WorldBridge: Refugees International's Blog

Sudan: Yet more suffering for people in Kalma camp

noreply@blogger.com (Refugees International) — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 20:48:00 +0000

The latest news coming out of South Darfur is deeply disturbing. On the morning of August 25 around sixty Government of Sudan vehicles surrounded Kalma camp – a camp housing 90,000 internally displaced people -- in a supposed attempt to disarm it. Violence broke out, and according to United Nations security reports, 20 people were killed in the attack and over 70 people were injured.

This is not the first time that people who sought refuge in Kalma from the conflict in Darfur have suffered from violent attacks within the camp. In October, 2007, 15,000 people, mainly of the Zaghawa tribe, were driven out of the camp after conflict erupted between factions within the camp. I was in Khartoum a month later and discussed the issue of Kalma camp with many Sudanese people, some of whom had been living there. Many alleged that the Government of Sudan had manipulated this conflict and that the government had either armed one of the factions in the camp or had at least knowingly allowed them to bring arms into the camp.

In November 2007, the Government of Sudan announced that it intended to forcibly disarm Kalma camp, but they were dissuaded from doing so at the time. The Government of Sudan has also made many statements about the need for the people of Darfur to leave the camps or return to their home areas, despite the fact that the conflict in Darfur is clearly ongoing and people have very justified fears about being attacked again in their home areas. In October 2007, when people fled from Kalma camp into Otash, a nearby camp in South Darfur, Sudanese security forces entered Otash at night and forcibly relocated a number of people to unknown locations.

The Government of Sudan must not be permitted to forcibly relocate or return people from the camps. Any relocations or returns must be voluntary. When I spoke with Darfuri civil society leaders in November 2007 they told me that the residents of Kalma camp did not want to move again to another location. There is no indication that this has changed. If the Government of Sudan manages to force people out of Kalma camp, this would set a very dangerous precedent. The international community must not allow this to happen.

Following the October 2007 violence in Kalma camp, the Government of Sudan refused to allow humanitarian food aid deliveries into Kalma for one month. Since then, humanitarian agencies have had ongoing difficulties in assisting Kalma’s residents. Travel permits are often refused and the Government of Sudan has restricted fuel to the camp since May.

The residents of Kalma camp were already dealing with the aftermath of recent flooding which had destroyed many already inadequate camp facilities and food supplies. Now they have to deal with the aftermath of yet more violence. The international community must insist that humanitarian agencies be permitted to access Kalma camp now, so that they can provide medical care to the injured and get assistance to people in the camp.

--Melanie Teff

Burma: Local Sources of Support

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Fusco) — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 17:51:00 +0000

I arrived in Burma less than four months after Cylone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy delta region. The cyclone left 140,000 people dead or missing. Farms, villages and cities were flooded. Homes, schools and roads were destroyed. 2.4 million people have been affected.

In the initial days after the devastation, the Burmese people took it upon themselves to bring supplies into the delta and help the survivors. International aid organizations hired thousands of local Burmese to help them in their efforts to provide food, shelter and health care throughout the cyclone-affected regions. And after pressure from the UN and neighboring Asian countries, the government eventually lightened up restrictions on UN and international aid agencies who were trying to bring in foreign staff and supplies from outside the country. Today, hundreds of foreign aid workers are now providing assistance in the delta.

One Burmese man I met told me how he became inspired to help. Jerry (not his real name) told me that after the cyclone hit, many of his foreign customers began to send him concerned emails. They wanted to know if he was okay and how they could help. He set up a web site with information and people began to mail him money.

Although Jerry’s business had been battered, he started buying food and clothing and driving it into the delta. “I didn’t think it was dangerous,” he said. “My friends were offering to help. How could I not?”

But it was dangerous. A government official stopped him on one of his trips and tried to confiscate his goods. Jerry asked him in outrage, “What if this was your mother? Your children? Your family?” He shamed the officer, who let him go on with his goods. But in future trips he was more discreet and hid the supplies as he drove them down.

After a family member was interrogated by the military about Jerry’s work, his mother became very nervous that the government might start targeting their family. It didn’t happen. He is continuing to distribute food and supplies to people in the delta until his money runs out in the next few weeks.

Jerry was glad that we had arrived in Burma. “We need people to visit here,” he said at the end of our conversation. “If you don’t come, the government can only continue to conceal what happens here.”

An aid worker in Rangoon told me that he had heard dozens of similar stories like Jerry’s. Indeed, George Packer noted in this week’s New Yorker that one month after the cyclone, everyone he met “was collecting relief supplies for the delta.”

These stories highlight Burma’s growing civil society and a people that have learned to fend for themselves against the odds. However, in the next few months the U.S. government is likely to revert to policies that give little support to those who suffer under the military regime. While the U.S. government generously provided millions of dollars of assistance for cyclone survivors, this funding will soon end.

Before Cyclone Nargis, Burma was already one of the poorest countries in the world, but foreign governments were providing less than $3 per person in aid annually. The U.S. government’s efforts to punish and isolate the Burmese junta are also punishing and isolating the Burmese people. Jerry’s story should instead remind us that there is much to support inside Burma without supporting the regime.

--Megan Fowler

Displaced and Disabled

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Fusco) — Tue, 19 Aug 2008 21:00:00 +0000

Up until this year, the needs of refugees and displaced persons with physical and mental disabilities have not been systematically analyzed. While humanitarian aid is generally about providing assistance to the most vulnerable – refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and stateless people who have no legal identity – ironically, the most vulnerable of these groups have been invisible in the course of humanitarian responses.

This summer, the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children published a report, Disabilities Among Refugees and Conflict-Affected Populations, and an accompanying Resource Kit for Field Workers, that are essential contributions to filling the void of assistance for displaced persons with disabilities. The findings reveal fundamental shortcomings as well as positive initiatives in certain cases.

According to the report, "one of the weakest aspects of all programs surveyed" concerned simply identifying the number and needs of displaced people with disabilities. This is especially challenging in urban settings, where refugees are often dispersed and undocumented, and the result is poor physical access to basic services. With difficulties accessing food distribution sites (which may have long, crowded lines), latrines, schools or other community facilities, refugees with disabilities experienced enhanced levels of isolation. In five IDP camps in West Darfur, over 20 percent of elderly people were not obtaining food rations. In response, HelpAge and the World Food Program began distributing supplementary food baskets to such people at risk of malnutrition and established a more accessible social center.

Information and services for people with mental disabilities were scarcer than they were for those with physical disabilities. More often, they were unregistered or excluded from assistance programs. In a predominantly Somali refugee camp in Kenya, children with mental disabilities were severely stigmatized, abandoned by their fathers and extended families, with their mothers concluding they had no choice but to tie up their children if they left the house. A local NGO in Sri Lanka, by contrast, has helped to integrate children with mental disabilities into community activities and promoted awareness and training among community groups.

