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The Holiday Scramble, Twice as Nice
Wed, 12/23/2009 - 18:25
As we’re so often reminded, the holiday season is a wonderful time of joy, happiness, and gratitude for the family, friends and loved ones in our lives.
It’s also a mad scramble.
No, no, I didn’t wait until the last minute to do my gift shopping (that’s my story and I’m sticking to it). It’s a mad scramble because those of us in the non-profit world are looking at our bottom line and hoping we raise enough money to meet our budgets. We prep, we plan, and then we downright beg and plead for every donation – from $50 to $10,000 – that allows us to keep our doors open and our work going.
And if you’re on our email list, you know that Refugees International ain’t too proud to beg.
Colombia: Questionable Successes
Mon, 12/21/2009 - 20:57This past January a policy directive of Colombian President Uribe outlined the National Plan for the Consolidation of Territory (Plan Nacional de Consolidación Territorial). The short, assertive and results-oriented memo instructed Colombian national, local, military and civilian authorities to work together to attain a stronger grip over strategic swaths of land, recovered from guerrilla control, within a period of 18 months. Two objectives of the strategy include an increase in confidence by Colombian citizens towards their own government and the reassurance to investors about their economic interests.
Regional Instability Leaves No Room for Refuge
Fri, 12/18/2009 - 21:02
The conflicts in central and eastern Africa are so intertwined that I sometimes confuse myself when taking in my daily dose of displacement and humanitarian news. For example, this week, MINURCAT, the UN peacekeeping force in the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad, deployed peacekeepers to a town in northeast CAR to protect Sudanese refugees from a Central African rebel group. Similarly Uganda’s national army has been allowed to operate in the CAR, Sudan, and DRC in an effort to track down the Ugandan-bred Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) rebel group. Throughout 2009 and with increasing intensity in recent months, the LRA has attacked villages and camps in southern Sudan, DRC, and CAR. CAR, itself is host to refugees from Sudan, Congo, and Chad, despite the fact that internally displaced Central Africans have described their current situation as one in which, “God alone is watching us. There is no security.”
Burma: Don’t Forget Ethnic Minorities
Thu, 12/17/2009 - 11:51
Last week, Refugees International worked with the Netherlands-based Transnational Institute (TNI) to raise awareness around issues of ethnic minorities among Washington policy makers. Both TNI and RI have long believed that in order to truly address conflict and displacement in Burma, the state must come to permanent peace arrangements with the wide range of ethnic minorities in the country. Though it is still premature to discuss substantive negotiations between the various parties at this stage, the likelihood of elections in Burma in 2010 could open some possibility for progress on this issue. TNI has an excellent report on the future of cease-fire agreements in Burma that provides a good look at this issue.
DR Congo: Future of Peacekeeping Tied to Future of the Country
Mon, 12/14/2009 - 01:00
In two weeks the existing mandate for the UN peacekeeping operation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (MONUC) will expire, and UN Security Council will make an important decision about the future of the mission, and the trajectory of UN involvement in this volatile country.
Pakistan: Protect People Now
Thu, 12/10/2009 - 18:17Refugees International hosted its eighth annual Washington Circle event, Protect People First: Eyewitness Reports from Afghanistan and Pakistan, last Friday in front of a captivated Georgetown audience with one message --- make civilians the priority.
Pakistan: Women Face the Brunt of Displacement
Tue, 12/08/2009 - 18:37The recent displacement wave in Pakistan forced up to 2 million people out of their homes in less than 6 weeks. Most of the displaced stayed out of camps but with host families. Relatives, friends and even perfect strangers who lived in the lower lands of Mardan and beyond, opened their doors to help out their fellow Pakistanis from the mountainous valleys of Swat and Buner. It is a testament to the hospitable nature of the Pashtuns, without which this humanitarian crisis could have had far greater consequences.
India: Burmese Chin Refugees Experience Sexual Harassment
Fri, 12/04/2009 - 01:00
Imagine being sexually harassed each time you step out your front door. - on the street, on the bus to work, at your job, on your way home. Imagine not knowing how you’ll earn enough money to feed your children, when your husband is in prison back home and you’re living on your own in a foreign country that does not recognize you as a refugee.
Sudan: Women’s Groups Advocate for Rape Law Reform
Thu, 12/03/2009 - 14:05Women’s groups in Khartoum are working together to push for reform of north Sudan’s criminal laws on rape and adultery. Despite all of the difficulties that they face, they are taking positive steps forward and using the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence to launch their campaign.
DR Congo: 'Zero Tolerance' for Sexual Violence
Wed, 12/02/2009 - 16:55Refugees International wrote in a September 2009 field report that sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo had increased since the start of the government-led “Kimia II” military operations against the FDLR rebel group. When Refugees International Advocate Camilla Olson and I were in South Kivu in August carrying out research for the report, many displaced women described their experiences after they fled the fighting. One woman from Ziralo groupement told RI she escaped after hearing gunshots outside her house. In the chaos, her family was scattered and left home with nothing. She spent four nights in the forest before she could make it into town. She said women were raped by the FDLR while fleeing, and she didn’t want to go back home as long as they were still around.
