Africa

Today is the last day of campaigning ahead of Uganda's election.

Children in the Internationnal Rescue Committee Kindergarden in Hamadiya. Credit: UN Photo/Fred Noy/IPS

By Amy Fallon
KAMPALA, Uganda, Feb 16 2016 (IPS)

After escaping the genocide in Sudan’s Darfur region during which his father and two brothers were killed and his mother and sister displaced, Adam (named changed), began a new chapter. But it was a life “in limbo”. Over a decade later, he remains trapped in a strange country where he struggles to prove his identity; cannot find work or receive financial support.

“An egg and a stone cannot fight,” said Adam, quoting an African proverb, adding that “as a refugee or a stateless person you don’t have the power to resist the authorities.” The Darfuri is one of the many “refugees in orbit” created by the “flaws” in Israel’s “voluntary” return procedure, as NGOs have labeled them.

About 3,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers have left Israel over the past two years, not to their country of origin, but under a deal shrouded in secrecy for Uganda and Rwanda. These countries cannot guarantee their rights or safety and leaves them further “wandering in search of protection”, stated the Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (HRM), which has released several reports on the issue.

A spokesperson for the Rwandan government did not reply to queries from IPS, but last week a newspaper reported the foreign affairs minister saying the country, along with “a number of other countries”, were approached by Israel “about two or one and a half years ago”, but a deal was yet to be finalised with Rwanda. There are still flights from Israel to Kigali three times a week, according to HRM.

But the government of neighbouring Uganda continues to deny that any agreement exists, despite more asylum seekers leaving the Middle East on a flight to Uganda last July, according to the Israeli-based NGO. A deal between Israel and Uganda was said to include Israeli arms, military expertise and training, a senior Israeli official said, according to a 2013 report by website Ynetnews.

Uganda’s state minister for refugees, Musa Ecweru, and foreign ministry spokesperson Sam Omara stated they were not aware of an arrangement which has left many refugees stranded in the country.

According to a source in UNHCR Uganda, “We know of seven asylum seekers that have sought asylum in Uganda, having been relocated from Israel.” They said the government had “long been categorical that there is no agreement with Israel for such relocations”. But these cases were before the Inter-Ministerial Refugee Eligibility Committee for “determination”, they added.

Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon told IPS, “We do not comment on the issue”.

Relations between Israel and Uganda are said to have strengthened, with areas of bilateral co-operation now including agriculture, health and homeland security.

Darfur has been mired in violence since 2003 when ethnic insurgents rebelled against Khartoum’s Arab- dominated government, complaining of their marginalisation.

Adam’s last memories before he fled his home as a 15-year-old student were of being beaten, his village burning, military aircraft hovering above and “everybody running”. “They didn’t know where they were going,” the 28-year-old, who has deep-set eyes and sounds distinct from the others in a café in downtown Kampala, told IPS.

After two years in Egypt, Adam went to Israel in 2008, spending time in a refugee camp, before living in the community, volunteering for NGOs as a refugees’ rights activist. In May 2014, the interior ministry refused to renew his visa. Instead, they offered Adam a grim choice: return to Darfur, or go to Holot, a detention facility also in southern Israel. “These two hells, I cannot face them’,” said Adam, adding that after surviving genocide, Holot could have meant “the end of my life”.

Adam was surprised and confused when officials told him he would be going the next day to Uganda, a country where he knew no one. He told them “if you want me to leave okay, but you have to guarantee that where I’m going there’s safety and protection.” “They didn’t reply,” he claimed.

With Israeli travel documents and $1,000, he was escorted by police onto a plane carrying three other African asylum seekers, one of them handcuffed after he tried to resist deportation, said Adam. Their papers were confiscated when they arrived at Uganda’s Entebbe airport.

“It’s human trafficking,” Adam emphasised. During his first two days in Uganda, he stayed in a Kampala hotel, allegedly paid for by Israel. But on the third day, once he’d left the lodge, the refugee was arrested and asked to show police identification. Adam couldn’t provide documentation.

“I told them what had happened but they didn’t believe me, because it’s unbelievable to meet someone who has come from Israel without documents,” he said.

He went with other deportees from Israel to request refugee status and a three-month residency permit to use as identification, a difficult process without a Ugandan entry permit. “We said we don’t have any papers. The authorities said ‘we cannot handle a case like this’, said Adam.

He was later given documents and is hoping to get a Ugandan identification card soon, but to get papers allowing him to travel or be resettled, said he would need a recommendation from someone. He wonders if he will ever get a passport.

Today, Adam lives in Kampala with Jamba (name changed), another Darfuri asylum seeker who was sent to Holot after Israeli authorities refused to renew his visa in May 2015, before deporting him to Uganda with a few others. “I don’t normally leave home because I don’t have any documents,” Jamba told IPS, adding he is jobless. He would like to study, but having no documents means the 28-year-old can’t. Through some financial support from friends in Israel, Adam is now studying in Kampala.