The report suggests that at this stage, meeting the needs of people with disabilities is fragmented and ad hoc. The UN Refugee Agency’s (UNHCR) 1996 manual for assisting people with disabilities is outdated and UNHCR personnel are unaware of its existence. Other UNHCR approaches noted in the report are arguably too broad to bring to light sufficiently the number and needs of persons with disabilities. A handful of humanitarian organizations, such as Handicap International and World Vision, have either focused on persons with specific disabilities or sought to mainstream such needs into all programs.

At the macro level, the need for strengthening international commitment to displaced people with disabilities is clear. The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities only entered into force this past May. On a hopeful note, it was negotiated in record time and had the largest number of state signatories of any treaty when it opened for signature in 2007. Perhaps because securing the rights and dignity of persons with disabilities is so long overdue, the issue actually has momentum. With the concrete recommendations of the Women’s Commission report, governments, UNHCR, and humanitarian groups should now have the means to carry that momentum forward.

--Katherine Southwick

Georgia: The militarization of humanitarian action

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Fusco) — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 14:53:00 +0000

The United States response to the displacement crisis in Georgia resulting from the conflict with Russia over the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is a blatant example of the increasing militarization of humanitarian action. Refugees International has been expressing deep concerns about this trend in Africa, but the Georgia response takes it to a new level.

Humanitarian response is supposed to embody the following principles: humanity (responding where the need is greatest); independence (responding based solely on the vulnerability of the individuals in distress rather than reflecting the priorities of other actors); impartiality (responding without applying political criteria or supporting any particular government or political movement).

Describing the U.S. response to the current situation in Georgia as a “humanitarian mission” is therefore a serious distortion. The President and the Secretaries of State and Defense, while insisting on the humanitarian nature of the U.S. response, chose to have the Pentagon lead it, with the Air Force organizing relief flights and joining with the Army in distributing the supplies. While the Air Force in an August 14 press release pays lip service to supporting coordination by the U.S. State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development with Georgian officials, the face of the relief effort is clearly a military one.

While the Pentagon insists, according to the same Air Force press release that its “sole goal is to safely and rapidly deliver humanitarian aid … to alleviate human suffering and save lives,” these goals could have been accomplished through U.S. support to humanitarian agencies such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, both of which have the logistical capability to respond quickly to emergencies in Europe. A senior Pentagon official quoted in The New York Times was more honest: the relief effort was intended “to show Russia that we can come to the aid of a European ally, and that we can do it at will, whenever and wherever we want.” Secretary Rice told her Russian counterpart that the presence of American troops in the aid mission will allow the U.S. to monitor Russia’s adherence to the cease-fire agreement brokered by France’s President Sarkozy.

We are far outside the realm of humanitarian principle here. The needs of the Georgian people could have been met through a normal aid response mounted by the UN system, the Red Cross, and non-governmental organizations, all of which have been present in the country for many years. This is not a tsunami-type disaster that demands special logistical assets to bring in supplies or reach vulnerable people. U.S. military involvement was only necessary to provide political support to an ally in danger. If this is in the strategic interest of the United States, so be it. But don’t use humanitarian action as a cover for what is obviously a political-military support operation.

What’s disturbing is that no one in the public realm is challenging the Bush Administration on its manipulation of humanitarianism. Judging from press accounts to date, Pentagon leadership in the response to civilian needs in Georgia is being taken at face value, as something that is appropriate under the circumstances. This undercuts the civilian arms of the U.S. government and ultimately jeopardizes the overall effectiveness of relief efforts, as well as threatening the integrity and safety of independent humanitarian organizations as they work in an environment dominated by military forces.

--Joel Charny

Somalia: No military solution to the crisis

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Fusco) — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 21:21:00 +0000

In March, Refugees International advocate Patrick Duplat and I called Somalia the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world. In the four months since we returned from Somalia, the situation on the ground has become precipitously worse -- over 2.6 million Somalis are in need of aid, and roughly 91,000 people were displaced from their homes by violence in June alone. Aid workers are being killed and kidnapped in unprecedented numbers, and violence has reached a level of intensity not seen since the crisis of the early 1990’s.

Amid all of this escalation, the international community is floundering. The Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, has been inexplicably upbeat, hailing the June Djibouti peace agreement as a major step forward. But violence has intensified since the announcement of the agreement, and promises made by SRSG Ould-Abdallah are ambitious to the point of being unreasonable.

The repeated suggestion of a UN peacekeeping deployment in this volatile environment – where there is notably no peace to keep – is especially worrying. As the outgoing head of UN peacekeeping, Jean-Marie Guehenno said last week, "the international community... faced with a tragedy, wants to do something… To deploy blue helmets can look like the easy answer." However, experience has shown that UN peacekeepers are simply not able to take on the extremely violent resistance that they would surely face if deployed into the current environment in Somalia.

As Mr. Guehenno put it, "the danger is humiliation, is casualties, is that if you send a force and you don't make a real difference, then people will really turn away from Somalia, and that would be a real tragedy.”

While peacekeeping could surely play a role in supporting a robust and inclusive peace agreement, it is not a solution unto itself, and there is still a great deal of work to be done before the necessary political preconditions are achieved. This sentiment was echoed by Senator Russ Feingold in a recent floor statement.

Making reference to the Djibouti agreement, Senator Feingold rightly stated, “the United States and our international partners must move quickly with a coordinated diplomatic push to bring more Somalis into the process as well as put forth the necessary resources for implementation... Simultaneously, there must be a more active effort to hold accountable all those who perpetrate violence and violate human rights... It won’t be easy, but it is critical to begin laying the groundwork for long-term peace and security.”

Talk of a UN peacekeeping mission at this critical moment is little more than a deflection of responsibility. It is a convenient way to for politicians and diplomats to be seen as doing something without producing any of the tremendous political will that is necessary to make real strides toward resolving this crisis.

If the international community is serious about a sustainable solution to the humanitarian crisis in Somalia, the emphasis must move past knee-jerk reactions like a foolhardy peacekeeping deployment. There can be no military solution to the crisis in Somalia.

--Erin Weir

For aid agencies, security comes at a price

noreply@blogger.com (Sara Fusco) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 22:23:00 +0000

In late January 2008, three aid workers from the international medical aid agency Doctors without Borders were killed in the city of Kismayo in southern Somalia. A remote-controlled explosive device was detonated as they drove back from the hospital where they worked. In the past seven months alone, 21 staff of non-governmental organizations have been killed in the troubled Horn of Africa country.

Unfortunately, Somalia is not the exception. The number of violent incidents involving aid workers has dramatically increased in the past few years. No official statistic is available because of competing definitions of terms like "civil society" and "assistance", but the incidents have affected international non-governmental organizations as well as the Red Cross and United Nations agencies.

The deliberate targeting of civilians and aid workers is a grave breach of international humanitarian law and constitutes a war crime. It is not a new phenomenon, but one that challenges the modus operandi of aid agencies as they adjust to an increasingly constrained environment, known in the industry's jargon as 'the shrinking of humanitarian space.'

Leaving aside the proximate causes, which differ wildly depending on the context, there are three possible explanations for this rise in violence.

