Vatican welcomes three new refugee families from Syria

VATICAN CITTY: The first three refugee families from Syria welcomed by the Vatican left their temporary homes to start their new lives in Italy, and three new families have taken their places in Vatican apartments. The papal Almoner’s Office, which helps coordinate Pope Francis’s acts of charity, announced on April 2 that two Christian families and one Muslim family moved into the apartments that housed the first refugee families welcomed by the Vatican in late 2015 and early 2016. 

The two Christian families, the papal almoner’s office said, arrived in March after “suffering kidnapping and discrimination” because of their faith. “The first family is composed of a mother with two adolescent children, a grandmother, an aunt and another Syrian woman who lives with them,” the office said. The second family is a young couple, who had their first child — a daughter named Stella — shortly after moving into the Vatican apartment, the Almoner’s Office said. “The mother had been kidnapped for several months by ISIS and now, in Italy, has regained serenity.” 

The third family — a mother, father and two children — arrived in Italy in February 2016, the office said. The children have been attending elementary school in Italy while the mother has been attending graduate courses and currently has an internship. The Vatican welcomed the refugee families after an appeal made by Pope Francis on September 6, 2015, in which he called on every parish, religious community, monastery and shrine in Europe to take in a family of refugees, given the ongoing crisis of people fleeing from war and poverty. Archbishop Konrad Krajewski, the papal almoner, said that aside from providing a home for the three families, the office also continues to provide financial support to the three Syrian families whom Pope Francis brought to Italy after his visit last year to the Greek island of Lesbos and for the nine additional refugees who arrived later.--Catholic Herald



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200 000 Afghan refugees return home

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News24 Wednesday 5th October, 2016

Islamabad - More than 200 000 Afghan refugees have been repatriated from Pakistan this year, nearly half of them in September alone, UNHCR said on Tuesday, the highest number since the US toppled the Taliban in 2002.

The tsunami of refugees returning to the war-torn country comes after Pakistan tightened its border controls in June and began cracking down on undocumented Afghans.

The vast majority - more than 185 000 - returned after July, with nearly 98 00 crossing the border in September alone, UNHCR spokesperson Qaisar Khan Afridi told AFP.

"From January until today, the number of refugees voluntarily repatriating to Afghanistan has crossed the figure of 200 000," Afridi said.

More and more appear to be going every day, with officials saying that the first four days of October saw up to 5 000 returnees daily.

An Amnesty International report on Tuesday said Pakistan hosted 1.6 million refugees, making it the third largest refugee hosting nation in the world.

But UNHCR said the figure, based on its own data, was already out of date and should be revised to 1.4 million after the movement since July.

The agency also estimates that a further one million undocumented refugees are in Pakistan.

Since 2009, Islamabad has repeatedly pushed back a deadline for them to return, but fears are growing that the latest cutoff date in March 2017 will be final.

Pakistani officials said the increase came after they vowed to tighten border controls, particularly at the porous Torkham Gate crossing.

However UNHCR cited an array of other reasons that could be helping drive the rush back into Afghanistan, including increasing anxiety and insecurity for refugees about life in Pakistan.

Other factors include the UNHCR decision to double its cash grant for voluntary returnees from $200 to $400 per individual in June, and a campaign by the Afghan government to lure its citizens back with the slogan "My country, my beautiful country".

In Afghanistan, however, torn apart by more than three decades of conflict, authorities warn the number of displaced people has outpaced the capacity of the government and aid agencies to cope.

Meanwhile the EU said Monday it has struck a tentative deal with Afghanistan to take back migrants ahead of a conference in Brussels aimed at securing international financial aid for the war-ravaged nation.

However, European Union officials have denied that aid pledges would depend on the Kabul government accepting the return of tens of thousands of Afghans from an overstretched Europe.

Source: News24

http://www.malaysiasun.com/



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Refugees Plant The Seeds Of A New Community In Kansas City

Beh paw Gaw is a New Roots graduate and a Karen refugee from Myanmar. Now she has her own three acre farm which she runs with her sister Pay lay, who is also a graduate of the New Roots program.Oluwakemi Aladesuyi/NPR

Farming is nothing new to Kansas. But now it's drawing in a new community that's trying to bridge the divide between life in another country and one in the United States.

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New Roots for Refugees encourages refugees to become independent through farming.Courtesy of Cultivate Kansas City

In the midst of boxy yellow and brown public housing, beyond the highway and past empty grain elevators, sits Juniper Farm. It's spread over nine acres on the Kansas side of Kansas City.

As their children play on the grassy knoll behind us, four women sit at a plastic picnic table speaking in Karen, a language spoken in parts of Myanmar.

They're students at a program called New Roots for Refugees. The program aims to teach the basics and business of farming to refugees over the course of four years. At the end, many of the graduates are ready to start farms of their own.

It's a joint effort between Catholic Charities and Cultivate Kansas City, a nonprofit that encourages locally-grown food and urban agriculture.

"It is like practical education here. So I love it very much," says Dhan Rai, a first-year farmer from Bhutan.

Many of the men and women at New Roots come from Myanmar or Bhutan. Some were farmers in their homelands. But farming on the outskirts of Kansas City is different: the land, the crops and even the weather.

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Sisi Cho is a third-year farmer at New Roots and a refugee from Myanmar. She was the first New Roots farmer to sell produce this year at the KC Eat Local and Organic Expo in early April.Lily Siebert/Courtesy of Cultivate Kansas City

As a train passes, Sisi Cho plants zucchini seeds and baby heads of kale in her quarter-acre plot behind the greenhouse. Before this she was living in a refugee camp in Malaysia.

"America government is good. No separate color or race. Everything good," she says.

Earlier this month she sold spinach, spring garlic and radishes at a local farmers market. She's the first New Roots farmer to sell produce this season.

The refugees here fled ethnic violence and military oppression that made their people victims of torture, systemic rape and forced labor. In addition to Bhutan and Myanmar, refugees from Somalia, Burundi and Sudan have taken part in the program.

For some, escape meant enduring years in cramped refugee camps. Entire families shared one room shelters, covered with roofs made of plastic sheeting.

