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Addressing Dire Prison Conditions in Lebanon

Prison Conditions in LebanonHuman Rights Watch has reported deteriorating prison conditions in Lebanon due to the country’s ongoing economic crisis. From overcrowding to the denial of medical health care, the poor conditions that inmates face in Lebanon serve as a stark reflection of the country’s economic crisis and the undeniable link between poverty and the prison system. 

Background: Lebanon’s Economic Crisis

The root problem of these dire prison conditions in Lebanon is the current economic crisis and rise of poverty. The distressing extent of poverty and food insecurity in Lebanon stems from a decline in economic activity, political instability and the escalating cost of living. 

Between November 2021 and January 2022, Human Rights Watch carried out an extensive survey encompassing 1,209 households in Lebanon. Approximately 70% of households reported experiencing difficulties in meeting their financial obligations or consistently falling behind on basic expenses. The survey results underscore the gravity of the situation and how these experiences affect the current prison conditions in the country.

The budget allocated to the interior ministry, responsible for prison management, has indeed seen official increases in recent years. However, the dramatic devaluation of the currency, with the lira losing 98% of its value since 2019, coupled with skyrocketing annual inflation rates, has gradually diminished its effective purchasing power. Inflation further compounds the challenge for families who find it increasingly difficult to purchase additional food to supplement the prisoners’ already meager rations.

The Harrowing Prison Conditions

These budget reductions and high rates of inflation that have afflicted Lebanon since 2019 correlate to the poor state of its prisons. 

While family visits have been reinstated, the escalating inflation rates and exorbitant costs of food and fuel have presented formidable obstacles for numerous families who would otherwise provide assistance to their incarcerated loved ones. Simultaneously, the surge in demand for prison-provided meals has coincided with soaring food prices. These challenges along with the devaluation of the Lebanese currency make it challenging to meet financial obligations to contracted food suppliers.

Numerous correctional facilities throughout Lebanon are grappling with severe overcrowding. This over-capacity is a result of a surge in crime rates, protracted trial proceedings leading to delayed releases, and the incapacity of many inmates who have completed their sentences to meet the necessary fees for their release. Detention facilities throughout Lebanon have a collective capacity of 4,760 individuals, yet they currently hold around 8,502 people, of whom only 1,094 have received sentences, according to the Internal Security Forces, responsible for prison management in Lebanon. 

The extent of overcrowding within Lebanon’s prison system is deeply troubling and has led to a deterioration in humanitarian and living conditions, causing a decline in health care, food accessibility and overall security.

Alongside budget reductions, incarcerated individuals are being denied vital medical care. In 2018, more than 800 prisoners were transported to hospitals, whereas in 2022, only 107 received such medical attention, despite the overall prison population remaining consistent.

The International Committee of the Red Cross’s (ICRC) Efforts

In 2019, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) engaged in the refurbishment of specific detention facilities, in collaboration with the detaining authorities. It has restored the ventilation system at Rihaniyeh Military Prison and introduced a new ventilation system at Tripoli Prison, which operates under the jurisdiction of the Internal Security Force. 

Additionally, it is working alongside detaining authorities to enhance health care services. This includes donating an X-ray machine to the medical center at Roumieh Prison and conducting disinfection procedures within cells at Tripoli Central Prison in 2014, aimed at preventing the transmission of scabies and other contagious diseases. On occasion, it provides detainees with essentials, such as clothing, hygiene items, mattresses and blankets.

In 2015, the ICRC allocated $1 million for the improvement of detainees’ living conditions. A portion of these funds was allocated to the renovation of district prisons. Since their agreement with the government in 2007, they have been conducting regular visits to various detention facilities across Lebanon. From 2014 to 2015, the ICRC conducted more than 200 visits to prisons as part of our commitment to monitor and improve conditions.

The Work of the Association of Justice and Mercy (AJEM)

Since 1998, the Association of Justice and Mercy (AJEM), a Lebanese nonprofit organization, has been actively engaging with all correctional facilities in Lebanon, delivering counseling services to inmates at various locations. This access has enabled them to execute both individual and collective interventions with the incarcerated population, as well as the ability to implement numerous programs and projects over the years. 

