The ghosts of Adwa
▻http://africasacountry.com/2018/02/the-ghosts-of-adwa
On 1 March 1896, the First Italo-Ethiopian War reached its dramatic climax at Adwa, a decisive battle that secured #Ethiopia’s independence and soundly defeated Italian colonial designs for an expansive East African empire. At the moment in which European powers scrambled for the Horn of Africa and France, Britain, and Italy each competed for and claimed their respective territories, Ethiopia…
#Follow_the_money : What are the EU’s migration policy priorities ?
Take a closer look at the data, however, and it becomes clear how the EU prioritizes among its many goals. By following the money from the EU we can see which areas the union puts the most emphasis on when it comes to migration policy. The numbers show that stopping migrants along the way is at least equally important as changing the underlying causes of migration.
For a start, the largest amount of the #Trust_Fund money does not got to where the majority African migrants are coming from. By a large margin, Eritrea, Nigeria and Somalia are the three countries most African asylum seekers came from between 2012 and 2016.
The greatest amount of money from the EU Emergency Trust Fund, however, goes elsewhere.The biggest single recipients are Niger, Mali, Senegal, Libya, and Ethiopia. Contrast that with Somalia, which ranks 9, Nigeria 10 and Eritrea - the country with the most African asylum applicants to the EU – is 20th out of 26 EUTF recipient countries. In other words, the country most in need of EU funds to fight the root causes of migration is far down on the list of countries actually receiving those funds.
#Niger #Sénégal #Libye #Ethiopie :
Despite these long-term benefits, humanitarian groups, experts and local media criticized the Trust Fund for focusing too much on tightening border controls and preventing migration instead of addressing the root causes of flight in the countries of origin.
For a better understanding of what the EU means by “improving migration management” it’s helpful to look at the projects it funds. Libya, for example, is home to the project with the single largest EUTF budget of 90 million euros aimed at “managing mixed migration flows.” The average project for migration management receives 14 million.
Untangling mixed migration flows is EU jargon for distinguishing between streams of refugees (people each EU country is obliged to protect under the Geneva Convention) and other migrants (which each EU country is free to accept or reject). The easiest way to do so would be to set up registration centers outside the EU to determine eligibility for asylum before migrants set foot in the EU. This idea has been brought up in the past by EU-leaders like the French President Emmanuel Macron.
#catégorisation #tri #hotspots #Macron
When we follow the EU money trail, we see that the budget of the European Border and Coast Guard authority #Frontex skyrocketed over the last years. The budget position “Joint Operations” is the largest item on the expenditure list - and quadrupled since 2012 (from 32 million euros to 129 million euros). Since 2016, the budget also included a position on “#Return_Support”. It had a budget of 39 million in 2016 and was increased to 53 million in 2017 (an increase of 30 percent), making it the second biggest position on Frontex’ budget.
▻http://m.dw.com/en/follow-the-money-what-are-the-eus-migration-policy-priorities/a-42588136?maca=en-Twitter-sharing&xtref=https%253A%252F%252Ft.co%252FKPKKngT4
#migrations #développement #asile #migrations #réfugiés #UE #EU #Europe #push-factors #facteurs_push #Emergency_Trust_Fund
cc @isskein
Diverting EU aid to stop migrants
Ahead of Europe’s development ministers meeting in Estonia on 11 September, Global Health Advocates research in Senegal and Niger shows that EU development aid is misused and diverted through the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa.
Development aid is meant to fund long-term programmes aimed at the eradication of poverty in line with partner countries’ own development priorities. However, the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa – a rather new instrument launched hastily by the EU and backed with close to €3 billion in development funds – does exactly the opposite: it prioritises quick fixes driven by Europe’s short-term domestic priorities, with little involvement of local governments let alone civil society actors.
Findings from the report published today reveal untransparent processes in-country, bypassing most good governance principles. No public calls for proposals, no consultation of local actors, no eligibility guidelines, prioritisation of short term projects and the development of retroactive strategies once most funds are disbursed.
Fanny Voitzwinkler, Head of the EU Office of Global Health Advocates, says: “Everyone we met in Niamey and Dakar agreed: the EU Trust Fund is first-and-foremost a political communication tool to show citizens the EU is responding fast to the so-called ‘migration crisis‘. Using development aid money as a bargaining chip to leverage African countries’ cooperation on migration tarnishes the image of the EU as a global development actor.”
Beyond the questionable use of development funds to address what is considered a political emergency in Europe, the EU is literally outsourcing the control of migration to countries such as Libya and Niger, to ensure migrants are no longer able to leave the northern shores of the African continent. Most concerning is that some countries have de facto boosted their domestic security spending over basic social services like health and education.
The NGO also warns against possible spill over-effects of the EU-driven effort to reduce migratory pressure to Europe. Repressive measures to curb migration are depriving communities of economic opportunities in the Agadez region of Niger without providing viable alternatives in already unstable environments. The EU’s eagerness to rapidly stem migration flows has taken precedence over seeking sustainable solutions for the local population.
Global Health Advocates is urging the EU to delink its political dialogue on migration from its development agenda, acknowledging that migration is a positive driver of development. In the spirit of European’s core founding values of tolerance, solidarity and respect for human dignity, the EU should actively support and promote a more nuanced narrative on migration and mobility, anchored in facts and reality.
Ms. Voitzwinkler concludes: “If the EU Trust Fund is not realigned to reflect a genuine partnership between the EU and African countries, promoting policies that can foster a positive development impact of mobility, the EU should stop replenishing the Fund.”
Pour télécharger le #rapport:
▻http://www.ghadvocates.eu/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/Misplaced-Trust_FINAL-VERSION.pdf
Ethiopia conflict displacement situation report 0.pdf
▻https://www.humanitarianresponse.info/system/files/documents/files/ethiopia-_conflict_displacement_situation_report_0.pdf
This document has been prepared jointly by OCHA and the National Disaster Risk Management Commission (NDRMC), in part
–
nership with Cluster Coordinators, to provide an update on the situation of populations displaced due to conflict on the border
between Oromia and Somali regions, and to inform efforts in mobilizing additional international funding and resources in support
to the current response.
I. Displacements O
Je pensais avoir archivé sur seenthis un article (au moins) qui montrait qu’une partie des personnes rapatriées (#retours_volontaires), par l’#OIM (#IOM) notamment, du #Niger et de #Libye vers leurs pays d’origine reprenaient la route du Nord aussitôt...
Mais je ne retrouve plus cet article... est-ce que quelque seenthisien se rappelle de cela ? ça serait super !
#renvois #expulsions #migrations #réfugiés #retour_volontaire
J’étais presque sûre d’avoir utilisé le tag #migrerrance, mais apparemment pas...
Ici un billet avec une suite des articles sur ce sujet :
►https://seenthis.net/messages/649717
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/649717#message653433
cf. aussi ici :
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/652350#message656947
#merci @02myseenthis01, en effet il s’agit d’articles qui traitent du retour volontaire, mais non pas de ce que je cherche (à moins que je n’ai pas loupé quelque chose), soit de personnes qui, une fois rapatriées via le programme de retour volontaires, décident de reprendre la route de la migration (comme c’est le cas des Afghans, beaucoup plus documenté, notamment par Liza Schuster : ▻https://www.city.ac.uk/people/academics/liza-schuster)
De rien, @cdb_77, merci surtout pour le lien de Liza Schuster - elle a l’air de toucher pas mal des points sensibles dans la discussion scientifique et de la pratique.
