http://www.irinnews.org/irin-fp.aspxUpdated everydayen-gbFri, 13 Nov 2009 14:14:04 GMTJOHANNESBURG Friday, November 13, 2009 (IRIN) - Guesstimating the number of undocumented migrants living in South Africa is like asking, "How long is a piece of string?" and the answer is - no one knows. JOHANNESBURG Friday, November 13, 2009 (IRIN) - Guesstimating the number of undocumented migrants living in South Africa is like asking, "How long is a piece of string?" and the answer is - no one knows.

The Minister of Home Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, when asked how many undocumented migrants were living in South Africa at a parliamentary media briefing on 12 November in the port city of Cape Town, answered candidly: "I don't know. If somebody's here illegally, how do I know they are here? I do not know - that's an honest answer."

The home affairs website cites a 1996 study by the Human Sciences Research Council, which estimated that between 2.5 million and 4.1 million undocumented migrants were living in South Africa, but that survey was conducted before neighbouring Zimbabwe's economy collapsed.

It is thought that since 2000 more than 3 million Zimbabweans have fled the country's economic freefall and political violence, many to South Africa - the continent's economic powerhouse - and others t6o countries as far afield as the UK and Australia.

The SA Police Services (SAPS) in its latest (2008/09) annual report said, "According to various estimates, the number of undocumented immigrants in South Africa may vary between three and six million people."

If the upper figure of 6 million is accurate - although other estimates have put the number at 10 million - then about 11 percent of people living in South Africa are undocumented.

A survey released on 13 November by the South African Institute of Race Relations (SAIRR), South Africa Survey 2008/2009 - Demographics, estimates the country's population at 49.32 million.

Marco MacFarlane, SAIRR's head of research, told IRIN he had heard of estimates of between 500,000 and 2 million undocumented migrants, but their numbers were not included in the demographic survey because "undocumented migrants are undocumented".

"Everyone has a methodology and it all looks like a best guess ... the SAPS figure of 3 to 6 million [undocumented migrants] means that there could be 3 million people who may or may not be here," MacFarlane told IRIN.

"It would be a very useful thing for the country to know how many people are here, but home affairs inefficiencies are dire and deeply engrained; to know how many people are here requires home affairs to become less corrupt and more efficient."

The government of President Jacob Zuma is discussing the introduction of a permit for undocumented migrants.

Asylum seekers

"What I can tell you is that [in 2008] there were about 110,000 applications for asylum. Only 10,000 were agreed to as genuine asylum seekers and those were then given refugee status," minister Dlamini-Zuma told the parliamentary media briefing, according to local news reports.

"The rest would have had to leave by either deportation or voluntarily ... But as for those who don't turn up at our offices, either as asylum-seekers or permit-seekers or anything, it's very difficult [for me to] give you a figure for that."

go/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=87032KUTUBDIA Tuesday, November 03, 2009 (IRIN) - The fisherman, his wife, three sons, two daughters, a sister-in-law, a dog and a goat and I eye each other dubiously. The family of eight is not certain whether I will be able to sleep in their mud hut, which is slightly bigger than a large sports utility vehicle. The animals seem to agree.KUTUBDIA Tuesday, November 03, 2009 (IRIN) - The fisherman, his wife, three sons, two daughters, a sister-in-law, a dog and a goat and I eye each other dubiously. The family of eight is not certain whether I will be able to sleep in their mud hut, which is slightly bigger than a large sports utility vehicle. The animals seem to agree.

Brajhari Das, the fisherman, quickly makes up his mind. "Kono samsaya nahin [There is no problem]," he says in Bangla.

Just then, the heavens open. The monsoon rains - two months late - begin to pound the tin roof, deafening us. Brajhari shouts to make himself heard above the din, "Space is not a problem, but can you manage on the mud floor?"

The rain drips in. His daughters, Priyanka, 12, and Priyushi, 8, giggle as I try to dodge the leaks, but their father has weightier problems on his mind - the hut is less than 500m from the sea, which is creeping closer "day by day".

Brajhari and his family live in a village on Kutubdia, an island off Bangladesh's southeastern coast in the Bay of Bengal. Stronger and higher tides, cyclones and storm surges are eating away all the islands; Kutubdia, which once covered 250 sq km, has been reduced to about 25 sq km within a century, but the islanders are convinced the sea level is also rising.

Brajhari, who heads the local fishermen's association, is 41 but looks in his late 50s. "It is a hard life as a fisherman - it is a dangerous profession," he says wearily, running his fingers through his greying hair. His face his tired but his eyes sparkle when he talks about his children, or the fish he caught that day.

Rupen, his 14-year-old son, speaks a bit of English. "My father goes out to the sea every six hours; he has an hour-long break in between and then he is back on the sea. We worry all the time if he will come back or not." Most days, after spending almost the entire day at sea, he makes a little over a dollar.

A few years ago, Brajhari disappeared while at sea. A rescue team from the village found him months later in the custody of the coastguard in neighbouring India, after he had drifted west into the Indian side of the Bay of Bengal.

Last month Brajhari bought his own boat with money carefully saved over many years. "He is now independent - earlier, he had to beg people in the village to take him along to the sea," Rupen said proudly.

The boat cost him 50,000 taka (US$723) - in the village of a 1,000 fishermen, only 20 own boats. Brajhari, who understands some of the conversation, beams.

Besides their "lifelong struggle with the sea", as Brajhari's wife, Purumi, put it, the islanders also have to beware of sudden climatic events, like cyclones.

Their village, East Aliabardail, was hit by Cyclone Aila in May 2009 and part of their hut was destroyed. Aila killed at least 190 people in Bangladesh but no lives were lost in the village because disaster officials evacuated most residents in time. Outside, the waves crash in the rain.

Cyclones, and the coastline creeping steadily inland, have forced the family to relocate and build new homes five times in the past three decades. "Because of all these cyclones we have left all our [dinner] plates and other belongings at my parents' house, which is a permanent structure further inside the island," said Purumi as she served food on the only two plates in their home.

"It would be good if the officials would fortify the island's coastline; we will have a better chance at survival in this drowning land," said Brajhari.

A woven cane mat suspended on two wooden poles divides the hut into two rooms, one with a table for each of the children to study and eat at, and some plastic chairs; there is no other furniture.

All their clothes hang on a rope along a wall of the hut. Their most precious belongings - photographs of long-lost friends and the children's school certificates - are locked in a small wooden box on a shelf.

The family eats when Brajhari brings home his catch; most of the money he earns each day is spent on rice. "We love our rice - our family needs at least six kilograms every day," he said, heaping it onto his plate. There are some curried shrimps and a fried hard boiled egg to go with the rice.

The family have their meal after Brajhari and I have eaten. Priyanka and Priyushi help their mother clean up. After dinner the children finish their homework beneath the solar lamp provided to five houses in the village by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

"I got the UNDP to open a school for our village," Brajhari commented. "I don't want our children to go into this profession [fishing] - I want them educated and out of here. There is no future here on this island."

His eldest son is a tailor in Dubai, but has been not yet been able to send money home, another is a hairdresser in town, and then there is Rupen, who "wants to be someone famous - pray for me". The youngest son is in primary school. Priyanka and Priyushi giggle and cover their faces shyly. "I think they might become doctors or teachers," says Purumi, trying to answer for them.

The rains stop suddenly. We realize we are all a bit tired from being forced to have a rather loud conversation and woven cane mats are spread out on the mud floor for the night.

I get to sleep near the entrance between the dog, the goat and Purumi's sister. None of the animals stir in the night, but I am awakened around midnight, when Brajhari has to go to sea. He creeps back into the hut around 5 a.m., throwing his wet clothes outside. Purumi is up and sweeps the muddy entrance.

The village is surrounded by slushy clay soil. My feet sink into it as I go out to brush my teeth, clutching my bottle of mineral water. The villagers head for the hand-pump. A plastic sheet tied around four poles serves as the neighbourhood toilet; the women rush to get there before the men get up.

It is another day. Brajhari has to go out to sea again. After a quick bath under the village hand-pump, he and Purumi prepare for their morning prayers. They fill two brass containers with water, cover the water with flower petals and place the urns on a raised mud platform in a corner of their home. They squat in front of the platform and pray.

"We worship the sea and the River Ganges," said Brajhari. "Their water is our life - we seek their blessings and ask them to be kind to us every day."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86854ABATETE Tuesday, November 03, 2009 (IRIN) - Severe erosion over many years in Anambra, southeastern Nigeria, has cut off or destroyed hundreds of homes, businesses, farms and schools, prompting the governor to call for a state of emergency in the area where he says thousands of people now risk being displaced.ABATETE Tuesday, November 03, 2009 (IRIN) - Severe erosion over many years in Anambra, southeastern Nigeria, has cut off or destroyed hundreds of homes, businesses, farms and schools, prompting the governor to call for a state of emergency in the area where he says thousands of people now risk being displaced.

Among the worst-hit towns are Ideani, Abatete, Oko, Ekwulobia, Nanka and Onitsha, according to Anambra environment commissioner Michael Egbebike, with as many as one million people who could be forced from their homes.

Buildings have collapsed in several towns including Idi Ani, and farmers in the area have seen their fruit trees washed away during this year's rains, according to the town’s traditional ruler Igwe Okoye. “We’ve lost a lot of orange trees, mango trees and palms.” He said buildings and other resources have also been affected.

In nearby Abatete, deepening gulleys threaten to make the town’s only state-run school unreachable, town councilor Efobe Okeke told IRIN.

“Many homesteads and cash crops are daily in danger of yielding to the fury of this monster,” Okeke said. “It is devastating.”

Abatete store-owner John Uche told IRIN: “My store which was my source of living was washed away this year; I need help to feed my family.”

Why

Until 150 years ago southeastern Nigeria was covered by thick rainforest but soil degradation began with the widespread planting of trees to meet European demands for palm oil in the mid-19th century, according to environmentalists. Palm trees generate soil salinity, according to state environmental protection agency (EPA) director Emma Ude Akpeh.

