Finland: Asylum seekers will work for free

HELSINKI (Reuters) - Finland's government will require asylum seekers to work for free and to acknowledge a "national curriculum" on Finnish culture and society, it said on Tuesday, launching measures to tighten its immigration policy.

It will also regularly reassess conditions in the asylum seekers' home countries twice a year, and if necessary, cancel residence permits accordingly.

After its latest reassessment on Afghanistan, it said it would no longer grant subsidiary protection, claimed by people who say they face death or torture, to asylum seekers from South and East Afghanistan.

Read it all here.

Over 1000 Migrants Rescued in Mediterranean

ROME: The Italian navy said on Friday it had rescued in 24 hours more than 1,000 migrants attempting the perilous journey across the Mediterranean by boat in rough winter seas.

Some 823 migrants were picked up on Thursday and another 233 were rescued on Wednesday as part of a major ongoing search and rescue operation to save the lives of thousands of immigrants heading for Europe in overcrowded and rickety boats, the navy said. The immigrants, including 30 women and 42 minors, mainly hail from Egypt, Iraq, Pakistan and Tunisia.

Six military vessels and several helicopters were involved in picking them up and transferring them to the coastal town of Augusta in Sicily.

Immigration charities estimate that between 17,000 and 20,000 migrants have died at sea trying to reach Europe over the past 20 years, often crossing on rickety fishing boats or rubber dinghies.

The immigrants were rescued as part of the Italian government’s “Mare Nostrum” operation, which mobilizes warships, amphibious vessels and aircraft to try and prevent further tragedies like the two shipwrecks in October in which more than 400 immigrants died.

Source:  Pakistan Dawn

Syrian Refugees Face Harsh Winter

11 January 2013 – The United Nations refugee agency today said today it is implementing measures to help more than 600,000 displaced Syrians weather harsh winter conditions, while warning that the number of people fleeing the violence in the Middle Eastern country continues to grow.

"The severe winter conditions across Syria and the surrounding region this past week have brought new difficulties for refugees and other displaced people," a spokesperson for the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Adrian Edwards, told reporters in Geneva.

He added, "Even with the winter preparation work that has been done in recent months, many refugees in both camp and non-camp situations are facing particularly cold and damp conditions."

There are currently 612,134 people registered or awaiting registration as refugees in Syria's neighbouring countries, and Mr. Edwards said the numbers have not slowed down in recent weeks.

In northern Jordan, the Za'atri camp flooded last week as a result of some of the worst weather conditions the country has seen in the past 20 years. UNHCR delivered several truckloads of gravel to elevate the ground level and improve drain-off. Work was also done to release water into the creeks surrounding the camp, and Mr. Edwards said the whole site should be dry soon.

"Health services in Za'atri camp are all operational with mobile clinics covering the affected area in the camp, detecting medical cases in need of transfers to the camp hospital and treating primary health care patients on the spot," he said, adding that they are also assisting newly-arrived people who faced a hazardous journey.

"Many of those arriving have been barefoot, with their clothing soaked, and covered in mud and snow. Refugees report discarding their belongings to carry their children through flooded countryside to Jordan," he added. "For people arriving at the border, UNHCR managed yesterday to send 1,000 blankets, 500 mattresses along with emergency clothing. Our partners at WFP [UN World Food Programme] also sent 3,000 welcome meals."

In Lebanon, UNHCR and its partners are working to address the floods that have affected various refugee settlements in the country's north, as well as a warehouse housing refugees in the city of Sidon. The agency has also increased the distribution of essential items – such as warm blankets, heater, fuel vouchers, winter clothing and plastic sheeting – to help families face the freezing temperatures. In addition, 6,700 families have had their homes weather-proofed, and renovation help has been provided to 5,300 others.

In Turkey, UNHCR is working with the Turkish Red Crescent to reinforce camps against the winter by providing thousands of winterized tents, electrical heaters and thermal blankets, among other items. However, despite many of the precautions taken, there were two fires last month at different camps which claimed the lives of five children and injured two others.