Encore un essai de ma part - selon l’information donnée peut-être dans le billet ici, commencé au Déc 2016 jusqu’à Juin/Julliet on l’y peut trouver.
@02myseenthis01 : j’ai pas mal utilisé les travaux de Liza Schuster pour soutenir mon propos dans cet article que j’ai publié sur le site de @lacite (si jamais cela t’intéresse) :
Libya return demand triggers reintegration headaches
“This means that the strain on the assistance to integration of the country of origin has been particularly high because of the success, paradoxically of the return operation,” said Eugenio Ambrosi, IOM’s Europe director, on Monday (12 February).
“We had to try, and we are still trying, to scale up the reintegration assistance,” he said.
Since November, It has stepped up operations, along with the African Union, and helped 8,581 up until earlier this month. Altogether some 13,500 were helped given that some were also assisted by African Union states. Most ended up in Nigeria, followed by Mali and Guinea.
People are returned to their home countries in four ways. Three are voluntary and one is forced. The mixed bag is causing headaches for people who end up in the same community but with entirely different integration approaches.
“The level of assistance and the type of reintegration assistance that these different programmes offer is not the same,” noted Ambrosi.
►https://euobserver.com/migration/140967
#réintégration
Et une partie de cet article est consacrée à l’#aide_au_retour par les pays européens :
Some EU states will offer in-kind support, used to set up a business, training or other similar activities. Others tailor their schemes for different countries of origin.
Some others offer cash handouts, but even those differ vastly.
Sweden, according to a 2015 European Commission report, is the most generous when it comes to cash offered to people under its voluntary return programme.
It noted that in 2014, the maximum amount of the in-cash allowance at the point of departure/after arrival varied from €40 in the Czech Republic and €50 in Portugal to €3,750 in Norway for a minor and €3,300 in Sweden for an adult.
Anti-migrant Hungary gave more (€500) than Italy (€400), the Netherlands (€300) and Belgium (€250).
However, such comparisons on cash assistance does not reveal the full scope of help given that some of the countries also provide in-kind reintegration support.
For Refugees Detained in Libya, Waiting is Not an Option
Niger generously agreed to host these refugees temporarily while European countries process their asylum cases far from the violence and chaos of Libya and proceed to their resettlement. In theory it should mean a few weeks in Niger until they are safely transferred to countries such as France, Germany or Sweden, which would open additional spaces for other refugees trapped in Libya.
But the resettlement process has been much slower than anticipated, leaving Helen and hundreds of others in limbo and hundreds or even thousands more still in detention in Libya. Several European governments have pledged to resettle 2,483 refugees from Niger, but since the program started last November, only 25 refugees have actually been resettled – all to France.
As a result, UNHCR announced last week that Niger authorities have requested that the agency halt evacuations until more refugees depart from the capital, Niamey. For refugees in Libya, this means their lifeline to safety has been suspended.
Many of the refugees I met in Niger found themselves in detention after attempting the sea journey to Europe. Once intercepted by the Libyan coast guard, they were returned to Libya and placed in detention centers run by Libya’s U.N.-backed Government of National Accord (GNA). The E.U. has prioritized capacity building for the Libyan coast guard in order to increase the rate of interceptions. But it is an established fact that, after being intercepted, the next stop for these refugees as well as migrants is detention without any legal process and in centers where human rights abuses are rife.
▻https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2018/03/12/for-refugees-detained-in-libya-waiting-is-not-an-option
#réinstallation (qui évidemment ne semble pas vraiment marcher, comme pour les #relocalisations en Europe depuis les #hotspots...) :
Several European governments have pledged to resettle 2,483 refugees from Niger, but since the program started last November, only 25 refugees have actually been resettled – all to France.
“Death Would Have Been Better” : Europe Continues to Fail Refugees and Migrants in Libya
Today, European policies designed to keep asylum seekers, refugees, and migrants from crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Italy are trapping thousands of men, women and children in appalling conditions in Libya. This Refugees International report describes the harrowing experiences of people detained in Libya’s notoriously abusive immigration detention system where they are exposed to appalling conditions and grave human rights violations, including arbitrary detention and physical and sexual abuse.
►https://www.refugeesinternational.org/reports/libyaevacuations2018
Lien vers le rapport :
The report is based on February 2018 interviews conducted with asylum seekers and refugees who had been evacuated by UNHCR from detention centers in Libya to Niamey, Niger, where these men, women, and children await resettlement to a third country. The report shows that as the EU mobilizes considerable resources and efforts to stop the migration route through Libya, asylum seekers, refugees and migrants continue to face horrendous abuses in Libya – and for those who attempt it, an even deadlier sea crossing to Italy. RI is particularly concerned that the EU continues to support the Libyan coast guard to intercept boats carrying asylum seekers, refugees and migrants and bring them back to Libyan soil, even though they are then transferred to detention centers.
►https://static1.squarespace.com/static/506c8ea1e4b01d9450dd53f5/t/5ad3ceae03ce641bc8ac6eb5/1523830448784/2018+Libya+Report+PDF.pdf
#évacuation #retour_volontaire #renvois #Niger #Niamey
#Return_migration – a regional perspective
The current views on migration recognize that it not necessarily a linear activity with a migrant moving for a singular reason from one location to a new and permanent destination. Within the study of mixed migration, it is understood that patterns of movements are constantly shifting in response to a host of factors which reflect changes in individual and shared experiences of migrants. This can include the individual circumstance of the migrant, the environment of host country or community, better opportunities in another location, reunification, etc.[1] Migrants returning to their home country or where they started their migration journey – known as return migration—is an integral component of migration.
Return migration is defined by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) as the act or process of going back to the point of departure[2]. It varies from spontaneous, voluntary, voluntary assisted and deportation/forced return. This can also include cyclical/seasonal return, return from short or long term migration, and repatriation. Such can be voluntary where the migrant spontaneously returns or assisted where they benefit from administrative, logistical, financial and reintegration support. Voluntary return includes workers returning home at the end of their labour arrangements, students upon completion of their studies, refugees and asylum seekers undertaking voluntary repatriation either spontaneously or with humanitarian assistance and migrants returning to their areas of origin after residency abroad. [3] Return migration can also be forced where migrants are compelled by an administrative or judicial act to return to their country of origin. Forced returns include the deportation of failed asylum seekers and people who have violated migration laws in the host country.
Where supported by appropriate policies and implementation and a rights-based approach, return migration can beneficial to the migrant, the country of origin and the host country. Migrants who successfully return to their country of origin stand to benefit from reunification with family, state protection and the possibility of better career opportunities owing to advanced skills acquired abroad. For the country of origin, the transfer of skills acquired by migrants abroad, reverse ‘brain drain’, and transactional linkages (i.e. business partnerships) can bring about positive change. The host country benefits from such returns by enhancing strengthened ties and partnerships with through return migrants. However, it is critical to note that return migration should not be viewed as a ‘solution’ to migration or a pretext to arbitrarily send migrants back to their home country. Return migration should be studied as a way to provide positive and safe options for people on the move.
Return migration in East Africa
The number of people engaging in return migration globally and in the Horn of Africa and Yemen sub-region has steadily increased in recent years. In 2016, IOM facilitated voluntary return of 98,403 persons worldwide through its assisted voluntary return and re-integration programs versus 69,540 assisted in 2015. Between December 2014 and December 2017, 76,589 refugees and asylum seekers were assisted by humanitarian organisations to return to Somalia from Kenya.
