Archive for category: Refugees and Displaced Persons

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Thousands of Displaced Iraqis Not Seen

Headlines covering Iraq focus on the brutal mass executions performed by the Islamic State (IRIS) or the thousands of refugees Kurdistan struggles to support. Lately, the news spotlight has shed its light on the plight of the Yezidis and their escape from the Sinjar mountains.

While coverage on these issues has been extensive and thorough, Iraq is an expansive country and there are thousands who are receiving little aid and whose stories remain unheard.

Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) recently investigated the 70,000 displaced Iraqis hiding out in Karbala and Najaf, two holy Shia cities. While these Iraqis do receive some support, the little that they are receiving comes mostly from mosques and local associations and it is not enough.

Abdul Ghafour Ahmed is a 67-year-old man who fled his home in early June. He explains his family’s journey: “After ISIS swept through our village, we tried to go to Kurdistan, but they didn’t receive us for being from the Shiite sect. They were receiving only Kurds and Sunnis. We spent four days at the main border entrance to Kurdistan, but got nothing.”

So the family of nine found their way to the few other safe zones in the country. They are among the lucky ones. As the international community scrambles to provide aid to the thousands in Kurdistan’s refugee camps, there are thousands more stuck in homes.

Amirli is a city half-way between Baghdad and Erbil, the capital of Kurdistan. IRIS militants surround the city and have it under siege, leaving up to 20,000 people trapped inside.

The United Nations has been attempting to get food to the city, but it is not enough. A doctor volunteering in the area told IRIN, “People are dying…The children are malnourished.”

Zaid Al-Ali, a lawyer in Iraq, expresses the complaint he says everyone — from officials to the general population — has, that, “Kurdistan is getting preferential treatment compared to Baghdad.”

Out of Iraq’s 19 governorates, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a presence in 12 of them.

“We are getting everywhere we can within our security limitations,” Kieran Dwyer, chief of communications for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, defends the U.N.’s lack of aid to cities like Amirli. “This is Iraq, the security limitations are not arbitrarily or unnecessarily applied; it’s a dangerous place.”

The U.N. and other aid agencies have a delicate line to walk, struggling to determine how to get the most aid to the most people without putting themselves in unnecessary danger.

Conditions, Dwyer says, are unstable in Iraq and one minute an area could be secure and the next it may need to be evacuated, and vice versa. The ICRC has been able to finally get supplies to Anbar, the region where IRIS caused over half a million residents to flee. But more is needed.

– Julianne O’Connor

Sources: IRIN
Photo: Neuron Learning

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Iraqi Christian Refugees in France

Refugees in france
ISIS continues to spread terror in Iraq and Syria as the Islamic extremist group targets non-jihadist Muslims, Christians and all ethnic and religious others who do not agree with the creation of an Islamic state. Millions of Iraqis have been murdered or displaced, many of them seeking asylum in European countries.

Last week, France welcomed 40 Iraqi Christian refugees whose lives were in immediate danger in their home country. The refugees in France flew from Arbil, the capitol of the Kurdistan region of Iraq. Several hundred more Christians living in the Levant – a region including Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Israel, Palestine, the island of Cyprus and part of southern Turkey – are expected to find shelter in France within the next month.

The Islamic extremists have been demanding that everyone convert to jihadist Islam. The alternative is torture or death. An estimated 1.2 million people in Iraq alone, not including the once-residents of contested territory in Syria, have moved from their homes and livelihoods in search of security.

In a recently uploaded Youtube video, an Iraqi man and woman who were transferred to a safer country spoke in anonymity about their fears.

“This is the last chance for us, because we don’t have anything,” the woman said. “We don’t have houses. We don’t have work. I have lost everything. I have lost my job. I was a teacher and now I am nothing.”

The man followed by confessing loss at ISIS’s egregious tactics and mission, then hope for a future in which his family is not plagued with perpetual anxiety.

“They [ISIS] rape women and girls and kidnap people,” he said. “We have Muslim friends who are very nice, but we don’t know why the jihadists are doing this. We’re just Christians is all. We’ll start from scratch. It’s going to be hard for us, but it’s going to be better for us than living under threatened security, always cautious, everywhere in Iraq.”

Shuttling everyone at imminent risk to a haven in France is a priority, but Iraqis who have an ongoing relationship with Europe are being favored by French officials. Iraqis who have relatives in France or who have been to France before will be given preferential treatment.

The planes that bring refugees to Europe have been carrying humanitarian aid items such as foodstuffs and medical supplies to Iraq on their way there. The planes utilize proactive round trips in Europe’s struggle against ISIS; and the round trips will likely continue.

