Publications
The Refugee Voice | Servir | Dispatches | Annual Reports
The Church and Refugees | Spotlight on Issues | Archives
Dispatches No. 238
Up | 30 May 2008
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
SOUTH AFRICA: ANTI-FOREIGNER VIOLENCE SPREADS
Mob attacks on foreign nationals, which began in Johannesburg suburb of Alexandra on 11 May and spread throughout the country, have left 56 people dead, more than 650 injured and displaced as many as 100,000 people. In the face of criticism reports circulated on 28 May that the government planned to establish camps for tens of thousands of African migrants who fled their homes during the wave of violence. However, this was later denied by government ministers.
Most assistance has come from humanitarian agencies, with little so far from the government. Thousands of Zimbabweans, Mozambicans and others now live in makeshift shelters or are sleeping outside in temperatures that fall at night to near freezing. According to humanitarian agencies, worsening conditions pose health risks to the displaced.
The attacks began on 11 May in Alexandra, outside Johannesburg. Local residents in an all male hostel which housed mostly unemployed Zulu men began blaming foreign nationals for the high crime rate and for "stealing" jobs and houses from South Africans. Residents at the meeting decided to forcefully evict foreigners from their neighbourhoods.
By 15 May, violence had spread to Diepsloot Township. The following day, groups of South African residents in nearby townships began attacking foreign nationals in their areas. By 19 May, violent mobs had targeted foreigners in central Johannesburg. Violence spread to Mpumalanga and Kwazulu Natal provinces on 20 May and North-West and Western Cape provinces on 22 May.
From the onslaught of the attacks many displaced had sought protection from police stations, but were sleeping in the open. The government opened so-called 'Joint Operations Centres' in police stations and community centres to house them. These centres are coordinating aid delivery by humanitarian agencies and individuals sympathising with the victims.
Some 2,800 people, including more than 100 children, found shelter in one such centre the community hall in the town of Germiston, located just east of the metropolis of Johannesburg. JRS, acting as the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) implementing partner provided 4,000 blankets and 2,000 mattresses to the victims of the xenophobic attacks. The distribution, aimed at meeting immediate humanitarian needs, was conducted in several police stations in the province in northeast South Africa. Speaking to Dispatches, a JRS staff member nevertheless noted that more blankets and other materials were clearly needed.
Meanwhile, JRS Johannesburg has been supplying some tinned food items, baby formula and nappies for an additional 3,000 displaced people located in seven locations in and around Johannesburg. In addition, JRS has continued to provide emergency services to incoming Zimbabweans in Limpopo province. On Wednesday, 28 May the violence spread to that province and two Zimbabwean men were murdered and an encampment was burned to the ground.
Fortunately, the violence in Johannesburg is abating although there are reports of scattered attacks in the south of the country. Throughout the emergency, JRS staff have worked long hours and have given up days off to provide service to the displaced.
At least 50,000 Mozambicans and Zimbabweans have departed South Africa since the attacks began on May 11. Smaller numbers have gone back to Zambia and Malawi. Zimbabweans are the largest immigrant group in South Africa, accounting for an estimated 60 percent of the five million migrants in the country. South Africa's population is about 50 million.
Top^
BURMA: CYCLONE LEAVES UP TO A MILLION HOMELESS
On 22 May, OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs reported a preliminary estimate of 110,000 people living in temporary settlements in 14 townships. Approximately 70 percent of the displaced are sheltering in monasteries, 28 percent in public buildings and two percent in tented camps.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) estimates there are one million people homeless. The UN children's agency (UNICEF) estimates one million children need urgent assistance and protection. While international relief organisations have had restricted access to the cyclone affected areas, local staff have been conducting relief operations on the ground.
Initial insufficient access for international relief staff has been overcome in recent days with the delivery of food and other critical supplies by air. There is now the urgent need for early recovery of agriculture and fisheries industries to support livelihoods and ensure sufficient food for the population in the near future.
