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Afghanistan: Humanitarian Space Amid Escalating Violence
Thu, 08/28/2008 - 02:56
This past May, Refugees International conducted a mission in Afghanistan to assess the humanitarian response to the needs of Afghan returnees. Amid preparations for the trip, we were very concerned about the security situation in Afghanistan and took extra lengths to ensure that our staff would be safe.
Sudan: Yet more suffering for people in Kalma camp
Tue, 08/26/2008 - 02:18
The latest news coming out of South Darfur is deeply disturbing. On the morning of August 25 around sixty Government of Sudan vehicles surrounded Kalma camp – a camp housing 90,000 internally displaced people -- in a supposed attempt to disarm it. Violence broke out, and according to United Nations security reports, 20 people were killed in the attack and over 70 people were injured.
Burma: Local Sources of Support
Wed, 08/20/2008 - 23:21
I arrived in Burma less than four months after Cylone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy delta region. The cyclone left 140,000 people dead or missing. Farms, villages and cities were flooded. Homes, schools and roads were destroyed. 2.4 million people have been affected.
Displaced and Disabled
Tue, 08/19/2008 - 02:30
Up until this year, the needs of refugees and displaced persons with physical and mental disabilities have not been systematically analyzed. While humanitarian aid is generally about providing assistance to the most vulnerable – refugees, internally displaced people (IDPs), and stateless people who have no legal identity – ironically, the most vulnerable of these groups have been invisible in the course of humanitarian responses.
Georgia: The militarization of humanitarian action
Thu, 08/14/2008 - 20:23
The United States response to the displacement crisis in Georgia resulting from the conflict with Russia over the status of South Ossetia and Abkhazia is a blatant example of the increasing militarization of humanitarian action. Refugees International has been expressing deep concerns about this trend in Africa, but the Georgia response takes it to a new level.
Somalia: No military solution to the crisis
Thu, 08/14/2008 - 02:51
In March, Refugees International advocate Patrick Duplat and I called Somalia the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world. In the four months since we returned from Somalia, the situation on the ground has become precipitously worse -- over 2.6 million Somalis are in need of aid, and roughly 91,000 people were displaced from their homes by violence in June alone. Aid workers are being killed and kidnapped in unprecedented numbers, and violence has reached a level of intensity not seen since the crisis of the early 1990’s.
For aid agencies, security comes at a price
Mon, 08/11/2008 - 03:53
In late January 2008, three aid workers from the international medical aid agency Doctors without Borders were killed in the city of Kismayo in southern Somalia. A remote-controlled explosive device was detonated as they drove back from the hospital where they worked.
A Look at the Darfur Olympics
Thu, 08/07/2008 - 23:23
Today marks the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing. China holds unrivaled influence with the regime in Sudan. Join us in urging China to use its leverage to persuade the Sudanese government to allow into Darfur the full protection force outlined by UN Resolution 1769. All of us should urge China to work with the United States, France and the United Kingdom to support UN and African Union initiatives in Darfur, Southern Sudan and Chad. This cooperative work on the peace process needs to be comprehensive.
Iraqi Refugees: A New Plan
Wed, 08/06/2008 - 00:40
The United Nations refugee agency is clear: the conditions in Iraq are not there for displaced Iraqis to go home. Not only is the security situation not stable enough, as demonstrated by this past week’s bombings in Bagdad and Kirkuk, but other necessary factors are lacking.
President’s Corner: Saffron Robes in Wyoming
Mon, 08/04/2008 - 03:18
"What do they think when they see me?” asked the Venerable Kovida, a Buddhist monk from Burma. Given that he was dressed in bright saffron robes and flip-flops while hiking in the Grand Tetons in Wyoming, the question made sense.
In fact most of the hikers who passed Kovida walking in the new Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve last week seemed quite nonchalant. Maybe they were too busy looking at their feet on the path. But for those of us from Refugees International—both staff members and board members--walking with Kovida, the hike was anything but routine.
In fact most of the hikers who passed Kovida walking in the new Laurance S. Rockefeller Preserve last week seemed quite nonchalant. Maybe they were too busy looking at their feet on the path. But for those of us from Refugees International—both staff members and board members--walking with Kovida, the hike was anything but routine.