Many who've come here are happy to have escaped violence. But adapting to life in a new country, with a different language and customs, is still difficult. Many refugees struggle economically.

So the New Roots program aims to teach refugees more than just farming.

Sam Davis is a site manager at the farm. He teaches refugees how to farm, how to manage a small business, and how to navigate other obstacles of integrating into American society.

Sam Davis is a site manager at Juniper Farm. He sits in the greenhouse, where the refugees learn how to get an early start on the growing season.Oluwakemi Aladesuyi/NPR

"Mr. Sam," as the students call him, says he can understand feeling out of place. His family moved here from Arkansas about 60 years ago. "We were Americans coming to Kansas ... but it was like going to another country. You had to fight your way to school, you had to fight your way home," he laughs.

Fitting in was hard for Davis because he spoke a different dialect. It's one way he relates to the refugees. "The language I don't understand. The expression most of the time I understand," he says. "But that's actually how I communicate with them. And I don't give up."

It's that spirit that encourages August Gaw. She's 25 years old and often translates for her mother, Beh paw Gaw, who graduated from New Roots a few years ago. "Even if they don't know the English that much, when they speak, Sam will understand my mom," she says.

August used to come here to help her mother. But now Beh paw has her own 3-acre farm which she runs with her sister. Last year the operation made more than $10,000. The potential to make money is important; many refugee families live below the poverty level.

Davis says New Roots benefits more people than just the farmers. "They can keep doing what they did in their homeland," he says. "And if they get enough land it continues to go on. It feeds back into the community, the neighborhood."

And creating that sense of community, of establishing "new roots," is another goal of the program.

"My mom came to work here and then she met other people here," says August Gaw. "And we feel very close to each other and much better."

www.npr.org

This is the best opportunity for New Comer Refugees to the State. 

Professional, semi-skilled Syrian refugees eligible to receive minimum wages, says minister -

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot (right) meeting delegates of the 7th Regional Tripartite Social Dialogue Conference for Growth, Employment and Sound Industrial Relations in the Service Sectors in Asean, Oct 12, 2015. — Bernama pic

KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 12 — The 3,000 Syrian refugees, preferably professional and semi-skilled, which Malaysia will accept over the next three years are eligible to receive minimum wages upon selection to work in this country.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot said this was based on the Convention of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), namely the Convention 100 - Equal Remuneration Convention, 1951 (No. 100), which Malaysia had ratified way back in 1998.

“Based on that convention, Malaysia cannot discriminate them (Syrian refugees), especially in terms of salaries between foreign and local workers.

He was speaking to reporters after opening the 7th Regional Tripartite Social Dialogues For Growth, Employment And Sound Industrial Relations In The Services Sectors in Asean: “Managing Labour Market In An Integrated Asean here today.

On Oct 2, Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Razak, while addressing the 70th Session of the United Nations General Assembly said Malaysia would open its doors to 3,000 Syrian migrants to help alleviate the refugee crisis.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi later said Malaysia would give preference to professional and semi-skilled people in accepting the Syrian refugees.

Meanwhile, in his opening speech at the dialogue, Riot said the establishment of the Asean Economic Community (AEC) by year-end would certainly impact the region’s labour market.

He said, based on a study conducted by ILO and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), it was suggested that Asean economic integration, if not managed properly, might worsen the economic inequalities.

Riot also pointed out that while AEC would definitely further stimulate demand for increased flexibility in the labour market, it might pose risks to social protection for workers if not properly regulated.

Therefore, the minister said, all Asean members must be prepared for the impact by building up effective social protection system for workers.

Riot said effective social protection system, including dynamic labour laws must be put in place to ensure adaptability of employers and employees.

On Malaysia’s part, he pointed out to the delegates that the country had sought ways to improve the state of its labour protection system, including establishment of the National Wages Consultative Council (NWCC) in 2011.

He said NWCC’s main function was to recommend the rates of minimum wages, coverage and implementation to the government, which subsequently resulted in the establishment of the Minimum Wages Order in 2012, while the full implementation of the policy commenced last year.

Besides that, he added, Malaysia had also explored the feasibility of introducing an employment insurance system to provide financial and training assistance to retrenched workers to facilitate their re-employment.

Touching further on the dialogue, Riot hoped they would strengthen the network, collaborate and work in partnership to manage the labour market, complement economic and trade policies, as well as grow the economy nationally and collectively at the Asean level.

The two-day tripartite dialogue, organised by the Asean Services Employees Trade Union Council is an initiative aimed at advancing social dialogue in Asean to ensure the inclusion of the Decent Work Agenda to the development of the Asean Community. — Bernama

- See more at: http://www.themalaymailonline.com

Syrian refugees will be paid same wages as locals if they get employed

KUALA LUMPUR:Syrian refugees will be paid the same wages as local workers if they are employed, but as of now, government policy does not allow refugees to hold jobs.

Human Resources Minister Datuk Seri Richard Riot Jaem said under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Employment Act, there can be no discrimination in wages, but pointed out that Malaysia does not allow refugees to hold jobs.

"Under the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Employment Act, there can be no discrimination in wages, refugees will be paid the same amount as local employees.

"But as of now, they are not allowed to work in Malaysia," Richard told the press when asked to comment on the government's plans to provide some 3,000 Syrian refugees temporary jobs.

He said the same applies to all refugees under the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and it is up to the government to decide otherwise.

Riot was commenting on the government's plan to provide temporary jobs to some 3,000 Syrian refugees.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Abdul Razak declared at the United Nations General Assembly that Malaysia will be taking in about 3,000 refugees from war-torn Syria.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Ahmad Zahid Hamidi then announced that preference will be given to skilled labour and professionals and they will be provided temporary employment.

Ahmad Zahid's Deputy, Datuk Nur Jazlan, also said that details on how to accommodate the refugees has not been finalised.

Earlier, Riot delivered the keynote address at the 7th Regional Tripartite Social Dialogue for Growth, Employment, and Sound Industrial Relations in the Services Sector in ASEAN.

During his speech, he announced the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of the year to encourage free movement of goods, services, investment, skilled labour, and capital flow.