In contexts such as Somalia, where conflict, insecurity and climate change are common drivers for movement (in addition to other push and pull factors), successful return and integration of refugees and asylum seekers from neighbouring countries is likely to be frustrated by the failure to adequately address such drivers before undertaking returns. In a report titled ‘Not Time To Go Home: Unsustainable returns of refugees to Somalia’,Amnesty International highlights ongoing conflict and insecurity in Somalia even as the governments of Kenya and Somali and humanitarian agencies continue to support return programs. The United Nations has cautioned that South and Central parts of Somalia are not ready for large scale returns in the current situation with over 2 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in the country and at least half of the population in need of humanitarian assistance; painting a picture of returns to a country where safety, security and dignity of returnees cannot be guaranteed.
In March 2017, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia ordered all undocumented migrants to regularize their status in the Kingdom giving them a 90-day amnesty after which they would face sanctions including deportations. IOM estimates that 150,000 Ethiopians returned to Ethiopia from Saudi Arabia between March 2017 and April 2018. Since the end of the amnesty period in November 2017, the number of returns to Ethiopia increased drastically with approximately 2,800 migrants being deported to Ethiopia each week. Saudi Arabia also returned 9,563 Yemeni migrants who included migrants who were no longer able to meet residency requirements. Saudi Arabia also forcibly returned 21,405 Somali migrants between June and December 2017.
Migrant deportations from Saudi Arabia are often conducted in conditions that violate human rights with migrants from Yemen, Somalia and Ethiopia reporting violations. An RMMS report titled ‘The Letter of the Law: Regular and irregular migration in Saudi Arabia in a context of rapid change’ details violations which include unlawful detention prior to deportation, physical assault and torture, denial of food and confiscation of personal property. There were reports of arrest and detention upon arrival of Ethiopian migrants who had been deported from Saudi Arabia in 2013 during which the migrants were reportedly tortured by Ethiopian security forces.
Further to this, the sustainability of such returns has also been questioned with reports of returnees settling in IDP camps instead of going back to their areas of origin. Such returnees are vulnerable to (further) irregular migration given the inability to integrate. Somali refugee returnees from Kenya face issues upon return to a volatile situation in Somalia, often settling in IDP camps in Somalia. In an RMMS research paper ‘Blinded by Hope: Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices of Ethiopian Migrants’, community members in parts of Ethiopia expressed concerns that a large number of returnees from Saudi Arabia would migrate soon after their return.
In November 2017, following media reports of African migrants in Libya being subjected to human rights abuses including slavery, governments, humanitarian agencies and regional economic communities embarked on repatriating vulnerable migrants from Libya. African Union committed to facilitating the repatriation of 20,000 nationals of its member states within a period of six weeks. African Union, its member states and humanitarian agencies facilitated the return of 17,000 migrants in 2017 and a further 14,000 between January and March 2018.[4]
What next?
Return migration can play an important role for migrants, their communities, and their countries, yet there is a lack of research and data on this phenomenon. For successful return migration, the drivers to migration should first be examined, including in the case of forced displacement or irregular migration. Additionally, legal pathways for safe, orderly and regular migration should be expanded for all countries to reduce further unsafe migration. Objective 21 of the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration (Draft Rev 1) calls upon member states to ‘cooperate in facilitating dignified and sustainable return, readmission and reintegration’.
In addition, a legal and policy framework facilitating safe and sustainable returns should be implemented by host countries and countries of origin. This could build on bilateral or regional agreements on readmissions, creation of reception and integration agencies for large scale returns, the recognition and assurance of migrant legal status, provision of identification documents where needed, amending national laws to allow for dual citizenship, reviewing taxes imposed on the diaspora, recognition of academic and vocational skills acquired abroad, support to vulnerable returnees, financial assistance where needed, incentives to returnee entrepreneurs, programs on attracting highly skilled returnees. Any frameworks should recognize that people have the right to move, and should have their human rights and dignity upheld at all stages of the migration journey.
▻http://www.mixedmigration.org/articles/return-migration-a-regional-perspective
Reçu via la mailing-list Migreurop, le 20.09.2018
Niamey, le 20 septembre 2018
D’après des témoignages recueillis près du #centre_de_transit des #mineurs_non_accompagnés du quartier #Bobiel à Niamey (Niger), des rixes ont eu lieu devant le centre, ce mardi 18 septembre.
A ce jour, le centre compterait 23 mineurs et une dizaine de femmes avec des enfants en bas âge, exceptionnellement hébergés dans ce centre en raison du surpeuplement des structures réservées habituellement aux femmes.
Les jeunes du centre font régulièrement état de leurs besoins et du non-respect de leurs droits au directeur du centre. Certains y résident en effet depuis plusieurs mois et ils sont informés des services auxquels ils devraient avoir accès grâce à une #charte des centre de l’OIM affichée sur les murs (accès aux soins de santé, repas, vêtements - en particulier pour ceux qui sont expulsés de l’Algérie sans leurs affaires-, activité récréative hebdomadaire, assistance légale, psychologique...). Aussi, en raison de la lourdeur des procédures de « #retours_volontaires », la plupart des jeunes ne connaissent pas la date de leur retour au pays et témoignent d’un #sentiment_d'abandon.
Ces derniers jours certains jeunes ont refusé de se nourrir pour protester contre les repas qui leur sont servis (qui seraient identiques pour tous les centres et chaque jour).
Ce mardi, après un vif échange avec le directeur du centre, une délégation de sept jeunes s’est organisée et présentée au siège de l’OIM. Certains d’entre eux ont été reçus par un officier de protection qui, aux vues des requêtes ordinaires des migrants, s’est engagé à répondre rapidement à leurs besoins.
Le groupe a ensuite rejoint le centre où les agents de sécurité du centre auraient refusé de les laisser entrer. Des échanges de pierres auraient suivi, et les gardiens de la société #Gadnet-Sécurité auraient utilisé leurs matraques et blessé légèrement plusieurs jeunes. Ces derniers ont été conduits à l’hôpital, après toutefois avoir été menottés et amenés au siège de la société de gardiennage.
L’information a été diffusée hier soir sur une chaine de télévision locale mais je n’ai pas encore connaissance d’articles à ce sujet.
Alizée
Agadez, des migrants manifestent pour rentrer dans leurs pays
Des migrants ont manifesté lundi matin au centre de transit de l’Organisation Internationale pour les Migrations (OIM). Ce centre est situé au quartier #Sabon_Gari à Agadez au Niger. Il accueille à ce jour 800 migrants.
Parmi eux, une centaine de Maliens. Ces migrants dénoncent la durée de leurs séjours, leurs conditions de vie et le manque de communication des responsables de l’OIM.
Forest Landscape Restoration in Hilly and Mountainous Regions: Special Issue - Forests, Trees and Agroforestry
▻http://foreststreesagroforestry.org/forest-landscape-restoration-in-hilly-and-mountainous-regi
Sommaire :
Studies on forest landscape restoration in hilly and mountainous regions of Asia and Africa – an introduction to the Special Issue
How do property rights reforms provide incentives for forest landscape restoration? Comparing evidence from Nepal, China and Ethiopia
The ‘#Conversion_of_Cropland_to_Forest_Program’ (#CCFP) as a national ‘#Payment_for_Ecosystem_Services’ (#PES) scheme in China: Institutional structure and roles, ensuring voluntarism and conditionality of subsidy payments
Exclosures as forest and landscape restoration tools: lessons from #Tigray Region, Ethiopia
Shared strengths and limitations of participatory forest management and area exclosure: two major state led landscape rehabilitation mechanisms in Ethiopia
Can forest stand alone? Barriers to the restoration of the last remaining rainforest in Assam, India
From denuded to green mountains: process and motivating factors of forest landscape restoration in #Phewa_Lake watershed, Nepal
Change in land use and ecosystem services delivery from community-based forest landscape restoration in the Phewa Lake watershed, Nepal
Smallholders and forest landscape restoration in upland northern Thailand
A segregated assessment of total carbon stocks by the mode of origin and ecological functions of forests: implication on restoration potential
#revue #Ethiopie #Assam #Inde #Népal #Thaïlande #restauration #Asie #Afrique #Chine
15,000 Eritrean Refugees Relocated in Ethiopia
“Currently IOM is relocating an average of about 100 persons per day which represents an increase in what has been the most continual refugee flow into Ethiopia in 2017,” said Khatab Khalid, the head of IOM Ethiopia’s Shire Sub-Office.