First, there are simply more aid workers directly exposed to conflict situations than a decade ago. Outside the core countries of the war on terror, there is a global pattern of humanitarian action substituting for diplomatic initiatives to respond to conflict situations, which too often places aid workers in harm's way while diplomats and soldiers alike remain above the fray. Second, recent U.S. military involvement in several conflicts has made funding readily available for humanitarian agencies, encouraging a proliferation of projects in insecure areas.

Finally, as an outgrowth of this funding, donor -driven projects in war zones amalgamate Western geo-political interests with the objectives of humanitarian actors. In places like Afghanistan, international donors' assistance is provided not according to needs, but on the basis of strategic military interests. Schools are built and food is delivered in the provinces where soldiers are deployed.

Humanitarian principles such as independence and impartiality have been brushed aside in the name of efficiency. Non-governmental organizations are seen as 'force multipliers' in the words of former U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell. From there, it is only a short leap for insurgent groups to claim aid agencies as fair targets.

In response to the increased level of violence, humanitarian organizations have mimicked their governmental donors by shielding themselves behind sophisticated security measures. Even in relatively safe cities such as Nairobi, Kenya, aid agencies' offices are located in guarded compounds surrounded by ten feet high walls topped by barbed wire. International staff go around from compound to compound, rarely mixing with the local population.

In Kabul, Afghanistan, the entire international community has literally fortified itself. Aid agencies' compounds have become fortresses rivaling embassies for the most intricate barricades of sandbags, armed mercenaries and spiked barriers. Even restaurants have had to increase their security so as to retain their expatriate clientele.

Nowadays, a typical international aid worker not so much lives in Kabul city, as hops from one international organization's fortified compound to another in a parallel world that bears no relation to the life of an ordinary Afghan citizen. Multi-million dollar projects are designed behind closed, bullet-proof doors, with little input from the intended recipients. It is inevitable that the effectiveness of the aid - which includes the design, implementation and follow-up of projects - suffers. The price of security, it seems, is lack of partnership and accountability.

From the comfort of distance, it may seem inconsiderate to disparage security measures. Every week, reports of new attacks on humanitarian workers remind us of the difficult environment that these individuals work in. However, the unfortunate consequence of this expatriate bubble is that protective layers effectively separate humanitarian workers from the very people they seek to help. There is little or no interaction between them.

Security measures are easier to ramp up than they are to scale down. In an increasingly volatile world, the likelihood is that aid agencies will continue to operate under these constraints for years to come. If international organizations can't deliver services, the void is likely to be filled by local grass-roots organizations. These groups have in-depth knowledge of the situation and are often better suited to assess the needs of a community. The advantages of local non-governmental organizations are numerous: experience with administrations and local customs; cost effectiveness; and the ability to follow-up on projects years down the line.

In Iraq however, the inability of international aid agencies to access the population and the reluctance of international donors to fund local humanitarian groups, has given the opportunity to political non-state actors, primarily the sectarian militias, to distribute food, oil and other basic resources. As a result these militias are recruiting civilians to their cause.

The manipulation of aid, whether by international donors or by local militias, is a violation of humanitarian principles and a disservice to the most vulnerable people. The safety of aid workers should remain a priority, but agencies need to find a middle ground which allows them to maintain their collaboration and solidarity with those truly vulnerable.

--Patrick Duplat

Visit our website to learn more about Patrick's mission to Somalia

A Look at the Darfur Olympics

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Fri, 08 Aug 2008 17:53:00 +0000

Today marks the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. China holds unrivaled influence with the regime in Sudan. Join us in urging China to use its leverage to persuade the Sudanese government to allow into Darfur the full protection force outlined by UN Resolution 1769. All of us should urge China to work with the United States, France and the United Kingdom to support UN and African Union initiatives in Darfur, Southern Sudan and Chad. This cooperative work on the peace process needs to be comprehensive. The problems of Darfur, Southern Sudan and Chad are intertwined, so unless peace is advanced on all of these fronts it will be unlikely to be achieved on any of these fronts.

Tonight and throughout the Games this month, we urge you to log on to: http://www.darfurolympics.org/.

You can watch an alternative opening ceremony that features a celebration of Darfurian children, daily webcasts of Mia Farrow from a refugee camp and an online concert featuring R.E.M., Carly Simon and others.

Iraqi Refugees: A New Plan

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:10:00 +0000

The United Nations refugee agency is clear: the conditions in Iraq are not there for displaced Iraqis to go home. Not only is the security situation not stable enough, as demonstrated by this past week’s bombings in Bagdad and Kirkuk, but other necessary factors are lacking. There is little access to basic services in many parts of the country and no mechanism to obtain restitution or compensation for lost or occupied property. Yet, this past month, the Government of Iraq has stepped up its efforts to get displaced Iraqis to return home. Despite the fact that it spent negligible amounts on humanitarian assistance for the displaced both in and out of the country, the Iraqi Government has shown a surprising willingness to provide financial incentives for returns. In addition to these, it has been asking its neighbors to make life a little harder for Iraqi refugees, so that returning home is no longer a choice but a necessity. This irresponsible behavior could backfire and increase instability inside Iraq, as the few who have returned have ended up displaced in their own country.

The international community must unequivocally condemn these attempts by the Government of Iraq to encourage returns when the country is not ready for it, and when many displaced still have legitimate reasons to fear for their safety . The US government in particular needs to increase its assistance and resettlement efforts to send a clear message to Iraq, its neighbors, the international community and, most importantly, the displaced themselves: millions of displaced Iraqis need urgent, immediate help. They and their host communities are running out of resources. We must step up to the plate. Failure to do so would have dramatic consequences and would force many to return to a dangerous environment.

Since 2006, the US has improved its response to Iraqi displacement, both in terms of financial assistance and resettlement numbers, but much more needs to be done. Last week, 22 NGOs, including Refugees International, endorsed a plan put together with the help of Ambassador Frank Wisner that outlines steps the US government must take to address the Iraqi displacement crisis. These steps include significant increases in the resettlement of Iraqi refugees and financial assistance to the UN and host countries, as well as better coordination with Iraq and the region to ensure assistance to the internally displaced and to those who choose to return in due time.

This plan is not the solution to the problems in the Middle East. It is however part of the solution, and the start of a comprehensive strategy to address the needs of displaced Iraqis and the consequences of the crisis in the region. The US can no longer continue to treat this as it would any other humanitarian crisis. The stakes are much higher here, as the future of Iraq depends on it. This is a bipartisan issue, as all agree for the need for a stable Iraq and a stable Middle East. As such, this plan needs to be supported by all.

We hope this administration will do the right thing before they have to leave. Adopting the plan and starting to enforce it immediately would be a significant step in the right direction.

--Kristele Younes

President’s Corner: Saffron Robes in Wyoming

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 21:48:00 +0000

“What do they think when they see me?” asked the Venerable Kovida, a Buddhist monk from Burma. Given that he was dressed in bright saffron robes and flip-flops while hiking in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, the question made sense.

In fact most of the hikers who passed Kovida walking in the new Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve last week seemed quite nonchalant. Maybe they were too busy looking at their feet on the path. But for those of us from Refugees International—both staff members and board members--walking with Kovida, the hike was anything but routine.

