Harsh refugee life rather than improved security spurs return of Iraqi refugees
- Details
- Written by Ashley Jonathan Clements, World Vision Ashley Jonathan Clements, World Vision
- Published: 15 December 2007 15 December 2007
- Hits: 4653 4653
Most returnees did so because they were running out of money or because their visas had expired, states the report, with less than 15 per cent found to be returning because they believed the security situation had improved.
According to the Iraqi government, up to 1,000 Iraqi refugees are returning to their homeland each day.
"So far there are no indications that the refugees in Jordan are planning to return to Iraq anytime soon," said Nidal Qsar, Jordan Office Manager. "World Vision is continuing to monitor the situation closely for signs of change" added Qsar.
The UNHCR in Jordan also confirms that there is no indication that things are changing in Jordan at the moment, but adds that any change could happen quickly.
The UN agency has stated that it is not encouraging refugees to return to Iraq at the present because the situation remains too insecure, and conditions are not conducive for a large scale return according to a BBC report at the weekend.
Recent visa restrictions in both Syria and Jordan have made it virtually impossible for new refugees to gain access to either country, and in Syria in particular, Iraqi refugees now find it hard to remain. By being denied work permits, Iraqis across the region are rapidly depleting their savings and are facing ever-worsening economic conditions.
A recent report by Human Rights Watch found that Iraqi refugees in Lebanon are subject to arrest and indefinite incarceration. Some are only able to secure their release by agreeing to return to Iraq.
World Vision is currently preparing for the second phase of the integrated advocacy and relief emergency response to the regional displacement crisis. During phase two, child-focused community support centers will be established in Jordan, in order to encourage peacebuilding initiatives, offer psychosocial support to children, and informal education.
Ashley Jonathan Clements is Regional Emergency Advocacy Adviser for World Vision.
NOW AVAILABLE: Naomi Klein - The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism
- Details
- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 15 December 2007 15 December 2007
- Hits: 4819 4819
Award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author, Naomi Klein,
talks about her latest book, The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster
Capitalism, and takes questions from the audience.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4231109320246838401&hl=en
This program, along with related weblinks to Naomi Klein's books and to the
short film, THE SHOCK DOCTRINE, is also available at the pdxjustice Media
Productions website at www.pdxjustice.org
About Naomi Klein:
Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist, syndicated columnist and author
of the New York Times and international bestseller, The Shock Doctrine: The
Rise of Disaster Capitalism. Published worldwide in September 2007, The
Shock Doctrine is set to be translated into 17 languages to date. The six
minute companion film, created by Alfonso Cuaron, director of Children of
Men, was an Official Selection of the 2007 Venice and Toronto International
Film Festivals and was a viral phenomenon, downloaded over a million times.
Her previous book No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies was also an
international bestseller, translated into over 28 languages with more than a
million copies in print. A collection of her work, Fences and Windows:
Dispatches from the Front Lines of the Globalization Debate was published in
2002.
Naomi Klein writes a regular column for The Nation and The Guardian that is
syndicated internationally by The New York Times Syndicate. In 2004, her
reporting from Iraq for Harper’s Magazine won the James Aronson Award for
Social Justice Journalism. In 2004, she released The Take, a feature
documentary about Argentina’s occupied factories, co-produced with director
Avi Lewis. The film was an official selection of the Venice Biennale and won
the Best Documentary Jury Prize at the American Film Institute’s Film
Festival in Los Angeles.
She is a former Miliband Fellow at the London School of Economics and holds
an honorary Doctor of Civil Laws from the University of King’s College, Nova
Scotia.
Dr. Sarraj, meeting with a group of Israeli peace activists
- Details
- Written by Dr. Sarraj and Gush Shalom Dr. Sarraj and Gush Shalom
- Published: 15 December 2007 15 December 2007
- Hits: 4982 4982
Dr. Sarraj, well-known psychiatrist and human rights activist, lives in the Strip. He has come to Tel-Aviv to discuss with Israeli peace activists protest and people-to-people actions. This is what he reported:
Read more: Dr. Sarraj, meeting with a group of Israeli peace activists
World Bank urges Israel to ease Palestinian blockade
- Details
- Written by Ian Black, Middle East editor, The Guardian Ian Black, Middle East editor, The Guardian
- Published: 14 December 2007 14 December 2007
- Hits: 5123 5123
· Restrictions threaten efforts to boost economy
· Blair confident $5.6bn donor target will be met
Israel must ease crippling restrictions on the Palestinians if international efforts led by Tony Blair to boost the Palestinian economy are to be successful, the World Bank and Oxfam said yesterday.
Read more: World Bank urges Israel to ease Palestinian blockade
Hollywood Theater in Portland: Man From Plains
- Details
- Written by Peter Miller Peter Miller
- Published: 14 December 2007 14 December 2007
- Hits: 5185 5185
Man From Plains
Last year, former president Jimmy Carter published a book on the future
of the Middle East mess, provocatively titled Palestine: Peace Not
Apartheid. It made for quite a book tour. In Man from Plains, director
Jonathan Demme chronicles the tour, with its attendant protests, Al
Jazeera interviews, face-offs with seriously upset American rabbis,
dialogues with college students, and regular dips in hotel pools. It's
a backstage look at the modern mechanics of political persuasion and,
while extremely repetitive--
interview or local Barnes & Noble appearance has gone
unchronicled-
incite debate; he wanted to push beyond the agreed-upon (and often
stale) norms for American discourse on the Israeli-Palestinian problem.
The tension of the movie becomes whether he will accomplish anything
more than that--whether deliberately enraging a large number of made-up
minds will create an opening for a new discussion and lay the
foundation for changes of heart, or whether it will just sell a lot of
books and, in the end, change nothing.
SHOWTIMES-The Hollywood Theater, 41st Ave. at NE Sandy, Portland
Friday, Dec. 14: 7pm
Saturday, Dec. 15: 2:40 and 7pm
Sunday, Dec. 16: 2:40, 7, 9:20
Monday, Dec. 17: 7 and 9:20
Tuesday, Dec. 18: 7 and 9:20
Wednesday, Dec. 19: 7 and 9:20
Thursday, Dec. 20: 7 and 9:20
Friends of Sabeel--North America
www.fosna.org
Friends of Sabeel--North America | PO Box 9186 | Portland | OR | 97207