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Migrant in Libya relives brutal detention through sketches

Por:  Samy Magdy.

 

A guard withholds water from a barefoot migrant kneeling in front of him. An emaciated man lies on the ground while a thermostat reads a broiling 43 degrees Celsius. Refugees cower to the ground as bullets whiz by.

These rough pencil sketches by an Eritrean refugee offer a glimpse of the brutal reality of Libya’s migrant detention centers, where thousands have been locked away for months or even years. Most are there after failing to make the perilous crossing to Europe through the Mediterranean Sea.

The artist asked to only be identified by his nickname, Aser, because he fears reprisals from militias for speaking out about what he says are “nightmare conditions” inside the centers. In a country with no functioning government, it is often competing militias who run the detention centers and make money off migrants.

The drawings are based on what Aser, 28, witnessed inside several migrant facilities in Tripoli between September 2017 and October this year. At night, he recalls, he awoke to the sounds of militiamen dragging migrants from their sleep and beating them to get ransoms from their families, mostly in sub-Saharan Africa. Guards withheld food, water and medicine for the same reason.

Libya’s migrant detention centers are rife with abuse, and many have gotten caught in the crossfire of the country’s civil war. One drawing depicts refugees in the crossfire between forces of military commander Khalifa Hifter and militias allied with the United Nations-supported government in Tripoli.

Libya became a major crossing point for migrants to Europe after the death of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi in 2011, but Europe now sends money for Libya to prevent migrants from reaching its shores. With increased reports of torture and abuse inside detention centers, Europe’s policy of supporting the Libyan coast guard as it intercepts fleeing migrants has come under growing criticism.

Aser says that often, the only drinking water available inside the hangars where he was kept was a few buckets of water for hundreds of people. He and others went weeks without seeing sunlight, and the crowded centers became breeding grounds for disease. At the last facility where he was held, Abu Salim, he and another migrant, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said two Eritreans died from what they believed to be tuberculosis.

Aser’s journey began more than four years ago, when he escaped forced military conscription in Eritrea, considered among the world’s most repressive governments. He made his way through Ethiopia and Sudan, and paid $6,000 to traffickers in Libya to secure a place on a boat to Europe. But the vessel was intercepted by the Libyan coast guard.

He ended up in Tripoli in September 2017 and was placed in the first of three centers. Visiting workers from Doctors Without Borders, or MSF, provided him with pencils and paper, and he worked out of the sight of guards. He sometimes hid the drawings with other migrants, and took photos of some sketches before destroying them.

 

In late October, Aser fled to an already overcrowded United Nations-run facility with hundreds of other detainees. Now his hope is that he can be one of the few to qualify for asylum, who are put on flights via Niger and Rwanda to Europe.

In the meantime, he says, his only escape is art.

“I dream that one day I can move out of Libya to develop my skill by gaining additional education,” he said.

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This story was first published on Dec. 31, 2019. It was updated on Jan. 2, 2020, to correct that the Eritrean refugee making sketches about migrant detention centers in Libya fled conscription in Eritrea, not Ethiopia.

Copyright 2020 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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More support needed for refugee education in Iran

Asia/ Iran/ 02.01.2020/ Fuente: www.unhcr.org.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, welcomes Iran’s efforts to extend education opportunities for nearly half a million Afghan children in the country, and recognizes that the country needs greater humanitarian support because of the economic challenges it faces today.

Iran has been one of the world’s leading refugee hosts for decades and currently has some one million registered refugees from Afghanistan. In addition, over two million Afghans are estimated to live in Iran either without documentation or on national passports.

Iran leads by example in including refugees in national services. Since a law introduced in 2015, all Afghan children can go to school, regardless of whether they are refugees, holders of an Afghan national passport or undocumented. Refugee children study side by side with their Iranian classmates, following the national curriculum.

Official figures estimate that some 480,000 Afghan refugee and undocumented children are currently enrolled in school for the 2019-2020 academic year, a steady increase from the previous years. In 2019 alone, Iran has created places for some 60,000 new Afghan students in its schools.

