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Dispatches No. 236
Up | 30 April 2008
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
KENYA: NEW COALITION GOVERNMENT
On 17 April, a power-sharing government was sworn in, ending a bloody post- election crisis which claimed at least 1,500 lives
The new prime minister, Raila Odinga vowed to bring power back to the people.
Odinga described the new settlement as one government of two equal partners.
Odinga promised to broaden reforms to ensure equal distribution of land, jobs and national wealth among the country's 40-plus ethnic groups. President Kibaki, the prime minister's electoral rival, said he would monitor the performance of ministers in the country, where growth projections for this year were slashed from seven percent to between 4.5 and six percent.
The new government is made up of 93 ministers and assistant ministers, sparking complaints that it is too big for a nation where 60 percent of the people earn less than a dollar a day.
Former UN secretary General Kofi Annan, urged Kenyans to support the government. He added that the deeply divided country had a long way to go after the crisis which ruined its reputation as a beacon of stability in a region beset by conflict.
Annan brokered a 50-50 power-sharing deal between Kibaki and opposition leader Odinga on February 28, paving the way for the cabinet.
Odinga's claims that Kibaki rigged the December 27 presidential ballot touched off tribal fighting, revenge killings and police crackdowns that choked the country's mainstay tourism and agricultural sectors.
Kenyan civil society groups have lamented the fact that several ministries in the new cabinet overlap, chiefly citing the ministry of public health and sanitation with that of medical services. Others include livestock, fisheries and agriculture which were under the same ministry, but are now separate. Roads was separated from public works, and industrialisation created from trade. Environment and mineral resources was separated from forestry and wildlife.
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SUDAN: RISING INSECURITY LEADS TO CUT IN FOOD RATIONS
On 17 April, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) announced it had been forced to reduce delivery of monthly rations to internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Darfur, western Sudan. The agency attributed the decision to a rise in banditry.
The rations, which benefited 2.4 million people in March, will be halved per person per day from May. So far this year, 60 WFP-contracted trucks have been hijacked in Darfur, of which 39 are still missing. Twenty six drivers remain unaccounted for, while one was killed last month.
As result, food deliveries have dropped to 900 tonnes per day from 1,800 tonnes a year ago. Approximately three million people depend on WFP food distribution.
Aid agencies have repeatedly appealed to the warring factions to ensure security on the roads and respect the neutrality of humanitarian workers.
Both the Sudanese government and rebels seem determined to pursue a military solution, while the international community has failed to supply helicopters and other logistics to the under-staffed African Union-UN Hybrid Operation in Darfur (UNAMID).
Meanwhile, attacks on food convoys and general violence continue to hinder aid provision and sexual- and gender-based violence in and around IDP camps is still high.
Approximately 200,000 people are believed to have died since conflict erupted in Darfur in 2003, while 4.5 million have been directly affected by the war.
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SUDAN: CENSUS FINALLY UNDERWAY
On 22 April, the long-awaited national census in Sudan finally began. The census is the first in Sudan since 1993 and is seen as a prerequisite for organising the first democratic elections in 23 years in 2009. It will also be used to help improve the distribution of power and wealth, including proceeds from Sudan's half a million barrels of oil per day.
On 20 April, the president of southern Sudan, Salva Kiir Mayardit, urged all those living in the region to participate fully in the census. He stressed the importance of the census to the delivery of public services and the building of infrastructure.
The census is also necessary for the referendum in 2011 which will ask all southern Sudanese to choose between remaining part of a united Sudan or becoming an independent country.
The exclusion of questions relating to ethnicity and religion, considered the principle reasons explaining the postponement of the census on 15 April, caused great consternation among southern Sudanese. Other contentious issues were also excluded, such as the demarcation of the border between north and south and the status of the disputed oil-rich region of Abyei. Moreover, it is not known where the two million displaced southerners, waiting to return home but presently in Khartoum in the north, will be registered as living.
Initially, the southern leaders had refused to participate in the census until these issues were resolved. However, later under international pressure, they agreed to go ahead with the census, but refused to be bound by the outcome, which many fear could lead to fresh disputes in the future.