Laurent Fabius, the Foreign Minister of France, said that the total number of  refugees in France could reach “several thousand” by the time ISIS has stopped accumulating territory.

This marks the increasingly active role Europe and the developed world has taken to quell ISIS and end its reign of terror.

– Adam Kaminski

Sources: YouTube, BBC
Photo: GDE-FON

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UN Concerned About Refugees in Libya

As the security situation quickly deteriorates in Libya, the United Nations says it is very concerned about the safety of asylum-seekers and refugees in Libya who are stranded in areas under heavy fighting.

U.N. Refugee Agency spokesperson Ariane Rummery said UNHCR is receiving calls from the mostly Palestinian and Syrian refugees in Libya who need assistance. About 37,000 people are recorded with UNHCR in Tripoli and Benghazi, areas of heavy violence between the military and insurgents.

“In Tripoli alone, more than 150 people from Eritrea, Somalia and other countries have phoned our protection hotline seeking help with medicines or a safer place to stay.”

UNHCR is especially concerned about one Palestinian and three Syrians who are trapped in between Libya and Egypt. They are asking Egyptian authorities to give the group access to food and water.

Rummery also said refugees in Libya see leaving as their only option. Many Libyan refugees are trying to leave the country by sea. The airport in Tripoli has been unavailable for days. Tunisia and Egypt are inaccessible for refugees, so the sea is the only way out. Smugglers are making use of the situation as these desperate people risk their lives to leave Libya and take the dangerous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe.

“We recently heard of a group of 500 Syrians who left in about three boats toward Italy from Benghazi, and this is a new and much more dangerous journey because it takes longer to reach Italy. Over 1,000 people have died in the Mediterranean this year and the latest casualties drowned last week off Al-Khums, which is about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of Tripoli.”

UNHCR is advising Libyan authorities to lessen exit visa restrictions to let people leave Libya. They are also calling for Egypt and Tunisia to open their borders to the people trying to escape violence.

While the fighting continues in Libya, a newly elected parliament has met in hopes that they can bring peace. Libya has experience violent conflict since the 2011 uprising that overthrew Muammar al-Qadhafi.

– Colleen Moore

Sources: United Nations, UPI, Voice of America
Photo: United Nations

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SOS Children’s Villages

SOS Children’s Villages prevent children from being abandoned. They provide individuals with the opportunity to play a crucial role in a child’s upbringing. Yet the villages themselves are susceptible to the spillover of outside violence. Children are the most vulnerable to this violence. The proper means for child development cannot be provided if their well-being is not treated with more respect and concern.

There are provisions necessary for the proper development of a child. Children need to have a loving family, respect and security. Yet with the increase of conflict, children are being placed in more and more unsecure conditions which are stripping away at their quality of development.

In the Children’s Village of Rafah, a southern city of the Gaza Strip, the sounds of bombs can be clearly heard on a daily basis. The children do not understand the cause of the violence and are terrified by the sounds. Some ask the SOS mothers, “Why are there so many people being killed? Why are there so many houses being destroyed?” But the mothers cannot even answer and simply try to keep the children happy.

The Children’s Village in Israel, home to Muslim, Jewish and Christian children, is in just as much turmoil, its occupants disturbed by the sounds of war around them. Here the Children’s Village is based in the conflict zone area, accompanied with fortified protection for families to take refuge.

Still, many children are too scared to leave the sides of their SOS mothers, some even too afraid to go to the bathroom alone. Older children say that this may be how their lives always are, always fearful of the raging war.

In Africa, the SOS Village of Malakal was forced to evacuate after threats of rebel violence. The village was later overrun by rebels and now lies in ruins. Plans of relocation to Juba, the capital city, were politically denied. Now the children of Malakal Village have no permanent home.

Countless stories exist about children who are barely surviving on the streets in their countries. From Ammar, the 10-year-old Syrian boy who spends his days collecting litter and who wakes up to insects crawling all over his body, to Tahir, an 18-year-old survivor of the SOS Village Malakal raid who ran for his life after witnessing murder, the situation of children without proper homes is worsening in these violent regions.

– Ashley Riley

Sources: SOS Children’s Villages 1, SOS Children’s Villages 2, Bor Globe
Photo: SOS Children’s Villages

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Problems Along the Kurdistan Border

The recent turmoil taking place in Iraq has caused massive changes in the political, social and cultural landscape of the country. One interesting area that hasn’t been given very much attention is Kurdistan, located in the northernmost portion of the country.

The semi-autonomous region has remained very stable, which is particularly intriguing considering that the rest of the country is beginning to unravel. As a result, it has become a very desirable destination for Iraqi refugees suffering from the turmoil in their local communities; the number of Iraqis attempting to cross the Kurdistan border has grown.