Heavy snow in Iraq has affected refugees living in the Domiz camp in the Dohuk governorate, Mr. Edwards said. In addition, the prices for basic commodities have increased and there have been shortages of winter medicines and food. UNHCR is currently looking at additional measure to tackle this issue including the provision of cash assistance and construction materials to improve shelters.

In Syria itself, the UN refugee agency continues to provide winterization aid to those who have been internally displaced, and 40 shelters have been set up throughout the country. By the end of 2012, UNHCR had assisted over 400,000 people in accessible areas of the country, providing non-food aid, and in addition cash aid to nearly 15,000 families.

"Despite the difficult security conditions, we are continuing to work to help people where we can – often working through partner organizations," Mr. Edwards added. "However, difficulties of access mean we cannot reach all people in need."

Source: UN News Source

Related reading:  Syria Talks End With No Breakthrough; Fleeing Violence, Syrian Refugees Weather a Cruel Winter

100,000+ Syrians Seek Asylum

4 September 2012 – As heavy fighting continues throughout Syria, the United Nations refugee agency today reported that the number of those fleeing to neighbouring countries rose to over 100,000 in August – the highest monthly total to date.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 103,416 people sought asylum in countries neighbouring Syria in that month, bringing the total number of Syrian refugees registered or awaiting registration as of 2 September to 235,368 – mainly in Lebanon, Turkey, Jordan and Iraq.

Those figures include Iraqi refugees who had previously fled to Syria and are now returning to their homeland by the thousands, a UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told a news briefing in Geneva. According to the Iraqi Government, 35,000 people returned to Iraq in July and August alone.

“Most tell us they are leaving because of general insecurity, although some have reported direct threats,” Ms. Fleming said, noting reports that three Iraqi refugees were killed last week in Jaramana, located outside of the capital, Damascus, increasing fear among the refugee population there.

More than 18,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 18 months ago. There have been reports of an escalation in violence in recent weeks in many towns and villages, as well as the country's two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo.

Ms. Fleming said UNHCR and the Syrian Arab Red Crescent continue to expand operations to support Syrians displaced both internally and abroad. Domestically, the UN agency has launched a programme of financial assistance, with 730 vulnerable families receiving cheques as part of a scheme to help some 35,000 families in the coming months.

In Iraq, authorities in the Kurdistan region had agreed to the establishment of a second refugee camp that will mainly accommodate Syrian Kurds, arrivals of whom had been increasing significantly in the past week, along with smaller numbers of other Syrians, Ms. Fleming said.

For returnees, the Iraqi Ministry of Displacement and Migration is expediting the registration process to enable them to receive government assistance for their reintegration. Some 2,000 families were registered in July and August as part of that effort. UNHCR is also assisting Iraqi returnees with household items and will soon start a small cash assistance programme for the most vulnerable returnee families.

In Jordan, into which refugees continue to flow at a rate of about 1,000 a day, the Government, UNHCR and partners are preparing for an even larger influx, given reports of increasing numbers of displaced people in southern Syria.

Ms. Fleming said that the first batch of 56 trucks carrying 13,000 tents and relief items, such as blankets, jerry cans and kitchen sets, for a total 150,000 people, arrived in Jordan from Dubai over the weekend to augment local supplies.

In Lebanon, there are now more than 59,000 Syrians registered or awaiting registration with the UN refugee agency, Ms. Fleming said, adding that this week the agency is opening a mobile registration centre in the eastern Bekaa Valley.

Host families and schools are increasingly stretched in their capacity to host refugees and UNHCR is appealing to authorities in Lebanon to approve alternative shelter options, she said, while the agency is also working to meeting the educational needs of the refugee children.

Turkey, meanwhile, now hosts some 80,410 Syrian refugees, according to the Government. Ms. Fleming said that there was still a backlog at the border, with reportedly around 8,000 people waiting to cross and receiving assistance, while being admitted at the rate of hundreds per day.

