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Dispatches No. 227
Up | November 30, 2007
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
KENYA: UNLAWFUL DEPORTATION OF SOMALI ASYLUM SEEKERS
On 20 November, the Kenyan authorities deported 18 Somalis back to the lawless capital of Mogadishu. The Refugee Consortium of Kenya strongly condemned the deportation of the Somalis who had been detained at the airport since 12 November.
A statement by the Consortium stated that as a member of the international community and having signed international conventions, Kenya has an obligation to protect human life and dignity. The Refugee Act of Kenya 2006 now provides a process for vetting, assessing and determining the refugee status of applicants. Deporting foreigners without granting them the right to seek asylum is a clear violation of the Act and of international humanitarian law.
According to the Consortium, the deported Somalis were denied the right to seek asylum and access to humanitarian organisations or the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). They have been returned to Mogadishu where their safety is uncertain.
The Act established the Department for Refugee Affairs as the principle authority for refugee management in Kenya. Indeed, in carrying out its work, internal security remains a paramount consideration. Humanitarian obligations are not in conflict with security concerns, and the Refugee Act steps in to ensure the country's national interests are also protected.
Kenya closed its borders with its neighbour last January after Ethiopian and Somali troops routed a group of hard-line Islamists from Mogadishu following a two-week war. The government said it was preventing dangerous people and illegal immigrants from entering the country across the border, where violence is common.
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NEPAL: RESETTLEMENT PROGRAMME OFFICIALLY BEGINS
The official announcement to the refugee community in the camps was made on the occasion of the visit of Ms Ellen Sauerbrey, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration and Ms Nancy Powell, US Ambassador to Nepal, to the refugee camps.
JRS sources reported that the International Organisation for Migration had already started the process. If there are sufficient takers, JRS Nepal Director Fr Varkey Perekkatt SJ told Dispatches on 16 November, up to 15,000 refugees will be resettled in the US. The process is expected to take four to five years and include as many as 60,000 refugees. Other countries such as Australia, Canada, Denmark, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway and Sweden have also committed to take smaller numbers. Similarly, the UK and Ireland also expressed interest in accepting a number of refugees in the future.
"There is a group of refugees, principally supported by the Bhutanese Communist Party, who are opposed to resettlement in all the seven camps. They only want repatriation. I hope this opposition will settle down when the momentum for resettlement picks up in the days and months to come", Fr Varkey said.
Officials from the Nepalese government, the UN refugee agency and other NGOs have been raising awareness among the refugee population of the principle aspects of the programme. As part of the process refugees interested in the programme must complete a Declaration of interest form, which has been distributed over the last few weeks.
"Refugees are well aware that they may never be able to return home, so there is a lot of interest in the programme. The government of Nepal has yet to consider the last remaining option, that of local integration", added Fr Varkey.
Sixteen years ago, more than 105,000 ethnic Lhotsampa Bhutanese refugees fled to Nepal through a narrow strip of India, which separates the two countries. The refugees live in seven UNHCR-managed camps in two districts in eastern Nepal. Another 15,000 eke out their livelihood in India.
Both Nepal and Bhutan engaged in 15 rounds of bilateral negotiations examining the possibility of the repatriation of Bhutanese refugees. Following subsequent unrest in some camps, the Bhutanese government suspended the process, citing security concerns.
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ECUADOR: RISE IN XENOPHOBIA AGAINST COLOMBIANS
On 13 November, an investigation on xenophobia against Colombians in Ecuador, published by the newspaper El Tiempo, produced disturbing findings.
According to the article in El Tiempo, signs on shops such as "Colombians not served here" are not uncommon. The shop owner, Ms Carmen - a middle-aged woman, blames Colombians for the rise in crime and prostitution and accused them of taking jobs from local workers.
JRS Ecuador described xenophobia against Colombian refugees and migrants as a daily occurrence. Colombians are regularly refused when they try to rent rooms and denied assistance in hospitals. More worryingly, locals often falsely report Colombians to the police for having committed crimes. Employers are also accused of reporting Colombians for working without a permit as a way of not paying them their salaries.
