• Let’s Talk About Climate Migrants, Not Climate Refugees

    “At first, we woke up to the sound of the wind and right after that the water came streaming into our house. We only managed to grab our children and run away to an area which lies on higher ground,” explains Rafael Domingo, a father of four in Mozambique, where Cyclone Idai left more than 73,000 people homeless in March 2019.

    In 2018 alone, 17.2 million new displacements associated with disasters in 148 countries and territories were recorded (IDMC) and 764,000 people in Somalia, Afghanistan and several other countries were displaced following drought (IOM).

    “Many people who were displaced cannot return home. The drought in Somalia is happening all the time. People have no way to recover,” said Halima, a 30-year-old mother of three displaced in Somalia because of the drought.

    Climate migrants have been invisible for many years on the migration and climate debates. Our work at IOM has been focused for over 10 years on bringing climatic and environmental factors to the light and on building a body of evidence proving that climate change affects – directly and indirectly – human mobility.

    Hence, it might seem paradoxical in this context not to encourage the establishment of a climate specific legal status, parallel to the existing refugees’ status.

    However, while the available evidence on how climate change and environmental degradation affect human mobility is growing and is uncontested, the current focus of the debate on establishing a climate refugee status can lead to a narrow and biased debate and would provide only partial solutions to address the complexity of human mobility and climate change.

    Media are pushing again and again for features on “climate refugees” and request projections on how many climate refugees there will be in twenty years. In contrast, some emblematic small island States, among others, speak out that they do not wish to become climate refugees; they want to be able to stay in their homes, or to move in dignity and through regular channels without abandoning everything behind.

    “When the grass is not enough, movement increases. In the spring, many migrants moved from the south to the north. There is no other way to overcome climate change. All the people wish to survive with their animals and come to a place where they can fatten their livestock,” said Mr. Chinbat, a herder of Sergelen soum in Mongolia, where the adverse effects of climate change are impacting the migration of herders.

    The image of “climate refugees” resonates metaphorically to all as it mirrors the current images we see of those escaping wars and conflicts. With the threat of climate change we imagine millions becoming refugees in the future.

    Yet reducing the issue of migration in the context of climate change to the status of “climate refugees” fails to recognize a number of key aspects that define human mobility in the context of climate change and environmental degradation. Here are 10 of these aspects:

    Climate migration is mainly internal: when migration is internal, people moving are under the responsibility of their own state, they do not cross borders and are not seeking protection from a third country or at the international level.
    Migration is not necessarily forced, especially for very slow onset processes migration is still a matter of choice, even if constrained, so countries need to think first migration management and agreements rather than refugee protection.
    Isolating environment/climatic reasons is difficult, in particular from humanitarian, political, social, conflict or economic ones. It can sometimes be an impossible task and may lead to long and unrealistic legal procedures.
    Creating a special refugee status for climate change related reasons might unfortunately have the opposite effects of what is sought as a solution: it can lead to the exclusion of categories of people who are in need of protection, especially the poorest migrants who move because of a mix of factors and would not be able to prove the link to climate and environmental factors.
    Opening the 1951 Refugee Convention might weaken the refugee status which would be tragic given the state of our world where so many people are in need of protection because of persecution and ongoing conflicts.
    Creating a new convention might be a terribly lengthy political process and countries might not have an appetite for it. Many responses can come from migration management and policy as highlighted already in the 2011 International Dialogue on Migration and the recently adopted Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. The Nansen Initiative that was launched to look at gaps in protection for people being displaced across borders by disasters, after undertaking thematic and regional consultations also concluded with a document that proposes a “toolkit” of migration policies rather than recommending the establishment of a new status for these people.
    Climate migration discussions should not lose their focus on preventive measures: the key objective of our generation is to invest in climate and environmental solutions for our planet so that people will not have to leave their homes in a forced way in the future. The Paris Agreement offers anchorage for climate action that considers human mobility to avert, minimize and address displacement in the context of climate change.
    IOM encourages the full use of all already existing bodies of laws and instruments, both hard and soft law in humanitarian, human rights and refugee law, instruments on internal displacement, disaster management, legal migration and others.
    Human rights-based approaches are key for addressing climate migration: states of origin bear the primary responsibility for their citizens’ protection even if indeed their countries have not been the main contributors to global warming; they should therefore apply human rights-based approaches for their citizens moving because of environmental or climatic drivers.
    Regular migration pathways can provide relevant protection for climate migrants and facilitate migration strategies in response to environmental factors. Many migration management solutions are available to respond to challenges posed by climate change, environmental degradation and disasters in terms of international migratory movements and can provide a status for people who move in the context of climate change impacts, such as humanitarian visas, temporary protection, authorization to stay, regional and bilateral free movements’ agreements, among several others.

    https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/06/lets-talk-about-climate-migrants-not-climate-refugees
    #migrants_environnementaux #réfugiés_environnementaux
    #terminologie #vocabulaire #mots #terminologie #déplacés_internes #IDPs

    ping @sinehebdo @reka @karine4 @isskein

  • Paperless people of #post-conflict Iraq

    During the conflict with the Islamic State group (IS), six million Iraqi citizens were forced to flee their homes. Since the end of the conflict, more than four million have returned home, while 1.7 million people still live in displacement. These families struggle to access basic services and face often insurmountable roadblocks to either returning home or rebuilding a life elsewhere. Many, whether still in displacement or returned home, are unable to enjoy their rights as Iraqi citizens and fully engage in the recovery and reconstruction of post-conflict Iraq.

    A foundational reason for this is they do not have proof of their legal identity. Some people lost their documents as they fled their homes; others had them confiscated by various parties to the conflict; and yet others were issued IS documentation, which is of no value now. These paperless people, as a result of lacking critical state-issued civil documents, such as birth certificates, marriage certificates, nationality cards and civil IDs, find themselves denied human rights, barred from a range of public services and excluded from recovery and reconstruction efforts.

    Local and international humanitarian agencies like the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) have collectively helped tens of thousands of Iraqis over the last few years obtain, renew, or replace civil documents lost as a result of the most recent crisis. However, an estimated 80,000 families across the country still have family i members missing at least one civil document. The number of children missing documents is likely much higher. At least 45,000 displaced children living in camps alone are estimated to be missing birth certificates. Without these essential civil papers, they are at risk of statelessness and find it incredibly difficult to access services such as education and healthcare.

    This report, based on research conducted by NRC in partnership with DRC and IRC, through the Cash Consortium for Iraq (CCI) shows how a significant portion of Iraqi families living in urban areas formerly under IS control are being denied basic services because they are paperless.


    https://www.nrc.no/resources/reports/paperless-people-of-post-conflict-iraq
    #papiers_d'identité #réfugiés #asile #migrations #apatridie #Irak #guerre #conflit #IDPs #déplacés_internes
    #rapport

  • Guns, Filth and #ISIS: Syrian Camp Is ‘Disaster in the Making’

    In the desert camp in northeastern Syria where tens of thousands of Islamic State fighters’ wives and children have been trapped for months in miserable conditions with no prospects of leaving, ISIS sympathizers regularly torch the tents of women deemed infidels.

    Fights between camp residents have brought smuggled guns into the open, and some women have attacked or threatened others with knives and hammers. Twice, in June and July, women stabbed the Kurdish guards who were escorting them, sending the camp into lockdown.

    Virtually all women wear the niqab, the full-length black veil demanded by ISIS’s rigid interpretation of Islam — some because they still adhere to the group’s ideology, others because they fear running afoul of the true believers.

    The Kurdish-run #Al_Hol camp is struggling to secure and serve nearly 70,000 displaced people, mainly women and children who fled there during the last battle to oust the Islamic State from eastern Syria. Filled with women stripped of hope and children who regularly die before receiving medical care, it has become what aid workers, researchers and American military officials warn is a disaster in the making.
    Image

    The daily ordeals of overcrowded latrines and contaminated water, limited medical care, flaring tensions between residents and guards, and chronic security problems have left the residents embittered and vulnerable. A recent Pentagon report that cautioned that ISIS was regrouping across Iraq and Syria said ISIS ideology has been able to spread “uncontested” at the camp.

    It is impossible to know how many of the women are ISIS believers, and many have publicly disavowed the group. But a stubborn core of followers is menacing the rest with threats, intimidation and, occasionally, violence, aid workers and researchers who have interviewed Al Hol residents said.

    The result is something more like a prison than a camp, a place where security concerns often overwhelm humanitarian ones — which only heightens the danger, according to aid workers and researchers who described conditions there to The New York Times.

    “Living in conditions that are difficult and being surrounded by people who are highly radical — is that conducive to deradicalization?” said Elizabeth Tsurkov, a fellow at the Forum for Regional Thinking who researches Syria and Iraq, and who has visited the camp twice recently.
    Editors’ Picks
    25 Years Later, It Turns Out Phoebe Was the Best Friend
    Following the Lead of the Diving Girl
    The Perfect Divorce

    “This is a place that can possibly radicalize someone, but certainly doesn’t help deradicalize anyone,” she added.

    Yet few have been able to leave.

    The Iraqis face being ostracized for their ISIS associations or sent to detention camps if they return to Iraq, which has been executing people accused of being ISIS members in what watchdogs and journalists have called sham trials. The Syrians may not have homes to go back to.

    And the roughly 10,000 foreigners from at least 50 other countries are largely unwanted at home.

    The Kurdish authorities overseeing the camp have pleaded for the non-Syrians to be allowed to return to their own countries, saying they are not equipped to detain them indefinitely. But only a few countries, including Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, have repatriated their citizens on a large scale, with the occasional exception of a few young children whom Western governments have agreed to take back.

    “They’re in no man’s land. They’re in limbo,” said Sara Kayyali, a Syria researcher at Human Rights Watch who visited the camp earlier this year. “They’re stuck in the desert in a camp that’s not equipped for their needs, with children who grew up in the worst possible conditions, only to get to a place where things are, if possible, even worse.”

    Adding to their frustration, the women have little information about where their ISIS fighter husbands are. Authorities at first told them that they would be reunited with their relatives or at least be allowed to speak to them, but little has come of that promise, partly because contact is seen as a security risk.

    “I’m struggling to reconcile the two things, wanting to look at them as displaced people and human,” said Dareen Khalifa, an International Crisis Group analyst who has visited the camp, but some of the women are “very ideological, and the atmosphere is very ripe for all sorts of indoctrination of little kids and of women who just don’t know what’s going to happen to them or their families.”

    The struggles of daily life have not helped.

    The tents were freezing cold in the winter and have been swelteringly hot this summer, with temperatures rising as high as 122 degrees. Much of the water is contaminated with E. coli. Human Rights Watch researchers saw children drinking water from a tank with worms coming out of the spout, according to a report the group released in July, and the skin of many women and children they saw was pocked with sores caused by a parasite.

    Conditions are especially poor in the so-called annex, where those who are neither Syrian nor Iraqi are housed, including more than 7,000 children — about two-thirds of whom are younger than 12 — and 3,000 women.

    Annex residents are not allowed to leave their section without a guard. The authorities have also restricted aid groups’ access to the annex, making it difficult to provide much more than basics like water and food, aid workers said.

    As a result, children in the annex are going without school and other services. There is not even a playground.

    “We fear that the narrative of a radicalized population has played a role in hindering humanitarian access,” said Misty Buswell, a spokeswoman for the International Rescue Committee. “The youngest and most vulnerable are paying the highest price and suffering for the perceived misdeeds of their parents.”

    Aid groups are gradually expanding services to keep up with the camp’s population, which leapt from under 10,000 at the end of 2018, to more than 72,000 as ISIS lost its last territory in March. But donors are wary of supporting a camp perceived to be housing hardened ISIS followers.