The combination of this loose soil, hilly landscape and strong rains for several months of the year are ideal erosion conditions, she said. She added that farmers’ habit of burning off brush destroys roots and shrubs that could help curb erosion.

Poor urban planning, population growth and improper waste disposal have converged to exacerbate the problem, environment commissioner Egbebike told IRIN. People dump refuse or build houses on waterways and canals, obstructing the flow of rain-water, causing deep gulleys to form when it rains.

Government accountability

EPA’s Akpeh told IRIN the state environmental protection agency is working to clear rubbish from ditches and collecting rubbish house-to-house. The Anambra environment ministry meanwhile is planting trees near towns to stem erosion and is encouraging families to reinforce their houses with sand bags during the rainy season, Egbebike said.

But he said the commission needed more federal and international support to make a real difference. Anambra’s governor has joined four governors from erosion-prone neighbouring states to appeal for federal funding.

Village leaders in Ideani and Abatete are taking matters into their own hands by encouraging inhabitants to plant erosion-resistance and soil-binding crops such as India bamboo and cashew trees, according to town councilor Okeke. “You can’t fold your hands and watch your house be carried away,” he said. “But individuals cannot handle the situation alone.”

Traditional ruler Okoye said with each passing year the cost of inaction grows. “What would have been controlled with less than one million naira [US$6,000] 10 years ago cannot be controlled now by 10 billion naira [$66 million] now.”

hu/aj/nphttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86863NAIROBI Monday, November 02, 2009 (IRIN) - A 22-year-old ban on people infected with HIV entering the US was officially lifted on 2 November, with the new rules taking effect in 60 days. AIDS activists have hailed the move as a major coup in the fight against stigma.NAIROBI Monday, November 02, 2009 (IRIN) - A 22-year-old ban on people infected with HIV entering the US was officially lifted on 2 November, with the new rules taking effect in 60 days. AIDS activists have hailed the move as a major coup in the fight against stigma.

"This comes as very good news for us," Michael Angaga, regional coordinator for the Network of African People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAP+), told IRIN/PlusNews.

"For so long HIV-positive people have felt isolated by one of the greatest nations in the world, which should be spearheading human rights." Angaga said he looked forward to seeing the new rules rapidly implemented in US embassies around the world.

In 1987 HIV was added to the list of communicable diseases that could prevent infected immigrants, students and tourists from obtaining visas to enter the US without special permission. President Barack Obama's announcement on 30 October marked the end of a process started in 2008 by then US President George W. Bush, who signed a law repealing these restrictions.

"We lead the world when it comes to helping stem the AIDS pandemic, yet we are one of only a dozen countries that still bar people from HIV from entering our own country. If we want to be the global leader in combating HIV/AIDS, we need to act like it," Obama was reported as saying.

Samuel Kibanga, national coordinator of the National Forum of People living with HIV/AIDS Networks in Uganda, commented: "This shows that America can now see the reality that people living with HIV are just like any other people, deserving of the right to free movement - the travel ban was discrimination of the highest calibre."

The UNAIDS International Guidelines on HIV/AIDS and Human Rights state that any restriction on liberty of movement or choice of residence based on suspected or real HIV status alone, including HIV screening of international travellers, is discriminatory.

Governments usually give two main reasons for imposing travel restrictions on HIV-positive people: to help control the spread of HIV, and save host countries the cost of HIV-related treatment, but Kibanga said these regulations merely drove the problem of HIV underground.

"People fear to reveal their status when travelling. It is better to be with someone who feels free to be open about their status than one who is hiding it," he said. "That way we can all fight AIDS as partners."

A June 2009 report [http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2009/06/18/discrimination-denial-and-deportation-0] by watchdog organization Human Rights Watch, found that immigration laws and stringent requirements for accessing free health care often created insurmountable barriers to treatment and care for migrants living with HIV.

Kibanga said he hoped the US's move would serve as an example to other nations. According to UNAIDS, 59 countries impose some form of travel restrictions on people living with HIV.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86840TEL AVIV Friday, October 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Migrant workers in Israel’s agriculture sector are among the most exploited, according to a 28 October report by Kav LaOved, an Israeli NGO campaigning for the rights of disadvantaged workers in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.TEL AVIV Friday, October 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Migrant workers in Israel’s agriculture sector are among the most exploited, according to a 28 October report by Kav LaOved, [http://www.kavlaoved.org.il/default_eng.asp] an Israeli NGO campaigning for the rights of disadvantaged workers in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Ninety percent of such workers work more hours than allowed under Israeli law, without overtime payments, said the report, which has been presented to members of parliament.

The report summarizes hundreds of complaints by agricultural workers and dozens of inspections by Kav LaOved volunteers at work sites around the country, and paints a grim picture of systematic exploitation and severe violations of workers’ rights in the agricultural sector.

Hanna Zohar, Kav LaOved director, said the workers, mostly Thai, are completely unaware of their rights.

“Having paid US$8-10,000 to work in Israel, they are prime material for abuse by the farmers, as they are afraid to lose their jobs and not able to pay off the loans taken to cover these payments to the middlemen,” Zohar said.

The launch of the report has been timed to coincide with the current campaign by farmers for additional permits for migrant workers, and is intended to further public debate on the issue.

Farmers have been demonstrating for more permits in recent weeks and there have been violent clashes with the police.

Some 30,000 migrant workers are employed in the agricultural sector, mostly from Thailand, Nepal, Sri Lanka and some from the Palestinian Authority, according to Kav LaOved and official figures from the Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour.

The Thai workers come from rural areas after paying middlemen in Thailand and Israel, and most work in remote and isolated locations, unaware of their legal rights, according to Kav LaOved’s research done in the past year.

The report said it is common practice in many agri-businesses to dock leave, and some employers give workers only one day off a month.

Employers who withhold passports - strongly condemned by the legal authorities - are still commonplace, according to Kav LaOved and Moked, another NGO which campaigns for the rights of migrants.

Since the beginning of 2009, 10 percent of agricultural workers (2,950) have been injured, the report said.

Harsh living conditions

Evidence of harsh living conditions and demeaning treatment crop up routinely in Kav LaOved’s inspection reports.

At a visit to one farm, IRIN found some workers living at a potato crop disposal site, in a small, stifling container. Workers told IRIN they cannot leave as they must pay off huge debts in their home countries.

The Israeli Ministry of Industry, Trade and Labour spokespersons’ unit said: “The department of foreign workers has been investigating private manpower and building cooperatives to prevent [the] charging [of] migrant workers sums that exceed those allowed by law… In 2009, dozens of licenses were revoked… We ask Kav LaOved to work jointly with the attorney in charge of foreign workers’ rights in the ministry, Iris Maayan, and allow the different enforcement factors in GOI [Government of Israel] offices to work more efficiently. The issue is of great importance for the Ministry.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86808HARGEISA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Immigration officials in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with claims that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in 2008.HARGEISA Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Immigration officials in the self-declared republic of Somaliland have expressed concern over the increase in the number of illegal Ethiopian migrants entering the region, with claims that up to 90 people are arriving daily, against 50 in 2008.

An immigration official, who requested anonymity, said most of those arriving in Somaliland were asylum-seekers from the Oromiya region of Ethiopia. Others transit through Somaliland en route to the Arabian Peninsula.

The exact number of Ethiopian refugees in Somaliland is unclear as the region's authorities and the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, have different figures.

Mohamed Ismail, the director of social affairs in the Ministry of Interior - charged with overseeing refugee affairs and asylum-seekers – said: "We consider 4,000 individuals as Ethiopian refugees but all the other people who live in Somaliland are not refugees; [they have] come to Somaliland for a better life."

According to UNHCR Somalia, Somaliland has 1,600 Ethiopian refugees and more than 14,000 asylum-seekers.

"UNHCR has the responsibility of engaging in strong information campaigns targeting Ethiopians on their right to seek asylum if they are fleeing persecution in their country and of the rights they have as refugees," Roberta Russo, a spokeswoman for the agency, told IRIN on 22 October.

However, a source in the Ministry of Interior said the last estimate by the ministry and UNHCR in 2006 was that at least 8,000 Ethiopian refugees were in Somaliland.

Saleban Ismail Bulale, chairman of the Horn of Africa Human Rights Organization, based in Hargeisa, said: "UNHCR has granted refugee status to only 1,500, but it is estimated that there are thousands of Ethiopians in Somaliland."

Living on the streets

Asha Abdi, an Ethiopian mother of six living on the streets of Hargeisa, told IRIN: "My children and I left our home in Babuli town in Ethiopia's Oromiya Region several months ago; we came because we had suffered lack of food for a long time."

Hers is one of several Ethiopian families trying to survive on Hargeisa's streets. "We live in the shade of local houses and beg for food to survive," Asha said.

An Ethiopian official, who requested anonymity, told IRIN it seemed the UNHCR office in Hargeisa was encouraging asylum-seekers to enter Somaliland.

"Ethiopians emigrate to Somaliland in search of a better life; for example, they want to be relocated to a foreign country. You see them coming here and then going back to their homes after registering with the UNHCR office in Hargeisa as asylum-seekers," the official said. "When their time comes for their relocation, they come back to Hargeisa."

However, Russo said UNHCR did everything possible to inform the refugees of their rights and to ensure the protection mechanisms put in place were not abused.

In very few cases, she said, UNHCR offered the option of resettlement to a third country if the refugees faced insecurity in the country of asylum or if it was impossible for them to integrate. Russo added that this opportunity was offered to the most needy cases.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86708GABORONE Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Botswana has closed a loophole allowing pastors and preachers to avoid certain immigration regulations.GABORONE Friday, October 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Botswana has closed a loophole allowing pastors and preachers to avoid certain immigration regulations.

The special dispensation for men and women of the cloth allowed them to practice or hold church leadership positions, making it easy for foreign nationals to disguise themselves as preachers.

They could apply for a waiver and start work immediately on entry into the country, rather than having to wait while their applications for work permits were approved and processed.

