Archive for category: Refugees and Displaced Persons

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Acehnese Fishermen Save Stranded Refugees

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In late May 2015, thousands of Rohingya and Bangladeshi refugees were stranded on the open ocean. The governments of nearby countries didn’t want them. Amidst this humanitarian crisis and fatal government hesitation, local Acehnese Indonesian fishermen saved thousands of refugees.

Hundreds of thousands of Rohingyas and Bangladeshi’s have fled their native homeland; the Rohingyas face political persecution that mirrors Apartheid South Africa, and Bangladeshis face seemingly inescapable poverty. Over 120,000 Rohingyas have left in the past three years, and just this year, 25,000 Rohingyas have fled.

In Buddhist-majority Myanmar, the Rohingyas are persecuted, and have been since the 1970s. They are not recognized as citizens and are “subjected to forced labour, have no land rights, and are heavily restricted,” says BBC. This March, the government took away the Rohingya’s right to vote.

The Rohingyas are an Islamic ethnic group. They are said to be descended from Muslim traders who settled in the region over 1,000 years ago, but the Myanmar government persists the Rohingyas are actually Bengali migrants— subjecting them to severe inequality.

It is due to this severe oppression that thousands of Rohingyas have fled Myanmar via boat. Rohingyas have paid smugglers in the past few years to transport them to safer countries, like Indonesia or Malaysia.

This year, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries that Rohingyas flee to cracked down on the influx of refugees, refusing to admit them.

For this reason, many refugees were left stranded by smugglers in the middle of the ocean. Other smugglers turned out to be traffickers, who held the migrants hostage in the ocean, attempting to pressure impoverished family members into paying for their stranded loved ones.

None of the countries in the region were willing to help them, and governments told local fishermen not to help stranded refugees.

“The focus should be on saving lives, not further endangering them,” said UN High Commissioner for Human Rights spokesman Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein.

Thailand and Indonesia turned away boats from their shores. Malaysia ordered its navy to keep the boats away. The United Nations has issued a statement that it is “appalled” by the foreign policy of these nations.

Chris Lewa, an advocate for the Rohingya activist group, described the attitude of neighboring countries as “extremely unwelcoming. Unlike European countries – who at least make an effort to stop North African migrants from drowning in the Mediterranean – Myanmar’s neighbours are reluctant to provide any assistance.”

Human Rights Watch accused Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia of playing “human ping pong” with boats by refusing to let people in and by pushing boats back out to international waters.

Thousands of boat people were stranded at sea with little food and water and no place to land. “For more than two months we were in the boat, we were only given little food and we were beaten when we asked for more,” said Mohamad Ali, a Bangladeshi migrant to BBC.

Mohammad Idiris, a 25-year-old from Myanmar was held on a crowded ship for 6 months, said he was “beaten regularly by human traffickers who demanded a ransom from his parents that they couldn’t pay,” reported the IRIN. “I didn’t know it was going to be like this. If I had known, I would have stayed in Myanmar. We feel happy here, because the Acehnese people are treating us as brothers, but we are still worried about our families in Myanmar.”

Despite government wishes, Indonesians from the Aceh region rescued around 2,000 stranded boat people. “We helped them because they needed help. What is more human than that?” said Mansur, a Acehnese fisherman, in an interview with The Guardian.

The people of Aceh themselves have suffered intense violence and devastation in the past; they were caught in violence between the Indonesian government and separatist rebels, as well as the tsunami of 2004 in the early 2000s. For this reason, the Aceh people were very welcoming.

The fishermen worked together, pulling refugees from boat to boat, taking multiple trips and providing food and water on shore. Suryadi, an Aceh fisherman, told The Guardian, “We helped out of solidarity. If we find someone in the ocean we have to help them no matter who they are. The police did not like us helping but we could not avoid it. Our sense of humanity was higher. So we just helped with the limited resources that we had at the time.”

Aceh even put on a concert to raise money for the refugees. Rafly, a popular local singer, performed “Pemulia Jamee,” a traditional Acehnese ceremony, to honor guests. Rafly is also a senator, and plans to advocate for the refugees to stay in Aceh in the future.

