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Dispatches No. 228
Up | December 14, 2007
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
Kenya: deportation of Somali refugees stopped
"The legal initiative is ground breaking since it has opened the way for interventions in support of refugee legislation in Kenya", JRS Eastern Africa Regional Advocacy Officer, Anne Peeters, told Dispatches on 7 December.
In the last edition of Dispatches, JRS had reported the deportation of 49 Somali asylum seekers. The Somali nationals were held at Jomo Kenyatta airport, in the capital Nairobi, since their arrival in the country on 12 November.
Despite repeated requests, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) was denied access to the group. Nevertheless, on 20 November, 23 were forcibly returned to Somalia without being given the opportunity to request asylum.
"This was a clear breach of International and Kenyan Laws, including the recently enacted Kenyan Refugee Act", added Ms Peeters.
Many thousands of Somali refugees have been seeking safety in neighbouring countries, Kenya and Ethiopia. However, access to assistance is hindered by restrictive government policies in both countries towards Somali refugees. The majority of the new arrivals are women and children. Kenya has seen a recent influx of mainly women who have lost their husbands in Somalia, now faced with the sole responsibility of taking care of their children.
During the course of the year, the humanitarian situation in Somalia has deteriorated into a crisis due to ongoing fighting between Ethiopia-backed government forces and Somali rebels. The fighting has especially affected people in the capital Mogadishu, where UNHCR has estimated that 60% of Mogadishu residents have fled their homes. The number of people displaced has reached alarming levels, topping one million. Aid agencies continue to face difficulties reaching people due to a very poor security situation.
In early December, the UN food agency, the WFP, publicly announced that it was forced to stop a convoy of trucks bringing food from Mogadishu to Joha, a town some 120 km north, after the toll charged at roadblocks rose from $75 to $500 per truck. Subsequently, the Somali government prevented food aid from being delivered to the crisis-hit Lower Shabelle region in the southeast of the country. The new restrictions will prevent the French navy from delivering 3.5 the tons of food aid to people in desperate need of assistance.
So far, a weak African Union force has been unable to curb the violence in Somalia. Only 1,600 Ugandan peacekeepers have arrived from a planned 8,000-strong force. Until a lasting solution has been found in Somalia, JRS will continue to assist Somali refugees where possible.
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Democratic Republic of Congo: fighting causes more displacement
On 12 December, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon urged the Congolese government to protect civilians endangered by an offensive against Tutsi rebels and he urged the rebels to lay down their arms.
An estimated 60,000 to 70,000 people have already been displaced in recent weeks as a result of renewed fighting in the eastern province of North Kivu.
On 3 December, the Congolese president, Joseph Kabila, sent more than 20,000 troops in the latest campaign against rebel General Laurent Nkunda's three year insurgency. The rebels are believed to have a 4,000-strong force.
The UN Secretary General expressed concern about reports of massive displacement and mistreatment of the civilian population. He called on the government to take all measures necessary to protect civilians, and on the rebels to lay down their arms.
Some 2,700 cases of rape have been reported in North Kivu between January and October of this year.
News reports cite refugees fleeing camps towards the provincial capital. The UN children's agency UNICEF and the UN World Food Programme are said to be continuing to deliver supplies and food despite reduced access to conflict zones.
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South Africa: welcome refugees Archbishop says
On 14 December, Archbishop Buti Tihagale issued a public statement calling on South Africans to welcome Zimbabweans fleeing what he described as 'events seriously disturbing public order'.
The Archbishop, who is also president of the Southern African Catholic Bishops' Conference, described these Zimbabweans not as migrant workers but as refugees fleeing an economic and political crisis.
The use of the term 'events seriously disturbing public order' is particularly important, as these words were taken directly from Article 1 paragraph 2 of the 1969 Organisation of African Unity Refugee Convention.
The Archbishop pointed out that the situation in Zimbabwe had not improved since his last statement nine months ago. In fact, he said, living conditions have deteriorated to the point where continued survival has become a struggle for most of the population. In Zimbabwe's second city, Bulawayo, there were about 60 burials in August 2006, a year later the number had increased to 867.
Many Zimbabweans have been forced to flee their homeland, seeking food, medicine and employment to support themselves and their families. The Archbishop pointed out that when they arrive in South Africa, they are not welcomed, but are accused of taking jobs and food, harassed and forced to pay bribes to the police, and exploited by unscrupulous employers. The Archbishop urged South Africans to make a small adjustment to their lives by welcoming Zimbabweans and assisting them as much as they could. Even small gestures of welcome and compassion will make a difference, the statement read.
"JRS welcomes this strong statement which addresses the serious issue of lack of welcome experienced by people fleeing Zimbabwe. We agree that all those Zimbabweans who seek refugee status in South Africa, or elsewhere in the region, should be accorded protection under the OAU convention", JRS Regional Advocacy Officer, Michael Gallagher SJ, told Dispatches.
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Australia: new government ends 'Pacific Solution'
On 5 December, JRS Australia welcomed the new Labour government's decision to dismantle the former Liberal government offshore processing regime, known as the 'Pacific Solution'.