According to official figures, there were 21,215 new Eritrean refugee arrivals to Ethiopia in 2016 while over 20,000 have arrived in 2017 to date. Most of the refugees are youth with 46 per cent of the total transported by IOM aged between 18-24 years old. Many of them report walking for days to reach Ethiopia.
▻https://www.borkena.com/2017/10/20/eritrea-15000-eritrean-refugees-relocated-ethiopia
#réfugiés #asile #migrations #réfugiés_érythréens #statistiques #chiffres #2016 #2017 #Ethiopie
Mise en ordre, mise aux normes et #droit_à_la_ville : perspectives croisées depuis les #villes du Sud
Marianne Morange et Amandine Spire
Mise en ordre, mise aux normes et droit à la ville : perspectives croisées depuis les villes du Sud [Texte intégral]
Spatial reordering, norm production and the right to the city : a crossed perspective from cities of the South
Anna Perraudin
Faire place aux minorités dans le centre de #Mexico. Des #squats à la propriété, enjeux et limites d’une politique de résorption de l’#habitat_irrégulier [Texte intégral]
Making place for minorities in central Mexico City. From irregular settlements to property : issues and limitations of an irregular habitat resorption policy
Amandine Spire, Marie Bridonneau et Pascale Philifert
Droit à la ville et replacement dans les contextes autoritaires d’#Addis-Abeba (#Éthiopie) et de #Lomé (#Togo) [Texte intégral]
Right to the city and resettlement in the authoritarian contexts of Addis Ababa (Ethiopia) and Lomé (Togo)
Marianne Morange et Aurélie Quentin
Mise en ordre néolibérale de l’espace et fabrication de « bons commerçants » au Cap et #Quito : le commerce « de moins en moins dans la rue » [Texte intégral]
Out of place, out of the street ? Reordering urban space and the reshaping of “good” traders in neoliberalizing Cape Town and Quito
Francesca Pilo’
Les petits commerçants informels des #favelas face à la régularisation électrique : entre tactiques, ajustements et inadaptations [Texte intégral]
Small informal traders in the favelas and regularization of the electricity service : between tactics, adjustments and shortcomings
Emma Broadway
Informal Trading and a Right to the City in the Khayelitsha CBD : insights from the field [Texte intégral]
Commerce informel et droit à la ville dans le #Central_Business_District de #Khayelitsha : un regard ethnographique, au plus près du terrain
▻http://journals.openedition.org/metropoles/5491
#urban_matter #Le_Cap #Afrique_du_sud
Ethiopia : Confronting urban hardship
The traditional image of refugees in sprawling rural settlements and camps no long accurately depicts the reality of today’s refugee situation. With more than half of the world’s refugees living in cities and urban areas, the refugee experience itself has changed in many ways. The life of a forced migrant in an urban environment is often one invisibility and simultaneous exposure. Urban refugees and asylum seekers constantly face protection risks and are often denied access to basic services, exposing them to unique social vulnerabilities.
Ethiopia, which hosts over 830,000 displaced individuals, is experiencing a rise in numbers of urban refugees. Crises in neighbouring countries such as South Sudan, Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea, and Yemen have contributed to these rising numbers. In fact, according to the UNHCR, there are over 20,000 urban refugees in the capital city of Addis Ababa, most of them from Eritrea.
Urban refugees residing in Addis Ababa and all over the world face alternative challenges to those living in camps where basic amenities such as food, water, and shelter are often available. High priced city living, limited access to social and economic services, lack of skills training, employment opportunities, and insufficient support contributes to the poor living conditions of the urban refugee experience.
In response to these harsh circumstances, JRS started the first and only urban Refugee Community Centre (RCC) in Addis Ababa in 1996. The RCC responds to the unmet needs of urban refugees and asylum seekers with a range of services and support. The vocational skills training, day care service, English language courses, psychosocial services, sports and recreation, music therapy, and emergency food and material assistance offered by RCC helps displaced persons heal, learn, and thrive in their new environments.
The RCC project provides educational support to the Somali community residing in Addis Ababa, because illiteracy is widespread among many Somali refugees. The English and computer classes, and sports activities and community services offered by JRS help many refugees improve their living situations. These educational courses and social integration programs are relevant to everyday life, as many urban refugees are unable to obtain these resources on their own. “Even if there is no money that can be given, JRS talks to us and makes us feel good despite the hardships,” said a refugee woman at the centre.
During the 2016 Leaders’ Summit on Refugees, Ethiopia made pledges to address the socio-economic needs of refugees and host communities. Accordingly, the pledges will amend Ethiopia’s national law to expand the out-of-camp policy and issue work permits to refugees. JRS RCC is adapting its projects in response to the changing context, especially those activities that involve language, business, and occupational skills trainings to facilitate and empower refugee participation.
“What’s really nice about the project is that it’s the only community space for refugees. There are some people who have been coming to the centre since childhood. There’s also a great relationship there between us (JRS) and the people we serve. This trust and transparency isn’t seen with many other organisations,” says Liana Tepperman, Director of Programs at JRS/USA.
The effectiveness of the services provided by JRS are recognized by urban refugee stakeholders, including UNHCR who recently helped fund the opening of a new urban Child Protection Centre in July 2017. Several prominent individuals like the UN General Assembly President, and officials from the European Union and US government have made visits to the RCC. They encouraged JRS to continue to take a strong leadership role in urban refugee discussions and actions, as there is still more change to be made.
▻https://reliefweb.int/report/ethiopia/ethiopia-confronting-urban-hardship
#Ethiopie #urban_refugees #réfugiés_urbains #réfugiés #asile #migrations
Ethiopia Plans to Close 27 Refugee Camps
The government of Ethiopia says it will close all 27 refugee camps in its territory over the next 10 years and integrate residents into local communities.
FACTBOX-Why are large land deals in Africa under scrutiny?
▻http://news.trust.org/item/20171128120956-jd5kf/?cid=social_20171128_74859427&adbid=935520496996687872&adbpl=tw&adbpr=15
Here are some facts about large land deals in Africa:
More than 117 large-scale land deals totalling about 22 million hectares, an area the size of the U.S. state of Utah, have been recorded in 21 African countries in the last 12 years.
The land areas range from 1,000 hectares to 10 million hectares.
East Africa accounts for 45 percent of these deals, with Ethiopia making up about 27 percent of all deals.
About 45 percent of investors are Western and North American companies; Asian firms make up 26 percent of investors.
Lease prices range from $1-$13.80 per hectare per year.
Lands are primarily used for food crops, industrial crops including biofuels, and for carbon sinks and carbon trading.
* Following conflicts, Tanzania has announced ceilings on the size of land deals – up to 5,000 hectares for rice and 10,000 hectares for sugarcane.
Sources: Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the Oakland Institute, GRAIN.
