Since the destruction of the informal settlement of refugees and transitional migrants in Calais – now known as the “Jungle”, in October 2016, the French government promised to find housing for all three to four-thousand people forced to leave the area. They have opened about 500 welcome centres to redistribute the fleeing population across the country, away from Calais, neighbouring Hauts-de-France and saturated Paris. Meanwhile, the Mayor of Paris has opened two buildings to host a capacity of 500 refugees waiting to be registered for asylum. But they are already full and refugees are still arriving, notably via the Italian border. Those working with refugees on the ground say the system has the capacity to absorb people in need, but only with political will and a proper infrastructure.
Following the closure of the Calais infamous “Jungle”, in October 2016, one thing that Parisians have not been able to ignore is the increasing number of refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and Afghanistan living on the streets. They’re mainly young men who have survived a very long journey to find almost no help. They congregate in areas that have regularly been the nerve points of the crisis in Paris: Boulevard de Stalingrad, Halle Pajol, Boulevard de la Chapelle, and along the North and East stations. Authorities estimate more than 50 foreign migrants arrive in Paris each day, and that more than 400 are living on the streets of the French capital. Most of them would qualify for asylum, as they have been fleeing war and devastation.
Pushing all refugees out of Calais has inevitably drawn some of them back to Paris, young men hoping to travel on to England, despite British efforts to keep them out and last year’s referendum on the U.K.’s withdrawal from the European Union.
France already has the infrastructure to house refugees
For Bruno Morel, executive director at Emmaüs Solidarité, a non-profit organisation charged with coordinating the settlement of migrants in the capital, “Paris and France in general have the capacity to host and settle every incoming refugee. And a lot has been done so far, but we should not weaken our efforts”.
Since June 2015, the police in Paris have organised 30 evacuations of informal settlements around Place Stalingrad, in the 18th arrondissement. But thanks mainly to non-profit organisation, 23,000 offers for temporary accommodation have been found and opened for the homeless refugees in France since the beginning of the crisis in 2015.
On May 31, 2016, Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo officially opened a temporary hosting structure and a humanitarian “camp”, with healthcare facilities, a kitchen and an information centre. It is meant as a first port of call, before a migrant is settled into more suitable housing. Set on Boulevard Ney, on the northern edge of the city, it has 400 beds and has hosted 6,800 people, in shifts, since November 2016. A women-only centre was opened soon after in Ivry, on Paris’ south side. Non-governmental organisations are looking after the refugees’ most basic needs, with Emmaüs Solidarité coordinating the site, helped by Médecins du Monde, Logique Habitat, and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), among others.
“We think everyone can be hosted in a proper camp”, adds Bruno Morel, “but we must stay organised and open new centres outside Paris and Calais, where the situation is getting saturated. We need fluidity. The government needs to open other centres in Strasbourg, Lyon or Marseille, and regularly check where there are free spaces”.
From the camp to the streets
But the situation remains harsh for refugees in Paris. A recent report by the Refugee Rights Data Project shows that hundreds of them are still sleeping on the streets in freezing conditions, and are regularly having their blankets and sleeping bags taken by police or are “violently” moved on. Natalie Stanton, deputy director of the Project, describes “alarming” scenes in the La Chapelle area, where authorities launch repetitive clearance operations. MSF published similar reports during the winter.
Meanwhile, in Calais, refugees are again settling near the entrance of the Eurotunnel, aiming to travel to the UK. But the local authorities are refusing to open any more hosting centres. Mayor of Calais Natacha Bouchart, of centre-right party Les Républicains, has even forbidden the handing out of meals and snacks.
Her mayoral decree states the “regular, persistent and large presence of individuals distributing meals to migrants” in the area around the site of the former camp poses a threat to peace and security. It bans any “repeated, prolonged gatherings” in the area, making food distribution an offence. Most refugee charities have decided to ignore the ban and are taking legal advice.
Tensions are rising, especially as refugees continue to arrive at the Italian border, via Libya. Locals living between Ventimiglia in Italy, and Nice on the French Riviera, an area with a centuries-old tradition of migration, have often been welcoming. Not so the judicial system.
Unwelcome hospitality
In February, French farmer Cédric Herrou was handed a 3,000 Euro suspended fine for transporting three Eritreans across the French-Italian border. He has also housed dozens of migrants in caravans on his farm in the Roya valley, in south-east France.
“Forced eviction back to Italy is purely illegal,” Herrou tells me during a sit-in to protest abusive police control in Sospel, near Ventimiglia. “The police are controlling every car on our road and every black person found on the streets or trains. We cannot let them keep doing this”.
Herrou’s verdict comes less than three months before the first round of France's presidential elections, and many parties are using the issue of immigration to galvanise voters. But volunteers across France in support of the refugees are still out in force.
On 6 March, in a speech on the future of the European Union and the coming elections, French President François Hollande said the EU had to speed up its decision-making process, especially when it comes to the refugee crisis. But the interior minister, Bruno Leroux, already admitted a week before that it would be “difficult” to find shelter for all migrants. However, without a deal with the United Kingdom, French authorities will have no other choice that to act and open more accommodation for the homeless refugees, in transit or not.