Seven ethnic Rohingya men from Burma, currently being held on Nauru Island, were subsequently recognised as refugees. The men will soon be resettled to the Australian city of Brisbane.
JRS hails this move as a positive first step in ending the costly and destructive Pacific Solution. Immigration Minister Chris Evans has promised to close immigration facilities on Nauru and Manus Island (Papua New Guinea), and has further undertaken to quickly resolve the cases of 80 Tamils from Sri Lanka still left on Nauru.
JRS hopes that the closure of detention facilities on Nauru and Manus Island will mark the end of Australia's disastrous experiment with the offshore processing of asylum applications. Asylum seekers were geographically isolated and removed from the purview of Australian courts and law. This resulted in inferior decision making processes, a lack of public scrutiny and accountability, and many months, sometimes years, in detention, before cases were finalised. While the intention was to find other nations to accept responsibility for the resettlement of recognised refugees, almost all those processed through the Pacific Solution ended up in Australia.
The Federal Government has promised to process asylum seekers intercepted at sea on Christmas Island. While being part of Australia, Christmas Island has been excised from the national jurisdiction for migration purposes, thereby limiting access to national refugee status determination and review processes.
"Access to independent legal assistance, coupled with options for administrative and judicial review, would go some way towards improving the fairness and effectiveness of decision making on Christmas Island", a JRS Australia statement read.
This decision indicates a readiness by the newly elected Rudd government to implement reasonable, flexible and compassionate refugee policies. JRS applauds this new direction and hopes that it will continue.
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Sri Lanka: Bishop criticises government investigation
On 3 December, the Bishop of Jaffna, Thomas Saundranayagam criticised the handling of a government investigation into the suspected forced disappearance of Fr Thiruchchelvan Nihal Jim Brown.
The Bishop described the investigation as an exercise without any sincerity and accused the authorities of trying to hoodwink the international community.
The Bishop stated he had had a meeting in mid November with a government official investigating the disappearance, who was unable to speak any language other than Singhalese. Without a working knowledge of English and Tamil, the official would be unable to collect evidence on the disappearance of Fr Brown, the Bishop explained.
The Bishop told the media that peace cannot be achieved in Sri Lanka by military means, and any attempts to find a solution by such methods will only end up further aggravating the sufferings of the people. He urged the Sri Lankan government to reopen the main highway to the north peninsula of Jaffna, the A9, as it was causing huge suffering, hindering the delivery of food supplies, periodically causing prices to rise sharply.
The Bishop added that unemployment is extremely severe on the peninsula and that the fishing community is facing the greatest difficulties as it is prevented from working. This has had knock-on effects on the rest of the population's access to food.
On 18 September 2006, a month after the disappearance of Fr Brown, the Bishop of Jaffna had written to the Sri Lankan authorities expressing concern over the growing rate of killings, abductions, disappearances and other forms of violence, particularly in the north and east of the country.
Amnesty International reports that there are currently 5,749 outstanding cases of enforced disappearance in Sri Lanka being reviewed by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Since 2006, hundreds of people have reportedly been abducted and forcibly disappeared by the security forces or Tamil armed groups in areas in the north and east of Sri Lanka, as well as in the capital, Colombo.
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Europe: three boats accidents in less than a week
In the period of five days, between 5 and 10 December, three boats carrying nearly 100 migrants and refugees trying to reach Europe have either been lost or have sunk.
On 10 December, more than 50 migrants and refugees went missing off the northwest African coast after their boat sank, Moroccan state news agency MAP reported.
The Moroccan navy rescued six individuals from the boat, believed to have been heading for the Spanish Canary Islands.
Two days earlier, at least 20 migrants and refugees died when a boat carrying about 70 people sank off the Turkish Aegean coast. Turkish authorities reported that six had been rescued, adding that they feared the number of dead people may rise.
On 5 December, 10 migrants and refugees drowned in the Mediterranean when a Dutch cargo ship collided with their flimsy boat.
Jumbo Shipping said one of its craft travelling from Derince in Turkey to Plymouth in England came across the packed polyester boat in stormy seas on the evening of the tragedy.
The crew tried to rescue the 12 people on board but the boat -- 4 to 5 metres in length, with an outboard motor -- capsized after bumping into the cargo vessel, Jumbo Shipping said in a statement. Only three migrants were pulled from the water, one of whom later died. The Spanish and Algerian coastguards involved in the rescue attempt, later called off the search.
Since 1993, the NGO UNITED has monitored the deadly results of the building of a 'Fortress Europe'. More than 6,700 deaths of refugees and migrants have been documented up to now.
These deaths are not isolated incidents. They are symptomatic of policies that no longer see the humanity of those fleeing their homeland, but prefer to see them as numbers, or worse, as a natural disaster, 'a flood'. By making legal immigration and asylum nearly impossible, these policies lead to the death of refugees, who fled their homes because of war, persecution, desperate poverty or natural disasters.
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UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
Chad: 11 new schools open
On 1 October, 11 JRS-supported schools officially opened their doors to 12,500 displaced and local children in Goz Beida and Koukou Angarana towns in the country's eastern Dar Sila region.