▻http://news.trust.org/item/20171128120855-guttc
#terres #Afrique
The power of #art and music in Ethiopia’s refugee camps
In Ethiopia a sense of hopelessness hangs over refugee camps where hundreds of thousands of people are left waiting to build new lives. Lacuna’s writer-in-residence, Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi, meets those who have fled home but are yet to find sanctuary, and sees how art and performance are helping them heal.
#Ethiopie #camps_de_réfugiés #réfugiés #asile #migrations #musique #Adi_Harush
Ethiopia Devaluates Currency by 15%
▻http://www.ena.gov.et/en/index.php/economy/item/3817-ethiopia-devaluates-currency-by-15
Ethiopia has devaluated its exchange rate of Birr by 15 percent against international currencies, the National Bank of Ethiopia announced.
Deputy CEO of NBE Yohannes Ayalew said the devaluation is important in enhancing performance of the country’s export sector.
The move is said to promote the country’s export sector that has been performing low over the past years.
For the past five years, the fluctuation of commodity price in international market and strength of USD relatively against other foreign exchanges, lead to the decline of Ethiopia’s export commodities, especially coffee, oilseed, gold, and leather.
The World Bank has been suggesting that the Ethiopian government should devaluate its currency by at least 10 percent, pointing out that in real terms it may lead to a five percent increase in export earnings and two percent increase in growth.
Ethiopia last devaluated its currency in 2010 by 17 percent but the value of Birr against international currencies has been depreciated from time to time due to floating exchange rate.
Why Are So Many Fascist Monuments Still Standing in Italy?
In the late nineteen-thirties, as Benito Mussolini was preparing to host the 1942 World’s Fair, in Rome, he oversaw the construction of a new neighborhood, Esposizione Universale Roma, in the southwest of the city, to showcase Italy’s renewed imperial grandeur. The centerpiece of the district was the Palazzo della Civiltà Italiana, a sleek rectangular marvel with a façade of abstract arches and rows of neoclassical statues lining its base. In the end, the fair was cancelled because of the war, but the palazzo, known as the Square Colosseum, still stands in Rome today, its exterior engraved with a phrase from Mussolini’s speech, in 1935, announcing the invasion of Ethiopia, in which he described Italians as “a people of poets, artists, heroes, saints, thinkers, scientists, navigators, and transmigrants.” The invasion, and the bloody occupation that followed, would later lead to war-crimes charges against the Italian government. The building is, in other words, a relic of abhorrent Fascist aggression. Yet, far from being shunned, it is celebrated in Italy as a modernist icon. In 2004, the state recognized the palazzo as a site of “cultural interest.” In 2010, a partial restoration was completed, and five years later the fashion house Fendi moved its global headquarters there.
Ethiopia is grappling with heightened risk of state collapse, it is time for orderly transition - Addis Standard
▻http://addisstandard.com/editorial-ethiopia-grappling-heightened-risk-state-collapse-time-orde
Ethiopia is fast descending into turmoil as the result of incessant state-sanctioned violence and repression. Popular demands that precipitated a three year-long protest, which started in Oromia in 2014 and then spread to the Amhara and other regions, remain unaddressed. The discontent in the two most populous regional states, Oromia and Amhara, home to two-thirds of the country’s population of over 100 million, is deep and widespread. The resulting anxiety, expressed by serious Ethiopia watchers, is confirmed by the country’s leader, Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn, who once warned that the continued protests could push Ethiopia into a situation similar to what has prevailed in neighboring Somalia for the last 26 years: state collapse.
The popular protests signaled a regime in crisis. After ruling for a quarter century, the ruling coalition, the Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front (EPRDF), began to exhibit signs of decomposition. Nowhere is this well archived than the reporting by this magazine over the last six years. The economy, once touted as the envy of the world, started experiencing a downward spiral. Tensions emerged at the highest echelons of the security apparatus with the civilian and military intelligence at loggerheads over the direction of the regime’s response to the protests. Beginning in December 2016, two months into the state of emergency that was declared to suppress the protests, the situation got further complicated with rising tensions between regional states – first between the Amhara and Tigray regions and currently between the Oromia and Somali regional states.
Oromo-Somali conundrum: Can Ethiopia tame the Liyu police? - OPride.com
▻https://www.opride.com/2017/09/26/oromo-somali-conundrum-can-ethiopia-tame-liyu-police
Ethiopia says hundreds of Oromos killed and hundreds of thousands of civilians displaced from their homes in still ongoing violent clashes in the Eastern part of the country.
Conflict along the border of Ethiopia’s Oromia and Somali states is not new. The two states have seen sporadic episodes of clashes and raids along the common border for more than a decade. But tensions escalated earlier this month after dozens of ethnic Somalis were killed in the city of Awaday in Eastern Oromia. In response, the Somali State’s paramilitary force known as the “Liyu Police” launched revenge attacks and began mass expulsion of ethnic Oromos from the state.
The Ethiopian government on Monday said more than 3,000 long-term Oromo residents of the semi-autonomous Somaliland were also illegally displaced. At least two Oromos were killed in revenge attacks in the Somaliland capital of Hargeisa earlier this month.
Locals in Oromia have complained for months about cross-border attacks and killings by the Liyu police. Yet, its attacks on civilians and expansionist raids have gone largely unreported, including a recent grenade attack at an elementary school in Miesso and the massacre of several dozen civilians in the town of Chinaksan.
PIATA : A New Way of Doing Business - The Rockefeller Foundation
▻https://www.rockefellerfoundation.org/blog/piata-new-way-business
#Piata, le nouveau partenariat qui veut transformer l’agriculture africaine #Rockfeller, #Fondation_Gates et #Usaid... #agra étant déjà un partenariat impliquant Rockfeller et Gates
Last week at this year’s African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF), the Rockefeller Foundation, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) and the Alliance for Africa’s Green Revolution (AGRA) launched a new $280 million Partnership for Inclusive Agricultural Transformation in Africa (PIATA).
PIATA is a five year partnership that will spur an inclusive agricultural transformation for at least 11 countries in Africa, to increase incomes and improve the food security of 30 million smallholder farm households. Countries include Ghana, Nigeria, Mali, Burkina Faso, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Malawi, and Mozambique.
Agriculture in Africa is the continent’s heartbeat—its most important sector, and its ticket out of poverty. With rising public investments in agriculture, increasing yields and better prospects for farmers, the past decade has yielded significant progress.
Encountering the promised land: Rastafari in Ethiopia and Shashamane
▻http://africasacountry.com/2017/08/encountering-the-promised-land-rastafari-in-ethiopia-and-shashamane
Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie would have been 125 this year. Perhaps coincidentally — and indeed meaningfully for Rastafari repatriates in Ethiopia — the government just announced a decision to issue identification cards to foreigners who have contributed to the country’s development, Israelis of Ethiopian descent and Rastafari. According to news agency AFP, a foreign ministry…
For Ethiopia’s Underemployed Youth, Life Can Center on a Leaf
Cholera Is Slaughtering Yemen and We’re Letting It Happen, by Laurie Garrett | Fortune.com
▻http://fortune.com/2017/07/20/cholera-is-slaughtering-yemen-and-were-letting-it-happen
▻https://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2017/07/gettyimages-815606282.jpg?w=720
This is the worst #cholera epidemic in modern history, and it has already spread well beyond the borders of Yemen, though neighboring nations decline to officially report “cholera,” preferring the ambiguous phrase, “acute watery diarrhea.” Even the new director general of the WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, plays the name game (…)
Confronting this catastrophe commands honesty: Cholera is now rampant not only in Yemen, but South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia, Sudan, and in refugee camps across the Middle East. Last month, the disease broke out in a luxury hotel in Nairobi, sickening attendees to a health conference. By that time, UNICEF head Anthony Lake said, the #Yemen disaster was growing by 5,000 new cases per day—a pace it has since well exceeded. The true toll may well reach half a million before July ends, and the agony is evident everywhere one looks.
