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Dispatches No. 242
Up | 31 July 2008
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS
KENYA: HUNDREDS STILL DISPLACED IN THE CAPITAL
On 22 July, the Kenya Red Cross Society reported that hundreds of Kenyans displaced during post-election violence in early 2008 in the capital, Nairobi, are still in camps more than two months after the government launched a countrywide resettlement programme.
Many of the displaced persons whose houses were destroyed or have since been occupied are the most difficult to resettle. According to Red Cross figures, there are at least 778 internally displaced persons (IDPs) still displaced in the city.
The problem with urban IDPs is that the majority are from slum areas where land disputes are common. Consequently, they are reluctant to move out of the camps. In addition, the availability of food and medicines in the camps is another disincentive to moving out. A recent wave of cold weather in Nairobi has further complicated the process with dozens of children under five needing medical attention as a result of illness.
On 12 May, the government raised 22.4 million of the 462 million US dollars need to resettle the 350,000 displaced Kenyans. The destruction caused by the violence is said to have been massive. In addition to the cost of resettling the displaced population basic housing, community utilities and government buildings must be rebuilt.
In early July, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs stated that 59,666 IDPs remained in 89 IDP camps, as well as 98,289 others registered in 134 transit sites across the country. Government figures indicated that 212,590 IDPs had returned to the areas from which they had been displaced.
On 5 May, the government launched 'Operation Rudi' (return home) aimed at 158,000 IDPs in camps across the country, most of them in Rift Valley Province, which bore the brunt of the violence. With more than 85,000 IDPs having left the camps since then, the government announced the beginning of the 'reconstruction phase of the programme' on 20 July to help the returnees rebuild their homes and start subsistence activities.
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SOUTH AFRICA: REFUGEES REMOVED
On 25 July, Amnesty International condemned the government for forcibly removing more than 700 refugees and asylum seekers from the Glenanda displacement camp near Johannesburg.
Earlier that week violence broke out in the camp when the police attempted to transfer unregistered refugees to the Lindela Repatriation Centre, from where they were due to be transported back to their countries of origin. Amnesty called for an investigation into shootings in the camp which resulted in 23 people being injured.
According to the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), the government was not to blame for detaining the undocumented refugees as it had done its best to provide protection and assistance to the victims of the xenophobic attacks. UNHCR stated the government had a right to detain those who had refused to register for temporary identification cards.
Local media agencies reported that the refugees were confused and suspicious about the purpose of the ID cards. Fewer than 1,800 refugees applied for ID cards before the deadline on 24 July. The media reported that heavily armed police then stepped in and began moving those without the necessary documents to Lindela.
Amnesty stated that there has been a lack of good, clear information about the process and its implications.
For further information see www.jrs.net/reports
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DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: CIVILIAN SUFFERING CONTINUES IN THE KIVUS
Atrocious violence continues to plague the local population in the two eastern provinces of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) despite a peace agreement signed in January 2008, a new report revealed on 29 July. More than 200 people have been killed and 150,000 newly displaced.
In June alone, 2,200 rapes have been registered in North Kivu, but the actual number is believed to be considerably higher. Shame and inexistent medical facilities discourage many girls and women from reporting such crimes. These worrisome developments were documented in a report by the Congo Advocacy Coalition, a group reuniting 64 international and national aid agencies and human rights groups working in the country.
One coalition member, Oxfam Great Britain, concluded that the peace agreement has failed to silence the guns, and the people of eastern Congo continue to suffer and flee for their lives. The Coalition urged the parties to the peace agreement, international donors and international facilitators from the US, EU, African Union and the UN who helped broker the agreement, to redouble their efforts to ensure the accord is respected.
The ongoing unstable security situation poses enormous challenges to aid agencies in the Kivus. Since January this year, armed groups and unidentified bandits carried out at least 36 attacks and ambushes on humanitarian staff, hampering the delivery of assistance to populations in vulnerable circumstances.