The Church through the Caritas network has been supporting friends within Burma with donations, enabling them to distribute food and medical assistance to people in the affected areas. It is also monitoring the situation along the border but reports no unusual cross border movements. It is known that there are large populations of ethnic minorities in the cyclone affected region.
The Church urged the Burmese government to respond without prejudice to the needs of all affected people and enable them to begin rebuilding their lives as quickly as possible with international help if necessary.
Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma on the 2 and 3 May 2008. The UN estimates a total of 2.4 million people have been affected by the cyclone, with 1.4 million in the most severely affected areas of the Ayeyarwardy delta region. The Government of Burma (GOB) estimates the death toll is 77,700, however the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid (OCHA) estimates it be as high as 101,000. There is an estimated 55,917 people missing. The official number of injured people is nearly 19,400.
Top^
ITALY: HUMAN RIGHTS NGOS URGE GOVERNMENT NOT TO MODIFY ASYLUM PROCEDURES
On 28 May, thirteen human rights NGOs, including JRS Italy, Amnesty International, the Italian Refugee Council and Caritas Italy, expressed their profound concern about the proposals by the Italian government to reform sections of the country's asylum and immigration law.
The NGOs called on the government not to modify the current procedures, which has not been in place long enough to test its efficiency. If it proves to be inadequate, the human rights organisations stated, it can be amended based on concrete experiences.
According to the NGOs, the most alarming of the government's proposals provides that asylum seekers whose applications for refugee status at first instance have been refused should be deported to their countries of origin. This would place asylum seekers possibly at risk of serious human rights abuses before they get a chance to appeal their initial negative decision.
The agencies pointed out that this proposal is contrary to European and international human rights law. In Italy, they stated, approximately 15,000 individuals sought refugee status in 2007, a far lower number than in most similarly sized European nations. Of this number approximately 50 percent receive international protection, and a further portion of those who appeal negative decisions are granted some form of protection in the country, highlighting the importance of second instance, according to the NGOs.
The incoming centre-right government also proposed to detain asylum seekers whose refugee applications are made after they have been issued with a deportation order or after they have been refused the right to enter the country at the border. The asylum seekers would be detained with other non-nationals awaiting deportation. Under the draft legislation, they can be detained for up to 18 months. The agencies pointed out that many of these individuals may have fled persecution or conflict in their countries of origin.
The government also intends to restrict the freedom of movement of asylum seekers to a determined area. The NGOs pointed out that this proposal was contrary to the rights set out in EU directives on asylum which only foresee an obligation to reside in reception centres. This proposal, the NGOs stated, risked causing confusion and leading to inefficiency in the management of the reception system in the country.
Top^
ITALY: NGOS PROPOSE FORMER COUNCILLOR AS GUARANTOR OF MIGRANTS RIGHTS
"If Mayor Alemanno asks me to be the migrant rights' guarantor, I will be honoured to do it, but on one condition, that there is a large consensus greater than the majority, at least two thirds", said the former councillor of the centre-left Democratic Party, Amedeo Piva, at a JRS Italy event on 22 May.
The new position of guarantor of the rights of foreigners was recently introduced by the incoming centre-right Rome council. However, nobody has yet been selected to take on the new role. The new guarantor will be charged with promoting the integration of migrants and coordinating social inclusion programmes.
The role of migrants' rights guarantor was part of a package of measures introduced by the new centre-right mayor after his surprise win in the local elections, displacing the left after 15 years in power.
JRS Italy, in cooperation with 10 other migrant community organisations, put forward Piva to be the first migrants' rights guarantor at a press conference on the 22 May.
Given the establishment of a new powerful commissioner for security, there is a need for a commissioner for integration, Piva said. The guarantor, according to Piva, should have significant institutional support, have cross party support and work free of charge
On 18 May, at a JRS Italy event to promote refugee integration in the city, the first draft the plans put forward by the NGOs was presented to the new mayor by Piva.
Piva, also promised that in the coming weeks the project will also be submitted to the mayors of Milan, Padova and Caltanissetta.
