A Man or a Body fell from the Sky over a Suburb of London
This E-FIT image (Electronic Facial Identification Technique) provided by the Metropolitan Police on Dec. 7, 2012 show a computer-based face of a man whom British police are trying to identify after his body was found near London's Heathrow Airport in Septembe
LONDON - Police believe he was from Africa, probably from Angola, but they don't know his identity.
The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in the Mortlake neighbourhood of West London woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures.
Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however, police concluded the man — probably already dead — had fallen to the ground when a jet passing overhead lowered its landing gear as it neared the runway at nearby Heathrow Airport.
The apparent stowaway had no identification papers — just some currency from Angola, leading police to surmise that he was from that African nation, especially as inquiries showed that a plane from Angola was beginning its descent into Heathrow at about that time.
The macabre explanation made perfect sense to residents, who are familiar not only with the roar of the jets descending, but are also able to see the planes lower their landing gears as they pass overhead, said Catherine Lambert, who lives a few doors down from the spot where the man landed.
"You could see him, his body was contorted," she said. "It was a beautiful blue day, really sunny, but we had to keep the children inside. I didn't want the children to see, and to have to explain to them and put fear into them every time a plane goes over."
A post mortem conducted two days after the body landed listed the cause of death as "multiple injuries."
In the days afterward, some neighbours put flowers on the spot where the stowaway was found, and a small group of Angolans who live in the London area came to place more flowers and to pray. Lambert, 41, said there is lingering sadness, since the man has not been identified and there has been no way to tell his family he is gone.
"I felt, what was he running away from? What made him think he could he could? And how will his family ever know? He's a lost soul now; his father and mother are probably waiting for him to make contact," she said.
A London police spokesman, who wasn't authorized to speak on the record because of force policy, said Sunday that police are appealing to the public for help identifying the man based on a composite image of his face and a photo of a tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo showed the letters "Z'' and "G'' inked on his upper arm, with a horizontal line through the "Z''.
Police also said attempts to identify the man with the help of Angolan authorities had been unsuccessful. They stressed there is only "circumstantial" evidence linking the stowaway to that country.
In a statement, police said the man is believed to be an African of slight build between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing jeans, white sneakers and a grey sweatshirt when he was found on Sept. 9, police said.
Although firm figures are not available, in recent years there has been a rise in the number of stowaways trying to get to Western Europe by hiding in the undercarriages of passenger planes.
Aviation safety specialist Chris Yates of Yates Consulting said Sunday that poor airport perimeter security at a number of airports in Africa — including the main Angola airport at Luanda — and in other parts of the world has made it easier for people to stow away on planes, but that most attempts fail.
"They so often end in fatality because more often than not stowaways climb into the wheel base or cargo hold, and those areas are not necessarily pressurized," he said. "When you start moving beyond 10,000 feet, oxygen starvation becomes a reality. As you climb up to altitude, the issue becomes cold as well, the temperature drops to minus 40 or minus 50 degrees centigrade, so survival rates drop."
He said the man who crashed to the pavement in Mortlake had probably lost consciousness and died within the first hour of his flight.
Police said the body is being held for possible repatriation in case the man's identity is established.
Mortlake residents and business people speak of a similar death in recent years, but disagree about the timing and the details.
"People say the same thing happened a few years ago a few blocks away" said Jay Sivapalan, 29, who works at the Variety Box convenience store half a block from where the body landed. "We are near Heathrow and when they lower the landing gear, the body falls out."
Others believe the incident may have happened 10 years ago. Police said they had no information about other stowaway deaths.
Not the first time
If this is indeed what happened, London will have seen two unsuccessful plane stowaway attempts in just over two weeks. On Aug. 23, the dead body of a suspected stowaway was found in the landing-gear bay of a British Airways flight that had landed at Heathrow after a flight from Cape Town, South Africa. This man is believed to have frozen to death during the flight.
So even if the most recent suspected stowaway had managed to remain in the plane until it landed, it's not clear he would have arrived alive, but was there a chance? Might he have been living at the moment he fell from the plane?
The answer to both questions is yes. According to figures from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, the chances of survival of a wheel-well stowaway on a commercial aircraft are about 24 percent.
As of Sept. 12, 2012, the FAA had recorded 96 such attempts since 1947, 23 of which left stowaways alive (failed attempts that ended with stowaways falling into bodies of water would likely not have been recorded). All but 14 of those attempts have been made since 1996, and within that modern pool, chances lower to about 21 percent.
Those are the numbers. But on an individual level, what does a person willing to lift himself into the wheel well of a pre-taxi aircraft actually face?
Stowaway survival
Based on a 1996 FAA report called "Survival at High Altitude: Wheel-Well Passengers" as well as data from subsequent stowaway attempts reported by the international air safety organization the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF), there seem to be four main threats that a landing-gear bay stowaway must contend with before arriving at his destination: being crushed by the landing gear during takeoff, hypoxia (a condition resulting from prolonged oxygen deprivation), hypothermia, and falling from the plane as the landing-gear bay opens during descent.
Any one of these threats might be lethal on its own, but what is peculiar for a stowaway facing all four is how each of these dangers interacts with the others and, very rarely, provides a loophole in the inevitability of another. For example, if a stowaway manages to avoid being crushed by the retraction of the tires as a plane takes off (successful attempts have been recorded in Boeing 747's, a model that British Airways operates), the frictional heat generated by the tires on the runway will provide a significant source of warmth in the compartment as the plane ascends into the cold air at high altitudes.
This heat, as well as other potential ambient heat provided by warm hydraulic lines, will not be enough to fend off hypothermia at 30,000 to 40,000 feet (9,144 to 12,192 meters), where air temperatures range between negative 49 Fahrenheit (negative 45 Celsius) and negative 85 F (negative 65 C). But before a stowaway can experience these temperatures, he will have almost certainly become unconscious due to hypoxia.
As a plane ascends to high altitudes, the proportion of oxygen in the air remains the same as on the ground. But decreases in atmospheric pressure, as well as in the component of the pressure contributed by oxygen (called its partial pressure), reduce available oxygen and stifle the body's ability to absorb what's there. According to the 1996 FAA report, "At all cruising jet altitudes, the [partial pressure of oxygen] is below that required to support brain consciousness."
Still, in 1996, an Indian man survived a roughly 4,200-mile (6,750 km) flight from New Delhi to London, which reached a peak altitude of 35,000 feet (10,668 m), in the plane's wheel well. He was discovered in a disoriented state at Heathrow. What went right for him?
The answer may involve the pairing of deep hypoxia with deep hypothermia.
As a person's body cedes control of its temperature to the outside environment, its oxygen requirement greatly decreases. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, in these conditions, as the body "curls into the fetal position to conserve heat, the heart rate may be as low as two beats per minute and breathing rate as low as once per 30 seconds."
When a plane begins its descent, whether or not a stowaway has roused from this state, the landing-gear bay will open.
Human Rights Activist
A.David
647-772-1029
Canada
The mystery began in September when residents of a suburban street in the Mortlake neighbourhood of West London woke up on a quiet Sunday morning to find the crumpled body of a black man on the sidewalk of Portman Avenue, near a convenience store, an upscale lingerie shop and a storefront offering Chinese medical cures.
Detectives believed at first the man was a murder victim and cordoned off the area. Within a day, however, police concluded the man — probably already dead — had fallen to the ground when a jet passing overhead lowered its landing gear as it neared the runway at nearby Heathrow Airport.
The apparent stowaway had no identification papers — just some currency from Angola, leading police to surmise that he was from that African nation, especially as inquiries showed that a plane from Angola was beginning its descent into Heathrow at about that time.
The macabre explanation made perfect sense to residents, who are familiar not only with the roar of the jets descending, but are also able to see the planes lower their landing gears as they pass overhead, said Catherine Lambert, who lives a few doors down from the spot where the man landed.
"You could see him, his body was contorted," she said. "It was a beautiful blue day, really sunny, but we had to keep the children inside. I didn't want the children to see, and to have to explain to them and put fear into them every time a plane goes over."
A post mortem conducted two days after the body landed listed the cause of death as "multiple injuries."
In the days afterward, some neighbours put flowers on the spot where the stowaway was found, and a small group of Angolans who live in the London area came to place more flowers and to pray. Lambert, 41, said there is lingering sadness, since the man has not been identified and there has been no way to tell his family he is gone.
"I felt, what was he running away from? What made him think he could he could? And how will his family ever know? He's a lost soul now; his father and mother are probably waiting for him to make contact," she said.
A London police spokesman, who wasn't authorized to speak on the record because of force policy, said Sunday that police are appealing to the public for help identifying the man based on a composite image of his face and a photo of a tattoo on his left arm. The tattoo showed the letters "Z'' and "G'' inked on his upper arm, with a horizontal line through the "Z''.
Police also said attempts to identify the man with the help of Angolan authorities had been unsuccessful. They stressed there is only "circumstantial" evidence linking the stowaway to that country.
In a statement, police said the man is believed to be an African of slight build between the ages of 20 and 30. He was wearing jeans, white sneakers and a grey sweatshirt when he was found on Sept. 9, police said.
Although firm figures are not available, in recent years there has been a rise in the number of stowaways trying to get to Western Europe by hiding in the undercarriages of passenger planes.
Aviation safety specialist Chris Yates of Yates Consulting said Sunday that poor airport perimeter security at a number of airports in Africa — including the main Angola airport at Luanda — and in other parts of the world has made it easier for people to stow away on planes, but that most attempts fail.
"They so often end in fatality because more often than not stowaways climb into the wheel base or cargo hold, and those areas are not necessarily pressurized," he said. "When you start moving beyond 10,000 feet, oxygen starvation becomes a reality. As you climb up to altitude, the issue becomes cold as well, the temperature drops to minus 40 or minus 50 degrees centigrade, so survival rates drop."
He said the man who crashed to the pavement in Mortlake had probably lost consciousness and died within the first hour of his flight.
Police said the body is being held for possible repatriation in case the man's identity is established.
Mortlake residents and business people speak of a similar death in recent years, but disagree about the timing and the details.
"People say the same thing happened a few years ago a few blocks away" said Jay Sivapalan, 29, who works at the Variety Box convenience store half a block from where the body landed. "We are near Heathrow and when they lower the landing gear, the body falls out."
Others believe the incident may have happened 10 years ago. Police said they had no information about other stowaway deaths.
Not the first time
If this is indeed what happened, London will have seen two unsuccessful plane stowaway attempts in just over two weeks. On Aug. 23, the dead body of a suspected stowaway was found in the landing-gear bay of a British Airways flight that had landed at Heathrow after a flight from Cape Town, South Africa. This man is believed to have frozen to death during the flight.
So even if the most recent suspected stowaway had managed to remain in the plane until it landed, it's not clear he would have arrived alive, but was there a chance? Might he have been living at the moment he fell from the plane?
The answer to both questions is yes. According to figures from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Civil Aerospace Medical Institute, the chances of survival of a wheel-well stowaway on a commercial aircraft are about 24 percent.
As of Sept. 12, 2012, the FAA had recorded 96 such attempts since 1947, 23 of which left stowaways alive (failed attempts that ended with stowaways falling into bodies of water would likely not have been recorded). All but 14 of those attempts have been made since 1996, and within that modern pool, chances lower to about 21 percent.
Those are the numbers. But on an individual level, what does a person willing to lift himself into the wheel well of a pre-taxi aircraft actually face?
Stowaway survival
Based on a 1996 FAA report called "Survival at High Altitude: Wheel-Well Passengers" as well as data from subsequent stowaway attempts reported by the international air safety organization the Flight Safety Foundation (FSF), there seem to be four main threats that a landing-gear bay stowaway must contend with before arriving at his destination: being crushed by the landing gear during takeoff, hypoxia (a condition resulting from prolonged oxygen deprivation), hypothermia, and falling from the plane as the landing-gear bay opens during descent.
Any one of these threats might be lethal on its own, but what is peculiar for a stowaway facing all four is how each of these dangers interacts with the others and, very rarely, provides a loophole in the inevitability of another. For example, if a stowaway manages to avoid being crushed by the retraction of the tires as a plane takes off (successful attempts have been recorded in Boeing 747's, a model that British Airways operates), the frictional heat generated by the tires on the runway will provide a significant source of warmth in the compartment as the plane ascends into the cold air at high altitudes.
This heat, as well as other potential ambient heat provided by warm hydraulic lines, will not be enough to fend off hypothermia at 30,000 to 40,000 feet (9,144 to 12,192 meters), where air temperatures range between negative 49 Fahrenheit (negative 45 Celsius) and negative 85 F (negative 65 C). But before a stowaway can experience these temperatures, he will have almost certainly become unconscious due to hypoxia.
As a plane ascends to high altitudes, the proportion of oxygen in the air remains the same as on the ground. But decreases in atmospheric pressure, as well as in the component of the pressure contributed by oxygen (called its partial pressure), reduce available oxygen and stifle the body's ability to absorb what's there. According to the 1996 FAA report, "At all cruising jet altitudes, the [partial pressure of oxygen] is below that required to support brain consciousness."
Still, in 1996, an Indian man survived a roughly 4,200-mile (6,750 km) flight from New Delhi to London, which reached a peak altitude of 35,000 feet (10,668 m), in the plane's wheel well. He was discovered in a disoriented state at Heathrow. What went right for him?
The answer may involve the pairing of deep hypoxia with deep hypothermia.
As a person's body cedes control of its temperature to the outside environment, its oxygen requirement greatly decreases. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, in these conditions, as the body "curls into the fetal position to conserve heat, the heart rate may be as low as two beats per minute and breathing rate as low as once per 30 seconds."
When a plane begins its descent, whether or not a stowaway has roused from this state, the landing-gear bay will open.
Human Rights Activist
A.David
647-772-1029
Canada
Escalating Insecurity at KANERE
Refugees' Tents Burning
Escalating Insecurity at KANERE
Posted in Human Rights, News Updates by KANERE on August 21, 2011
Serious threats have hindered smooth operation of KANERE, amplifying staff anxiety, and generating instability.
On November 11th, 2009, the KANERE Press Editor was assaulted by three men whom he knew well. The assault ensued after he used a camera to take pictures of the fence that was burning around his house, located in camp residential plots. His case file, however, was destroyed by a police officer who is well known to KANERE. The case was not originally taken to court. No substantial response was provided upon follow-up from the editor. In one occasion in late 2010, a police inspector described KANERE journalists as “Spies in Kakuma.” Two other KANERE journalists filed complaints with the Officer Commanding Station (O.C.S) about similar threats and harassment. Yet O.C.S stated that the inspector was angry with journalists because he was mentioned in damaging reports published by KANERE. These reports detailed the increase in police abuse. The police inspector ultimately used his official power to completely destroy the case documents. The editor’s case was delayed until it was presented in court in March 2011 in a diluted and weakened form.