In the last decade as many as three million Zimbabweans are thought to have fled to neighbouring states such as South Africa and Botswana, and further afield to Europe and Australia, to escape the economic meltdown in their country.

Zimbabweans are eligible to stay in neighbouring Botswana for 90 days if they produce a valid passport, but passports are difficult to obtain, while the cost puts them beyond the reach of most citizens.

Lebogang Bok, a spokesperson for Botswana's labour and home affairs ministry, announced on 22 October that "Effective 1 August 2009 ... All new applicants, non-citizens, priests, pastors and church leaders, etc., will be required to obtain work and residence permits before commencement of ministry or preaching in any church in Botswana."

The new regulations mean that hundreds of foreigners, particularly those from Zimbabwe and Nigeria, could be deported to their country of origin. Bok said the authorities would strictly apply the new measures.

"As a result of the removal of the exemption, those whose residence permits have expired, or will be expiring, are required to apply for work permits upon renewal of their residence permits. It is recommended that such applications should be lodged about six months before expiry and or renewal to avoid inconvenience," Bok said.

Church registrations

In 2008, Zimbabwean pastors Chris Chissana of Christ Embassy Church, and Edmore Chaka of the Abundant Life Ministries, were deported from Botswana and declared prohibited immigrants.

Christ Embassy Church has branches across Botswana and is one of the most popular churches in the capital, Gaborone; the branch in the low-density suburb of Block 8 has a membership of close to 2,000 people.

The regulations come on the back of the government scaling up its efforts to register all churches and their members in a bid to rein in foreign nationals overstaying their visas. There are an estimated 1,000 church groupings in Botswana.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86725TEL AVIV Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Some 838 students formally offered places and/or enrolled at foreign universities are unable to leave Gaza, according to the Palestinian interior ministry and Gisha, an NGO campaigning for freedom of movement.TEL AVIV Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Some 838 students formally offered places and/or enrolled at foreign universities are unable to leave Gaza, according to the Palestinian interior ministry and Gisha, [http://www.gisha.org/] an NGO campaigning for freedom of movement.

Of the 1,983 Gazan students in this position, only 1,145 have been able to leave Gaza since the beginning of 2009 due to a combination of travel restrictions and bureaucratic hurdles.

Many studying in the USA, for example, cannot get a US visa as they have been prevented by the Israeli authorities from travelling to the US consulate in Jerusalem.

According to Gisha, the criteria for departure set by Israel include obtaining a recognized scholarship and studying only in a country with diplomatic representation in Israel. Students who wish to leave through Israel must also be accompanied by a diplomatic representative.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86686TEL AVIV Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai has said he will not grant legal status to some 1,200 children of migrant workers, triggering an anti-deportation campaign led by several NGOs. TEL AVIV Thursday, October 22, 2009 (IRIN) - Israeli Interior Minister Eli Yishai has said he will not grant legal status to some 1,200 children of migrant workers, triggering an anti-deportation campaign led by several NGOs.

The 1,200 are not included in the 2006 government scheme that granted legal status to over 600 children of migrant workers.
 
“Their parents are using them to gain legal status in Israel… If we do not deport them, migrant workers will continue to exploit the kindness of the state of Israel,” Yishai said.
 
A clause in most migrant workers’ contracts forbids them from having children in Israel and says pregnant women must leave the country. Many NGOs say the clause is inhumane and draconian.
 
Nevertheless, an estimated 2,000 children of migrants were said to have been born in the past decade in Israel, according to the Tel Aviv Education Authority.
 
Some 250 families face deportation along with hundreds of children born in the past three years in Israel, according to activists campaigning for migrants’ rights.
 
In July, OZ (the new immigration enforcement unit) launched an operation aimed at deporting nearly 300,000 illegal migrants and visa violators, according to Tziki Sela, head of OZ in Israel’s Immigration Authority.
 
Criticism by some members of parliament, and religious and community leaders, forced Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to postpone the deportation of families of migrant foreign workers with children: Due to begin on 1 August, it was halted for three months.
 
Meanwhile, an official OZ report seen by IRIN on 21 October said 700 migrant workers without children had been deported since 1 June 2009, and 2,000 had "left willingly".
 
On 12 October, a parliament committee on migrant workers decided to start deporting children by the middle of 2010 when schools close.

Anti-deportation campaign
 
Deportations are set to take place despite a "massive" (according to top Israeli officials) anti-deportation campaign led by several NGOs and aid organizations, including Moked, the hotline for migrant workers.
 
Karen Tal, manager of the Bialik-Rogozin public school in southern Tel Aviv, told reporters some 302 children in the school (out of 784) are up for deportation if Yishai does not change his mind. Tal spoke about the hardships and uncertainty faced by the children since June, when the intention to deport them was revealed.
 
Sources in the Immigration Authority and the OZ unit told IRIN they had no intention of operating within schools despite the relative ease of detaining children and parents there.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86694LUANDA-KINSHASA Tuesday, October 20, 2009 (IRIN) - A burgeoning humanitarian crisis among the tens of thousands of people expelled by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighbouring Angola is beginning to unfold.LUANDA-KINSHASA Tuesday, October 20, 2009 (IRIN) - A burgeoning humanitarian crisis among the tens of thousands of people expelled by the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighbouring Angola is beginning to unfold.

"The fears of a humanitarian emergency and the needs of the people have been confirmed," said the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) representative, Bohdan Nahajlo, after an assessment visit to the affected region in northern Angola.

The most urgent needs of the expelled are shelter, food, medicine and sanitation facilities.

Tit-for-tat expulsions since August 2009 by the governments of Angola and DRC have led to more than 32,000 Angolans being repatriated to Angola, and about 18,800 Congolese nationals being deported from Angola. Following talks on 13 October in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, both countries agreed to "immediately stop the expulsions of citizens of their respective states".

Nahajlo told IRIN that providing humanitarian assistance to the displaced was becoming a race against time, as the rainy season was closing in and would make the roads from the Angolan capital, Luanda, impassable, and the M'banza Congo airport in Angola's northern province of Zaire was not an option because it was closed for renovation.

"Sanitation [in the reception centres] is very bad," he said. Around 17,500 expelled Angolans were in the Mama Rosa settlement in the border-crossing town of Luvo.

Three settlements close to the town of Cuimba, near the DRC border in Zaire, were also hosting displaced people: there were about 5,000 in Lendi, about 2,500 in Casileha, and around 2,600 in Buela.

In Lendi more than 5,000 refugees had hastily erected very basic shelters. "Water is being given directly to the population in buckets - there are reports of people ill with diarrhoea and vomiting," Nahajlo said.

However, the exact number of people displaced to Angola is unclear, as people may have fled to Cabinda, the oil-rich Angolan province surrounded by DRC, or other areas bordering DRC, he told IRIN.

A recent UNHCR assessment of Angolan refugees in the DRC found that about 43,000 were willing to be repatriated voluntarily, but "in this atmosphere people will be encouraged to return," and the refugee agency was expecting a second wave of about 50,000 people, Nahajlo said.

"Besides addressing the immediate humanitarian and protection needs, we should also prepare for a continuous flow of Angolans into the country," who were crossing the border out of fear, and the hope of being reunited with their families in Angola, he warned.

The speed of the expulsions meant that some people had been driven from their places of work without being able to inform their families, people in mixed nationality marriages had been forbidden to accompany their spouses to Angola, and families had been split, with children divided among their parents.

"I met a man who told me he was given 24 hours to leave, but he could not reach his wife, who had travelled to another town to visit her sick mother. He ended up leaving the family behind," Yolanda Ditewig, a UNHCR Protection Officer who was part of the assessment team, told IRIN.

The Angolan government has estimated that about 10,000 tents, of which UNHCR is expected to provide about half, would be required to provide shelter for the expelled Angolans.

During Angola's almost three decades of civil war, which ended in 2002, the DRC hosted more than 100,000 Angolan refugees; since then, thousands of undocumented Congolese migrants - mostly thought to be illegal diamond diggers – have been working in Angola.

The ebb and flow of people expelled from both sides of the border has become a common spat between the neighbours. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) there have been six major waves of expulsions since 2003, in which a total of 140,000 Congolese were deported from Angola.

Back in the DRC


"There are no sites to host the expelled people [from Angola]," said Willy Iloma, who chairs a human rights organisation and coordinates NGOs in Muanda territory on the Angolan border, in the extreme west of the DRC's Bas-Congo Province. "They are now scattered in churches and among host families; some have gone to Kinshasa [capital of DRC] and other towns."

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, there are two groups in Muanda and Tshela territories: "forced voluntary expulsees who left following threats, and those who were physically deported to the border. Most of them are small-businesspeople, as well as women and children. Although these expulsees have humanitarian needs, the situation is now under control and aid is not currently required [in DRC]."

Security agents searched us, even our private parts. They took everything. Women had to abandon their husbands and here we are, abandoned; nobody is looking out for us
Iloma said the expulsees "have gone through a hell that began in Angola when they were arrested and held in cells for three days. Women were raped and men molested, and their goods were taken away before they crossed the border. Some turn to begging; others sell what few possessions they have left in the market."

Some of the women who were raped were pregnant, said Marie Munzi, who was among the DRC citizens expelled from the Angolan enclave of Cabinda. "Some women gave birth during their journey."

Angolan "security agents searched us, even our private parts. They took everything. Women had to abandon their husbands and here we are, abandoned; nobody is looking out for us," she said.

Simon Mbatshi, the governor of Bas-Congo, said steps had been taken to meet humanitarian needs, such as making trucks available to send food to the affected areas, and "the government has decided to vaccinate all the children crossing the border."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86659JOHANNESBURG Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - The number of Angolan refugees deported from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] has now topped 28,000, raising fears that a newly announced agreement between the two governments might not necessarily bring a halt to expulsions.JOHANNESBURG Thursday, October 15, 2009 (IRIN) - The number of Angolan refugees deported from neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo [DRC] has now topped 28,000, raising fears that a newly announced agreement between the two governments might not necessarily bring a halt to expulsions.

