Refugees

Photo (from left to right): Daniel Mekonnen (Eritrean Law Society), Helen Kidan (EMDHR), Prof. Gaim Kibreab, Filmon (refugee), Rudi Friedrich (Connection E.v.), Dr. Sarah Ogbay, Aspasia Papadopoulou (ECRE). Credit: Klara Smits | IDN-INPS

Conference on Eritrea Stresses the Need to Protect Refugees

By Klara Smits

BRUSSELS (IDN) – More than 30 organizations gathered in Brussels at the conference on ‘Eritrea and the Ongoing Refugee Crisis’ have expressed "deep concern" about the remarks by Donald Tusk, President of the European Council, that now there is "a real chance of closing the Central Mediterranean route" with a view to halting the flow of refugees from the Horn of Africa. Tusk was commenting the conclusions of the European Council meeting.

"Leaders agreed to offer Prime Minister Gentiloni stronger support for Italy's work with the Libyan authorities. We have a real chance of closing the Central Mediterranean route," Tusk said at the press briefing of European Council meeting of October 19.

: Klara Smits; THE WORLD; Africa; 25 October 2017

Photo: Kutupalong Refugee Camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The camp is one of three, which house up to 300,000 Rohingya people fleeing inter-communal violence in Myanmar. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.

Suu Kyi Slams “Disinformation” As Information War Intensifies

By Kalinga Seneviratne

BANGKOK (IDN) - The information war on Myanmar’s Bengali/Rohingya problem has intensified as Myanmar’s de-facto leader and Nobel Peace Laureate Aung Sung Suu Kyi finally broke her silence on the issue on September 6 and slammed the international media and human rights organisations for spreading “misinformation” on the conflict.

One day earlier, the London-based Burma Human Rights Network (BHRN) launched a report in Bangkok bashing Myanmar’s Buddhist majority. The following day India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi making his first official bilateral visit to neighbouring Myanmar pledged Indian support to fight cross-border Islamic terrorism.

: Kalinga Seneviratne; THE WORLD; Asia-Pacific; 07 September 2017

Photo: Najma Hassan cooking in her kitchen in Kakuma refugee camp, Kenya, Credit: Justus Wanzala | IDN-INPS

Clean Energy Coming to Kenya’s Kakuma Refugee Camp

By Justus Wanzala

KAKUMA, Kenya (IDN) – As the sun shrinks into a red ball steadily disappearing beyond the horizon, residents of Kakuma refugee camp in Turkana County, north-western Kenya, adjust to their evening routines. Late shoppers rush out to food stores, school children pick up their books and mothers start preparing the last meal of the day.

Darkness quickly envelopes the camp – which is administered by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – and only a few businesses and homesteads are in the fortunate position of possessing diesel generators or solar and kerosene lanterns to provide lighting.

: Justus Wanzala; THE WORLD; Africa; 26 July 2017

The Royal Usurpation of Kaaba

Viewpoinrt by Esad Duraković

Professor Esad Duraković is a well-known academic and a member of three Arab Academies of Art and Science.

SARAJEVO, Bosnia and Herzegovina (IDN) - In late June 2017, four Arab countries (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, and Bahrain) adopted a decision to isolate the “brotherly” Qatar for several reasons, the main being “Qatar’s support for terrorism”.

In the subsequent ultimatum, they demanded of Qatar to close down Al-Jazeera, which, without doubt, embodies the greatest value of the Arab world in general today, and as such poses a threat to totalitarian regimes that want to rule in media darkness.

: IDN-INPS Middle East & Africa Editor; OPINION; 12 July 2017

UN’s Myanmar Fact-Finding Mission Raises Many Questions

By Shenali Waduge

COLOMBO (IDN) - The appointment of a three-member team by the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on May 30 to investigate alleged abuses by Myanmar military forces against the country’s Royingya Muslim minority raises many questions about its neutrality, particularly as all the three members have questionable backgrounds as to their fitness to carry out an impartial inquiry.