Before Piva can be appointed by Rome council as migrants's rights guarantor, he must be proposed and accepted by the council. However, if he is not approved by more than a two thirds majority of the counsellors, Piva says he will not accept the position.
Top^
EU: NO AGREEMENT ON RETURNS DIRECTIVE
According to media reports, EU member states agreed on a set of new rules tackling the return of irregular migrants following a meeting of EU Permanent Representatives in Brussels on 23 May.
However, JRS Europe told Dispatches on 29 May that one article in the proposed return directive, officially known as the directive on common standards and procedures in member states for returning illegally staying third-country nationals, is still causing problems. The Brussels-based JRS regional office said that most member states do not want to be legally obliged to provide legal aid to migrants being returned, a stance that directly conflicts the European Parliament's position.
Yet, no precise details on the terms agreed were made as the EU Council has still to discuss them with the European Parliament.
Member states are believed to have reached agreement on the main issues of the directive, particularly that irregular migrants can be detained for up to 18 months and face a five-year EU-wide entry ban if caught.
Nevertheless, the draft law is yet to be agreed upon by the European Parliament which is still deeply split on the issue. The 18-month limit is higher than the maximum detention in two-thirds of the 27 EU states. Although EU states can keep a lower limit if they so prefer, rights groups say the directive will tend to encourage authorities to lock up more irregular migrants. The new detention limit will be based on a first cap of six months that can be extended to 18 months under certain circumstances, including if the irregular migrant does not cooperate with the authorities.
The European Commission estimates there are up to eight million irregular migrants in the EU. More than 200,000 were arrested in the EU in the first half of 2007 and fewer than 90,000 were expelled.
Children can also be detained, according to the text agreed to by EU Permanent Representatives. However, the proposed directive says such detention should be for the shortest appropriate period of time.
Top^
ECUADOR: VIOLENCE SPARKS OFF SHARP INCREASE IN DISPLACEMENT
In the two weeks between 23 April and 8 May, a sharp increase in fighting on the border led to significant displacement of Colombians towards Ecuador, according to refugee-assisting organisations based in the capital, Quito.
JRS Ecuador Director, Guillermo Robayo, told Dispatches that the displacement was concentrated in Teteyé, in Putomayo province, southwest Colombia where conflict between the left-wing insurgent group, FARC-EP, and the military has intensified recently.
Mr Robayo explained that JRS alone has provided assistance to 150 Colombians, the last 60 of whom arrived to Ecuador on 4 May. He stated that the situation is dramatic as many refugees no longer seek assistance and decide to disappear among the local population or move on to Quito.
He reported that the fighting was taking place openly in a way that was putting the local civilian population at risk and not as had happened in the previous year after their agreement to eradicate illegal crops.
He confirmed that the refugees were receiving assistance from organisations and state agencies, but that the available resources were increasingly insufficient, given the increasing number of displaced persons.
JRS Ecuador estimates, a figure accepted by the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the number of persons in need of international protection is approximately 250,000. Only 50,000 have so far been allowed to apply for asylum.
In 2007, JRS continued to work in suburban districts of the Ecuadorian capital, Quito, and in the border region of Lago Agrio, directly assisting 2,313 individuals. Teams assisted refugee children to register in schools and provide technical and other support to grassroots NGOs working on refugee-related issues. In addition JRS Ecuador participates in a national coalition for refugees and migrants, advocating for the rights of refugees and other persons in need of international protection in the country.
Top^
INTERNATIONAL: EFFORTS STILL FAILING CHILD SOLDIERS
Despite progress, efforts to end the recruitment and use of child soldiers are too little and too late for many children, according to the 2008 Child Soldiers Global Report. The report was launched on 20 May by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (CSC), of which JRS is a founding and steering group member.
The report documents military recruitment legislation, policy and practice in more than 190 countries worldwide - in conflict and in peacetime armies - as well as child soldier use by non-state armed groups.
There have been positive developments over the past four years. CSC research shows that the number of armed conflicts in which children are involved is down from 27 in 2004 to 17 by the end of 2007. Tens of thousands of children have been released in that time from armies and armed groups as long-running conflicts in Sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere have ended.
