunkara and Keita decided that once they got out of the prison they would share their stories and try to prevent other Gambians from attempting to migrate.

YAIM is also working to help Gambians find opportunities in The Gambia, rather than looking to Europe. They advocate for looking for local opportunities, although they recognize this persepcitve requires a significant change in the mindsets of many Gambians, as Europe has been idealized for so long.

YAIM spreads their message through social media, roadshows and airwaves. They finished their second “youth caravan” in the summer of 2018, both of which were sponsored by the German Embassy in Banjul. Thirty YAIM members traveled as a part of the caravan to two different regions in The Gambia, and spoke in public, high-traffic areas. YAIM recognizes the importance of its work and hopes that their efforts will make a difference in reducing migration from The Gambia.

Returnees From The Backway (RFTB)

Like YAIM, RFTB was founded in a Libyan detention center. This group focuses on helping migrants who have returned to The Gambia transition back into society by reducing the stigma associated with returning to the nation. RFTB spreads their message through tea ritual sessions, known as attaya, which are often attended by Gambian men.

Ultimately, RFTB wants to provide agricultural training to returnees and use the land given to them by the Kerewan local government to set up a farm run by returned migrants. If this project is successful, RFTB would like to expand and set up farms across the nation.

European Union’s Trust Fund for Africa (EUTF)

At an international level, the European Union established the Trust Fund for Africa in 2015 to help manage the flow of migrants from Africa into Europe. As a part of this Trust Fund, the Youth Empowerment Program (YEP) — which currently has 11 million Euros in funding — wants to help young people in Africa gain entrepreneurial skills to help create jobs and expand markets.

In The Gambia, YEP plans to help over 7,000 youths complete technical or vocational training, support the return of migrants from Europe, encourage the creation of modern manufacturing jobs and services, and raise awareness amongst young populations about the importance of skills training. Their goal is to decrease migration from The Gambia by invigorating the Gambian economy and showing youths that they do not need to leave.

International Organization for Migration (IOM)

IOM launched their Migrant Protection and Reintegration program in November of 2017. This program will offer reintegration packages to migrants that will help them rebuild their lives in The Gambia. Like the other three organizations, they are attempting to change the mindset of Gambians, encouraging them to view The Gambia as a place with opportunity and potential.

One of the specific projects the IOM is supporting is the founding of a large-scale chicken raising business in Parkour that will provide employment to returnees and help them regain their social standing and earn an income. Similar to the RFTB’s plan to create a migrant-run farm, this initiative will empower returnees and perhaps inspire others to consider returning if they know there are opportunities.

Advocacy and Prosperity

These local and international organizations are taking an important step by focusing on the improvement of The Gambia and discouraging people from embarking on a journey that is often unsafe and sometimes fatal.

Once more people understand the realities of migrating and develop more faith in their country, migration from The Gambia will hopefully begin to decline, increasing safety and prosperity.

– Sara Olk

Photo: Flickr

,

Movement in Progress: 10 Facts on Forced Migration

10 Facts on Forced Migration
Forced migration is ever-present in society due to various coercive factors. From cases in the United States to Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the practice can be seen on almost every continent. The International Organization for Migration defines forced migration as the “movement of people caused by threats to their livelihoods.” This article will discuss 10 facts on forced migration that are the most critical in the world right now.

10 Facts on Forced Migration

  1. Columbia University gives categories to displaced persons: conflict-induced and disaster-induced. Those who are displaced by conflict are those who fled their homes due to violence — this circumstance accounts for about 12 million people. Disaster-induced displaced persons are those who undergo and escape natural disaster or human-made disasters such as floods, earthquakes, monsoons, deforestation or industrial accidents; this type of situation displaced about 19 million people in 2017.

  2. The most common distinctions between displaced persons are refugees, asylum seekers and Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs).  As defined by the UNHCR, refugees are people who live outside of their home country due to the fear of persecution. Gaining refugee status is a legal process in which a person must be determined a refugee by international, national or local law. This process can be carried out by a country or by the UNHCR, and this process differs everywhere. Asylum seekers are those who have crossed borders to flee violence, but whose refugee status is undetermined.  In contrast, IDPs are those who have been forced to flee their homes due to conflict or disaster but have yet to cross an international border.