He loved the beautiful surroundings and told us how much they reminded him of places in Burma that also had majestic mountains, rushing streams and tall trees. It was clear that he missed his country, but it’s unclear when—or if—he will get back there. Kovida received political asylum in the U.S. in March after leading demonstrations against Burma’s military junta last year.

The demonstrations took place during a time of increasing fuel prices and economic stringency in Burma, already one of the world’s poorest countries. Since Buddhist monks survive on alms they collect from the people everyday, “we wanted to give something back” to the people by demonstrating or speaking on their behalf, Kovida explained. Although the monks were leading peaceful demonstrations, the government accused them of violence and started to arrest them and their families. Kovida fled, ultimately to the U.S.

Kovida told his story repeatedly in Jackson, Wyoming, where he was visiting to help Refugees International explain its efforts to protect displaced and vulnerable people in Burma and around the world. He told a large reception at the Oswald Gallery how he had hidden for weeks, growing his hair out and turning it blond so he could escape across the border in mufti. Even though his picture had appeared on the front page of newspapers across Burma, his disguise worked, and he was able to escape into Mae Sot, Thailand, where he gave extensive interviews and met a Refugees International delegation shortly after his escape.

Today he lives in California, working and learning English. His dream is to go to college here, but he is not too busy to forget the suffering of his people in Burma.

In March Refugees International published a report entitled Burma: A New Way Forward. It highlighted the poverty in Burma and noted that the strict U.S. sanctions against Burma’s military regime are hurting efforts to help the Burmese people. A growing network of United Nations organizations, international aid agencies and Burmese civil society organizations are actually getting help to the Burmese people. That network has increased somewhat since Cyclone Nargis in early May.

Burma will not be a prosperous country until its repressive military regime is replaced by a government that cares more about the Burmese people than its own power. Hearing the Venerable Kovida talk about the deprivation of his people makes it clear that we should be doing more to help them now.

--Ken Bacon

Colombia: Displaced Need Equal Attention

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 13:31:00 +0000

The recent visit of presidential candidate Senator John McCain to Colombia, the dramatic rescue of 15 hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and a subsequent visit to the United States by Colombian Defense Minister Santos, have all placed the Colombian Government and its approach to dealing with the violence in that country in the media spotlight. A common theme to these moments has been the notion, put forth by the Senator and the Minister, and repeated by our own Defense Secretary Gates, that the Colombian government has made overwhelming successes in their fight against illegal armed groups, and that “victory is on the horizon.” While it is no doubt true that the Government of Colombia has achieved remarkable success in creating a safe and secure environment in many of the major cities, Colombia has still seen a dramatic increase in the number of internally displaced people in the last two years, and it still ranks highest in the world in the numbers of new land mine accident survivors.

It is troubling that while the Defense Minister and his allies in Congress see fit to congratulate themselves on their remarkable success, they do not mention the most serious humanitarian crisis in the Western Hemisphere. Unfortunately, Colombia, one of the United States' strongest allies in South America, has embraced the attitude and policy of the Bush administration to emphasize military solutions to all of its problems. A recent report circulated by the Colombian Ministry of Defense to the State Department and Congress urgently argues against cutting any of the military support that the United States provides, saying that this will undermine their efforts against terrorism. However, the report makes no mention of the word displacement, conveniently leaving out the victims of the terror they wish to eradicate. Clearly, narco-trafficking and violence associated with it requires a comprehensive approach. Unfortunately, the Colombian government seems concerned solely with military hardware and technology and chooses to leave responding to the needs of its citizens to its civilian agency, Acción Social, and the international community. The United States administration, and the members of Congress who care deeply about Colombia would do well to emphasize to our allies in Colombia that in order to truly reach peace and prosperity, the Colombian government needs to extend its civil and social reach to all its citizens with as much energy and gusto as it has extended its military reach.

--Jake Kurtzer

Uganda: Donors must step up to help agencies address domestic violence

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0000

On our mission to northern Uganda we were told that the biggest immediate danger for women in the displacement camps is domestic violence. My colleague, Camilla Olson and I heard that the stressful overcrowded conditions in camps and the lack of livelihood opportunities for men and women contribute to this violence, which puts the physical and mental health of so many women at serious risk.

So I asked in the camps how a woman could find help and protection if she was assaulted by her husband. Some women said that they could go to local council leaders, although others complained that most local council leaders are male and few listen to women enough. We heard that survivors of domestic violence could turn to Community Development Officers, who are employed by local districts to do social work. We heard good reports about the quality of these officers, but they rarely get out to meet people in the communities because the districts have allocated insufficient resources to them.

Many women said that they would be reluctant to go to the police, because they have seen many perpetrators bribe their way out of a situation. Furthermore, the police are so under-resourced that victims have to pay the police their fuel costs to come out to attend to their case.

The UN and international non-governmental organizations have set up programs to prevent and respond to gender-based violence (GBV) and to build up the capacity of local Ugandan systems to take on this work. At the beginning of 2008, the UN Population Fund (UNFPA) took over the role of coordinating GBV response in Uganda from the UN children’s agency, UNICEF. It has deployed coordinators but UNFPA does not have dedicated funds to support GBV programs.

UNFPA in Uganda is now seeking funds from donor governments for several aid agencies to continue their activities after the end of the year. They hope to continue providing legal, medical and psycho-social support to the survivors of domestic violence, campaigning to prevent domestic violence, and supporting Ugandan national institutions that can work long-term in the fight against domestic violence. For example, the Government of Uganda has made a major step forward by establishing a National GBV Reference Group where representatives from different government ministries meet and incorporate gender-based violence issues in their planning and programs.

The U.S. government refuses to contribute to UNFPA’s work anywhere in the world, creating a major limitation for the fight against violence against women in Uganda and globally. This policy should be reversed, particularly now that UNFPA has been designated the lead UN agency on GBV in humanitarian crises globally. In Uganda, international donor governments must support UNFPA to ensure the continuation of GBV programming. If these programs have to close for lack of funds this will represent a big step backwards, and a worrying precedent for other countries where UNFPA has taken the lead.

-Melanie Teff

Chad: Bring us security to return home

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 22:10:00 +0000

Within the past three years, insecurity remains the primary obstacle to the return of Chadians who have been forced to flee their villages, located in the south-eastern areas of Chad bordering Sudan. Insecurity and violence are also increasingly hampering the provision of assistance to the people displaced as aid agencies come under recurrent attacks by armed men on the roads or in their compounds.

The security situation has deteriorated drastically within the past two years and has become widespread given the persistent climate of impunity. In May 2007, I visited eastern Chad and I was able to travel by car from Abeche to Goz Beida and Koukou without any concern. I just returned from another visit in June with my colleague Erin Weir and we could not do the same because of highway banditry.