In order to support prison health care, AJEM carries out HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care initiatives. This includes offering voluntary counseling and testing services in both central and regional Lebanese prisons, organizing Information Education and Communication (IEC) sessions within prison facilities for key populations to raise awareness about HIV and other communicable diseases and providing accessible support to individuals at risk in prisons.

The AJEM Rabieh Shelter

The AJEM Rabieh Shelter, founded in 2012 and operates today, is a traditional housing initiative that aims to provide prisoners with an array of extensive support services, empowering them to transition back into self-sustained living, secure employment and permanent housing. This, in turn, serves to mitigate the risk of prison overcrowding. The project guarantees a seamless reintegration into society. 

These initiatives serve as a driving force for further transformations. Based on these assessments, it is imperative for the Lebanese government to formulate and execute both immediate and long-term strategies to address the conditions in prisons and ensure the protection of individuals’ rights.

– Susanna Andryan
Photo: Flickr

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ICRC’s Response to Somalia’s Food Crisis

Somalia’s food crisis
Somalia is facing significant consequences as a direct result of changing weather patterns. The most serious is the food crisis and severe malnutrition it faces due to droughts, poor crop yields and livestock deaths. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called for immediate action as the continuing conflict and rising food and energy costs will require immense humanitarian aid in 2023. The ICRC is tackling Somalia’s food crisis by implementing several programs and methods, including teams on the ground that provide water and food, financial help, nutrition services and health care (mobile health teams).

Somalia’s Food Crisis

Many different factors have led to the food crisis in Somalia. Changing weather patterns and the resulting “worst drought in 40 years” has left more than 7 million people without adequate food, British Red Cross reports. The droughts have prevented access to food and water and led to the death of livestock that Somalians depend on for their livelihood. Another factor that has contributed to Somalia’s food crisis is the conflict.

Conflict throughout Africa and the COVID-19 pandemic have led to the displacement of populations and a rise in food and fuel prices. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine, which produces a quarter of the world’s wheat and grains, is a significant contributor to the hunger crisis since Somalia relies on its exports for 90% of its wheat and grains, ICRC reports.

The rising food and energy costs are hurting communities steeped in armed conflict and violence. The ICRC has indicated that the price of food staples has risen to more than 30% in Somalia. The consequences of the food crisis in Somalia have left many exhausted as people are displaced and struggle to find necessities such as water and food. Many children are unable to attend school to fulfill their education needs.

Ultimately, as of May 2022, Somalia has seen drought affect 6.1 million people and the displacement of 760,000 people throughout the country without access to sufficient water, food and health care. An update that the ICRC provided in the month of August indicates that the internal displacement throughout Somalia due to the drought continues to rise. About 30,000 people experienced displacement in May 2022, 100,000 people in June 2022 and 83,000 people in July 2022, totaling more than a million people displaced in Somalia in 2022.

Emergency Funding For Families

One of the ways the ICRC is tackling the food crisis is by providing monthly payments of $90 to more than 150,000 families in the south and central parts of Somalia to help them purchase food and other necessities. As of the end of August 2022, the program had provided more than $13 million. The program’s outcome has seen positive results. One of the recipients, Dadir Ahmed Adan was able to use the money to open a small shop for $50 and save the rest of his money to buy food for his children after losing his livestock to the droughts.

The primary objective of this program is to help the most vulnerable people survive and minimize debt. The impact of the droughts has caused families to become displaced as they lost their livelihoods. They end up in desperate situations where they look for help from other family members or aid organizations.

Agricultural Cooperatives

Another way that the ICRC is tackling Somalia’s food crisis is by supporting agricultural cooperatives designed to help bear the brunt of changing weather patterns. The cooperatives involve training, farming tools, drought-resistant seeds and cash that is necessary for the fuel in order to irrigate. The ICRC cash assistance will continue distributing cash assistance to people in conflict-affected areas of Somalia and rehabilitating boreholes and wells. Communities will also benefit from primary health care services and mobile health clinics and support. Through this program, the ICRC has managed to help more than 150,000 families with life-saving assistance to purchase food and other necessities, following severe droughts in Somalia.