The horrible irony is that cholera is spreading primarily because Saudi Arabia and its Gulf state allies have been bombing Yemen’s infrastructure to smithereens for months, rendering every water supply contaminated. The reluctance of Ethiopia and other cholera-afflicted nations to truthfully state their health plights is due to the same countries’—Saudi Arabia and its Gulf allies—policies of boycotting all trade and food from nations that admit to having the disease. And historically the greatest scourge of the annual Hajj is—you guessed it—cholera.
et il faut que ce soit publié dans Fortune (!!)
Tiens #hajj (à venir : 30/08-04/09/17)
Yemen cholera epidemic slowing after infecting 400,000
New cases are continuing at between 5,000 and 6,000 per day, but the epidemic curve shows that the outbreak peaked about three weeks ago
▻http://news.trust.org/item/20170725103128-xf432
#choléra #santé
G20: Launch of Africa Partnership and supporting protection in “regions of origin”
Last week’s G20 meeting concluded with two initiatives towards migration and displacement. The first is the launch of the #G20_Africa_Partnership, the second, a commitment to step up “Coordination and Cooperation on Displacement and Migration.”
Among the objectives of the G20 Africa Partnership is to address root causes of migration by improving inclusive economic growth and employment, developing quality infrastructure, especially in the energy sector and strengthening the framework for private finance in the form of investment compacts. Côte d’Ivoire, Ethiopia, Ghana, Morocco, Rwanda, Senegal and Tunisia have already presented their commitments for entering “#Investment_Compacts.”
The G20 Africa partnership has received criticism among others by Barbara Sennholz- Weihard of Oxfam Germany who stated: “The narrative is: More investment will lead to jobs being created and then people stay in their home countries. However, it is wrong to see private investment and development cooperation as a way to contain migration. (As it) dismisses many lessons learned during the past decades on how sustainable development cooperation should be done. Empirical evidence strongly suggests that migration makes a positive contribution to development due to migrants’ #remittances.”
▻https://www.ecre.org/g20-launch-of-africa-partnership-and-supporting-protection-in-regions-of-origi
#externalisation #asile #migrations #réfugiés #Afrique #G20 #développement #investissements #infrastructure #croissance_économique #économie #travail #énergie #emploi #remises
cc @reka
Ici le texte de l’accord:
▻https://www.g20.org/Content/DE/_Anlagen/G7_G20/2017-g20-annex-partnership-africa-en.pdf?__blob=publicationFile&v=6
Migrant Arrivals Into Italy in July 2017 / 2016
#arrivées #statistiques #Italie #Méditerranée #chiffres #asile #migrations #réfugiés #visualisation #infographie
D’autres données sur le site #Migration_geo-portal :
http://i.imgur.com/D8JdOwC.png 
http://i.imgur.com/KIG4HXg.png 
http://i.imgur.com/eZOfJlK.png 
http://i.imgur.com/7y46PD4.png
Meno sbarchi, ma a che prezzo?
Resta però una costante: chiusa una rotta, i flussi di profughi molto spesso ne trovano un’altra. In genere più pericolosa, purtroppo. Gli arrivi in Spagna stanno già aumentando. Speriamo non siano l’alba di nuove tragedie, oltre a quelle che si consumano in Africa ai danni di chi non riesce più a fuggire.
▻http://www.aggiornamentisociali.it/articoli/meno-sbarchi-ma-a-che-prezzo
#Espagne #Italie #parcours_migratoires #routes_migratoires
Vu sur twitter, sans plus de références :
’Migranti in calo, grande risultato dell’Italia’
Il vice presidente Ue, #Frans_Timmermans: ’Per una soluzione stabile serve solidarietà tra partner europei’
▻http://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/mondo/2017/09/02/migranti-in-calo-grande-risultato-dellitalia_69e60bef-3ec0-4fdf-b2a6-34e9aadf31
#indécent #hypocrisie #indécence
The mysterious drop in the number of migrants crossing the Mediterranean
On Tuesday, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations’ migration agency, published data on recent arrivals in Europe. The figures took experts and analysts by surprise: Compared with the 273,000 migrants who landed from January through Aug. 27, 2016, about 121,000 arrived during the same period this year. Furthermore, there was no evidence of any migrant dying in the Mediterranean since Aug. 9.
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/the-mysterious-drop-in-the-number-of-migrants-crossing-the-mediterranean/2017/08/31/1e50598e-8cfc-11e7-9c53-6a169beb0953_story.html?tid=ss_tw-amp
Migrant flows to islands on the rise again
From August 28 up until early on Monday, 1,092 people had arrived on the shores of the eastern Aegean islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Kos and Leros, as well as other islands that lack the infrastructure to register and identify them.
To make matters worse, there have been no returns to Turkey – as part of the joint Ankara-Brussels agreement announced in March 2016 – for the last two months.
▻http://www.ekathimerini.com/221389/article/ekathimerini/news/migrant-flows-to-islands-on-the-rise-again
#Grèce
Oui, vous avez bien lu:
To make matters worse, there have been no returns to Turkey
–-> #waf ??
Italian minister defends methods that led to 87% drop in migrants from Libya
Interior minister Marco Minniti went to Libya in an attempt to reduce migrant flows, earning praise and condemnation in equal measure for his approach
▻https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/07/italian-minister-migrants-libya-marco-minniti
Communiqué de la commission européenne... #hypocrisie totale... On parle de résultats positifs... de politiques qui donnent leurs fruits... et en réalité on contraint des personnes à vivre des situations inhumaines en Libye... où torture et viol sont monnaie courante...
Cadre de partenariat pour les migrations : la gestion conjointe des flux migratoires donne des résultats positifs
Le cinquième rapport d’avancement relatif au cadre de partenariat pour les migrations, présenté ce jour par la Commission et la haute représentante, montre que les mesures mises en place avec les partenaires en Afrique pour améliorer la gestion des migrations le long de la route de la Méditerranée centrale commencent à porter leurs fruits.
EU migration cooperation with third countries: More harm than good?
The latest Progress Report on the Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration states that since the last progress report in June significant progress has been made and outlines the key actions taken since June.
According to the Commission report, key achievements include the reduction of the number of crossings on the Central Mediterranean as well as stepped up cooperation with Libya, including a new 46.3 € million project to strengthen border surveillance at the country’s sea and land border. Further, the report refers to cooperation with some Western African countries beyond the Compact countries, the Commission’s invitation to Member States to resettle people out of Libya, Niger, Sudan, Egypt and Ethiopia in 2018 in line with the 4 July Action Plan , and the stepping up of diplomatic contacts and multilateral discussion between EU, Member States and countries of transit and origin.
IOM : Refugees dying at quicker rate in Mediterranean
Rights groups concerned as likelihood of drowning increases on ’most dangerous’ route and as conditions worsen in Libya.
▻http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/features/2017/09/iom-refugees-dying-quicker-rate-mediterranean-170917035605080.html
#mortalité
L’article cite ce #rapport :
Fatal Journeys Volume 3 PART 1 Improving Data on Missing Migrants
Migrant arrivals down 30% in 10 months - interior ministry
(ANSA) - Rome, October 31 - The number of migrants to land in Italy from January 1 up to today is 30.13% down with respect to the same period last year, the interior ministry said on Tuesday. It said a 78% drop was registered in October alone. It said arrivals from Libya were down 93% in 2017. The ministry said 111,397 migrants arrived in the first 10 months of 2017, compared to 159,427 in the same period in 2016. It said 5,984 arrived in October compared to 27,384 in the same month a year ago.