Richard also said Malaysia, like the rest of ASEAN, is facing a shortage of skilled workers and will need to recruit more foreign labour if the issue is not addressed.

Additionally, Richard said Malaysia is currently reviewing its minimum wage, but later told reporters the government's decision is currently on embargo and will be announced in due time.

He said the government is currently studying the feasibility of an Employment Insurance System (EIS) to provide financial and training assistance for retrenched workers.

UN, World Bank announce new funds for Mideast refugee crisis

October 11, 2015

LIMA: The UN and World Bank said Saturday they will increase financing for the Middle East and North Africa to help countries there deal with millions of refugees and rebuild after conflicts.

They did not put a dollar figure on the initiative, but said it would ramp up resources to deal with the “enormous humanitarian and economic toll” that conflicts in Syria, Iraq, Yemen and elsewhere are taking on the region.

“The world today is witness to… the highest level of forced displacement since the Second World War,” UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement.

“To address the scale and the nature of the conflicts, we need new approaches. It is important that the World Bank, as a close partner to the UN, and other international financial institutions, mainstream and actively invest in conflict-affected states.”

The new loans will come in two forms, said the organizations, which are also collaborating with the Islamic Development Bank on the plan.

Under the first mechanism, guarantees from donor countries will be leveraged to issue special bonds, including Islamic sukuk bonds, which are specially structured to comply with the Koranic prohibition on charging interest.

In the second, donor country grants will be used to extend low-interest loans to the countries hosting the bulk of the more than 15 million refugees who have fled the region’s conflicts in the past four years.

“Strong global partnerships and innovative financing are essential to meet the scale of the need in these hard-hit countries,” said World Bank president Jim Yong Kim.

“It is our collective responsibility to support the Middle East and North Africa region at this critical time, and this requires significant resources — more than any one country or organization is able to provide on its own.”

The initiative was agreed on the sidelines of the annual meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund in Lima, Peru this week.

The organizations have set up a working group and asked it to finalize the details of the new financing mechanisms, as well as develop an implementation roadmap by February 2016, they said.

– AFP

PM Najib calls for new solutions to address extremism, refugee crisis

Kuala Lumpur (dpa) - Malaysia will take in 3,000 Syrian refugees in the next three years as its share in alleviating the current refugee crisis, Prime Minister Najib Razak said Friday.

Hundreds of thousands of Syrian migrants have fled Syria since the beginning of the year amid the war in the Middle-Eastern country.

"Malaysia will do its share, and open our doors to a further 3,000 Syrian migrants over the next three years," Najib said in a speech at the United Nations General Assembly.

"New international solutions are needed to deal with the migration crisis," he said. "The millions fleeing are people - like us. They should concern us all. We must respect our common humanity."

At present there are a little over 153,000 refugees in predominantly Muslim Malaysia, according to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

The refugees in Malaysia comprise over 143,000 migrants from Myanmar, more than 3,000 Sri Lankans, 1,230 Pakistanis, 1,100 Somalis, 970Syrians, 860 Iraqis, 490 Iranians, 490 Palestinians and the rest from other countries, the UN agency said.

Burmese refugees meet with bishop from their home country before World Meeting of Families

Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang of the Diocese of Kalay in Myanmar speaks with Burmese refugees Sept. 21 at Catholic Charities’ offices in Camden.

Photo by Joanna Gardner

For the Burmese refugees who gathered on the afternoon of Sept. 21 at Catholic Charities’ offices in Camden, the World Meeting of Families started a day early.

Dozens of Burmese refugee families living in South Jersey gathered to meet with a religious leader from their home country, Bishop Felix Lian Khen Thang of the Diocese of Kalay in Myanmar, the Southeast Asian nation formerly known as Burma.

The bishop, like so many other pilgrims from around the world, had come to the United States to participate in the international gathering of families and the pope’s visit.

Soft-spoken in conversation, the 56-year-old bishop became energetic as he addressed the more than 40 men, women and children gathered, in their native Burmese.

He urged them to prioritize education for their children but to hold on to their heritage.

“I’m trying to encourage them to work very hard, to give priority to education for the children. … and at the same time to keep our dialect and culture; to integrate here but not forget their own language,” Bishop Thang said. “They are longing, thirsting, to hear their own dialect.”

After the meeting, he greeted each attendee individually, shaking hands, joking and taking pictures with the families, many of whom came dressed in brightly-colored traditional clothing. Some had lived in the United States for years, while others had only just arrived, like Maria Hoih, who came to the United States with her husband and two children in late June.

“My bishop is here,” Hoih said, speaking in Burmese. “I’m very proud to be Catholic.”

The stop in South Jersey is the last in a long United States trip for Bishop Thang, who stopped in seven states in less than three weeks for pastoral visits with Burmese Catholic communities in Los Angeles, Portland, Tulsa and St. Louis, to name a few, prior to his arrival in Philadelphia on Monday.

Ethnic, religious and political persecution under a repressive military government that gripped Myanmar for 50 years forced thousands to flee the country between 1962 and 2012. As a result, Burmese are scattered throughout the world. Many lived for decades in temporary, desperately poor refugee camps in Malaysia, Thailand or Nepal before settling in a third country permanently, such as the U.S.

The U.S. saw an influx of Burmese refugees in the mid 2000s. More than 80,000 Burmese refugees have been resettled in the United States since 2004. The nation is home to more than 20,000 Burmese Catholics.

“They all are lost sheep, our faithful. It’s easy to forget our own identity,” Bishop Thang said.

“The United States is made up of immigrants. That’s our history. Each community of people that comes to the U.S. faces the struggle of adapting to the new culture while holding on to their own heritage, their identity,” said Kevin Hickey, executive director of Catholic Charities, Diocese of Camden, in remarks to the gathering of Burmese families. “And that’s part of being an American: holding on to that heritage.”

Catholic Charities estimates that it has resettled more than 300 Burmese refugees in South Jersey. Often new arrivals are placed in the same apartment complex as other Burmese families, forming tight-knit pockets of Burmese culture.

One such community exists in Somerdale, near Our Lady of Guadalupe in Lindenwold where many Burmese Catholics attend Mass. The community has been supported and embraced by the parish, under the leadership of pastor Father Joseph Capella, who started a shuttle service with the Burmese community in mind to help people get to Mass on Sundays.