Another assault was attempted at the editor’s house in the camp settlement on February 11th, 2010. The disturbance transpired when two KANERE journalists were in an official meeting with UNHCR staff discussing documentary films. Justice was delayed once again. The case was taken to court on March 24th, 2010 after UNHCR had already resettled one of the suspects. KANERE’s inquiries on the case were thwarted when a police officer at the station reported predictably that the “case file is missing.” One of the journalists was advised to file another statement and open a new police file. Court proceedings were inevitably delayed, and the attempted assault was recently presented to court as a minor case. KANERE relentlessly pursued the circumstances under which the file “went missing” even though the police officers originally in charge of the case had already been transferred to another station.
Thousands of case records tracing back decades ago are available, but not KANERE’s case file from only a year ago. How this file went missing remains unanswered. KANERE journalists have come to believe that our existence is being systematically delegitimized as powerful and decision-making bodies are opposed to KANERE’s operation as an NGO. The safety of journalists continues to be in jeopardy.
The war you don’t see.
KANERE was successful in lobbying for the arrest of one of the perpetrators, who was arrested on March 24th, 2011. Two hours after the suspect was taken to court, the editor received threats via mobile from his assailant in Australia. “If you don’t release her, we will make sure you are dead! Just wait, distance don’t matter, we can use any means and methods,” said the phone message. The death threats came from two mobile numbers: +61402667720at 11:39 hrs- 00:02:23, 2 and +61421374538 at 11:49hrs- 00:04:27 local Kenya time. The phone death threats were witnessed by a staff member of an NGO in the compound who immediately emailed UNHCR Protection asking for better protection for the victim.
Early that morning three individuals who oppose freedom of press for KANERE went to UNHCR to ask for the release of the accused. The UNHCR protection official became involved by speaking to court officials. Eye witnesses told KANERE that these three individuals were allowed through the UNHCR main gate and talked with the officials in the unit for a long time. “We saw the trio. They were asking for withdrawal. The protection official talked to somebody in Lodwar about this matter,” Said Shama Tusaka, an Ethiopian waiting on the eligibility test.
It is unclear why UNHCR Kakuma has resettled a suspect in an active case before the Kakuma Resident Magistrate Court. This same suspect threatened the KANERE editor when his colleague was arrested. He was relocated to Australia and is currently funding groups that harass KANERE journalists. Camp governors stood in the sidelines watching the events unfold.
Neither the police nor UNHCR have responded to reports of death threats. According to a reliable, anonymous source, officials from the UNHCR Protection and the Security departments have made inquiries into KANERE’s cases following the alarm raised by KANERE supporters. KANERE has yet to be contacted, but the KANERE Editor was summoned to the police station a day after the UNHCR officials contacted the police. “As critical thinkers and journalists, we see these threats to KANERE’s operations as delegitimizing our voice. We seek a better approach for making inquiries into and achieving resolutions to KANERE’s cases with the police,” said a member of KANERE’s Editorial Board.
The case of the death threats is not a singular incident. Similar episodes have been carried out by a few refugees in specific communities. Some leaders within the Oromo community, for example, have written false accusations against KANERE officials to several humanitarian agencies and to the police. Only one group within a small community was made to believe that the free press is jeopardizing their resettlement opportunities. KANERE has established good relationships and gained support from leaders representing communities from all nationalities in Kakuma.
After being summoned to the Kakuma police station on May 2nd, 2011, the KANERE Press Editor called UNHCR and the Department for Refugee Affairs (DRA) for help. Although UNHCR and DRA staff were concerned about the matter, they could not block the police summon despite the numerous complaints the editor had submitted to these offices. He was advised by an UNHCR Protection official not to respond to any of the police summons. That afternoon, the editor was accompanied to the police station by two prominent refugee community leaders, a sheikh and another KANERE journalist. The editor was interrogated for about 30 minutes. He was not given a clear answer upon asking why he was being interrogated. “We are guided by laws to ask any question to anyone,” said a police officer during the interrogation.
Although insecurity has intensified, it is not new. In the past we reported the death of a journalist from Kakuma News Bulleting (KANEBU). Mr. Stephen was killed at night by gunshot in July 2008. He was also a secondary school teacher of history at the now closed Bor-town Secondary School. He was loved by refugees, who had nicknamed him “Comrade.” He, too, received threats before being killed at his residential house in Kakuma one. There was no official response following his death. After his burial, there was no formal investigation of his death. UNHCR was only able to provide resettlement for the family of the deceased.
KANERE has identified possible suspects in cases involving journalists between 2010 and 2011. The two KANERE journalists who were attacked left Kakuma due to lack of protection to find safety and security elsewhere. One of them was a Darfurian journalist and the other a former student at Makerere University in Uganda. Kenya hosts over 350,000 refugees. Decision-making on migrants and refugee affairs should be transparent and should provide better protection. The existence of the refugee humanitarian mode of power should not only involve dispensing large sums of money. It requires monitoring. It requires defining what is protection and what is moral. In this capacity, freedom of speech and freedom of press for KANERE is imperative for revealing the inside of the refugee warehouse.
Posted in Human Rights, News Updates by KANERE on August 21, 2011
Serious threats have hindered smooth operation of KANERE, amplifying staff anxiety, and generating instability.
On November 11th, 2009, the KANERE Press Editor was assaulted by three men whom he knew well. The assault ensued after he used a camera to take pictures of the fence that was burning around his house, located in camp residential plots. His case file, however, was destroyed by a police officer who is well known to KANERE. The case was not originally taken to court. No substantial response was provided upon follow-up from the editor. In one occasion in late 2010, a police inspector described KANERE journalists as “Spies in Kakuma.” Two other KANERE journalists filed complaints with the Officer Commanding Station (O.C.S) about similar threats and harassment. Yet O.C.S stated that the inspector was angry with journalists because he was mentioned in damaging reports published by KANERE. These reports detailed the increase in police abuse. The police inspector ultimately used his official power to completely destroy the case documents. The editor’s case was delayed until it was presented in court in March 2011 in a diluted and weakened form.
Another assault was attempted at the editor’s house in the camp settlement on February 11th, 2010. The disturbance transpired when two KANERE journalists were in an official meeting with UNHCR staff discussing documentary films. Justice was delayed once again. The case was taken to court on March 24th, 2010 after UNHCR had already resettled one of the suspects. KANERE’s inquiries on the case were thwarted when a police officer at the station reported predictably that the “case file is missing.” One of the journalists was advised to file another statement and open a new police file. Court proceedings were inevitably delayed, and the attempted assault was recently presented to court as a minor case. KANERE relentlessly pursued the circumstances under which the file “went missing” even though the police officers originally in charge of the case had already been transferred to another station.
Thousands of case records tracing back decades ago are available, but not KANERE’s case file from only a year ago. How this file went missing remains unanswered. KANERE journalists have come to believe that our existence is being systematically delegitimized as powerful and decision-making bodies are opposed to KANERE’s operation as an NGO. The safety of journalists continues to be in jeopardy.
The war you don’t see.
KANERE was successful in lobbying for the arrest of one of the perpetrators, who was arrested on March 24th, 2011. Two hours after the suspect was taken to court, the editor received threats via mobile from his assailant in Australia. “If you don’t release her, we will make sure you are dead! Just wait, distance don’t matter, we can use any means and methods,” said the phone message. The death threats came from two mobile numbers: +61402667720at 11:39 hrs- 00:02:23, 2 and +61421374538 at 11:49hrs- 00:04:27 local Kenya time. The phone death threats were witnessed by a staff member of an NGO in the compound who immediately emailed UNHCR Protection asking for better protection for the victim.
Early that morning three individuals who oppose freedom of press for KANERE went to UNHCR to ask for the release of the accused. The UNHCR protection official became involved by speaking to court officials. Eye witnesses told KANERE that these three individuals were allowed through the UNHCR main gate and talked with the officials in the unit for a long time. “We saw the trio. They were asking for withdrawal. The protection official talked to somebody in Lodwar about this matter,” Said Shama Tusaka, an Ethiopian waiting on the eligibility test.
It is unclear why UNHCR Kakuma has resettled a suspect in an active case before the Kakuma Resident Magistrate Court. This same suspect threatened the KANERE editor when his colleague was arrested. He was relocated to Australia and is currently funding groups that harass KANERE journalists. Camp governors stood in the sidelines watching the events unfold.
Neither the police nor UNHCR have responded to reports of death threats. According to a reliable, anonymous source, officials from the UNHCR Protection and the Security departments have made inquiries into KANERE’s cases following the alarm raised by KANERE supporters. KANERE has yet to be contacted, but the KANERE Editor was summoned to the police station a day after the UNHCR officials contacted the police. “As critical thinkers and journalists, we see these threats to KANERE’s operations as delegitimizing our voice. We seek a better approach for making inquiries into and achieving resolutions to KANERE’s cases with the police,” said a member of KANERE’s Editorial Board.
The case of the death threats is not a singular incident. Similar episodes have been carried out by a few refugees in specific communities. Some leaders within the Oromo community, for example, have written false accusations against KANERE officials to several humanitarian agencies and to the police. Only one group within a small community was made to believe that the free press is jeopardizing their resettlement opportunities. KANERE has established good relationships and gained support from leaders representing communities from all nationalities in Kakuma.
After being summoned to the Kakuma police station on May 2nd, 2011, the KANERE Press Editor called UNHCR and the Department for Refugee Affairs (DRA) for help. Although UNHCR and DRA staff were concerned about the matter, they could not block the police summon despite the numerous complaints the editor had submitted to these offices. He was advised by an UNHCR Protection official not to respond to any of the police summons. That afternoon, the editor was accompanied to the police station by two prominent refugee community leaders, a sheikh and another KANERE journalist. The editor was interrogated for about 30 minutes. He was not given a clear answer upon asking why he was being interrogated. “We are guided by laws to ask any question to anyone,” said a police officer during the interrogation.
Although insecurity has intensified, it is not new. In the past we reported the death of a journalist from Kakuma News Bulleting (KANEBU). Mr. Stephen was killed at night by gunshot in July 2008. He was also a secondary school teacher of history at the now closed Bor-town Secondary School. He was loved by refugees, who had nicknamed him “Comrade.” He, too, received threats before being killed at his residential house in Kakuma one. There was no official response following his death. After his burial, there was no formal investigation of his death. UNHCR was only able to provide resettlement for the family of the deceased.
KANERE has identified possible suspects in cases involving journalists between 2010 and 2011. The two KANERE journalists who were attacked left Kakuma due to lack of protection to find safety and security elsewhere. One of them was a Darfurian journalist and the other a former student at Makerere University in Uganda. Kenya hosts over 350,000 refugees. Decision-making on migrants and refugee affairs should be transparent and should provide better protection. The existence of the refugee humanitarian mode of power should not only involve dispensing large sums of money. It requires monitoring. It requires defining what is protection and what is moral. In this capacity, freedom of speech and freedom of press for KANERE is imperative for revealing the inside of the refugee warehouse.
The International Protection Regime Fails to Protect Rwandan Refugees
Rwandan Kids Crying After the 1994 Genocide
Kakuma News Reflector – A Refugee Free PressRefugee trauma counselingPosted in Human Rights, News Updates by KANERE on July 23, 2012
Residents of Kakuma Camp are in need of trauma counseling (more…)
Tagged with: counselling, refugees, trauma
1 comment
The Rwandan Refugee Cessation ClausePosted in Human Rights, News Updates by KANERE on April 16, 2012
The International Protection Regime Fails to Protect Rwandan Refugees
Rwanda has a long history of ethnically based discrimination politics with a clear hand of support of international community. In 1959, the people’s revolution received assistance from the Belgian colonial power when the country’s overall leadership shifted from the King – who could only come from Tutsi families – to the first president, a Hutu. At that point, the first episode of an influx of Tutsi refugees and a handful of Hutus began in neighboring countries. Tutsis experienced considerable power loss while the Hutus enjoyed what seemed like a right-based leadership. The Tutsis gathered all possible sources of support to regain power. Three decades later this group of refugees assisted by the United Nations Mission in Rwanda (UNMIR) and nations surrounding Rwanda managed to reinstate Tutsis to power. This time it was not as kings due to the Arusha agreement of Power Sharing, which did not support monarchy. Rwanda had also been a democratic republic since the early 1960s.
Sadly, it became a vicious cycle of refugee crisis. Unlike the former regime, the current Kigali government that came into power in 1994, when hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens were murdered, tortured, and raped facing all kinds of atrocities committed by both parties. This led thousands of Rwandan Hutus and a few Tutsis to flee to seek refuge in neighboring countries and elsewhere. Many refugees still flee Rwanda due to the regime intolerance of political differences. Today, these refugees come from different ethnic backgrounds and provinces of the country.
The Cessation Clause, a Failure to Protect Rwandan Refugees
The clause in the1951 Convention indicates certain clearly defined circumstances in which the refugee status can be cancelled or revoked. Article 1C, sub-paragraph 1 to 4 states that one of these circumstances is the time when a refugee becomes re-established in his or her country of origin. Rwandan refugees in the 1996 case did not meet this criteria; instead, they were surrounded by Tanzanian, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundian army heavy tanks and helicopters flying over their camps and those who tried to flee deep in the forest were killed, returned, raped and seriously abused by the deployed armies tasked to repatriate them.
Under article 1C (5) and (6), the Convention is very clear that there have to be fundamental changes and the circumstances in connection to those on the basis of which the refugees had been initially recognized have ceased to exist. In the Rwandan refugee case, the circumstances have not ceased. Indeed, they have gradually deterioratd. Today there those who flee Rwanda due to increasing instability, ethnic strife, arbitrary judicial procedures, indiscriminate retaliation, political violence, intolerance of dissent, impunity and the lack of accountability that has ensued since the genocide. The Rwandan government continues to oppress its own people. There are documented cases of killings, torture, disappearings, and arbitrary arrests. There is no plurality of political parties and a lack of freedom of expression without which there can be no open democratic society.
This government has reached beyond its borders, with many Rwandan refugees in neighboring countries reporting attempted murders and or the unfortunate murders of family members and friends perpetrated by the Rwandan government. Seth Sendashonga was assassinated in May 1998. Two children were butchered inside a Refugee accommodation center in April 2002 upon being delayed for resettlement to Australia. Rizinde was killed in Nairobi. More than three Rwandan refugees were shot in 2000 after being forcibly packed into trucks and driven to Rwanda by Rwandan forces working jointly with Ugandan comrades. General Kayumba Nyamwasa escaped deadly gunshots last year in South Africa. The Inyenyerinews editor, Charles Ingabire, was shot in Kampala, Uganda in October 2011.