    Medical care in the annex is limited to two small clinics, neither of which operates overnight, and women from the annex must clear numerous hurdles to be referred to an outside hospital. Women there regularly give birth in a tent without a doctor or a midwife, aid workers said.

    The number of child deaths — mostly from treatable conditions like severe malnutrition, diarrhea and pneumonia — has nearly tripled since March, Ms. Buswell said. Between December and August, the deaths of 306 children under 5 have been recorded at the camp, she said. Almost a third of them were in the annex, double or sometimes triple the rate of deaths elsewhere in the camp, often because children there cannot get medical care, she said.

    The women’s grievances are on display in the group chat channels where some of them congregate, which simmer with violent videos, sinister rumors and desperation.

    One recurring message in the group-chat app Telegram holds, without evidence, that Kurdish guards are kidnapping children and forcing them to serve in Kurdish militias. Another rumor falsely claims that camp residents’ organs are being sold. Others allege murders, sexual assaults and rapes. Many of the posts are pure ISIS propaganda, including beheading videos and vows to rebuild the so-called caliphate.

    Given that residents are being guarded by the same military force that fought their husbands and sons, the American-backed Syrian Democratic Forces, the tensions may have been inevitable. The families who arrived between December and March were among the most committed of the group’s followers, Ms. Tsurkov said, choosing to leave only as the last shreds of the caliphate were being bombarded.

    Aid workers and researchers said the guards often raid women’s tents at night, confiscating items or relocating families for what they say are security reasons, and fire into the air to keep order. Guards have confiscated women’s cash and valuables, leaving them without money to buy fresh food for their children, according to Human Rights Watch. Women in the annex are not allowed to have cellphones, though some do anyway.

    A spokesman for the camp did not reply to a request for comment for this article. But the camp authorities, as well as some aid workers and researchers, have said extra security measures were warranted by the frequent outbreaks of bullying, harassment and violence.

    The Pentagon report said local forces did not have enough resources to provide more than “minimal security,” allowing extremist ideology to spread unchecked.

    “It’s a cycle of violence,” said Ms. Kayyali, the Human Rights Watch researcher. “ISIS has committed atrocities against the world. Policymakers don’t want to deal with anyone connected to ISIS. Then they’re re-radicalized by mistreatment, and they go back to what they know.”

    https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/03/world/middleeast/isis-alhol-camp-syria.html
    #réfugiés #asile #migrations #déplacés_internes #IDPs #Syrie #réfugiés_syriens #Etat_islamique #violence #Kurdes #Kurdistan_syrien #radicalisation

    • Dans le nord-est de la Syrie, la mort lente des #prisonniers djihadistes

      « Le Monde » a pu accéder à l’un des centres gérés par les forces kurdes. S’y entassent des centaines de détenus, les derniers irréductibles du « califat » du groupe Etat islamique, souvent blessés ou mourants.

      La mort a une odeur. Le désespoir aussi ; son effluve se mêle à celle de la maladie, de la dysenterie, de la chair humaine que la vie, peu à peu, abandonne. Quand la porte de la cellule réservée aux malades de cette prison pour membres de l’organisation Etat islamique (EI) du nord-est de la Syrie s’ouvre sur d’innombrables détenus en combinaisons orange, entassés les uns sur les autres sur toute la superficie d’une pièce de la taille d’un hangar, c’est bien cette odeur-là qui étreint la poitrine.

      Les responsables de la prison, appartenant aux forces kurdes de sécurité, ne connaissent pas le nombre d’hommes et d’enfants qui gisent là, entre le monde des vivants et celui des morts. « On ne peut pas les compter. Ça change tout le temps. » Certains guérissent et regagnent leurs cellules. D’autres meurent.


      https://www.lemonde.fr/international/article/2019/10/31/au-nord-est-de-la-syrie-dans-une-prison-de-djihadistes-de-l-ei-tous-les-jour

  • South Sudan displacement crisis still desperate, one year after peace deal

    One year on from the signing of the peace agreement, millions of South Sudanese remain displaced as the country continues to face a humanitarian crisis and people fear that peace may not last, according to a new report published today.

    Women, who lead the vast majority of displaced households, may be especially vulnerable, including facing the threat of sexual violence. While some women have begun returning to South Sudan, many are not going back to their homes but seeking a safer and better place to live.

    The report, No Simple Solutions: Women, Displacement and Durable Solutions in South Sudan, is by Oxfam, Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), Care Foundation, Danish Refugee Council, and South Sudanese organizations, Nile Hope and Titi Foundation. It highlights the experiences of women in transit and the conditions they need in order to return home.

    After five years of brutal conflict, more than seven million South Sudanese – over half the country’s population - are in need of humanitarian assistance. Homes, schools and hospitals have been destroyed and it will take years for essential infrastructure and services to recover.

    The conflict created the largest displacement crisis in Africa with over 4.3 million people forced to flee their homes; 1.8 million people are internally displaced and there are 2.3 million refugees in the region.

    Elysia Buchanan, South Sudan policy lead, Oxfam said: “Since the signing of the revitalized peace deal, armed clashes between parties have reduced, bringing tentative hope to many. But because of the slow implementation of the deal, many women told us they are still not sure if lasting peace is at hand.”

    The civil war also fueled the rise of sexual violence, including rape as a weapon of war, and the abduction of women and girls who were forced into sexual slavery.

    With the sheer scale of the crisis, and endemic levels of sexual and gender-based violence, a South Sudanese woman activist quoted in the report warned humanitarian agencies against rushing to support people to return home. “This would be like throwing people from one frying pan to another. Humanitarian actors should take things slow, until refugees and internally displaced people can move themselves.”

    Due to the ongoing humanitarian crisis, people returning from neighboring countries often find themselves in more difficult conditions than when they were displaced, including struggling to find somewhere to live.

    Connolly Butterfield, Protection and Gender Specialist of NRC, said: “Time and again, women spoke to us of the challenges they face in returning to their homes. They make the journey back, only to find that their houses and properties were completely destroyed, or had already been occupied by strangers, sometimes soldiers. Some of the women said that if they try to reclaim their properties, they have no means of support. They are more likely to be threatened or exposed to physical or sexual assault,” said

    Because the context still poses risks, all actors should take a long-term, community-driven vision around supporting the conditions required to deliver a lasting end to the displacement crisis, to mitigate the risk of people falling into an endless cycle of movement. It is estimated some 60 percent of displaced South Sudanese have been displaced more than once, and one in 10 have been displaced more than five times.

    Buchanan said: “Helping people return to their homes and rebuild their lives is our goal. But by ignoring or downplaying the issues that make returning dangerous, or not ensuring people have adequate information on what they are coming home to, humanitarian agencies could inadvertently endanger people or make their lives worse.

    The international community must only support the return of internally displaced people if conditions are safe and dignified, and the decision to return is informed and voluntary. The humanitarian response must be sensitive to the needs of women and girls, taking into consideration the country’s harmful gender norms.

    Martha Nyakueka, Gender and Protection Coordinatior of the national NGO Nile Hope, said: “After years of conflict, it will take time for the country to recover. . The warring parties who signed the peace deal must ensure that the agreement leads to lasting changes on the ground, not just in terms of security, but also in terms of improving the lives of the South Sudanese people.”


    https://www.nrc.no/news/2019/september/south-sudan-displacement-crisis-still-desperate-one-year-after-peace-deal
    #Soudan_du_sud #asile #migrations #IDPs #déplacés_internes #réfugiés #paix #accord_de_paix

  • Former MP, investors evict thousands in Kiryandongo
    https://observer.ug/news/headlines/61572-former-mp-investors-evict-thousands-in-kiryandongo

    Former Kiryandongo district Member of Parliament (MP), Baitera Maiteki, an American and an Indian investor have been accused of evicting thousands of people in the western districts of Kiryandongo and Masindi.

    The evicted people were living in the gazetted government ranches in Mutunda and Kiryandongo sub-counties along the River Nile. Kiryandongo Sugar, allegedly owned by some Indians, Agilis, owned by an American called Philip Investor, and Sole Agro Business Company, also owned by Indians, have been named in the evictions.

    Agilis is said to have bought ranches 21-22, from SODARI, an agricultural farm that collapsed. SODARI got a lease from government, which ends in 2025. However, it was revealed to the Land Commission of Inquiry that Agilis, bought land that was leased, yet legally, no one is supposed to buy leased land.

    Agro Business was reportedly given about 60 hectares and displaced all people in the area. Kiryandongo Sugar also forcefully evicted people in the area and ploughed all the land, denying some residents farmland and access roads.

    #Ouganda #évictions_forcées #terres

  • Au Cameroun, Greenpeace Africa plaide pour la sécurisation des terres des peuples autochtones
    http://www.lescoopsdafrique.com/2019/08/09/au-cameroungreenpeace-africa-plaide-pour-la-securisation-des-terre

    Les 8 et 9 août à l’esplanade du stade omnisport de #Yaoundé, les #peuples_autochtones attirent une fois de plus l’attention du gouvernement camerounais vis-à-vis de l’impact négatif de l’acquisition des #terres à grande échelle pour l’#agriculture_industrielle sur leur vie, et en même temps, sensibilisent l’opinion tant national qu’internationale sur la nécessité de pérennisation de leur patrimoine culturel.

    “ Nous avons été déplacés de la #forêt sans plan de relocalisation et au profit de la #plantation industrielle de la compagnie #SudCam. Il est essentiel que, pour un projet de grande envergure comme celui de SudCam, nous, les #Baka soyons consultés au préalable, car nous sommes les premiers gardiens de la forêt et devrions en être les premiers bénéficiaires. Le gouvernement doit nous impliquer dans le processus d’acquisition des terres car cela a un impact sur notre vie”, a déclaré Yemelle Parfait, un leader Baka du village d’#Edjom dans le Sud #Cameroon.

  • Quand l’exploitation minière divise la Grèce

    Dans une vaste plaine au coeur des #montagnes du nord de la Grèce, quatre mines de charbon laissent un paysage dévasté. Alors que cet ensemble d’exploitations à ciel ouvert, principal pourvoyeur d’emplois de la région, s’étend toujours plus, les glissements de terrain se multiplient, ravageant les villages environnants.

    Entre relogements aléatoires, maladies liées à l’extraction du lignite et refus d’indemnisations, le combat des citoyens pour se faire entendre se heurte à un mur.


    https://www.arte.tv/fr/videos/084754-002-A/arte-regards-quand-l-exploitation-miniere-divise-la-grece
    #extractivisme #Grèce #charbon #mines #pollution #énergie #destruction #IDPs #déplacés_internes #travail #exploitation #centrales_thermiques #sanctions #privatisation #DEI #lignite #santé #expropriation #villes-fantôme #agriculture #Allemagne #KFW #Mavropigi #effondrement #indemnisation #justice #migrations #centrales_électriques #documentaire #terres #confiscation #conflits #contamination #pollution_de_l'air

    ping @albertocampiphoto @daphne

    • Athènes face au défi de la fin de la #houille

      La Grèce, longtemps troisième productrice de charbon d’Europe, veut fermer la plupart de ses centrales thermiques en 2023 et mettre fin à sa production d’ici à 2028. En Macédoine-Occidentale, les habitants s’inquiètent des conséquences socio-économiques.

