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Pakistan: Wake Up Call
Thu, 05/28/2009 - 01:00
There is a sense in Washington that the magnitude of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Pakistan hasn't been fully grasped yet. The latest offensive by the Pakistani military has forced one and a half million people to leave the Swat and Buner districts in less than three weeks. The UN Refugee Agency stated that the fighting is uprooting more people faster than any conflict since the Rwandan genocide. Even before the most recent military operations, half a million people had fled from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.
Chad: The Politics of Instability
Tue, 05/26/2009 - 17:13
I am writing from Bahai, a village in eastern Chad right on the border with Darfur. Camilla Olson and I have trekked all the way out here, to what may be the most remote place I have ever visited, to understand the dynamics that make humanitarian assistance so hard to deliver.
Sri Lanka: Now What?
Fri, 05/22/2009 - 11:55
They did it.
In 2006 the brothers Rajapaksa --- newly elected President Mahinda, Defense Secretary Gotabaya, and special adviser Basil --- set out to fulfill their campaign pledge and defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the battlefield. Three years later, they succeeded, crushing one of the world’s longest standing and most brutal insurgencies and establishing central government military control over the entire island.
In 2006 the brothers Rajapaksa --- newly elected President Mahinda, Defense Secretary Gotabaya, and special adviser Basil --- set out to fulfill their campaign pledge and defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on the battlefield. Three years later, they succeeded, crushing one of the world’s longest standing and most brutal insurgencies and establishing central government military control over the entire island.
Guest Blogger: Jim Kimsey Speaks Candidly about RI’s History
Wed, 05/20/2009 - 19:17
As I look back over my experiences with Refugees International, it seems to me that Refugees International is more relevant today than ever. I was first introduced to Refugees International by Trish Malloch-Brown in 1995. In my first meeting with RI’s former president, Lionel Rosenblatt, he tried to impress me with RI’s work in Southeast Asia at the time. But when he mentioned Bosnia, it really got my attention. He had no way of knowing that my son had just been deployed to Bosnia. Soon after, I landed in Tuzla and got permission from the Battallion Commander to drive throughout the country for two weeks not long after the fall of Srebrenica. This was my first experience with RI.
Rwanda: Returning Refugees Need More Than Comforting Words
Mon, 05/18/2009 - 16:28
During the 1994 mass migration of Rwandan refugees into the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, what many people didn’t realize was that there was also an influx of Rwandan refugees into Uganda. This week, fifteen years after the earth shattering Rwandan genocide, 20,000 refugees are finally returning home. Even though this is an important step towards the full restoration of a severely fractured society, one cannot help but wonder why has it taken so long?
Essay: Violence in Congo
Fri, 05/15/2009 - 14:59The following is currently a web feature on PBS NOW:
Last October I traveled to Congo with a colleague from Refugees
International to assess the effectiveness of the U.N. peacekeeping
operation in the troubled town of Goma, the eastern provincial capital.
Shortly after we arrived, serious fighting broke out between government
soldiers and the CNDP, an armed opposition group, just 30 minutes north
of us.
Colombia: Violence Risks Destabilizing the Entire Region
Wed, 05/13/2009 - 16:03
It is always amazing to encounter reactions of surprise from my colleagues when I talk about the enormous number of Colombians that fled their homes and land so that they could save their lives. The overwhelming stereotype that confines Colombia to being the biggest producer and exporter of cocaine in the world often obscures the daily reality that the average Colombian has to face.
President's Corner: Thank You, Annie Duke
Mon, 05/11/2009 - 18:31
We live in a nation of second-guessers, and I am one of them.
On the night of Sunday, May 10, I went to the American Museum of
Natural History in New York as part of the live audience for the final
episode of The Celebrity Apprentice. One contestant, professional
poker player Annie Duke, was playing for Refugees International (every
contestant plays for a charity). I was certain she was going to win,
but at the end of the three-hour finale to the reality TV series,
Donald Trump pointed at her and said: "Annie, you're fired."
Celebrating 30 years with a few of our friends
Fri, 05/08/2009 - 18:00
“I’ve always believed that if people have good information, they’ll usually make good choices. And my objective was to put as much good information out there as we possibly could...and maybe it would change the world.”
With those words, Ted Turner accepted the McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award at Refugees International’s 30th Anniversary Gala at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC.
With those words, Ted Turner accepted the McCall-Pierpaoli Humanitarian Award at Refugees International’s 30th Anniversary Gala at the Embassy of Italy in Washington, DC.
DR Congo: Turning a Blind Eye
Tue, 05/05/2009 - 17:11It’s happened again. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is off of the international radar screen, despite the fact that violence and displacement continue.
Burma: One Year After Cyclone Nargis
Fri, 05/01/2009 - 15:45
Anniversaries provide us with many opportunities – to commemorate, to remember, to admonish, to celebrate, to reassess. Tomorrow is the one year anniversary of Cyclone Nargis, which destroyed 700,000 homes in the Irrawaddy Delta of Burma and killed an estimated 138,000 people. In the press releases that I’ve read in the past few days, a number of organizations are using this anniversary to chastise the Burmese regime for their callousness towards their own population. This is undeniable, but I want to argue that this anniversary should be used for a different purpose – to see what we can do to continue to help the people who suffered from the storm.