The rectory grounds house community gardens sponsored by Catholic Charities’ refugee resettlement program where many of the Burmese grow their own food. Several Burmese students are enrolled in the parish school this year.

When Francis Kap Lian, a Burmese case manager with Catholic Charities’ program, learned that Bishop Thang and another visiting Burmese priest from the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma, were coming to Philadelphia, he asked Father Capella if the parish might have room for two guests.

Not only was there room, but the living arrangement will allow Bishop Thang to say Mass in Burmese multiple times for the community at the parish during his stay.

For Father Capella, it’s all part of the broader theme of family.

“I truly believe the Holy Spirit working through the church, and the current Holy Father wants us to focus on our mission of love, which is the theme of the World Meeting of Families,” Father Capella said. “What does it mean to be a human family?”

Father Capella’s parish is one of great diversity, with parishioners representing several Latin American and African countries and the Philippines. His description of what a parish family should be complements Bishop Thang’s “both-and” message for immigrants from his country: both assimilation and preservation of a unique heritage.

“We seek community. We’re wired for that. We follow a Trinitarian God, that community of Father, Son and Holy Spirit,” Father Capella said. “We need to reach out to them to let them know that they’re a part of us and we’re a part of them. Not just ‘you join us,’ but ‘we join you’ as well. Both of us have things to learn to see where God wants to move us together.”

Volunteers help refugees from Burma create community

She thought she made a mistake. Takwae Htoo was in her 20s, a single mother in an unfamiliar place after her home country had been ravaged by civil unrest. “We had nothing,” she said. “It was just me and my baby alone. I did not speak English. I did not know anybody.” Takwae Htoo is a refugee from Burma, renamed Myanmar by the current government, a country that has been ruled by a military junta since the 1960s. She was originally placed in Texas a decade ago. Now, she calls Chapel Hill home. She is a housekeeper at UNC, attends English classes through the Orange County Literacy Council and works part time at a farm run by refugees and volunteers. She married another Burmese refugee who settled here too, and her children go to school in Carrboro.

Sey Mor practices identifying the President and Vice President at a citizenship class at the Refugee Support Center of Carrboro. Sey Mor is a refugee from Burma living in Carrboro. By Stephanie Lamm The U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants has placed more than 4,000 refugees from Burma in North Carolina. Fewer than 300 were originally placed in Chapel Hill and Carrboro; however, more than 1,000 refugees from Burma have since found homes here, according to the Refugee Support Center in Carrboro. Refugees from Burma belong to many different ethnic groups, including Burmese, Karen and Chin. They speak a variety of languages, most commonly a dialect of Karen.

Many refugees placed around the country move to Orange County due to the area’s wealth of refugee assistance organizations — most run by volunteers. Volunteer organizations assist refugees in gaining citizenship, learning English and finding work and housing. When the honeymoon ends Eh Paw came to Carrboro from a refugee camp in Thailand three years ago with her 3-month-old son who was having seizures every day. While searching for a job and taking care of her two older children, she traveled to and from UNC Hospitals daily to take care of him. “My baby is very sick,” Eh Paw said. “They sent me to America so he could receive medical care that is better than in the camp.” Eh Paw now considers herself lucky — she understands English, her son’s condition is under control and her husband joined her in Carrboro six months ago. Most importantly, she can move about freely. Raised in a refugee camp, Eh Paw had to ask the camp supervisor for permission to leave. Eh Paw works as a translator at the Refugee Support Center in Carrboro, which helps refugees from Burma with everything from applying for public housing to filing for child support. Flicka Bateman is the director of the center, which relies on volunteers to help refugees with legal services, language skills and a variety of other needed programs.

She said her organization provides long-term support. “It’s hard to explain exactly what we do because we do so many different things,” Bateman said. “If you think of it as a hierarchy of needs, we usually step in after the placement organization meets the families’ most basic needs. We work with public housing, we place them with jobs, help them set up a bank account, find schools for their kids and connect them with other resources in the community.” Refugee placement organizations like the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services and Church World Service provide support for the first three to six months, but after that, refugee families must turn to a variety of organizations to meet their needs. “We usually meet people once the honeymoon period ends and they become anxious and start questioning whether refugee placement here was a good idea,” Bateman said. Takwae Htoo was originally placed in Texas, but Orange County’s community of volunteer-based organizations has provided her with a more stable life. “They paid rent for six months. After that, nothing,” Takwae Htoo said. “Things are not as hard here. 

We have people to help us.” Learning the language Takwae Htoo said of the challenges refugees face, learning English is the greatest. Takwae Htoo’s oldest child, now a junior in high school, was 5 years old when they came to the U.S. She said she is proud of how quickly he picked up English, but she is disappointed she cannot help him with his homework. At East Chapel Hill High School, students founded the Refugee Outreach Club, which tutors refugee children. Elsa Steiner, a sophomore at UNC and one of the founding members of the Refugee Outreach Club, said teachers often do not have the time or resources to make sure refugee children succeed in school. “When teachers assign homework, especially in the lower grades, sometimes they assume that the parents can help, but that’s not the case for many of these children,” Steiner said. Casey Smith, another founding member, said the Karen and Burmese communities face a lack of resources within the schools to learn English, and she and other co-founders took on the challenge of providing support where the school system could not. “It’s not like Spanish or even Arabic where there are translators and resources for people who want to work with the Karen community,” said Smith, now a junior at Wesleyan University. “Unless they learned in the camps or unless they were very young when they came here, it could take many years before they speak enough English to get by on their own.” Smith’s mother, Lori Carswell, teaches Takwae Htoo’s English class through the Orange County Literacy Council. “I didn’t expect to become so involved, but when it’s something like this, it’s so rewarding to watch them grow,” Carswell said after teaching a recent session of her English class at the Chapel Hill Public Library. Cultivating Community On her days off, Takwae Htoo and her husband work a small plot of land at Transplanting Traditions, where 28 refugee families are given plots of land to grow and sell crops for supplementary income. 