“But how long are they going to support you, because they’re also in limbo,” he said.

Adam and Jamba are ambivalent about going home as Israel’s “voluntary” return process doesn’t guarantee that Uganda won’t deport them back to Darfur. At least 300,000 people have died in the conflict there and more than two million displaced, according to the UN, but Khartoum estimates the number is 10,000. If they ever do return, they may be treated as an “enemy” by authorities after living in Israel, who they both partly blame for some of their uncertainty.

“You cannot just take people, dump them in Uganda and then take documents from them…without taking care of them,” said Adam. But he argued, “you need to look at the root cause of the problem and the root cause is the Sudanese government, who started attacking their own”.

According to a December 2015 report by HRM, many Eritrean deportees sent to Rwanda illegally crossed the border to Uganda by force, while some have drowned in the Mediterranean Sea trying to reach Europe, others were detained in Libya and some have been murdered by ISIS.

HRM spokesperson Anat Ovadia-Rosner said the “categorical denial” of the Ugandan government over the scheme was “very alarming and illustrates the disparity between Israel’s assurances and the reality on the ground”.

In November 2015, an Israeli court rejected a petition arguing that those who depart for a third country are at risk of threat or persecution. The Refugee Rights Legal Clinic at Tel Aviv University, HRM and other NGOs have further petitioned the court, with another hearing scheduled for March 15.

(End)

“We want Pope Francis’ message to come true…We want the rights of indigenous people to be supported, respected and strengthened,” Yuam Pravia, a representative of the Misquito native people, said in this city in southern Mexico. Pravia, a Misquito indigenous woman from Honduras, was taking part Feb. 13-14 in a gathering of native people from […]

Delegation says European Parliament concerned about freedom of speech, urges 'agreed mechanism' for 2019 polls

By The Daily Star- Bangladesh, Diplomatic Correspondent
Feb 15 2016 (IPS)

A European Parliament (EP) delegation has expressed concern over the human rights situation in Bangladesh, and called for an impartial investigation into all the cases of blogger killings.

Jean Lambert

Jean Lambert, who led a four-member EP delegation to Bangladesh, yesterday said they during a meeting with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina on Wednesday had raised four specific issues including human rights, murder of bloggers and rise of violent extremism at international level.

“We have serious concerns about the human rights situation in the country and raised the issue of the murder of bloggers,” said Lambert, the chair of the EP delegation on relations with the countries of South Asia, at a press conference in Dhaka.

“The life of every Bangladeshi citizen is important and we requested the full and impartial investigation of all the cases.”

She also urged the government to make an environment where bloggers and other free thinkers feel that their freedom of expression was “valued”.

European Union (EU) Ambassador in Dhaka Pierre Mayaudon was also present at the press conference yesterday afternoon before the four-member delegation concluded its three-day Bangladesh visit and left the country.

On the state of press freedom in Bangladesh, Lambert said they had “some concerns” about what was happening to some newspaper editors in the country.

“I think it is fair to say that we have some concerns about what is happening to a number of editors of the newspapers.”

Asked if her delegation had touched the issue during the meeting with the prime minister, Lambert replied in the negative.

She also said nothing related to elections had been discussed in the meeting either.

But “it is very clear that there is a need for some agreed mechanisms,” Lambert said, adding that such a mechanism was required in Bangladesh to ensure participation of “many parties” in the elections.

She also made it clear that neither the European Union nor the European Parliament will make any recommendation on the polls-time administration.

“Neither the EP nor anybody else would be coming and saying that ‘This is what you do’ … We will not make any recommendation.

“It’s something to be decided by the people of Bangladesh. It’s your decision,” Lambert added.

However, in a press statement distributed at the press conference, the EP said, “Concretely, the delegation expressed its desire for free and fair elections in 2019.”

Though the election issue was not discussed with Hasina, the delegation discussed the issue of “an independent and strong” Election Commission in meetings with different other stakeholders, according to Lambert.

She said the EP delegation welcomed Hasina’s commitment for further joint collaboration with the EU on better understanding the causes of radicalisation internationally, “bearing in mind the important role Bangladesh plays in the OIC (Organisation of the Islamic Cooperation)”.

During the February 10-12 visit, the delegation met Speaker Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed, Law Minister Anisul Huq, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali and State Minister for CHT Affairs Bir Bahadur Ushwe Sing.

It also had talks with BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, National Human Rights Commission Chairman Prof Mizanur Rahman, officials of Bangladesh Accord on Fire and Building Safety, and representatives of different business and civil society platforms.

In the meetings, the EP delegation discussed several issues, including improvement of the workers’ rights and safety in the garment sector, promotion of European investment in Bangladesh and boosting economic cooperation.