The figure for Libya was 1,917, compared to 27,384 in October 2016.
▻https://www.ansa.it/english/news/2017/10/31/migrant-arrivals-down-30-in-10-months-interior-ministry-2_06f2c7e4-b5e3-483d-9c
Le blocage des migrants en Libye entraîne une chute de 70% des arrivées en Italie
Selon un dernier bilan de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), près de 150 000 migrants sont arrivés en Europe par la Méditerranée entre janvier et octobre cette année, et au moins 2826 autres sont morts ou disparus en mer.
Si les arrivées en Espagne ont presque triplé selon l’OIM – plus de 14 000 cette année contre 5445 à la même période en 2016 –, celles enregistré en Italie ont baissé de 30% sur les 10 premiers mois de l’année : 111 000 contre près de 160 000 l’an dernier, selon les statistiques du ministère italien de l’Intérieur.
Jusqu’à fin juin, ces arrivées étaient en hausse de près de 20%, mais la tendance s’est radicalement inversée, avec une chute de 70% à partir de la mi-juillet, essentiellement du fait d’accords controversés avec les autorités, les tribus et – selon plusieurs sources libyennes que les autorités italiennes démentent – certaines milices libyennes.
A la mi-octobre, le Haut-Commissariat de l’ONU aux réfugiés (HCR) avait ainsi annoncé la découverte de plus de 14 500 migrants détenus par des trafiquants dans et autour de Sabratha, dans l’ouest du pays.
Enfermés dans des fermes, des maisons et des entrepôts, ils ont décrit « des souffrances et des abus d’une ampleur choquante », avait ajouté le HCR, estimant que 6000 autres migrants étaient encore probablement détenus dans cette zone.
▻https://www.letemps.ch/monde/2017/11/01/blocage-migrants-libye-entraine-une-chute-70-arrivees-italie
Vu sur twitter le 08.03.2018 :
Depuis le début de l’année, 337 migrants sont morts ou disparus au large de la Libye. C’est 1 sur 16 personnes arrivées en Italie. L’an dernière sur la même période, le rapport était de 1 mort ou disparu pour 33 personnes arrivées en Italie #AFP
People of Football
▻http://africasacountry.com/2017/07/people-of-football
Somalia has never qualified for the World Cup. For a long time, whether by lack of organization, money or crippled by civil war (1966-1978 and 1986-1998) they just didn’t enter. More recently the national team had to play “home” matches in Kenya and Ethiopia. Some players have been threatened by Al Shabaab, who, like the Taliban, considers football sinfull. But, as…
Land restoration in Ethiopia: ’This place was abandoned ... This is incredible to me’
A project to restore the land in #Tigray, Ethiopia has created opportunities for livelihoods for young people who had been leaving in droves
The minister of agriculture had the last word. “Agroforestry is becoming the heart and the mind of the government,” said Abraha. “What we see here is really the beginning of transformation. All those youngsters who wanted to migrate will have productive land.”
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/11447505843f287338161c08eb2d45523b211230/0_988_3024_1814/master/3024.jpg?w=780&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=fac1d288e61c7dc810615d06907ccc0e#.jpg 
https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/0b2c22926af88e422669aa91f8f561846e917b40/36_18_3987_2581/master/3987.jpg?w=620&q=20&auto=format&usm=12&fit=max&dpr=2&s=a26224d76b1f5fa00afda095269a2b00#.jpg
Evidemment, déjà signalé par @odilon !
▻https://seenthis.net/messages/609072
Land restoration in Ethiopia: ’This place was abandoned ... This is incredible to me’ | Global Development Professionals Network | The Guardian
►https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2017/jun/21/land-restoration-in-ethiopia-this-place-was-abandoned-this-is-incredibl
Ethiopia is suffering from severe drought, but there is water in Gergera. 20 years of restoring its hills and river valley has brought life back to this area of the Tigray region in the country’s far north.
The work has been painstaking, complex and multidimensional and continues to this day. But the hard-won results offer up two key lessons. We know now that landscape restoration in drylands hinges on water management. And we know, just as importantly, that restoration can create a base for better livelihoods and jobs for youth who formerly left in droves.
#restauration_des_sols ou de l’#écosystème #éthiopie #eau
voir
▻https://seenthis.net/recherche?recherche=land+restoration+ethiopia
Africa’s North Korea: Reporting From Eritrea, the Land of No Journalists
But Fathi Osman, an ex-Eritrean diplomat who fled the country and now works for Paris-based #Radio_Erena, an Eritrean media outlet in exile, says that comparison doesn’t do the situation in his home country justice. The Eritrean capital Asmara, he says, is a less open place than Pyongyang.
▻http://www.newsweek.com/eritrea-north-korea-press-freedom-isaias-afwerki-623641
#journalisme #presse #médias #Erythrée #répression #dictature
Eritrea’s Silent Totalitarianism
Eritrea emerged as a sovereign state in 1991, following 30 years of armed battle for independence with its neighbour Ethiopia. The nationalist movement of the Eritrean People’s Liberation Front (FPLE) was a Maoist guerilla party that led Eritrea to independence in 1993 under secretary general Isaias Afwerki. The movement’s leader then became the first Eritrean President and reshaped the movement into a single party called the Popular Front for Democracy and Justice (FPDJ).
There is no denying that the length and the severity of the war that led to Eritrea`s accession to independence have forged a real esprit de corps among its leaders. But while that spirit may be useful in times of war, it can have devastating effects on the civil society in times of peace. Since its inception, arbitrary detentions and cases of torture, rape, and extrajudicial killings have marred the regime – as was reported by a special UN commission in June 2016. According to the report, more than 400,000 Eritreans have been enslaved in the national conscription program, where they are forced to work in the army or the bureaucracy. In addition, there are no independent newspapers left and state-run media outlets are the sole providers of news.
Yet twenty-five years into his party`s rule, Isaias Afwerki is still the president of Eritrea. Elections were scheduled for 2001, but have yet to take place. It is no wonder that Eritrea is often nicknamed the “North Korea of Africa.”
Censorship and Repression
According to Reporters Without Borders’ World Press Freedom report of 2017, Eritrea is ranked 179th out of 180 countries; only North Korea ranks lower. To keep its grip on power, the repressive regime of Isaias Afwerki has used imprisonment and torture of opponents, harsh crackdowns on independent journalists, and arbitrary arrests, ultimately creating “a media climate so oppressive that even reporters for state-run news outlets live in constant fear of arrest.” In 2015, Eritrea had the third highest number of imprisoned journalists after China and Iran, all of whom have been given no trial and no criminal charges.
But repression has not always characterized Eritrea’s attitude towards journalism. In 1996, the number of independent newspapers boomed, many of which were founded by graduates of the University of Asamara and presented pluralistic views. However, the political climate changed. Following a border conflict with Ethiopia (1998-2000), President Isawa Afewerki’s practices abruptly turned totalitarian. Using new measures to perpetuate his power, Afewerki established his position toward his opponents in the beginning of the 2000s by eliminating independent media outlets and cracking down on all dissent. Fifteen members of the People’s Front for Democracy and Justice wrote a public letter denouncing Afwerki’s “illegal and unconstitutional” actions, and were immediately jailed. Eleven of them are still incarcerated without trial, and have become known as the G-15. On the same day, 18 September 2001, Afwerki banned private newspapers and jailed eleven journalists, who remain in undisclosed locations. In addition, religious freedom in Eritrea is also curtailed, with the government allowing the practice of only four religions: the Eritrean Orthodox Church, the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Eritrea, the Roman Catholic Church and Islam.