“I really wish they will stay permanently in Aceh. I have lobbied the governor of Aceh on this matter and will raise it with the head of the senate,” he tells IRIN.

The future for the Bangladeshi and Rohingya refugees is uncertain. Bangladeshis may be returned to Bangladesh once they are identified, though they return to an unwelcome government. Bangladeshi Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina called the stranded boat people “mentally sick” for leaving, and claimed they are “tainting the image of the country.”

Myanmar recently created a program to give citizenship back to the Rohyingas; however, it forces the Rohingyas to list their ethnicity as Bengali, so it is heavily opposed. The Rohingyas are not welcome in Myanmar. Today around 140,000 Rohingyas in Myanmar live in camps; they cannot return to their villages, which were burned by Rakhine Buddhists in 2012 violence that killed over 200 people.

After a large amount of chaos, conflict and devastating waiting, Malaysia and Indonesia finally agreed to let refugees shelter on their shores, as long as they are relocated within a year. However, this was only after local Indonesian fishermen went directly against the wishes of their government to help save extremely vulnerable refugees.

– Margaret Mary Anderson

Sources: BBC, IRIN News , The Guardian
Photo: IRIN News

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Cholera Outbreak Among Burundian Refugees Contained

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A cholera outbreak in Tanzania that claimed the lives of 30 Burundian refugees and local Tanzanians has been curbed.

The epidemic occurred in western Tanzania near Lake Tanganyika, in a remote village that is overcrowded with refugees. Authorities estimate refugees consumed contaminated lake water, which facilitated the spread of cholera. A total of 4,408 cases have been reported.

A UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) spokesman, Adrian Edwards, said that no new deaths have been reported since last Thursday, and the number of new daily cases has fallen from around 915 per day at the height of the outbreak on May 18 to less than one hundred per day. According to Edwards, the situation is improving but it still could take several weeks to see cholera completely eradicated among this population.

The majority of the cholera victims are refugees of Burundi who are fleeing to avoid violence stemming from a failed political coup in Burundi’s capital, Bujumbura.

The influx of refugees from Burundi to surrounding countries has not stopped. The UNHCR estimates that over 100,000 Burundian refugees have escaped, leaving over 64,000 Burundians in Tanzania, and the remaining in Rwanda, Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. About 100 Burundians per day arrive to each of these surrounding countries.

The refugees that arrive in Tanzania must walk four hours through the mountains to reach the border. Some immediately are bussed to the camp called Nyarugusu, and some wait for boats that will take them to a camp called Kigoma. Tens of thousands wait by Lake Tanganyika, a tiny beach area that is only 800 meters by 500 meters. The overcrowding and high density of refugees on the move has facilitated the quick spread of cholera.

Many refugees are being moved from Lake Tanganyika because it is overcrowded and unsanitary. Kahindo Maina, a public health officer of the UNHCR, said, ”Our priority is to get all the refugees out of Kagunga because the situation is dire. We have built latrines and brought supplies to provide clean water but the terrain and the crowded situation does not allow for a good sanitary situation there.”

Refugees have been moved to the Tanganyika stadium in Kigoma where there are better facilities, and cleaner water and sanitation. Tanzanian health authorities, the UNHCR, the World Health Organization and other partners have helped stem the spread of cholera by the promotion of hygiene, treatment of patients, implementation of effective prevention measures and the creation of access to sanitation and safe water.

Other preventative measures provided by the Ministry of Health, the UN and NGO partners include airlifting medicine and providing medical supplies and protective gear. UNHCR spokesman Edwards explained that “together with the government and our UN and NGO partners, we are providing oral rehydration solutions, soap and water purification tablets, and increasing hand-washing facilities.”

Around 30,000 refugees have also been moved from the lake area to Nyarugusu. Here, they receive vaccinations for childhood illnesses, get dewormed and have nutritional assessments done. New latrine and sanitation facilities are being built.