According to JRS Ecuador Director, Guillermo Rovayo, the organisation receives an average of 15 complaints a day. Of which approximately five relate to abuses of authority and xenophobia or discrimination against Colombians, the largest refugee and undocumented community in the country.
Refugees can report such abuses. However, according to Mr Rovayo, in many cases, particularly for undocumented migrants, they do not report out of fear that they may be deported.
Gonzalo González, the director of the Ecuadorian government agency responsible for refugees, recognised that the situation is worrying. Mr González said he had seen a change in how Colombians are perceived in the country and associated with crime and prostitution.
In recent years, Colombian refugees have organised an association, the Association of Colombian Refugees in Ecuador, to lobby the government to have their rights recognised. Francia Marulanda, head of the association, stated that many Colombian children do not go to school because they do not feel accepted.
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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: NUMBER DEPORTED SOARS IN TWO MONTHS
On 15 November, the Dominican authorities announced that in the last seven weeks, more than 10,000 Haitians have been deported.
The government attributed the increase in deportations to the establishment of the Specialised Border Security Corps in late September along the porous 255-mile (360-kilometre) border between the two countries.
By contrast, annual total deportations in recent years have ranged from 20,000 to 30,000, according to a report by the human rights group Amnesty International.
As many as 1 million people of Haitian descent live in the Dominican Republic, many of them sugar field and construction workers and their descendants who crossed the border fleeing desperate poverty and violence at home.
The border force, which received training and US$350,000-worth of scanning equipment from the US military, was established to fix a broken system in which Dominican authorities were accused of abusing migrants during deportations.
However, JRS Dominican Republic criticised the spike in deportations and accused the new corps of continuing abuses.
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MALTA: ASYLUM SEEKERS AND MIGRANTS FACE INHUMAN CONDITIONS
On 26 November, JRS Malta described immigration detention of asylum seekers and migrants as unnecessarily inflicting misery as detainees were forced to live in undignified and inhuman conditions.
This opinion was shared by the authors of a report released this month by Medicins du Monde, which warned that the deplorable conditions of overcrowded camps were a health risk to detainees.
JRS teams enter the detainee centre to assist asylum seekers to prepare their applications for refugee status, as well as providing health and other social services.
Six percent of boat people who arrive in Malta obtain refugee status because of fear of personal persecution if they return home. However, another 43 percent obtain the right to humanitarian protection because of civil strife or war in their home countries.
After staying in the detention centre for 18 months, they are released into open centres. Abdul, one of those released after he was granted humanitarian protection status, was transferred into a former school converted into a centre. He shares the centre with 600 other sub-Saharan Africans. Around 20 people sleep in each room on iron bunk beds, with little in the way of amenities.
Making Europe a closed fortress will not solve the problem. People will take more risks. That's the experience we have, JRS Malta Director, Paul Pace SJ, said.
Since 2002, more than 7,000 asylum seekers and migrants have arrived here unintentionally because of shipwrecks or engine failure, only to confront an immigration policy considered among the harshest in the European Union, concluded Fr Pace.
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PANAMA: 'ONLY ONE HEART' EDUCATION PROJECT CONCLUDES
On 23 November, JRS Panama, together with a teacher from Saint Ignacio of Loyola (CPSIL) School, presented an awareness raising and education project called "Only one heart" as part of an exhibition on improving education processes, organised by Fe y Alegría. Twelve education projects were presented during the event.
"The presentation of the project at the exhibition was the final stage of this particular project. "Only one heart", established in March 2007, is an awareness raising and education project, developed by the teachers of CPSIL and supported by JRS Panama. It used IT as an education tool to encourage learning on refugees and migrants in Panama. The impact of this process is significant", JRS Panama Communications Officer, Kevin Sánchez Saavedra, told Dispatches on 27 November.
During the course of the project, JRS developed various activities with children, including workshops on refugees around the world, online searches for information on the web, painting, writing and drawing competitions on themes highlighting that no human being is illegal, and coinciding with events such as world refugee day, migrants' week and Christmas, among others. Most of the 262 students who participated were in their final year in CPSIL.