Customers for Transplanting Traditions prepay for food grown by the farmers before the harvest season. Crops are also sold at the Chapel Hill and Carrboro Farmers’ Market, teaching farmers how to market their goods. Kelly Owensby, director of Transplanting Traditions, said the organization expects to bring in $60,000 by the end of 2015 — money that will go directly to the refugee farmers. All of the farmers at Transplanting Traditions worked as farmers back in Burma. Steiner, who volunteered with the organization, said it’s empowering for refugees to find work in an industry they are familiar with. “Transplanting Traditions makes them feel like they can provide for their family without having to learn a new skill,” said Steiner. “This is something they knew how to do back in their country. They can take on leadership roles and collaborate with other families. There are numerous mental health benefits in addition to providing them with a livelihood.” Owensby agreed that the benefits of the program include far more than supplementary income. “We’ve seen a decrease in stress and better mental and physical health in the families we work with,” Owensby said. Transplanting Traditions is entirely run by volunteers. The organization also offers educational and enrichment programs for teenagers and children — for example, its cultural preservation initiative, which records the stories and cultural traditions of refugees. “Our goal is to improve refugees’ lives through food security and supplemental income,” Owensby said. “But we also try to take a holistic approach to serving the community. Transplanting Traditions plans to expand the farm by 50 percent — to 7.5 acres — by next summer. And Transplanting Traditions recently partnered with People Offering Relief for Chapel Hill Carrboro Homes, which provides 111 refugee families with $100 in fresh produce each month. The farm donates $1,000 worth of food grown by its farmers, including specialty produce typically grown in Southeast Asia, to PORCH, which is a volunteer-based hunger relief organization. Debbie Horwitz, the founder and director of PORCH, said the Food for Families program, which began in 2010, was designed with these refugee families in mind. Most families are referred to the program by a school social worker. “We found that local pantries often weren’t meeting the needs of the refugee community,” Horwitz said. “They aren’t used to the food grown here. It’s important that they have access to fresh produce native to where they are from. With our partnership with Transplanting Traditions, we can provide that for them.” About half of all Burmese and Karen refugee families in Chapel Hill and Carrboro are served by PORCH, including more than 300 children. Food donated through PORCH is delivered by volunteers. 

They also deliver clothing, books, computers, strollers, mattresses and other donated items as they are available. “It forms a bond between our volunteers and the refugee community,” Horwitz said. “When people see how gracious our families are they often want to find new ways to help. You can’t just see the need these people are in and walk away without wanting to donate more of your time.” Steiner, who has continued her work with the refugee community since high school, said it’s important that volunteer organizations pick up where government services leave off. “People who work with refugees talk about how there’s a bell curve of resettlement,” Steiner said. “When people first come over they are overjoyed, and they thought the worst was over. Then they begin to realize that they will probably live in poverty the rest of their life, but at the same time they don’t want to seem ungrateful. Eventually things get steady and they find the support they need, but things are really hard for a while.” For Takwae Htoo, the hard times are over. She’s found success in her new home through the help of volunteer-based organizations. “We love it here,” she said. “We’re free here.”

Read more: http://www.dailytarheel.com

UNHCR launches biometrics system for Myanmar refugees

UNHCR biometrics identify 110,000 Myanmar refugees in Thailand The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has revealed details of a biometric system it has deployed in Thailand to register Myanmar refugees. The system has created biometric records for nearly 110,000 refugees since January, says the UN body, enabling it to also issue smart ID cards. UNHCR's new biometrics identity management system (BIMS), developed in cooperation with Accenture, is designed for registering and verifying the identities of displaced persons around the world. 

The system captures and stores fingerprints, iris data and facial images of individuals, providing those who are often undocumented with their only personal identity record. BIMS leverages the Unique Identity Service Platform (UISP), a software offering developed by Accenture, which works in conjunction with UNHCR’s existing case management system. "Biometrics will help refugees in the future as it ensures that once they've been through the system and enrolled with their fingerprints and irises, we'll always know who they are," said Sam Jefferies, UNHCR's Associate Biometrics Deployment Officer in Geneva. "If they lose their documentation, they can always come back to us." Bringing staff and technology to some of Thailand's most remote areas proved to be a logistical challenge. It involved transporting satellite equipment to camps with no phone or internet access, and moving delicate gear and over 75 UNHCR staff across rivers and over hundreds of kilometres of winding mountain roads along the Thai-Myanmar border in the span of 13 weeks. 

At the end of the verification exercise in Thailand, the refugees each received a smart card with their family's bio-data and photographs – securely encrypted and retrievable with UNHCR card readers even in remote places with no internet access. "With these cards we don't need to travel around with heavy equipment like a server," said UNHCR Representative Girard. "In the event of voluntary return, our teams in Myanmar will have a card reader in their backpack when they visit the field to document what has happened to returnees, and if they have received reintegration assistance. We will also pass on that information to other humanitarian actors and the authorities on the ground so that they can plan and deliver services in places where they are needed." John Smith, a refugee who works for the Karen Refugee Committee in Tham Hin camp in Ratchaburi province, said, "This verification is very important for me and for others who are refugees. 

The card can be decisive for our life in the future. If we have a chance to go back [to Myanmar], it will be good evidence for us to show to UNHCR or the Thai government. I tell the others to keep their smart card in a safe place, with their most precious things." - See more at: http://www.planetbiometrics.com/article-details/i/3223/desc/unhcr-launches-biometrics-system-for-myanmar-refugees/#sthash.cw1N2ckA.dpuf

Eyes Wide Shut: The challenge of humanitarian biometrics

The use of biometrics clearly has a role to play in humanitarianism. The challenge, says IRIN columnist Paul Currion, is to protect the disadvantaged, whose identities may be vital for accessing government services, while preventing powerful states and private companies who may seek to experiment or exploit.

By Paul Currion 

Photo: Petty Officer 2nd Class David Brandenburg/U.S. Navy

An Afghan policeman looks into a biometric eye scanner

BELGRADE, 26 August 2015 (IRIN) - Biometrics, for those of you who haven't spent the last 10 years swearing at the automated passport gates at Heathrow, is the use of human measurements for identification. The most familiar biometrics are fingerprints, but the computer-powered scanning of eyes and faces is being implemented in a growing range of contexts. The origins of modern biometrics lies in the identification of criminals, but it was the war on terror that turned biometrics into the $13.8 billion industry it is today.