– Margaret Anderson
Sources: AllAfrica, Humanosphere, UNHCR 1, UNHCR 2
Photo: UNHCR

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Cholera Outbreak in Burundi Refugee Camp

cholera outbreakThe Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) confirmed that over 105,000 Burundian people have crossed the border to find sanctuary from politically-driven violence in Burundi’s capital city, Bujumbura.

The Burundian political sphere was rattled in late April when President Pierre Nkurunziza was nominated by the CNDD-FDD party to serve a third term, which his political opponents believe to be unconstitutional. As a result of the debate, Bujumbura was flooded with protests in the following weeks, culminating in a short-lived coup d’état on May 13.

Despite the coup d’état ceasing within 24 hours, violence continued into the rural regions, threatening a large majority of rural Burundian people. The Imbonerakure tribe ravaged towns by marking red paint on the houses of those who they intended to kill, causing thousands of families to flee the country.

UNHCR correspondent Adrian Edwards reported, “Many of these [people] have crossed into Rwanda (25,004), but over the last week we have also seen a sharp increase in people seeking asylum in Tanzania (17,696) after entry restrictions there were lifted. In addition, almost 8,000 people have crossed into South Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. In all these cases, women and children, including a large number of unaccompanied children, are in the majority.”

The reported number of 17,000 seeking refuge in Tanzania has since increased to over 70,000. A large majority of those traveling to Tanzania have landed in Kagunga, a border village on the shore of Lake Tanganyika. This small village can only be reached by boat, due to a treacherous mountain range surrounding the village on the Tanzanian side.

This small village quickly reached its maximum capacity, and the Burundian people have been crammed into short-stocked refugee camps, without adequate sleeping space, food or sanitation. These refugee camps are overwhelmed by the rapid out-pour of people. As a result, a recent cholera outbreak has infiltrated the water supply, killing as many as 31 refugees in the past few weeks and causing acute diarrhea in 3,000 more.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is working to open re-hydration checkpoints and cholera treatment centers in both Kagunga and Kigoma. Refugees are currently being fast-tracked to Kigoma, where there have been no reported cases of cholera. The transfer of pregnant women, children, the elderly and the sick is a top priority.

In Kigoma, local aid has assembled a sort of “pit stop” location where refugees can stay a few days while being registered and receiving medical care before being transferred to another refugee camp called Nyarugusu. With the help of UNHCR and other contributors, more than 18,000 refugees have been safely moved to Nyarugusu so far.

Regarding the Cholera outbreak, MSF stated, “Epidemics tend to occur where living conditions are poor: where there is overcrowding, inadequate access to safe drinking water or proper latrines and insufficient rubbish collection. Improved hygiene practices and treatment are important components of the cholera response. The provision of safe water and effective sanitation remain essential during all outbreaks.”

– Hanna Darroll

Sources: MSF, UNHCRInternational Business Times
Sources: BBC, MSF
Photo: The Guardian

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Jobs for Refugees at a Socially-Minded Business

Jobs_for_Refugees_at_a_Socially-Minded_BusinessIn 2013, 69,926 people were admitted into the United States as refugees, according to the 2014 Fiscal Year Refugee Admissions Statistics published by the U.S. State Department.

That number is increasing and will continue to grow in the coming year. In February 2015, the Office of Refugee Resettlement reported that 69,986 refugees came to the U.S. in 2014. The U.S., though, often does not have enough jobs for refugees that come into the country.

The reason for the rise in refugee amount is largely due to the crisis in Syria, which has displaced thousands. So far, about 647,000 people have been forced to flee the region.

The Syrian conflict has been called the largest migration by a single group of people since 1999 when war in Kosovo resulted in the displacement of more than 867,000 people.

The United Nations’ High Commission for Refugees releases an annual report on the total amount of people driven from their homeland. In June 2013, it was at 45.2 million people. This was the highest ever in recorded history.

The five countries most impacted by wars are Afghanistan, Somalia, Iraq, Syria and Sudan. In fact, these countries were the source of 55% of all refugees in 2013.