The increasing presence of marauding armed men is also affecting civilians as it is disrupting and destabilizing the economic networks of people in the region including those who are displaced. I met several women and men in sites for Chadian displaced people. One of the women I spoke to, who fled in November 2007 in search of safety, says that she feels relatively safe within her new site. However she is afraid of armed men on horseback who roam around the areas where she searches for firewood. (Firewood is sold by the displaced at local markets to earn money.) Some men also said that they are afraid to take their livestock to graze in fields far from their sites because they can be raided, beaten and robbed by armed men. Many displaced Chadians we met said that security should be restored in the area before they could fully resume their traditional social and economic activities.

People displaced in eastern Chad are in limbo as they cannot return home to resume their traditional lifestyle and cannot integrate within their areas of displacement because the resources available to them are not sufficient to address their needs. Nonetheless, there are ways to confront these challenges. My colleague and I released two reports calling on UN officials, international agencies and donor governments to establish lasting security and promote sustainable returns. The people of Chad are counting on these officials to act.
-Mpako Foaleng

Northern Uganda: Real Options for Returning Home

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 21:58:00 +0000

Displaced people in northern Uganda are slowly starting the process of returning home after two decades of conflict between government forces and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), which forced over 1.5 million people to flee their homes. In June, I traveled with my colleague Melanie Teff to the Gulu, Kitgum, Pader, and Adjumani districts in northern Uganda to meet with displaced people and find out from them what the return situation is like. What we found was the need for real options for the displaced in the form of access to basic services and livelihood support but also in the ability to choose when to return freely.

Ojok, an 80 year old man who has been living in a displacement camp in Gulu district since 2002, told me he would go home tomorrow if someone could help him build a hut on his land. Most of the people in the camp where he is living have returned home or will be returning soon. However Ojok is disabled and cannot build a hut for himself and his wife. His former house was burned down by the LRA.

International donors, especially the US, should provide flexible and timely funds for recovery activities in the areas of return, particularly to improve access to basic services like water, health and education, but also to assist more vulnerable people like Ojok to rebuild their homes and their livelihoods.

While he stays in the camp, Ojok remains dependent on food rations from the World Food Program because he is unable to farm his own land. Many of the displaced people we met with continue to keep a hut in the camps in order to access those services that are not yet in the return areas. Others, like Ojok, have no choice but stay in the camps until they receive assistance to go back.

Building up services in home areas will help to incentivize voluntary returns, but donors must also be conscious of the need to continue providing basic services in the camps for those who remain, in order to avoid forcing people to go back before they are ready.

Even if the LRA were to return to northern Uganda and commit more atrocities against the local population (which many displaced people we spoke with feared given the current uncertainties around the peace process) Ojok told me that he would still want to go home – he doesn’t care about the rebels any longer, he just wants to live on his own land once again.

--Camilla Olson

President’s Corner: Foreign Confusion about U.S. Policies and Values

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 20:28:00 +0000

On Monday I met with about 30 teachers from around the world who are spending the summer here learning about and trying to understand the United States. They are intelligent, well read and, quite frankly, puzzled by what they are seeing and learning.

They have read about America’s commitment to rule of law and respect for human rights, yet they are hearing about prisoners being held without charge and allegedly tortured at Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib. They also wanted to know why the U.S., while working to stabilize Iraq, isn’t more concerned about five million Iraqis—20% of the population—who are displaced.

When we discussed the case the International Criminal Court is bringing against President al Bashir of Sudan, several wondered if the ICC will bring charges against President Bush or others in the United States for the invasion of Iraq or alleged mistreatment of Iraqi and other prisoners. (The answer, for a variety of reasons, is no.)

Their tour is part of the Fulbright Program sponsored by the State Department. Unfortunately, the very administration of the program highlights the inconsistency of U.S. policy. A teacher from Iraq was supposed to participate in the program, but one of the other teachers in the program said that the U.S. government wouldn’t issue her a visa.

This not only deprived the Fulbright program participants from hearing about what is happening in Iraq, but it prevented one Iraqi teacher from discussing U.S. policy in Iraq with a wide range of Americans at precisely the time when both countries need to understand each other better.

--Ken Bacon

The militarization of aid to Africa

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Fri, 18 Jul 2008 18:30:00 +0000

What do you get when, at a 17 to 1 ratio, US spending on the Global War on Terror far outweighs the funding for diplomatic, development and long-term capacity-building programs, combined?

In a report released yesterday by RI’s peacebuilding program manager Mark Malan, we outline exactly what’s happening now, and what’s at risk of happing in the very near future. Foreign aid is being increasingly militarized, meaning more and more of US humanitarian aid is being funneled through the military to go towards the Global War on Terror. There is an increasing danger that civilian agencies, which do important work for long-term stability and development, will lose out to military initiatives focusing on short-term gains at the expense of crucial development and humanitarian aid.

Mark urges AFRICOM, or the US Africa Command, to play a productive role in support of a more stable and secure Africa: “AFRICOM will dominate US foreign policy in Africa for the foreseeable future, and we need to make sure it gets off on the right foot.” To do so, AFRICOM should focus its efforts on professionalizing African armies and security agencies, and creating the foundations for the kind of long-term stability, under the rule of law, that is so essential for growth and development in Africa.

What does all of this have to do with displaced people and refugees?

Africa is home to millions of the world’s refugees and internally displaced people – people who have faced years of violence and conflict that has forced them into terribly unstable environments. Focusing long-term development efforts into building a more stable and secure future would allow so many displaced people to return from exile and begin to rebuild their lives.

Frogs, not chocolate: Post-cyclone survival in Burma

noreply@blogger.com (Refugees International) — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 14:00:00 +0000

On May 30th, four weeks after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma, the New Light of Myanmar, one of the government’s propaganda mouthpieces, ran a particularly nasty editorial, accusing the international aid community of being stingy in response to the disaster while assuring the world that the Burmese people were tough enough to survive. “Myanmar people are capable enough of rising from such natural disasters even if they are not provided with international assistance,” the commentary stated. “Myanmar people can easily get fish for dishes by just fishing in the fields and ditches. In the early monsoon, large edible frogs are abundant. The people can survive with self-reliant efforts even if they are not given chocolate bars from [the] international community.”

The commentary, coming at a time when the government seemed to be finally accepting international access to the Irrawaddy Delta region, elicited global condemnation from political activists and human rights groups, as it underscored the cruelty of the military junta and its lack of concern for the welfare of the people. To this day, two and a half months after the cyclone, the international aid effort has fallen well short of the scope and depth of coverage required to meet the needs of the more than two million survivors directly affected by the storm. Outsiders with no experience inside Burma have stated that a “second wave of dying has begun” and made alarming predictions that “hundreds of thousands” of Burmese may die as the result of Burmese government obstruction.

As access has improved to the delta region, however, and the tri-partite aid coordination body, consisting of representatives of the United Nations, the Association of Southeast Asia Nations, and the government, completed its assessment of conditions, the conclusion of the aid agencies is that there were very few additional deaths after the cyclone’s initial fury. According to reports by The New York Times and the Associated Press, there was, in fact, no second wave of dying as the result of food shortages, epidemics, and exposure. The Burmese people in the delta showed exactly the resilience and strength to survive that the government of Burma was touting.