  3. Approximately 68.5 million people — mostly from Syria, Afghanistan, and South Sudan — have been forcibly displaced from their homes, which is the highest level of displacement in history. In 2017 alone, there were 30.6 million people displaced from their homes, approximately 11.8 million due to violent conflict or war, and 18.8 million due to natural disasters.

  4. Forced migration impacts the most vulnerable of people. According to the UNHCR, 52 percent of refugees were under the age of 18, and there were approximately 174,000 unaccompanied or separated children. Children may experience obstacles to education as forced migrants, and experience many social and cultural challenges in a place away from their home country. Unaccompanied children experience different challenges as they often lack the same protections and support as children with adult care, and many may suffer or be taken advantage of in a new environment.

  5. Sixty-eight percent of refugees came from Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia in 2017. In fact, 6.3 million refugees came from Syria, 2.6 million from Afghanistan, and 2.4 million from South Sudan. Out of the 25.4 million refugees reported in the world, these three countries, in particular, make up more than half of the refugee population. These refugees come from conflict and war-torn regions where choosing to stay could mean risking their lives.

  6. One reason for the current peak refugee crisis is that only about 103,000 refugees were resettled in 2017. Resettlement is the relocation and integration of people (forced migrants in this case) into another country. The UNHCR lists resettlement as one of the three durable solutions to the refugee crisis as it is a long-term solution for those who cannot go back to their home country. Approximately 44,400 people are being displaced a day, and unfortunately, this resettlement number does not make up the difference. Resettlement numbers are so low because many developed countries are not resettling as many people as they usually do. This decrease could be due to the highly dependent nature of resettlement on political climates as well as the current administrations in charge.

  7. The countries hosting the most refugees are Iran, Lebanon, Pakistan, Uganda and Turkey. Relative to the national population, Lebanon hosted the most refugees of these countries with 1 out of 6 inhabitants being refugees. Jordan is next with 1 out of 14, followed by 1 out 23 in Turkey. Eighty-five percent of refugees in the world are going to other developing countries, and large amounts of displaced peoples can have severe effects on the global economy. There may be serious problems for national economies that lack enough jobs for displaced peoples who seek work, pressure can be put on already fragile infrastructure.

  8. Refugees can benefit economies. In fact, many refugees in the United States pay more in taxes than they receive in benefits. In places that aided refugees in finding work, most were employed within 6 years of their settlement.

  9. Forcible displacement is an issue receiving more attention in the media and one that people are becoming increasingly passionate about. The UNHCR is dedicated to helping those who are displaced in 128 countries, including those in Syria. The UNCHR not only aids refugees that live in Syria but also Syrian Internally Displaced Peoples. The UNHCR provides economic and legal assistance, as well as shelters, health services and violence protection.

  10. Many local cities around the globe have resettlement agencies that aid refugees and other displaced peoples through their resettlement process. Many cities across the United States have an Ethiopian Community Development Council (ECDC), a non-profit responsible for resettling refugees into their communities. The ECDC’s work also involves community integration and education initiatives which shows their commitment to ensuring a happy and healthy future for their clients.

Work to Do

These 10 facts on forced migration help to show that there does not exist a simple solution to combat the forced migration crisis. Vulnerable people are still being forced from their homes and their livelihoods, and there is plenty of work that needs to be done. This work, however, has a dedicated workforce of people working hard for those who need it the most.

– Isabella Niemeyer

Photo: Flickr

,

Raising Awareness: Ai Weiwei and the Refugee Crisis

ai weiweiAi Weiwei, perhaps the most important artist alive, has found an interesting topic of study over the past couple of years: the global refugee crisis. Ai’s work has always had a social bend. He has shown his disdain and criticism of the Chinese government, particularly after the Sichuan earthquake, in many of his previous art pieces. In fact, his political activism even landing him in jail for 81 days.

Ai Weiwei: Inspiring with Art

In recent years, however, he has been working outside China in either a subterranean studio in Berlin or working in New York with the Public Art Fund. Ai Weiwei and the refugee crisis are hardly a surprising pair. Though he is veering away from the domestic politics that prompted many of his earlier works, tackling the global refugee crisis, nonetheless, inspires the same poignant and emotionally resonant works for which Ai has become internationally celebrated.