Ms. Fleming added that the Turkish Government continues to transfer Syrian refugees to the new camp in Karkamis, with over 4,000 people already transferred in recent days. Another new camp opened yesterday in Kahramanmaras.

The spokesperson noted that the Turkish Government continues to assure UNHCR that it will keep its borders open to Syrian refugees.


Source: Global Security.org

 

Number of Syrian Refugees in Jordan Swells

The number of refugees fleeing the violence in Syria and seeking humanitarian aid in northern Jordan has more than doubled in the past week alone, the United Nations refugee agency said today, warning that a much larger influx of refugees could be expected in the coming days.

According to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the amount of registered refugees seeking shelter at the Za’atri camp, in the north of Jordan, has surged to 10,200 people for the seven day period, spanning 21 – 27 August, compared to just 4,500 in the previous week.

“Refugees say many thousands more are waiting to cross amid violence around Daraa and we believe this could be the start of a much larger influx,” a UNHCR spokesperson, Melissa Fleming, told a media briefing in Geneva today.

Syria has been wracked by violence, with more than 17,000 people, mostly civilians, killed since the uprising against President Bashar al-Assad began some 17 months ago. Over the past month, there have been reports of an escalation in violence in many towns and villages, as well as the country’s two biggest cities, Damascus and Aleppo. In addition, the conflict has displaced many people, both inside the country and into neighbouring countries.

In her news briefing, Ms. Fleming further noted that some of the Syrian refugees who had made it over the border in recent days reported being targeted by aerial strafing and bombing operations, as well as by shelling and mortars.

“Typically, refugees cross the border at night and are taken straight to the camp by IOM [International Organization for Migration] and the Jordanian army,” she said. “But 1,147 refugees arrived yesterday morning and were followed by another 1,400 overnight and early this morning.”

Pointing to the surge in children as refugees, Ms. Fleming noted that the UN agency had also received an increased number of unaccompanied minors to their camps over the past week.

“Some children report that their parents have died, or are staying behind in Syria to look after relatives, or are working in other countries,” she added. “Some children, who did not have passports, said they were sent ahead of their parents who will follow later.”

In its recent report on the condition of child refugees fleeing the Syrian conflict, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) confirmed that half of the refugees sheltered at Za’atri were, in fact, children.

“The fast pace of arrivals has affected our efforts to improve conditions for the existing population, but work on this continues,” Ms. Fleming said, adding that UNHCR was urgently pitching more tents and expanding the camp. The refugee agency spokesperson also drew attention to the dramatic increase in the number of Syrians crossing into Turkey, swelling from an initial daily estimate of 400-500 new arrivals to 5,000 people arriving at the Syrian-Turkish border every day over the past two weeks.

“In the past 24 hours, over 3,000 Syrians are reported to have crossed into Turkey, with a further 7,000 expected to cross in the coming days,” she stated, urging an increase in international support to back Turkey’s efforts assisting the refugees as the country prepares to open an additional five or six camps for a total overall capacity of up to 150,000 people.

In the meantime, while UNHCR said that there was no registered increment in the flow of refugees to Lebanon and Iraq, it voiced concern that a new front had been opened in the refugees’ migratory pattern, following reports that seven Syrians had died when the fishing boat transporting them sank off the north coast of Cyprus last week. The boat was carrying four men, one woman, and two children, according to the Cypriot coastguard.

Source: GlobalSecurity.org News Brief

Organs Taken From Living Refugees

Bedouin smugglers who engage in people trafficking are allegedly stealing organs from indigent refugees seeking to enter Israel without enough cash, according to a startling report from CNN.


The New Generation Foundation for Human Rights and the EveryOne group claim that bodies of African refugees have been found in the Sinai desert with organs missing. A Bedouin source identified criminals in the Sawarka tribe, one of the largest in Sinai, as the offenders. A Sawarka leader said he was aware of people trafficking, torture and bonded labour. However, he also said that only rogue sections of the tribe were involved. CNN reports that no one in the tribe was willing to speak out about organ theft.