Need for Resettlement
The Rwandan government has mounted pressure on UNHCR to apply this cessation clause in an attempt to end the refugee issues that have become a long-term political liability. In 2009, when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, visited Rwanda, the government and UNHCR agreed to invoke the cessation clause in the case of Rwandan refugees by December 2011.
The Fahamu Network for social justice, a human rights organization dealing with refugees in East Africa appealed the Rwandan request citing various reasons why they feel it is premature to revoke the status of refugees. The issue of unwarranted cessation claus was raised in an October 2011 annual meeting of the UNHCR Executive Committee and of representatives of its member states. The implementation was, however, adjourned to June 2012 and then eventually June 2013. Although the decision concerns refugees who fled since 1959 to December 1998, Rwanda still continues to produce refugees. It is believed that this decision would affect about 100,000 Rwandan refugees in exile who mainly reside in Africa.
Many refugees have desperately expressed their continued need for protection. Local integration is one of the best solutions for those who are not willing to go back home for fear of the grave persecution they faced and might still face. Many survived the Rwandan army killings in the DRC forests between 1996 and 2000. They witnessed these killings and many of them bear scars from them. These refugees need to be protected internationally as they are not willing to go back to Rwanda for fear of persecution. The premature application of the cessation clause can have extremely serious consequences for refugees who need to remain in the country of asylum and who may be forced to leave illegally and henceforth may be threatened with refoulement. Rwanda needs positive change to enable refugees to enjoy the protection of their government and enough time to consolidate and demonstrate genuine national reconciliation.
What can refugees do?
Rwandan refugees have the obligation to find ways of contacting their host countries and to express their fears against being forcibly repatriated like in 1996. It is possible with the pressure of the current government to face an unconventional procedural application of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees whereby they have the right to information and, ideally, the right to gainful employment. The Rwandan refugees should liaison with existing regional and international human rights organizations as well as with news media outlets.
One common understanding would be that refugees still be afforded protection until acceptable changes have been effected in Rwanda so that refugees will voluntarily repatriate. “No one assisted me to flee, likewise when Rwanda is safe for me; I may not need UNHCR assistant to go back,” Said a Rwandan refugee in Kakuma.
Tagged with: cessation clause, Human Rights, refugee, Rwanda
Residents of Kakuma Camp are in need of trauma counseling (more…)
Tagged with: counselling, refugees, trauma
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The Rwandan Refugee Cessation ClausePosted in Human Rights, News Updates by KANERE on April 16, 2012
The International Protection Regime Fails to Protect Rwandan Refugees
Rwanda has a long history of ethnically based discrimination politics with a clear hand of support of international community. In 1959, the people’s revolution received assistance from the Belgian colonial power when the country’s overall leadership shifted from the King – who could only come from Tutsi families – to the first president, a Hutu. At that point, the first episode of an influx of Tutsi refugees and a handful of Hutus began in neighboring countries. Tutsis experienced considerable power loss while the Hutus enjoyed what seemed like a right-based leadership. The Tutsis gathered all possible sources of support to regain power. Three decades later this group of refugees assisted by the United Nations Mission in Rwanda (UNMIR) and nations surrounding Rwanda managed to reinstate Tutsis to power. This time it was not as kings due to the Arusha agreement of Power Sharing, which did not support monarchy. Rwanda had also been a democratic republic since the early 1960s.
Sadly, it became a vicious cycle of refugee crisis. Unlike the former regime, the current Kigali government that came into power in 1994, when hundreds of thousands of innocent citizens were murdered, tortured, and raped facing all kinds of atrocities committed by both parties. This led thousands of Rwandan Hutus and a few Tutsis to flee to seek refuge in neighboring countries and elsewhere. Many refugees still flee Rwanda due to the regime intolerance of political differences. Today, these refugees come from different ethnic backgrounds and provinces of the country.
The Cessation Clause, a Failure to Protect Rwandan Refugees
The clause in the1951 Convention indicates certain clearly defined circumstances in which the refugee status can be cancelled or revoked. Article 1C, sub-paragraph 1 to 4 states that one of these circumstances is the time when a refugee becomes re-established in his or her country of origin. Rwandan refugees in the 1996 case did not meet this criteria; instead, they were surrounded by Tanzanian, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Burundian army heavy tanks and helicopters flying over their camps and those who tried to flee deep in the forest were killed, returned, raped and seriously abused by the deployed armies tasked to repatriate them.
Under article 1C (5) and (6), the Convention is very clear that there have to be fundamental changes and the circumstances in connection to those on the basis of which the refugees had been initially recognized have ceased to exist. In the Rwandan refugee case, the circumstances have not ceased. Indeed, they have gradually deterioratd. Today there those who flee Rwanda due to increasing instability, ethnic strife, arbitrary judicial procedures, indiscriminate retaliation, political violence, intolerance of dissent, impunity and the lack of accountability that has ensued since the genocide. The Rwandan government continues to oppress its own people. There are documented cases of killings, torture, disappearings, and arbitrary arrests. There is no plurality of political parties and a lack of freedom of expression without which there can be no open democratic society.
This government has reached beyond its borders, with many Rwandan refugees in neighboring countries reporting attempted murders and or the unfortunate murders of family members and friends perpetrated by the Rwandan government. Seth Sendashonga was assassinated in May 1998. Two children were butchered inside a Refugee accommodation center in April 2002 upon being delayed for resettlement to Australia. Rizinde was killed in Nairobi. More than three Rwandan refugees were shot in 2000 after being forcibly packed into trucks and driven to Rwanda by Rwandan forces working jointly with Ugandan comrades. General Kayumba Nyamwasa escaped deadly gunshots last year in South Africa. The Inyenyerinews editor, Charles Ingabire, was shot in Kampala, Uganda in October 2011.
Need for Resettlement
The Rwandan government has mounted pressure on UNHCR to apply this cessation clause in an attempt to end the refugee issues that have become a long-term political liability. In 2009, when the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, visited Rwanda, the government and UNHCR agreed to invoke the cessation clause in the case of Rwandan refugees by December 2011.
The Fahamu Network for social justice, a human rights organization dealing with refugees in East Africa appealed the Rwandan request citing various reasons why they feel it is premature to revoke the status of refugees. The issue of unwarranted cessation claus was raised in an October 2011 annual meeting of the UNHCR Executive Committee and of representatives of its member states. The implementation was, however, adjourned to June 2012 and then eventually June 2013. Although the decision concerns refugees who fled since 1959 to December 1998, Rwanda still continues to produce refugees. It is believed that this decision would affect about 100,000 Rwandan refugees in exile who mainly reside in Africa.
Many refugees have desperately expressed their continued need for protection. Local integration is one of the best solutions for those who are not willing to go back home for fear of the grave persecution they faced and might still face. Many survived the Rwandan army killings in the DRC forests between 1996 and 2000. They witnessed these killings and many of them bear scars from them. These refugees need to be protected internationally as they are not willing to go back to Rwanda for fear of persecution. The premature application of the cessation clause can have extremely serious consequences for refugees who need to remain in the country of asylum and who may be forced to leave illegally and henceforth may be threatened with refoulement. Rwanda needs positive change to enable refugees to enjoy the protection of their government and enough time to consolidate and demonstrate genuine national reconciliation.
What can refugees do?
Rwandan refugees have the obligation to find ways of contacting their host countries and to express their fears against being forcibly repatriated like in 1996. It is possible with the pressure of the current government to face an unconventional procedural application of the 1951 Convention relating to the status of refugees whereby they have the right to information and, ideally, the right to gainful employment. The Rwandan refugees should liaison with existing regional and international human rights organizations as well as with news media outlets.
One common understanding would be that refugees still be afforded protection until acceptable changes have been effected in Rwanda so that refugees will voluntarily repatriate. “No one assisted me to flee, likewise when Rwanda is safe for me; I may not need UNHCR assistant to go back,” Said a Rwandan refugee in Kakuma.
Tagged with: cessation clause, Human Rights, refugee, Rwanda
Sudanese Inter-Community Conflict in Kakuma Refugee Camp
Kakuma News Reflector – A Refugee Free Press
Sudanese inter-community conflict
Posted in Peace and Security, Uncategorized by KANERE on July 23, 2012
In Kakuma camp a conflict between two Sudanese communities has resulted in one dead and several others seriously injured.
Conflict broke out between Sudanese Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal and Nubian tribes on Monday 9th April 2012 at Juba football field in Kakuma 1 zone 3 of Kakuma refugee camp. The fighting started near the Anglican Church at about 5 p.m. following some misunderstanding between the two groups early in the previous week.
The fight later escalated to the use of arrows, spears and pangas that landed many in refugee hospital that evening. At the beginning the reason for the fight was not established immediately. It was discovered that on 31st March 2012, the youths from both groups had a problem over which team should play first at the football field, despite their set rule which was not followed to according to one Nubian youth leader. “The rule is simple, first come, first to play at the field,” A. Ali told KANERE.
Victims of the conflict
The local guards alerted police at the zonal Hong Kong police post who arrived and maintained peace. However, by nightfall, at least six Nubians and five Dinka youths were transported to the refugee main hospital including a 15 year old Nubian girl. “I saw people attacking each other like animals; many of them are bleeding on their arms and head,” said Racial, a pupil at Kaduguli Primary school. On reaching the refugee hospital, two Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal and one Nubian youth Aluga Amudha were referred to Kakuma Mission Hospital as their situation was worsening.
KANERE found that the conflict started due to some prolonged misunderstanding and culture of hatred between these groups. It was also discovered that both groups used to share Juba Football Field and the water point at block 4. Both groups remained in hiding and held secret meetings that night. The police and General Service Unit (GSU) provided some security patrols throughout, however early the following morning of 10th April 2012 the fight resumed. Juba football field became a battlefield for Nubians and Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal who included youths and middle aged men carrying crude weapons. “We found a group of armed youths from both groups. Some youths have weapons and defending mechanisms more that the others. Killings should not happen,” said a Burundian who resides near Juba Football Field in block 3.
Several gunshots were fired to separate the fighting groups. Youth leaders of both groups explained that the conflict was escalated by revenge assaults made by individuals over slight and simple issues that could have been solved through a dialogue. However, both groups claimed that the Hong Kong Area police officers neglected to take proper security measures when the case was reported to this station many days before the actual fight. “We have reported the matter but the police here were not serious with their job. We don’t trust them either,” said an anonymous Nubian youth. “Because of the poor performance, the police boss at Hong Kong police station and several other officers were recently transferred,” added a Dinka local security man speaking anonymously to KANERE. At the scene of the battle, there were bloodstains. Youths with crude weapons also hid among the bushy shrubs in that zone during coverage of the scene by KANERE journalists.
At around 14:00 hours, Aluga Amudha was reported dead at Kakuma Mission Hospital following the assault and injuries sustained. “Aluga was deliberately beaten by the mob with a dangerous object,” said his relative H. K. Meanwhile two other Dinka youths were fighting for their lives at Kakuma Mission Hospital. It was learnt that all casualties suffered from mob justice during that conflict. Aluga Amudha was a former head boy of Kakuma Refugee Secondary School in 2011. His death created shock waves cross the Nubian community at Kakuma Camp. This caused more police patrols in the area to separate the groups and confine them to their blocks.
Nubian leaders transported to the mediation meeting
By 15:00 hours, community leaders from both groups were transported by UNHCR vehicles to Kakuma District Commissioner’s office for a resolution meeting between the leaders. “We will not tolerate war. We will hold leaders and elders responsible in any event of this conflict,” said the D.C. in his speech addressing the meeting. “There is one death, six and five injuries from Nubians and Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal respectively,” said the Chairperson for the Sudanese administration in the camp.
On the 13th April 2012, two Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal were airlifted to AIC Kijabe hospital in Nairobi following serious injuries they both sustained in the conflict. Discharge diagnosis stated open ulna fractures – Gustillo. One patient, L.Yom aged 17, suffered a sharp cut in the head, both hands and his right leg broken, and was not discharged till the 11th May 2012. Yom stated that he was assaulted without cause as he was not aware of the conflict at the time, and knows the physical appearance of those who assaulted him. “I was freely walking from church. I was beaten by 6 Nubians. I will not be happy in my life now,” Yom, who is currently on a wheelchair, told KANERE.
KANERE wishes to enlighten the two communities that refugees should live in peace and harmony for better governance of their communities while in exile. We address the fact that life should be lived with a purpose and vision rather than to kill fellow brothers in a foreign lan
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Sudanese inter-community conflict
Posted in Peace and Security, Uncategorized by KANERE on July 23, 2012
In Kakuma camp a conflict between two Sudanese communities has resulted in one dead and several others seriously injured.
Conflict broke out between Sudanese Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal and Nubian tribes on Monday 9th April 2012 at Juba football field in Kakuma 1 zone 3 of Kakuma refugee camp. The fighting started near the Anglican Church at about 5 p.m. following some misunderstanding between the two groups early in the previous week.
The fight later escalated to the use of arrows, spears and pangas that landed many in refugee hospital that evening. At the beginning the reason for the fight was not established immediately. It was discovered that on 31st March 2012, the youths from both groups had a problem over which team should play first at the football field, despite their set rule which was not followed to according to one Nubian youth leader. “The rule is simple, first come, first to play at the field,” A. Ali told KANERE.
Victims of the conflict
The local guards alerted police at the zonal Hong Kong police post who arrived and maintained peace. However, by nightfall, at least six Nubians and five Dinka youths were transported to the refugee main hospital including a 15 year old Nubian girl. “I saw people attacking each other like animals; many of them are bleeding on their arms and head,” said Racial, a pupil at Kaduguli Primary school. On reaching the refugee hospital, two Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal and one Nubian youth Aluga Amudha were referred to Kakuma Mission Hospital as their situation was worsening.
KANERE found that the conflict started due to some prolonged misunderstanding and culture of hatred between these groups. It was also discovered that both groups used to share Juba Football Field and the water point at block 4. Both groups remained in hiding and held secret meetings that night. The police and General Service Unit (GSU) provided some security patrols throughout, however early the following morning of 10th April 2012 the fight resumed. Juba football field became a battlefield for Nubians and Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal who included youths and middle aged men carrying crude weapons. “We found a group of armed youths from both groups. Some youths have weapons and defending mechanisms more that the others. Killings should not happen,” said a Burundian who resides near Juba Football Field in block 3.
Several gunshots were fired to separate the fighting groups. Youth leaders of both groups explained that the conflict was escalated by revenge assaults made by individuals over slight and simple issues that could have been solved through a dialogue. However, both groups claimed that the Hong Kong Area police officers neglected to take proper security measures when the case was reported to this station many days before the actual fight. “We have reported the matter but the police here were not serious with their job. We don’t trust them either,” said an anonymous Nubian youth. “Because of the poor performance, the police boss at Hong Kong police station and several other officers were recently transferred,” added a Dinka local security man speaking anonymously to KANERE. At the scene of the battle, there were bloodstains. Youths with crude weapons also hid among the bushy shrubs in that zone during coverage of the scene by KANERE journalists.