Ai’s art is certainly deserving of its reputation. “Remembering,” perhaps one of his most famous projects, was a massive art piece created in response to the Sichuan earthquake. Ai lined up thousands of backpacks along the Haus der Kunst in Munich. Each backpack represented a child who was lost in the earthquake. In addition, the backpacks spelled out a sentence written by one of the victim’s mother: “All I want is to let the world remember she had been living happily for seven years.”

The sensitivity Ai showed in focusing on the tragedy of a large number of people while highlighting the individual—in that case, the child’s mother—is how he has been able to approach the global refugee crisis. It is also that level of sensation, that which marked “Remembering” as an art piece, that should keep Ai Weiwei and the refugee crisis in the headlines.

Ai Weiwei and the Refugee Crisis

Ai Weiwei has responded to the crisis with several art projects and a documentary film, “Human Flow,” now available for streaming on Amazon. The documentary, as well as the project of combatting the refugee crisis, is ambitious. It is grand. It is wide in scope.

The film opens with an aerial shot of the sea. A refugee reception is soon underway as refugees come ashore from their boat on that sea. The image, the tiny heads adrift surrounded by impossibly small waves, conveys the immeasurability of the scene. Yet, as the film progresses, faces are visible, close-up. And, for a moment in this opening see, the audience sees the director.

The film isn’t just about the refugee crisis; it is about the international figure Ai Weiwei and the refugee crisis. He, the director, appears in many crucial scenes throughout the film. It is his documentary and his exploration of the crisis. Yet, his image is used sparingly. The audience sees him react to people organically; they see his emotional reactions, but the focus is always on the other people—the refugees.

The documentary spans several countries and jumps from location to location; not creating a story, but an especially moving tapestry of lives woven together by the different crises they experience. Close-ups highlight the individual while aerial shots from drone cameras create a sense of scale.

Ai Weiwei’s New York Art Project

As part of his work for New York’s Public Art Fund, with proceeds also going to the IRC and the UNHCR, Ai Weiwei used portraits of 300 of the refugees he encountered doing research and creating the documentary to create banners on display around the city. The banners are part of his “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors” exhibition, in which the artist also created several fence or cage installations around New York City as a commentary on the tendencies to not treat refugees with the respect and humanity they deserve.

Moreover, the images of individuals, used as part of a massive and publicly accessible art projects deal, are a testament to the massive scale of the crisis, and yet they imbue the subject, the refugee, with individuality and emotional resonance. These pieces are guaranteed to be seen when walking around New York.

The documentary and his other art projects serve to create and propagate awareness. It is not just an awareness of the refugee crisis, but of the otherwise unseen humans who are affected by the crisis. It is the emotion behind the art of Ai Weiwei and the refugee crisis itself that needs to be shared. And a readily streamable documentary along with a strong public art project serve as excellent ways of spreading awareness. His work can be seen as a call for action to address the needs of the global poor and the world’s refugees.

Ai Weiwei is far from finished making a statment on the refugee crisis. His next project, entitled “Laundromat,” will be in Qatar. The artist uses 2,046 articles of clothing left behind by refugees when fleeing the Greek island of Lesbos. In an email interview about this new project with the New York Times, Ai asserts this call for action, noting “We cannot reject the idea that humanity is one.”

– William Wilcox

Photo: Flickr

, , ,

US Aid Benefits Refugees from Venezuela

Aid that Benefits Refugees VenezuelaLatin America is experiencing one of its worst ever migration crises. This region has experienced multiple population movements in its history. Venezuela has seen a mass exodus of people due to four years of economic downfall and the subsequent impoverishment of the citizens.

The Reasons Behind Venezuela Crisis

The problem has been further exacerbated by the re-election of the dictatorial President Nicolas Maduro. The economic policies of President Maduro and former President Hugo Chavez have mismanaged the country’s vast oil reserves and sent the country spiraling into depression. The government has cut imports by over 75 percent, choosing to use its own currency to balance the $140 billion debt. This is an extremely bad decision in a country that produces almost exclusively oil.