-
In pictures:
Grande Synthe, Pas de Calais, informal camp, February 2016
(picture by Melissa Chemam)
Breil-sur-Roya, French-Italian border, with activists helping migrants arriving in France via Italy, February 2017 (pictures by Melissa Chemam)
-
Last year, I travelled to Iraqi Kurdistan to follow doctors helping displaced people in the regions of Mosul, Erbil and Dohuk. Here is the article:
19.May, 2016
IRAQ: WAHA’S ACTION IN KURDISTAN AND NINEVEH
In Iraq, WAHA International is committed to helping displaced people, chased away from their home by the 2014 violence linked to the rise of the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria. In different locations, WAHA has helped to reopen hospitals, to secure maternal and reproductive care, and to send high-quality medical personnel in IDP camps.
Dr Juman is a busy woman. Only a few years ago, this elegant gynaecologist was living with her husband in Arizona, in the U.S., but she decided to come back to her home country. The urge to feel helpful and to contribute to the needs of her fellow citizens, plagued again by the attacks from the Islamic State, was stronger than her crave for freedom and peace. For a while at least.
Born in Zakho, in the extreme north of the country, in Kurdistan, Juman is the oldest of a Chaldaean family of seven children. From 1915, Christian families like hers were pushed away from an area to another by the different political rulers that followed the end of the Ottoman Empire. Hers temporarily found peace in Zakho.
Though her parents were teachers and most of her siblings followed their path, Juman studied medicine at the University of Mosul, started working as a gynaecologist in 1997 and got married in Iraq. Since 2000, she has been practicing her specialty in remote villages, trying to help women with no access to hospitals. For two years, she was the only doctor responsible for Obstetrics & Gynaecology (OBGY) in Amedia.
But with the war starting in 2003 and the consequences on the society, at some point in 2007 she had to leave the country. “I lived five years in Jordan, I was working with NGOs there to help refugees, receiving up to 50 patients a day, but my husband could not find work. Then we managed to get a visa for the United States where we arrived in 2012 ”, says Dr Juman. “But I came back to Iraq to do my job, to help my people here. In the U.S., I could work as a general practitioner but they have so many there. I wanted to serve my country ”.
After Fear, A New Beginning
Dr Juman met the WAHA International’s team in February this year. WAHA was starting a new programme in northern Iraq to help displaced families and children still in need of better healthcare facilities. WAHA opened its mission in the country after a first exploratory mission. The current situation is still pushing people to flee their home, mainly because of on going fighting between the government forces and the Islamic State (ISIS or Daesh).
WAHA’s activities in Iraq are based in Kurdistan. A team of two doctors is based in Erbil and has recently been completed by a logistical administrator and by a local field coordinator based in Duhok. The staff is working in the main clinic in the IDP camp of Qadiya to help displaced people, mainly from minorities and oppressed communities, including Yazidis.
The camp in Qadiya, which hosts more than 15.000 IDPs in 3.000 residential units, is run by the RWANGA organisation. A Primary Healthcare Unit has been open by the German NGO Malteser, with the help of the German Aid Agency (GiZ). WAHA has a reproductive healthcare unit, including a maternity in their compound. The team of doctors led by Dr Juman is bringing support to local health authorities in the form of healthcare material and personnel.
WAHA also contributed to the reopening of the Snuny Hospital, one of the main health centres in the region, with the help of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP) and with the help of ta local charity. They later opened a fixed clinic in the Sinjar Mountains region, in Sardehsti. Most of the displaced people in this region are also Yazidis.
Dr Juman visits the patients and the younger doctors in Qadiya, Snuny and Sardehsti almost daily. In Qadiya, she is helped by another gynaecologist, Dr Drakhshan, and by a radiologist, Dr Mosaab. The medical team gives between 40 to 50 consultations per day, mainly to pregnant Yazidi women. In Snuny, Dr Reem is in charge of obstetrical care, gynaecology and deliveries four days a week. Another team is in charge from Friday to Sunday, with Dr Suzan from Dohuk and Dr Najah from Syria.
In Sardehsti, they are working with Dr Heshkal, from Zakho. The situation in the Sinjar Mountains is the most difficult one. Here, displaced people are forgotten by the state. There are very few infrastructures, and the locations are abandoned by the authorities. Sinjar City has been completely destroyed by ISIS fighters. Even teachers in the camps don’t receive any salary. “There are almost no international organisation here ”, says a member of the a local charity, “it’s a precious help that WAHA brought by opening the small clinic ”.
People in the region know that more fighting is to come as the international coalition promised to liberate Mosul from ISIS fighters before the end of the year. But in the meantime, displaced people and impoverished families only ask for daily survival.
-
Kenya's Refugee Camps
In 2011, I wrote this article for Think Africa Press, on the Dadaab refugee camp in Northern Kenya, one of the biggest settlement for displaced people in the world...