The census is highly politicised as Sudan's multiple civil wars have all been caused by marginalised regions demanding more rights from the central northern regions who have dominated power since independence from the British in 1956.
The logistical and technical challenges of carrying out a census in Africa's largest country are immense. The rainy season has already commenced. The census will continue for two weeks with final results not expected before September.
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CÔTE D'IVOIRE: POLITICAL MANOEUVRING A THREAT TO PEACE
On 22 April, the policy institute, International Crisis Group (IGC), warned that Côte d'Ivoire risked a return to violence unless all actors remained focused on creating the political and security conditions necessary for free and fair elections.
The combination of the fact that certain politicians are ready to go to extremes, the proliferation of armed groups and growth of impunity in recent years, presented a potentially explosive environment, according to the IGC. The policy institute accused the government of exaggerating technical and financial constraints to justify delays in the election timetable. It described the political manoeuvrings of Ivorian leaders as one source of the problems facing the country.
The 4 March 2007 Ouagadougou Peace Accord (OPA), in which the former- Forces Nouvelles (FN) rebel leader Guillaume Soro was appointed prime minister by his erstwhile adversary, President Laurent Gbagbo, has produced mixed results. Although there has been a general improvement in security, the peace process is still fragile.
The overall implementation is far behind schedule, and there has been no decisive progress on two critical issues, "identification" of the population - determining who is a citizen and who may vote - and disarmament of ex-rebels and militias and their reintegration into civilian life or insertion in the military. The IGC described these issues as politically sensitive, high-risk and urgent.
According to the ICG, three things are crucial, strict adherence to the OPA by the signatories, implementation of a consensual security plan for the identification operations and the elections and a conflict prevention strategy worked out with the help of Burkina Faso President Compaoré - the facilitator and arbitrator of the peace process - and the UN mission (ONUCI).
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BURUNDI: CEASEFIRE VIOLATED, GOVERNMENT AND REBELS DENY RESPONSIBILITY
On 26 April, the president of Burundi, Pierre Nkurunziza, called for regional and international action against the country's last active rebel group, whose latest offensive killed 33 people in a week.
Fighters from the Forces for National Liberation (FNL) fired mortar bombs into the capital Bujumbura on 22 April, hitting the residence of the Papal Nuncio, who was out of the country at the time. The attack did not seem targeted.
However, President Nkurunziza did not specify the kind of measures to be taken.
He asked the international community, and in particular regional leaders, to work together to establish who had broken the ceasefire deal and then take appropriate measures.
The FNL rejected the accusation, blaming the army for provoking its combatants.
The leader, Agathon Rwasa, said that the government has chosen to pursue and eliminate all FNL fighters and members, instead of granting them amnesty. He added that assistance from the UN or countries in the region would not bring lasting peace in Burundi. The FNL appealed for help in mediation efforts and for the resumption of talks under the Joint Verification and Monitoring Mechanism.
Despite a 2006 peace deal, FNL fighters have mounted sporadic attacks since talks to implement the accord were suspended last July when the rebels quit a truce monitoring team accusing mediators of bias. The group's persistent insurgency is regarded by many as the final barrier to lasting stability in a country emerging from more than a decade of ethnic war that killed 300,000 people.
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SOUTHERN AFRICA: LITTLE OR NO PROTECTION FOR THE VICTIMS OF HUMAN TRAFFICKING
On 23 April, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) accused southern Africa states of having failed to implement laws to combat human trafficking.
Speaking at a conference in the South African port city of Durban, the IOM Regional Representative, Hans Petter Boe, said that the many of victims of trafficking fall through the cracks due to the lack of comprehensive anti-trafficking laws.
The exception, Mozambique, was congratulated by the IOM representative for recently passing legislation geared specifically to combat human trafficking.
Lack of legislation has allowed traffickers to either escape prosecution or only be convicted of such crimes as rape, abduction or fraud. In fact, there are few national or regional mechanisms affording protection to victims of trafficking. Poor intelligence on the numbers of people trafficked and the inherently clandestine nature of the activity mean traffickers usually ply their harmful trade without fear of repercussion.