The greater number of displaced persons has increased the need for humanitarian assistance. Recent violence brought the total number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) to 1.1 million, with some 857,000 in North Kivu alone. Unofficial camps have sprung up over night and many IDPs are forced to live in appalling conditions, beyond the reach of humanitarian agencies. In some parts of North Kivu malnutrition rates are as high as 17%, well above emergency levels. Some IDPs have missed three successive harvests, making them heavily dependent on external aid.
In mid-July, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) issued a distressed plea for increased funding for its Congo programme. While WFP had budgeted for a monthly 800 metric tons of food assistance in July 2007, the actual need this year increased to 10,000 metric tons.
Problems of delivery are aggravating the situation. On 29 July, WFP announced a "near-total pipeline break in August" which will force the agency to further cut rations and prioritise beneficiaries. The situation is expected to improve only marginally in September. Last April, in an effort to satisfy the increasing needs of recently displaced persons, WFP was already forced to cut food rations in the camps around Goma and stop providing assistance to displaced living with host families in the city.
JRS Grands Lacs is extremely worried that further ration cuts will have severe consequences on the already harsh living conditions in the camps. JRS urges the international community to respond generously and as soon as possible to the WFP plea. The UN agency needs 142 million US dollars to help it function efficiently over the next 12 months.
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AUSTRALIA: MANDATORY DETENTION POLICY ABANDONED
On 29 July, the immigration minister in the centre-left Labour government, Chris Evans, announced that detention in often-remote immigration jails would now be used only as a last resort.
The minister recognised what organisations such as JRS have been stating for years, that desperate people were not deterred by the threat of harsh detention, as they are often fleeing much worse circumstances. Nevertheless, JRS welcomes the fact that the government has kept its election promise to stop detaining asylum seekers on small Pacific island nations. The latest changes should see the release of almost 380 asylum seekers currently in Australian detention.
The government will continue to detain irregular migrants who arrive by boat, but officials will have to justify why they pose a risk and require confinement. It also stated it will use a detention centre on remote Christmas Island, in the Indian Ocean between Australia and Indonesia, to carry out health, identity and security checks.
Under the Pacific Solution, more than 1,300 asylum seekers were processed on Nauru, while others were sent to Manus Island in Papua New Guinea in return for millions of dollars in aid to PNG from Australia's government.
Almost seven years ago, Australia sent commandos onto a freighter at sea to block the arrival of 439 irregular migrants, mainly Afghans. They had been rescued at sea by a Norwegian freighter, the MV Tampa, after their fishing vessel sank in international waters on its way to Australia.
Former Prime Minister Howard's so-called "Pacific Solution" included sending the navy to blockade Australia's northern coast. The government was accused by human rights groups, including JRS and the UN refugee agency (UNHCR), of breaching refugee convention responsibilities. While detention of asylum seekers was first introduced by a former Labour government in the early 1990s, the Liberal party established one of the world's toughest asylum regimes.
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CAMBODIA: ASYLUM SEEKERS PROTEST AGAINST DEPORTATION
On 18 July, ethnic minority asylum seekers protested in the Cambodian capital against the forced deportation of their friends and relatives to neighbouring Vietnam.
Around 60 Montagnards, the mainly Christian group from Vietnam's Central Highlands, stormed out of their refugee camp in Phnom Penh to stage the demonstration triggered by the repatriation of 28 refugees earlier that day. The four-hour protest ended when riot police armed with automatic rifles, batons and shields arrived on the scene and threatened to break up the rally.
One of the refugee present at the demonstration said they feared imprisonment if returned home. The group, including children and woman carrying babies, shouted "freedom, freedom!" One of their banners said: "Demonstration! We have the right to ask for freedom and justice."
The government of Vietnam, accused of rights abuses against the Montagnards who sided with the Americans during the Vietnam War, has given assurances that returnees will not face discrimination. More than 500 Montagnards are in UN holding centres in Phnom Penh while their refugee claims are being processed.
JRS has repeatedly asked that Montagnards be granted access to independent legal counsel during the refugee status determinations procedure, including the appeals procedure, so as to guarantee the transparency of the process. Moreover, JRS has received information to indicate that more deportations are expected in the near future.
The Montagnards fled to Cambodia in 2001 following anti-Vietnamese government demonstrations in the Central Highlands over their ancestral lands and religious freedoms.