The three-member panel comprises lawyers Indira Jaising from India and Radhika Coomaraswamy from Sri Lanka, and Australian human rights advocate Christopher Dominic Sidoti, according to a statement from the UNHRC.

: IDN-INPS Asia Editor; OPINION; 07 June 2017

Photo: Vice-Chancellor of the Great Zimbabwe University, Prof. Rungano Zvobgo (facing camera) and Prof. Mirjam van Reisen (left) at the book launch. Credit: Klara Smits | IDN-INPS

Digital Era Aids Human Trafficking of Eritrean Refugees

By Klara Smits

LEIDEN, The Netherlands (IDN) – The digital era brings opportunities for international cooperation and development, such as e-health and large-scale data sharing, but it also brings dangers. One of the prime examples of such dangers is the billion-dollar human trafficking business of Eritrean refugees by their own regime.

Modern technologies such as mobile money and mobile phones play a crucial role in this trade, according to a new book titled 'Human Trafficking in the Digital Era: The Ongoing Tragedy of the Trade in Refugees from Eritrea', edited by Prof. Mirjam van Reisen and Prof. Munyaradzi Mawere.

: Klara Smits; THE WORLD; Africa; 14 March 2017

Photo: Refugees in Paris streets in September 2016. Source: Walt Whiteman's World.

Calais Migrant Camp Closure Drives Refugees To Paris Streets

By Melissa Chemam*

Note: This article is being reproduced courtesy of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung's online Journal 'International Politics and Society' published on March 7, 2017 with the headline Refugees Welcome?

PARIS (IDN-INPS) - Since the destruction of the informal settlement of refugees and transitional migrants in Calais – now known as the “Jungle”– in October 2016, the French government promised to find housing for all three to four-thousand people forced to leave the area. They have opened about 500 welcome centres to redistribute the fleeing population across the country, away from Calais, neighbouring Hauts-de-France and saturated Paris.

: International Politics and Society; THE WORLD; EU & Europe; 11 March 2017

Photo: “The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries." - Outgoing AU Commissioner Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

African Union Denounces US Ban on Muslim Immigrants

By Global Information Network

NEW YORK | ADDIS ABABA (IDN) – An outraged African Union (AU) recalled the kidnapping of Black Africans as it considered the controversial new US anti-immigrant rules. After forcibly bringing Africans to the U.S. as slave labour, noted the AU, Washington now slams the door on Muslim immigrants entering the U.S.

“It is clear that globally we are entering very difficult times,” cautioned outgoing AU Commissioner Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, speaking at the January 30-31 summit of 53 member states in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.

“The very country to which many of our people were taken as slaves during the transatlantic slave trade has now decided to ban refugees from some of our countries," she said.

: Global Information Network; THE WORLD; Africa; 01 February 2017

Photo: “Refugees share the very same concerns about security and safety that Americans have." Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Credit: UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré.

UN Indignation Unlikely to Sway Trump

By Phil Harris

ROME (IDN) – Newly-elected US president Donald Trump has been hyperactive in his first week in office, signing executive orders that confirm his pre-election pledges to “make America great again” by brushing aside any concern for the plight of those seeking to find safety and a better life.

One of his first acts was the signing of an executive order to begin the process of building a wall on the US-Mexico border, saying that "a nation without borders is not a nation. Beginning today, the United States of America gets back control of its borders, gets back its borders."

: Phil Harris; THE WORLD; USA and Canada; 31 January 2017

Photo: Repairing the water network in Jabalia camp, northern Gaza. Credit: UNRWA/Khalil Adwan

UN Agency Seeks $813 Million to Support Palestine Refugees

By Jamshed Baruah

GENEVA (IDN) - In the face of humanitarian crisis plaguing Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory – including East Jerusalem – and those who have fled the conflict in Syria, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) has launched an $813 million emergency aid appeal.

Speaking to UN News, Pierre Krähenbühl, the Commissioner General for UNRWA said: “Palestine refugees are among the worst affected by the conflict. Over 95 per cent of those who have remained in Syria – 430,000 – are in critical need of sustained humanitarian assistance.”