Both countries agreed to "immediately stop the expulsions of citizens of their respective states", and said they regretted the "recent migratory incidents" in a joint communiqué issued after talks on 13 October in the DRC capital, Kinshasa.

"We hope that this time the agreement will be implemented; this time there was a more high-level delegation," said Francesca Fontanini, spokesperson for the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in the DRC, noting that previous talks had failed.

Thousands fled Angola's long civil war by crossing the border into DRC, and over 111,000 Angolans were still living in the DRC before the repatriations began in August 2009. "The majority of these people were refugees," Fontanini told IRIN.

On the other hand, Angola has for years deported thousands of undocumented Congolese migrants - mostly thought to be illegal diamond diggers - working in Angola. In the latest surge, some 18,800 DRC nationals have been expelled from Angola since August 2009.

The move by DRC is seen as a retaliatory response. According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) there have been six major waves of expulsions since 2003, in which a total of 140,000 Congolese were deported from Angola.

Katharina Schnöring, the Chief of Mission of the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) in Angola, said the Angolan government had set up a reception camp near the border post of Luvo/Lufu, in the northern province of Zaire, where most of the expelled Angolans had gathered.

"They have started registering people, distributing food, tents and NFIs [non-food items]," she told IRIN. The Angolan government estimated it had enough stock to last 30 days, and a joint government/UN assessment team was underway to appraise the situation, she said.

"The government wants to transport people home, but this is not always possible: some people had lived in the DRC for 40 or even 60 years," Schnöring said.

The 1960s saw the rise of various independence groups and guerrilla warfare in Angola. In 1974, tired of the war, Portugal agreed to hand over power to a coalition of the three major Angolan nationalist organisations, but civil war broke out almost immediately after independence in 1975 and lasted for the next 27 years.

The civil war ended in 2002, but the impact on the country has been immense: an estimated 1.5 million people lost their lives, hundreds of thousands were displaced, infrastructure was destroyed, more than half a million faced starvation when peace returned, and about eight million landmines littered the country.

Reintegrating the growing number of Angolans gathered at the border post into their original communities as soon as possible, rather than setting up camps, is seen as the best solution, but organizing transport would be a race against time: "The rainy season is approaching and the roads are not that good in Angola," Schnöring commented.

Even if the agreement was upheld on a diplomatic level, there were fears that the latest round of deportations might have fanned lingering animosity between Angolans and Congolese living in each other's countries. "There are fears of xenophobia - that's the real danger now. We are worried this [situation] might explode," Schnöring warned.

A recent assessment by UNHCR among the Angolan refugee population in DRC indicated that some 43,000 were willing to be repatriated voluntarily. "They had expressed a desire to go home," Fontanini said.

"We were planning to start that process before the end of the year - we would have sat down with both governments to discuss how this could best be done."

tdm/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86607GULU Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (IRIN) - The imminent closure of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in northern Uganda is causing concern among HIV-positive residents, who fear they may not have access to vital health services when they return to their villages.GULU Wednesday, October 14, 2009 (IRIN) - The imminent closure of internally displaced persons (IDP) camps in northern Uganda is causing concern among HIV-positive residents, who fear they may not have access to vital health services when they return to their villages.

The decommissioning of the IDP camps started in the region on 1 October, with six closed in Gulu district. The camps have accommodated more than one million people for the duration of the 20-year war between the government and the rebels of the Lord's Resistance Army; peace talks between the warring parties and more than two years of sustained security in the region prompted the decision to close the camps.

"I don't know what is going to happen to some of us on ARVs; we are not being told where to access these drugs from our villages," said Joseph Ochieng*, who lived in Bobi camp, in Gulu district, until its recent closure.

No services at home

"There are no health or distribution centres for these drugs in the return villages," said Jane Atimango*, another former IDP. "We have no option but to travel long distances to look for these drugs."

Organizations working in HIV have also expressed concern that monitoring their clients may become more difficult as they disperse to places lacking easy access to health centres.

"In camps the facilities were in abundance, but now we need transport for proper monitoring as people are scattered in the villages," said Louis Okello, a representative of people living with HIV in Patiko sub-county, Gulu district.

Prevention services are needed as well. Recent research by the AIDS, Security and Conflict Research Hub http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shortid=MYAI-7W63UH&file=Full_Report.pdf shows that the transition from war to peace can increase risks of HIV transmission as refugees go home, soldiers leave the army, relief agencies wind down, and rapid economic growth occurs around key urban centres.

According to the Ministry of Health, HIV prevalence in Uganda's northern-central region is just over 8 percent, higher than the national average of 6.4 percent.

Government officials say there are plans to roll out health services to the community by building new health centres and improving the capacity of existing ones.

"There are already health centres in the return areas, although they are not sufficient," Kabakumba Masiko, the Minister of Information and National Guidance, told IRIN/PlusNews. "The government is committed to the rehabilitation and development of the region."

"At the moment the services are only available at health centres … in county headquarters," said Stephen Oloya, chairman of Gulu District's camp phase-out committee.

"For VCT services [voluntary counselling and testing], we are expanding them to sub-county level as we have tried to operationalize all the health centres at sub-county level," he added. "We are also planning to open health centres at parish level."

Community distribution

One local NGO, however, has already put in place measures to ensure people in its care continue their treatment uninterrupted; the AIDS Support Organization has opened community drug distribution points in various villages where patients can collect their drugs as well as seek psycho-social support and medical care.

"We have the capacity to map and follow the clients to the places they will go; to make our work easy, we encourage them to give us maps to their places," said Sam Emukok, a TASO public relations officer. "TASO will continue delivering services to the registered clients regardless of where they will go after camp decongestion."

Emukok said most HIV-positive IDPs would be happy to return to their homes, where they could cultivate their own food and eat a more balanced and varied diet than in the camps.

"People who are living with HIV and are under our care know the importance of camp closure given the challenges they have faced in the camps; they can now engage in agriculture to get food to supplement their diets," he added. "We give this information during health education in the clinics, outreaches and during radio talk shows."

More than two-thirds of the IDPs in the region have already left the camps - some returning to their original villages and others to satellite camps between the IDP camps and their villages.

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* not their real names

http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86573JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, October 13, 2009 (IRIN) - The tit-for-tat expulsion of thousands of Angolan refugees living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the repatriation of thousands of undocumented Congolese migrants working in Angola, is raising fears of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the making.JOHANNESBURG Tuesday, October 13, 2009 (IRIN) - The tit-for-tat expulsion of thousands of Angolan refugees living in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), and the repatriation of thousands of undocumented Congolese migrants working in Angola, is raising fears of a "humanitarian catastrophe" in the making.

A Situation Report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said there were concerns over the risk of "an actual humanitarian catastrophe" near the border post of Luvo/Lufu, in the northern Angolan province of Zaire, "where a huge number of expulsees are gathering".

Whether the situation would turn catastrophic, said Maurizio Giuliano, Public Information Officer and Advocacy Manager for (OCHA), in the DRC capital, Kinshasa, depended on the number of new arrivals.

"The main concern now is transportation," and how soon it could be provided, he said. It was also crucial for humanitarian actors to determine the water, sanitation, health and food needs, should the situation deteriorate.

According to ANGOP, the Angolan state-run media outlet, the number of Angolans forcefully removed from the DRC since a large-scale repatriation operation kicked off in August 2009 had topped 23,000 by 13 October.

The move has been widely regarded as retaliatory response by DRC to Angola's deportation of thousands of Congolese nationals, which had been going on for years, Giuliano told IRIN.

"Expulsions in both directions have been going on for some time now, but what is new is the number and intensity we are seeing in this latest wave," he said. Since 2003 there have been six major waves of expulsions, in which 140,000 Congolese were repatriated.

The OCHA report said the new wave "started in January 2009, and reached a climax between late August and now. Since the beginning of this wave, approximately 18,800 DRC nationals have reportedly been expelled from Angola."

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) had started receiving reports of ill-treatment, detention, and theft of property during a campaign against irregular migrants in Angola's northern Lunda Norte province in May 2009, the OCHA report noted.

Most Congolese in Angola were thought to be illegal diamond diggers, while the majority of Angolans in DRC had been living there for decades after fleeing Angola's protracted civil war, which ended in 2002.

The Angolan government described the DRC's decision to apply the principle of reciprocity, and the ensuing action, as "disproportionate", and has announced the cessation of flights between Luanda, the Angolan capital, and Kinshasa.

tdm/hehttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86567BANGKOK Monday, October 05, 2009 (IRIN) - Most migrants do not move from developing to developed countries, and when they do, rather than hurting host economies, they benefit them, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).BANGKOK Monday, October 05, 2009 (IRIN) - Most migrants do not move from developing to developed countries, and when they do, rather than hurting host economies, they benefit them, according to a new report by the UN Development Programme (UNDP).

The UNDP's Human Development Report 2009, launched globally on 5 October in Bangkok, dispels several myths about migration, instead underlining the economic and social benefits for countries.

"Mobility can bring large gains in development," Jeni Klugman, director of the report, told IRIN. "It's presently very much constrained by a whole range of barriers, and reform [of] these barriers could allow much greater potential to be released."

The annual report calls for several migration reforms, including for states to ensure basic rights for migrants, and the mainstreaming of migration into national development plans.

ey/mwhttp://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86431TEL AVIV Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Rights groups such as Amnesty International have called on the Egyptian authorities to "urgently rein in their border security forces" after seven African asylum-seekers were killed in September trying to cross into Israel on foot, but some Israeli NGOs and soldiers say the death toll at the border is far higher.TEL AVIV Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Rights groups such as Amnesty International have called on the Egyptian authorities to "urgently rein in their border security forces" after seven African asylum-seekers were killed in September trying to cross into Israel on foot, but some Israeli NGOs and soldiers say the death toll at the border is far higher.