But the report shows that tens of thousands of children remain in the ranks of non-state armed groups in at least 24 different countries or territories. The record of governments is also little improved - children were deployed in armed conflicts by government forces in nine situations of armed conflict, down only one from the 10 such situations recorded when the last Global Report was published in 2004.
Burma remained the most persistent government offender. Its armed forces, engaged in long-running counter-insurgency operations against a range of ethnic armed groups, still contained thousands of children, some as young as 11 years old. Children were also used by government forces in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Sudan.
The failure of governments to adhere to their international obligations does not end there. In at least 14 countries children have been recruited into auxiliary forces linked to national armies, local civilian defence groups created to support counter-insurgency operations, or by illegal militias and armed groups used as proxies by national armies. Children have also been used as spies.
The Coalition's report also highlights that years of accumulated best practice on releasing children from fighting forces and assisting their rehabilitation and reintegration is being overlooked by those involved in designing and implementing disarmament, demobilization and reintegration (DDR) programmes. Sustained funding for the long-term support of former child soldiers is also rarely available. In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, for example, delayed, unpredictable and short-term funding, combined with poor planning and mismanagement of the DDR programme, meant that some 14,000 former child soldiers were excluded from reintegration support.
Those who lose out most are girls. The existence of girls in fighting forces, in combat and non-combat roles and as victims of sexual slavery, rape and other forms of sexual violence, is well known. Yet the overwhelming majority of girls soldiers are not identified by and do not register in official DDR programmes. In Liberia, where the DDR programme ended in late 2004, only just over a quarter of the 11,000 girls known to have been associated with fighting forces registered in the official DDR programme. Here, as elsewhere, thousands of girls returned to their communities informally with their complex medical, psychosocial and economic meets unmet.
Top^
INTERNATIONAL: TREATY TO BAN CLUSTER MUNITIONS AGREED
On 28 May, 109 states gathered in Dublin, agreed to an extensive treaty banning the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions.
The agreement also commits states to the clearance of areas contaminated with unexploded cluster munitions and to the provision of assistance for victims and their communities. The Cluster Munitions Coalition, present at the 10-day conference welcomed the agreement which will ban a weapon which has caused decades of suffering for civilians.
During the conference, delegates have heard first-hand accounts from survivors of cluster bomb attacks. In between the sessions, conference participants were invited to a lunchtime book launch "Banning Landmines: Disarmament, Citizen Diplomacy, and Human Security".
Editors and contributors, including JRS Cambodia landmine survivor and Nobel Prize winner Tun Chennareth, discussed their new book on the Mine Ban Treaty experience and its implications for subsequent movements, such as the cluster munition process and its overall contribution to the field of human security. A key theme of the event was the power of international treaties, when properly followed up on, to stigmatise a weapon, well beyond the formal signatories of the treaty.
Cluster bombs have been used in countries including Cambodia, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Lebanon. They are made up of a big container which opens in mid-air, dropping hundreds of smaller individual sub-munitions, or "bomblets", across a wide area. In more than 20 countries, unexploded cluster sub-munitions have rendered large areas as dangerous as minefields. Their deadly legacy can continue for generations.
Countries like the US, India, Pakistan and Israel claim such munitions are highly useful on the battlefield, but opponents say that where the bomblets fail to explode they leave a deadly legacy for civilians.
But in a statement, while underlining its humanitarian concerns regarding the use of cluster munitions, the US reiterated that their elimination would put the lives of its soldiers and those of its coalition partners at risk.
Some campaigners do believe countries like the US will change, however. They cite the landmine treaty of 1997 that was never signed by the US, Israel, Russia or China, yet those nations have not used landmines since it came into effect.
The Cluster Munitions Convention will be opened for signature in Oslo in early December 2008 and will enter into force when 30 States have deposited their instruments of ratification with the UN Secretary General.