The result has been an enormous lack of services within the country and the decrease in GDP. These policies have remained unchanged or challenged because of Maduro’s stranglehold on the country’s media and legal system, in addition to his brutal responses to protests. Accusations of corruption and conspiracies surrounding drug trafficking have plagued Maduro’s career but haven’t challenged his rule in any meaningful way. The United States has responded to these allegations by sanctioning Maduro but this had relatively no effect on Maduro’s behavior. Realizing this fact, the U.S. turned their attention towards aid that benefits Venezuela refugees.

Refugee Crisis in Venezuela

Hopes for change internally seem bleak and have pushed over two million refugees into surrounding countries. At first, refugees are going to neighboring Ecuador, Peru and Columbia, countries that have been very welcoming in the past. Recently, however, the sheer number of migrants leaving Venezuela has forced its neighbors to take more aggressive policies.

Ecuador began blocking entry to refugees fleeing Venezuela with no passports. This policy came after the country declared a state of emergency due to the crisis. Peru and Columbia also announced their plan to adopt a similar policy and to deport migrants that are already within the country but without proper documentation. The policies of both the Government of Venezuela and its neighbors have trapped Venezuelan migrants in makeshift towns along the border, with limited resources. Most Venezuelan migrants sold their possessions in order to leave their country and have little to nothing in these towns.

The Aid of United States to Venezuela

Fortunately, the United States has played an instrumental role in providing aid that benefits refugees from Venezuela. The U.S had already provided $16 million in aid for the refugees through the United Nations Refugee Agency and another $6 million to help Columbia deal with their influx of refugees.

This money helped establish the infrastructure that is maintaining abovementioned makeshift towns and providing necessary health care for millions of people. Recently, the United States sent a life-saving resource to the shores of Columbia. Secretary of Defence, Jim Mattis, is sending a U.S. Navy Hospital Ship to help treat refugees in Colombia and surrounding Latin American countries. Hospital ships provide surgical care from some of the top military physicians in the world. They are protected by international law and help ease the burden on domestic medical institutions, which could influence many of these Latin American countries to take more beneficial positions towards refugees.

U.S. aid for refugees has a ripple effect on the countries that are hosting them because they have more resources at their disposal. This could change their policies in a meaningful way and end this migration process in the most positive way positive.

– Anand Tayal

Photo: Flickr

, ,

The Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement: The World’s Largest

Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement The Bidi Bidi refugee settlement is one of several located in Northern Uganda and covers an area mass of 250 square kilometers. It is the biggest refugee camp in the world and houses over 270,000 refugees. Most of the refugees come from South Sudan, a country that gained independence in 2013 but witnessed a new wave of instability and famine in 2016, forcing over 1.6 million South Sudanese to flee their homes. Out of the 1.6 million, 800,000 fled to Uganda. Uganda has one of the most compassionate refugee policies, allowing people to set up their own homes, and refugees are given the right to work and travel, which is uncommon. Uganda has, therefore, become a hot spot for refugees, which has brought an economic strain on the nation, forcing it to rely on humanitarian assistance to sustain millions of refugees.

Who Are the Bidi Bidi

The Bidi Bidi refugee settlement is home to a mostly South Sudanese population. Many of the inhabitants of Bidi Bidi fled because of the threat of murder or imprisonment from rebels or government soldiers. Having left their homes, often walking for days at a time, they arrive at the settlement center with nothing more than the clothes on their back. The process of becoming a refugee is often slow and hectic, but basic needs are met in a timely manner thanks to the NGOs and volunteers’ tremendous effort and funds that have been dedicated to making this refugee camp more livable.

Insecurities

Many of the inhabitants are affected by disease, predominantly malaria and HIV/AIDS. Malaria-carrying mosquitoes breed in wet environments, and due to the rains in Uganda, no one is safe from malaria. Therefore, it is imperative that these settlements have proper access to medical aid and resources to ensure the well-being of refugees. In addition to a lack of medical resources, malnutrition affects most of the population of Bidi Bidi and the rest of Uganda. The Ugandan government has been under pressure to provide food for those malnourished, but it is almost impossible without humanitarian aid and support.