      Kozani (Grèce).– Insatiables, elles ont absorbé en soixante-cinq ans plus de 170 kilomètres carrés, dans la région de Macédoine-Occidentale, dans le nord de la Grèce. Les mines de #lignite ont englouti des villages entiers. Les excavateurs ont méthodiquement déplacé la terre et creusé des cratères noirâtres. Les forêts se sont métamorphosées en d’immenses plaines lacérées de tapis roulants. Tentaculaires, ceux-ci acheminent les blocs noirs de lignite jusqu’aux imposantes #centrales_thermiques, au loin.

      Contraste saisissant avec les îles idylliques qui font la célébrité du pays, ce paysage lunaire est surnommé « le #cœur_énergétique » de la Grèce. Quatre #mines_à_ciel_ouvert s’étirent ainsi aujourd’hui des villes de #Kozani à #Florina.

      « Il fallait trouver toujours plus de lignite pour produire l’#électricité du pays », précise le contremaître Antonis Kyriakidis, attaché à ce territoire sans vie qui lui donne du travail depuis trente ans. La recherche de cet « #or_noir » a créé des milliers d’#emplois, mais a dangereusement pollué l’atmosphère, selon plusieurs études.

      L’ensemble de ce #bassin_minier, le plus important des Balkans, propriété de la compagnie électrique grecque #D.E.I – contrôlée par l’État – va cependant bientôt disparaître. Le gouvernement de droite Nouvelle Démocratie a programmé l’arrêt des dernières centrales thermiques dans deux ans et la fin de la production de lignite en 2028, suivant l’objectif de #neutralité_carbone de l’UE d’ici à 2050.

      La production annuelle d’électricité tirée de la combustion de lignite est passée de 32 GW à 5,7 GW entre 2008 et 2020. Trois centrales sont aujourd’hui en activité sur les six que compte la région. Il y a quinze ans, 80 % de l’électricité grecque provenait du charbon extrait de ces mines, ouvertes en 1955, contre 18 % aujourd’hui.

      Seule la nouvelle unité « #Ptolemaida_V » continuera ses activités de 2022 à 2028. Sa construction a commencé il y a six ans, alors que la #décarbonisation n’était pas officiellement annoncée. La Grèce veut désormais privilégier le #gaz_naturel en provenance de Russie ou de Norvège, grâce à différents #gazoducs. Ou celui tiré de ses propres ressources potentielles en Méditerranée. Elle souhaite aussi développer les #énergies_renouvelables, profitant de son climat ensoleillé et venteux.

      Selon le plan de sortie du lignite, dévoilé en septembre 2020 par le ministère de l’environnement et de l’énergie, la Macédoine-Occidentale deviendra une région « verte » : on y développera l’« agriculture intelligente »*, le photovoltaïque ou le tourisme. Une grande partie des mines de D.E.I seront réhabilitées par l’État, enfouies sous des lacs artificiels. La #transition sera assurée, détaille le plan, à hauteur de 5,05 milliards d’euros, par différents fonds nationaux et européens, dont 2,03 milliards issus du #mécanisme_européen_pour_une_transition_juste (#MJT). Le gouvernement espère aussi attirer les investisseurs étrangers.

      Dubitatif dans son bureau lumineux, Lazaros Maloutas, maire centriste de Kozani, la plus grande ville de cette région qui compte 285 000 habitants, peine à imaginer cette métamorphose dans l’immédiat. « Tout le monde est d’accord ici pour dire que la #transition_énergétique est nécessaire, mais l’agenda est beaucoup trop serré », explique-t-il.

      Il insiste poliment sur le fait que « les autorités doivent échanger davantage avec les acteurs locaux ». Il garde en mémoire cet épisode de septembre 2019, lorsqu’il a appris « avec surprise » le calendrier précis de la décarbonisation « à la télévision ». À des milliers de kilomètres, depuis le sommet Action Climat de l’ONU à New York, le premier ministre, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, annonçait que les mines et centrales thermiques du coin fermeraient d’ici à 2028.

      « Le ministre de l’énergie n’est ensuite venu ici qu’à deux reprises en 2020 », ajoute Lazaros Maloutas, qui a boycotté l’une de ses visites, comme d’autres élus locaux avec lesquels il a formé l’Association des communes énergétiques.

      Cette transition constitue pourtant un « enjeu majeur », martèle de son côté Anastasios Sidiropoulos, le responsable de l’#Agence_régionale_de-développement (#Anko), située à quelques bâtiments de la mairie de Kozani. « Plus qu’une transition écologique, c’est une #transition_économique totale qui se joue ici. »

      En dépit du déclin de la production ces dix dernières années, « les mines et centrales restent fondamentales pour l’#économie_locale ». « La compagnie D.E.I emploie 3 100 salariés, mais le secteur fait aussi vivre au moins 5 000 intermittents et travailleurs indépendants », détaille-t-il. Il s’alarme du contexte régional déjà déprimé dans lequel s’inscrit cette transition : une population vieillissante, un taux de chômage de 26 %, des jeunes qui fuient les communes, etc. « Selon nos études de terrain, il faudrait se donner jusqu’à 2040 pour réussir cette transition », affirme Anastasios Sidiropoulos.

      Il compare avec amertume l’échéance de sortie de lignite de la Grèce, troisième producteur de charbon de l’Union européenne (UE), à celle de l’Allemagne ou de la Pologne. Berlin se donne vingt-neuf ans pour fermer progressivement ses dix mines à ciel ouvert. Varsovie prévoit aussi la fermeture de ses treize mines de lignite d’ici à 2049.

      L’effondrement de la « montagne » D.E.I

      En Grèce, la compagnie d’électricité D.E.I veut toutefois aller vite. La crise de la dette a affaibli l’entreprise qui a privatisé une partie de ses activités depuis 2014. Ses cheminées vieillissantes et ses mines lui coûtent 300 millions d’euros par an, notamment en raison de la #taxe_carbone et du système d’échange de quotas d’émission.

      D.E.I assure qu’elle ne fuit pas ces terres qu’elle a totalement acquises en 1975. « Nous avons une #dette_morale envers les personnes qui ont soutenu D.E.I toutes ces années. Notre engagement est absolu », insiste d’un ton solennel Ioannis Kopanakis, le directeur général adjoint de la compagnie qui assure, dans un courriel, que les 3 100 employés « auront tous une alternative ». Le sort incertain des milliers de #travailleurs_indépendants inquiète toutefois les syndicats.

      D.E.I conservera certains terrains où elle érige déjà avec #RWE, le géant allemand de l’électricité, le plus grand #parc_photovoltaïque du pays, d’une puissance de 2 GW. Avec l’arrivée de nouvelles entreprises, les riverains craignent la chute des #salaires, autrefois fixes chez D.E.I. « Il existe un tel manque de transparence sur les plans des nouveaux investisseurs que les habitants ont l’impression que l’on donne le territoire aux étrangers », relève pour sa part Lefteris Ioannidis.

      L’ancien maire écologiste de Kozani (2014-2019) milite vivement en faveur d’une transition « très rapide, car il y a urgence ». Mais il reconnaît que la mentalité régionale d’« État charbonnier est difficile à changer », avec une relation de quasi-dépendance à un employeur. Les investisseurs étrangers étaient jusqu’ici absents de la #Macédoine-Occidentale, où D.E.I avait tout absorbé. « C’était une montagne ici, elle faisait partie du paysage », précise Lefteris Ioannidis.

      Son ombre plane sur les villages perdus, desservis par des routes vides aux panneaux rouillés et stations-essence abandonnées. À #Agios_Dimitrios, les six cents habitants ont vue sur l’imposante centrale thermique du même nom qui barre l’horizon. L’un d’eux, Lambros, dénonce le rôle de l’État, qui « n’a jamais préparé cette transition pourtant inéluctable. Elle arrive violemment ». Il a davantage de mal à en vouloir à D.E.I qu’il n’ose critiquer publiquement, comme d’autres ici qui entretiennent un sentiment ambivalent à son égard. « D.E.I, c’était Dieu ici. Elle est notre bénédiction comme une malédiction », dit cet homme charpenté, dont la fumée de cigarette s’échappe dans l’air chargé de poussière.

      « Il y avait un problème de #pollution, des #cancers ou #maladies_respiratoires, mais les ouvriers fermaient les yeux car ils mangeaient à leur faim. Ils avaient des tarifs réduits sur l’électricité, se remémore le villageois. C’était une fierté de produire l’électricité de tout le pays et maintenant on va importer du gaz d’Azerbaïdjan [grâce au #gazoduc_transadriatique – ndlr]. J’ai aussi peur qu’on déplace le problème pour des raisons économiques et non environnementales. » Il craint l’importation de lignite depuis les Balkans voisins qui, contrairement à la Grèce, taxent faiblement les émissions de carbone. Il sait que d’autres pays de l’UE l’on fait en 2019, « pourquoi pas la Grèce », interroge-t-il. Lambros redoute la montée des #prix de l’électricité ou du chauffage pour les habitants.

      L’un des défis pour la région est en effet de conserver ces bas #tarifs et l’indépendance énergétique obtenue avec ces centrales polluantes. La ville d’#Amynteo a tenté une initiative en ce sens, en inaugurant il y a six mois une nouvelle centrale #biomasse. Une cheminée fumante se dresse à côté d’une ancienne centrale thermique en friche où errent quelques chiens.

      Les deux fours ingurgitent des tonnes de résidus de tournesols, blé, copeaux de bois venu de Grèce, de Bulgarie et d’Ukraine, permettant de chauffer 8 000 foyers. « Notre but, à terme, est de brûler uniquement de la biomasse locale en provenance des champs alentour », assure le directeur, Kostas Kyriakopoulos. Il rappelle toutefois que si une centrale biomasse peut alimenter quelques milliers de foyers, « elle ne peut pas couvrir les besoins en chauffage à grande échelle ».

      https://www.mediapart.fr/journal/international/050621/athenes-face-au-defi-de-la-fin-de-la-houille
      #DEI

  • Niger : 100 000 nouveaux réfugiés et déplacés

    L’ONU tire à nouveau la sonnette d’alarme au Niger, pays en proie à l’#insécurité où les activités des #groupes_armés, notamment #Boko_Haram, sont à l’origine de nombreux déplacements de populations. L’ONU estime ainsi que cette année, quelque 2,3 millions de personnes, soit 10,4% de la population, auront besoin d’une assistance humanitaire. Un constat établi jeudi lors d’une réunion entre agences de l’ONU, des représentants d’ONG et des partenaires.

    Depuis le mois de janvier, plus de 100 000 nouveaux #réfugiés et déplacés ont été recensés au Niger, alors que le pays en abritait déjà quelque 300 000. Et les inquiétudes sont localisées. À #Diffa notamment, dans le sud-est, région frontalière de l’État nigérian de #Borno, les groupes armés tels que Boko Haram ont provoqué le mouvement d’environ 25 000 personnes.

    Toujours près de cette frontière nigériane, mais plus à l’ouest, dans la région de #Maradi, ce sont ici environ 20 000 Nigérians qui ont fui les #violences de leur pays.

    Il y a aussi les zones proches des #frontières maliennes et burkinabè, dans les régions de #Tahoua et #Tillabéry. Des zones très instables selon l’ONU qui ont vu l’arrivée de 70 000 personnes.

    Pour faire face à cette situation, il faut de l’argent. Pourtant, les Nations unies déplorent un manque de ressources. Pour 2019, les besoins humanitaires sont chiffrés à 383 millions de dollars, mais sur cette somme, seuls 15% ont pu être mobilisés à l’heure actuelle.


    https://www.infomigrants.net/fr/post/17401/niger-100-000-nouveaux-refugies-et-deplaces?ref=tw_i
    #Niger #migrations #IDPs #déplacés_internes #instabilité

    ping @karine4 @isskein

    • Ces réfugiés dans leur propre pays

      En 2018, il y a eu autant de nouveaux « déplacés internes » dans 55 pays que de réfugiés en séjour dans le monde entier.