To be sure, satellite dishes offering BBC, CNN and Al Jazeera can be accessed throughout the country, and Internet, although very slow, appears to be unfiltered. Even so, however, according to U.N. International Telecommunication Union figures, internet service is available only when channeled through slow dial-up connections and fewer than 1.2% of the population is using the internet in 2017, the lowest number on the list of 148 countries. Similarly, only 5.6% of Eritrea’s population owns a cell phone, again the lowest figure in the world. Inside Eritrea, all mobile communications are channeled through Eritrea’s sole state-run telecommunication company, EriTel. That the regulation of mobile communications is a tool to further project Isaias’ government authority on its population is evidenced by Eritrea’s decision to cancel plans to provide mobile Internet for its citizens by fear of the spread of the Arab Spring protests. Further isolationist policies include the restrictions placed on foreign correspondents. Indeed, the last remaining accredited international reporter was expelled in 2007, and ‘‘the few outside reporters invited in occasionally to interview the president are closely monitored.”
Today, thousands of dissident and political prisoners, from former politicians and journalists to practitioners of illegal religions, continue to be detained with no planned trial in sight. Often, they are held in underground jails in remote areas where prisoners are placed in metal containers and suffer from intolerable heat. In some cases, information regarding the state of the prisoners’ health is not disclosed to the public nor their family.
The report from the UN commission of inquiry on human rights in Eritrea claims that state spying and surveillance leads to the constant fear of arbitrary arrest, torture, disappearance or death. Ultimately, this culture of fear has created a climate of self-censorship and mistrust that affects communities and families. Denouncement of deserters can be rewarded with benefits from local administrators, and families of the deserter legally have to pay amends (50 000 nakfas for each deserter – or 2500 euros). This structure creates incentives to denounce members of your own family or your neighbours, further consolidating the role of an authoritarian state whose actions and agents are constantly expanding and interfering in the everyday life of its citizens.
Forced Military Service
In 1994, a national system of military mobilization for young Eritreans legally imposed 6 months of military training and one year of service. National service was perceived as a duty for the citizens which had not participated in the war of independence. Thus, tens of thousands of men and women from 18 and 40 years of old are recruited each year.
However, since the border dispute between Ethiopia and Eritrea that began in 1998, the period of service has been indefinitely extended. Eritreans over 18 years old are now conscripted into 18 months of military service, followed by an indefinite period of civil service that often lasts more than a decade. Since 2002, this expansion of the conscription period has become the central pillar of the national development campaign known as WofriWarsay Ykä?Lo, which aims to rebuild the country devastated by war, and to cope with the economic consequences of the decrease in trade relations with Ethiopia. The government also justifies national conscription by arguing that there is an ongoing highly militarized border dispute with its neighbor, Ethiopia.
There seems to be little doubt, however, that this mobilization of almost all the available labor force in the country aims to set up a planned economy and to extend the reach of authoritarian control into social activities. Often referred to as forced labour, the national service is rooted in three-decade struggle for independence that gave rise to an obsession over security, evidenced by party and government policies and the consequent process of militarization of society. Anyone who defies this national program is subject to cruel torture.
Completion of national service is a condition for full citizenship for young adults, which grants Eritreans who are required to serve indefinitely only limited rights in the choice of their studies and their professional activity, as well as restricts their freedom of movement within national borders. Freedom of enterprise and land ownership are also not allowed for conscripts, and their low wages and arbitrary leave allowances often disturb family life. But that is not all. Conditions in military training camps are dire, and conscripts must tolerate the inadequacy of food, water, hygiene facilities, accommodation and medical facilities. These camps are also sites of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls, the purpose of which is to extract confessions, punish, and intimidate. To escape conscription, many avoid public places and hide. Today, 10 000 ‘deserters’ are imprisoned, often in metallic containers in remote cities.
In light of the aforementioned constraints on freedom of expression and movement imposed on Eritreans, understanding why many decide to flee the country becomes less challenging. The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reported 474, 296 Eritreans globally registered as refugees and asylum seekers at the end of 2015, which represents around 12 percent of Eritrea’s estimated population of 3.6 million.
Constrained Liberties in the Midst of Extreme Poverty
However, the report of the U.N commission does not escape criticism. Journalist Bronwyn Bruton argues that since the U.N commissioners were denied entry into Eritrea, they relied almost exclusively on the testimonies of about 800 Eritrean refugees that had decided to leave Eritrea and failed to interview diplomats who had recently traveled to the country: ‘‘The commissioners didn’t interview Western diplomats or U.N. staff based in Eritrea. (…) They discarded tens of thousands of testimonials from Eritreans defending the Isaias regime, claiming these were irrelevant or inauthentic.”
While acknowledging the human rights abuses taking place in Eritrea, Bruton argues that the report does not reflect the reality on the ground. Although the report claims that Eritreans who leave the country and eventually return face arbitrary imprisonment and torture, Bruton sheds light on the reports from some Horn of Africa reporters, including Mary Harper from BBC, about the thousands of Eritreans who have returned to celebrate independence: “They have spoken freely, and on camera, with dozens of Eritreans about the political situation in the country, despite the COIE’s assertion that Eritreans exist in a climate of fear without the ability to speak their minds.”
Further, scholars have questioned the potential causal link between socioeconomic development and democracy. Some scholars worry that, should democracy occur before a country achieves a considerable level of socioeconomic development, governments would not be capable of accommodating all the new political and economic demands. Many have continuously justified authoritarian rule as a necessary ‘stopgap’ to jump-start economic growth. In their view, authoritarian regimes can limit workers’ wages and control labor unrest to increase profit and attract external and domestic private-sector investment. [1] To diversify its economy and to convert conscript jobs to formal civil-service or private-sector positions, some have argued that the Eritrean government has no other choice but to develop its economy: ‘‘It will simply be impossible to reform Eritrea’s controversial National Service Program (…) without improving the economy. Simply releasing those people to joblessness would cause insecurity, and of course the country would completely cease functioning….’’.
In short, Eritrea is facing the problem of development in a situation of extreme poverty.
To lift itself out of mass poverty, it needs a quantum leap in the accumulation of capital that is required to build infrastructure and educate the population. The Eritrean regime has evidenced their aspirations to develop through their achievements in sectors like education and healthcare which are strategic to the functioning of the state. According to the Eritrea Health MDGs Report of 2014, Eritrea is one of the only countries likely to fulfill the Millenium Development Goals in health. The achievements include the reduction of infant and child mortality rates and the increase of immunisation coverage. Considering that Eritrea ranks among the poorest countries in the world, such “Concerted government programmatic and resource investment in the health sector” should be acknowledged as a successful achievement.
In this context, conscript work is a concerted effort to impoverish the individual for the benefit of the collective. The legitimacy of the move hinges on the ability of the government to build a viable consensus on its goals without excessive coercion. If the effort is squandered in useless projects or diverted through corrupt channels, the regime will devolve into the worst type of despotism. The restrictions on human liberties implemented by Isaias’ government are excessive and not necessary to secure the capital needed for Eritrea’s development. Should, however, the regime succeed in accumulating growth for its population while renouncing its draconian measures against dissent, it could pave the way toward a sustainable development for generations of Eritreans.