As a result the technology has leapt ahead in recent years – and leapt into some surprising places. You might use your fingerprint to access your smartphone, but everybody gets fingerprinted now, including schoolchildren. Facebook can recognise you even if it can’t see your face, but even music festival organisershave decided that facial recognition technology is a good bet. Despitelongstanding concerns about privacy, biometrics clearly have their uses, and a growing range of sectors have been implementing them – including the humanitarian industry.

Biometrics in the humanitarian context are ostensibly focused on preventing identity fraud, but the basic dynamic was captured in this 2006 report from the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, in Malaysia:

“Nang Piang, a refugee from Myanmar, placed his finger tentatively on the biometrics scanner... ‘I don't know what it is for, but I do what UNHCR wants me to do,’ he said... ‘This is an important step for UNHCR Malaysia as we strengthen the security of our registration system to prevent fraud,’ said Volker Türk, head of UNHCR in Malaysia, ‘Such a security measure will certainly enhance the credibility of UNHCR's registration system in the eyes of the Malaysian government...’”

This statement makes clear that biometric registration is driven by the interests of national governments, technology companies and aid agencies – in that order. 

UNHCR's biometric system was initially funded by the EU and the US (specifically recommending funding “for early UNHCR use of mobile fingerprint technology developed by [the Department of Homeland Security]”). A number of companies have since been involved, including PA Consulting, who previously helped the UK government develop its border control biometrics, and one of whose former employees now works for the UN, overseeing global deployment of the system.

Critics of the industry focus on two concerns. Security is one: in 2008, for example, PA Consulting lost 84,000 biometric UK prisoner records – not through an act of cyber-crime, but because they were left on an unencrypted USB stick in an unlocked drawer in an unsecured office. Privacy, the second issue, is sometimes even more critical from a humanitarian perspective, because the privacy of vulnerable communities and individuals – many of whom may already be fleeing conflict or persecution – may be critical for their protection.

UNHCR has argued that biometric registration improves protection for refugees, but the question is clearly not settled. A recent study by Katja Lindskov Jacobsen pointed out that – while biometric registration may help to mitigate some vulnerabilities – the creation of the “digital refugee” may also create new vulnerabilities. These arrive precisely because this data can be shared between different actors for more than one purpose; to address problems faced by refugees, yes, but in a different context to frame refugees as the problem.

Government assurances of privacy are no guarantee. The European Commission promised that its EURODAC database of asylum applications would be protected, right up until 2012 when it agreed to allow Europol and other law enforcement agencies access to it. UNHCR expressed concerns about this, but the Commission went ahead anyway. UNHCR plunged on towards a global and centralised Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) while only adopting adata protection policy in May 2015 – a policy that explicitly states that UNHCR “may transfer personal data [of refugees] to third parties.” That policy has safeguards built in, but the security of your data is only as secure as the weakest link in your chain – and, as noted above, that link might simply be somebody who forgets their USB stick.

This fits with a wider and more worrying pattern in the field of biometrics: it'smarginalised groups who are used as guinea pigs for new biometric applications, always with claims that it's for their own benefit. Privacy International has identified that in countries where democratic processes – such as parliamentary oversight and the rule of law – function more effectively, biometric schemes have been repeatedly challenged and rolled back by informed citizens. The real issue here is accountability – or lack thereof – precisely because humanitarian biometrics are being implemented in countries where those factors are weak to non-existent.

For example: one of the earliest uses of humanitarian biometrics dates back to 2003, helping UNHCR to establish that only 0.5% of Afghan returnees from Pakistan were trying to game the Afghanistan refugee return programme. Current President Ashraf Ghani promoted biometrics as the foundation for his country's social policy in his 2006 book “Fixing Failed States”, and the Afghan authorities have made it their goal “to fingerprint, photograph and scan the irises of every living Afghan.” This has made Afghanistan the most biometrically identifiable country in the world – although UNHCR and the Afghan government have both invested heavily in biometric databases, the US military has been the real driving force.

The use of biometrics clearly has benefits. The Centre for Global Development has given cautious and context-specific support to the broader principle of incorporating biometrics to bridge what they refer to as the identity gap – on the basis that the vulnerable and marginalised are usually required to submit to biometric registration to enable them to access government services. TheColumbia Human Rights Law Review comes down on the side of the legality and efficiency of biometric ID cards for refugees, if privacy concerns are fully addressed.

Photo: J. Ose/UNHCR Ethiopia

A member of a Somali family is fingerprinted by UNHCR staff

Yet it seems obvious that the individuals being registered are unlikely to be fully aware of the implications: a UNHCR article quotes Congolese refugee Olivier Mzaliwa saying: “I can be someone now. I am registered globally with the UN and you’ll always know who I am.” Even assuming that Olivier has been well-informed about the possible downsides of his registration (which seems doubtful, since it's not clear that UNHCR field staff themselves will be aware of these issues), he no longer has any control over this data about himself – and it is doubtful he has any means to regain that control, or even to find out how the data is being used. There is still a massive accountability gap.

Depending on where you lie on the political spectrum, registration of your identity is either an invaluable tool in the fight against poverty or an additional chapter in Seeing Like A State – although it’s probably both. Either way, the use of biometrics is only going to increase, particularly as we move towards mainstreaming cash distribution, where registration and verification are critical to ensure effective targeting and monitoring. Given this trend, we have an obligation to avoid using the bodies of the poor as experimental subjects, subject to an implicit assumption that they are all criminals – if not now, then at some unspecified point in the future.

We’ve seen in this article how biometric systems design has privileged the point of view of humanitarian organisations or national governments. Is it possible to develop a new design approach for managing identity, one that isn't a second-hand solution from companies looking to expand their market?

World Vision has explored one alternative in developing its Last Mile Mobile Solutions, making its concerns about biometrics clear. Building on this and other efforts, and incorporating the principles of participatory design, our starting point should be designing from the point of view of refugees, rather than our own organisations. Unfortunately the humanitarian community consistently fails to engage with that perspective, but this debate is more critical than ever, and not just for biometrics. The debate around design imperialism has died down, but it hasn’t disappeared, and digital design is becoming increasingly important.