      A voir le nombre de personnes exilées à l’intérieur de leur propre pays, celui des réfugiés paraît faire moins problème. A fin 2018, le nombre de réfugiés recensés dans le monde entier atteignait 28,5 millions, soit autant que celui des « déplacés internes » supplémentaires enregistrés au cours de la seule année dernière.

      Selon le Rapport global 2019 de l’Observatoire des situations de déplacement interne (IDMC) du Conseil norvégien des réfugiés, dont le siège se trouve à Genève, on comptait, à fin 2018, 41,3 millions de personnes vivant en situation de déplacés internes dans 55 pays, suite à des catastrophes naturelles ou à des conflits. Il s’agit d’un effectif record de personnes déplacées dans leur propre pays du fait de conflits, de violence généralisée ou de catastrophes naturelles.
      Catastrophes naturelles

      Parmi les désastres qui ont provoqué l’an dernier quelque 17,2 millions de nouveaux déplacements, certains sont très probablement dus au changement climatique. Ainsi, les incendies qui ont détruit une grande partie de la forêt californienne et qui ont contraint 1,2 million d’Américains – sans compter les morts – à abandonner leur domicile et à s’installer ailleurs peuvent probablement être attribués au réchauffement climatique et à la sécheresse.

      Au contraire, le Bangladesh n’a enregistré l’an dernier « que » 78’000 déplacements de personnes en raison des inondations. C’est presque l’équivalent de la population de la ville de Lucerne qu’il faut recaser sur des terrains sûrs dans un pays comptant 1’100 habitants au kilomètre carré. Le Bangladesh prévoit de construire trois villes de taille moyenne pour accueillir les déplacés récents et ceux qui ne vont pas manquer d’affluer dans les années à venir. Mais que pourra-t-on faire lorsque le niveau de la mer montera ?

      Au Nigeria, cet immense pays de plus de 100 millions d’habitants, 80% des terres ont été inondées par des pluies torrentielles, causant 541’000 déplacements internes.

      Problème : les personnes qui, en raison d’inondations ou de conflits locaux, doivent chercher refuge ailleurs dans leur propre pays se rendent systématiquement dans les villes, souvent déjà surpeuplées. Comment imaginer que Dhaka, la capitale du Bangladesh récemment devenue une mégapole approchant les 17 millions d’habitants, puisse encore grandir ?
      Violences et conflits

      En 2018 toujours, 10,8 millions de personnes ont connu le sort des déplacés internes en raison des violences ou des conflits qui ont sévi surtout dans les pays suivants : Ethiopie, République démocratique du Congo (RDC), Syrie, Nigeria, Somalie, Afghanistan, République centrafricaine, Cameroun et Soudan du Sud. Outre ces mouvements internes, des personnes sont allées chercher secours et refuge notamment en Turquie (3,5 millions), en Ouganda (1,4 million) ou au Pakistan (1,4 million).

      Les trois pays qui comptent le plus de déplacés internes dus à la violence sont la Syrie, (6,1 millions de personnes), la Colombie (5,8 millions) et la RDC (3,1 millions). S’agissant de la Syrie, nous savons que la guerre civile n’est pas terminée et qu’il faudra faire des efforts gigantesques pour reconstruire les villes bombardées.

      Mais que savons-nous de la Colombie, depuis l’accord de paix entre le gouvernement de Santos et les Farc ? En 2018, il y a eu 145’000 nouveaux déplacés internes et de nombreux leaders sociaux assassinés : 105 en 2017, 172 en 2018 et 7, soit une personne par jour, dans la première semaine de janvier 2019.

      L’Assemblée nationale colombienne ne veut pas mettre en œuvre les accords de paix, encore moins rendre des terres aux paysans et accomplir la réforme agraire inscrite à l’article premier de l’accord de paix. Les Farc ont fait ce qu’elles avaient promis, mais pas le gouvernement. Ivan Duque, qui a remplacé Manuel Santos, s’est révélé incapable de reprendre le contrôle des terrains abandonnés par les Farc – et repris par d’autres bandes armées, paramilitaires ou multinationales, ou par des trafiquants de drogue. Triste évolution marquée par une insécurité grandissante.

      Et que dire de la RDC ? C’est au Kivu, Nord et Sud, véritable grotte d’Ali Baba de la planète, que les populations sont victimes de bandes armées s’appuyant sur diverses tribus pour conserver ou prendre le contrôle des mines riches en coltan, diamant, or, cuivre, cobalt, étain, manganèse, etc. Grands responsables de ces graves troubles : les téléphones portables et autres appareils connectés à l’échelle mondiale ainsi que les multinationales minières.

      Il y a probablement bien d’autres pays de la planète où les violences sont commises par des multinationales qui obligent les habitants locaux à fuir devant la destruction de leurs villages et de leurs terres. Où vont-ils se réfugier ? Dans les villes bien sûr, où ils espèrent trouver un toit. Mais un toit ne suffit pas, ni l’éventuelle aide humanitaire apportée par la Croix-Rouge et les Etats occidentaux. Quand débarquent des dizaines de milliers de déplacés, les municipalités doivent aussi construire des écoles, des hôpitaux, assurer la distribution d’eau potable et l’évacuation des eaux usées.

      Dans les pays africains où il arrive que moins de la moitié des habitants aient accès à l’eau potable, un déplacement important risque fort de remettre en cause tout le programme gouvernemental. Le rapport de l’Observatoire des situations de déplacement interne va même jusqu’à prévoir que certains des Objectifs de développement durable fixés par les Nations unies en 2015 ne pourront jamais être atteints.


      https://www.domainepublic.ch/articles/35077

    • Displaced people: Why are more fleeing home than ever before?

      More than 35,000 people were forced to flee their homes every day in 2018 - nearly one every two seconds - taking the world’s displaced population to a record 71 million.

      A total of 26 million people have fled across borders, 41 million are displaced within their home countries and 3.5 million have sought asylum - the highest numbers ever, according to UN refugee agency (UNHCR) figures.

      Why are so many people being driven away from their families, friends and neighbourhoods?
      Devastating wars have contributed to the rise

      Conflict and violence, persecution and human rights violations are driving more and more men, women and children from their homes.

      In fact, the number of displaced people has doubled in the last 10 years, the UNHCR’s figures show, with the devastating wars in Iraq and Syria causing many families to leave their communities.

      Conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Yemen and South Sudan, as well as the flow of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar to Bangladesh, have also had a significant impact.

      Most do not become refugees

      While much of the focus has been on refugees - that’s people forced to flee across borders because of conflict or persecution - the majority of those uprooted across the world actually end up staying in their own countries.

      These people, who have left their homes but not their homeland, are referred to as “internally displaced people”, or IDPs, rather than refugees.

      IDPs often decide not to travel very far, either because they want to stay close to their homes and family, or because they don’t have the funds to cross borders.

      But many internally displaced people end up stuck in areas that are difficult for aid agencies to reach - such as conflict zones - and continue to rely on their own governments to keep them safe. Those governments are sometimes the reason people have fled, or - because of war - have become incapable of providing their own citizens with a safe place to stay.

      For this reason, the UN describes IDPs as “among the most vulnerable in the world”.

      Colombia, Syria and the DRC have the highest numbers of IDPs.

      However, increasing numbers are also leaving home because of natural disasters, mainly “extreme weather events”, according to the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), which monitors the global IDP population only.

      The next biggest group of displaced people are refugees. There were 25.9 million by the end of 2018, of whom about half were children.

      One in four refugees came from Syria.

      The smallest group of displaced people is asylum seekers - those who have applied for sanctuary in another country but whose claim has not been granted. There were 3.5 million in 2018 - fewer than one in 10 of those forced to flee.
      Places hit by conflict and violence are most affected

      At the end of 2018, Syrians were the largest forcibly displaced population. Adding up IDPs, refugees and asylum seekers, there were 13 million Syrians driven from their homes.

      Colombians were the second largest group, with 8m forcibly displaced according to UNHCR figures, while 5.4 million Congolese were also uprooted.

      If we just look at figures for last year, a massive 13.6 million people were forced to abandon their homes - again mostly because of conflict. That’s more than the population of Mumbai - the most populous city in India.

      Of those on the move in 2018 alone, 10.8 million ended up internally displaced within their home countries - that’s four out of every five people.

      A further 2.8 million people sought safety abroad as newly-registered refugees or asylum seekers.

      Just 2.9 million people who had previously fled their homes returned to their areas or countries of origin in 2018 - fewer than those who became displaced in the same period.

      The world’s largest new population of internally displaced people are Ethiopians. Almost three million abandoned their homes last year - many escaping violence between ethnic groups.

      The conflict in the DRC also forced 1.8 million to flee but remain in their home country in 2018.

      In war-torn Syria, more than 1.6 million became IDPs.

      Venezuelans topped the list of those seeking asylum abroad in 2018, with 341,800 new claims. That’s more than one in five claims submitted last year.

      Hyperinflation, food shortages, political turmoil, violence and persecution, have forced hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to leave their homeland.

      Most left for Peru, while others moved to Brazil, the US or Spain. More than 7,000 applied for asylum in neighbouring Trinidad and Tobago - just seven miles off Venezuela’s coast - last year alone.

      Annielis Ramirez, 30, is among the thousands of Venezuelans seeking a better life on the islands.

      “All my family is in Venezuela, I had to come here to work and help them,” she says. "I couldn’t even buy a pair of shoes for my daughter. The reality is that the minimum salary is not enough over there.

      “I’m here in Trinidad now. I don’t have a job, I just try to sell empanadas [filled pastries]. The most important thing is to put my daughter through school.”
      Those driven from their homelands mostly remain close by

      Almost 70% of the world’s refugees come from just five countries: Syria, Afghanistan, South Sudan, Myanmar and Somalia, according to the UNHCR. And their neighbouring nations host the most.

      Most Syrians have escaped to Turkey and more than half of Afghan refugees are in Pakistan.

      Many South Sudanese go to nearby Sudan or Uganda. Those from Myanmar - the majority Rohingya refugees displaced at the end of 2017 - mainly fled to Bangladesh.

      Germany, which doesn’t border any of those countries with the largest outflows, is home to more than half a million Syrian and 190,000 Afghan refugees - the result of its “welcome culture” towards refugees established in 2015. It has since toughened up refugee requirements.

      When assessing the burden placed on the host countries, Lebanon holds the largest number of refugees relative to its population. One in every six people living in the country is a refugee, the vast majority from across the border in Syria.

      The exodus from Syria has also seen refugee numbers in neighbouring Jordan swell, putting pressure on resources. About 85% of the Syrians currently settled in Jordan live below the poverty line, according to the UN.

      Overall, one third of the global refugee population (6.7 million people) live in the least developed countries of the world.
      Many go to live in massive temporary camps

      Large numbers of those driven from their home countries end up in cramped, temporary tent cities that spring up in places of need.

      The biggest in the world is in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, where half a million Rohingya now live, having fled violence in neighbouring Myanmar.

      The second largest is Bidi Bidi in northern Uganda, home to a quarter of a million people. The camp has seen many arrivals of South Sudanese fleeing civil war just a few hours north.

      Bidi Bidi, once a small village, has grown in size since 2016 and now covers 250 sq km (97 sq miles) - a third of the size of New York City.

      But what makes Bidi Bidi different from most other refugee camps, is that its residents are free to move around and work and have access to education and healthcare.