According to the IOM, trafficked persons often find themselves in situations where they are held against their will and their documents are taken from them.
They are abused and kept captive by reason of the debt they incurred while being taken across borders. It is made virtually impossible for them ever to repay this debt.
Trafficked people are in a highly vulnerable situation. They are brought into a country illegally, so are reluctant to seek help from the authorities, fearing they will be treated as 'illegal immigrants' or 'criminals'.
Although the incidence of human trafficking is believed to be growing, accurate information on the extent of the trade remains elusive.
The conference was hosted by the IOM and the Migration Dialogue for Southern Africa, which aims to facilitate regional dialogue and cooperation on migration policy issues, and attended by civil society and government representatives from the Southern African Development Community.
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NEPAL/CHAD: FIRE-DEVASTATED CAMPS BEING REBUILT
On 22 April, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) announced it has begun rebuilding camps in Nepal and Chad after devastating fires left more than 10,000 refugees homeless in the two countries.
In March, a fire spread through an area packed with wooden houses - some of which had been built into walkways to accommodate the largely-growing population - in the Goldhap camp in eastern Nepal, leaving 8,000 Bhutanese refugees without homes. No one was killed in the fire, but it destroyed nearly 95 per cent of the settlement.
The newly-reconstructed camp - rebuilding is expected to be completed by July, ahead of the monsoon rains - will have fire-retardant thatched roofs and wider spacing between huts to minimise fire hazards.
For the past two months, refugees have been living in temporary shelters and with host families, while those in the most vulnerable circumstances were given shelter in the camp school which survived the blaze.
The Nepalese Government, UNHCR and other organisations, including JRS, have provided food, tarpaulins, plastic mats, jerry cans, mosquito nets and emergency cash grants to those made homeless by the fire. To avert the spread of disease, health workers have been employed, water tanks and latrines installed and waste disposal pits dug, among other efforts. School materials, also lost in the fire, have been redistributed. Students sitting annual exams have been hosted in other camps.
More than 100,000 Bhutanese refugees have been living in seven settlements in eastern Nepal since the early 1990s.
Meanwhile, UNHCR is also assisting in the reconstruction of Goz Amer refugee camp in Chad, where a fire on 11 April left 2,100 Sudanese refugees from the war-torn Darfur region homeless. The blaze was started by an untended cooking fire and destroyed 270 family huts. The refugees are being encouraged to rebuild their homes with bricks instead of straw, sticks and mud, which are popular materials in the region. Those affected by the fire are currently being housed in family tents.
In mid April, refugees in Djabal camp held a voluntary food collection for those displaced by the fire in the Goz Amer settlement, 45 kilometres away, in a show of solidarity.
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UK: SELF-HARM MORE LIKELY IN IMMIGRATION DETENTION CENTRES
Statistics, obtained under the Freedom of Information Act in the UK, show that in the last four months of 2007, 42 unsuccessful asylum seekers and migrants needed medical attention for self-harm in the country's 10 immigration detention centres.
According to JRS Europe, this is proof that prolonged detention of migrants is unethical.
The figures, published by the UK newspaper, The Independent, on 19 April, clearly illustrate the human cost of using detention centres to lock up failed asylum-seekers has been exposed by statistics showing the extent of self-harm among those held.
This represents two percent of the 2,095 people held at that time. Moreover, 20 percent of detainees were considered to be at risk of self-harm and being formally observed. Colnbrook detention centre, near Heathrow, was worst, with
18 cases of self-harm treated in four months and 126 people under formal watch.
Meanwhile, at Yarl's Wood in Bedfordshire, 52 inmates were under formal watch, and eight people required medical attention because of self-harm.
However, this is not the first study demonstrating the negative effects of immigration detention on the mental health of asylum seekers. On 28 March, in a conference on the psychological effects of detention, Dr Cornelius Katona from the Kent Institute of Medicine and Health Services, presented the findings of recent studies carried out in Australia and the US.