Provision Of Clean Water and Sanitation

The ICRC is also tackling Somalia’s food crisis by increasing the production and quality of water to alleviate the impact of droughts. This consists of “electromechanical quick fixes, re-drilling of boreholes, increasing the water storage by constructing elevated water tanks, water catchment systems, animal troughs and generator houses for strategic existing borehole/mechanized hand-dug well locations.”

Since the beginning of 2022, the ICRC has successfully distributed fuel and made quick fixes to 26 electro-mechanical boreholes. They completed the construction of five water reservoirs and half a dozen hand-dug wells and rainwater catchment systems. They have also constructed community water sand filters and animal troughs.

The ICRC’s success in aiding drought-stricken regions comes from their initiative and determination, along with support from local communities. The organization ensures that the most vulnerable people in Somalia have the means and access to clean water and sanitation and that these facilities have proper maintenance and improvement.

Road Ahead

The work that the ICRC conducted in response to the food crisis continues and the challenges for 2023 are ever-present. This is a year where humanitarian support is greatly necessary and the ICRC has appealed for $2.9 billion to fund its work in 2023. The ICRC expects the situation to get worse throughout the year, with children and the elderly being the most affected.

– Arijit Joshi
Photo: Flickr

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Foreign Aid to Afghanistan

Foreign Aid to Afghanistan
Some definitions of foreign aid provide a distorted vision of its purpose. This in turn drives citizens, government officials and donors away from supporting it. An accurate definition of foreign aid is one country helping to improve a recipient country’s standard of living through economic, military and various other services. Donors provide this type of support after war or natural disaster. The recent withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan is slowly concluding more than 40 years of conflict. However, foreign aid to Afghanistan remains necessary.

Afghanistan’s Violent Past

More than half of the population in Afghanistan lives on $1.90 a day. In headlines, history books and news stories, many do not see Afghanistan beyond the label of an economically developing country. This label often comes from a place of unfair judgment.

The longevity of the Afghan crisis is why aid is vital in transforming the country to work toward a better quality of life and future for the younger generations. The detrimental relationship between the state and citizens has damaged every part of what is necessary for a society to flourish. For example, the top-down monopoly with profiteers and warlords on top formed to control economic markets producing bottom-up violence is a significant barrier in the country flourishing. Understanding the nature of the conflict that has created a dystopian climate throughout the country is vital in producing foreign aid to Afghanistan because planning for the long term is what will produce change.

Antony Blinken’s Push for Reform

The U.S. is the world’s largest provider of foreign aid, but reform is necessary for providing quality aid for the future. During secretary of state Antony Blinken’s visit to Afghanistan on April 15, 2021, he spoke on several areas of reform to ensure the foreign aid sector continues to progress and attend to the needs of Afghanistan.

The U.S. is studying previous aid distribution models and methods to ensure that country receives the maximum amount of help. This also promotes other governments to continue the change. The U.S. plans on holding the Afghanistan government accountable to the pledge of acknowledging the basic human rights of their citizens. For example, traveling outside of the country has been nearly impossible for Afghan citizens. The U.S. will also hold the Taliban accountable for using Afghanistan as a base for formulating attacks on other countries. Neutralizing any form of threat prevents damage to other countries that would ultimately produce the need for more foreign aid and will push away allies.

The U.S. will ensure even aid distribution throughout the country. It will have clear communication with the Taliban in the coming years. The Taliban must allow aid groups to work on uninterrupted terms. Overall, the U.S. is enforcing long-term change through rectifying the relationship between the state and citizens that has been upholding the unlivable climate.