      The Ugandan government, recognised for its generous approach to refugees, also provides Bidi Bidi’s residents with plots of land, so they can farm and construct shelters, enabling them to become economically self-sufficient.

      The camp authorities are also aiming to build schools, health centres and other infrastructure out of more resilient materials, with the ultimate aim of creating a working city.

      Among those living in Bidi Bidi are Herbat Wani, a refugee from South Sudan, and Lucy, a Ugandan, who were married last year.

      Herbat is grateful for the welcome he has received in Uganda since fleeing violence in his home country.

      “The moment you reach the boundary, you’re still scared but there are these people who welcome you - and it was really amazing,” he says. “Truly I can say Uganda at this point is home to us.”

      Lucy says she doesn’t see Herbat as a refugee at all. “He’s a human being, like me,” she says.

      However, despite the authorities’ best efforts, a number of challenges remain at Bidi Bidi.

      The latest report from the UNHCR notes there are inadequate food and water supplies, health facilities still operating under tarpaulins and not enough accommodation or schools for the large families arriving.
      Displacement could get worse

      Alongside conflict and violence, persecution and human rights violations, natural disasters are increasingly responsible for forcing people from their homes.

      Looking at data for IDPs only, collected separately by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC), natural disasters caused most new internal displacement cases last year, outpacing conflict as the main reason for people fleeing.

      On top of the 10.8 million internally displaced by conflict last year, there were 17.2 million people who were forced to abandon their homes because of disasters, mainly “extreme weather events” such as storms and floods, the IDMC says.

      The IDMC expects the number of people uprooted because of natural disasters to rise to 22 million this year, based on data for the first half of 2019.

      Mass displacement by extreme weather events is “becoming the norm”, its report says, and IDMC’s director Alexandra Bilak has urged global leaders to invest more in ways of mitigating the effects of climate change.

      Tropical cyclones and monsoon floods forced many in India and Bangladesh from their homes earlier this year, while Cyclone Idai wreaked havoc in southern Africa, killing more than 1,000 people and uprooting millions in Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi.

      Idai was “one of the deadliest weather-related disasters to hit the southern hemisphere”, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said.

      Although linking any single event to global warming is complicated, climate change is expected to increase the frequency of such extreme weather events.

      The WMO warns that the physical and financial impacts of global warming are already on the rise.

      Phan Thi Hang, a farmer in Vietnam’s Ben Tre province, has told the BBC his country’s changing climate has already had a “huge impact” on rice yields.

      “There has been less rain than in previous years,” he says. "As a result, farming is much more difficult.

      “We can now only harvest two crops instead of three each year, and the success of these is not a sure thing.”

      He says he and his fellow farmers now have to work as labourers or diversify into breeding cattle to make extra cash, while others have left the countryside for the city.

      Like Phan’s fellow farmers, many IDPs head to cities in search of safety from weather-related events as well as better lives.

      But many of the world’s urban areas may not offer people the sanctuary they are seeking.

      Displaced people in cities often end up seeking shelter in unfinished or abandoned buildings and are short of food, water and basic services, making them vulnerable to illness and disease, the IDMC says. They are also difficult to identify and track, mingling with resident populations.

      On top of this, some of the world’s biggest cities are also at risk from rising global temperatures.

      Almost all (95%) cities facing extreme climate risks are in Africa or Asia, a report by risk analysts Verisk Maplecroft has found.

      And it’s the faster-growing cities that are most at risk, including megacities like Lagos in Nigeria and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

      Some 84 of the world’s 100 fastest-growing cities face “extreme” risks from rising temperatures and extreme weather brought on by climate change.

      This means that those fleeing to urban areas to escape the impact of a warming world may well end up having their lives disrupted again by the effects of rising temperatures.

      https://www.bbc.com/news/world-49638793
      #conflits #violence #Bidi-Bidi #camps_de_réfugiés #bidi_bidi #vulnérabilité #changement_climatique #climat #villes #infographie #visualisation

  • What it means to be a ‘refugee’ in South Sudan and Uganda

    After decades of armed conflict in South Sudan and Uganda, labels of ‘refugee’ and ‘internally displaced person’ fail to reflect the complex realities of the people they refer to. Leben Moro examines the history of movement across the region’s borders, and argues refugees are not the passive recipients of aid as often presented by humanitarian initiatives.

    Since independence from British colonial rule, large numbers of South Sudanese and Ugandans have repeatedly crossed the shared border to escape civil wars. These forced movements of large populations have created shifting labels of ‘refugees’ and ‘internally displaced persons’ (IDPs), with tremendous social, economic and political repercussions for the persons to which these labels are applied.

    In August 1955, months before Sudan’s independence, the largely Christian Southern Sudanese took up arms against Muslim rulers in the North to achieve a vision of greater regional autonomy, which sparked a mass flight of people from their homes. By the end of the First Sudanese Civil War in 1972, the Sudanese government estimated that 500,000 people had hidden in the bush, and another 180,000 had crossed into neighbouring countries, with 74,000 settling in four official camps (Onigo, Agago, Acholpii and Nakapiripirit) in northern Uganda. Many of the displaced persons, including my own family members, self-settled in other parts of Uganda, mainly near cotton ginning mills and other businesses operated by Ugandans of Indian origin, who employed them as casual labourers.

    My own family members settled near Gulu, the largest town in northern Uganda, among the Acholi ethnic group. Some South Sudanese journeyed southwards to Bwelye in the centre of Uganda, where there was plentiful fertile land and jobs in Indian enterprises. Others travelled further south into the heartland of the Baganda, the largest tribe in the country, to work in sugar plantations and different enterprises, including fields where locals grew coffee, bananas and other crops.

    Over time, many newcomers acquired land with their earnings and became poll taxpayers. Their receipt documentation allowed them to move across land in relative safety. In general, however, life was hard as they lacked citizenship and were vulnerable to exploitation and harassment.

    The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) coordinated a programme of official repatriation, supported by public authorities in Sudan and Uganda, including a mandate that supported Sudan’s IDPs. Many people, however, chose not to leave.

    In 1979, Uganda became embroiled in a bitter civil war following the overthrow of President Idi Amin Dada, forcing Southern Sudanese, including my own family members, and many Ugandans from the north of the country, to flee into the relatively peaceful Southern Sudan. The UNHCR and other humanitarian organisations as well as public authorities in Sudan helped settle many refugees in camps, but some Ugandans settled among local people, initially without external support.

    The relative peace in Southern Sudan was disrupted in 1983 when the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army (SPLM/A) was founded to lead another armed struggle against Sudan’s newly declared Islamic state under President Gaafar Nimeiry – which came to be known as the Second Sudanese Civil War. The violence forced Ugandan peoples living in Southern Sudan back into Uganda and many Southern Sudanese also made the crossing. Some of the refugees returned to locations they had lived in during the first civil war or joined relatives or friends who had remained in Uganda. People used their established networks.

    The new wave of refugees received generous assistance from the UNHCR and the Ugandan government, whose policy was the settlement of refugees in camps and dedicated areas. Effectively, the policy redefined a refugee as ‘someone receiving assistance and living in a camp’. Many displaced Southern Sudanese avoided encampment, with its associated restrictions of movement, by self-settling among locals or dividing their family members or time between camps and outside locations.

    As in the first civil war, many displaced persons in Southern Sudan did not cross international borders, but remained behind in dire circumstances. Their plight forced the United Nations to launch another initiative, Operation Lifeline Sudan, in the 1980s to assist those trapped in the war zone. This suffering formally ceased in 2005 with the conclusion of the much-lauded Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Sudanese government and the SPLM/A, enabling the return of the IDPs to their original homes and refugees back to the country.

    In 2011, Southern Sudan seceded from Sudan. About two years later, the world’s newest country relapsed into a vicious civil war. Sparked by divisions among the country’s key leaders, ethnic identities were subsequently exploited to mobilise fighters with devastating consequences for national unity and the wellbeing of civilians.

    During the conflict, many Nuer people, an ethnic group primarily inhabiting South Sudan’s Nile Valley, fled into areas created on UN Mission in South Sudan (UNMISS) bases, called Protection of Civilians Sites (PoCs), to escape killing by members of the Dinka, the largest ethnic group, who had effectively taken over the country with the support of Ugandan soldiers. Nuer fighters retaliated against Dinka civilians, forcing many to flee to the Uganda border and other locations.

    Many South Sudanese headed north into the new Republic of Sudan, where public authorities labelled them ’arrivals’, a new term with no precedent in refugee policy or literature, and confined them to ‘waiting stations’. Uganda also received a large number of displaced persons, among them refugees placed in settlements with international assistance. Many displaced persons settled among locals without external assistance, thus avoiding the label of ‘refugee’.

    What it means to be ‘refugees’ in Uganda

    The 1951 Refugee Convention states a person becomes a refugee after crossing an internationally recognised border in search of protection, recognition and status by public authorities in the asylum country or the UNHCR. When the circumstances that forced the person to seek refuge cease to exist, the refugee re-avails themselves of the country’s protection they had fled. Thus defined concrete international borders are characterised as integral to becoming a refugee or ending refuge.

    For South Sudanese displaced persons, the border between their country and Uganda is not a clearly defined line separating two jurisdictions. Many parts of the border are contested by ordinary people and public authorities on both sides. Consequently, people inhabiting locations along these contested areas are not always on peaceful terms despite often belonging to the same ethnic groups, such as the Acholi of South Sudan and Uganda.

    Different ethnic groups that have seen clashes over contested territories have also been forced into settling in areas of close proximity following unrest in their respective homelands. My own research reveals the Kuku of Kajokeji in South Sudan were so suspicious of the Madi in the Ugandan Moyo district that, when they settled in the latter’s region, they avoided treatment in the Moyo hospital for fear of maltreatment by Madi medical personnel. The history of conflict over certain borders has a direct bearing on the welfare of refugees in the present.

    Armed groups and criminals also operate along the border, posing serious security problems, with some people losing their lives at the hands of unknown gunmen. Despite this danger, refugees and other South Sudanese cross in and out of South Sudan for matters of family and livelihoods, such as to harvest crops in their old fields due to food shortages in their new home. Others return their deceased kin to bury them decently on their old compounds and, further, trips are made to the national capital, Juba, to visit relatives or deal with administrative issues.

    These movements defy the legal meaning of ‘refugee’, who is supposed to return home when the threat of persecution that caused the flight is over. They demonstrate that refugees are not the passive and docile recipients of aid, as often presented, but active individuals who exercise agency. Studies remind us that were refugees only to eat the ‘food which is distributed to them, they would die’.

    What it means to stay behind as an IDP

    Because IDPs are citizens living in their native county they are entitled to the same rights and legal protections as fellow citizens as stipulated by the constitution. In reality, IDPs do not always enjoy citizenship rights because those in power consider them enemies or supporters of enemies.

    During the second civil war, the Sudanese government branded IDPs as rebel supporters and subjected them to all kinds of punitive measures, including starvation and denial of basic services. Many IDPs consequently starved to death or died due to deadly diseases, such as kala azar, as the already rudimentary healthcare system in pre-war Southern Sudan was destroyed by repeated military bombardments as well as frequent obstructions of international humanitarian access.

    When South Sudan gained independence and descended into civil war, IDPs did not fare any better. Following shocking atrocities and the continued risk of further violence, many Nuer civilians remain in PoCs on UNMISS bases under the protection of peacekeepers in refugee-like situations. Deprived of state protection, their situation has become worse than most refugees in South Sudan, deprioritised over the dominant Dinka.

