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News 17/10/11 – Sri Lanka Refugees Returning Home

Oct17
2011 Written by admin

Sri Lankan Refugees Returning Home

Refugees from Sri Lanka have long been spread around the world and several generations now reside in a number of Western countries.  Following the independence of the country from British rule in 1948, long suppressed ethnic tensions bubbled to the surface.  The violence that was generated over the subsequent decades led to a consistent stream of refugees to various countries around the world, ensuring a sizeable Sri Lankan diaspora.

The refugees returning home now are not those expats however, they are the victims of the recent conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil National Alliance. Following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers, it emerged that almost 300,000 pople had become displaced, mostly from the formerly Tamil controlled areas in the North of the country.

Many of these have been resident in camps in the Tamil Nadu region of Southern India

Sri Lankan Refugees

Sri Lankan Refugees

since they fled.  The conflict ceased in 2009 and some are now beginning to return home as Sri Lanka enters a period of sustainable peace and economic development for the first time for 26 years.  Most refugees were of course resident in camps within Sri Lanka itself but outside the conflict areas but those who felt most vulnerable went abroad.

The significant thing about the current returnees is that they are travelling by ferry, meaning that they can carry their household goods with them, the intention being to resettle and stay.  Apart from the obvious obstacles of providing themselves with food and shelter on their return, the UNHCR is providing some help.  A voluntary repatriation grant is available for returnees to help establish themselves and there are also several UNHCR offices in the affected region which will provide families with a free kit of basic household supplies.  Less obvious benefits are available, such as land mine awareness courses and legal advice.

Anyone wishing to take advantage of returnees benefits is advised to approach the nearest UNHCR office where they are currently resident.

 

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News 11/10/11 – Blue Nile Refugees & Pakistan Floods

Oct11
2011 Written by admin

First New Refugee Camp Opens In Ethiopia

As the low level conflict in the Blue Nile state of South Sudan drags on, the UNHCR has opened up its first refugee camp in neighbouring Ethiopia.  Three border crossings have been processing Sudanese nationals as they enter Ethiopia and these are Kurmuk, Bamza, and Almahal.

The new venue is called Tongo refugee camp and has been under construction for two

Sudanese refugees

Sudanese refugees

weeks, which is certainly an impressively short amount of time in which to develop a camp which will host 3000 people.  The UNHCR and the Organisation for Migration have been bussing people to Tongo from the border crossings since it opened.

Since the beginning of September, around 27,000 Sudanese have crossed one of the official borders and Ethiopia and the various aid agencies are keen for them to move on from these areas – Kurmuk especially has witnessed bombing just across the border – to maintain Ethiopian security and keep the refugees safe.

Previously, Sudanese fleeing violence in their home country have been sheltered at the Sherkole refugee camp about 50 km from the border and since the worst of the conflict in Sudan finished in 2005, Sherkole has retained a permanent population of about 4000 who preferred not to return home.  It has now reached its 8000 person capacity and it remains to be seen whether any more new camps will be set up to cope with the overflow.

Pakistan Floods Receding

With other global affairs dominating the news, Pakistan’s recent disastrous flooding has gone relatively unnoticed but the fact remains that 400 people have been killed and at least 7 million have been affected by monsoon rains.  Balochistan and Sindh provinces have been worst hit and many of those affected were still recovering from last years rains.

Inevitably, with the loss of housing and shelter, many families are living in tented villages with food and provisions provided by various agencies and the Pakistani government. Although the rain has stopped, the water left behind is not expected to recede for many weeks, meaning that refugee operations will continue for some time to come.

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Refugee News & Updates 15/8/11

Aug15
2011 Written by admin

Iran and Brazil – Integrating Long Standing Refugees

With the current focus on Somalia and other countries on the Horn of Africa, it’s worth remembering that many other nations around the world deal with and provide shelter for refugees on a daily basis.  Iran is one such country and a recent development there has demonstrated how governments, private companies and aid agencies can work together to improve the lives of refugees.

Iran has a large number of Afghan refugees – the Iranian government estimates it as up to 2 million – who fled their home country following the 1979 Soviet invasion.  Around a millionof them are official, fully registered refugees who are living their lives scattered throughout the country.   For the most part, they are also too poor to pay for comprehensive health insurance – it costs around $30 per year.  Primary health care is available to them (via previous UNHCR subsidies) but more specific and complex treatment has been unavailable.