At around 14:00 hours, Aluga Amudha was reported dead at Kakuma Mission Hospital following the assault and injuries sustained. “Aluga was deliberately beaten by the mob with a dangerous object,” said his relative H. K. Meanwhile two other Dinka youths were fighting for their lives at Kakuma Mission Hospital. It was learnt that all casualties suffered from mob justice during that conflict. Aluga Amudha was a former head boy of Kakuma Refugee Secondary School in 2011. His death created shock waves cross the Nubian community at Kakuma Camp. This caused more police patrols in the area to separate the groups and confine them to their blocks.
Nubian leaders transported to the mediation meeting
By 15:00 hours, community leaders from both groups were transported by UNHCR vehicles to Kakuma District Commissioner’s office for a resolution meeting between the leaders. “We will not tolerate war. We will hold leaders and elders responsible in any event of this conflict,” said the D.C. in his speech addressing the meeting. “There is one death, six and five injuries from Nubians and Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal respectively,” said the Chairperson for the Sudanese administration in the camp.
On the 13th April 2012, two Dinka Bahr-el-ghazal were airlifted to AIC Kijabe hospital in Nairobi following serious injuries they both sustained in the conflict. Discharge diagnosis stated open ulna fractures – Gustillo. One patient, L.Yom aged 17, suffered a sharp cut in the head, both hands and his right leg broken, and was not discharged till the 11th May 2012. Yom stated that he was assaulted without cause as he was not aware of the conflict at the time, and knows the physical appearance of those who assaulted him. “I was freely walking from church. I was beaten by 6 Nubians. I will not be happy in my life now,” Yom, who is currently on a wheelchair, told KANERE.
KANERE wishes to enlighten the two communities that refugees should live in peace and harmony for better governance of their communities while in exile. We address the fact that life should be lived with a purpose and vision rather than to kill fellow brothers in a foreign lan
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5 Refugees Spend 1 Year in Prison in Burundi for telling the truth about their Sufferings
Posted by Mac Lushimba
Wednesday, March 07, 2012
These five refugees in the picture above (Swedi Fataki Mutambala, Obengi Songolo, Tundula Maneno, Felix and Kasongo Mpahije Kalimbiro Chiusi)-who are members of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights-ADR-were arrested in Gasorwe Refugee Camp (Burundi) on March 30, 2011 by the Burundi police and taken to the prison of Muyinga. The prosecutor accused them of being a threat to the Burundi homeland security and plans to convict them, in the coming weeks to 3 years imprisonment and hard labor.
In an article published exactly one year ago, Refugee Project Space-RSP explained clearly the problem these refugees were facing, and beyond, RSP did everything to make telephone calls the office of High Commissioner for Refugees in Burundi (UNHCR-Burundi). The officials we talked to promised that they would do a follow-up and see how to protect these 5 refugees.
But the biggest surprise is that after one year, we are informed that these refugees are still in prison, and the prosecutor is threatening to convict them to three years in prison for "undermining the internal security of the Burundian State”. But the UNHCR-Burundi has made no effort to seek either a lawyer or to have them released.
In an article published exactly one year ago, Refugee Project Space-RSP explained clearly the problem these refugees were facing, and beyond, RSP did everything to make telephone calls the office of High Commissioner for Refugees in Burundi (UNHCR-Burundi). The officials we talked to promised that they would do a follow-up and see how to protect these 5 refugees.
But the biggest surprise is that after one year, we are informed that these refugees are still in prison, and the prosecutor is threatening to convict them to three years in prison for "undermining the internal security of the Burundian State”. But the UNHCR-Burundi has made no effort to seek either a lawyer or to have them released.
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In a statement released in the Burundian newspaper IWACU of Friday, May 14, 2010 at page 11, Colonel Didace Nzikoruriho- who is the Coordinator of the National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ONPRA) - stated that "these refugees do not have the right to form an association having a national dimension to defend their rights. The High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) defends the international values of refugees. They have no right to pressure the government that has given them asylum because they are not nationals. If they really want to defend their rights, they must go through the national associations which have the right to put pressure on the Burundian government." But this statement by the coordinator of ONPRA sounded like an insult to the ears of the Gasorwe refugees who said that the Burundian government is a signatory of the 1951 Geneva Conventions and its 1967 Protocols. Therefore it must assume its responsibility and protect refugees who are within its territory, and also give them freedom of movement, of speech and freedom to create an apolitical association.
Reached by phone, the president of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR), Swedi Fataki Mutambala, made it clear that he and his colleagues had followed the Burundian national procedure and filed a request to appropriate authorities in order to create a nonprofit and apolitical association which is ADR. Although the Burundian Constitution and the Geneva Conventions entitle them, the Burundi Ministry of Home Affairs has been reluctant to answer them, but they have received the tacit recognition from local authorities in Gasorwe who even issued them exit permits allowing them to leave the camp to attend meetings as members of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights-ADR. (See copies of exit permits in the image below)
Reached by phone, the president of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR), Swedi Fataki Mutambala, made it clear that he and his colleagues had followed the Burundian national procedure and filed a request to appropriate authorities in order to create a nonprofit and apolitical association which is ADR. Although the Burundian Constitution and the Geneva Conventions entitle them, the Burundi Ministry of Home Affairs has been reluctant to answer them, but they have received the tacit recognition from local authorities in Gasorwe who even issued them exit permits allowing them to leave the camp to attend meetings as members of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights-ADR. (See copies of exit permits in the image below)
A copy of a pass delivered to an ADR member by the camp authorities (who deny the facts today) to get to ADR meeting
Still according to the report of the ADR, their association is experiencing a lot of hindrance due to the fact that it is not an association of dance, songs and entertainment that the authorities are encouraging refugees to create to make them forget their problems . ADR has caused fear to the authorities because it shows and tells them uncomfortable truths about many refugee rights violations which are committed by the office of High Commissioner of Refugees in Burundi (UNHCR-Burundi) and the National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons (ONPRA).
In a series of reasons why the refugees organized themselves to create ADR, Swedi Fataki Mutambala, ADR President, said: "We would not create ADR if the UNHCR and ONPRA properly played their role as protectors of refugees as they always claim, but that is because there is total failure in the protection of refugees and non-respect of refugees’ life in Burundi that we have been obliged to take charge to find a competent partner who can listen to refugees claims and change things here, because we are in a jungle where anything is allowed. We have realized that we must stand up and fight if we need to survive and be considered as human beings."
Let’s take a look at some documents that ADR has sent us and which describe the source of their grief.
In a series of reasons why the refugees organized themselves to create ADR, Swedi Fataki Mutambala, ADR President, said: "We would not create ADR if the UNHCR and ONPRA properly played their role as protectors of refugees as they always claim, but that is because there is total failure in the protection of refugees and non-respect of refugees’ life in Burundi that we have been obliged to take charge to find a competent partner who can listen to refugees claims and change things here, because we are in a jungle where anything is allowed. We have realized that we must stand up and fight if we need to survive and be considered as human beings."
Let’s take a look at some documents that ADR has sent us and which describe the source of their grief.
Amissi Ali dead,killed by a Burundian gunman
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A hole left by a bullet in Amissi's body
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Amissi's body bleeding in the morgue
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Amissi was killed on January 29, 2010 at Bukirasazi , a suburb of Kinama location in Bujumbura by armed men while he was returning back home after the evening prayer around 7h 40 p. m.. The family of the deceased did not receive the assistance needed to better organize his funeral. And no investigation was ever conducted in order to find the villain who had shot this poor refugee down.
Little Jeannette Rehema with a piece of flesh hanging from her rectum
Jeannette Rehema, who, at age 5, suffered for two years from a very strange anal infection, a sort of flesh coming out of her rectum. Her parents contacted the UNHCR-Burundi so that the girl could be sent to a specialist for surgery, but nothing was done for 2 years! It took the intervention and pressure of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) and Refugee Space Project (RSP) for the girl to be taken off her parents’ custody by the Burundi-UNHCR officials who put her under the care of a Burundian woman in Bujumbura. Up to this date, we do not know what happened to her.
Refugees attacked and wounded by Burundian police and civilians within the camp
Several times there have been nightly incursions in the camp by unidentified civilians armed with machetes, knives, iron bars that attack, beat, hurt refugees and stole their property. As shown in the case of refugee Manene Muzuri who was attacked one night at 3 a.m. and wounded at the forehead and the back by the Burundians who were armed with knives and sticks.
There are also cases such as that of a refugee named Donatien King who was molested until he fainted by orders of the Gasorwe police station commander, Oscar, just because Donatien greeted him in English, saying "Good morning". Donatien had a shock on his back and genitals. After this incident, Gasorwe refugees mobilized and went to gather in front of the administrator’s office to show their dissatisfaction. It took over two weeks of clinic care for the health of King Donatien to get restored.
Faced with this situation of nastiness and obvious insecurity, the Association fopr the Ddefense of Refugee Rights submitted a complaint to the authorities in Gasorwe and Bujumbura. As usual, nothing was done. The page was turned as if nothing had happened!
There are also cases such as that of a refugee named Donatien King who was molested until he fainted by orders of the Gasorwe police station commander, Oscar, just because Donatien greeted him in English, saying "Good morning". Donatien had a shock on his back and genitals. After this incident, Gasorwe refugees mobilized and went to gather in front of the administrator’s office to show their dissatisfaction. It took over two weeks of clinic care for the health of King Donatien to get restored.
Faced with this situation of nastiness and obvious insecurity, the Association fopr the Ddefense of Refugee Rights submitted a complaint to the authorities in Gasorwe and Bujumbura. As usual, nothing was done. The page was turned as if nothing had happened!
Furaha Katumbi just after she was raped by the Gasorwe police station commander and beaten by the police
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Furaha Katumbi carried on a stretcher to the ambulance by Gasorwe women
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Gasorwe women demonstrating to denounce the rape of Furaha Katumbi
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There is also the case of a victim named Furaha Katumbi. This young woman was stripped naked and raped by the Gasorwe police station commander, Mr Innocent. The woman was found naked and being beaten by the police who said that “they were correcting her because she wanted to escape from the custody.” In serious condition, the woman was taken to hospital in Ngozi province in Kiremba more than 40 km from the camp. After spending 15 hours waiting time without proper care, Furaha was superficially and quickly consulted and then brought back to the camp. Overwhelmed with anger, women in Gasorwe refugee camp demonstrated, walking 3 kilometers to show the world their indignation and especially to what degree they have been harassed and sexually abused even by those officials who were supposed to protect them. After a few days, the police station Commander (Mr. Innocent) was transferred somewhere else, and the victim, Furaha Katumbi, abandoned to her fate.
Sifa Hassan, badly burned on the chest, has a handicapped left arm by lack of adequate medical care
There is also the story of this girl, Sifa Hassan, then aged 16, who accidently burned herself with a lamp one night in her hut. Her entire chest above the breasts and neck was burnt. By lack of proper care, she lost the use of her left arm, and due to a high degree of trauma, she has suffered from some sort of mental deficiency, and abandoned to herself!
Nyarukundo showing the front of her body covered with boils
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Nyarukundo showing her back covered in boils
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There is also this young woman, Nyarukundo, aged 27. Being an orphan since her childhood, she woke up one day to find some boils on almost the entire upper part of her body. She has been suffering from that disease since May 2004. It has even reached the genitals. In spite all her visit to the clinic, nothing has been done. And neither the UNHCR-Burundi nor the ONPRA have done anything to take her to a specialist for intense medical care. Now she has been abandoned to herself. She said she has been struggling for months to find sleep at night, and has become somehow disturbed by the fact that she is forced to spend the rest of her life in pain without a normal family life.
Faida Muratwa dead after untreated heavy bleeding
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Refugees in the wake of Faida Muratwa
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The tomb of Faida Muratwa
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There is also the case of this young woman, Faida Muratwa, who was 20 at the time of the tragedy. She suffered from vaginal, anal, nasal and mouth bleeding which has not been taken proper care at the Musasa Health Center where she was taken. Due to the medical team’s negligence and lack of medication, she eventually died and was buried at the camp, though she would have been saved if her case could have been taken seriously.
There are still a lot of pictures and stories of violence against refugees in Burundi. In time, if the need arises, we will publish them.
Considering all these everyday sad realities in Gasorwe Refugee Camp, the ADR Vice-President – Mrs Nyamusabwa Nyatutsi- launched in 2010 a cry of alarm that was even printed in a Burundian newspaper IWACU, saying: "If nothing is done on time, there will be a disaster in Gasorwe, because the refugee camp has become a hell where women in particular are victims of sexual violence. Yet none of the two institutions (UNHCR and ONPRA) are trying to help us. The girls are most at risk, as there are many cases of unwanted pregnancies, and rape is committed in full view of everyone”
As for Tundula Maneno –ADR Secretary- he deplored the lack of structures to install a listening desk because there were refugees who had spent 10 years in some camps in Burundi without having had the opportunity to express themselves
And during the same period, in May 2010, Jacques-Songolo (ADR spokesman) had sounded an alarm saying "we want the rights of refugees to be respected, and we believe our association has been created at the right time because the humanitarian situation in the camp is deteriorating day by day. UNHCR does not track cases of assault and torture of refugees. Some are beaten up and others unjustly imprisoned, but the UNHCR and the ONPRA do nothing to protect us, instead they do everything to intimidate us when we raise our problems. It's a shame that those who are supposed to protect and defend us are those who mistreat us. We already know they are lying that ADR is a political movement just to intimidate us. They should know that we had lost the right to do politics the time we fled our country. We cannot exercise this right in a country of asylum, because we are not Burundian citizens. Now we are just breaking the silence, and that is what is embarrassing the authorities! "
But despite the complaints of the ADR members, the ONPRA coordinator (Colonel Didace Nzikoruhiho) - and Burundi UNHCR communication officer Bernard Ntwari categorically denied all the refugees ‘ statements, saying the refugees had nothing to complain about because they are 100% being cared about in Burundi.
Faced with this verbal contradiction, you really feel that it was the battle between right and power, until the cycle of dictatorship decided that some refugees must be arrested and imprisoned. All was well calculated. It was necessary to quickly hit hard so that other refugees could see the example and be afraid to even lift the little finger. Thus these five ADR members were arrested on March 30, 2011 on the orders of Colonel Didace Nzikoruhihop who instructed Sindayihebura Melchior, ONPRA representative in Muyinga, and Patrice Ciza, Gasorwe camp administrator to do so. The charge has changed several times. First, the prosecution said that Swedi Fataki and Felix Mpahije Kasongo were not Congolese, but from Rwanda and Burundi respectively, that is to say they were not real refugees, but war criminals. Seeing that the statement did not make sense, the executioners were further concerted and hit hard: "The ADR is an unlawful association and the five defendants are accused of damaging the internal security of the state." Approached by the IWACU newspaper reporters who wanted to know what he thought of the accusation against the five refugees, Didace Nzikoruhiho said dryly: "We brought already the case to court. The court will do whatever it wants. "
According to Mr. Amédée Nzobarinda (the 5 refugees’ lawyer) -there are too many procedural flaws in the case and a strong desire to punish his client. Also there is neither physical nor scientific evidence that can prove that the defendants are a danger to the Burundi homeland security.