In the 2012 report, nearly half of the population of refugees were female, and about 46% were children aged 18 or younger.

In Lancaster, Pennsylvania, Srirupa Dasgupta owns a socially-minded restaurant. Beginning at first as a catering company in 2010, the restaurant opened in April 2014. Dasgupta wanted to create a place where refugees and other marginalized people could find jobs.

“I realized that Lancaster has a large refugee population,” says Dasgupta, “These women had the skills to get a job and had jobs in their country but they couldn’t get past the language barrier in this country.”

She saw that, hired as cooks, women did not have to read the recipes because they had curated them on their own. Currently, she has three regular employees that are each paid $14.50 per hour, which is twice the amount of minimum wage in Pennsylvania.

Dasgupta came to the U.S. from India to attend college in Massachusetts. Her grandparents fled Bangladesh in 1947 and their struggle, along with many others she has come across, inspired her to start her business.

“Upohar’s lead chef is Rachel Bunkete who grew up in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. She left her home in order to escape political, ethnic and religious conflicts in 2008, but was forced to do so without her husband and three children. Ever since she was allowed to come to the U.S., she has been working toward being reunited with her family.

Another chef, Tulsha Chauwan, fled Bhutan with her family and lived in refugee camps in Nepal for year before they were allowed to settle in the U.S.

Upohar, the name of the restaurant, is the Bengali word for ‘gift’.

So far, Dasgupta has yet to yield any profit from her restaurant, but she is thrilled just knowing that she has made a difference in the lives of those involved.

– Lillian Sickler

Sources: NPR, Upohar, Lancaster Online, International Rescue Committee, U.S. Department of State, The Guardian, Office of Refugee Settlement
Photo: Flickr

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Rohingya Refugee Crisis

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Thousands of migrants are currently stranded in boats off the coasts of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Several thousand have made it ashore, but the governments of these countries are refusing to allow those who remain at sea to land. Most of the boats are overcrowded and on the verge of sinking. Local fishermen and villagers have rescued hundreds from sinking boats off the coast of Sumatra. It is estimated that 6-8,000 remain stranded at sea.

The passengers are primarily migrants from Bangladesh looking for work and Muslim Rohingya fleeing persecution in Burma. There are approximately one million Rohingya living in Burma, but as a non-Buddhist minority they are denied citizenship and forced to live in segregated ghettos where poverty, disease and starvation are rife. The Burmese government refuses to recognize them and insists they are illegal migrants from Bangladesh despite the fact that many have roots in Burma that go back many centuries.

Over 100,000 Rohingya have fled Burma in recent years as sectarian tensions have increased. Hundreds have been killed in violent clashes. The Burmese military junta was notorious for persecuting minorities and despite a transitional government, this persecution continues. Many minorities flee and refugee camps on the Thai border house thousands of asylum seekers.

But no group has endured the level of persecution suffered by the Rohingya, whom the United Nations claims is one of the world’s most oppressed minorities. Since they live in the western part of the country and are forced into segregated camps, the Rohingya must flee by boat.

They flee alongside Bangladeshi migrants and pay large amounts of money to human traffickers, who frequently abuse them and cram them into unsafe and overloaded vessels, just like in the Mediterranean. As Thailand has recently begun cracking down on human trafficking, many are now fleeing for Malaysia and Indonesia.

But each time they have attempted to land, authorities have turned them away and sent them to another country, which Human Rights Watch has referred to as “human ping-pong.” Most of the ships have been abandoned by the smugglers and left to float offshore. There have been reports of fighting over food, people dying of disease and starvation and even stories of people throwing others overboard to lighten the load and keep the ship from sinking.

Migrants have been fleeing in record numbers this year. Indonesia and Malaysia say they already have too many Rohingya to accept any more. The governments of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia are all meeting to discuss the issue. The United Nations and several NGO’s are also involved and are pledging millions of dollars in aid to assist the countries in dealing with the refugee crisis.