The UNHCR has recently been part of an arrangement that will see it partner with an Iranian insurer, Alborz Insurance, to subsidise this secondary health card.  Registered refugees will now have to pay only $16 per year for more specialised treatment, the UNHCR will pay the rest.  In the longer term it means that more refugees can stay healthy and work for longer, ensuring security and stability for their families.

The South American country of Brazil has also been beefing up its refugee legislation, although it’s fairly far advanced anyway, and reaffirming its commitment to the 1954 UN Convention on Treatment of Stateless Persons.  However, Brazil’s commitment doesn’t always translate to compassionate treatment of refugees at ground level and this was one point which UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres noted when he recently met long-standing refugees from around the world as well as Brazil’s Foreign Minister Antonio Patriota.

As a large, emerging economy, Brazil also wants to be part of global efforts by first world countries to find a solution to the refugee issues.

 

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Refugee News & Updates 14/7/11

Jul14
2011 Written by admin

Guterres Visits Dadaab Refugee Camp

With a looming famine crisis in the Horn Of Africa, huge numbers of refugees are now on the move in the region.  The worst of the effects are being felt in Somalia and this has meant that two refugee camps in particular are bearing the brunt of large numbers of arrivals.

The camps around Dollo Ado in Ethiopia and the Dadaab camp in Kenya, currently the largest refugee camp in the world are the two regional hubs for those escaping the drought and famine conditions.  Around 50,000 new arrivals are thought to have ended up at Dadaab since the beginning of the year and the UNHCR, along with other agencies, are allocating appropriate resources.

Dollo Ado, Ethiopia

Massive appeals are also being broadcast by the aid agencies to enable them to deal with the drought crisis in general.  This who remember the last serious drought in this part of the world in 1984/85 will view the current television pictures with a gigantic sense of foreboding, although the aid agencies say it is not yet too late to rescue the situation.

The current unstable situation in Somalia is also affecting aid agencies ability to deliver in some areas.  In the past couple of days though, one of the Islamist groups, al-Shabab, has lifted it’s ban on foreign aid and plans are now afoot to divert some aid to those regions.

Pakistan Military Ops Creating Refugees on Afghan Border

For some time Pakistan has been actively targeting militants and insurgents in the Afghan border areas in the North West of the country.  On each occasion people have been forced to leave the region as fighting gets underway.

The latest area to feel the force of military intervention is the Karram agency (province).  Around eighty thousand residents are potential refugees from the region and so far around 700 families have actually left their homes.  A camp is already in place – New Durrani in the Durrani area – and it is currently being scales up in preparation for the expected influx.

New Durrani Refugee Camp

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Refugee News & Updates 1/2/11

Jan31
2011 Written by admin

Mexico Updates Refugee/Asylum Laws

When you think of Mexico and refugees, it’s normally those leaving the country via it’s

Haitian refugees in Mexico

porous northern border that spring to mind first.  However Mexico does continue to provide relief and safe havens for arrivals from the south, in particular Colombia, Haiti, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala.  To be sure some of these refugees arrive with the intention of continuing their journey up through Mexico and towards the United States border for some Online Roulette.

Mexico has long been a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and the subsequent 1967 Protocol but the latest development merges these guidelines into Mexican law.  The new laws will ensure that refugees treatment matches those of a Mexican citizen, including health care, health insurance, permission to work and recognition of qualifications and access to education and maybe Online Kasino.

Mexico has been criticised in some quarters for it’s treatment of refugees but it’s fair to say that it has proved itself over the last half century to be a willing and generous recipient of those displaced people from the region.  It has also received the largest percentage of Haitians following the Haitian earthquake of January 2010.

Most Pakistanis Home After 2010 Floods

Some times numbers became so huge that they’re almost beyond imagining.  I would suggest that this is the case for the 3,000,000 plus people who were made homeless following the Pakistani floods in July 2010. Then we have the 20,000,000 who were affected in some way by the disaster.  Heavy monsoon rains caused the flood which at one point covered around 20% of Pakistan’s land area. No Joyland casino bonus codes here.

Seven months on and incredibly only around 170,000 people are still living in the refugee camps.  An impressive effort by the Pakistani people and international aid agencies has ensured that within a matter of months all affected people will at least be out of the refugee camps.

It’s worth noting that more people were affected in this disaster than the numbers combined during the 2004 Asian Tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the Haiti earthquake of 2010.

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