And according to many eye witnesses, the 5 ADR members were not treated like human beings at the time of the arrest and imprisonment, but as high-level criminals. Some of them have even been beaten, stripped and tortured. Also the prisoners and their families have not received any assistance from UNHCR-Burundi, whether moral, legal or material.
There are still a lot of pictures and stories of violence against refugees in Burundi. In time, if the need arises, we will publish them.
Considering all these everyday sad realities in Gasorwe Refugee Camp, the ADR Vice-President – Mrs Nyamusabwa Nyatutsi- launched in 2010 a cry of alarm that was even printed in a Burundian newspaper IWACU, saying: "If nothing is done on time, there will be a disaster in Gasorwe, because the refugee camp has become a hell where women in particular are victims of sexual violence. Yet none of the two institutions (UNHCR and ONPRA) are trying to help us. The girls are most at risk, as there are many cases of unwanted pregnancies, and rape is committed in full view of everyone”
As for Tundula Maneno –ADR Secretary- he deplored the lack of structures to install a listening desk because there were refugees who had spent 10 years in some camps in Burundi without having had the opportunity to express themselves
And during the same period, in May 2010, Jacques-Songolo (ADR spokesman) had sounded an alarm saying "we want the rights of refugees to be respected, and we believe our association has been created at the right time because the humanitarian situation in the camp is deteriorating day by day. UNHCR does not track cases of assault and torture of refugees. Some are beaten up and others unjustly imprisoned, but the UNHCR and the ONPRA do nothing to protect us, instead they do everything to intimidate us when we raise our problems. It's a shame that those who are supposed to protect and defend us are those who mistreat us. We already know they are lying that ADR is a political movement just to intimidate us. They should know that we had lost the right to do politics the time we fled our country. We cannot exercise this right in a country of asylum, because we are not Burundian citizens. Now we are just breaking the silence, and that is what is embarrassing the authorities! "
But despite the complaints of the ADR members, the ONPRA coordinator (Colonel Didace Nzikoruhiho) - and Burundi UNHCR communication officer Bernard Ntwari categorically denied all the refugees ‘ statements, saying the refugees had nothing to complain about because they are 100% being cared about in Burundi.
Faced with this verbal contradiction, you really feel that it was the battle between right and power, until the cycle of dictatorship decided that some refugees must be arrested and imprisoned. All was well calculated. It was necessary to quickly hit hard so that other refugees could see the example and be afraid to even lift the little finger. Thus these five ADR members were arrested on March 30, 2011 on the orders of Colonel Didace Nzikoruhihop who instructed Sindayihebura Melchior, ONPRA representative in Muyinga, and Patrice Ciza, Gasorwe camp administrator to do so. The charge has changed several times. First, the prosecution said that Swedi Fataki and Felix Mpahije Kasongo were not Congolese, but from Rwanda and Burundi respectively, that is to say they were not real refugees, but war criminals. Seeing that the statement did not make sense, the executioners were further concerted and hit hard: "The ADR is an unlawful association and the five defendants are accused of damaging the internal security of the state." Approached by the IWACU newspaper reporters who wanted to know what he thought of the accusation against the five refugees, Didace Nzikoruhiho said dryly: "We brought already the case to court. The court will do whatever it wants. "
According to Mr. Amédée Nzobarinda (the 5 refugees’ lawyer) -there are too many procedural flaws in the case and a strong desire to punish his client. Also there is neither physical nor scientific evidence that can prove that the defendants are a danger to the Burundi homeland security.
And according to many eye witnesses, the 5 ADR members were not treated like human beings at the time of the arrest and imprisonment, but as high-level criminals. Some of them have even been beaten, stripped and tortured. Also the prisoners and their families have not received any assistance from UNHCR-Burundi, whether moral, legal or material.
Refugee prisoners' wives walking 42 km round trip each time they visit their husbands in Muyinga prison
And we were saddened to learn that refugee prisoners’ wives walk more than 40 kilometers every time they go to visit their husbands. And sometimes the police deny them access to their husbands, and they are forced to return to the camp exhausted and full of despair!
Insistently, ADR requests the Burundi UNHCR and ONPRA officials to step into the shoes of others. What would they feel if they were parents of all these victims of injustice, rape and violence in the camp? Would they just smile, clap their hands and say nothing, or would they feel it is their right to stand up and speak out to break the silence?
In conclusion, the Leading Committee of Refugee Space Project - RSP wishes to emphasize that there is also a psychological aspect that observers in this matter should take into account: Most State officials in charge of institutions in this issue spent decades into militias and are struggling to reconcile the Law and the Force. Accustomed to the use of blind force and violence throughout their lives, they are still struggling to understand that it is the respect for human rights that gives true power to a country's institutions and not the opposite.
Insistently, ADR requests the Burundi UNHCR and ONPRA officials to step into the shoes of others. What would they feel if they were parents of all these victims of injustice, rape and violence in the camp? Would they just smile, clap their hands and say nothing, or would they feel it is their right to stand up and speak out to break the silence?
In conclusion, the Leading Committee of Refugee Space Project - RSP wishes to emphasize that there is also a psychological aspect that observers in this matter should take into account: Most State officials in charge of institutions in this issue spent decades into militias and are struggling to reconcile the Law and the Force. Accustomed to the use of blind force and violence throughout their lives, they are still struggling to understand that it is the respect for human rights that gives true power to a country's institutions and not the opposite.
Refugees Arrested, Beaten and Jailed in Gasorwe Camp, Muyinga, Burundi
Posted by Mac Lushimba
Tuesday, April 26, 2011
A Scene showing Police Incursion in Gasorwe Refugee Camp late in 2010
On Wednesday, March 30, 2011, Mr Swedi Fataki Mutambala was brutally arrested in Gasorwe Refugee Camp, Muyinga Province, after being seriously beaten, humiliated and hand-cuffed by some Burundian police officers sent by Colonel Didace Nzikoruriho, Coordinator of the Burundi National Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless (ONPRA). All this was done without any arrest warrant from the police commander or the prosecutor.
According to refugees we talked to over the phone, they said Swedi was sick, and that Wednesday he went to the Camp Administrator to get a pass to go to Bujumbura hospital for medical check-up. The camp administrator welcomed him very well in his office, told him to wait, then he called the police. Suddenly a van belonging to the Burundi Office for Refugee and Stateless Protection (ONPRA) with plate number "C 709 AIT" appeared with 6 police officers on board. They grabbed Swedi and arrested him. Refugees said they really do not know the main reason for this arrest, but they can just recall that a couple of months ago, refugees have been lamenting about the state of blatant refugees' rights violations perpetrated in Burundi by the Ministry of Home Affair, and also the silence and inaction of the Burundi-UNHCR Office. And Swedi Fataki -being the leader of the Association for the Defense of Refugees (ADR) in Burundi- they suspect that the Burundian Government has been looking for a way to get rid of him and the ADR. After Swedi was arrested, a group of almost 27 refugees went to the prison to visit him. The police took this opportunity to arrest 4 other refugees. Thus 5 refugees are now in jail:
1- Swedi Fataki Mutambala
2.-Felix Kasongo Mpahije
3.-Tundula Maneno
4.-Obengi Songolo
5.-Kalimbiro Chiusi
Refugees are worried about that arrest and they ask the International Community to act diligently and prevent Colonel Didace and his team to keep violating their rights. They ask the International Community and donor countries to pressurize the Ministry of Home Affairs to find a solution and free those inncocent refugees, because the political climate in Burundi is not good, and the prisons are places infested with crminals, rebels, killers and they are also places of tortures, killings and poisoning. They really insisted that they FEAR that those refugees be POISONED, because this a recurrent method used by the Burundi government to get rid of people who stand against its negative policies.
The Refugee Space Project called the Burundi UNHCR-Protection Unit and ask about the reason for that arrest and how those refugees were treated in jail. The UNHCR Protection Unit officer said the UNHCR Burundi does not have too much information about that arrest, and they would make a follow-up to see what they could do, and then they would give us a report. Then the RSP Desk called Colonel Didace himself... The man said he does not know anything about that arrest, and he gave RSP this number (+257-22-06-701) which is the Muyinga Court number. Then RSP called the Court for inquiries. The prosecutor (a certain Mr. Frederick) confirmed that there were 4 refugees arrested in Muyinga prison, and he is conducting an investigation to know the main reason for that arrest; but he confirmed to RSP that some of those refugees were accused of lying to be Congolese refugees while they are Rwandan who took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Since the time of arrest, the Burundi Ministry of Home Affair has given lots of reasons why those refugees were arrested, citing that they have violated the Burundi Constitution by creating an Association, then it's found that those refugees are Rwandan Genocidaires in hiding in Burundi, and they have been threatening the peace and security of Burundi.
But refugees insisted on that fact that should anything bad happen to the arrested refugees, the first person to answer must be Colonel Didace Nzikoruriho who is the Dictator and Organizer of all this macabre game just to make refugees shut up and let Burundian officials steal food and other donations from refugees.
For proof of the deterioration of the relations between the Burundian government, the UNHCR-Burundi one side and the refugees the other side, the ADR Executive Committe forwarded copies of a Burundian newspaper (IWACU no 63 released on May 14, 2010) in which a sharp discussion over refugees' rights and treatment opposed the Burundi Government and the UNHCR-Burundi to the ADR members. Refugees have too much blame on the government of Burundi and the UNHCR- Burundi:
Beneath are French copies of the newspaper IWACU. RSP went through them, and this is the English version of the condensed story. The newspaper confirms that there is a confusion, a misunderstanding between the UNHCR-Burundi, the Burundi Office for Refugee and Stateless Protection (ONPRA), and the Refugees in Kinama refugee camp, in Gasorwe. Refugees accuse the Burundi government and Burundi UNHCR officials of not protecting refugees according to the Genava convention. Recently the Burundi governemnt decided that the refugee staus in Burundi would not be indefinite , but valid for only 3 years and then the refugees would come back to the square one. They said, instaed of letting them the right to choose their own representatives, the goverment imposes some corrupt peopole to lead them. All this with only one purpose: To hide the refugees' rights vilations to outsiders.
Most of the time the World Food Program (WFP) gives them rotten food (beans or maize); the police invade their camp, insult them, harrass them, beat those who resist, steal their goats, chickens, and other properties. When they complain, the Burundian authorities tell them "You did not come with anything to Burundi, and you will take nothing from here". They also forbid them to sell anything so that they can supply their needs. In many a case refugee girls have been abused, raped even by Burundi authorities. All this is known by the UNHCR-Burundi officials. But unfortunately they DO NOTHING. This led refugees to create the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights in order to protect themselves from the lawless environment they are living in.
According to refugees we talked to over the phone, they said Swedi was sick, and that Wednesday he went to the Camp Administrator to get a pass to go to Bujumbura hospital for medical check-up. The camp administrator welcomed him very well in his office, told him to wait, then he called the police. Suddenly a van belonging to the Burundi Office for Refugee and Stateless Protection (ONPRA) with plate number "C 709 AIT" appeared with 6 police officers on board. They grabbed Swedi and arrested him. Refugees said they really do not know the main reason for this arrest, but they can just recall that a couple of months ago, refugees have been lamenting about the state of blatant refugees' rights violations perpetrated in Burundi by the Ministry of Home Affair, and also the silence and inaction of the Burundi-UNHCR Office. And Swedi Fataki -being the leader of the Association for the Defense of Refugees (ADR) in Burundi- they suspect that the Burundian Government has been looking for a way to get rid of him and the ADR. After Swedi was arrested, a group of almost 27 refugees went to the prison to visit him. The police took this opportunity to arrest 4 other refugees. Thus 5 refugees are now in jail:
1- Swedi Fataki Mutambala
2.-Felix Kasongo Mpahije
3.-Tundula Maneno
4.-Obengi Songolo
5.-Kalimbiro Chiusi
Refugees are worried about that arrest and they ask the International Community to act diligently and prevent Colonel Didace and his team to keep violating their rights. They ask the International Community and donor countries to pressurize the Ministry of Home Affairs to find a solution and free those inncocent refugees, because the political climate in Burundi is not good, and the prisons are places infested with crminals, rebels, killers and they are also places of tortures, killings and poisoning. They really insisted that they FEAR that those refugees be POISONED, because this a recurrent method used by the Burundi government to get rid of people who stand against its negative policies.
The Refugee Space Project called the Burundi UNHCR-Protection Unit and ask about the reason for that arrest and how those refugees were treated in jail. The UNHCR Protection Unit officer said the UNHCR Burundi does not have too much information about that arrest, and they would make a follow-up to see what they could do, and then they would give us a report. Then the RSP Desk called Colonel Didace himself... The man said he does not know anything about that arrest, and he gave RSP this number (+257-22-06-701) which is the Muyinga Court number. Then RSP called the Court for inquiries. The prosecutor (a certain Mr. Frederick) confirmed that there were 4 refugees arrested in Muyinga prison, and he is conducting an investigation to know the main reason for that arrest; but he confirmed to RSP that some of those refugees were accused of lying to be Congolese refugees while they are Rwandan who took part in the 1994 genocide in Rwanda.
Since the time of arrest, the Burundi Ministry of Home Affair has given lots of reasons why those refugees were arrested, citing that they have violated the Burundi Constitution by creating an Association, then it's found that those refugees are Rwandan Genocidaires in hiding in Burundi, and they have been threatening the peace and security of Burundi.
But refugees insisted on that fact that should anything bad happen to the arrested refugees, the first person to answer must be Colonel Didace Nzikoruriho who is the Dictator and Organizer of all this macabre game just to make refugees shut up and let Burundian officials steal food and other donations from refugees.
For proof of the deterioration of the relations between the Burundian government, the UNHCR-Burundi one side and the refugees the other side, the ADR Executive Committe forwarded copies of a Burundian newspaper (IWACU no 63 released on May 14, 2010) in which a sharp discussion over refugees' rights and treatment opposed the Burundi Government and the UNHCR-Burundi to the ADR members. Refugees have too much blame on the government of Burundi and the UNHCR- Burundi:
Beneath are French copies of the newspaper IWACU. RSP went through them, and this is the English version of the condensed story. The newspaper confirms that there is a confusion, a misunderstanding between the UNHCR-Burundi, the Burundi Office for Refugee and Stateless Protection (ONPRA), and the Refugees in Kinama refugee camp, in Gasorwe. Refugees accuse the Burundi government and Burundi UNHCR officials of not protecting refugees according to the Genava convention. Recently the Burundi governemnt decided that the refugee staus in Burundi would not be indefinite , but valid for only 3 years and then the refugees would come back to the square one. They said, instaed of letting them the right to choose their own representatives, the goverment imposes some corrupt peopole to lead them. All this with only one purpose: To hide the refugees' rights vilations to outsiders.