Top^
UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
CHAD: COMMUNITY TEACHERS PREPARE FOR STATE EXAM
"We invest in men and women committed to education training, not only to constructing classrooms. We cannot build schools without having real means of instruction", said Maurice Joyeux, SJ, director of the JRS teacher training programme in Koukou Angarana, Chad, on 26 May.
Since 2006, the UN children's agency (UNICEF), JRS, and other NGOs working in Chad, have cooperated to establish an education system for children displaced by inter-communal fighting and cross-border attacks by Sudanese militias. JRS supports twelve schools in sites for internally displaced persons in the country's east.
For the past year, more than 320 community teachers in two IDP site zones have received training with JRS assistance. Of the 320, JRS selected 164 to take the Brevet d'Etudes du Prémier Cycle (BEPC) exam on 24 June. Candidates must pass the exam to become community teachers recognised by the Chadian State.
"We chose teachers whom we believe have the best chance of passing. The goal is ambitious but we are optimistic. The Department's Ministry of Education inspector officially agreed to open a testing centre in Koukou Angarana, which is likely to be isolated by flooding during the testing period", Fr Joyeux said.
JRS also works with local communities and authorities to help teachers meet other requirements. In addition to passing the BEPC, they must be chosen by a village community, presented by the local student-parents' association, and have two years of field experience. Many community teachers, essentially volunteers, have no formal education. Given the urgent education needs in the region, community teachers can at least improve the situation with training and state recognition.
Through the programme, groups of trainees attend two 2-hour sessions per week. "We are encouraged by regular attendance rates and participants' visible engagement in the programme. Many seem convinced of the pertinence of these training hours", Fr Joyeux commented. When necessary, JRS provides teachers with school supplies and transportation to the training sites.
Staff say those who may have to retake the training programme will at least have an advantage. Some may share their knowledge with others informally. Others will re-enforce existing staff, enabling overloaded classes to be divided or split into different levels.
"The work is vast but sustainable, and always in perspective of peoples' return to their places of origin. We will continue laying the groundwork for stronger education, responding to peoples' desire for progress - with and for current and future generations in the Dar Sila region", added Fr Joyeux.
Top^
LIBERIA: JRS CLOSES ALL OPERATIONS
JRS Liberia officially closed its operations on 31 May 2008. JRS had been in the country most recently since 2003, although it was previously present from 1992 until 2001. The political situation has improved dramatically since the nation's fourteen year civil war ended five years ago. With the help of the UN Mission in Liberia, the country remains calm though fragile.
The economy grew at a rate of nine percent last year and continued growth is expected as investment returns to the country. Problems remain, however, and it is crucial that development accompanies current growth. To this end, the government, led by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, has negotiated with multinational corporations working in Liberia to help improve infrastructure by building roads, schools, and health clinics. Additionally, the government introduced a three-year Poverty Reduction Strategy (PRS) which will begin this July.
The PRS was a joint effort in consultation with all 15 counties. It aims to be inclusive, promote growth and development, and guide the country towards the fulfilment of the Millennium Development Goals. A national census - the first in more than twenty years - was held in March and its results, which will not be fully known until next year, will help guide the PRS and indicate areas of priority for the government.
JRS is proud to have cooperated with Liberians as they work to rebuild their country. There is some sadness in our leaving but ultimately it is a good sign as Liberia returns to peace and walks the path of recovery. JRS Liberia wishes to thank all benefactors and partners whose support was essential to its programmes.
Over the years, hundreds of people - both Liberians and others - offered their talents, time, and energy to work with and for the people of this country. To them we are extremely grateful. JRS would also like to thank members of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM) and the Societatis Verbi Divini (SVD) whose generosity and creativity over the years were invaluable.
JRS came to Liberia at the invitation of Archbishop Michael K Francis, who was then the president of the Catholic Bishops Conference in Liberia. JRS thanks the Catholic Mission in Liberia. The JRS mission is to accompany, serve and advocate the cause of refugees and the displaced. It is this mission that brought JRS to Liberia and it is this mission that takes it away as the situation improves. Now, JRS will attempt to find God in refugees and the displaced where the greater need exists.
Top^