Fifteen countries have been invited to a summit in Thailand at the end of the month to discuss the crisis and come up with a solution. Burma has also been invited but says it will not attend and refuses to accept any responsibility for the problem. The first obstacle is finding a place to set up camps to house the migrants. But perhaps the most difficult and lengthy part will be identifying and processing them and sorting out economic migrants from asylum seekers. The former will be sent home, while the latter will be sent abroad to third countries.

– Matt Lesso

Sources: The Guardian 1, Yahoo, BBC, The Guardian 2, The Guardian 3
Photo: Flickr

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IKEA’s Better Shelters

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Nearly four million refugees have fled Syria in the last four years. In 2013, almost 51 million people were displaced from their homes worldwide. This marks the highest global refugee population since World War II. In camps, the only shelter these displaced families have are flimsy tents. A new mobile shelter called the Better Shelter could offer a safer, more dignified solution to the challenge of housing refugee families.

IKEA Foundation and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees have joined forces to improve the housing options for displaced families. The shelters come in two flat cardboard boxes, can be assembled without additional tools by as few as four people in less than a day. At 188 square feet, they can house up to five people and come with weather-proof panels, a solar powered lamp and cellphone charger and a door that locks.

Shaun Scales, Chief of Shelter and Settlement at UNHCR, has lauded the Better Shelters as, “…an exciting new development in humanitarian shelter and represents a much needed addition to the palette of sheltering options mobilized to assist those in need. Its deployment will ensure dramatic improvement to the lives of many people affected by crises.”

The houses were designed by a team in Sweden with the goal of making a temporary housing solution that was sustainable socially and environmentally. After UNHCR and IKEA became involved in the project, Better Shelter was tested by refugees in Ethiopia and Iraq. Their needs and critiques were central to the design process and helped shape the final product.

The Better Shelters cost about $1,150, about twice as much as the makeshift tarp tents that spring to mind when refugee camps are mentioned. This is mostly because the shelters are more akin to mobile homes. The locking doors add a layer of security and privacy that is currently all but forgotten in the overcrowded camps, and could help reduce the staggeringly high rate of sexual assault. With weatherproof walls, interior lighting and a solid foundation, the shelters are designed to last for about three years. That’s six times as long as the standard tents usually last.

“Even though the upfront price is double that of an emergency tent, the solution is still more cost effective considering its longevity,” explains Johan Karlsson, head of Business Development at Better Shelter. “We’re working hard to get it below $1,000, and we see good potential to achieve this within the next two years.”

UNHCR has purchased 10,000 of the Better shelters and plans to distribute them this summer, potentially housing 50,000 refugees. Although 50,000 of the 13 million people who rely on UNHCR may seem like a drop in the bucket, it is a promising start for a product that could ease the pain of displacement.

– Marina Middleton

Sources: World Mic, The Huffington Post, Better Shelter, Mashable, DIHAD
Photo: Mashable

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International Catholic Migration Commission

With allegations of sexual abuse by priests surfacing over the last 15 years, Catholicism has been portrayed negatively in the news. In turn, followers of the faith can have negative perceptions upon hearing that their beloved religious leaders have a darker, more tainted morality.

Despite the ignominy, moral Catholics continue to do volunteer work for the greater good. One of the least acknowledged organizations of the church is the International Catholic Migration Commission.

Founded in 1951, the ICMC is dedicated to the service and protection of geographically displaced people, namely refugees and migrants. It also serves people who have been internally displaced, or exiled from their homes while staying within the borders of their native countries.

Most importantly, the ICMC’s services are not restricted to members of the Christian faith. A photo on the organization’s website says it all. A smattering of huddled refugees take shelter under gold ponchos and blue blankets on the deck of a boat while it sails towards the sunrise, toward hope of a safe haven.

Its workers have proved their integrity time and time again. During the past 15 years alone, agents of the ICMC have been aiding and sheltering victims of the wars in Afghanistan and Syria.

Because the ICMC has reserved locations in many impoverished countries, its agents are often able to step in more quickly than governmental aid organizations. The work that they do in these crises is truly invaluable.