Most of the time the World Food Program (WFP) gives them rotten food (beans or maize); the police invade their camp, insult them, harrass them, beat those who resist, steal their goats, chickens, and other properties. When they complain, the Burundian authorities tell them "You did not come with anything to Burundi, and you will take nothing from here". They also forbid them to sell anything so that they can supply their needs. In many a case refugee girls have been abused, raped even by Burundi authorities. All this is known by the UNHCR-Burundi officials. But unfortunately they DO NOTHING. This led refugees to create the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights in order to protect themselves from the lawless environment they are living in.
 Burundi Newspaper IWACU Showing Refugees Complaining about their Rights |
 Burundi Newspaper Showing refugees Talking about Refugees' Righst Violations in Burundi. |
The creation of the Refugee Association has been seen as a threat by the Burundi officials, not a threat to national peace or security as they like to say, but a threat to their own interest; because they fear now that refugees will be revealing all their negative deeds. Instead of seeking ways to come back to legality, the Burundi government -represented by Colonel Didace Nzikoruriho - has chosen the tough way to solve this issue, i.e.: hunting refugees who complain, intimidating them, harrassig them, beating them and jailing them.
Refugee Girl Handcuffed by Police after She Claimed for her Properties Confiscated by Burundi Police
Refugees are now appealing to the UNHCR-Geneva and th United Nations Human Rights Office and other organizations that deal with refugees rights to send independent teams in order to investigate and find out about the TRUE MISERY.
As Refugee Rights Defenders, the RSP team is sad to notice that, in Burundi, as well as in many other African countries, refugees are considered as figures just good for business, but not as human beings deserving the right to a good life, respect and human dignity. Horrible is also the fact that even UNHCR officials who come from the Western World, having degrees from some prestigious universities, are not ready to practise law and justice. They let themselves taken by the dirty game of African governments , closing their eyes and turning their back against legality, justice and human dignity. They just chose to protect their job and ther visa, instead of seeking some mechanism that can bring some positive change in the refugees' life.
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As Refugee Rights Defenders, the RSP team is sad to notice that, in Burundi, as well as in many other African countries, refugees are considered as figures just good for business, but not as human beings deserving the right to a good life, respect and human dignity. Horrible is also the fact that even UNHCR officials who come from the Western World, having degrees from some prestigious universities, are not ready to practise law and justice. They let themselves taken by the dirty game of African governments , closing their eyes and turning their back against legality, justice and human dignity. They just chose to protect their job and ther visa, instead of seeking some mechanism that can bring some positive change in the refugees' life.
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Jeannette Rehema: A Dying Refugee Child in Gasorwe Refugee Camp, Burundi
Posted by MacGoddins Lushimba
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Wednesday, November 10, 2010
Little Jeannette Rehema
Wednesday, November 10, 2010: Mac Lushimba of Refugee Space Project-RSP posted the following news:
The little girl (in the picture above) is Jeannette Rehema. She lives with her parents in Gasorwe Refugee Camp,Burundi. She is 5 years old. For 2 years she has been fighting against a very strange anal infection, a kind of flesh coming out of her rectum. What is worrying is the fact that the UNHCR-Burundi has been contacted by the girl's parents and the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) Burundi so that the girl can be sent to a specialist to undergo a surgery, but nothing as been done for 2 years!
The Refugee Space Project is now monitoring this situation. We will provide you with accurate and detailed infornation very soon.
Thursday, November 11, 2010: Refugee Space Project-RSP received a report from the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) in Burundi. In that report, Jeannette Rehema's mother explains what really happened to her daughter, when and how she contacted the Burundi UNHCR authorites, and what was the authorities' reaction. We will post this report very soon.
Friday, November 12, 2010: After seeing the picture of little Jeannette Rehema on this Web Site, and after reading the news, the UNHCR-Burundi reacted. We will post vey soon what they wrote and what answer the RSP forwarded to them immediately.
Friday, November 12, 2010 : Refugee Space Project-RSP received news from Burundi that the UNHCR-Burundi moved Rehema's mother with all her family from Gasorwe refugee camp to Bujumbura. We are still monitoring the situation. When we get detailed information, we will post on our Web Site.
Monday, November 15, 2010: the Refugee Space Project-RSP contacted ADR-Burundi for a follow-up about the case of little Jeannette Rehema. The latest news is that the UNHCR-Burundi was in a meeting in Bujumbura with Rehema's parents where they blamed them for having exposed their child to ADR's attention. The UNHCR urged Rehema's parents to never be in touch with ADR , because ,according to them, ADR will never help them or find any solution to their daughter's plight. After their meeting the UNHCR-Burundi took the child and put her in a secret place, and told the parents to go back to the camp. On Sunday, November 14, 2010 Rehema's parents went back to Gasorwe refugee camp without their daughter. We wonder where the kid is and what magic solution the UNHCR-Burundi wants to provide! By our side, we -RSP- are happy because the publication of Rehema's picture and story on our Web Site has put the UNHCR-Burundi to work. Now, let's wait and see the outcome!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010: RSP called and spoke today with Rehema's mother. She said she's now back to Gasorwe refugee camp after the UNHCR-Burundi has confiscated her child (Rehema) and handed her to a certain Burundian woman living in Bujumbura. "They said that Burundian woman is going to look after my child until further notice", she told RSP. She added that she met with the UHCHR team in the presence of some refugees. One of the refugees -apparently a refugee community leader...- did not hesitate to tell the Burundi-UNHCR team that Rehema has been suffering for so long, and the UHCR, several times contacted by the girl's mother, did nothing to heal that child. The man added: :If today you have called us here it's because the ADR-Burundi exposed the picture and the story of lillte Rehema to the public!"
According to RSP point of view, the UNHCR-Burundi has committed another blunder. How can a 5 year child be taken from her mother and handed over to another woman who is not even a family member! The law says that a child under 18 must remain under the custody of his/her parents until he/she is 18 and can decide either to stay with his/her parents or by himsel/herself. We then urge the UNHCR-Burundi to come back to its senses and bring back Rehema under her mother's custody or take her mother to Bujumbura where she can take care of her child, for the child needs to feel her mother's presence and love; and it's Rehema's mother who knows much better her child and can explain what she needs of feels.
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The little girl (in the picture above) is Jeannette Rehema. She lives with her parents in Gasorwe Refugee Camp,Burundi. She is 5 years old. For 2 years she has been fighting against a very strange anal infection, a kind of flesh coming out of her rectum. What is worrying is the fact that the UNHCR-Burundi has been contacted by the girl's parents and the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) Burundi so that the girl can be sent to a specialist to undergo a surgery, but nothing as been done for 2 years!
The Refugee Space Project is now monitoring this situation. We will provide you with accurate and detailed infornation very soon.
Thursday, November 11, 2010: Refugee Space Project-RSP received a report from the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) in Burundi. In that report, Jeannette Rehema's mother explains what really happened to her daughter, when and how she contacted the Burundi UNHCR authorites, and what was the authorities' reaction. We will post this report very soon.
Friday, November 12, 2010: After seeing the picture of little Jeannette Rehema on this Web Site, and after reading the news, the UNHCR-Burundi reacted. We will post vey soon what they wrote and what answer the RSP forwarded to them immediately.
Friday, November 12, 2010 : Refugee Space Project-RSP received news from Burundi that the UNHCR-Burundi moved Rehema's mother with all her family from Gasorwe refugee camp to Bujumbura. We are still monitoring the situation. When we get detailed information, we will post on our Web Site.
Monday, November 15, 2010: the Refugee Space Project-RSP contacted ADR-Burundi for a follow-up about the case of little Jeannette Rehema. The latest news is that the UNHCR-Burundi was in a meeting in Bujumbura with Rehema's parents where they blamed them for having exposed their child to ADR's attention. The UNHCR urged Rehema's parents to never be in touch with ADR , because ,according to them, ADR will never help them or find any solution to their daughter's plight. After their meeting the UNHCR-Burundi took the child and put her in a secret place, and told the parents to go back to the camp. On Sunday, November 14, 2010 Rehema's parents went back to Gasorwe refugee camp without their daughter. We wonder where the kid is and what magic solution the UNHCR-Burundi wants to provide! By our side, we -RSP- are happy because the publication of Rehema's picture and story on our Web Site has put the UNHCR-Burundi to work. Now, let's wait and see the outcome!
Tuesday, November 16, 2010: RSP called and spoke today with Rehema's mother. She said she's now back to Gasorwe refugee camp after the UNHCR-Burundi has confiscated her child (Rehema) and handed her to a certain Burundian woman living in Bujumbura. "They said that Burundian woman is going to look after my child until further notice", she told RSP. She added that she met with the UHCHR team in the presence of some refugees. One of the refugees -apparently a refugee community leader...- did not hesitate to tell the Burundi-UNHCR team that Rehema has been suffering for so long, and the UHCR, several times contacted by the girl's mother, did nothing to heal that child. The man added: :If today you have called us here it's because the ADR-Burundi exposed the picture and the story of lillte Rehema to the public!"
According to RSP point of view, the UNHCR-Burundi has committed another blunder. How can a 5 year child be taken from her mother and handed over to another woman who is not even a family member! The law says that a child under 18 must remain under the custody of his/her parents until he/she is 18 and can decide either to stay with his/her parents or by himsel/herself. We then urge the UNHCR-Burundi to come back to its senses and bring back Rehema under her mother's custody or take her mother to Bujumbura where she can take care of her child, for the child needs to feel her mother's presence and love; and it's Rehema's mother who knows much better her child and can explain what she needs of feels.
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The Plight of Refugees, Returnees and Displaced People in Eastern D. R. Congo
(Posted on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 by MacGoddins Lushimba)
Displaced People Fleeing War in Fizi Territory, South Kivu
Moved by the spirit of knowing what has been really going on for refugees around the world, the Refugee Space Project (RSP) has touched base last time with Mr. Evariste Mfaume, director of the NGO "Solidarite des Volontaires pour l’Humanite-SVH (Solidarity of Volunteers for Humanity)". This NGO is based in Baraka, Fizi territory, South Kivu Province in eastern DR Congo. Its three areas of specialization are: Human Rights, Conflict Resolution, and Environment.
During our sharing, Mr. Evariste Mfaume specified that “According to the survey conducted by the Congolese National Commission for Refugees (Baraka Office) there are 9,312 Burundian and 1,175 Rwandan refugees living in the territory of Fizi, as well as there are Congolese refugees in Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. But those living in Tanzania have been in the repatriation process since 2006, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (Baraka office). Even though the total number was estimated at 150,000 when the repatriation started, there are still 62,000 Congolese refugees in Tanzania up to this day.
Mr. Mfaume said: “Since we work in an area of turbulence with the presence of armed groups and local Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels, with the military operations “AMANI LEO” triggered by the Congolese government, we have been witnessing massive displacements of civilians caused by war, scattered with the looting, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions of civilians, torture, intimidation, acts of sexual violence against women and girls with impunity and increasing fear. All this is really an infernal cycle in which local people are found.”
During our sharing, Mr. Evariste Mfaume specified that “According to the survey conducted by the Congolese National Commission for Refugees (Baraka Office) there are 9,312 Burundian and 1,175 Rwandan refugees living in the territory of Fizi, as well as there are Congolese refugees in Burundi, Rwanda and Tanzania. But those living in Tanzania have been in the repatriation process since 2006, according to the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (Baraka office). Even though the total number was estimated at 150,000 when the repatriation started, there are still 62,000 Congolese refugees in Tanzania up to this day.
Mr. Mfaume said: “Since we work in an area of turbulence with the presence of armed groups and local Democratic Front for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR) rebels, with the military operations “AMANI LEO” triggered by the Congolese government, we have been witnessing massive displacements of civilians caused by war, scattered with the looting, arbitrary arrests and illegal detentions of civilians, torture, intimidation, acts of sexual violence against women and girls with impunity and increasing fear. All this is really an infernal cycle in which local people are found.”
A Landscape in Baraka, Fizi Territory, South Kivu
SVH is a member organization of the “Groupe Thematique Protection-GTP” (Thematic Group for Protection) based in Baraka. This Thematic Group is lead by UNHCR. And the Norwegian Refugee Council NRC is co-lead with a special focus on the population movement. On this date the Internally Displaced People are estimated at 90,610 across the territory of Fizi. Source: UNOCHA, Baraka office. It should be noted that any time this figure can increase at a rate of return in some areas depending on a relative calm. It could fall at any rate due to turbulence in the hot zones due to conflict tensions.
Refugees and IDPs in this area are facing very serious problems:
01. Refugees who live in this area are not confined to camp, they live in villages and towns. But the Burundians and Rwandans who have been here since 1972, 1993-1994, are still with no clear status. They have no material assistance either from the Congolese government or from the UNHCR. They are often victims of harassment by the Congolese army, the custom services and the secret services of DR Congo, Rwanda andBurundi. They are also victims of stigma, discrimination on the part of some Congolese residents in an unfair way due to political conflicts that have been growing in the Great Lakes Region for a decade.
02. For the Congolese refugees who come from abroad the return or voluntary repatriation is organized by UNHCR in conjunction with the Congolese governement. Some time back, they used to receive good assistance which has now been considerably reduced.
HEALTH: The refugees and IDP’s in Fizi territory used to receive medical care which was paid on a low rate according to a humanitarian health structure that was supported by the UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This assistance has decreased since 2008. And being unstable and poor, these returnees are now suffering, and unfortunately the most vulnerable returnees die because they cannot support themselves.
Refugees and IDPs in this area are facing very serious problems:
01. Refugees who live in this area are not confined to camp, they live in villages and towns. But the Burundians and Rwandans who have been here since 1972, 1993-1994, are still with no clear status. They have no material assistance either from the Congolese government or from the UNHCR. They are often victims of harassment by the Congolese army, the custom services and the secret services of DR Congo, Rwanda andBurundi. They are also victims of stigma, discrimination on the part of some Congolese residents in an unfair way due to political conflicts that have been growing in the Great Lakes Region for a decade.
02. For the Congolese refugees who come from abroad the return or voluntary repatriation is organized by UNHCR in conjunction with the Congolese governement. Some time back, they used to receive good assistance which has now been considerably reduced.
HEALTH: The refugees and IDP’s in Fizi territory used to receive medical care which was paid on a low rate according to a humanitarian health structure that was supported by the UNHCR and the Norwegian Refugee Council. This assistance has decreased since 2008. And being unstable and poor, these returnees are now suffering, and unfortunately the most vulnerable returnees die because they cannot support themselves.