But Hamdy Al-Azazy, of New Generation Foundation, says traffickers steal the organs from refugees while they are still alive. "The organs are not useful if they're dead. They drug them first and remove their organs, then leave them to die and dump them in a deep dry well along with hundreds of bodies." He believes corrupt Egyptian doctors in mobile hospital units remove organs, particularly livers, kidneys and corneas.

"Mobile clinics using advanced technology come from a private hospital in Cairo to an area in the deserts of Mid-Sinai and conduct physicals on the Africans before they choose those suitable, then they conduct the operation," Al-Azazy said. ~ CNN, Nov 3
 

610,000 Migrants Have Fled Libya

Refugees from Libya seek refuge in Sahara

27 April - The governments of the poor Sahelian states of Niger and Chad are struggling to accommodate a total of 75,000 refugees crossing the Sahara desert from Libya.

According to the latest statistic update from the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) offices in Niamey, Niger, some 54,200 persons have fled Libya into this impoverished Sahelian nation only. Niger authorities even put the number at 57,000.

Most of those fleeing Libya, taking great risks crossing the Sahara desert, are Nigerien nationals - mostly migrant workers in Libya. However, almost 4,000 non-Nigeriens - mostly nationals of other African countries - have also reached Niger.

Those arriving Niger's northern border, in the middle of the Sahara desert, are mostly deprived of all their values and need assistance to reach their final destinations in Niger or beyond.

Niger authorities and the IOM operate several reception centres in northern Niger. Here, the migrants are registered, given necessary aid and helped reaching their original home.

The transfer of non-Nigerians from these centres to their home countries has only just started, with a few hundreds being flown to Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and other West African countries by the IOM. Lack of funds is limiting the repatriation operation.

The government in Niamey and IOM are now appealing for donor funds to run the overstretched reception centres and repatriation operations. IOM officers on the ground report of lack of medicines, food and clean water.

Niger has even experienced an influx of refugees from Côte d'Ivoire, following the conflict there. Côte d'Ivoire and Libya have been the main destinations for Nigerien labour.

The return of tens of thousands of Nigerien workers from these two countries - most of which normally would send a part of their wage to their families back home - therefore also will have a negative impact on the national economy of Niger.


Chad repatriation operations

Also in neighbouring Chad, which also shares a large Saharan border with Libya, the influx of refugees is large. Around 17,000 persons have entered the country from Libya, adding to eastern Chad's refugee crises related to the Darfur conflict.

Most refugees reaching Chad's northern border towns of Faya-Largeau and Kalait are Chadian nationals working in Libya. A few hundred citizens of other African nations have also reached northern Chad, awaiting onward transportation assistance.

IOM in N'djamena, Chad, reports that the organisation is currently organising 10 charter flights from Faya- Largeau to the capital "to assist weak and vulnerable returnees who cannot be transported by road." To date, IOM has provided onward assistance to more than 3,500 returnees to various destinations in Chad.

By now, more than 610,000 migrants from more than 27 countries have fled Libya and crossed into Tunisia, Egypt, Niger, Algeria, Chad, Italy and Sudan. Tunisia and Egypt have by far received the largest numbers of refugees.


© afrol News

Kyrgyz and Uzbeks Kinning Each Other

MARKHAMAT, June 12: Kyrgyzstan imposed a state of emergency in a second southern city as its interim leader warned ethnic violence was spiralling “out of control” and asked Russia to send in troops.

Interim President Roza Otunbayeva appealed to Moscow to intervene militarily after at least 75 people were killed and 977 wounded, according to the health ministry, in nearly three days of unrest.

“Since yesterday the situation has got out of control. We need outside military forces to halt the situation. For this reason we have appealed to Russia for help,” said Ms Otunbayeva in a TV address.