''I strongly believe there are hundreds of unreported dead and wounded [at the border]," Sigal Rosen, public activities coordinator at the NGO Moked, a hotline for migrants, told IRIN.

"We've interviewed hundreds of asylum-seekers and nearly all told us that some people in their group were shot and left behind while attempting to cross the border. Furthermore, we have evidence from IDF [Israeli Defence Forces] soldiers revealing that the death toll on the Egyptian side is much higher than reported. The graveyard for asylum-seekers shot on the [Israeli side] of the border in Kibbutz Hatzor already holds 25 graves [since mid-2007]. Many of the asylum-seekers tell us that [other] bodies are left in the dessert.''

The Sons of Darfur, an NGO assisting asylum-seekers in Israel, concurred that many more were being killed than reports suggested. ''We expect Israel to pressure the Egyptians to stop shooting at asylum-seekers at the border,'' said the NGO's director, Yassin (his only name).

An IDF reserve soldier speaking on condition of anonymity told IRIN: ''We hear that [shooting] every night, and nearly every morning we are informed that the Egyptians shot more asylum-seekers to death - it is common practice.''

Incidents in September

The most recent reported incident at the Egypt-Israel border was on 20 September when a Sudanese asylum-seeker was shot dead, according to the Egyptian police.

This incident followed one on 16 September when two Eritrean asylum-seekers were shot dead, and at the start of the month when four African asylum-seekers were killed.

According to Amnesty International, their killings brought the number of Africans shot dead at the border to 14 so far in 2009, while 28 were killed in 2008

Scores more reach Israel wounded, according to NGOs, volunteers and leaders in the asylum-seeker community as well as hospital records and IDF soldiers.

IRIN met several asylum-seekers in Tel Aviv who said they had been shot at the border; they displayed wounds varying from bullet grazes to major gunshot injuries.

Egypt defends use of lethal force

In response to Amnesty International's allegations, Egypt's Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Hossam Zaki issued a statement defending the use of lethal force by border guards, saying the "protection of the Egyptian borders stems from Egypt's respect for international law and international commitments".

He said asylum-seekers were only fired upon "after they ignore the warnings of the border guards" and said policing the border was difficult because of the "smuggling of weapons, drugs and goods".

"These individuals appeared to pose no threat to the lives of the border guards or anyone else. Attempted border crossings are not a capital offence," said Joe Stork, associate Middle East director at the New York-based pressure group Human Rights Watch, in a statement.

Some 24,000 asylum-seekers have illegally entered Israel through its southern border in the past five years, according to estimates by Israel's Ministry of Interior.

Estimates of the number of asylum-seekers in Israel today vary from 17,000, as registered by the UN Refugee Agency, to some 24,000, as claimed by the Israeli immigration authority.

According to sources in the IDF and immigration authority, asylum-seekers are crossing the Egypt-Israel border at a rate of 400-600 every month, despite the grave dangers.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86368BEIRUT Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Abbey was a nurse at a French hospital in Madagascar when a recruitment agency suggested to her boss that she travel to Lebanon for three years to work and learn Arabic so she could better care for the Arab sailors whose ships docked at the Indian Ocean island.BEIRUT Wednesday, September 30, 2009 (IRIN) - Abbey was a nurse at a French hospital in Madagascar when a recruitment agency suggested to her boss that she travel to Lebanon for three years to work and learn Arabic so she could better care for the Arab sailors whose ships docked at the Indian Ocean island.

Abbey, not her real name, was presented by the recruitment agent with a three-year contract, which included transport to the Lebanese hospital, and a salary of US$1,000 per month.

On arrival there, however, she was put in a house with another Madagascan domestic worker where she was forced to cook, clean and care for three children and a newborn.

“We didn’t sleep day or night; we had to be up whenever the baby cried. We didn’t even have time to shower or eat during the day because we were always rocking him so he didn’t cry. It was like that for two and a half years,” Abbey told IRIN.

From her salary of just $150 a month, Abbey said she had to give her Lebanese employer money to buy food for her: “So basically, we were working for free.”

Cases like Abbey’s are not uncommon in Lebanon, which is a country of destination for women trafficked from Africa, Sri Lanka and the Philippines for the purpose of domestic labour.

In June, Lebanon was added to the US State Department’s human trafficking tier 2 watch list [http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/123132.htm] for its failure to protect victims of trafficking or to prosecute those responsible.

Inclusion on the list, which includes neighbouring Syria on tier 3 (the worst category), [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=82686] for a second year could mean Lebanon faces US sanctions on non-humanitarian and trade-related aid and US opposition to loans and credits from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank.

Deception, exploitation

Being deceived about the job she was brought to Lebanon to perform makes Abbey’s case one of trafficking under the established UN definition [http://www.unescap.org/esid/Gad/Issues/Trafficking/index.asp] of the “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force”.

However, the US State Department's 2009 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) report [http://www.state.gov/g/tip/rls/tiprpt/2009/] makes clear it considers trafficking to include the conditions a worker is kept in, including forced labour and debt bondage. That makes not only Abbey’s life after arriving in Lebanon a case of trafficking but means the situation of many of Lebanon’s estimated 200,000 migrant domestic workers [http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=78865] can also be considered trafficking.

“Women from Sri Lanka, the Philippines, and Ethiopia who travel to Lebanon legally to work as household servants often find themselves in conditions of forced labour through withholding of passports, [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=83948] non-payment of wages, restrictions on movement, threats, and physical or sexual assault,” said the TIP report.

Local rights activists praised the recognition of exploitative labour conditions as trafficking.

“Working on trafficking is very difficult because of the definition set by the UN, but if you simplify it you see that there are three main components: the recruitment; deception or coercion; and then that the purpose of recruitment is exploitative. This is considered trafficking,” said Ghada Jabbour, gender and trafficking specialist at Lebanese NGO KAFA.

The TIP report said that exploitation includes the specific crimes of “involuntary servitude, peonage, debt bondage, or slavery”.

After escaping from the home she was forced to work in, Abbey has spent the past 10 years working as a freelance domestic worker, facing jail if she is caught by police without the identification papers she was never issued with, and owing $5,000 in fines to the General Security Directorate, a Lebanese intelligence agency, for overstaying her visa.

Little protection

Domestic workers remain outside Lebanon’s Labour Law and its protection.

Last year, according to the 2009 TIP report, the Lebanese government reported no criminal prosecutions, convictions, or punishments for trafficking offences, a significant decrease from the 17 prosecutions reported in 2007.

The Lebanese Penal Code does not specifically prohibit forced labour or trafficking, but Article 569’s prohibition against the deprivation of an individual’s liberty to perform a task could be used to prosecute forced labour. Commercial sexual exploitation, deprivation of freedom and use of false documents are also criminalized in Lebanese law.

The TIP report urges authorities to investigate and prosecute claims by domestic workers who have escaped abusive employers, and implement the new unified contract for domestic workers [http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=83948] created in March this year, but which rights groups say remains largely unimplemented.

Valuable trade

Activists believe the value of the trade in domestic workers is such that the political will to comply with international regulations against trafficking remains lacking.

“The money that is collected through domestic workers coming to Lebanon is millions of dollars per year. You have the residency fees, the visa and recruitment fees on both sides for the worker and the employer,” said KAFA’s Jabbour.

“The government takes a lot of money in the process by regulating domestic workers and there are a lot of stakeholders. Politicians are also involved in this issue and it goes underground, which is why it’s difficult to get laws to protect these women.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86358NAIROBI Monday, September 28, 2009 (IRIN) - The authorities of Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have begun cracking down on would-be migrants and people smugglers, who have been using its ports to reach the Gulf States, a senior police officer told IRINNAIROBI Monday, September 28, 2009 (IRIN) - The authorities of Somalia's self-declared autonomous region of Puntland have begun cracking down on would-be migrants and people smugglers, who have been using its ports to reach the Gulf States, a senior police officer told IRIN.

He said thousands of Somalis and Ethiopians had gathered in Bosasso, the commercial capital, with the aim of attempting to cross the Gulf of Aden into Yemen.

"We estimate there are between 3,000 and 5,000 migrants currently in and around Bosasso," said Col Osman Hassan Awke, the Bari regional police chief.

He said security units had taken over some of the beach ports used by smugglers to pick up migrants.

"Marere beach [10km south of Bosasso], which was one of the main ports used by smugglers, is now a police post," Awke said, adding that despite the police effort in Puntland to stem the flow of migrants, "they still continue. We shut down one or two known ports and then they find another one."

He said the police would continue to set up posts on "most of the important beaches". However, he said the police did not have the means to stop the smuggling completely, without help from the international community.

According to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR, a total of 924 boats and more than 46,700 people have made the journey to Yemen from the Horn of Africa since January.

"So far this year, 322 are known to have drowned or went missing at sea and are presumed dead," Roberta Russo, spokeswoman for UNHCR Somalia, told IRIN on 28 September.

A local journalist, who requested anonymity, told IRIN the region's authorities had in the past tried to stem the migrant flow without success.

"They even tried to repatriate them to their homes in Ethiopia or southern Somalia but it did not work," the journalist said.

He said many migrants simply returned: "These are desperate people and no matter what, they will get on the boats if they want to."

Awke said the police had stopped repatriating migrants because "as soon as we send them they are back, and we don’t have the resources to keep sending them back".

He claimed aid agencies were not doing enough to help with the situation, adding that there was not even an official camp to host the migrants. "They are all over the place, which makes policing them that much more difficult."

However, Russo said: “In 2006 there was an attempt to create a camp for the migrants, but the initiative failed as, instead of protecting its inhabitants, the camp became a breeding ground for all kinds of violations.”

In 2009, the agencies and authorities reconsidered the option of opening a camp but abandoned the idea.

Russo added that UNHCR and its partners were distributing information on the dangers of crossing the Gulf of Aden and the options for migrants and asylum seekers.

The journalist said Puntland had a long coastline and would be hard-pressed to police it. "They [the authorities] don’t have the resources to effectively patrol it."