"Sometimes people think that forced migrants come to take jobs away from locals or to create problems in Panama. This project encouraged us to look at the situation from the point of view that all humans are equal, and that you should not discriminate for any reason. In many ways, forced migrants, like us, are looking for the opportunity to work or improve their lives", said Dora Lian Serrud, a 16 year old participant in the project.
"We share a border with Colombia, a country in the midst of a serious conflict. This competition has taught us that Panamanians need to support the many people forced to flee their homes because of the violence and kidnapping. We must also assist the associations that help these people", said Daniel Sivauste, 20 years old.
"We have begun to deal with different themes. We are more aware of the number of refugees there are in the country. Moreover, we are beginning to discuss issues related to migrants. We are starting to talk about and discuss the issue. Activities such as painting a mural really motivated the students to take an interest in the subject", William Sanjur, a teacher.
"Believe me that you people (the students) are marvellous. Tell everybody that we are here in Panama, whatever nationality we are, that we are in this country for a reason. Someone does not leave their home, their country or from where they are happy voluntarily to go to another place. Something makes them leave", said Lucila, a refugee.
"It has been an interesting initiative, to make young people aware of the difficulties faced by migrants and refugees. It teaches them what happens in the world, that there are people to whom these things happen, that they are suffering this phenomenon for distinct reasons: persecution, war etc. It is a positive experience that we could replicate in all our colleges", concluded Cristian Garita, Fe y Alegría administrator in Panama.
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UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
LIBERIA: DISPLACED PERSONS GRADUATE FROM VOCATIONAL TRAINING PROGRAMME
On 27 October, 51 displaced students graduated from the JRS Vocational Training Programme in Saclepea refugee camp in eastern Liberia. Nearly half the graduates were Liberian returnees, while the rest were Ivorian and Sierra Leonean refugees.
Approximately 400 people attended the ceremonies which marked the completion of six to eight months of study in auto-repair, computer skills, hairdressing, radio and television repair and tailoring.
Representatives from the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) and several NGOs responsible for the camp, including the Liberian National Red Cross, and the Liberia Refugee, Resettlement, and Repatriation Commission, attended. Keynote speakers encouraged graduates to use their abilities to serve others.
"Most of the graduates are eligible to apply for JRS-sponsored income generating activities which will afford them the opportunity to begin small businesses in the near future," JRS Project Director, Paulo Castanheira, remarked.
JRS staff hope that beneficiaries will also become self-sufficient as a consequence of their participation in the programme. Approximately 1,300 refugees and returnees live in Saclepea camp. JRS has been running educational and cultural programmes there since 2005.
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ITALY: PRELIMINARY FINDINGS OF RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT FLAWS IN SYSTEM
On 22 November, a number of Italian NGOs, including JRS Italy, published the preliminary findings of a research report, ‘Presenze trasparenti’ – research on the needs and conditions of failed asylum seekers.
A questionnaire was given to 100 failed asylum seekers and in-depth interviews were carried out with 15. By the end of September, 33 questionnaire responses had been analysed.
The asylum seekers comprise mainly single men of a number of different nationalities. Some stated that they had chosen Italy as a destination as it was easier to get to, while others indicated that they had family and friends already residing there. Most arrived to Italy by sea and their first contact with officialdom was with the Italian police. Upon arrival, most respondents indicated they are first assisted by NGOs and the police.
Preliminary findings also revealed the asylum seekers were not accommodated in reception centres after coming into contact with the police, as required under Italian law.
Interestingly, more than half the sample indicated that they were aware of the possibility of applying for refugee status in Italy. Most applicants were interviewed within one month of arrival. However, they told the researchers they were too emotional to be able to present their cases well. Only two out of 33 received assistance in preparing for their interviews, and only four applicants were interviewed in their own language.