Opportunities in Bidi Bidi

Each organization working within the Ugandan settlement camps and Bidi Bidi offers different and varied opportunities for refugees to support themselves and regain a sense of normalcy. Caritas is an organization aimed at promoting justice and helping the poor, and they have mobilized efforts to give aid to the people of Bidi Bidi. Depending on which zone of the camp refugees live in, some receive a plot of land, agricultural tools and seeds to begin to sustain themselves and create opportunities for businesses.

Many women in Bidi Bidi have access to psycho-social support and empowerment resources that have been set up within the camp. The U.N. has created a system of revolving funds, meaning that funds are replenished when used, which allows women to learn vocational skills such as hairdressing and helping women build their own businesses. This leads to empowerment and creates a sense of stability in an unstable world.

The Future of the Bidi Bidi Refugee Settlement

The Bidi Bidi refugee settlement is the largest of its kind in the world, it uses what it can to create and offer opportunities and resources to refugees, so they may live more independently. It focuses on rehabilitation and independence and creates a sense of hope for the future of the inhabitants of Bidi Bidi. The unrest and violence in South Sudan still create thousands of refugees on a daily basis. The long-term solution is to achieve peace in South Sudan, so people can return home. However, in the short-term, it is imperative that Uganda receives humanitarian aid to ensure the safety and wellbeing of its inhabitants.

– Trelawny Robinson 
Photo: Flickr

, ,

Equal Humanitarian Assistance for Elderly Refugees

Humanitarian Assistance for Elderly Refugees
Despite UNHCR regulations that call for adequate humanitarian assistance for elderly refugees, older people are often not the focus of aid programs. Organizations such as HelpAge International, however, along with UNHCR, are working to improve services and care for elderly refugees by developing a more comprehensive understanding of their struggles and needs.

Lack of Humanitarian Assistance for Elderly Refugees

Older persons, defined by the UN as people over 60 years of age, are particularly vulnerable when displaced from their homes. Lack of mobility, chronic illness or weakened vision can hinder their ability to flee. They may also be reluctant to leave, concerned about becoming socially isolated or physically separated from their families. A study of eastern Ukraine found that approximately half of all the older people remained home when the conflict began and that many were left behind due to their reduced mobility.

Even after older people manage to leave, humanitarian assistance to elderly refugees may not fully address their needs. An Overseas Development Institute report explains that “while humanitarian principles require that aid is delivered in an impartial manner, based on needs alone, in emergencies humanitarian organizations tend to implement blanket, one-size-fits-all programmes that fail to adequately address the specific vulnerabilities of older people.”

One of the primary reasons for this is that elderly refugees make up a small percentage of refugee populations, approximately 8.5 percent. This leads them being deprioritized in favor of larger demographic groups, including women and children. It is estimated, however, that by 2050 there will be more people over the age of 60 than under the age of 12.

Needs of Older Refugees Neglected

Areas in which the needs of elderly refugees are not always properly addressed include safety, protection, nutrition, medical services and mental health. Elderly refugees have a greater risk of experiencing violence, including sexual and domestic abuse. They are also likely to be exploited by family members. These risks are greater for women, those with disabilities and LGBT individuals.

Additionally, older people need food that is easy to eat and digest, and may become malnourished due to their inability to consume regular food. UNHCR reported in 2016 that humanitarian assistance for elderly refugees generally does not meet the food requirements of older people.

Two-thirds of elderly refugees have been found to suffer from poor physical health. In a study about older Syrian refugees in Lebanon, it was found that most of them had at least one non-communicable disease: 60 percent had hypertension, 47 percent had diabetes and 30 percent had some form of heart disease, indicating a need for more comprehensive health services.

Mental health is also a significant area of concern. Older people, who often have a great deal of prestige and important societal roles, find that they lose much of their influence, power and resources when they become refugees. This is partly due to the fact that one of their main resources, life experience, is less relevant in new, unknown settings. Western values and education serve to give more prominent roles to younger people.

The loss of their traditional roles in addition to the trauma resulting from conflict and fleeing was found to have caused depression and mental illness among older South Sudanese refugees in a study published by the Overseas Development Institute. Respondents indicated that they felt isolated from their community and families, sensing that younger generations no longer respected them. They were also concerned that their families would grow tired of having to care for them.  