Smugglers were reportedly charging each migrant US$150 to $200 for the trip to Yemen, said the journalist. "Many migrants will have to work for over a year to make that kind of money."
 
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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86322MATHEBE Monday, September 28, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite her twisted spine and cataracts, Maphoka Tsolo, 91, still managed to lead the way down the steep narrow path behind her stone house in Mathebe, a small village in Mafeteng district, eastern Lesotho, determined to show why her orphaned great-grandchildren deserved the money from the government's cash grants scheme. MATHEBE Monday, September 28, 2009 (IRIN) - Despite her twisted spine and cataracts, Maphoka Tsolo, 91, still managed to lead the way down the steep narrow path behind her stone house in Mathebe, a small village in Mafeteng district, eastern Lesotho, determined to show why her orphaned great-grandchildren deserved the money from the government's cash grants scheme.

"With nothing growing here it is very difficult to take care of myself and the children," she said, pointing to her tiny plot of fallow land with a home made walking stick cut from a tree branch. She lost her husband and her three children "a very long time ago", and old age had brought nothing but hunger, physical pain and financial misery.

Her grandson disappeared eight years ago, so there was no one to work the rain-starved land. "He said he was going to look for work but he never came back." She had to stretch her 300 Maloti (US$39) monthly pension to support herself and the two children her grandson left behind.

Her situation is not uncommon: according to the Department of Social Welfare (DSW) Lesotho has more than 180,000 orphaned children, of which 55 percent have lost one or both parents to HIV/AIDS-related illnesses. About 23.2 percent of the nearly two million population of this tiny landlocked country are HIV positive - one of the highest HIV prevalence rates worldwide.

Rescue in cash

At the beginning of 2009, Tsolo and her great-grandchildren were thrown a lifeline when the local Village Verification Committee (VVC) - consisting of the chief, a community councillor, two volunteers from caregiver groups, and a DSW representative - identified her household as one of the poorest and most vulnerable with children.

Being in the bottom 10 percent meant she would be eligible for a quarterly amount of $47 from the Lesotho Child Grants Programme (LCGP), which would ease the poverty that prevented the children from having enough to eat, staying healthy and going to school.

Mantoa Sejake, a Senior Child Welfare Officer at the DSW, commented: "That might seem like a small amount, but for those that are targeted this is very meaningful." The money would help cover the cost of school fees, uniforms, health care and other needs.

The LCGP has targeted some 5,000 orphaned and vulnerable children living in 1,250 child-headed households, low-income households caring for AIDS orphans, and other vulnerable children in three communities - Matelile in Mafeteng District, Semonkong in Maseru District, and Lebakeng in Qacha's Nek district - in the pilot phase of the programme.

The European Commission donated $7,3 million to the project, and the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) provided technical assistance. The government eventually hopes to extend the programme throughout the country.

How poor is poor enough?

Mohemmad Farooq, a UNICEF child protection specialist who helped design the programme, said around 60 percent of the population were living below the poverty line and the country's resources were limited, so prioritization of the most destitute households was crucial, yet extremely challenging.

"Giving people money is very sensitive. Who is the most deserving? If we look at the indicators, we have divided the 'poor' category into three - poor, very poor and destitute - and we were focusing on destitute only." He recognized the danger of creating a dependency on cash handouts, but also noted that the programme came at a time of rising desperation.

Years of chronic food insecurity due to erratic weather and soil erosion, the impact of HIV/AIDS, persistently high rates of unemployment - aggravated by retrenchments in Lesotho's textile industry and the mines in neighbouring South Africa, on which many people depended for survival - meant deepening poverty across the country.

"And with the financial crisis the cost of living has gone up; this hits the poorest of the poor the hardest," Farooq said. "Many people live just above the poverty line - it only takes a small shock to bring them down into poverty." Lesotho now imports 70 percent of its food, mostly from South Africa, making it particularly vulnerable to food and fuel price hikes in that country.

"At this stage social protection is not a choice. If you don't provide this type of coping mechanism people will go into negative coping mechanisms, like taking children out of school so that they can work, selling off assets - if they have any - or taking loans with high interest rates, for which they could end up in bonded labour, so the situation will get worse," Farooq said.

The grants are to be spent mainly at the discretion of the household, but the programme includes a social mobilization and sensitization campaign. "We have a community-based targeting mechanism [through the VVCs]; people are sensitized to learn that the money should benefit the children."

Attaching conditions like mandatory school attendance were not always feasible. "There is a problem with the supply side here - you can't say you will only give the grant if the child goes to school, when often there are no schools to go to in the first place," Farooq commented.

Primary education is free in Lesotho, but poverty keeps thousands of children out of school "because of the indirect costs like books, uniforms and transportation", he said.

Tsolo picked up her first payment in April and a second in July, and said she looked forward to the next one in October. The money had gone on food, a school uniform for the 12-year-old girl, shoes for the eight-year-old boy, and school fees; and, she shyly admitted, "I also bought shoes for myself."

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86300JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, September 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Climate related natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes and floods forced 20 million people - slightly less than the population of Australia - out of their homes in 2008 alone said a new study, making a strong case for regularly monitoring displacement in the context of climate change.JOHANNESBURG Wednesday, September 23, 2009 (IRIN) - Climate related natural disasters like droughts, hurricanes and floods forced 20 million people - slightly less than the population of Australia - out of their homes in 2008 alone said a new study, making a strong case for regularly monitoring displacement in the context of climate change.

A total of 36 million people were displaced worldwide by sudden-onset natural disasters, including earthquakes and landslides. During the same period 4.6 million people were internally displaced by conflicts.

The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre jointly conducted the study, Monitoring Disaster Displacement in the Context of Climate Change.

"Had it not been for the Sichuan earthquake in China, which displaced 15 million people, climate related disasters would have been responsible for over 90 percent of disaster related displacement in 2008," the study commented.

Using the 2008 data as a test case, the study proposed the ongoing monitoring of disaster related displacement using existing information, such as the Emergency Events Database produced by the Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters, cross-referenced with various other sources, and individually investigating events to estimate the numbers of persons displaced.

The next step is further research into displacement caused by slow-onset disasters and sea level rise. The study also called for a legal framework to protect people forced to cross a border by a natural disaster.

jk/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86262PUNCAK Monday, September 21, 2009 (IRIN) - Indonesia has been struggling to cope with a surge of Afghan asylum-seekers since the beginning of 2009, officials say.PUNCAK Monday, September 21, 2009 (IRIN) - Indonesia has been struggling to cope with a surge of Afghan asylum-seekers since the beginning of 2009, officials say.

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said that between 1 January and 31 August it had registered 1,371 Afghan asylum-seekers, and that in the first six months of 2009 there had been a 925 percent increase in the number of asylum-seekers on the figure for the whole of 2008.

It has also officially recognized 142 as refugees.

However, Indonesian immigration officials say their actual numbers probably run into the thousands, as many slip into the country unrecorded.

“We started noticing an increase in August 2008. It’s not consistent every month, but in general it’s going up most months in increasing numbers,” Robert Ashe, UNHCR's regional representative in Jakarta, told IRIN.

Afghans accounted for over 60 percent of the 2,414 asylum-seekers and refugees currently registered by the UNHCR in Indonesia.

Most claim to come from Afghanistan’s central province of Ghazni, and 80 percent are from the ethnic Hazara group (mainly Shia and making up about 9 percent of the population).

Destination Australia

Most of the Afghans seen by the UNHCR have made it to Indonesia using agents, including people smugglers and traffickers, and their main destination is Australia.
Most have also transited through Pakistan or Iran, and are fleeing from generalized violence, rather than individual persecution.

“The main reason [for the increase] is the push factor - the situation in Afghanistan is deteriorating,” said the UNHCR’s Ashe.

“It’s possible we are getting Afghan refugees from Pakistan as well. As the situation in Pakistan has deteriorated… they feel they have to move to safer places,” he said.

Giant risks

Afghan migrants travelling by boat to Indonesia take giant risks: the seas around Indonesia are among the most treacherous in the world, and barely seaworthy boats filled beyond capacity often drift or sink.

In May, nine Afghan refugees drowned when their vessel capsized near the Indonesian island of Sumatra.

Ali Reza Noori, a UNHCR-recognized refugee, was among thousands of unregistered Afghans who have tried, unsuccessfully, to reach Australia several times by boat. The last “horrible” attempt almost cost him his life, he said.

“The boat pump broke after a few days. There were 140 people on board. Everybody panicked and prayed. We had to drink water from the sea,” he told IRIN at a house provided by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Puncak, near Jakarta.

The leaking craft was spotted by the Indonesian authorities after being adrift for 14 days, shortly after supplies had run out.

Struggling to cope

The cash-strapped Indonesian government has been taken by surprise by the sudden increase in Afghans entering the country in search of a better life.

“For Indonesia, the problem is they have limited capacity in their detention centres, and this large influx - as they start to pick people up - has stretched their capacity,” said Ashe.

Indonesia is not a party to the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, nor does it have a refugee status determination system, so asylum-seekers do not receive official status.

The country also lacks a law against people-smuggling, which means offenders are prosecuted under other legislation, such as immigration laws, and only locked up for limited periods of time, said Ashe.

“It’s not enough to stop people smugglers from operating,” he said.

Detention centres overflowing

Another refugee, Ali Ahadi, left behind his wife and four children and paid US$4,000 to people smugglers - a huge amount, given Afghanistan’s per capita income of US$300 www.ands.gov.af/ands/src/newsletter/ANDS_nl%207.pdf) - for the journey to Australia via the Indonesian island of Flores, near Bali.

The boat that was supposed to pick him up never came, and Ahadi ended up in a detention centre called Kalideres, near Jakarta.

“It looks like a jail. They put six people in a room that is supposed to fit two, and then they lock the door,” he told IRIN from the city of Medan, where he is living in an IOM house as a recognized refugee.

Maroloan Barimbing, a spokesman for the Indonesian immigration service, admitted the detention centres were crowded.

