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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.
"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.
The recent visit of presidential candidate Senator John McCain to Colombia, the dramatic rescue of 15 hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), and a subsequent visit to the United States by Colombian Defense Minister Santos, have all placed the Colombian Government and its approach to dealing with the violence in that country in the media spotlight.
On our mission to northern Uganda we were told that the biggest immediate danger for women in the displacement camps is domestic violence. My colleague, Camilla Olson and I heard that the stressful overcrowded conditions in camps and the lack of livelihood opportunities for men and women contribute to this violence, which puts the physical and mental health of so many women at serious risk.
Some 25 kilometers inside Ethiopia’s border with Eritrea, the Shimelba Refugee Camp is home to more than 17,900 individuals who have fled from Eritrea for reasons that include religious persecution, fear of forced military conscription of males from age 18 to 40 that generally includes hard labor, and attempting to rejoin family left behind during the border conflict. The majority of camp residents are young males, many university educated and frustrated about the irreparable loss of the prime years of potential professional careers.