So next time you’re swearing at the biometric passport scanner at the airport, remember that although your passport gives you the freedom to travel, that freedom is subject to surveillance and control. You might have more in common with refugees like Olivier Mzaliwa than you think; but unlike Olivier, at least you can choose your queue at the airport.

Sources : http://www.irinnews.org

Don't deport Rohingya refugees to face certain persecution & suffering - LFL tells M'sia

Following the reported violence in Kuala Lumpur between Myanmar nationals, the Malaysian government has sternly warned them that they could face deportation back to Myanmar in the wake of the violence.

Lawyers for Liberty urge the Malaysian government not to proceed with the deportation especially those from the Rohingya community as they are refugees fleeing persecution in Myanmar.

The deportation of the Rohingya will be inhumane and cruel as they have been systematically persecuted in their homeland and remain one of the most vulnerable communities in the world.

They are stripped of their citizenship thus making them legally stateless and subjected to all kinds of serious discriminatory practices including on movement, marriage, birth, education, health care, employment, civil documentation and subjected to arbitrary detention, violence and forced labour.

Since June last year, there had been a serious series of coordinated attacks against the Rohingya and other Muslim communities in Myanmar causing untold number of deaths, injuries and destruction to their homes.

We call on the Malaysian government to deal with the violence as a law and order issue and in accordance to our obligations under international law.

By deporting the Rohingyas, the Malaysian government is as good as signing their death warrant or at the very least complicit with the Myanmar authorities in continuing their persecution and suffering.

Rohinya love Malaysia,and  Malaysia loves  Rohinya, why not giving some more citizenships of Malaysia!

Eric Paulsen

Co Founder and Adviser

Lawyers for Liberty

Australia rescues 123 refugees from capsized vessel

At least 123 people were rescued on Wednesday after a boat carrying asylum seekers capsized some 100 nautical miles north of Australia's Christmas Island. Up to 90 people died last week when another vessel went down in the same area.

By News Wires (text)

 

AFP - Rescuers plucked 123 people from the ocean Wednesday after an asylum-seeker boat sank en route to Australia, barely a week after another vessel went down in the same area, killing up to 90.
The rickety ship capsized 107 nautical miles north of Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean and then sank, an Australian Maritime Safety Authority spokeswoman said.
Prime Minister Julia Gillard said between 123 and 133 people were on board, revised down from earlier estimates of 150.
"As we speak my best advice is that 123 people have been rescued," she told parliament as the pressure was turned up on Australian politicians to break their deadlock on how to deal with the arrival of asylum-seekers.
The incident comes just days after another boat with around 200 people on board went down in the Indian Ocean as it made its way to Australia.
Rescuers managed to save 110 people and 17 bodies were recovered from Thursday's capsize, but no other survivors have been found.
Three merchant vessels, including the MV Bison Express, a Philippines-flagged livestock carrier, were on the scene of Wednesday's disaster, which happened in Indonesian waters.
AMSA said two Australian navy ships and a spotter aircraft capable of dropping liferaft were also helping with the rescue effort in conditions described as "fair, not ideal".
In a statement, Australian Customs and Border Protection said police received a satellite phone call early Wednesday from the vessel.
AMSA "initiated an immediate response to the report and continues to coordinate the search and rescue effort".
Details were passed to the Indonesian search and rescue authority Basarnas, which said it received a report that the generator was broken and the boat was taking on water.
A photo from the MV Bison posted on the AMSA website showed a small, basic-looking boat crowded with people on its decks, apparently taken before it capsized.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation said most of the passengers were believed to be Afghans and there were women and children on board, though this could not be confirmed.
The accident is the latest in a series of refugee boat disasters in recent years, as unseaworthy, overloaded vessels packed with desperate migrants struggle to reach Australia.
Most boats originate in Indonesia, but there has been a recent spike in attempts from Sri Lanka.
Though they come in relatively small numbers by global standards, asylum-seekers are a sensitive political issue in Australia, dominating 2010 elections due to a record 6,555 arrivals.
Both sides of Australian politics support offshore processing of asylum-seekers but differ on where it should be conducted.
Canberra clinched a deal last year to send 800 boatpeople to Malaysia in exchange for 4,000 of that country's registered refugees in a bid to deter people-smugglers from the dangerous maritime voyage to Australia.
But Gillard's fragile coalition government was unable to pass the required legislation through parliament without the support of the opposition, amid concerns Malaysia was not a signatory to UN refugee conventions.
Opposition leader Tony Abbott, who supports processing on the Pacific island of Nauru and turning boats back when possible, again ruled out the Malaysian solution Wednesday.
In response, Gillard pushed for a private members bill by independent MP Rob Oakeshott which would allow an immigration minister to designate any nation as an "offshore assessment country" if it was party to the Bali Process.
The Bali Process is a regional cooperative framework for dealing with asylum-seekers involving more than 40 countries.
Gillard offered, as a gesture of compromise, to re-open a detention centre on Nauru while pressing ahead with her Malaysia deal if the opposition agreed to vote for the Oakeshott bill.

Source : http://www.france24.com

Record 800,000 refugees crossed borders seeking asylum in 2011

Nicholas Keung Immigration Reporter

 

More than 4.3 million people joined the world’s growing refugee population last year, setting a new record for cross-border displacement since 2000, says a UN report.

Among the newly displaced were 800,000 refugees who were forced to flee their own countries and cross borders for safety and security, said the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ 2011 Global Trends report, to be released Monday.

The exodus of people — triple the number of 224,000 tallied the year before — began in late 2010 in the Ivory Coast, followed by other humanitarian crises in Libya, Somalia, Sudan and other places.

“2011 saw suffering on an epic scale,” Antonio Guterres, head of the UNHCR, said in a prepared statement. “For so many lives to have been thrown into turmoil over so short a space of time means enormous personal cost for all who were affected. . . These are testing times.”