This in no way excuses the government for obstructing the relief effort. The resilience of the people derives from their life-long experience of government neglect and failure to tend to their basic needs. They knew that even in the aftermath of the cyclone they would probably be on their own, or reliant on neighbors, religious institutions, and other non-governmental sources of assistance.

My regret is that I didn’t have the courage to express skepticism about the alarmist predictions of a second wave of deaths as aid agencies gradually gained access to the delta within two or three weeks of the cyclone. My experience in Cambodia in the aftermath of the 1979 famine taught me that in the relatively lush environment of mainland Southeast Asia, once people are free to forage for food they will survive. Rice paddies are full of small fish, crabs, and frogs that provide protein. Fruit and edible plants grow in abundance. Air temperatures rarely go below 75 degrees, limiting deaths from exposure. Contaminated water is a menace, but in the rainy season drinking water can be collected.

I knew that no one in the Irrawaddy Delta was going to die from lack of food. The risk was that a cholera epidemic or a wave of diarrheal diseases might sweep through the weakened survivors, especially children. Thankfully, it appears that this did not occur.

International aid agencies have a long record of exaggerating their impact and underestimating the self-help capacity of local people. One of the primary lessons of the response to the 2004 tsunami was that the true “first responders,” the ones who save lives in the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe, are precisely the survivors themselves. They, and supporting organizations, including local government agencies, are the ones who make an immediate difference, well before even the fastest international agencies can mobilize. In disaster prone areas, therefore, strengthening the response capacity of communities and their institutions, whether government or non-governmental, is an essential investment to save lives in the future.

In Burma, the government and its most powerful institution, the military, did very little relief work. What helped save the day in Burma was the tremendous outpouring of individual and small group efforts by Burmese citizens. Buddhist monks, teachers, doctors, merchants --- even travel agents according to a former U.S. diplomat in touch with friends inside the country ---banded together to raise funds, collect materials, and provide direct assistance. While the military confiscated some of this aid, and periodically blocked access by Burmese, enough of these efforts were successful to help meet some of the immediate needs of the survivors. Coupled with their ability to live off the land as they re-gained their strength, these efforts were enough to stave off a second catastrophe.

“Frogs, not chocolate” is not going to become the motto of the international aid community, nor should it. The blocking of aid by the Burmese government in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis was unconscionable. But the phrase contains a measure of truth, and suggests that we should never underestimate people’s ability to find a way to survive in the face of catastrophe.

--Joel Charny

Visit our website to learn more about Joel's mission to Burma.

President’s Corner: ICC Case Against Bashir is Risky but Right

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bacon) — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 22:42:00 +0000

As the head of a humanitarian organization, I worry that Monday’s decision to seek charges of genocide against the president of Sudan will complicate efforts to achieve peace in Darfur and interrupt flows of lifesaving aid to millions of people. Despite these risks, I believe the effort to bring Sudan’s leader to justice is correct and necessary.

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court presented evidence that Omar Hassan Ahmad al Bashir, the president of Sudan, is guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity during the five-year civil war in the Darfur region of Western Sudan. President al Bashir has repeatedly denied the charges, which must now be reviewed by another ICC body called the Pre-Trial Chamber I. If this review concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe the alleged crimes were committed, it can issue an arrest warrant or take other action to bring the accused to trial.

The United Nations has been struggling to deal with the human toll of a vicious civil war in Darfur since it began in February 2003. The war has been characterized by massive death and displacement; some 2.7 million people have been displaced and as many as 400,000 have died from war-related causes, according to some estimates.

In a summary of the case, the prosecutor, Luis Moreno Ocampo, said: “The evidence establishes reasonable grounds to believe that al Bashir intends to destroy in substantial part the Fur, Masalit and Zaghawa ethnic groups as such. Forces and agents controlled by al Bashir attacked civilians in towns and villages inhabited by the target groups, committing killings, rapes, torture and destroying means of livelihood.”

Throughout the conflict, which has been characterized as an attempt by an Arab dominated government to displace or destroy largely African tribes in Darfur, the government of Sudan has tried to interfere with aid organizations and UN food deliveries and the deployment of international peacekeepers. The risk of the announcement of the ICC’s case is that such harassment will increase to the point where the delivery of aid to millions of people will be impossible. This would be a tragedy.

Nevertheless, the announcement of evidence against President al Bashir is correct, because those responsible for the death and displacement in Darfur should be held accountable.

Every case of extreme violence or crimes against humanity is different. But in two previous cases where sitting presidents—Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and Charles Taylor of Liberia—were charged by internationally mandated criminal courts, the indictments helped open the way to peace and reconciliation after years of brutal killing.

It is too early to tell if the ICC’s action will have a similar impact in Sudan. But the ICC action will have an immediate impact on President al Bashir. If evidence is sustained and the court issues a warrant for his arrest, he won’t be able to leave the country, for fear of being arrested and taken to the Hague for trial. The ICC action could complicate the outcome of elections schedule for next year—if the elections occur.

But most of all, the case announced by the ICC shows that when it comes to charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, nobody is above the law.

--Ken Bacon

Afghanistan: Refugees' Difficult Road Home

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:03:00 +0000

Visit our website to download our new report, Afghanistan: Invest in People, and Newsweek.com for some exclusive footage from our mission.

President's Corner: Facing up to Iraqi Displacement

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bacon) — Mon, 07 Jul 2008 21:38:00 +0000

Everyday I survey a selection of websites, looking for updates on news of displaced populations around the world. The news is seldom cheery, particularly when it’s about Iraq. Two new reports highlight the plight of internally displaced Iraqis.

It’s clear from the reports that security conditions aren’t improving fast enough to encourage significant numbers of families to return home. In fact, the International Organization for Migration estimates that the internally displaced population in Iraq is still growing and has reached 2.8 million. The Iraqi Red Crescent Organization puts the number of internally displaced Iraqis at 2.2 million and says the number is falling slowly. Still, the Red Crescent says, “The humanitarian crisis in Iraq resulting from the displacement problem continues.”

Both reports are on Reliefweb, a compendium of news and reports assembled by the UN Office of the Coordinator for Humanitarian Affairs.

Approximately five million Iraqis—20% of the population—are displaced, either within Iraq or as refugees in neighboring countries. Despite reports of some recent improvements in Iraq’s security, most of the displaced are afraid to go home. “Many [internally displaced persons] do not consider returning to their original areas of residence because their homes were destroyed or because they do not think that security is really enforced,” the Iraqi Red Crescent reports. “Displaced families continue to face problems related to health, education, shelter, income, food, water and electricity.”

Addressing the security and livelihood needs of displaced Iraqis is a key to making Iraq a stable, prosperous and peaceful country. Any joint American-Iraqi effort to stabilize Iraq must include a program to help Iraqis return home. This includes providing human security—employment, health care, education and protection of property—as well as physical security.

Iraq is rolling in oil revenues; it’s time for the Iraqi government to start spending this money on meeting the needs of its own people. And it’s time for the U.S. to start working with Iraq to develop a comprehensive plan to dealing with displaced Iraqis. Most want to return home, but they can't—at least for the foreseeable future. They all need protection.