This piece was originally published in The Daily Star, Bangladesh

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
UNITED NATIONS, Feb 15 2016 (IPS)

Poverty and education gaps have decreased significantly among indigenous communities in Latin America, but many continue to be left out of social gains, according to a new World Bank study released Monday.

The report, Indigenous Latin America in the Twenty-First Century, found immense social progress made in Latin American countries during the first decade of the millennium, dubbed the “golden decade.”

In much of the region, indigenous political participation has increased. In Bolivia, indigenous people’s representation in parliament is approximately 30 percent. More countries have also accepted indigenous traditions in electoral processes including Oaxaca, Mexico where 418 out of 570 municipalities are managed according to indigenous customs.

These developments are, in part, due to the creation of international treaties and declarations such as the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples adopted in 2007.

The study also found that 70 million people were lifted out of poverty, including indigenous peoples in Bolivia, Brazil, and Peru. Access to primary education was one of the greatest and clearest achievements during the golden decade, the World Bank said. In countries such as Ecuador, Mexico and Nicaragua, the education gap between indigenous and non-indigenous children closed.

Despite progress, indigenous communities continue to be excluded from development.

“Latin America has undergone a profound social transformation that reduced poverty and expanded the middle class, but indigenous peoples benefited less than other Latin Americans,” said World Bank Vice President for Latin America and the Caribbean, Jorge Familiar.

The report found that though poverty rates have decreased within the indigenous population, the gap between indigenous and non-indigenous Latin Americans has either remained stagnant or widened.

In the region, indigenous persons make up 14 percent of the poor and 17 percent of the extremely poor, despite representing less than 8 percent of the population.

Being born to indigenous parents increases the probability of being raised in a poor household regardless of parents’ level of education or the size or location of the household, the report stated.

In Ecuador, the probability of a family to be poor increases by 13 percent if the household is indigenous. The probability of being extremely poor increases by 15.5 percent. Other indicators, including gender and geography, further highlight gaps in indigenous social inclusion.

For instance, in Ecuador, if the same indigenous household is headed by a woman, it is 6 percent more likely to be poor. Indigenous women also have higher levels of illiteracy and school dropout rates across the region.

Along geographical lines, in Peru, an indigenous rural household is 37 percent more likely to be poor than an urban household. But even within urban areas, indigenous families continue to live in poorer living conditions with less sanitation and more disaster-prone households than their non-indigenous urban counterparts.

In the report, the World Bank urged for the multi-faceted inclusion of indigenous communities, especially in light of the newly-adopted Sustainable Development Agenda.

“If indigenous peoples are to assume their role as key actors in the post-2015 agenda, their voices and ideas need to be considered,” said Senior Director for the World Bank’s Social, Urban, Rural & Resilience Global Practice Ede Ijjasz-Vasquez.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) include commitments concerning indigenous peoples’ rights to education, land and markets.

The study recommends the effective implementation of national laws to guarantee indigenous political participation; strengthen indigenous communities’ access to education; improve data collection strategies to better implement targeted programs and; include indigenous persons in setting development targets.

“Inclusion of indigenous peoples in development policies and programs is not just about poverty reduction – it is the process of improving the ability and opportunity for them to be active stakeholders in society,” Ijjasz-Vasquez remarked. “Their inclusion is morally right and economically smart for nations,” he concluded.

The UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, established in 2002, is set to reconvene in May 2016 to discuss indigenous peoples in relation to conflict, peace and resolution.

(End)

Fighter aircraft from Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and the United States attacked oil refineries in eastern Syria controlled by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, Sept. 24, 2014. | Credit: DoD graphic

By Baher Kamal
MADRID, Feb 15 2016 (IPS)

When 25 million Syrians–half of them refugees abroad or at home and the other half terrorised by daily bombing, learnt that major world leaders in their meeting in Germany launched an unprecedented confrontation threatening with unleashing World War III, instead of easily agreeing on a ceasefire to alleviate their inhumane suffering, they most probably fell into an even deeper desperation. See what happened.

The biggest “official” warlords on Earth—the Russian military apparatus and the US Pentagon and its “allies”–Europe, the US-led NATO, the Saudi Arabia-led Gulf countries, and Turkey, have just walked a step closer to the edge of the Middle East abyss over the weekend during their Munich Security Conference.

On the one hand, Moscow has just warned Washington and Ryad against starting a “permanent war” if they launch a ground intervention in Syria.

Russian prime minister Dmitry Medvedev on 12 February told Germany’s Handelsblatt newspaper that sending foreign troops into Syria could unleash “yet another war on Earth.” The warning followed recent statements from Saudi Arabia, joined later by other Gulf states and Turkey, that they were ready to send ground troops to Syria, should Washington lead the way.