Displaced People Trying to Fix Shelters After Long Days of Marching
FOOD AND NON-FOOD ITEMS: The food ration kit that is given to refugees and IDP’s is planned to last three months before they can get another one. But in reality this is insufficient and cannot cover the needs of families even though they put together their food with the idea of having a consistent quantity. It cannot either last until the first harvest following the settlement of these people of concern. This state of hunger and need has been a big cause for conflict of cohabitation between refugees and residents.
EDUCATION: At first the building of schools and fee payments for children of refugees were supported by UNICEF and other NGO partners operating under the UNHCR: Now this assistance is over. You can now see all over the territory that children of vulnerable families are facing this severe lack of means to be in school. And the final result is they drop out before the end of the school year and roam the neighborhood with no future at all!
03. Since the Congolese government has no coherent program for the protection of refugees, returnees and IDP’s we are witnessing many conflicts of identity and land. This crisis has not found a lasting solution in this area. According to the officers of the RNC (Congolese National Commission for Refugees) here, their advocacy is limited by lack of formal, appropriate mechanisms. And it’s frequent to see that Congolese returnees are victim of police arrest and brutality in DRC and neighboring countries for the simple reason that they lack valid identification papers but are still using the Voluntary Repatriation Forms (VRF) from Tanzania which are not recognized on the Congolese territory. And the Congolese government has not yet found a solution to this serious issue.
As fo the IDP’s, they are so numerous across Fizi territory without any assistance from the Congolese authorities. Local NGOs that are willing to help them are failing due to severe lack of logistical and financial resources. But still more, these NGO’s do all their best to provide these IDP’s with some services according to their possibilities.
International NGOs that provide food and non-food items to all these people of concern have hard time doing this, because they don’t have easy access to the populations in need for the only reason that the roads are not in good conditions and there is no reliable security in the most remote areas. Apart from these few examples of aid in the field of education, health and food that can reach the lucky ones, the rest of the refugees, returnees and IDP’s are obliged to lead a life of struggle in order to survive.
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EDUCATION: At first the building of schools and fee payments for children of refugees were supported by UNICEF and other NGO partners operating under the UNHCR: Now this assistance is over. You can now see all over the territory that children of vulnerable families are facing this severe lack of means to be in school. And the final result is they drop out before the end of the school year and roam the neighborhood with no future at all!
03. Since the Congolese government has no coherent program for the protection of refugees, returnees and IDP’s we are witnessing many conflicts of identity and land. This crisis has not found a lasting solution in this area. According to the officers of the RNC (Congolese National Commission for Refugees) here, their advocacy is limited by lack of formal, appropriate mechanisms. And it’s frequent to see that Congolese returnees are victim of police arrest and brutality in DRC and neighboring countries for the simple reason that they lack valid identification papers but are still using the Voluntary Repatriation Forms (VRF) from Tanzania which are not recognized on the Congolese territory. And the Congolese government has not yet found a solution to this serious issue.
As fo the IDP’s, they are so numerous across Fizi territory without any assistance from the Congolese authorities. Local NGOs that are willing to help them are failing due to severe lack of logistical and financial resources. But still more, these NGO’s do all their best to provide these IDP’s with some services according to their possibilities.
International NGOs that provide food and non-food items to all these people of concern have hard time doing this, because they don’t have easy access to the populations in need for the only reason that the roads are not in good conditions and there is no reliable security in the most remote areas. Apart from these few examples of aid in the field of education, health and food that can reach the lucky ones, the rest of the refugees, returnees and IDP’s are obliged to lead a life of struggle in order to survive.
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Refugee Women at Risk in Gasorwe Refugee Camp, Burundi
(Posted by Souleymane Kabwe on Thursday, May 20, 2010)
Furaha Katumbi taken to the Ambulance 16 hours after Being Raped & Beaten
To give a brief overview of the problem refugees face in host countries around the world, we would just say refugees are considered to be instruments or merchandises for the government revenue even though the laws state that everyone is equal no matter the gender and has right to human dignity.
”All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” thus states Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
But the current situation people have been facing in the Great Lakes Region (Central Africa), is very inhumane and very degrading. Due to several years of war, the reality of life shows that women and children have become the object of abuse by men in uniforms, contrary to Article 5 of the UDHR that states that:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”... But for no apparent reason, women are taken from their families by force or even killed if there is resistance. Most often, armed soldiers intimidate the population wherever they pass by raping women in front of their husbands and kids, or sometimes force kids to either publicly rape their own mother or receive a bullet in their head for not obeying.
”All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights. They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.” thus states Article 1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR)
But the current situation people have been facing in the Great Lakes Region (Central Africa), is very inhumane and very degrading. Due to several years of war, the reality of life shows that women and children have become the object of abuse by men in uniforms, contrary to Article 5 of the UDHR that states that:
“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”... But for no apparent reason, women are taken from their families by force or even killed if there is resistance. Most often, armed soldiers intimidate the population wherever they pass by raping women in front of their husbands and kids, or sometimes force kids to either publicly rape their own mother or receive a bullet in their head for not obeying.
Fellow Refugee Women Carrying Furaha Katumbi (Victim of Rape) on a Stretcher
Refugees must be protected by the host countries if they satisfy Article 1 of the 1951 Refugee Convention and its protocol that says:
"For the purposes of the present Convention, the term “refugee” shall apply to any person who:
(1) Has been considered a refugee under the Arrangements of 12 May 1926 and 30 June 1928 or under the Conventions of 28 October 1933 and 10 February 1938, the Protocol of 14 September 1939 or the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization;
Decisions of non-eligibility taken by the International Refugee Organization during the period of its activities shall not prevent the status of refugee being accorded to persons who fulfill the conditions of paragraph 2 of this section;
(2) As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. In the case of a person who has more than one nationality, the term “the country of his nationality” shall mean each of the countries of which he is a national, and a person shall not be deemed to be lacking the protection of the country of his nationality if, without any valid reason based on well-founded fear, he has not availed himself of the protection of one of the countries of which he is a national.”
Women are declared emancipated once they attain a certain age and have therefore right to exercise and enjoy their rights and duties without interference. This is clearly stipulated in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: ”Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment; (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection, etc.”
"For the purposes of the present Convention, the term “refugee” shall apply to any person who:
(1) Has been considered a refugee under the Arrangements of 12 May 1926 and 30 June 1928 or under the Conventions of 28 October 1933 and 10 February 1938, the Protocol of 14 September 1939 or the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization;
Decisions of non-eligibility taken by the International Refugee Organization during the period of its activities shall not prevent the status of refugee being accorded to persons who fulfill the conditions of paragraph 2 of this section;
(2) As a result of events occurring before 1 January 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it. In the case of a person who has more than one nationality, the term “the country of his nationality” shall mean each of the countries of which he is a national, and a person shall not be deemed to be lacking the protection of the country of his nationality if, without any valid reason based on well-founded fear, he has not availed himself of the protection of one of the countries of which he is a national.”
Women are declared emancipated once they attain a certain age and have therefore right to exercise and enjoy their rights and duties without interference. This is clearly stipulated in Article 23 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that: ”Everyone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to just and favorable conditions of work and to protection against unemployment; (2) Everyone, without any discrimination, has the right to just and favorable remuneration ensuring for himself and his family an existence worthy of human dignity, and supplemented, if necessary, by other means of social protection, etc.”
Furaha Katumbi, with a Swollen Face, Lies in Bed Awaiting Medical Care
The following report came from the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) based in Burundi. Its president, Swedi Fataki Mutambala, informed Refugee Space Project (RSP) that a Congolese refugee woman (Furaha Katumbi aged 20) was victim of some sort of abuse above-mentioned. On March 15, 2010 she displayed some peanuts for sale before her dwelling in Gasorwe refugee camp. Around 6 pm the Camp police station commander, Innocent Bizimana, came along and told Furaha that she has violated the camp rule that says: “ No refugee shall exercise any selling of good in Gasorwe Camp”. He ordered Furaha to go with him to the station. The woman carried her 2 kids (aged 1 month and 2 years) and followed the camp commander who held her and her kids in custody for an hour.
After that he released her and took her some meters away from the police station. There, in the dark, Commander Innocent Bizimana forced her to put out her clothes and raped her. It was both the cries of Furaha and those of her children that attracted the attention of the security guard and some other people who approached in the darkness and saw the commander on top of the woman. After being informed of this news, the refugees’ president Mr. Benjamin Kasiguza went immediately to the police station to meet with the camp commander. But he got surprised to see that some police officers were beating Furaha. Benjamin asked the reason of all that beating. The police officers said they were punishing Furaha because she attempted to escape from custody. Seeing that Furaha was bleeding and naked, Benjamin sent a woman called Mapendo to bring some clothes for the victim. And then the victim’s husband and other people were informed. All the people who came that night were surprised and shocked to see that police officers could treat a refugee woman like a criminal or animal. For what reason? Simply because she displayed some peanuts for sell in Gasorwe refugee camp where she is a refugee recognized by the Burundi government and the UNHCR.
After that he released her and took her some meters away from the police station. There, in the dark, Commander Innocent Bizimana forced her to put out her clothes and raped her. It was both the cries of Furaha and those of her children that attracted the attention of the security guard and some other people who approached in the darkness and saw the commander on top of the woman. After being informed of this news, the refugees’ president Mr. Benjamin Kasiguza went immediately to the police station to meet with the camp commander. But he got surprised to see that some police officers were beating Furaha. Benjamin asked the reason of all that beating. The police officers said they were punishing Furaha because she attempted to escape from custody. Seeing that Furaha was bleeding and naked, Benjamin sent a woman called Mapendo to bring some clothes for the victim. And then the victim’s husband and other people were informed. All the people who came that night were surprised and shocked to see that police officers could treat a refugee woman like a criminal or animal. For what reason? Simply because she displayed some peanuts for sell in Gasorwe refugee camp where she is a refugee recognized by the Burundi government and the UNHCR.
It’s only the following day, March 16, 2010 at 10 am that African Humanitarian Action (AHA) sent an ambulance. Furaha was taken to Kiremba hospital, in Ngozi province. Even though her heath was worse, she underwent a very fast medical check up and released the same day. No proper care or medicine was given to releve her psychological and physical pains.This situation of non assistance to a person in danger and non adequate medical attention caused a huge trauma and revolt within the refugee community and made the refugee women of Gasorwe to demonstrate. UNHCR officials in Burundi -Mr Pouye (Gasorwe Camp Officer in Charge) and Hector Malonga (Protection Officer)- just showed themselves the day refugee women demonstrated. They visited Furaha at her home and promised that an investigation would be conducted and a UNHCR team from Bujumbura would come for this urgent and serious case. But, unfortunately, nothing has been done till this day. Nobody came from Bujumbura, either from the UNHCR-Burundi or from the Burundi government for investigations or for the victim’s further medical treatments.
It’s very current to witness that refugee women who try to help their families by self employing themselves in little trading and selling merchandises experience abuses from the camp authorities, even to the extent of sexual abuses as the means of silencing them from voicing up their concerns. The so-called government entities that are supposed to protect refugees and women at risk are the same entities that encourage inhuman ways because the government does not punish these evil doers. We really want to hear from the Burundi government and the UNHCR-Burundi if it’s a crime punishable with rape and beatings if a woman is found selling goods in a refugee camp.
The violation of refugees’ rights in Burundi has become very, very blatant. There is a need for international Community intervention because the UNHCR in the field proves to be blind, dumb and very inactive. And we don’t expect any good or durable solution coming out of it.
Refugee Women demonstrating in Gasorwe Camp to Denounce the Rape Case
ADR President in Burundi, Swedi Fataki Mutambala, told the Refugee Space Project in USA that everything is being done by the UNHCR and Burundi government authorities to hide the outcome of this criminal incident because one of them is involved in this criminal act. “ Refugees don’t see any difference between the UNHCR-Burundi and the Burundi government” emphasized Swedi. “The case of Furaha is just one among many that we will report in our next reports. Someone must stand up and speak out for refugees in this country. Radical change is really needed in refugees’ administration in Burundi. Some authorities are paid not because they work for refugees but against them. And this is unacceptable. We call upon the UNHCR Head Office in Geneva to send independent investigators for we have a lot of things to tell them.”
As a Refugee Rights Advocacy Organization, Refugee Space Project (RSP) calls upon the UNHCR-Burundi, the UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva and the Ministry of Home Affairs in Burundi to immediately investigate and open a case against all the criminals in Furaha incident, and also make sure that the Burundi government be pushed to respect refugees’ human dignity and abide by the Convention on Refugees. If not so, a durable solution must be envisaged for these thousands of refugees who everyday face insecurity and danger with little or no help from the UNHCR and the Burundi government.
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As a Refugee Rights Advocacy Organization, Refugee Space Project (RSP) calls upon the UNHCR-Burundi, the UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva and the Ministry of Home Affairs in Burundi to immediately investigate and open a case against all the criminals in Furaha incident, and also make sure that the Burundi government be pushed to respect refugees’ human dignity and abide by the Convention on Refugees. If not so, a durable solution must be envisaged for these thousands of refugees who everyday face insecurity and danger with little or no help from the UNHCR and the Burundi government.
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Tanzania Grants Citizenship to 16_2,000 Burundian Refugees
(Posted by Souleymane Kabwe on Thursday, April 22, 2010)
Burundian Refugees Rejoycing after Receiving their Citizenship Certificates
On behalf of all the refugees around the world, we, Leaders of Refugee Space Project (RSP) praise the government of Tanzania for granting citizenship to 162,000 Burundian refugees.
Hundreds thousands of Burundian refugees fled their country of origin in1972 due to the ethnic conflicts and massacre between Hutus and Tutsis. The majority of the Burundian population are Hutu (85%) but were dominated by the minority Tutsi from the independence day on July 1, 1962 to 2003. Tutsis ruled the country for more than 40 years with the Tutsi-dominated army.
Burundi was first colonized by Germany,then Belgium came to take over. During its independence, Belgium and the international community left the country in the hands of Tutsi. Why? Because Tutsis seemed intelligent -according to the Belgian philosophy- but this was just a way to protect them from any extinction as they are a minority. Colonel Michel Micombero became the first president of the Republic of Burundi and was knocked down by Colonel Jean Baptiste Bagaza in 1976. On September 3, 1987 Major Pierre Buyoya led a military coup against the Second Republic led by Colonel Jean Baptist Bagaza, and Buyoya became the president of the Third Republic. He proclaimed an agenda of liberalization and patching relations between Hutu and Tutsi. All the Tutsi presidents are from the same town called Rutovu in Bururi province at the South part of Burundi and are somehow relatives. This made people who very well knew the history of Burundi to say that the country was a kind of kingdom or oligarchy.