Their situation hasn't changed much. ---
Kenya's Refugee Camps
The overpopulation of Kenyan refugee camps threatens relations between Kenya and Somalia.
Article | 20 June 2011 - 1:32pm | By Melissa Chemam Dadaab and Nairobi, Kenya With around 300,000 refugees using facilities intended for 90,000 people 10,000 people have been appearing at its gates each month since January, fleeing the misery of war-torn Somalia. Daghahaley, Ifo and Hagadera have been progressively growing in the city of Dadaab since 1991 , and the outbreak of war in Somalia. Situated at the border between the two countries, the city has become the only safe haven for thousands of Somalis. While a small number of refugees are from Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Sudan, most of the refugees arriving in Dadaab come from neighbouring conflict-torn Somalia. Refugees who have recently arrived therefore often have to live in tents in the outskirts of the camps. And while the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR ) and NGOs like Medecins Sans Frontiere (MSF ) and Oxfam have pushed for the addition of a fourth camp, Ifo II, the Kenyan government has been refusing since last November. Muslima Hassan has four children. She fled Mogadishu to escape the war and drought. But here in Dadaab she didn’t even find a proper shelter. “I fled with my husband and my baby because of the war”, she said, holding the crying infant in her arms. “And my children joined us later on in January. But when we arrived we were disappointed by the terrible living conditions. We don’t have enough water, enough food. Nobody can help us here”. Thousands of other women are in the same situation For the programmes’ director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Richard Floyer Acland, it’s clear the overcrowding in the camps has become unbearable . “One of the problems is congestion. We’re looking at how we can decongest the camps. We’re asking the Kenyan government for more sites”, Acland explained during a visit to the camps. “I think we’re getting to the stage where the number of refugees in this part of Kenya has really reached a level which is going to be difficult to sustain”, he added. To ease the pressure, the UNHCR negotiated with the local communities, elected leaders and the provincial administration to open the fourth camp. The UNHCR acquired more land in December 2009 and the construction of Ifo II camp began early 2010. It was designed to host 80,000 refugees and was supposed to open in November 2010. It now has clinics, schools, water access and sanitation facilities. But the new camp remains empty . According to the Kenya Department of Refugee Affairs (DRA ), the Kenyan government did not give its official approval, due to the concerns of local communities about the construction. The Kenya Department of Refugee Affairs commissioner Omar Dhadho has maintained since February that a compromise will be found. And Haron Komen, Dadaab refugee camps’ director for the DRA explained to me during my visit: “structures, houses, there are concerns in the host communities of Dadaab about the respect for their environment. The government has to discuss and consult the local leaders before making any decision”. Yet still no decision has been made regarding Ifo II. The spokesperson for MSF, Maimouna Jallow, wonders: “Why is Ifo II closed when it was meant to open last year and has a capacity to host 80,000 refugees? If they say stalled negotiations, who are they between and why? Is there a solution in sight? Is the Kenyan government simply fed up of receiving refugees?”
The whole problem of congestion and the Kenyan government’s inaction demonstrates, on the one hand, that Kenya is no longer ready to take responsibility for those who manage to cross the border, which has been happening for 20 years now. On the other hand, we should not forget that the Somali government, despite its protests, has again proved it cannot bring any stability to the country. Kenya is one of the more stable and developed nations in the East and Horn of Africa and has to bear the burden of Somalia's recent misery. The crisis is problematic as it is changing relations between the least stable and most stable countries in East Africa. Nowadays, most NGOs and UN agencies helping Somalia are based in Nairobi and some Kenyans often complain that a lot of the aid attention based in Kenya does not concern Kenya at all. While Somalia and Kenya both currently suffer from a drought crisis, for instance, the international aid agencies like the World Food Programme (WFP) and Oxfam are much more worried about Somalia's situation. A large part of the Somali people who left their country for Kenya in 2011 were running away from the drought, not the war. “I met Somali women and children who have fled conflict and arrived traumatised and suffering from malnutrition,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran, in April, trying to raise concern. “After more than 20 years of war, Somali refugees have become a true global population. The majority are here in Kenya and in Djibouti, Yemen and Ethiopia but Somalis have sought refuge in countries on all five continents”, added the UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres. “As the war continues unabated, I appeal to all countries in the world to keep their borders open and to allow them to live in dignity”. Around 300,000 Somali refugees live in Dadaab. But thousands of Somalis also live in Nairobi, and thousands of Kenyans have Somali origins. Nowadays these Somali Kenyans, living also in the Dadaab region, are increasingly responsible for the Kenyan government’s decision not to let the new Ifo II camp open. Unfortunately, if the Kenyan and Somali governments don’t manage to improve their relations, hundreds of thousands of people will continue to be put at further risk every day.
-
There would be so much more to say... To write... But I hope these little contributions will help some to understand we are facing one of the most important crisis of the past 80 years, and that solidarity should prevail.
No comments:
Post a Comment