In 2011, there were 15.42 million refugees, 26.4 million internally displaced people and 895,000 others in the process of seeking asylum worldwide, the 47-page report said. About 12 million people were estimated to be stateless, meaning they are not considered nationals of any country.

It has been the fifth consecutive year when the world’s displaced population exceeded 42 million.

One of the most worrying trends, the report said, is that a person who becomes a refugee is likely to remain one for many years, stuck in a camp or living a marginal life in exile.

Of the 10.4 million refugees under UNHCR mandate, almost three-quarters or 7.1 million have been awaiting a settlement for at least five years, with no foreseeable solution.

Afghanistan remains the leading country producing the most refugees in the world with 2.7 million displaced nationals, followed by Iraq (1.4 million), Somalia (1.1 million) and Democratic Republic of the Congo (491,000).

About 80 per cent of the world’s refugees were hosted in developing countries. The 48 least developed countries in the world were home to 2.3 million refugees.

Large refugee populations were seen in Pakistan (1.7 million people), Iran (886,500), Kenya (566,500) and Chad (366,500).

Among industrialized countries, Germany ranks first with 571,700 refugees, compared to 264,800 in the United States and 164,883 in Canada.

Some 17,700 asylum applications lodged globally were from unaccompanied children, mostly Afghan and Somali, up from 15,600 in 2010.

In 2011, 532,000 refugees returned home voluntarily, more than double the 197,600 from the year before. 

New asylum claims lodged in 2011 in top 10 UNHCR offices

Turkey: 16,000

Malaysia: 15,700

Yemen: 5,400

Egypt: 5,200

Jordan: 4,600

Tunisia: 4,500

Indonesia: 4,100

India: 4,000

Cameroon: 2,900

Syrian Arab Republic: 2,700

UNHCR 2011 Global Trends report

Source : http://www.thestar.com

Refugees deserve right to choose when to return home

When I met Myanmar migrant workers and refugees during my recent visit to Thailand, many cried out: 'Don't forget us!"' said Aung San Suu Kyi as the world watched her deliver her acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize she was awarded 21 years ago.

Myanmarrefugees eagerly await the arrival of Aung San Suu Kyi atMaeLa refugeecampnearthe Thai-Myanmarborder in Tak’sThasongyang district earlier this month. Democratic reforms inside Myanmarhave sparked discussions of the return of refugees,someof whomhave been living incampsinside Thailand for decades.

"They meant: 'don't forget our plight, don't forget to do what you can to help us, don't forget we also belong to your world,"' she explained.

The timing could not have been better _ today is World Refugee Day.

Today, let us not forget them. Instead, let us remember why people left Myanmar. Let us listen to their voices as rhetoric about positive changes in Myanmar threatens to drown them out.

A refugee is anyone who has fled his or her country because of conflict and oppression to look for a refuge. The United Nations' definition aside, refugees are not just those registered in camps.

Refugees from Myanmar are all those who had to abandon their homeland to flee civil war, human rights abuses, oppression, forced displacement and discrimination.

They now live in camps on the border and in temporary hiding spots in the jungle, displaced from their homes.

Myanmar is changing and change has brought with it talk of refugees returning. However, one should pause for a moment and seriously consider whether the reasons these people fled their country have disappeared? Can they finally find a safe refuge in their homeland?

Ceasefires have been signed with some ethnic minorities, but most of the agreements are still at an early stage of negotiations and have not been implemented on the ground yet. And Myanmar's history shows that ceasefires can be broken and reforms can be reversed.

Even in those states where fighting has stopped, the areas which refugees would return to remain dangerously marked by landmines, as the Karen Human Rights Group documents in their recent report, "Uncertain Grounds".

Human rights abuses continue and are being exacerbated as the country opens up to investment.

Large-scale mining, logging and other development projects are resulting in greater militarisation, widespread land confiscation, environmental degradation, further displacement of population and the dwindling of cultivable land.

The Karen Human Rights Group has also reported the ongoing use of forced labour by security forces.

Until development in Myanmar can take place without displacing locals and causing other human rights abuses, those who are displaced will continue to seek security and stability in neighbouring countries like Thailand.

These ongoing human rights abuses have a serious impact on a community's ability to pursue livelihoods and harms the chances of a safe return for refugees.

Taking these factors into consideration, one wonders why the repatriation of refugees back to Myanmar has suddenly become such a pressing issue.

Myanmar's government has called for refugees and exiles to return. For the government, their return would be evidence that Myanmar has changed and will help boost its image both in the region and the world.

Returning refugees would also be an important source of cheap labour in resource-rich areas the government expects to turn into special economic zones, with one such zone planned in conflict-ridden Karen state.

The EU's decision to scale down funding for NGOs working at the border could also be indirectly contributing to a push for early repatriation.

It is imperative these actors recognise that premature repatriation will strain the fragile ceasefires in Myanmar.

Successful repatriation must be voluntary, with the full understanding and consent of refugees.

If I ask any refugee "Do you want to go home?", most will answer "Yes". After all, none of them chose to be a refugee.

However, if I ask "When would you like to go home?" the answer will be more nuanced.

Consultations to determine refugees' wishes can be easily manipulated. It is therefore crucial that they are undertaken in a genuine manner, allowing refugees to freely express themselves.

Before they go home, trust must be actively rebuilt. Military camps must be withdrawn from villages if people are to go back without fear. Landmines must be removed. Human rights violations must stop.

Education and health services must be made accessible and certificates attained in camps related to education, health, and various livelihoods must be recognised by the government.

Oppressive laws must be repealed, land rights must be guaranteed, citizen identity cards must be granted and official discrimination must stop.

Housing issues must be solved, otherwise repatriation will be transformed into forced relocation.

Hasty repatriation might serve donors' and the Myanmar government's short-term interests, but it will lay the ground for further, deeper instability that would make refugees even more vulnerable.

Myanmar's government hasn't turned rhetoric into concrete actions to prepare for the return of refugees. On World Refugee Day, let us not forget that refugees have a voice. They had no choice in leaving Myanmar, but they deserve the freedom to choose how and when to go home.

Khin Ohmar is the Coordinator of Burma Partnership, a regional civil society network promoting democracy and human rights.

Source : http://www.bangkokpost.com