--Ken Bacon

Meeting our Match

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 19:26:00 +0000

Two weeks ago, we launched a matching gift campaign in honor of World Refugee Day. We are happy to report that we raised over $24,000 from people across the country in just five days. We wanted to take this opportunity to thank these donors, and all of you who support our work by donating, telling your friends about us, signing petitions, or just staying current on the plight of refugees by reading this blog.

The money raised will go directly to supporting our recent mission in Chad and all of our work around the world. In Chad, Mpako Foaleng and Erin Weir just assessed the dangers being faced by over 400,000 Sudanese refugees and Chadian internally displaced people. Mpako and Erin have just finished talking directly to European Union and United Nations officials in Brussels and Geneva about ways to ensure these people have food, shelter and protection from further violence. Next week, they will return to the US, where they will demand action from the US Congress and Department of State to support displaced people who desperately need our help.

We accept no government or UN funding – this allows us to say what needs to be said to those who need to hear it, and to push policy makers into doing what they don’t necessarily want to do.

Watch this video to learn more about our work and some of our achievements – achievements that are made possible by you.

--Megan Fowler

Chad: Before the Rainy Season

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 22:03:00 +0000

“The music has played again as is the case almost every year before the rainy season starts in eastern Chad.” This was a metaphor used by a Chadian in eastern Chad last month to describe the recent attacks by rebel groups against the government’s forces. The latest attack is one of many that has contributed -- together with ethnic tensions and the spill over of Sudan’s Darfur crisis -- to destabilizing eastern Chad in the last five years.

I recently visited Habile, a site for internally displaced people (IDPs) situated near the border between Chad and Darfur. Almost 29,000 Chadians have taken refuge there. In addition, more than 20,000 Sudanese refugees forced to flee violence and human rights abuses in Darfur, are currently hosted in Goz Amer camp, a mere eight kilometers away. They will not be able to return home to Darfur anytime soon, given the persistent insecurity in their villages.

However, in Habile, people are starting to consider returning home, especially those whose villages are located in relatively secure areas. Ahead of the rainy season, some people have returned to cultivate their land and start re-building their homes. One woman told me that if the security situation in her village continued to improve, her husband and their 4 children would return permanently.

This glimmer of hope is not shared by the majority of IDPs in Habile. People whose villages are located close to the border with Sudan are not planning to return soon. They are still afraid of attacks, killings and the loss of their property. The root causes of the violence that has forced people to flee their villages have not yet been properly addressed. In some border areas, there are no local authorities or government security forces, leaving these villages vulnerable to attack by armed rebels coming from Sudan.

The latest rebel attacks in the region have made things worse. In the past, Chadian rebel incursions have been followed by armed men on horseback from Sudan who profit from the chaos. They attack and kill civilians, and loot people’s property. These incursions have also generated tensions between communities, breaking the social fabric and weakening the traditional mechanisms for conflict prevention and management.

The UN Refugee Agency has been facilitating a dialogue between the leaders of the displaced communities and those from their home villages. Such initiatives have to be revitalised and understood as an integral part of a broader reconciliation process that will bring trust back among the different communities. This will set the stage so that when people return home to cultivate their land before the next rainy season, they can re-enter their communities and rebuild their lives.

-Mpako Foaleng

Colombia: Finding Solutions for Displaced Together

noreply@blogger.com (Vanessa Parra) — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 19:05:00 +0000

Traveling back from Tame to Arauca, on the border region of Colombia and Venezuela, my colleagues and I stopped in a little town called Pueblo Nuevo to meet with displaced people there. We had been trying to reach a local religious figure who was providing assistance to families in need, but had not yet reached him. So, we chose to just drop in and try our luck. Unfortunately, on arrival, not only could we not find the priest, but we also couldn't find the church. People seemed to not know where it was.

We meandered around town for several hours looking for someone who knew the priest. Someone directed us to the church, but no luck. Another neighbor jumped in the trunk of our car to show us to the incoming mayor’s house. However, the mayor apologized and informed us he wasn’t starting his job until July, so he didn’t know much about services being delivered to displaced people. However, he hopped on his bicycle to find someone who might and reemerged, with the priest. Perfect!

We rode back to the church and proceeded to have a long discussion with the priest about the displaced and their needs. Even more fortunately, the incoming mayor sat in on the meeting and was given a crash course in his future responsibilities to those families who are victims of the increase in guerrilla fighting and who have taken residence in his town.

The situation in Arauca is increasingly dire, as more and more families and communities are being displaced in a territorial dispute between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN). This is a place where violence is increasing, and the humanitarian response has slowly begun, but is not yet commensurate with the need.

We visited an area called “4 of December,” which was named for the day when displaced people took over what had been a tent town of vulnerable poor. People are living in homes made of plastic sheeting and wood taken from the forest. The presence of open flames for cooking in homes made of dried wood causes me to fear for the worst. The neighborhood, for lack of a better word, lacks electricity and running water -- a concerted decision made by the municipality in response to the “illegal presence of the displaced.”

Next, we head to Nariño to investigate the needs of displaced people there. I can only hope the situation has improved.

--Jake Kurtzer

Northern Uganda: Mixed messages in uncertain times

noreply@blogger.com (Refugees International) — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 14:34:00 +0000

These are confusing times for people in northern Uganda. We have been here only one week, and have already heard so many contradictory statements. We can only imagine how difficult it must be for local people to decide which messages to believe.

When we met with people in one camp for the internally displaced, most of them told us that the main reason they could not go home yet was lack of basic services in their home village – particularly no clean water or shelter. But they still expressed fears that the lack of a peace deal could mean a return to war and going right back to the camps again. One woman told me, “If there is no signed peace agreement that means war and death.”

Not long before we arrived here things were looking unusually hopeful for northern Uganda. Many expected that a peace agreement would be signed between the Government of Uganda and the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). The infamous LRA has conducted years of insurgency, abducting people and terrorizing the population in the north of the country. But Joseph Kony, the leader of the LRA, failed to turn up to sign the agreement. The formal Cessation of Hostilities Agreement expired in April 2008 and has not been renewed. Yet, despite the lack of a signed peace deal, the LRA has not conducted any attacks in northern Uganda for over two years.

With the reduction in violence, many people have started the process of returning home from the camps. Almost all of the international agencies are talking about reducing emergency relief programs, and instead working with the government on development projects. But some local organizations have pointed out to us that northern Uganda has seen false dawns before and therefore they remain cautious.

A week before we arrived here, the LRA attacked villages in south Sudan, killing 23 people. Then, soon after we arrived we saw local newspaper headlines announcing that the LRA had re-entered Uganda. The next day the Ugandan army was on the radio denying this report and assuring the population that the Ugandan army reinforced its presence at the Sudanese border and will not allow the LRA to cross. Still, rumors are rife here.

The internally displaced persons’ camps in northern Uganda are not like those in most other parts of the world. People were ordered to move into these camps by the government. Frequently, the camps are less than 10 kilometers from home villages; some are only one kilometer away. Now the government is using strong rhetoric to push the message that people should go back home. The international agencies here give us good reasons for phasing out the camps, such as the recent outbreak of the rare Hepatitis E virus in Kitgum due to poor hygiene conditions in overcrowded camps.