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ITALY: FURTHER ANTI-IMMIGRATIONS MEASURES INTRODUCED
Soldiers are to be marched through the streets of Rome in an effort to put a stop to untoward activities being blamed largely on immigrants. They will be deployed primarily to break up the Roma camps in the city, but will also deal with black market trading, prostitution and begging likewise attributed to immigrants.
The legislation, passed on 23 July, introduces a new criminal offence, "illegal immigration", punishable by sentences of up to four years in prison. Those persons who rent or provide housing to irregular migrants may face prison sentences of up to three years and have their properties seized. Judges will be able to expel immigrants more easily and under a broader range of circumstances, non-Italians will suffer sentences one-third stiffer than those given to Italians. Those who admit to falsification of identity may face sentences of between three to six years.
Opposition parties, the Catholic Church and a number of human rights organisations have voiced concerns regarding the new legislation, fearing it may heighten racial tensions. In an interview with euronews.net, Anna Finochiaro of the centre-left Democratic Party said, "I don't see why someone should be punished more severely because they're an irregular migrant", adding that the new law undermined the principle of equality.
A joint statement released by JRS, Caritas Italy and Fondazione Migrantes said the "so-called security package" offered "extremely restrictive conditions for the reunification of spouses" and was contrary to "ensuring the unity of the family in migration, often crucial in terms of security".
"The legislative is symptomatic of the new government's approach to migration. Since taking office in April, the new government has helped fuel xenophobic sentiment in Italy which has seen Roma camps in the north and south burned by vigilante groups. The proposed fingerprinting of all Roma people, including children, was met with massive protests from left-wing observers earlier this month", JRS Europe Media Officer, Michael Donohue, told Dispatches on 30 July.
"Worryingly, voices of dissent have been slow in coming from Brussels, inferring that there are those within European chambers who would not be opposed to exchanging a Barosso for a Berlusconi. The Italian package may or may not be a precedent for other member states to follow, but no doubt it is probably the utopia of immigration law that many would wish to introduce under the French presidency" added Mr Donohue.
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UK: NUMBER OF UNSUCCESSFUL DESTITUTE ASYLUM APPLICANTS DOUBLED
Destitution among unsuccessful asylum applicants in Britain has more than doubled in 18 months.
The number of children affected has quadrupled and rough sleepers have increased by a third, says the follow-up study by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust. The trust prompted a national debate in March last year after revealing how many refused asylum seekers were surviving only through charity and church support.
The new report finds that bans on working and receiving benefit have been compounded by mistakes in the implementation of new asylum model (NAM) rules. The biggest reason for destitution was error or delay in the only government support available - "section four" support for those awaiting judicial review into failure of asylum requests, or physically unable to return to their country of origin.
The Independent Asylum Commission estimated earlier this summer that 283,500 failed asylum seekers were living homeless in the UK. The Rowntree follow-up survey found 331 destitute people in Leeds's community of unsuccessful asylum seekers, compared with 118 in 2006-07. The number of children had risen from 13 to 51 and rough sleepers from 29 to 40. The three main nationalities affected were Zimbabwean, Iranian and Eritrean.
"It is unthinkable that we leave tens of thousands of people completely destitute for long periods of time in the UK. We work with many people who have been left destitute for months or even years - with no status, no permission to work and no access to publicly funded accommodation or benefits," JRS UK Director, Louise Zanre, told Dispatches on 28 July.
"They are not given any opportunity to get on with their lives in dignity and with respect, but are left in a terrible and interminable state of destitution, completely reliant on charity or else vulnerable to sexual exploitation or exploitation as an illegal worker", added Ms Zanre.
The report calls for the issuance of temporary work permits during the application and appeal process, and simpler access to basics, such as food, shelter and healthcare.
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DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: WIFE OF MIGRANT RIGHTS ACTIVIST ABDUCTED
On 18 July, JRS Dominican Republic publicly condemned the abduction and torture of the wife of a Haitian rights activist.
Gysselle Baret Reyes, wife of local migrant rights activist Minoscal De Olis, had been kidnapped and tortured four days earlier. The woman was abducted by three men in Villa Altagracia town, 40km from the capital Santo Domingo, and submitted to physical and psychological torture for more than four hours.