But the media will not cover it. Why? Because it is biased toward sensationalism. While members of other religious groups forge terrorist attacks upon developed countries whose people become a tad too liberal in their mockery, Christians are almost disturbingly accepting of attacks on their faith.

As a consequence of sensationalism and freedom of the press, the public views Muslims as the ultimate villains, Christians as ignorant bigots and Judaism as the only religious group that can do absolutely no wrong. All three biases are misplaced.

Furthermore, the media is talking out of two sides of its mouth. According to the Pew Forum 2007 survey, African Americans made up the most religious racial group, with 85% practicing some denomination of Christianity. Another huge swath of Christians is Hispanic. Yet the press likes to overlook these statistics, praising Obama as the first African American president and peddling the rights of illegal immigrants while mocking the religious practices and beliefs of Blacks and Latinos.

What lies at the root of these religious prejudices is the layman’s demand for ancient belief systems to conform and adapt to modern social issues. Religious leaders and followers of all faiths are then forced to reconcile what are sometimes conflicting imperatives.

Child molestation is unambiguously wrong. Subjugation of women by religious leaders is wrong. But giving the media of any nation as much moral authority as the American media effectively claims only works to throw decent people who happen to be religious in the middle of an incessant sociopolitical campaign.

Criticism of religious institutions, much like the racially slanted coverage of police shootings, only works to fuel conflicts in both the United States and developing nations. It inspires people to shoot police officers vigilante-style and rant about archaic beliefs while religious individuals in poorer countries continue to face discrimination and crimes against humanity.

Perhaps the solution ought not to be found among the hateful organizations that yell loudest, but rather among the unsung heroes like members of the ICMC. As the overlooked saviors of media-portrayed victims, they may be the most ironic and unexpected heroes of all.

– Leah Zazofsky

Sources: ICMC, International Catholic Migration Commission, Pew Forum, Pew Research, UNHCR, Voice of America
Photo: Flickr

Conditions Poor in Syrian Refugee Camps

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What was supposed to be a safe haven for Palestinians has now become another war zone. A total of 18,000 refugees are being held hostage in the Yarmouk camp in Syria. The Syrian refugee camp located in southern Damascus has been taken over by ISIS and the group Al-Nursa Front, known for its affiliation with Al-Qaeda.

According to the United Nations, the camp was already low on essentials such as food, water, and medicine. According to Chris Gunness, a spokesman for the United Nations, attempts to deliver food have failed. “That means that there is no food, there is no water and there is very little medicine,” said Gunness.”The situation in the camp is beyond inhumane. People are holed up in their houses, there is fighting going on in the streets. There are reports of … bombardments. This has to stop and civilians must be evacuated.”

Adding to the devastation is the constant violence the people of the camp must face. Dr. Saeb Erekat, and Executive Committee Member of the Palestine Liberation Organization, has reported that there are “kidnappings, beheadings and mass killings” being carried out at the camp. Bombs have also been dropped on the camp.

Yarmouk, which was formed in 1957 for refugees in the Arab-Israeli conflict, are no strangers to dire situations—illness and starvation were already prevalent amongst the camp, which has been under government control since December of 2012. However, the damage being carried out now could be the worst the camp has seen yet.

“Never has the hour been more desperate in the Palestine refugee camp of Yarmouk,” said the United Nations Relief and Works Agency in statement.

The United Nations is vocalizing the need for liberation or at least humanitarian aid where those suffering can receive food, water and proper medical attention.

“The levels of humanity that we have seen have now descended into further levels of inhumanity,” insisted Gunness. Hopefully, the United Nations and other humanitarian groups will continue to fight for the lives of those who are victims to this horrible conflict.

– Melissa Binns

Sources: The World Post, CNN
Photo: Flickr

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Winter Brings Health Risks for Syrian Refugees

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As winter storms move into the Middle East, the most vulnerable populations will be the millions of Syrian refugees fleeing from a violent and long civil war. Perhaps the most affected areas are in the Beqaa Valley in Lebanon, where some 400,000 Syrian refugees live in temporary, informal tent camps under harsh winter conditions.