When conflict first started to break out in Iraq, the Kurdistan borders were open for any Iraqi who needed shelter and security. In the immediate aftermath of ISIS taking Mosul, around 500,000 Iraqis made their way into Kurdistan. However, more recently the border has been significantly tightened as fewer and fewer people are able to cross into Kurdistan.

According to various NGOs working along the border, checkpoints have been increasingly closed off to migrants, leaving thousands waiting for days on end in the blazing heat. This wait is made even worse by a severe lack of information and limited access to food, water and shelter.

One major checkpoint, Khazair, does have a transit camp that is open to those waiting to get into Kurdistan. It offers some modicum of shelter and safety, but very little comfort. A recent report from REACH has indicated that just under half of the refugees were at the camp because they had been refused entry into Kurdistan.

Despite these less than ideal circumstances along the Kurdish border, there’s an even deeper layer to the process of entering the area. Various rights groups have brought attention to different levels of access offered to people and families based on their religious affiliation and ethnicity. Kurds, Christians, and those who have sponsors inside Kurdistan are able to cross with relative ease.

In comparison, Sunni and Shia Arabs have been regularly stopped and/or sent to temporary holding sites. As one senior aid worker from an NGO who chose to remain anonymous said, “The blocking of entry to people along ethnic lines is an issue and it needs to be looked at.”

This problem is only exacerbated by the fact that the Kurdish Regional Government has no well-defined entry policy for their region. As Liene Viede, a public information officer for the U.N. Refugee Agency (UNHCR) explained: “There is no general and common access policy… According to the observations of our monitors, access policies applied at checkpoints are increasingly unpredictable.”

It remains to be seen how badly this discrimination is affecting the overall access to Kurdistan, or whether more complete or better defined regulations regarding border crossings are in the works. However, the lack of predictability and potential for conflict along ethnic lines is beginning to loom large in what is considered to be one of the most stable areas in the country.

– Andre Gobbo

Sources: IRIN 1, REACH, IRIN 2
Photo: The Guardian

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Muslims in Myanmar Face Health Crisis

In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar, also known as Burma, displaced Rohingya Muslims face a severe health crisis as malnutrition spreads, and treatable illnesses and injuries go unattended.

The country’s recent history of ethnic tension has disfavored the minority Muslims, pushing them to regions along coastal Myanmar where many of the displaced are settled in refugee camps. The plight of the Rohingya has caught the attention of international aid organizations that set up medical centers and ration distribution facilities.

However, medical aid to the ostracized group was all but completely cut off by government officials who accused Medicins Sans Frontieres-Holland (Doctors Without Borders-Holland) of favoritism to Muslims in Myanmar, promoting anti-government sentiment, and ordered them to leave in February of 2014.

As a result of the expulsion, the 700,000 people that depended on MSF’s service were left without proper medical care. By late July, when the government declared that MSF could return, the Rohingya had already endured months of a bleak health crisis with no help to turn to.

In a Reuters report from one of the camps, Aisyah Begum told the story of her husband who was injured while working in the forest. The man would have been taken to the nearby MSF clinic had it been open. The couple was left with no other option but to drive two hours to the nearest private doctor in Maungdaw who then refused to help. The man eventually passed away from what was most likely a treatable infection.

Around the time MSF was granted permission to return, the United Nations publicly commented on the refugee camps’ inhumane conditions. Yanghee Lee of the UN human rights envoy for Myanmar released a 10 page report, calling the living situation of the camps’ inhabitants “deplorable,” noting concern that “the government’s plan for peaceful co-existence may likely result in a permanent segregation” of the two groups.

Ethnic tensions between the Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and the dominant Rakhine Buddhists spans back a few years. It erupted in 2012, leaving 200 dead and an estimated 140,000 internally displaced – 135,000 of which were Rohingya. The clash between the ethnic groups left the bitter taste of mistrust in the mouths of both sides, with one side much more disadvantaged than the other.

The Rohingya suffer from continued apathy and exclusion on part of the Rakhine, and face the threat of violent attacks if they cross the wrong person, keeping them isolated in their lacking communities. They essentially live as prisoners, eating only donated rice and chickpeas, fishing their protein from the nearby ocean.

Ethnic persecution is systemic in Myanmar, to the point where those in the minority group are not even recognized as citizens by the government. They are classified as illegal Bengali immigrants and therefore have no legal rights or representation. They severely lack the means to sustain themselves.

Conditions have reached such a critical point in recent years that tens of thousands have tried fleeing by boat. Human Rights Watch has accused the government of leading an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Muslims in Myanmar.