But while Moscow said it was rushing humanitarian aid to the former Soviet Central Asian republic, a spokeswoman for President Dmitry Medvedev said it would not yet send troops.

“This is an internal conflict and Russia does not yet see the conditions for its participating in resolving it,” Natalya Timakhova was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying. A decision to dispatch peacekeepers could be taken only after consultations with the UN, she added.

The provisional government is struggling to halt a descent into civil war between ethnic Kyrgyz and Uzbeks in the south of the country.

The second state of emergency in the city of Jalalabad was necessary because “instability is spreading,” Deputy Interim Minister Azimbek Beknadzarov declared on TV.

Thousands of Uzbek women and children fled to the nearby border with Uzbekistan, raising the spectre of a humanitarian crisis.—AFP

World Take Note of Bajaur Refugees!

Children waiting for food in Bajaur Refugee Camps


In contrast to the aid made available for the Swat IDPs, the state appears to have forgotten about the internally displaced from Bajaur Agency. Accommodated in Kacha Garhi camps 1 and 2, established in September last year, thousands of people seem virtually abandoned.

The camp administration’s requests to the relevant authorities in terms of requisitioning new tents, since those distributed 14 months ago are now unusable, have gone unheeded, as have pleas for adequate water and sanitation facilities. Camp residents complain that the food aid provided to large families has been slashed by half, and monies promised under the Benazir Income Support Programme were only disbursed once during the past nine months. Further, they oppose the proposed shifting of the camps to Jalozai, which they say has far fewer facilities.

This shameful situation begs the question of whether the IDPs of Bajaur are somehow less than equal citizens of the country. The lack of response from the private and public sectors could be attributed to the onset of crisis-fatigue in a country battered by militancy and terrorism; if so, this only makes the Bajaur IDPs’ situation more grievous. With winter setting in, all possible aid must be provided to these families. Secondly, it is time to realise that the country is in for the long haul in terms of the battle against terrorism.

Recent reports have indicated that the tentacles of the militants have spread far wider than previously thought, and the theatre of war too may widen. There is therefore a possibility that people may be displaced from other areas such as North Waziristan and southern Punjab. It may be useful to create a humanitarian agency tasked specifically with aiding the country’s internally displaced. It is time to stop dealing with the IDP issue on a case-to-case basis.

From here.

600,000 Somalians Displaced

15 July - Humanitarian agencies operating in Somalia have appealed for $11 million to provide aid to over 200,000 people who have fled Mogadishu since fighting broke out between the government and the opposition Al-Shabab and Hisb-ul-Islam groups in early May.

The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said that those most in need of water, sanitation and hygiene services include more than 600,000 people displaced by clashes since 2007 and who are settled in the Afgooye corridor outside Mogadishu.

According to OCHA, aid agencies in the country are currently only able to supply two to eight litres of water per person per day in that area, which the agency said was not enough to sustain a living.There is also currently one latrine for every 212 displaced people in the Afgooye corridor, the report also pointed out.

“A major concern is the effect the lack of water is having on efforts to prevent the spread of communicable diseases in overcrowded situations,” OCHA said.

According to the appeal, the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) requires $3.3 million before the end of July to maintain life-saving operations for more than 1 million conflict-affected people, while current emergency funding allocated for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) is likely to be exhausted within the next two months, according to OCHA.

Over $2.1 million is also needed to provide water to drought-affected communities in Puntland, Somaliland and other areas in the south-central region of the country, where more than 227,000 people are currently subsisting on 2 litres of water per day or less. Violence continues in the Horn of Africa nation despite the signing of the UN-facilitated peace accord last year, as well as the election of President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed and the formation of a new Government in February.

Source: Afrol News

Refugees Desperate in Pakistan

Crammed into buses, vans and trucks tens of thousands of people have fled their homes in terror as fighting escalated in Swat valley. Bedraggled and exhausted, they are pouring by the thousands every day into camps established by the government in various parts of the North West Frontier Province.