Uncertainty about being able to return to their homes can also cause psychological stress in elderly refugees. The family of Dagha, a 101-year-old Syrian refugee, stated that she often cries in her sleep and that her greatest fear is that she will die in Lebanon. Dagha reportedly asked her family to promise that they will bury her in Syria.

Providing Humanitarian Assistance

Improving humanitarian assistance for elderly refugees is an attainable goal. Aid organizations have the funding needed to make older refugees a greater priority, and an article in The Guardian explains that “mindset is the main barrier to inclusive humanitarian assistance, not money.”

UNHCR has a renewed commitment to focusing on elderly refugees and has outlined several practices ensuring aid is used to meet their needs. First, it is important to communicate with older people, both about their specific needs and concerns, and the services available to them. Important messages need to be in a format that elderly refugees can access. Working with older people to determine what works best for them is vital.

Older people should also be prioritized in reunification efforts and moving forward they should not be separated from family members. Additionally, the needs of elderly refugees should be considered when designing shelters and settlements.

In response to mental health concerns, aid workers need to improve their understanding of what elderly refugees want out of their lives in new and unfamiliar locations. Many South Sudanese informants stated that they wished to regain the societal and familial roles they had held before leaving.

With the help of organizations such as HelpAge International and UNHCR, humanitarian assistance for elderly refugees will hopefully begin to improve, moving toward fully addressing their needs and concerns. Life for elderly refugees will likely continue to be difficult, but better aid can lessen their struggles and improve their general livelihoods.  

– Sara Olk
Photo: Flickr

, , ,

Mental Health Support for Refugees

Mental Health Support for RefugeesThe global refugee crisis is becoming more and more widespread. In 2017, there were 2.9 million asylum seekers and this represented the biggest single-year rise in history. Those who fall victim to war, natural disaster, and famine are displaced and seek to find security in other countries. Their fleeing journey comes with many hardships, some of which provoke serious mental trauma during these vulnerable times. This text underlines the importance of mental health support for refugees.

Mental problems of refugees

When leaving the host country, refugees seek out protection camps and detention centers where they are placed in the uncertain housing and are at risk of being displaced from their families. Challenges that arise from resettlement are a loss of culture, community, or feeling ostracized from the current environment. Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptoms in refugees range from 10 to 40 percent. Children, on the other hand, experience these symptoms in even higher figures, from 50 to 90 percent.

When refugees arrive in other countries, they are subject to screenings for physical illnesses. In 2010, only 18 percent of refugee mental health coordinators used effective screening to identify mental illnesses. Barriers to mental health support for refugees include lack of access to interpreters, lack of access to mental health centers in poor, needy communities, shortages of mental health professionals in native countries and many more as well.

Providing mental health support to refugees in America

Centers across the U.S. are also providing mental health support for refugees. Bellevue Hospital in New York City created the program Survivors of Torture to assist asylum seekers and others who had a misfortune to be victims of torture. This is incredibly important, as 50 percent of refugees have experienced some form of torture.

California Department of Health screens refugees for signs of mental trauma as well as physical conditions. Today, about half of the states in the U.S. have mental health screenings. The Minnesota Department of Health helps refugees resettle and successfully integrates them into the community. The Harvard Program in Mental Trauma brings advances of modern medicine to refugees who desperately need mental attention.

Mental health support to refugees in other countries

Mental health experts around the world are working with UNHCR and non-governmental organizations to ensure refugees receive the help they deserve. Some organizations include:

  1. Psycho-Social Services and Training Institute in Cairo. Founded by Nancy Baron in 2009, the institute delivers mental health service to low-income communities in the Middle East.
  2. Syria Bright Future. Mohammad Abo-Hilal was an asylum seeker who fled from Jordan in 2011. He founded Syrian Bright Future to train volunteers to identify mental health symptoms. This non-profit organization recently expanded to other countries and provides immediate services to refugees.
  3. Center for Mind and Body Medicine. The organization specializes in holistic approaches to trauma such as meditation and mindfulness behavioral programs.

Due to the problematic refugee crisis around the world, mental health support for refugees in needed more than ever. Through programs like cognitive behavioral therapy to art mindfulness, professionals are finding ways to help refugees combat traumas. These programs can provide refugees with the necessary mental health support they need.

– Lilly Hershey-Webb
Photo: Flickr