“Indonesia has 13 detention centres, but they are not designed to have that many refugees. The largest can accommodate around 50 people, but most are only for 30 people,” he said.

New centres have been built to shelter an additional 600 refugees of all nationalities, but that is not nearly enough.

“We cannot handle it ourselves. We have to get the international community to understand that this should not be Indonesia’s problem (alone),” said Barimbing.

ej/ey/cb http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86224SANAA Thursday, September 17, 2009 (IRIN) - At least 16 Africans died, and 49 others are missing and presumed dead, in three separate incidents as boats smuggling them from Somalia to Yemen capsized in the Gulf of Aden on 13 and 14 September, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).SANAA Thursday, September 17, 2009 (IRIN) - At least 16 Africans died, and 49 others are missing and presumed dead, in three separate incidents as boats smuggling them from Somalia to Yemen capsized in the Gulf of Aden on 13 and 14 September, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Ahmad Akam, a Yemeni coast guard official, said the people smuggling season had just started. "It usually begins in September every year as the weather becomes milder, helping smugglers traffic Africans to Yemen by boat."

He said each passenger paid smugglers about US$50 to get from the Somali port city of Bossaso to Yemen.

On 13 September a boat carrying 142 Somali and non-Somali citizens had engine failure and capsized near the Yemeni coastal town of Radfan, 150km east of the UNHCR-run Mayfaa Reception Centre for Somali refugees, according to Leen al-Mugahed, a public information assistant at UNHCR’s Sanaa office.

"Ninety-eight passengers managed to swim ashore while 43 others are still missing and presumed dead," she said. Survivors said one person had died of suffocation in the boat's engine room.

In another incident, a boat carrying 122 Africans capsized near Yemen’s shores and 13 passengers lost their lives because of severe mistreatment at the hands of smugglers, said a 15 September statement by UNHCR [http://www.unhcr.org/4aafb50d6.html]. It quoted survivors as saying the dead passengers had been accommodated in the boat’s engine room since departing from the Somali village of Marera.

A third incident was reported by a European Union warship, the Louise of Belgium, which detected a sinking boat. The warship proceeded immediately to the scene and rescued 38 people.

UNHCR quoted survivors as saying there were originally 48 people on board. Two dead bodies were spotted by navy helicopters engaged in the rescue but were not recovered as priority was given to survivors. Agency officials said another six passengers were missing and presumed dead.

3,000 new arrivals in September

Rocco Nuri, external relations officer at UNHCR’s Aden office, told IRIN on 16 September there were a total of five boats trafficking refugees and economic migrants from the Horn of Africa to Yemen when the incidents occurred.

About 3,000 Africans have fled to Yemen since 1 September, he said.

"The influx of new arrivals from the Horn of Africa is likely to continue due to a number of push factors which are forcing people to flee Somalia and neighbouring countries, such as ongoing conflict, political instability, famine and extreme poverty,” Nuri told IRIN.

Yemen is one of the poorest countries in the Middle East, with scarce resources and limited employment opportunities, yet it hosts over 140,000 refugees and grants refugee status to all Somalis entering its territory, according to UNHCR.

Since the beginning of 2009, 860 boats carrying 43,586 people have made the perilous journey to Yemen across the Gulf of Aden; 273 people have died or are missing and presumed dead, according to UNHCR.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86184MBABANE Tuesday, September 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Average life expectancy in Swaziland has plummeted from around 60 years in the 1990s to just over 30 years today. Few would deny that HIV/AIDS is largely to blame, but the reasons why the epidemic has devastated this tiny, southern African country more than any other are less clear.MBABANE Tuesday, September 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Average life expectancy in Swaziland has plummeted from around 60 years in the 1990s to just over 30 years today. Few would deny that HIV/AIDS is largely to blame, but the reasons why the epidemic has devastated this tiny, southern African country more than any other are less clear.

"Foreign observers look at Swaziland and can't figure out why the numbers [of HIV infections] remain so high," said Harriet Kunene, of The AIDS Support Centre in the central commercial town, Manzini. "There are many factors, and they also explain why the problem is a long-term dilemma that doesn't lend itself to short-term or easy fixes."

Epidemiologists and those working at the coalface of the epidemic cite various historic and socio-economic factors that have combined in Swaziland to create ideal conditions for the spread of the virus.

A well-documented disdain of condom usage – one UN report found that 60 percent of Swazi men refuse to wear them – is one explanation for why 42 percent of pregnant women tested HIV positive in a 2008 antenatal survey. 

"Many women tell us, even if their men begin by using a condom, by the end of the act it has slipped off or been removed, and they have no power to insist," said Pholile Dlamini, who runs the Manzini office of the Alliance of Mayors Initiative for Community Action on AIDS at the Local Level (AMICAALL).

But other factors have also contributed to the grip HIV has on this country of less than one million people. "Swaziland is so small [just 17,363 sq km] it is easier for the virus to spread," said Rudolph Maziya, AMICAALL's national director.

"If a party is thrown in Johannesburg, a South African in Cape Town is not likely to attend. But when you have a party in Manzini, people from the farthest corners of the country show up; the social-sexual networks have always existed in Swaziland, and they made the spread of HIV easier."

In 1993 Maziya worked on a report that accurately predicted the trend AIDS would take in the next decade. "It was rejected by parliament, and many health officials condemned it as alarmist. Meanwhile, HIV spread because no one could see it. With Ebola [haemorrhagic fever] or swine flu, symptoms are immediate; people don masks. With HIV, symptoms may take years to appear."

Faith Dlamini, programme officer at the National Emergency Response Council on HIV and AIDS (NERCHA), which disburses government and donor funds to local AIDS organizations, pointed out that seasonal migration of workers was another driver of infection. "It is why AIDS is so high in the sugar belt, where there are many seasonal workers who leave their homes for months at a time - they find accommodation where they can, and also find lovers."

Pholile Dlamini agreed. "Women tell us they just accept that their husbands have girlfriends when they are away, and there is nothing they can do about it except try to protect themselves when their husbands are at home. But they are not entirely successful - condoms are distributed free everywhere; people take them, but they don't use them."

With unemployment estimates ranging from 25 percent to 40 percent, and "underemployment" widespread among those who have jobs, Faith Dlamini said poverty was also driving the spread of HIV. "We are tracking women workers in the industrial areas. They are paid low wages and may have to turn to other methods to survive."

Engaging in sexual relationships with older men is one form of survival that carries a high HIV risk for young women, but polygamy is legal in Swaziland and many middle-aged and elderly men marry teenage girls as second or third wives. "For girls it may be the only way out of poverty, or to acquire cash, a cell phone, clothes and other luxuries they see in the media," Pholile Dlamini commented.

Despite considerable efforts by government, NGOs and donors, Swaziland's AIDS epidemic is proving resistant to quick fixes. In this highly traditional society, resistance to change is so firm that Maziya believes nothing short of a "social revolution" will provoke behaviour change and, even then, it will be years before those changes are reflected in lower prevalence figures.

"This is a long-term matter," he said. "It is time we stopped treating AIDS in Swaziland as an emergency and see it as it is: a decades-long situation."

jh/ks/he http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86161DAKAR Tuesday, September 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Specialists studying the likelihood of population movements due to climate change effects offer widely divergent predictions. But most agree policymakers must understand that migration is a vital coping mechanism for at-risk populations and must do more to help destination hubs prepare. DAKAR Tuesday, September 15, 2009 (IRIN) - Specialists studying the likelihood of population movements due to climate change effects offer widely divergent predictions. But most agree policymakers must understand that migration is a vital coping mechanism for at-risk populations and must do more to help destination hubs prepare.

“Migration and mobility are always seen as exceptions but they are the norm. Mobility helps people get out of poverty,” said Cecelia Tacoli, senior researcher with London-based NGO the International Institute for Environment and Development. “If people affected by climate change lack access to resources or need to diversify their income sources, this lack should be [addressed] rather than be seen as a problem.”

Tacoli will publish a study, 'Crisis or adaptation? Migration and climate change in a context of high mobility’, in October.

The numbers

Norman Myers, renowned environmentalist and fellow with Oxford University’s 21st Century School, who has just completed a study for the Swedish International Development Agency, said “hundreds of millions” of people could be driven from their homes by environmental crises and degradation by 2040.

NGO Christian Aid in 2007 estimated that up to 250 million people could be displaced by 2050 as a result of climate change effects. And in 2001 a World Bank study by Susmita Dasgupta predicted that sea level rises could force hundreds of millions of people to move within this century.

Up to 70 percent of people living in cities of 5 million or more live within 1km-2km of seaways, according to the UN.

But the IIED’s Tacoli said the projected migrant figures are inflated, as they tend to be based on population estimates in areas most likely to be affected by climate change, rather than on the number of people most likely to move.

Koko Warner, head of the Environmental Migration, Social Vulnerability and Adaptation Section at the UN University, said too many variables make accurate migrant predictions difficultto-impossible.

“When…predicting the environment, we can feel a bit confident – there is a lot of information out there. But when we are studying humans, it’s more dicey….Figures are almost always based on census information undertaken every five to 10 years, so all you get is a snapshot.”

These figures do not indicate why people have left or what the social dynamics behind their movements were, she added.

Myers defended his predictions. “These should not be taken to be gospel truth,” he said. “Rather they are informed estimates. If scientists kept quiet about numbers, then policymakers would say the absence of evidence [means] the absence of a problem.”

Local solutions

To date research on natural disaster-related population movements indicates most affected people move within a country’s borders, with the most vulnerable populations the least able to migrate far, with long-distance international migration the least likely option available.

One-off extreme events tend to trigger short-distance, short-term migrations; while longer-term environmental changes tend to generate longer-distance, more permanent migrations, says a 2009 Refugee Studies Centre report by James Morrissey.

Tacoli and others are pushing for policymakers to speed up help to vulnerable states to prepare for climate change at home, for instance by building up infrastructure and basic services in small towns in rural areas that could become destination hubs.