The Future of Foreign Aid to Afghanistan

The narrative of putting a stop to the current war or any war in the future is an unreachable goal. Foreign aid will not go towards a single issue. Instead, it will focus on changing the systemic problems that continue to produce wars. The U.S. often uses a militant approach, however, with the updated forms of foreign aid, it will not be using violence to overcome it. This includes $64 million in new humanitarian assistance which the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the World Health Organization (WHO) will distribute. This new surge of funding will provide a large range of assistance including shelter, essential health care, sanitation, food aid, hygiene services and more. These are forms of aid that will contribute to the overall building of a better livelihood for Afghan citizens.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which U.S. Congress introduced in 2004 is an agency separate from the State Department and USAID. It continues to abide by its mission statement of reducing poverty through economic growth by providing aid to countries like Afghanistan. The U.S. has also developed a range of grants and programs to assist Afghan women who the civil upheaval greatly impacted. USAID continues to provide grants in helping Afghan women gain access to universities through the Women’s Scholarship Endowment.

The US State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM)

The U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) funds several programs for Afghan women refugees and internally displaced persons. The programs include literacy training, gender-based violence prevention and mother-child health care. PRM works with various partners to ensure change including the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

In large groups, varying interests can prevent the proper allocation of funds to aid. However, the government and donors continue to work closely together. The impact that aid has extends beyond providing food and emergency medical assistance. It has the potential to provide a hopeful future for those who have only known living in a war zone. It reconciles individual relationships within the society. As aid strategies are revised to adhere to current needs the long-term quality of life for Afghan citizens will improve.

– Maggie Forte
Photo: Flickr

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Eritrean Refugees Flee Tigray Conflict in Ethiopia

Eritrean Refugees Flee Tigray Conflict in Ethiopia
The conflict surrounding the Tigray region in northern Ethiopia, bordering on the south of Eritrea, has forced more than 42,000 refugees to flee west to eastern Sudan since the conflict started in November 2020. The fighting between Ethiopian soldiers and Tigray People’s Liberation Front (TPLF) has resulted in tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees in refugee camps. It erupted violence along Ethiopia’s northern border with targeted killings, abductions, lootings and sexual violence.

Difficulties Due to Conflict

It is still difficult to tell precisely how destructive the conflict in northern Ethiopia is since there are so many access restrictions in place. The conflict gets further complicated with the involvement of the FANO militia group and Eritrean Defence Forces. Even now, as humanitarian workers return to what were sites of violence in the weeks prior, they are finding tens of thousands of Eritrean refugees in dire straits and desperate need of aid. The last and only aid they received was food from the WFP in December 2019.

The camp structures managed to weather most of the violence, and while the TPLF spared some refugees from direct contact with the war, many experienced harassment and threats and underwent forcible recruitment. Roughly 5,000 Eritrean refugees have gone to the town of Shire, Ethiopia, and are living with no shelter, food or water.

Refugees in Sudan

This issue serves as a reminder that violence feeds the cycle of poverty in struggling countries, and conflicts like this hit the vulnerable populations hardest. This includes not only the impoverished but also the displaced. Driven away from an already precarious living situation by the violence, the Eritrean refugees that are fleeing to the impoverished nation of Sudan are malnourished and injured, and have almost none of the means to meet their daily needs.

In addition to poverty, the worst floods have ravaged Sudan in over 100 years, devastating the agricultural sector and leaving many people homeless. The threat of malaria hangs over people’s heads as they struggle to salvage their livelihoods, all while the COVID-19 pandemic continues to rage on. This leaves Sudan ill-equipped to receive and support the refugee population flooding over the eastern border.

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Founded on the tenants of the Geneva Convention of 1949, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) focuses on humanitarian aid and protection for those enduring violent conflicts. Working with the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and the Red Crescent Movement, ICRC has concentrated its efforts on the Tigray refugees.

Efforts have gone toward getting the essentials to refugees by using donations for food, cooking items, blankets and soap. ICRC is also intent on ensuring that refugees have a consistent and safe water supply and a medical care center stocked with the appropriate supplies and equipment, particularly to provide specialized care for victims of sexual violence.

While Eritrean refugees are still facing the fallout from the Tigray conflict, organizations like the International Committee of The Red Cross, the Ethiopian Red Cross Society and the Red Crescent Movement are offering support. Areas these refugees have gone to, like Sudan and other parts of Ethiopia, are taking this aid and working to provide a location with food, medical care, clean water and other supplies necessary to assist refugees through this difficult time.

– Catherine Lin
Photo: Flickr