“All sides must be compelled to sit at the negotiating table, instead of unleashing yet another war on Earth,” Medvedev said. “Any kinds of land operations, as a rule, lead to a permanent war. Look at what’s happened in Afghanistan and a number of other countries. I am not even going to bring up poor Libya.”

“The Americans and Arab partners must think well: do they want a permanent war? Do they think they can really quickly win it? It is impossible, especially in the Arab world. Everyone is fighting against everyone there,” Medvedev added.

A New World War?

“We must make everyone sit down at the negotiating table…rather than start yet another world war,” the Russian prime minister added.

Titled: “Exclusive: Russia’s Medvedev Warns of New World War” Handelsblatt ran the interview on the eve of the Munich Security Conference‘s International Syria Support Group meeting, where the cessation of hostilities in Syria became a top item on the agenda.

On the other hand, the US Defence Secretary Ashton Carter was lobbying for an ample NATO participation in the so-called war on Islamic State (IS).

The Pentagon-NATO Axis

In fact, Ashton Carter on 11 February, following a NATO meeting in Brussels, said that this military alliance is considering joining the US-led coalition fighting Islamic State militants in Syria and Iraq.

“Thanks to the leadership of NATO (secretary general) Jens Stoltenberg, we are exploring the possibility of NATO joining the coalition as a member itself,” Ashton Carter said.

The alliance can bring “significant development” and “unique capabilities” which include “building partner capacity, training ground forces and providing stabilization support,” he added.

The day after, that’s on 12 February, NATO member states agreed to send AWACS surveillance aircraft to gather intelligence on IS over Iraq and Syria, replacing US jets. According to Ashton Carter, this will “increase the ability of the coalition to degrade and destroy the terrorist group.”

Syria’s Battlefield

Meanwhile, the military situation in Syria has been escalating, as Bashar al Assad’s army made further advances in the northern city of Aleppo.

At the same time, the predominantly Kurdish Syrian Democratic Forces recaptured a former military airbase in the Aleppo province, from jihadists near the Turkish-Syrian border, reportedly with the support of Russian air strikes.

NATO Warships to Aegean Sea to Combat “Migrant” Trafficking

On 11 February, NATO sent war ships to the Aegean Sea to help Turkey and Greece deal with people smugglers and stem the flow of migrants, the alliance’s top commander has announced.

Three NATO’s military vessels have been ordered to “start to move now” and head for the Aegean sea to conduct reconnaissance and surveillance operations, NATO secretary general Jens Stoltenberg on 11 February said.

“This is about helping Greece, Turkey and the European Union with stemming the flow of migrants and refugees and coping with a very demanding situation,” Stoltenberg said, describing the situation as a “human tragedy.” Stoltenberg also said that the alliance’s forces would be monitoring the land border between Syria and Turkey for people smugglers.

Saudi Jets on Syria

Parallely, Ankara announced that Saudi Arabia will deploy military jets and personnel to Turkey’s Incirlik Air Base in the south of the country. The base is already used by the US Air Force for their sorties in Syria.

The deployment is part of the US-led effort to defeat the Islamic State terrorist group, Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said.

“At every coalition meeting, we have always emphasized the need for an extensive result-oriented strategy in the fight against the DAESH terrorist group,” he said, referring to IS by an Arabic-language acronym for the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant.

Cavusoglu spoke to Turkish Yeni Şafak newspaper after addressing the Munich Security Conference. “If we have such a strategy, then Turkey and Saudi Arabia may launch a ground operation,” he added.

Furthermore, Saudi Foreign minister, Adel al-Jubeir, in an interview with the German newspaper Sueddeutsche Zeitung on 13 February, said “there will be no Bashar al-Assad in the future… It may take three months… it may take six months or three years, but he (al Assad) will not assume any more responsibility in Syria.”

“Don’t Go There,” Russia, Iran

Earlier, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates heralded their readiness to contribute troops for a ground operation in Syria on the condition that the US would lead the intervention.

Syria and its regional ally, Iran, warned that such a foreign force would face strong resistance. And Russian prime minister called on his Western counterparts in Munich Security Conference “not to threaten a ground operation” in Syria, stressing that Moscow is doing its utmost to pave the way for a lasting peace in the war-torn country.

Further on, Medvedev on 13 February said that the relationships between NATO and Russia have slid down toward a new Cold War, while describing NATO’s policy as “unfriendly and not transparent.”

“Almost every day we are referred to as the most terrible threat to NATO as a whole or to Europe, America and other countries specifically,” Medvedev said. “Although actual threats that exist in our small world – and I hope, you understand that – are absolutely different.”

In short, in less than one week, largest military powers have been threatening with invasions in Syria and armed interventions in Iraq, as their answer to the ongoing human tragedy.

Apparently there would be no problem with more unarmed, civilian populations being killed in all such military operations–it would probably be about a high official just saying: “sorry for this collateral damage.”

(End)

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