During the massacre between Hutu and Tutsi in 1972, Some Hutu fled the country and became refugees in many countries in Africa. The majority went to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Ex-Zaire) and Tanzania. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, they were given many opportunities such as jobs, access to education and freedom of movement. When the Democratic Republic of Congo was attacked by Rwanda and Uganda in 1998, the majority of Burundian refugees left Congo and went to Tanzania where most of them were living in refugee camps.
We thank the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Officials in Tanzania for playing its role as a UN Refugee Agency by finding durable solution to Burundian Refugees. The staff of UNHCR in Tanzania has repatriated some Burundian refugees, some got the chance to be resettled in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and in European countries and now the majority of these people (162,000) are granted citizenship by the Tanzania government. This is a rare, once-in-a-life-time act of generosity that must be praised and encouraged by the International Community. Tanzania has made history! Now we urge other countries with long-term refugees to follow Tanzania's example.
Let's hope that the government of Tanzania will effectively consider all those Burundian refugees as its citizens, and will not give them just certificates but will really give them the same opportunities given to Tanzanian citizens because many African countries failed to do so. We also recommend the International Community to grant more support to the government of Tanzania in order to accomplish this mission in the letter and the spirit.
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Hundreds thousands of Burundian refugees fled their country of origin in1972 due to the ethnic conflicts and massacre between Hutus and Tutsis. The majority of the Burundian population are Hutu (85%) but were dominated by the minority Tutsi from the independence day on July 1, 1962 to 2003. Tutsis ruled the country for more than 40 years with the Tutsi-dominated army.
Burundi was first colonized by Germany,then Belgium came to take over. During its independence, Belgium and the international community left the country in the hands of Tutsi. Why? Because Tutsis seemed intelligent -according to the Belgian philosophy- but this was just a way to protect them from any extinction as they are a minority. Colonel Michel Micombero became the first president of the Republic of Burundi and was knocked down by Colonel Jean Baptiste Bagaza in 1976. On September 3, 1987 Major Pierre Buyoya led a military coup against the Second Republic led by Colonel Jean Baptist Bagaza, and Buyoya became the president of the Third Republic. He proclaimed an agenda of liberalization and patching relations between Hutu and Tutsi. All the Tutsi presidents are from the same town called Rutovu in Bururi province at the South part of Burundi and are somehow relatives. This made people who very well knew the history of Burundi to say that the country was a kind of kingdom or oligarchy.
During the massacre between Hutu and Tutsi in 1972, Some Hutu fled the country and became refugees in many countries in Africa. The majority went to the Democratic Republic of Congo (Ex-Zaire) and Tanzania. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, they were given many opportunities such as jobs, access to education and freedom of movement. When the Democratic Republic of Congo was attacked by Rwanda and Uganda in 1998, the majority of Burundian refugees left Congo and went to Tanzania where most of them were living in refugee camps.
We thank the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Officials in Tanzania for playing its role as a UN Refugee Agency by finding durable solution to Burundian Refugees. The staff of UNHCR in Tanzania has repatriated some Burundian refugees, some got the chance to be resettled in the United States of America, Canada, Australia, and in European countries and now the majority of these people (162,000) are granted citizenship by the Tanzania government. This is a rare, once-in-a-life-time act of generosity that must be praised and encouraged by the International Community. Tanzania has made history! Now we urge other countries with long-term refugees to follow Tanzania's example.
Let's hope that the government of Tanzania will effectively consider all those Burundian refugees as its citizens, and will not give them just certificates but will really give them the same opportunities given to Tanzanian citizens because many African countries failed to do so. We also recommend the International Community to grant more support to the government of Tanzania in order to accomplish this mission in the letter and the spirit.
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Refugee Gunned Down in Burundi
(Compiled by MacGoddins Lushimba)
Posted on Thursday, April 22, 2010
The Late Amissi Ali on his Death Bed with Hole in the Chest left by Bullet
Recently the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) based in Bujumbura, Burundi, contacted the Refugee Space Project-RSP in connection with some refugee rights violations within and outside the refugee camps. Burundi ADR Chairman (Mr. Swedi Fataki Mutambala) who was joined on the phone said there are now in Burundi serious cruel refugee rights violations that need to be taken to the attention of the international community before a deep chaos befalls the asylum seekers/refugees living in Burundi.
According to a recent survey Burundi is hosting almost 31,042 refugees among which 11,000 are found in towns as urban refugees and the rest in refugee camps as rural refugees. The Congolese from the Democratic Republic of Congo are the majority or almost 90% of the total followed by Rwandese, Ugandans, Somalis, etc.
Mr. Swedi Fataki Mutambala said the situation is not really good. Refugees are living in a permanent state of fear due to many acts of violence perpetrated against them by armed men in uniform, be it either in the camp or in town. ” We don’t know what can happen tomorrow; who is going to be attacked, molested or even killed. We are living like in a Western movie where the strongest impose his own law and can even rule and devour the weakest”. With this metaphor Swedi was just describing how the rule of law is almost dead, inexistent in the refugee community in Burundi. “Anyone can do anything to us. And nobody can even raise his finger or say anything to protect us, poor refugees.”
Among many instances of violence he just brought to our attention the death of a Congolese refugee. The man was Mr. Ali Amissi, a carpenter aged 57. On Friday, January 29, 2010 this Congolese refugee was attacked and gunned down by armed men one evening at 7:40 pm while he was walking back home after a church service. This incident happened on the 1st street in Kinama location, Bujumbura. “This is just one of numerous cases of violence that regularly occurred in Bujumbura, said Mr Swedi Fataki Mutambala, the President of ADR Burundi. “We are living in a jungle.” The deceased has left behind him a widow Zinduna Anissa aged 48 and 9 orphans.
Another Hole in Amissi's Back Left by the Same Bullet
Take a look at the first photo and you can see the bullet hole in the chest of the victim. In the second photo on the back, see the hole in the back of the victim left by the same bullet.
After receiving this sad news the information desk of the "Refugee Space Project" called Burundi and conducted a phone interview with some witnesses and the widow. Our main concern as Refugee Rights Defenders was to know the reaction of the Burundian government, the UNHCR and other implementing agencies (that work in conjunction with the UNHCR) after the killing of Mr. Amissi, and what they have done so far to show that they care about refugees’ life and they are willing to prevent such crimes to be repeated in the future. The answer was clear: Until this day the Burundian government has not paid any attention to this serious crime. It just delivered a death certificate for the deceased. No police investigation has been conducted. But what is very shocking is that even the UNHCR-Burundi and its Implementing partners did not show up.
“We took time to inform the Protection Department of the UNHCR-Burundi, but nobody showed up until today” emphasized Mr Ahmed Kalume who is the Information Officer of ADR-Burundi. “It has been now three months since the poor man was gunned down; and before he was killed he was attacked 4 times by armed men who just either beat him or robbed his house. And each time the UNHCR Protection Unit was informed of all those incidents, but they just downplayed them….. And the result today is the death of a poor, innocent refugee.”
Information came to our news desk that UNHCR-Burundi works in conjunction with the following implementing partners: Conseil Norvegien pour les Refugies (CNR) and Handicap International France (HIF). These organizations are in Burundi to care about asylum seekers/refugees. But none of them had time to go to the site of murder or even to visit the widow and her children. There was no ambulance or any medical team for that case. The body was just picked up by other refugees who took it to the deceased house where it was taken care of before burial. What is flabbergasting is that even the expenses for the burial of Amissi’s body was left to the widow herself with the help of some refugees who donated something in kind or cash for this occasion.
The question now is: What is the role of the UNHCR and its implementing partners in Burundi? Why did they not say anything or do anything to show that they care about refugees? Will you blame us if we say
that the rights and freedom of refugees in Africa are being abused by armed men in uniform and by government officials? This has become a regular system due to lack of fair justice system and political will.
In many an occasion, refugees who face hardship or danger end up being victims because, in 9 cases out of 10, there is nobody who is willing to help. The incident that occurred to the Congolese refugee in Burundi is not just a coincidence because it has become a routine that armed men in uniform rule by forfeiting crimes on refugees and still go unpunished.
After receiving this sad news the information desk of the "Refugee Space Project" called Burundi and conducted a phone interview with some witnesses and the widow. Our main concern as Refugee Rights Defenders was to know the reaction of the Burundian government, the UNHCR and other implementing agencies (that work in conjunction with the UNHCR) after the killing of Mr. Amissi, and what they have done so far to show that they care about refugees’ life and they are willing to prevent such crimes to be repeated in the future. The answer was clear: Until this day the Burundian government has not paid any attention to this serious crime. It just delivered a death certificate for the deceased. No police investigation has been conducted. But what is very shocking is that even the UNHCR-Burundi and its Implementing partners did not show up.
“We took time to inform the Protection Department of the UNHCR-Burundi, but nobody showed up until today” emphasized Mr Ahmed Kalume who is the Information Officer of ADR-Burundi. “It has been now three months since the poor man was gunned down; and before he was killed he was attacked 4 times by armed men who just either beat him or robbed his house. And each time the UNHCR Protection Unit was informed of all those incidents, but they just downplayed them….. And the result today is the death of a poor, innocent refugee.”
Information came to our news desk that UNHCR-Burundi works in conjunction with the following implementing partners: Conseil Norvegien pour les Refugies (CNR) and Handicap International France (HIF). These organizations are in Burundi to care about asylum seekers/refugees. But none of them had time to go to the site of murder or even to visit the widow and her children. There was no ambulance or any medical team for that case. The body was just picked up by other refugees who took it to the deceased house where it was taken care of before burial. What is flabbergasting is that even the expenses for the burial of Amissi’s body was left to the widow herself with the help of some refugees who donated something in kind or cash for this occasion.
The question now is: What is the role of the UNHCR and its implementing partners in Burundi? Why did they not say anything or do anything to show that they care about refugees? Will you blame us if we say
that the rights and freedom of refugees in Africa are being abused by armed men in uniform and by government officials? This has become a regular system due to lack of fair justice system and political will.
In many an occasion, refugees who face hardship or danger end up being victims because, in 9 cases out of 10, there is nobody who is willing to help. The incident that occurred to the Congolese refugee in Burundi is not just a coincidence because it has become a routine that armed men in uniform rule by forfeiting crimes on refugees and still go unpunished.
French Version of Late Amissi's Death Certificate
Even though the 1951 Convention on Refugees clearly states the rights and responsibilities of refugees in host countries and encourages each signatory country to abide by those laws, little has been done in this field. The reality of life led by refugees gives another picture of desolation and real catastrophe. These cruel acts make a lot of asylum seekers/refugees to ask themselves questions like: “Why do countries don’t close their borders to asylum seekers if they don’t like them on their territory but prefer to let them in so that they lock them in encampments and deprive them of too many of their rights?”, “and why do the UNHCR has offices in some countries but still does not have power to exercise its authority when it comes to defending and protecting these people of concern in accordance with the Geneva Conventions?”
Take a look at the world map and see how asylum seekers/refugees undergo serious sufferings and injustice. Hosting countries organize themselves to hide this side of things while in reality Refugees are considered as business tools or animals in a zoo. And the last people to know about this sad reality are those who kindly or blindly donate for refugee causes but forget or are just not allowed to have strict follow up on how refugees live, their health, their education, etc. and the absence of transparency means for auditing how the funds are being used in the field.
Even though the UNHCR has the mandate to protect refugees, you will see that, in many countries this organization seems to be powerless in front of government officials. Refugees are sexually, psychologically, physically or emotionally abused by individuals and organizations for their own selfish lusts and ambition. What will be the fate of refugees if the UNHCR keeps acting powerlessly and fails to protect them?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has right to life, to education, freedom of speech, of association, of movement, etc. but refugees are not actually enjoying all these rights. So many plights of refugees have reached the ears of high officials, even the International Community, but only few have been answered, especially for refugees found in third world countries.
We hope anyone who will read the story above and is willing to know much about the fate of refugees in Burundi can just get in touch with our news desk or directly with the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights in Burundi whose address is among our partners.
As a Human Rights Entity, the Refugee Space Project-RSP recommends that the Burundian government, the UNHCR-Burundi and all the implementing partners that work for refugees in Burundi make sure that an investigation is conducted as soon as possible so that the criminals be identified, arrested, taken to court and convicted. Also financial, material and psychological assistance must be given to the widow and the 9 orphans. Above all, the refugees’ agencies should sit in a special meeting to study the root-causes behind all this chain of crimes perpetrated on refugees, and what can be done to put an end to it and provide refugees with true protection or a durable solution.
In the end we are also pleading in favor of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) in Burundi which is now facing threats from the Burundi government that is accusing them of revealing the tragic death of Ali Amissi to the world and also of taking charge to defend their rights on their own instead of relying on the UNHCR and the Government that can do it well through their national offices of protection for refugees and stateless (NOPRS).
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Take a look at the world map and see how asylum seekers/refugees undergo serious sufferings and injustice. Hosting countries organize themselves to hide this side of things while in reality Refugees are considered as business tools or animals in a zoo. And the last people to know about this sad reality are those who kindly or blindly donate for refugee causes but forget or are just not allowed to have strict follow up on how refugees live, their health, their education, etc. and the absence of transparency means for auditing how the funds are being used in the field.
Even though the UNHCR has the mandate to protect refugees, you will see that, in many countries this organization seems to be powerless in front of government officials. Refugees are sexually, psychologically, physically or emotionally abused by individuals and organizations for their own selfish lusts and ambition. What will be the fate of refugees if the UNHCR keeps acting powerlessly and fails to protect them?
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that everyone has right to life, to education, freedom of speech, of association, of movement, etc. but refugees are not actually enjoying all these rights. So many plights of refugees have reached the ears of high officials, even the International Community, but only few have been answered, especially for refugees found in third world countries.
We hope anyone who will read the story above and is willing to know much about the fate of refugees in Burundi can just get in touch with our news desk or directly with the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights in Burundi whose address is among our partners.
As a Human Rights Entity, the Refugee Space Project-RSP recommends that the Burundian government, the UNHCR-Burundi and all the implementing partners that work for refugees in Burundi make sure that an investigation is conducted as soon as possible so that the criminals be identified, arrested, taken to court and convicted. Also financial, material and psychological assistance must be given to the widow and the 9 orphans. Above all, the refugees’ agencies should sit in a special meeting to study the root-causes behind all this chain of crimes perpetrated on refugees, and what can be done to put an end to it and provide refugees with true protection or a durable solution.
In the end we are also pleading in favor of the Association for the Defense of Refugee Rights (ADR) in Burundi which is now facing threats from the Burundi government that is accusing them of revealing the tragic death of Ali Amissi to the world and also of taking charge to defend their rights on their own instead of relying on the UNHCR and the Government that can do it well through their national offices of protection for refugees and stateless (NOPRS).
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