Before the violence which displaced 180,000 in eastern Chad, school attendance rates in the region were estimated at 7%, according to the Dar Sila Department of Inspection.
JRS is working to reduce absentee rates among students. According to JRS staff, children's participation in school is often hindered by food and clothing insecurity issues, the need to work, and by a general lack of interest by the parents in their children education.
However, local communities and parent associations are taking measures to counter absenteeism. They are organising public awareness campaigns aimed at students and families, distributing school materials supplied by the UN children's agency (UNICEF), and repairing damaged infrastructure. JRS also plans to open school canteens next January in partnership with the US NGO, Feed the Children.
JRS personnel say they face a number of challenges related to the poor quality of teachers.
"Most teachers are volunteers from within the community, who are willing but not always qualified. JRS plans to offer training in order to build their capacity and to help them gain state certification", JRS project director, Eise Joisel, told Dispatches on 1 December.
"When displaced populations return to their places of origin, we want them to send their children to local schools with qualified community teachers. We would also like to see these children eager to go back to school," Joisel added.
In cooperation with UNICEF, JRS has worked to strengthen and further develop the education system for local and displaced populations in the Dar Sila region since September 2006.
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Germany: legal aid fund for migration detainees extended
On 5 November, JRS announced its plans to extend its legal aid project to Bavaria in southern Germany. JRS has offered legal services to migrant detainees in Berlin and Brandenburg since 2005.
Thirteen organisations have signed a declaration of intent to establish the new fund for non-EU nationals awaiting deportation in detention centres. The list includes JRS Germany and several other Catholic organisations that agreed to seek donations for the fund.
The supporting organisations hope that in future they will be able to guarantee the help of a lawyer to approximately 1,500 detainees per year. It is estimated that 45,000 euros of donations will be required to assist 10% of migrant detainees. On average, lawyers receive 300 euro per case.
"We want to provide this group with an equal opportunity to defend their rights in court", JRS Bavaria representative, Dieter Müller SJ, told Dispatches on 3 December.
If the immigration authorities suspect an irregular migrant may not comply with a deportation order, a local court may order his or her detention for a period of six months. However, this period may be extended to 18 months if the immigration authorities believe the migrant is not cooperating with the authorities to obtain travel documents from his or her country of origin. After 18 months of detention, the migrant must be released, but s/he is not entitled to receive social benefits or undertake paid employment.
Non-nationals, detained because of their irregular immigration status, are not entitled to receive free legal representation. Unable to afford legal representation, most migrant detainees spend particularly long periods of time in detention.
In 2006, more than 60 cases were financed by the fund, of which more than 30 were successful, resulting in the state reimbursing the costs. In 2007, JRS Germany received EU assistance to fund 70 cases in the Berlin and Brandenburg areas
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UK: new scheme helps asylum seekers
On 3 December, in a new initiative at the Brixton Assembly Hall in south London, church and community group members gave asylum seekers cash for their supermarket vouchers.
The action took place as part of a 500-strong assembly organised by JRS UK and the community organisation, South London Citizens (SLC).
At present, asylum seekers are not allowed to claim benefits or work in the UK. They often have to rely on support from churches and community groups for accommodation and healthcare and are given £UK 35 a week in supermarket vouchers to buy food.
Congolese asylum seeker Azerpay explained: "The vouchers offer no choice. It is cheaper to go to a market and get your food. We also need cash to get around going for interviews and seeing solicitors". She added that supermarkets often don't give change for vouchers.
Mesu, who is seven months pregnant, said: "I need to prepare for my baby's arrival and get a basic layette, and being able to exchange my vouchers is going to allow me to do so. With the cash that I receive, I can also buy a bus pass to go to my English class in the evening. At last, I can buy some food for a much cheaper price in the African market than in the supermarket," said Mesu.
The vouchers are issued to asylum seekers under section 4 of the Asylum and Immigration Act. Asylum seekers covered include those who have a judicial review pending on their case, those who have been able to introduce a fresh asylum application and so have a new case, and those who have agreed to return to their country of origin and accepted to be supported in this way in the meantime.
For more information about the voucher exchange project, contact JRS UK at uk@jrs.net
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Panama: families affected by arson attack provided with housing
On 6 December, JRS Panama organised an event to celebrate the presentation of 33 permanent housing units to families affected by an arson attack earlier this year. The project was financed by the JRS Latin America and Caribbean and USA offices.
The houses were provided to families all living in Sector S, an area of the working class district of Curundú in the capital, Panama City. JRS, in cooperation the families and the ministry of housing, ensured that the houses were fitted with air conditioning facilitates.
In the course of the year, JRS Panama, as part of its emergency project, supported a total of 62 families affected the by arson attacks this year. The support consisted of payment for the construction workers, domestic appliances, and plugs, among other things.
On 21 March this year, Sector S was completely destroyed by the fire. The local population in Sector S, including many Colombian refugees and migrants, lost all their belongings, as well as their homes. The same occurred in El Triángulo. The second pre-dawn arson attack in two months in Curundú district left at least 355 persons homeless, many of them Colombian refugees.
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