Still, many people hold on to their hut in the camp, moving between it and the home they are constructing in or near to their home village. Some international agencies suggest this is so they can try to claim food handouts in the camp. That may be so, but people are also genuinely fearful. It takes time for a population traumatized by over 20 years of war to feel safe again and to trust that peace really has set in for good. And there are many reasons at the moment for them to distrust these messages. As one local leader said to us, “They were forced into the camps. Now it should be the community in the north which leads the process of return out of the camps, and at their own pace.”

--Melanie Teff

President’s Corner: Mrs. Bush

noreply@blogger.com (Ken Bacon) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 21:17:00 +0000

Thanks to Laura Bush, we now know that the White House is aware of the Iraqi refugee crisis. President Bush still has not mentioned the fact that 20% of Iraqis are displaced, but the First Lady included an Iraqi in her World Refugee Day ceremony.

Last Friday, I joined several dozen other refugee advocates at the White House to commemorate World Refugee Day. We sat in folding chairs under bright sun in the First Lady’s Garden as Mrs. Bush talked of America’s commitment to protecting refugees. She noted that in the last three decades, the U.S. has resettled 2.7 million refugees and that we are spending $1.2 billion on refugee resettlement this year.

Then she introduced three refugees—one from Burma, one Iraq and one from the Democratic Republic of the Congo—who had fled violence and persecution in their countries. Here is what she said:

Eh Moo Hoffman was born in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burma border. Her parents had fled from Burmese soldiers who tortured, raped, and killed her native Karen people. After more than 20 years living in danger, she and her family were able to resettle in the United States last year.
Zeyad Abdel Okhowa fled Iraq with his family after his work with the U.S. Embassy in Al Hillah put him in danger. Today, he works with the State Department's Digital Outreach Team to help improve understanding between Arab and Muslim communities and the United States.
Rose Mapendo's husband was executed, and she and her children were imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She gave birth to twins while she was in jail, and she struggled to keep them alive. Rose and her children fled the Congo on an emergency evacuation flight in 2000. Today, she's an American citizen and the spokesperson for "Mapendo International," a non-governmental organization that assists refugees.

The inclusion of an Iraqi was significant, because it gave some visibility to the huge displacement crisis that has taken place within Iraq. Some five million Iraqis are displaced, about half are refugees who have fled to nearby countries, while the rest are displaced within Iraq. So far President Bush has said nothing in public to acknowledge the displacement, which has humanitarian and security implications for the entire Middle East. Maybe Mrs. Bush will fill him in.

--Ken Bacon

World Refugee Day: Where are the world's hidden refugees?

noreply@blogger.com (Refugees International) — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 13:52:00 +0000

Picture these iconic refugee images - an African woman, holding a child, gazing stoically into the camera against a backdrop of huts and tents in a barren landscape. A long line of people, men, women, and children - again, usually African - on the move with all their worldly possessions on their heads and their backs. An emaciated African child being examined in a clinic by a Western doctor or nurse in a vest with a red cross emblem.

These images have become iconic because for several decades they have encapsulated the plight of refugees. But this World Refugee Day is an opportunity to reflect on the ways these images don't really to justice to today's realities.

While conflicts in Africa continue to displace hundreds of thousands of people, this year the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, is highlighting the fact that refugee numbers have increased from 10 million to nearly 12 million due to the persistence of refugee crises in Iraq and Afghanistan.

While the Afghan presence in Pakistan and Iran, still numbering 3 million, has been a reality for decades, Iraqi displacement increased in 2007, with 600,000 newly displaced internally and still more fleeing into neighbouring countries in the Middle East, especially Syria and Jordan. In all, nearly half of the refugees of concern to UNHCR are from Iraq and Afghanistan alone.

The reality of the lives of Iraqi refugees requires further adjustment of our refugee iconography.
Iraqi refugees are not in camps. They live, virtually invisible, in urban areas, especially in Damascus and Amman.

They are hard to reach with basic services. Some, fearing eventual deportation, avoid registering with UNHCR. They gradually draw on whatever savings they may have brought with them from Iraq. Some try to find illegal employment in low-paying jobs in the informal sector.

Their children have had their schooling disrupted, though after extensive efforts, special international funding has been granted to support the inclusion of some Iraqi children in the school systems of the host countries.

The phenomenon of urban refugees is growing. Among the more than 1 million Zimbabweans outside their country in southern Africa are tens of thousands of people who could qualify as refugees living an underground existence in urban areas of South Africa and Zambia.

In Southeast Asia, host countries largely bar Burmese from accessing refugee camps, leaving them to fend for themselves in urban centres such as Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.

In Latin America, political violence drives the internally displaced of Colombia out of rural areas and into towns, where they live unregistered on the margins of society.

The growth in the number of urban refugees coincides with two other developments: the overall erosion in the commitment of states to asylum for those fleeing persecution and conflict and large-scale economic migration. The twin fears of terrorist infiltration and inundation from illegal immigration have combined to create an environment in which countries of first asylum assume the worst when individuals seeking protection arrive on their door step.

Meanwhile, there are an estimated 200 million people now living outside their country of origin, and only a portion of this migration is from poor countries of the global South to the industrialised world.

With high levels of economic imbalance within developing regions and with poverty often associated with internal conflict and human rights abuses, refugee flows amidst the movement of economic migrants are a common phenomenon within the South.

China, Thailand, Malaysia, India, South Africa, Kenya, and Egypt are among countries that are magnets both for individuals fleeing persecution and for those seeking employment and greater economic opportunity.

These developments combine to pose special challenges for protecting the world's 12 million refugees. While camps will still be required and appropriate in some places - in Chad, for example, to shelter refugees from Darfur - the trend will be for more and more refugees to find themselves either forcibly or voluntarily trying to survive among the underclass in urban areas.

UNHCR and the non-governmental organisations that provide services with its support will have to adjust the way they work.

First and foremost, refugees need to be found. This means being sending teams into urban areas and reaching out, like social workers, to identify vulnerable refugees and register them.

It also involves talking to government officials, who need to be convinced that within the mass of urban poor and illegal migrants there are people who qualify for international protection. Ensuring legal status also goes a long way towards preventing statelessness for current and future generations.

UNHCR will need to find creative ways of providing assistance to vulnerable people. Local religious institutions and community-based organisations should play an important role in delivering the aid, but they will need funding.

Providing cash or vouchers to individual families, who in turn will choose how to spend the funds, is more effective than setting up feeding centers or special schools and health facilities.

To its credit, UNHCR recognises the challenges inherent in the evolving nature of refugee flows and the response of host countries to their needs for asylum. But experience suggests that it will need time to shift its approach.

It can only help if donor government officials and the general public adjust their own perspectives too, and start to understand the diversity of refugee experiences today.

--Joel Charny

Joel's post is part of Reuters AlertNet's World Refugee Day feature. For more information, visit www.alertnet.org