The number of refugees is increasing by the day as the fighting intensifies. The UN says more than 200,000 people have left Swat over the last few days, and another 300,000 are on the move or trying to leave following the collapse of a brief truce between the government and the Taliban last week. They will join the estimated 555,000 who have fled other conflict zones in the tribal areas and the province since August, taking the total number of displaced people in the region to more than one million. The UN and Pakistani officials fear the number could go up to 1.5 million with little hope of the fighting ending soon.

The sudden flood of refugees is putting an extra strain on local resources, including health care. However, the government’s inability to cope with the problem is now angering many people -- and opening another window for militant groups trying to recruit disgruntled and unemployed young men.

A visit to the Jalala camp in Mardan district gave a glimpse of the administration’s incompetence to deal with the problem of such magnitude.

Thousands of women and children waited in the scorching sun for hours just to get themselves registered at the camp, entitling them to get a place there. A single clerk sat inside a small crowded tent jotting down the names of new comers. Outside a frustrated crowd vented its resentment against the government.

Then there are hundreds and thousands of others who are still trapped in the midst of fighting and are unable to flee. They face hunger, exposure, and uncertainty about their future. Civilians trapped in the crossfire have little chance to get food, water or medical care, particularly after the fighting has forced international humanitarian organisations to completely or partially halt their activities in Swat.

Even before this new offensive, non-combatants in the affected areas were already struggling to survive a terrible situation. Curfews, roadblocks and fierce fighting make it virtually impossible for them to reach hospitals and clinics.

“They are literally locked into this situation of extreme violence. On top of that, it is largely impossible for our medical teams to assist them,” says Brice de le Vingne, Brussels-based coordinator for Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), which has halted its emergency medical care in the Swat region and reduced activities in other areas affected by the current warfare.

The MSF was the only one supporting the hospital in Mingora and providing ambulance services in Swat and curtailed its activities after receiving unspecified threats.

Aid groups said the situation has gone from dire to absolutely desperate and there is every chance that it will get even worse, making things completely untenable.

The problem seems to have worsened because of absence of a coherent policy and lack of timely response from the government. The administration was nowhere to be seen when the first flow of refugees started pouring in after the military action in Buner some two weeks ago. There should have been a contingency plan in place when the decision to launch the military offensive was taken.

Read it all here.

Displaced to Army: "Finish off Taliban"

Refugee camps in Pakistan are receiving more people daily. This report from Pakistan Dawn:

UNHCR officials say since last Friday they have registered over 16,700 families or a little over 100,000 individuals. These are the fresh arrivals from Buner, Lower Dir and Swat. The earlier figures, or in UN terminology the “old caseload”, of registered individuals is of over half a million, or 556,539 to be exact. And the way influx has continued from what is increasingly looking like a war-zone, UN officials fear that figure may soon cross the one million mark.

Many of those in the camps around Mardan and Takhtbai are bitter about the way they have been forced to leave their homes in haste. A large number of them are also sceptical about the way the security forces have been handling the situation. “I am not sure if the army really wants to eliminate the Taliban,” said one angry man Sheikh Sultan.

Another joined in saying the Taliban continue to roam around in his town, but innocent people are being targeted in shelling and aerial bombing.

There is lot of hatred for the religious extremists. In fact, not a single person came forward to speak in their favour. But the IDPs were equally wary of security forces, mainly because of their inability to provide protection. Notwithstanding the army’s latest determination to go into Malakand with full force, the perception among most of the displaced people remains that this too may be a half-hearted operation.

“If the army is really serious this time, then it should it prove by its actions,” said Rehman Ullah, a refugee from Mingora.

Having lost his sister and two other close relatives in the conflict, he said they had been forced to leave all their belongings to live in these camps. “Now it’s time for the army to finish them off,” he said about the religious extremists. “But if they fail to do so, we will be constrained to believe that either they are not capable of doing it, or are not sincere about the whole affair,” quipped another IDP from Mingora.

Read the full report here.