    The labels of ‘refugee’ and ‘internally displaced person’ do not reflect the experiences of most South Sudanese refugees in Uganda, and IDPs within South Sudan. These terms present refugees and IDPs as powerless recipients of aid when, in reality, refugees and IDPs are active agents in efforts to improve their situation. In some cases, they creatively manipulate borders and the systems in place to satisfy their basic needs.

    It has been expressed that South Sudanese refugees have shown an extraordinary creativity and resourcefulness that can form a blueprint for future refugee assistance programmes. When ‘official legal categories rarely match realities on the ground’, aid workers should now appreciate and encourage the active involvement of refugees and IDPs to address the challenges that confront them.

    https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/africaatlse/2019/05/28/what-it-means-to-be-a-refugee-in-south-sudan-and-uganda
    #réfugiés #IDPs #déplacés_internes #Soudan_du_Sud #Ouganda #histoire #histoire

  • Counter-mapping: cartography that lets the powerless speak | Science | The Guardian
    https://www.theguardian.com/science/blog/2018/mar/06/counter-mapping-cartography-that-lets-the-powerless-speak

    Sara is a 32-year-old mother of four from Honduras. After leaving her children in the care of relatives, she travelled across three state borders on her way to the US, where she hoped to find work and send money home to her family. She was kidnapped in Mexico and held captive for three months, and was finally released when her family paid a ransom of $190.

    Her story is not uncommon. The UN estimates that there are 258 million migrants in the world. In Mexico alone, 1,600 migrants are thought to be kidnapped every month. What is unusual is that Sara’s story has been documented in a recent academic paper that includes a map of her journey that she herself drew. Her map appears alongside four others – also drawn by migrants. These maps include legends and scales not found on orthodox maps – unnamed river crossings, locations of kidnapping and places of refuge such as a “casa de emigrante” where officials cannot enter. Since 2011, such shelters have been identified by Mexican law as “spaces of exception”.

    #cartographie_radicale #contre_cartographie #cartographie_participative #cartoexperiment

  • Global Report on Internal Displacement #2019

    KEY FINDINGS

    Internal displacement is a global challenge, but it is also heavily concentrated in a few countries and triggered by few events. 28 million new internal displacements associated with conflict and disasters across 148 countries and territories were recorded in 2018, with nine countries each accounting for more than a million.

    41.3 million people were estimated to be living in internal displacement as a result of conflict and violence in 55 countries as of the end of the year, the highest figure ever recorded. Three-quarters, or 30.9 million people, were located in only ten countries.

    Protracted crises, communal violence and unresolved governance challenges were the main factors behind 10.8 million new displacements associated with conflict and violence. Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and Syria accounted for more than half of the global figure.

    Newly emerging crises forced millions to flee, from Cameroon’s anglophone conflict to waves of violence in Nigeria’s Middle Belt region and unprecedented conflict in Ethiopia. Displacement also continued despite peace efforts in the Central African Republic, South Sudan and Colombia.

    Many IDPs remain unaccounted for. Figures for DRC, Myanmar, Pakistan, Sudan and Yemen are considered underestimates, and data is scarce for Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Russia, Turkey and Venezuela. This prevents an accurate assessment of the true scale of internal displacement in these countries. ||Estimating returns continues to be a major challenge.

    Large numbers of people reportedly returned to their areas of origin in Ethiopia, Iraq and Nigeria, to conditions which were not conducive to long-lasting reintegration. ||Urban conflict triggered large waves of displacement and has created obstacles to durable solutions. Airstrikes and shelling forced many thousands to flee in Hodeida in Yemen, Tripoli in Libya and Dara’a in Syria. In Mosul in Iraq and Marawi in the Philippines, widespread destruction and unexploded ordnance continued to prevent people from returning home.

    Heightened vulnerability and exposure to sudden-onset hazards, particularly storms, resulted in 17.2 million disaster displacements in 144 countries and territories. The number of people displaced by slow-onset disasters worldwide remains unknown as only drought-related displacement is captured in some countries, and only partially.

    The devastating power of extreme events highlighted again the impacts of climate change across the globe. Wildfires were a particularly visible expression of this in 2018, from the US and Australia to Greece and elsewhere in southern Europe, displacing hundreds of thousands of people, causing severe damage and preventing swift returns.

    Global risk of being displaced by floods is staggeringly high and concentrated in towns and cities: more than 17 million people are at risk of being displaced by floods each year. Of these, more than 80 per cent live in urban and peri-urban areas.

    An overlap of conflict and disasters repeatedly displaced people in a number of countries. Drought and conflict triggered similar numbers of displacements in Afghanistan, and extended rainy seasons displaced millions of people in areas of Nigeria and Somalia already affected by conflict. Most of the people displaced by disasters in Iraq and Syria were IDPs living in camps that were flooded.

    Promising policy developments in several regions show increased attention to displacement risk. Niger became the first country to domesticate the Kampala Convention by adopting a law on internal displacement, and Kosovo recognised the importance of supporting returning refugees and IDPs, updating its policy to that end. Vanuatu produced a policy on disaster and climate-related displacement, and Fiji showed foresight in adopting new guidelines on resettlement in the context of climate change impacts.

    https://reliefweb.int/report/world/global-report-internal-displacement-2019-grid-2019-0
    #IDPs #déplacés_internes #migrations #asile #statistiques #chiffres

    ping @reka @karine4

  • Des nouvelles de #Syrie... de la part d’un ami, réfugié syrien en Suisse (reçu aujourd’hui, 05.05.2019) :

    #Idlib est complètement oubliée, La région où on a rassemblé des million des syriens déplacés par la force du régime d’Assad et russes, est en train de se massacrée par des #bombardements_aériens syriens et russes, des milliers des camions qui transportent des des familles avec ce qu’ils leur restent de leur déplacement, plusieurs fois, d’une région à l’autre.
    Pas un seul mot sur le média, la cause Syrienne est complètement oubliée, ...
    Ce qu’il se passe à Idlib, pour la première fois, notre village entier cherche un abri pour se protéger du bombardement aérien syro-russe, la stratégie de la terre brûlée. Un offensif Inédit, sur Idlib , sous silence absolu de la communauté internationale, tous les habitants des villages de #Jabal_Alzawi, sont tous vidés, ils sont maintenant à 11 km de mon village #Orim_AlJoz, donc mon projet du stage pour la zone de désescalade n’a plus de sens, le dernier #espoir est tombé à l’eau. Je ne sais qu’il faut que je cherche un autre stage, ... c’est vraiment triste ☹

    #déplacés_internes #IDPs #réfugiés #guerre #conflit #migrerrance #géographie_du_vide
    ping @reka

  • #Burkina_Faso, part 1: Spreading violence triggers an ‘unprecedented’ crisis

    Attacks by Islamist militants, military operations, and waves of inter-communal violence have left hundreds dead and tens of thousands displaced since January in the West African nation of Burkina Faso, triggering an “unprecedented” humanitarian crisis that has caught many by surprise.

    https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2019/04/17/spreading-violence-triggers-unprecedented-crisis-burkina-faso
    #violence #déplacés_internes #IDPs #migrations #réfugiés #conflit

  • In an orderly Ethiopian camp, South Sudanese refugees face malnutrition, trauma

    Out of a population of about 12 million, 1.9 million South Sudanese are currently displaced within the country and more than two million are living in camps like these in neighbouring countries.

    #Nguenyyiel, the newest and biggest camp in the Gambella region, is home to more than 75,000 South Sudanese refugees. It was opened in 2016 following flare-ups between opposing South Sudanese factions to accommodate a new influx of refugees to this sparsely populated, low-lying and remote corner in southwest Ethiopia. The region currently hosts more than 360,000 refugees from South Sudan.

    Unlike most refugee camps, Nguenyyiel at first appears calm, clean and orderly. Neat rows of tukuls, the cone-shaped mud huts with thatched roofs common to this region, give the appearance of a genuine local village.

    As we drive through the wide and tidy streets, I watch teenagers playing soccer, goats foraging for food, and youngsters dodging small dust whirls as they wander arm in arm among spotless latrines made of shiny corrugated metal.

    But behind this hygienic order is a tenuousness that continues to threaten those living here. Outside the camp, the crisis has destabilized the region, where clashes between different ethnic groups are common. Women, children and youth make up the majority of residents in the camp — 62 per cent are younger than 18 — because many men remain behind in South Sudan to guard homes and farmland. Several women and children who left the safety of Nguenyyiel to collect firewood in the nearby forests have been sexually assaulted and killed.

    https://www.thestar.com/news/world/2019/03/24/in-an-orderly-ethiopian-camp-south-sudanese-refugees-face-malnutrition-trau
    #camps #camps_de_réfugiés #réfugiés_sud-soudanais #Ethiopie #réfugiés #asile #migrations #malnutrition #alimentation #trauma #traumatisme #Soudan_du_Sud #IDPs #déplacés_internes #viol #meurtres #femmes

  • Sahel violence displaces another million people

    Rising conflict and insecurity are accelerating forced displacement across the Sahel, and a new upsurge of violence along the Mali-Niger border has left 10,000 people in “appalling conditions” in improvised camps in Niger’s #Tillabéri region. The UN says IDP numbers in Mali have tripled to around 120,000. The UN’s Central Emergency Response Fund, or CERF, has allocated $4 million to assist 70,000 people who have fled their homes in just two months in Burkina Faso. Around 4.2 million people – a million more than a year ago – are currently displaced across the Sahel due to a combination of armed attacks by extremist militants, retaliation by regional militaries, and inter-communal violence.

    https://www.thenewhumanitarian.org/news/2019/03/08/local-ngo-risks-white-saviours-and-sahel-s-million-new-displaced

    #IDPs #déplacés_internes #violence #conflit #Mali #Niger #frontières #camps #conflits #réfugiés #migrations

  • Land Confiscation Is Latest Barrier to Return for Myanmar’s Displaced

    An amendment to Myanmar’s land-ownership laws will make it nearly impossible for #Rohingya refugees and Myanmar’s internally displaced to return to land they’ve tilled for generations.


    https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2019/03/15/land-confiscation-is-latest-barrier-to-return-for-myanmars-displaced
    #terres #confiscation_des_terres #Myanmar #Birmanie #retour_au_pays #IDPs #déplacés_internes #réfugiés #asile #migrations #loi #terre #foncier #réfugiés_rohingya #cartographie #visualisation

  • Les #déplacés de l’#accident de #Fukushima. : Les conséquences sociales et sanitaires, et les #initiatives_citoyennes.

    La situation des déplacés de Fukushima est complexe et mouvante. Ce projet se focalise sur les sinistrés de l’accident nucléaire hors zones d’#évacuations_forcées, qui sont les moins audibles dans les recherches existantes. La situation locale évoluant extrêmement rapidement, tant au niveau institutionnel qu’aux niveaux familial et individuel, nous avons décidé de recourir à la #recherche-action c’est-à-dire en coopération étroite avec les groupes de citoyens, pour partager leurs connaissances fines et suivies du terrain. Nous avons sélectionné un terrain permettant d’appréhender des régions à la fois lointaines et proches du département de Fukushima, la #distance semblant discriminante a priori des attaches au département et de la conscience du #risque. Des entretiens biographiques réalisés par une équipe franco-japonaise pluridisciplinaire permettront de saisir le parcours des individus, qui se tracerait dans les trames tissées par les cadres institutionnels, leurs liens aux connaissances « scientifique » et « profane » de la #radioactivité, et leurs expériences biographiques. Ces entretiens permettront aussi d’aborder l’individualisation de la gestion du risque, ses aspects psychologiques et juridiques.

    https://halshs.archives-ouvertes.fr/halshs-00967033
    #santé #nucléaire #catastrophe_nucléaire #IDPs #déplacés_internes #migrations

    Et d’autres publications de #Marie_Augendre :
    https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/search/index/q/*/authFullName_s/Marie+Augendre/sort/producedDate_tdate+desc
    ping @reka

  • Power shift creates new tensions and Tigrayan fears in Ethiopia.