Despite the fact that Italian law requires four representatives to be present from the Italian Asylum Commission at the interviews, 11 respondents indicated that their interviews were carried out with the presence of only one member of the commission. More worryingly, most respondents described their interviews as very short, less than half an hour. Given the necessity of translators, this leaves little time to explain their applications in any detail.
After the applications for refugee status were refused, the asylum seekers quickly found themselves in difficult situations. Most said they were living with friends, but were actually living on the street or in other precarious circumstances. Even though the law requires they stop attending any training courses if their claim is rejected, the respondents said they were allowed to finish what they had been studying.
Another problem they face is in accessing health services, 13 were not registered in the national health system despite their right to do so. Moreover, in 26 of 29 responses, the failed asylum seekers said they do not go to the doctor, out of fear of being reported to the authorities.
Speaking at the presentation of the report, Mercedes Lourdes Frias, from the Italian parliamentary constitutional commission, thanked the organisations for their work, saying that such research helped politicians overcome ideological debates.
In the last two years, 27,000 asylum seekers have sought refugee status in Italy, of whom 8.7% were recognised as refugees, 45% received humanitarian protection and 39.3% were refused any form of protection. There are currently a number of pieces of legislation going through the Italian parliament on asylum procedures and the definition of a refugee, but the country still lacks a specific piece of legislation dedicated to asylum.
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INTERNATIONAL: A MIND IS A TERRIBLE THING TO WASTE
On 20 November, Universal Children's Day, JRS urged the international community to ensure that refugee children's right to education is not forgotten.
The statement highlighted that when children are forced to flee their homes due to persecution or generalised violence, their education is stalled. For the millions of refugees in protracted refugee situations, this could mean a total halt to their education.
The statement also pointed out that assistance to refugee and other forcibly displaced children needs to include effective access to education - whether they find themselves in a camp or urban setting. Primary education is often not enough to help children become self-sufficient in the future and allow them to contribute to the development of their host societies or their societies of origin once their forced exile is over.
"Lack of educational opportunities is a big push factor towards children becoming child soldiers. In addition, 'idle youth' are the source of many other social problems in the refugee camps throughout the world", stated JRS Southern Africa Regional Advocacy Officer, Michael Gallagher SJ.
It is essential to include mandatory, free and meaningful secondary education for refugees as one of the international guarantees for education. Quality education requires that both adequate infrastructure and resources, and also the necessary support which children need in their studies, are made available, the statement read.
For the full statement see www.jrs.net/statement
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INTERNATIONAL: STOP HARMING MIGRANT AND REFUGEE CHILDREN
On 20 November, Universal Children's Day, the International Coalition on Detention of Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Migrants (IDC) - of which JRS is a steering committee member - launched a position paper calling for the end of the use of immigration detention of children. The document concludes that this practice contravenes international human rights law, in particular the 1989 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
The position paper highlights the psychological harm - such as depression, disruptive conduct, nightmares, and even impaired cognitive development - caused to children held in immigration detention centres. It urges states to follow the example of Australia and Sweden which use alternatives to detention such as child-friendly supervised release. The alternative models proposed in the paper would enable states to fulfil their obligations under human rights law while also addressing their concerns.
The IDC obtained information from its members in 25 different countries on the detention of children in preparing the paper. Only three countries - Spain, Ireland and Hungary - report that their governments do not hold children in closed immigration centres although age determination for older children presented a challenge.
The paper highlights bad practices in the UK, US, and Malaysia. In the UK, children can be detained indefinitely. In the US, the government has been forced to investigate disturbing conditions of confinement of immigrant children. In Malaysia, children are detained with adults under harsh conditions including the use of corporal punishment (caning and slapping) as a penalty for immigration offences.
Few countries provide statistics on the number of migrant and refugee children detained and the length of their confinement. Where provided, IDC members reported that these official statistics often do not reflect the reality. If children are not counted, then they just do not figure in policy discussions, the statement read.
For the full statement see www.jrs.net/statements. An audio interview on the report will be available shortly on www.jrs.net/reports.
Realplayer software, which can be download free, is required to listen to the interview.
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