The Refugee Brief, 17 February 2020
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Afghan refugees call for peace and help to return home as international conference opens. An international conference marking 40 years of displacement for Afghan refugees opens in Islamabad today against the backdrop of a possible peace deal between Washington and the Taliban that could bring an end to Afghanistan's current war, now in its 19th year. Speaking at the opening of the meeting today, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said the story of Afghans' exile had been "a long and painful one" and the path ahead "remains uncertain". He pointed out that inside Afghanistan, fighting continues to kill and maim civilians, stifling the economy, contributing to the displacement of more than 400,000 people within the country last year alone and hindering repatriation efforts. Afghan refugees living in Pakistan for decades told Reuters that they dream of a peace deal being signed and of returning "home" but are worried about the conditions they would face in a country devastated by so many years of war. The two-day conference, which is also being attended by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, will highlight the need for more international support to Pakistan and Iran, which between them are hosting 90 per cent of Afghan refugees, and to reintegrating returning refugees.
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Shrinking options for displaced Syrians in Idlib. As the government offensive to re-take Syria's final opposition-held enclave in north-western Idlib province continued to push west over the weekend, emptying town after town, roads remained clogged with a never-ending stream of vehicles moving northwards to areas near the Turkish border. This multi-media report by the New York Times includes video and photos of overloaded trucks making the journey in freezing weather. Many families are fleeing for the third or fourth time and there are fewer and fewer places for them to go. Towns along the Turkish border are already bursting at the seams and aid groups say space to erect tents in the hilly terrain is scarce. Mark Cutts, the UN's deputy regional humanitarian coordinator for Syria told the Financial Times that 1,200 trucks of emergency supplies were sent across the border into Idlib in January but that the scale of the crisis meant they were not enough. The Guardian reports that snow and freezing weather have complicated relief efforts.
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At least 22 people killed in attack on Cameroon village. At least 22 people have been killed in an attack on a village in Cameroon's Northwest region, the UN said on Sunday. Armed men carried out the violence on Friday in the village of Ntumbo. Fourteen children, including nine under the age of five, were among the dead, according to James Nunan, an official with the UN's humanitarian coordination agency, OCHA. He told the BBC the incident had "terrified" the local population. Separatist groups suggested Cameroon's security forces were responsible for the attack, but an army official contacted by AFP denied the allegations. The killings follow elections last weekend that were marred by violence in the Northwest and Southwest regions. UNHCR reported on Thursday that 8,000 Cameroonian refugees crossed into Nigeria in the weeks leading up to the elections. |
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Aid workers face growing hostility on Lesvos. Al Jazeera reports that NGO workers on the Greek island of Lesvos are experiencing increasing mistrust and even hostility from locals frustrated by the presence of more than 18,300 asylum-seekers living in and around the Moria reception centre. Some local people have established roadblocks on the village peripheries and have harassed NGO employees. Such incidents come at a time of increased government scrutiny of NGO operations in the country as the Greek parliament voted last week to establish an online registry of aid organizations. Astrid Catelein, head of UNHCR's Lesvos office, said NGOS and volunteers had played a vital role in the refugee response, but that it was important all of them were known to the government. |
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Srebenica survivors still living in temporary homes. The Guardian reports from Bosnia where thousands of survivors of the 1995 genocide in Srebenica and other families internally displaced by the 1992-95 war are still living in temporary housing in refugee villages more than two decades after authorities promised them permanent homes and the resumption of normal life. Few people in the villages have regular employment, and many of the young people feel trapped in the same traumas associated with the war that their parents and grandparents are living with. The presence of Syrian and Afghan refugees sleeping rough at the train station in Tuzla near one of the refugee villages reminds the Srebenica survivors of what it means to be forced out of their homes. |
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Ethiopia ratifies convention on internally displaced people. Ethiopia's government ratified the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced People (IDPs), known as the Kampala Convention. UNHCR welcomed the move as significant in a country with one of the world's largest IDP populations. Many of the Ethiopia's estimated 1.78 million IDPs have been displaced by conflict while drought and flooding have forced others from their homes. Aid agencies are now warning of the threat posed by one of the worst locust infestations to hit the country in over 25 years. UNHCR said it was supporting national authorities in the drafting of a policy that will provide a domestic legal framework for the protection and assistance of IDPs. |
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A campaign called Behind the Source aimed at championing the graduates of a not-for-profit coding school for refugees, features seven "hidden" portraits built in code in the homepages of major companies such as eBay and Accenture. The graduates are now working as web developers for the companies taking part. The HackYourFuture programme has so far helped 120 refugees in the Netherlands and more than 200 globally to find jobs as web developers. |
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