    Disagreements over land and resources between the 80 different ethnic groups in Ethiopia have often led to violence and mass displacement, but a fast and unprecedented shift of power led by reformist Prime Minister #Abiy_Ahmed is causing new strains, experts say.

    “Ethnic tensions are the biggest problem for Ethiopia right now,” Tewodrose Tirfe, chair of the Amhara Association of America, a US-based advocacy group that played a significant role in lobbying the US government to censor the former regime. “You’ve got millions of people displaced – it’s a humanitarian crisis, and it could get out of control.”

    During the first half of 2018, Ethiopia’s rate of 1.4 million new internally displaced people exceeded Syria’s. By the end of last year, the IDP population had mushroomed to nearly 2.4 million.

    Tigrayans comprise just six percent of Ethiopia’s population of 100 million people but are perceived as a powerful minority because of their ethnic affinity with the Tigray People’s Liberation Front. The TPLF wielded almost unlimited power for more than two decades until reforms within the ruling Ethiopian People’s Revolutionary Democratic Front last year.

    Since coming to power in April 2018, Prime Minister Abiy – from the Oromo ethnic group, Ethiopia’s largest – has brought major changes to the politics of the country, including an unprecedented redistribution of power within the EPRDF and away from the TPLF.
    The politics of ethnic tensions

    Despite the conflicting interests and disagreements between ethnic groups, the Ethiopian government has managed to keep the peace on a national scale. But that juggling act has shown signs of strain in recent years.

    https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2019/02/14/Ethiopia-ethnic-displacement-power-shift-raises-tensions
    #Ethiopie #terres #tensions #conflit #violence #IDPs #déplacés_internes #migrations #minorités

    In 2017, an escalation in ethnic clashes in the Oromia and the Somali regions led to a spike in IDPs. This continued into 2018, when clashes between the Oromo and Gedeo ethnic groups displaced approximately 970,000 people in the West Guji and Gedeo zones of neighbouring Oromia and the Southern Nations, Nationalities and Peoples Region.

    “The pace and scale of the change happening in Ethiopia is quite unbelievable,” said Ahmed Soliman, a research fellow with the Africa Programme at the London-based think tank Chatham House.

    “The impact of inter-communal tensions and ethnic violence presents a serious challenge for the new leadership – in Tigray and elsewhere. Abiy’s aggressive reform agenda has won praise, but shaking up Ethiopia’s government risks exacerbating several long-simmering ethnic rivalries.”

    Although clashes are sometimes fuelled by other disagreements, such as land or resources, people affected often claim that politicians across the spectrum use ethnic tensions as a means of divide and rule, or to consolidate their position as a perceived bulwark against further trouble.

    “Sadly [around Ethiopia] ethnic bias and violence is affecting many people at the local level,” said a foreign humanitarian worker with an international organisation helping Ethiopian IDPs, who wished to remain anonymous due to the sensitivity of the issue. This includes fuelling the displacement crisis and worsening the humanitarian situation.

    “The main humanitarian concern is that new displacements are occurring by the day, that due to the wide geographic scope, coordination and response in all locations is practically impossible,” the aid worker said.

    “I would like to see more transparency as to what actions the government is taking to hold regional and zonal governments responsible for addressing conflict, for supporting reconciliation, and supporting humanitarian response.”
    Tigray fears

    Although Tigrayans constitute a relatively small part of overall IDP numbers so far, some Tigrayans fear the power shift in Addis Ababa away from the TPLF leaves them more vulnerable and exposed.

    Already simmering anti-Tigrayan sentiments have led to violence, people told IRIN, from barricading roads and forcibly stopping traffic to looting and attacks on Tigrayan homes and businesses in the Amhara and Oromia regions.

    In the Tigray region’s capital of Mekelle, more than 750 kilometers north of the political changes taking place in Addis Ababa, many Tigrayans feel increasingly isolated from fellow Ethiopians.

    “The rest of the country hates us,” Weyanay Gebremedhn, 25, told IRIN. Despite the reforms, Tigrayans say what hasn’t changed is the narrative that they are responsible by association for the ills of the TPLF.

    Although he now struggles to find work, 35-year-old Huey Berhe, who does mostly odd jobs to pay the bills, said he felt safer living among his own community in Mekelle.

    Huey said he had been a student at Jimma University in western Ethiopia, until growing ethnic tensions sparked fights on campus and led to Tigrayans being targeted. “I left my studies at Jimma after the trouble there,” he said. “It was bad – it’s not something I like to discuss.”
    ‘A better evil’

    “There is a lot of [lies] and propaganda, and the TPLF has been made the scapegoat for all vice,” said Gebre Weleslase, a Tigrayan law professor at Mekelle University. He criticised Abiy for not condemning ethnic attacks, which he said had contributed to tens of thousands of Tigrayans leaving Amhara for Tigray in recent years.

    But Amhara Association of America’s Tewodrose said the feeling of “hate” that Ethiopians have toward the TPLF “doesn’t extend to Tigrayans”.

    “There is resentment toward them when other Ethiopians hear of rallies in Tigray supporting the TPLF, because that seems like they aren’t supporting reform efforts,” he said. “But that doesn’t lead to them being targeted, otherwise there would have been more displacements.”

    Tigrayans, however, aren’t as reassured. Despite the vast majority enduring years of poverty and struggle under the TPLF, which should give them as many reasons as most Ethiopians to feel betrayed, even those Tigrayans who dislike the TPLF now say that turning to its patronage may be their only means of seeking protection.

    “The TPLF political machinery extended everywhere in the country – into the judiciary, the universities… it became like something out of George Orwell’s ‘1984’,” Huey said. “But the fact is now the TPLF may represent a better evil as we are being made to feel so unsafe – they seem our only ally as we are threatened by the rest of the country.”

    Others note that Abiy has a delicate balance to strike, especially for the sake of Tigrayans.

    “The prime minister needs to be careful not to allow his targeting of anti-reform elements within the TPLF, to become an attack on the people of Tigray,” said Soliman.

    “The region has a history of resolute peoples and will have to be included with all other regions, in order for Abiy to accomplish his goals of reconciliation, socio-political integration and regional development, as well as long-term peace with Eritrea.”

    Although the government has a big role to play, some Ethiopians told IRIN it is essential for the general population to also face up to the inherent prejudices and problems that lie at the core of their society.

    “It’s about the people being willing and taking individual responsibility – the government can’t do everything,” Weyanay said. “People need to read more and challenge their assumptions and get new perspectives.”


    https://www.irinnews.org/analysis/2019/02/14/Ethiopia-ethnic-displacement-power-shift-raises-tensions

    #Tigréans

  • As Afghanistan’s capital grows, its residents scramble for clean water

    Twice a week, Farid Rahimi gets up at dawn, wraps a blanket around his shoulders to keep warm, gathers his empty jerrycans, and waits beside the tap outside his house in a hillside neighbourhood above Kabul.

    Afghanistan’s capital is running dry – its groundwater levels depleted by an expanding population and the long-term impacts of climate change. But its teeming informal settlements continue to grow as decades-long conflict and – more recently – drought drive people like Rahimi into the cities, straining already scarce water supplies.

    With large numbers migrating to Kabul, the city’s resources are overstretched and aid agencies and the government are facing a new problem: how to adjust to a shifting population still dependent on some form of humanitarian assistance.


    https://www.irinnews.org/feature/2019/02/19/afghanistan-capital-residents-scramble-clean-water-climate-change
    #eau #eau_potable #Afghanistan #Kaboul #sécheresse #climat #changement_climatique #IDPs #déplacés_internes #migrations #réfugiés #urban_matter #urban_refugees #réfugiés_urbains

  • #Migration, déplacement et #éducation : bâtir des ponts, pas des murs

    L’édition 2019 du Rapport GEM poursuivra l’évaluation des progrès accomplis en vue de la réalisation de l’Objectif de développement durable relatif à l’éducation (ODD 4) et des 10 cibles correspondantes, ainsi que d’autres cibles en rapport avec l’éducation parmi l’ensemble des ODD. Le rapport donnera également des éléments concrets sur l’ampleur et les caractéristiques des différents types de migrations, ainsi que sur les distinctions entre les pays en matière de politiques et schémas migratoires pour ce qui est de l’éducation. De nouvelles données seront présentées concernant les disparités en termes de possibilités éducatives et de résultats entre les élèves immigrés et leurs camarades du pays d’accueil. Par ailleurs, le rapport visera à expliquer l’influence de l’éducation sur les migrations, ainsi que les défis distincts mais complexes que représentent les mouvements de populations pour les #systèmes_éducatifs et l’acquisition des compétences.

    Les analyses empiriques s’appuieront sur un large éventail de nouvelles séries de données provenant aussi bien de sources nationales qu’internationales. L’analyse et les études mettront en exergue des exemples de politiques et programmes favorisant l’inclusion tout en valorisant l’héritage culturel et les expériences des apprenants immigrés. Le rapport présentera en conclusion des recommandations pour des politiques adaptées aux différents contextes s’adressant à la fois aux pays d’accueil et aux pays d’origine.

    https://fr.unesco.org/gem-report/node/1878
    #mobilité #inclusion #intégration #IDPs #déplacés_internes #accès_à_l'éducation #SDGs #sustainable_development_goals

  • “These displaced people live in fear of being attacked at any time”

    After increased insecurity in the Tillabéry region of Niger caused large numbers of people to flee their homes, MSF carried out an emergency response in early January 2019.

    MSF deputy head of mission Boulama Elhadji Gori describes the situation.
    Why did MSF carry out an emergency response in the rural area of #Dessa in the #Tillabéry region last week?

    A state of emergency was declared recently in the department of Tillabéry, in the region of the same name. Like many other departments in the region, Tillabéry faces many security challenges.

    The people living in this border area between Mali and Niger find themselves trapped in violence that comes from two directions: on one side, the community conflict; on the other, the activities of non-state armed groups.

    After receiving information about people being displaced in the region, an MSF team visited the immediate area, where they saw first-hand the precarious situation in which the displaced people were living.

    We are talking about a total of 1,287 people at three sites within a five-kilometre radius. These people were already vulnerable, having been displaced several times already.

    What were people’s main needs?

    These people had been forced to leave their homes, their fields and often their animals in order to escape the violence orchestrated by armed groups and other opportunists. Because of the hostilities in the area, basic services such as schools and health centres have been closed.

    The displaced people lack shelter, food, healthcare and protection. They are also drinking untreated river water, which brings the risk of various diseases.

    Given the urgency of their needs, and in the absence of other humanitarian organisations, the MSF team decided to launch a response.
    What did MSF’s response involve?

    Our medical team conducted 170 medical consultations, mainly for respiratory infections, malaria, dermatitis and severe malnutrition, as well as 20 antenatal consultations.

    We also assessed the nutritional status of children and vaccinated nearly 130 children against measles. Five mental health promotion sessions were organised for approximately 160 people.

    Several patients were referred to the health centre for follow-up care, which MSF was also involved in. Our team distributed essential relief items to 220 families, including blankets, cooking utensils, washing kits, mosquito nets and jerry cans.

    To make sure that people have safe drinking water, the teams distributed 4,000 water purification tablets, and ran sessions on how to use them.

