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Posts in category Asia

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.

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.

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.

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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Displaced Persons & the MCPA

Jan20
2011 Written by admin

The Philippines is the 3rd ranking country in Southeast Asia in terms of displaced persons. The country is among the top 40 nations around the world where internal displacement is said to be a major problem. The MCPA is an organization of Muslims and Christians working on peace and conflict transformation in the country from their Internal Displacement Monitoring Center based in Geneva, Switzerland.
It is said that the war in Mindanao, that has been continuing now for the last 17 months, has produced the highest number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the world. The war is estimated to have forced out 750,000 people from their homes.

The government’s recent military activities, claiming that it’s fighting a war on terrorism, is one of the leading causes of displacement in the country, particularly in Mindanao. It has been particularly hard in Mindanao for much of the population over the past 13 years. It’s important that the rights of IDP’s be respected under any circumstance, and that they will be provided with food and water, basic shelter, clothing and medicine. They also will receive dental services and bathing abilities.

The country is trying to help IDP’s, but with the sheer volume of displaced persons makes it very hard. The conflict across the country has caused many, including large numbers of infants and children, to stray from their homes. With no where to go, uncertain of what to do next, these people need help. This is a problem that happens all over the world, particularly in Asia and Africa.

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Posted in Africa, News

Refugee News & Update 9/1/11

Jan10
2011 Written by admin

Something slightly different for this article and I’m going to do this regularly and hopefully consistently from now on.  It’s a brief update of what’s happening in the world regarding refugees, potential trouble spots likely to create refugees and anything else relevant.  So to start the new year, a few news articles:

Thailand forcibly repatriating Burmese

Thailand has come under scrutiny and not surprisingly some criticism from the UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) for forcibly repatriating some 166 Burmese refugees back across the border on Christmas day (25/12).  Thailand is normally a reasonable observer of the rule of non-refoulement which means that refugees should not be placed back into situations of danger, even if direct conflict has ceased.

You can read the history of this conflict here.

Thailand can be slightly patchy in their treatment of refugees of course this was only 166 people returned to their own country. It should also be noted that Thailand does also support up to 140,000 Burmese refugees along the border area.

120,000 Sudanese heading South

The UNHCR has said that, according to it’s monitoring services, more than 120,000 Sudanese have crossed from Northern Sudan into Southern Sudan. These are Sudanese whose families originally hail from the South. The issue causing the movement is the imminent referendum on the future of Southern Sudan. The movement is partly caused by returnees wanting to vote and partly uncertainty on the status of Southerners in the North following the referendum. The UHCR has said that it would be helpful to establish the status of those Southern Sudanese remaining in the North post-referendum.

Refugees heading into Liberia from Cote D’Ivoire

The UNHCR is preparing camps in the border between Liberia and Cote D’Ivoire. Around 18,000 have already crossed the border as a result of uncertainty about the stability of the country following the recent elections there. Incumbent Laurent Gbagbo has claimed victory but only amidst claims of electoral fraud. His main challenger Alassane Ouattara is supported in his victory claims by most major foreign powers and the United Nations.

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Tajik Refugees in Turkmenistan

Jan02
2011 Written by admin

Turkmenistan is something of an unknown quantity in itself, so to hear it shelters refugees from nearby countries may come as something of a surprise.  It does however provide safe harbour for more than ten thousand refugees from Tajikistan.

Turkmenistan is situated in the heart of Central Asia.  It is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran to the South and Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan to the North.  It has a lengthy coastline on to the Caspian Sea to the east and many travellers to the region begin their trips by boat from Azerbaijan on the Caspians’s west coast.

Since 2005 the country has begun the slow process of opening up it’s politics and borders and it’s oil and mineral wealth make it a potentially wealthy country.

Why Tajik Refugees?

Tajikistan problems began in 1991, like several other countries following declining Russian/Soviet power.  Elections were held but disputed and in the following days President Rahmon Nabiyev and his aids began to arm militias in readiness for any problems ahead.  The opposition groups who disagreed with the election results also began arming themselves with help from neighbouring Afghanistan.

In the first round of fighting the pro-government forces were defeated and a a new coalition government was formed.  After the capture of President Nabiyev, who was then forced to resign, fighting again broke out around the capital Dushanbe.

With the aid of Russian and Uzbek forces, the original pro-Russian forces were able to defeat the incumbent government forces, by this time consisting of Pamiri and Garmi militants and the Islamic Resistance Party of Tajikistan.  It was after this victory that what could be described as ethnic cleansing began.  Opposition party members were murdered and villages known to support the opposition were burned or otherwise destroyed.

Not surprisingly this led to a mass exodus of those who believed themselves at risk from further persecution, especially those from regions such as Gorno-Badakhshan, the tribal home of the Pamirs.  Until a U.N brokered settlement in 1997, up to 100,000 people died in the chaotic fighting.

Ten years on and there are still Tajik refugees in Turkmenistan.  These are the few who declined to return out of continuing fears for their safety.  Recently Turkmenistan has began to offer full citizenship to these refugees so at last they can again begin normal lives.

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