“By virtue of their legal status (or lack of), the Muslim community has faced and continues to face systematic discrimination, which includes restrictions in the freedom of movement, restrictions in access to land, food, water, education and health care, and restrictions on marriages and birth registrations,” said Lee in her report.

Myanmar is a country of 55 million people. In sheer numbers alone, it is clear what the Rohingya are up against as the nation’s abhorred minority. Years of military rule subjected them to hard labor, rape, torture and relocation, extending from a 1982 citizenship law that declared them stateless. However, the increasingly democratic reform of its government brings some hope.

Many Rohingya retain complete skepticism of the future and MSF is “cautiously optimistic” about their invitation to return. However, it appears that the bind of Myanmar’s displaced Muslims may quickly improve with increased international attention and the possibility of greater involvement by the United States.

“We’re working to continually help address problems on the ground,” said Derek Mitchell, the US ambassador to Myanmar. “What we are doing out here is in anticipation of continued reform, although we need to remain patient as the country deals with increasingly difficult issues going forward.”

– Edward Heinrich

Sources: Reuters, Helsinki Times, Al Jazeera
Photo: Reuters

Sri Lankan Asylum Seekers in Australia

A group of 157 asylum seekers from Sri Lanka have been held at sea for over a month by Australian officials. After a long detention and questionable treatment, Australia’s immigration minister Scott Morrison has announced that the group will be brought to the mainland.

Nevertheless, the future of the asylum seekers in Australia remains unknown, as they will be brought to shore to be detained a second time until a decision is made regarding whether or not they will be sent back to Sri Lanka.

Officials have not released any information about where the group will be taken.

The group includes Tamils—a group that still faces repression and violent attacks in Sri Lanka even though the civil war ended five years ago. The civil war took place between the majority Sinhalese Sri Lankan military and the Tamil separatists.

While the Australian government claims its policies are aimed at saving lives by preventing people from boarding dangerous boats and enduring a rough journey, the conditions of Australia’s detention camps have received harsh criticism both from human rights advocates and the United Nations.

UNHCR, a department from the U.N. who specializes in refugees, has spoken up, questioning whether or not on-water screening of asylum claims is at all fair.

The Australian government has been known to enforce tough policies aimed at ending the arrival of asylum seekers on boats. Just last month Australia detained a separate boat populated by Sri Lankan asylum seekers, and returned them to their country after “screening” their claims.

Reports have also come to light noting that Australian officials have been towing boats back to Indonesia, the most common area where refugees originate.

Activists have filed a legal challenge with the goal of preventing this current group of asylum seekers from being treated the same way. Under international law, Australia cannot return refugee seekers who may face maltreatment upon returning back to their homeland.

According to Graeme McGregor, the group’s refugee campaign coordinator, asylum seekers should be given the rights to undergo a “full, fair and rigorous assessment for refugee status” regardless.

Amnesty International has voiced their opinion, which aligns with McGregor’s concerns stating, “Stranding a boatload of people in the middle of the sea, in an effort to ‘stop the boats’ has achieved nothing.”

Indian officials from the Indian High Commission will be given full access to determine the identities of the asylum seekers to see if there is a potential for any of the refugees to be returned to India.

Morrison maintains that regardless of how the rest of the claims are addressed, no members of the group will be allowed to settle in Australia. Next month, the High Court will hear the asylum seekers case.

Until then, 157 men, women and children remain in limbo—awaiting their fate.

-Caroline Logan

Sources: BBC News, ABC News
Photo: News First

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Syrian Crisis Making UN Rethink Refugee Camps

Since the start of the Syrian conflict, 2.8 million registered refugees have fled the country and over four million have been displaced internally. With no end in sight, the United Nations has begun to rethink how to handle mass influxes of refugees in host countries.

Refugee camps have long been the main way international aid groups have sheltered people fleeing from conflicts around the world. However, this practice is being reconsidered by the UN, which hopes to place refugees in local communities as opposed to camps.

In camps, refugees often do not have the opportunity to work and are usually confined to restricted areas. However, when refugees are integrated into local communities, they are able to become more self-reliant and contribute to the local economy. This also allows the UN to utilize their funding on already existing communities, as opposed to building and maintaining brand new camps.

Although integration into local communities is preferred for refugees it is ultimately up to the host country–and many have been reluctant. Host countries often experience a drain in resources due to increases in refugee populations, fueling an increase in tensions between the two groups.

The UN hopes to convince host countries that they can benefit economically by allowing refugees to integrate. In addition to basic market advantages, host countries will also be eligible for Targeted Development Assistance (TDA).