    Who are the displaced people?

    “Most of the people who fled the violence are women, children and the elderly, of different ethnicities, living in the border area between Mali and Niger. There are also a number of young people who reject violence and want to settle in places that are considered more secure.

    The displaced include refugees from Mali and internally displaced people from Niger.

    The majority of the displaced people live in fear of being attacked at any time, because of what they have already experienced – their villages being attacked, assassinations, their markets burned down, their animals stolen, and living with the threat of death.

    Other than this emergency response, what is MSF doing in Tillabéry region?

    MSF has been working in Niger’s Bani-Bangou department, near the border with Mali, since November 2018. Long before the state of emergency was declared, schools, health centres and other social infrastructure were not functioning because of the violence.

    MSF is working in the area to ensure access to free quality medical care for displaced people and local communities. We support two health centres and five health posts.

    We are also monitoring the situation in other areas which could potentially receive newly displaced people, or where there are needs not covered by other organisations, particularly in the area around Innates. MSF also supports medical services, from health posts to hospitals, in Bani-Bangou and Ouallam.

    Our teams work in collaboration with the Ministry of Health. In December 2018, we treated 4,599 people, provided 452 antenatal consultations and assisted 22 births. In addition, 588 children under the age of two received routine immunisations, and 34 women of childbearing age were vaccinated against tetanus. We also referred to hospital seven patients in need of emergency treatment.
    What are people’s main needs in this region? And what are the challenges of assisting them?

    People in this region need food, essential relief items, physical and mental healthcare, clean water, good sanitation and hygiene, and protection.

    The main challenge we face is the climate of insecurity in the region, which can make it difficult to reach the people who need assistance.

    https://www.msf.org/displaced-people-tillabery-niger-living-fear
    #IDPs #déplacés_internes #réfugiés_maliens #Mali #Niger #migrations #réfugiés

  • Les Personnes déplacées internes en #Afrique : repères juridiques et réalités. Contribution à l’étude de la #Convention_de_Kampala

    La migration est devenue, de nos jours, un sujet d’actualité dans le monde. En Europe, les débats sont passionnés et les politiques nationales deviennent de plus en plus restrictives en la matière. La forme de migration dite forcée est assurément multicausale et tous les experts s’accordent aujourd’hui à reconnaître la prégnance du phénomène du déplacement interne même si son impact médiatique demeure limité. Quantitativement, le nombre des déplacés internes est depuis longtemps nettement plus important que celui des demandeurs d’asile et réfugiés et les chiffres l’attestent amplement. Ainsi, la responsabilité internationale des réfugiés constituant une charge de plus en plus pesante pour quelques grands pays d’accueil reste malgré tout moins forte corrélativement à celle qui repose sur les États souvent sous-développés et donc pauvres à propos des déplacés internes. De nos jours, un éclairage était devenu nécessaire, vingt ans après l’adoption des Principes directeurs au niveau universel et neuf ans après celle de la Convention étudiée. La présente introspection est un plaidoyer en faveur du respect de leurs droits en forçant l’Union africaine à devenir beaucoup plus visible et plus entreprenante y compris sur le terrain. Étant donné que le déplacé interne d’aujourd’hui est aussi un potentiel demandeur d’asile ou un éventuel migrant, le sujet doit devenir une préoccupation majeure de la communauté internationale.


    https://www.publibook.com/les-personnes-deplacees-internes-en-afrique-reperes-juridiques-et-realite
    #IDPs #déplacés_internes #livre #réfugiés

    • La Convention de Kampala et le droit à ne pas être déplacé arbitrairement

      Les rédacteurs de la Convention de Kampala se sont largement inspirés des Principes directeurs relatifs au déplacement de personnes à l’intérieur de leur propre pays tout en tenant compte du contexte africain ; la reconnaissance du droit à ne pas être déplacé arbitrairement en est un exemple particulièrement patent.

      La Convention de l’Union Africaine sur la protection et l’assistance aux personnes déplacées en Afrique – la Convention de Kampala adoptée en 2009 – doit en grande partie son développement aux Principes directeurs relatifs au déplacement interne. Elle reflète les principes internationaux des droits de l’homme et du droit humanitaire tels que incarnées dans les Principes directeurs, mais elle intègre également différents aspects pertinents de normes provenant des mécanismes régionaux des droits de l’homme en vigueur en Afrique.

      C’est dans la reconnaissance du droit à ne pas être déplacé arbitrairement que la Convention de Kampala incarne le plus étroitement les Principes directeurs. Ce principe qui est au cœur-même de la protection des personnes déplacées à l’intérieur de leur propre pays (PDI), élève la protection relative au déplacement interne et transforme une considération éthique en une obligation juridique au sujet de laquelle il est possible de demander aux États de rendre des comptes. Quatre aspects principaux de ce droit sont couverts dans les Principes directeurs et, par extension, dans la Convention de Kampala.

      Premièrement, tout acte de déplacement doit être conforme au droit international. S’inspirant des Principes directeurs, la Convention de Kampala énumère les raisons pour lesquelles le déplacement est interdit aux termes du droit international, comme par exemple la discrimination visant à altérer la composition ethnique, ou la ségrégation religieuse ou raciale de la population. Elle rejette également l’utilisation du déplacement en tant qu’instrument de punition collective, le déplacement « issu de situations de violence ou de violations généralisées des droits de l’homme » – comme par exemple, la violence qui a fait suite aux élections de 2007 au Kenya et qui a entrainé des déplacements en masse – ainsi que tout déplacement pouvant être assimilé à un génocide, des crimes de guerre ou des crimes contre l’humanité.

      Alors que les Principes directeurs interdisent la mutilation et la violence sexospécifique à l’égard des PDI (Principe 11), la Convention de Kampala va plus loin et interdit les pratiques préjudiciables comme cause de déplacement. À cet égard, elle doit énormément au Protocole à la Charte africaine des droits de l’homme et des peuples, relatif aux droits de la femme en Afrique (connu sous le nom de Protocole de la femme africaine[1]), un instrument qui va bien plus loin que d’autres traités internationaux dans le soutien et la promotion des droits reproductifs. Outre des circonstances dans lesquelles des filles fuient la menace des mutilations génitales féminines et de mariages d’enfants, forcés, ou précoces, dans certaines parties de l’Afrique le repassage des seins, une pratique qui provient en partie de la croyance selon laquelle aplatir les seins des jeunes filles atténueraient leur tendance à la promiscuité, est également une cause de fuite. En interdisant ce type de pratiques préjudiciables comme causes de déplacement, la Convention de Kampala reflète très clairement le contexte africain.

      La Convention de Kampala permet certains types de déplacements pour des motifs spécifiques, dans les situations de conflit armé, par exemple, pour des impératifs militaires, ou lorsqu’il s’agit d’assurer la protection des populations civiles. Ce type de motif autorisé inspiré des Principes directeurs découle du droit international humanitaire et en particulier du Protocole II additionnel aux Conventions de Genève de 1949. Dans les situations de catastrophe naturelle, le déplacement est permis lorsqu’il est nécessaire pour préserver la sécurité et la santé des populations concernées. Toutefois, en ce qui concerne le déplacement induit par le développement, la Convention de Kampala opère un virage significatif. Le projet initial de la Convention de Kampala reflétait l’interdiction de cette forme de déplacement telle qu’elle figure dans les Principes directeurs, à savoir « dans le contexte de projets de développement de vaste envergure qui ne sont pas justifiés par des considérations impérieuses liées à l’intérêt supérieur du public » (Principe directeur 6(c)), mais cette partie a été modifiée par la suite pour devenir l’Article 10 de la Convention de Kampala en vertu duquel il est demandé aux États d’éviter, « dans la mesure du possible », le déplacement provoqué par des projets. Ce n’est que dans le cas de communautés spécialement attachées et dépendantes de leur terre qu’il est exigé aux États de veiller à ce que le déplacement n’ait lieu qu’en cas « de nécessité impérative dictée par les intérêts du public » (Convention de Kampala Article 4(5)).

      Le deuxième aspect du droit de ne pas être déplacé arbitrairement est que le déplacement, autorisé dans certaines circonstances en vertu du droit international, doit être exécuté en conformité avec les dispositions de la loi – c’est-à-dire, en satisfaisant toutes les garanties procédurales minimales. En ce qui concerne toutes les formes de déplacement, les Principes directeurs – se faisant l’écho de la Convention de Genève relative à la protection des personnes civiles en temps de guerre[2] – définissent les garanties procédurales minimales dans le Principe 7 qui exige qu’ « avant toute décision nécessitant le déplacement de personnes, les autorités concernées [fassent] en sorte que toutes les autres possibilités soient étudiées afin d’éviter le recours à une telle mesure [...][et veillent] à ce que les personnes déplacées soient convenablement logées ». Même s’il n’existe pas de normes minimales fixées dans le cadre des Principes directeurs concernant les catastrophes naturelles, et plus spécifiquement le changement climatique, ces circonstances figurent dans la Convention de Kampala. Alors que le changement climatique gagne en reconnaissance au fil du temps, il s’agit d’un des domaines dans lesquels la Convention de Kampala va plus loin que les Principes directeurs en mentionnant explicitement le changement climatique (il est vrai que les Principes directeurs reconnaissent les « catastrophes » en termes généraux, ce qui – même sans les définir de manière explicite – peut se rapporter aux impacts du changement climatique).

      Le troisième aspect du droit de ne pas être déplacé arbitrairement est que le déplacement ne doit pas être exécuté d’une manière qui contreviendrait au respect des droits de l’homme. Comme les Principes directeurs, la Convention de Kampala exige des États qu’ils respectent leurs obligations au titre des droits de l’homme en ce qui concerne la manière dont les déplacements sont exécutés, par exemple, dans les situations de projets de développement.

      Finalement, la Convention de Kampala exige des États qu’ils adoptent des mesures visant à corriger les impacts négatifs du déplacement sur les PDI. Comme le Principe 3(2) des Principes directeurs, l’Article 5(9) de la Convention de Kampala instaure la disposition relative au droit de demander et recevoir de l’assistance et l’érige en droit des PDI. L’aspect fondamental de cette disposition – de même que l’essentiel des deux instruments – consiste principalement à garantir la protection et l’assistance des PDI, et à les protéger contre les conséquences négatives du déplacement qui peuvent ne pas avoir été prévues avant ou pendant la période du déplacement interne.

      L’émergence de la Convention de Kampala en tant que norme régionale relative au déplacement interne est une solide indication de la pertinence et de la signification des Principes directeurs en tant que déclaration initiale et autorisée de principes internationaux régissant la protection et l’assistance des PDI. Même avec certaines adaptations visant à mieux refléter les réalités du contexte africain, la Convention de Kampala reste l’expression la plus patente de la contribution que les Principes directeurs ont apportée aux instruments contraignants relatifs au déplacement interne successifs.

      https://www.fmreview.org/fr/Principesdirecteurs20/adeola

  • What do we know about data on environmental migration?

    Disaster displacement forces millions of people away from their homes every year. Many more move in the context of environmental changes. Estimating the number of people affected remains a challenge for the international community. #Atle_Solberg, Head of the Platform on Disaster Displacement and #Francois_Gemenne, specialist of environmental geopolitics and migration dynamics, share their views on this topic.

    https://vimeo.com/305714985


    #statistiques #chiffres #réfugiés_environnementaux #migrations #réfugiés #asile #données #catastrophes #climat #changement_climatique #vitesse #rapidité #fiabilité #IDPs #déplacés_internes #collecte_de_données

    ping @reka @simplicissimus