According to JRS, the kidnappers threatened to kill Baret Reyes while they interrogated her about the whereabouts of her husband. She was warned that both of them would be drowned if he did not abandon his struggle in favour of the rights of Haitian migrants in the country.
In a public statement, JRS described these actions as an attempt to use violence to create fear among those who have chosen the road of justice and respect for the law to demand respect for their human rights.
"These criminals cannot bear that humble citizens, who have not committed any crime other than being born to Haitian parents in Dominican territory, use the judicial system to demand that their rights are respected", a JRS statement stated.
JRS also urged the Dominican authorities respect the constitution and withdraw the resolution which prevents the central electoral commission from issuing birth certificates to Dominicans of Haitian origin. The Dominican constitution grants citizenship to persons born in the country irrespective of the nationality or legal status of their parents.
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CHAD: COMMUNITY TEACHERS PASS STATE EXAM
On 24 June, 43 beneficiaries in the JRS Teacher Training programme passed the Brevet d'Etudes du Prémier Cycle Tchadien (BEPCT) exam. Candidates must pass the exam to become state-recognised community teachers. Community teachers, essentially volunteers, have often received little or no formal education.
Those who pass the exam now have the opportunity to take level-one training in pedagogical methods, a course leading to a state-recognised diploma. After passing level two training, teachers are eligible to take the exam to become a recognised teacher.
In cooperation with training managers and the national ministry of education, JRS proposes candidates to undertake the training. The level one training session begins on 4 August in Goz Beida and Koukou Angarana IDP site zones. Training sessions for the next BEPCT, in Arabic and Francophone sites already began this summer, involving 85 participants.
JRS believes that training provided to community teachers will help ease the education crisis in the region. Since 2006, the UN children's agency (UNICEF), in cooperation with JRS and other NGOs, has supported the ministry of education to establish an education system for people displaced by inter-community fighting and cross-border attacks by Sudanese militias. JRS supports thirteen schools for internally displaced persons and local communities in the Sila region in the east of the country.
Those who did not pass the exam still have the opportunity to attend level-one training beginning next week. They can re-take the BEPCT next year with the possibility of enrolling in the level-two training.
"Their exam results are very encouraging, particularly because this year's training course only ran for three and a half months. Next year, it will be provided throughout the year. Therefore, we are optimistic we can increase the number of successful candidates", Project Director, Mr Fabien Lapouge, told Dispatches on 30 July.
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UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES
COTE D'IVOIRE: JRS LAUNCHES NEW EDUCATION PROJECT
On 21 July, in cooperation with local organisations, JRS began renovating a primary school in the northern Department of Madinani. School reconstruction forms one of three main activities in a new JRS project to strengthen the education system in a country recovering from a five year political crisis.
After a 2002 coup d'état divided Côte d'Ivoire into an opposition-held north and government-run south, hostilities displaced 700,000 people and closed most public services in the northern and western regions. The education sector suffered as infrastructure was destroyed and teachers fled their posts. Nearly six years later, the conflict has abated. Preparations for 30 November elections are underway and displaced populations are gradually returning.
The JRS programme in Madinani involves training in teaching methods and school administration to parents and teachers and the distribution of educational materials to students. Recreational and cultural activities will also be developed for children, particularly those who risk leaving school early.
"Alongside engaged communities, JRS hopes to promote a safe and dignified learning environment. Improving education and making it more widely accessible will hopefully support long term peace and development in the country", West Africa Programmes Officer, Sr Marie-Paule Coulibaly told Dispatches on 30 July.
JRS is the only NGO offering education assistance in rural Madinani, where at least 36 schools were damaged or destroyed during the war.
"Many of these schools are still not fully functioning. In principle, each school can accommodate 180 students. However, some host as many as 300 because teachers and proper facilities are lacking", said JRS staff member, Mr Jerome Gnammankou Kouassi, who conducted a needs assessment of the area.
Despite some logistical challenges posed during the rainy season, school reconstruction is expected to finish in early October when the 2008/09 school year begins. At this time, teacher training will also commence.
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