TDA allows the UN as well as donor states (such as the United States) to specifically allocate monies to countries that host large refugee populations. The goal is to help host countries provide better security, medical assistance and supplies, as well as educational and vocational training within their existing communities. These services will not only benefit the refugees, but also the lives of the local populations.

A host country cannot be expected to bear the brunt of the refugee influx on its own. Furthermore, camp situations are often unable to provide anything beyond basic necessities, and do not allow refugees enough economic freedom to become more self-reliant. Because of this, international aid is used at a faster rate. As the world experiences a surge in refugees, rethinking how to provide a safe place for refugees while also considering the effects on local populations is essential in order to avoid the development of further conflict.

– Andrea Blinkhorn

Sources: IRIN, U.S. Department of State, The New York Times, UNHCR
Photo: IRIN

Ghanaians Seek Asylum in Brazil

The World Cup is over for another four years, and while Germany celebrates and fans from all over the world return home, at least 200 Muslims from Ghana are seeking asylum in Brazil.

The Ghanaians, who went to Brazil as tourists supporting their country in the World Cup, claim that they are afraid to return home due to violence in Ghana stemming from religious conflict. The Ghanaian government has released a statement saying that there is no such violence in the country.

The religious makeup of Ghana is 71 percent Christian, 18 percent Muslim and 5 percent indigenous beliefs. The Muslim population resides primarily in northern Ghana, which coincidentally is also where poverty rates are highest. Southern Ghana has seen promising economic growth in the past 30 years and in 2011 the country received the status of lower middle class, but poverty in the north is declining at a much slower rate.

A major reason for this is little economic opportunity outside of agriculture, and a tendency for droughts and food shortages. Farmers in the north do not have access to modern technology that would result in higher crop yields.

The Ghanaians have been allowed to stay in Brazil for now, while the Justice Ministry listens to their cases and makes rulings. The Brazilian city in which many have applied to live, Caxias do Sul, is a very prosperous one and a magnet for foreign workers. It is more than 1000 miles away from where Ghana’s national team, the Black Stars, competed in the tournament. The Stars were ousted early on after losing to both the USA and Portugal.

The number of Ghanaians seeking asylum in Brazil could jump to 1000 now that the World Cup is over, but to be given asylum they will have to prove that conditions in their home country are unsafe. Ghana is frequently cited as one of Africa’s most peaceful nations, with cooperation between Muslims and Christians. However, those seeking asylum claim that the conflict and aggression is between different Muslim factions and not other religions. Whether or not their claims are true or they are simply searching for a new life with better economic opportunity remains to be seen. The Ghanaian government has proclaimed that they are scandalized by the ordeal.

While the Justice Ministry reviews these cases there are many Syrians in Brazil seeking asylum for the same reasons. Those who live in Caxias do Sul do not seem particularly open to the idea of hundreds of new residents, saying that the area is overcrowded as it is.

– Taylor Lovett

Sources: New York Times, BBC, Rural Poverty Portal
Photo: London Evening Standard

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The Hard Knock Life of Syrian Children

Try to imagine back to when you were in elementary school. Most children are happy living without major troubles, or at least children in the United States. Many do not have much to worry about. Most American children are going to school and are living stress-free lives. They are enjoying themselves, playing outside with their friends or playing video games, but the same could not be said for the children of Syria.

Millions on children have been affected by the conflict going on Syria for past three years, 6.5 million, to be exact. Over 2.8 million children are no longer attending school and more then one million are refugees in nearby countries. They no longer live their normal stress-free lives; they do not have “normal” childhoods.

Many Syrian children have endured horrible health issues due to poor sanitation and many are also malnourished. Many also face diseases such as measles and polio due to lack of proper immunizations.

Parents often turn to marrying their daughters off at early ages, as early as 13 years old, so that they do not get molested. Syrian refugee children are more vulnerable to rape and other acts of sexual violence.

In Syria, three million children no longer attend school, mostly because their schools have been destroyed, teachers have left and families are now using schools as homes. Other children quit school to work so that they could help make income to support their families.

The Lebanese government has been trying to help by setting up schools for child refugees but there have been problems such as overcrowding, language barriers and cost of transportation.

UNICEF has been helping since day one and partnering up with others to help. The organization has also immunized more than 20 million children when there was a polio breakout, supplied safe drinking water and provided psychological support.

Save The Children is another organization that has been getting involved and helping child refugees. Anyone could help through UNICEF or Save the Children. Just remember that you would not your children having to go through such horrible living conditions on a day-to-day basis.

– Priscilla Rodarte

Sources: Save the Children, World Vision, UNICEF
Photo: World Vision