“Small towns in agricultural areas are especially important to provide livelihoods to the poorest groups, who are often landless and do not have the means to migrate to larger cities," Tacoli told IRIN.

“With many aspects of climate change mitigation it will be local governments that can make the most difference,” she said. “We will need the support of national governments in affected countries to promote this, but at the moment we are talking only about external governments when it comes to migration.”

Boosting local adaptation could also diminish the number of people forced to move in the first place, Warner said.

This must be at the heart of the migrant debate, rather than stirring up “fear-of-migration” rhetoric from policymakers and leaders, many of whom have framed climate change as a national security issue, researchers told IRIN.

Fear rhetoric?

An August report by the US Department of Defense said climate-induced crises and related mass people movements could topple governments, feed terrorist movements or destabilize entire regions. The UK Ministry of Defence’s Development, Concepts and Doctrine Centre (DCDC) has made similar predictions.

And the European Union High Representative for Foreign and Security Policy, Javier Solana, warned in 2008 that climate-change-related migration “may increase conflict in transit and destination areas. Europe must expect substantially increased migratory pressure.”

“It’s quite inappropriate for industrialized nations to build barriers – be they institutional, political or mental barriers – across the Mediterranean to bar would-be migrants from passing…if they don’t look at solutions for the numbers – both local and international – they will just get overwhelmed,” Oxford University’s Myers said.

There is some indication that EU member states are approaching a more nuanced picture on environmental migration. The European Commission is funding research in 24 vulnerable countries, to address the dynamics of environmentally-driven migration and examine lessons learned.

Rather than foment panic, leaders should apply lessons from the past to inform both migration and climate change mitigation policies in years to come, Tacoli said.

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86163DAKAR Monday, September 14, 2009 (IRIN) - Mamadou Ndiaye wades across his flooded house as his children bail out dirty water bucket by bucket. He and his family are among many thousands of Senegalese whose homes have been under water for days. DAKAR Monday, September 14, 2009 (IRIN) - Mamadou Ndiaye wades across his flooded house as his children bail out dirty water bucket by bucket. He and his family are among many thousands of Senegalese whose homes have been under water for days.

Thirty years ago when Ndiaye moved to Guédiawaye, 26km outside the city centre of the capital Dakar, the land was dry and cheap. Now residents of this densely populated suburb endure floods every rainy season.

Recurrent flooding in towns and cities across West Africa is more about people than rains, according to Professor Cheikh Mbow at the Institute of Environmental Sciences at the University of Dakar, who studies the impact of climate variability on urban flood risk. The region’s annual flooding reflects explosive population growth in the cities, poverty and poor urban management, he said.

“The rural poor come and settle on unsuitable land and are then exposed to flooding and other hazards like landslides and industrial risks.”

West Africa’s population is expected to grow at an average rate of 2.4 percent from between 2005 and 2010, and the population is likely to more than double from 293 million in 2008 to 617 million in 2050, according to the UN Population Fund, most of this growth in urban areas.

Amid this year’s flooding in West Africa, which the UN says has killed at least 160 people to date, observers repeatedly point to the problem of urban congestion. In Sierra Leone’s capital Freetown the main cause of recent flooding was “indiscriminate building” in green belt zones [undeveloped land] according to national disaster management head, Mary Kamara.

In northern Nigerian cities overpopulation has people building homes on waterways, with natural drainage systems becoming blocked by rubbish, according to Hassan Musa, an environmentalist at Bayero University in the northern city of Kano.

“In some cases when people build houses on waterways and the government hardly restrains them, this leads to a cycle of flooding, destruction and sometimes death,” Musa told IRIN.

Dakar: No urban plan

Fifty years ago Dakar consisted of a triangular peninsula surrounded by wetlands, known as “cap vert.” The once-green surroundings are now mostly grey, as a 1970s and 1980s Sahel-wide drought pushed rural dwellers to settle in the flood-prone depressions on the city’s outskirts in spite of regulations outlawing construction.

“The State has not really carried out a strong policy to ban occupancy of this unsuitable land," said Mbow. Now 95 percent of the Dakar region, which includes the districts of Pikine, Rufisque and Guédiawaye, is covered with buildings and roads that block natural waterways and basins.

Malick Faye, an urban planner at Dakar’s Regional Council, said the severely flooded neighbourhood of Wakhinane in Guédiawaye – where people have built at the level of the water table – is a good example of the wider problem.

“The water table used to be very low, but now that the rains have come back the water has returned to its natural level. So now all you need is 5mm of rain for it to flood,” he told IRIN.

While emergency response teams pump water from Dakar’s flooded neighbourhoods, experts agree that relocating people is the only solution.

“You can never fight the path of the water,” said the Mbow. “As you pump, the aquifer restores the water level. You have to take the people out and make sure others will not replace them.”

New cities

In response to devastating floods in Dakar in 2005 the government launched a housing scheme, ‘Plan Jaxaay’, aiming to relocate flood victims to an area 25km east of the capital.

The government has built 1,793 two-bedroom houses of a planned 3,000, as well as three primary schools, a technical college, a nursery school and a police station.

Cité Jaxaay resident Aliou Ba, a retired schoolteacher, is pleased with his new house. “I prefer living out in the sticks to living under water in the city,” he said. "The only problem is there is no electricity or running water yet.”

Chimère Diallo, field coordinator of Plan Jaxaay, said relocating 3,000 families is a good start, but it is not enough given the enormous scale of Senegal’s housing problem.

Some 1.6 million people live in Dakar’s suburbs, with 10,000 per square kilometre in some areas, according to Mbow.

The relocation task is enormous, said the regional council’s Faye. “If you want to move 2,000 families you must create a new city…with all the services and infrastructure required – electricity, water, drainage systems. This is an enormous task….Plan Jaxaay is a good thing. But we cannot build houses for everyone in a year.”

Frustration over the lack of services and dire conditions in Dakar’s suburbs recently boiled over into sreet protests.

Guédiawaye resident Ndiaye said: “We live in atrocious conditions. The flooding is a problem the government could solve. But they have forgotten us. It is that simple. We cannot count on our politicians. We can count only on ourselves.”

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http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86143ACCRA Monday, September 07, 2009 (IRIN) - Dozens of farmers in northern Ghana claim they have been forced off their land with no alternative source of income after a multinational firm bought their land to cultivate jatropha, a non-food crop whose seeds contain oil used to produce biofuel.ACCRA Monday, September 07, 2009 (IRIN) - Dozens of farmers in northern Ghana claim they have been forced off their land with no alternative source of income after a multinational firm bought their farms to cultivate jetropha, a non-food crop whose seeds contain oil used to produce biofuel.

Biofuel Africa Ltd has acquired over 23,700 hectares of Ghanaian land forcing out the inhabitants of seven villages – all of them farming communities -- in Tamale district.

Farmer Mumud Alhassan Adam, 50-year-old father of five, lost his eight-hectare plot on which he cultivated maize and rice.

“I went to the farm one day but I realized somebody else was on the farm and then I was told the land had been sold off. Since then I have not been allowed to farm."

Local chiefs own most of the land in northern Ghana and rent it out to farmers or sell it to anybody who wishes to buy.

“There was no consultation with us (farmers) before the land was sold and I have not been paid any compensation since I was displaced,” Adam told IRIN.

He added: “A few of the farmers were offered employment on the jatropha plantation but many others were left with hunger and no sourceof income, while others like myself had to raise money to rent another plot of land several kilometers away. It has been a very difficult time for my family.”

But BioFuel Africa’s chief executive officer Steinar Kolnes said the company offered the farmers options: “We don’t pay compensation…We gave the farmers two options: To stay and farm their crops alongside the jetropha or leave to other more fertile lands we had provided for them.” He said those who chose to leave were given plots up to 10 times the size of their previous plots.

Adam said he knew of no farmers living in the area who have been given alternative land to farm.

Many farmers are trying to make the best of the change, rather than fighting for their land back. “If I get a job with any of these firms I will abandon crop cultivation and join them. And many of my colleagues would do the same,” John Akerebo, a farmer in the region, told IRIN.

Over 20 companies from around the world, including from Brazil, China, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands and Norway, are acquiring land in Ghana to produce biofuels, according to the Ministry of Agriculture.

Between 15 million and 20 million hectares of farmland around the world have been subject to biofuels negotiations since 2006, according to the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).

Kwadwo Poku, a local consultant for several of the multinationals with business in Ghana, told IRIN: “With so much land uncultivated [in Ghana], these firms are doing this country a favour by…employing many more farmers."

In a communiqué on its website, BioFuel Africa says only 10 percent of the land in question was being cultivated for food crops and that its project is providing farmers with much-needed employment during the lean season.

The Agriculture Ministry estimates that just 16 percent of Ghana’s arable land is cultivated, despite agriculture employing 60 percent of the country’s workforce.

Multinationals are attracted to Ghana by the land availability, soil types and a lack of regulation on acquisitions, according to the Food Security Policy Advocacy Network (FoodSPAN), based in the capital Accra.

But David Eli, FoodSPAN chairman, said the growing practice of carving up cultivable land for biofuel production could worsen Ghana’s food insecurity. "As a country we don’t produce enough food to feed everybody so if the argument is that we have enough land then why don’t we invest to cultivate that land for food crops?”

UP to 1.2 million Ghanaians are food insecure, according to the World Food Programme’s latest estimates, 453,000 of them in Northern Region. The government is drafting a US$10-million national food security plan, according to Agriculture Ministry director Nurah Gyiele.

The government has recognized the need for more clarity on the rights of farmers and companies in land deals concerning biofuels, according to the Ministry of Agriculture, and has called on the government's Energy Commission to draft legislation on land acquisitions.

Head of the Agriculture Workers Union, Kingsley Ofei Nkansah, said the legislation, which is currently being developed, must ensure that biofuels cultivation be limited to marginal lands; that all acquisitions include compensation for farmers and that chiefs prioritize land for food crop cultivation over biofuels.

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