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(Washington, D.C.) Oct. 1, 2010 – After nearly 12 months of planning and work, Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is happy to announce the launch of our new website. In November 2009, JRS communications leaders from the International office, the U.S. office and the Eastern Africa office began collaborating with Omaha-based Adventure Studios to design and build the website.
This new website is designed to present information in a clear way with easy navigation, while highlighting the accompaniment, service and advocacy JRS undertakes worldwide with and on behalf of refugees and forcibly displaced people.
The United Nations again appealed to governments worldwide not to forcibly return refugees to Somalia, where tens of thousands of people have been killed and some two million displaced by years of fighting, as the situation deteriorates even further in the Horn of Africa country.
“We are appealing to all States to uphold their international obligations with regard to non-refoulement,” UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Melissa Fleming told a news briefing in Geneva, citing the principle in international law on protecting people from being returned to places where their lives or freedoms could be in danger. Read the rest of this entry »
(Quito, Ecuador) April 22, 2010 – The World Social Forum on Migration is an event that takes part as component of the World Social Forum, and constitutes a space of democratic debate of ideas, reflection, proposal formulation, experience exchange and social movement articulation. The Forum becomes the meeting point for NGOs, networks and other civil society organizations that oppose the neoliberal scheme and back the recognition of civil, political, economical, social and cultural rights of migrants, IDPs, refugees and stateless people.
WSFM
Colombia has one of the highest internally displaced populations in the world. In 2009 alone, 280,000 civilians were newly displaced in addition to over 4 million already displaced. Victims of forced displacement leave their homes and families to escape violence, intimidation, and rape from both legal and illegal armed groups. Vulnerable groups such as Afro-Colombians, indigenous communities and women face the greatest consequences of the armed conflict.
In 2004, the Colombian Constitutional Court declared a State of Unconstitutional Affairs and ordered the Colombian government to address the needs and rights of the displaced population. Despite the Constitutional Court’s demands, Colombia’s displacement crisis continues and the Colombian government has yet to implement these orders. The resolution led by Representative Hank Johnson (GA) and 22 other co-sponsors calls on the Government of Colombia to fully implement the Constitutional Court’s orders.
Ms. Sascha Thompson, Rep. Johnson’s aide, stated at a recent WOLA event that “many internally displaced Colombian leaders, who have been brave enough to organize their communities to speak out about their rights and to demand the Colombian authorities to meet its obligations to protect them and restore their lands, have become constant targets of threats against their lives, harassment, additional human rights violations, and extra violence.” These leaders and their families need your help.
Many indigenous groups in Colombia are on the verge of extinction. Afro-Colombians’ livelihoods are threatened by the armed conflict and invasive government policies. The precarious condition of women is exacerbated by gender based violence. Vulnerable populations in Colombia are disproportionately affected by the consequences of the armed conflict and their human rights must be protected.
Send a message to your representative asking him/her to co-sponsor House Resolution 1224
Ecuador has started to register refugees from Colombia, a process that should allow many who have fled the conflict in Colombia to stay safely in Ecuador, BBC News reports.
Ecuador has the highest number of refugees in Latin America – a consequence of the ongoing conflict in Colombia between guerrillas, paramilitary squads and the state.
According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Colombia has one of the world’s largest internally displaced populations, estimated at more than three million.
Another 500,000 to 750,000 have fled to other countries, according to the Refugee Council USA, a U.S.-based coalition of NGOs. (Jesuit Refugee Service/USA is a member of RCUSA)
Ecuador is a preferred destination both for its geographical proximity to the troubled southern Colombian regions of Putumayo and Narino and for the relatively easy migration process.
Read the full story here.
WASHINGTON (Monday, March 15, 2010) – Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Monday introduced legislation to strengthen the country’s commitment to protecting refugees fleeing persecution or torture. The Refugee Protection Action of 2010 will help to improve protections for refugees and asylum seekers with bona fide claims. The legislation is cosponsored by Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.).
The introduction of the Refugee Protection Act also commemorates the 30th anniversary of the historic Refugee Act of 1980, which was enacted to fulfill the country’s obligations under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The Leahy-authored legislation introduced Monday addresses shortfalls in current law that place unnecessary and harmful barriers before refugees with legitimate asylum claims, making it more difficult for them to find safe harbor in the United States.
“It is time to renew America’s commitment to the Refugee Convention, and to bring our law back into compliance with the Convention’s promise of protection,” said Leahy.
The Latin American Herald Tribune reports that a jungle area on the border of Panama and Colombia has been the scene of fierce battles between law enforcement officers and guerrillas.
Panamanian border patrol officers killed three suspected Colombian guerrillas several weeks ago in the Darien jungle. The dense Darien jungle, which serves as the border between Panama and Colombia, has been used for years by illegal armed groups, drug traffickers, arms smugglers and people traffickers despite an increased presence of the security forces in the region.
Tragically, the Panamanian government continues a policy of confining thousands of Colombian refugees to this same dangerous stretch of the Darien jungle in what has been called camp without services. For more information, please read Jesuit Refugee Service/USA’s Spotlight on Colombian refugees in legal limbo in Panama.
Jesuit Refugee Service/USA’s National Director Fr. Ken Gavin was on Talk of the Nation (a nationally broadcast program on National Public Radio) yesterday to discuss his recent trip to Haiti. Listen to it here: How Can Outsiders Help Communities In Crisis?
Or you can download/listen to a podcast here:
Fr. Gavin on NPR: “… when we talk about our work in Jesuit Refugee Service, we say that what we do is accompany, serve and advocate or defend the rights of refugees or forcibly displaced people. And that term, accompaniment, as you say, Neal, is incredibly important, because I see it as the envelope out of which all our service and all our advocacy – however important they are – flow from that sense of accompaniment.
And what we mean by that, I think simply, is to be close to the people, to be in solidarity with them, to step into their shoes, to experience their hopes and losses. Our sense of accompaniment comes from that spark of the divine that we recognize in every human person. It comes from our believing that even in the greatest tragedies like Haiti, that our God stands present with people in their suffering.”
In the immediate aftermath of the massive earthquake of Jan. 12, thousands of Haitians slept on the streets. Their songs and chants caught the attention of Associated Press photographer Gerald Herbert.
Learn more about Jesuit Refugee Service/USA’s response to the earthquake here.
