Upon our arrival in South Sudan, my colleague, Peter, and I drove to Juba port on the river Nile. There, we were greeted by the sight of two barges that had come arrived from the North eleven days earlier.

Htun Kham, a Burmese refugee I met in Malaysia, told us he was arrested and sentenced to eight months in prison and two brutal cane lashes last year. He fell ill in the detention center but was denied medical assistance. Just after his release was secured by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR), he suffered a massive brain hemorrhage, which he attributes to the stress and regular abuses he faced in detention.

This could very well be the fate of some of the 800 asylum seekers Australia is forcibly removing to Malaysia.

The referendum on southern Sudan’s secession from the north took place as scheduled in January of this year, with over 98% of southerners voting for an independent south Sudan. This is seen as a promise of change in the lives of southerners, who suffered through decades of war and the displacement that went with it for millions of them.

The transition to independence in July may not be entirely peaceful, however, as violent clashes continue not only in the transitional area of Abyei territory, coveted by both North and South, but also in several southern states.

Today marks the unceremonious end of the Afghanistan Compact, an agreement by over 60 world leaders and President Karzai to establish Afghanistan's five-year development objectives. Sound familiar? It should. Just one year ago at the London Conference, world leaders were hailing the Afghan government's unveiling of its "new" peace and development framework. Will donor governments again lose sight, leaving the agreements made in the London Conference of 2010 forgotten?