Temperatures in the Beqaa Valley have dipped well below freezing for long periods of time, compounding the unforgiving effects of a wet, windy winter. Snow and ice in recent weeks has led to the closure of roads surrounding the camps, making access for aid workers even more difficult. The UN reports that over 100 tents have collapsed under the weight of ice and snow. The UNHCR has set up six emergency shelters to try to negate the risk of collapse, but resources are running low around the camps.

Lebanon has no formal camps, but is now the home of 1.12 million Syrian refugees. This means that one out of every four people in Lebanon is now a Syrian refugee. Because the official policy of the Lebanese government is non–intervention in Syrian internal affairs, civic organizations have had to take the lead on caring for the millions of Syrian refugees now living in the country.

The UN estimates that there are approximately 3.2 million Syrian and an additional 7.6 million people displaced by the conflict still living in Syria. Most refugees are living in Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon and Iraq. This will be the fourth winter since the beginning of the war.

Other refugees affected by winter weather live in Jordan, Turkey, Palestine, Israel and Iraq. In Jordan, only 100,000 of a total 620,000 refugees live in formal camps. In Iraq, violence in the past year has displaced hundreds of thousands of people who are now are facing similar winter risks as Syrian refugees.

The winter months bring a whole new set of health risks to refugees, especially those living in tent camps. Besides cold-weather exposure risks like hypothermia, frostbite and chilblains, wet conditions lead to a higher risk of disease and low levels of resources and closed roads increase the risk of malnutrition and dehydration. Children and the elderly are the most vulnerable populations.

Winter also brings higher risk of accidental deaths, from collapsed tents and fire-related deaths from indoor flames and heaters.

This past November, two Syrian babies died because of winter conditions. In Palestine this month, a fire killed a refugee child. And two Syrian refugees crossing into Lebanon earlier this month, a 30-year-old man and a seven-year-old child, were killed in the mountains because of exposure to extreme cold.

A shortfall of 50 percent of international funding for U.N. assistance to refugees means that Syrian refugees are getting even less help this winter than in the past. There are no additional ration cards or oil for heaters. Even though the percent of refugees living in harsh winter conditions is small compared to the overall number of people displaced by the conflict, a disproportionate amount of funding is going to them, removing funding options for other refugee settlements.

– Caitlin Huber

Sources: The Guardian, Washington Post, NPR, The Weather Channel, National Resource Council, Center for Disease Control, Relief Web, Syrian Refugees
Photo: YouTube

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Girl Scouts Arise in Refugee Camps

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The Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. is an organization known for building girls’ confidence, courage and character in order to make the world a better place. Girl Scouts is active in more than 92 countries across the globe and is a part of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS), which comprises of over 10 million girls and adults in 145 countries. The Association’s purpose is to connect member organizations and promote girls and young women to develop to their fullest potential.

Two U.S. college students have taken the initiative further and brought Girl Scouts to refugee camps in Jordan. U.S. college students Howlader Nashara and Ameera Naguib are the troop’s leaders. They started with helping the girls get to know each other, and they planned the different badges they wanted the girls to earn throughout the year. Because of the troop, the girls are now versed in skills that they would not have had the opportunity to learn otherwise, such as first-aid, self-defense, gardening, computer skills and financial literacy.

A grassroots effort, the Collateral Repair Project, has joined forces with the Girl Scouts and is sponsoring more than 20 Girl Scout troops, assisting girl refugees of the Syrian civil war three years ago. The mission of this grassroot effort is to bring assistance to refugees and other victims of war/conflict. The Collateral Repair Project seeks to repair this damage, offer guidance, assistance and even temporary homes to thousands of Iraqis and Syrian refugees.

Girl Scouts empowers girls and encourages them to discover that life can be filled with fun, friendship and the power of forming a community. Through field trips, sports clinics, community service projects, cultural exposure, environmental stewardship and basic life-skills training, girls are able to grow and reach their true full potential.

– Charisma Thapa

Sources: The Girl Scouts, Good News Network Collateral Repair Project
Photo: Flickr