Eighty-five percent of immigration detainees display signs of chronic depression,
77 percent suffer from anxiety and 50 percent from post-traumatic stress disorder. Nearly two-thirds have seriously contemplated suicide, she explained.
In recent months, JRS teams throughout Europe have been actively campaigning to ensure that immigration detention is used only in exceptional circumstances and always in accordance with international human rights law. In March, JRS Belgium met two senators from the Flemish Democratic party. At the meeting the senators undertook to address issues relating to the detention of children.
Speaking to the newspaper, The Irish Times, concerning a proposed detention facility in the new Thornton Hall prison complex, JRS Ireland Director Eugene Quinn highlighted the need to use non-custodial alternatives to detention. He also stressed that vulnerable categories of detainees such as pregnant women, older people and traumatised persons should be excluded from the prison.
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INTERNATIONAL: RECORD NUMBER OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS
According to the annual study by the Norwegian Refugee Council, released on
17 April, the number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) reached 26 million people in 2007, the highest ever recorded.
The Refugee Council reported that 26 million people in 52 countries worldwide were forced to flee their homes last year to escape violence, human rights violations and armed conflict. The countries that produced the largest number of displaced people in 2007 include Iraq, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Colombia, Somalia and Sudan. Half that number or about 13 million people are found in Africa.
In most cases, the Norwegian NGO stated, it is governments that are responsible for displacing people from their homes, particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic. In Sudan and Colombia, governments are displacing people indirectly through the use of irregular armed groups.
Last year, the report says 2.7 million displaced people returned to their places of origin. But, when they get home, they face a new set of problems, including insecurity and discrimination. The worst conditions for return exist in Colombia, Iraq, Kenya, Myanmar, Somalia, Sudan and Zimbabwe. Their problems are compounded by the lack of economic activities and access to basic services.
The UN refugee agency warned this situation is likely to deteriorate due to rising food and energy prices. People are usually displaced to urban areas to join the ranks of the urban poor. Secondly, these rising food prices are generating instability and confrontation, which itself helps to trigger war and generate more displacement.
Unlike refugees, IDPs do not benefit from the protection of international law.
Governments are supposed to protect their own citizens, but, in many cases, it is the governments themselves that create the biggest problems of displacement.
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UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
KENYA: REFUGEE REPATRIATION AFFECTS THOSE LEFT BEHIND
The ongoing repatriation of refugees to southern Sudan continues to shape JRS involvement in Kakuma camp. Organisations working in the camp face massive challenges as skilled refugees opt to return home. Dispatches was told on 29 April that the remaining refugee and local host populations may face cuts in JRS services in the coming months.
In April alone, 1,810 refugees were assisted by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) to return home, bringing the total of assisted returnees from the camp to 7,368 this year. In addition, a further 14,439 refugees returned home in 2008 without assistance from UNHCR.
Many skilled JRS personnel have left the camp in northern Kenya. In response, JRS has had to step up its training programmes so as to ensure that service provision to the remaining refugee population is guaranteed. More non-Sudanese refugees have been identified as one way of ensuring continuity of service delivery. Moreover, the reduction of refugee numbers has led to the closure of some projects. For example the JRS Mental Healthcare Centre was closed and beneficiaries are now referred to other NGOs.
However, the local population is also suffering from the reduction in the refugee population. The presence of employment and business provided opportunities.
Education and other services, such as transport, were provided to both refugees and members of the local population. For instance, one secondary and six primary schools have been closed down as a result of the repatriation process.
Drops in local incomes have brought increased levels of crime, causing concern among the remaining refugee communities. JRS has received reports of incidents of theft, attacks and shootings. Those distributing food have been robbed of their rations and women and children are reluctant to go about their daily activities for fear of attack.
Nevertheless, JRS staff in Kakuma camp continue to provide psychosocial and education services and training courses. Refugees are given training to acquire basic skills in counselling, alternative healing and mental healthcare. Once trained, they become service providers to their communities. Women, who have survived various forms of sexual and gender-based violence, continue to receive protection at the JRS Safe Haven, as well as counselling and skills training.
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