Particularly in light of ongoing economic challenges, the country needs additional humanitarian support to ensure education and other services to refugees are maintained.

In the past year the cost of living in Iran has skyrocketed, making it harder than ever before for families – Iranians and Afghans alike – to make ends meet.

UNHCR remains concerned that without additional global support for refugee operations in Iran, our ability to continue supporting the government in providing education to Afghan children will be drastically affected.

In 2019, UNHCR co-funded with the government the construction of a dozen school buildings for refugees and Iranians (each with 12 class rooms) at a cost of US$650,000 each. With increasing construction costs and without enough funding the same may not be possible in 2020.

In 2016, the Government of Iran removed the school fee that refugee families had to pay to secure a place in school for their children, putting refugee families on a par with Iranians. However, an increase in the cost of school supplies and uniforms has put further pressure on families’ budgets, and a recent threefold increase in the price of petrol is expected to raise the cost of transportation to school for families that need it.

Currently, some schools operate on two shifts to give the opportunity to as many children as possible to get an education. But many schools are still overcrowded, with teachers often struggling to allocate enough time to each student.

A worrying number of refugee and undocumented families have told UNHCR that, due to increased daily costs, they may have to take their children out of school and send them out to work to so they can contribute to the family income.

So far for our Iran operations, UNHCR has received only 30 per cent of the required US$98.9 million to date.

Source of the notice: https://www.unhcr.org/news/briefing/2019/12/5dea18ac4/support-needed-refugee-education-iran.html

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Sudanese families find refuge in an abandoned Libyan warehouse

By: Sara Creta.

Sudanese newborns and expecting mothers are among the refugees who took shelter in the Tripoli hangar

 

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Muzoon Almellehan returns to Jordan to meet Syrian refugees striving to get an education

18 de octubre de 2017 / Fuente: https://www.unicef.org

UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Muzoon Almellehan travelled to Jordan to meet children who, like her, fled the Syria conflict and are now determined to go to school despite extremely challenging circumstances. It was the first time Muzoon had returned to the country – where she spent three years in refugee camps, before being resettled in the United Kingdom with her family in 2015.

“Returning to Jordan to meet children whose hope has been restored through education has compelled me to raise my voice even louder for the 27 million children who remain out of school because of conflict. I recommit myself to represent all of the children whose voices have been silenced for too long – and whose chance to learn, and of hope for a better future have been destroyed by war,» said Muzoon.

Around 2.4 million Syrian children are missing out on education, including 1.7 million inside Syria and more than 730,000 Syrian refugee children in Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Some Syrian children have never been inside a classroom, while others have lost five or six years of their education.

During her visit, Muzoon met children attending a UNICEF-supported Makani Centre in Amman including 14-year-old Sedra, who fled the conflict in Syria with her family when she was just 10 years old. She missed two years of school and now is getting the support she needs to catch up on her learning and join a public school soon. She dreams of becoming a legal advisor one day.

Makani Centres provide vulnerable children in Jordan – including Syrian refugees – with informal learning programmes, critical psychosocial support and life skills training. The centres also help children enroll into public schools.

«Hearing about Sedra’s experiences took me back to when my family and I fled the war. I was so sad and scared to leave my home and school behind – the only hope I held on to was to continue my education,” said Muzoon.

When Muzoon was forced to flee violence in Syria more than four years ago, her school books were the only belongings she took with her. She spent nearly three years in Jordan, including 18 months in Za’atari refugee camp, where she made it her personal mission to get more girls into education. She went from tent to tent talking to parents to encourage them to get their children into school and learning. Her commitment as an education activist led to her appointment as UNICEF’s youngest ever Goodwill Ambassador in June 2017.

“Education equips girls and boys with the knowledge and skills to fully realize their potential. Schools also provide stability and a sense of normalcy that help Syrian children overcome the challenges of life as a refugee,” said UNICEF Jordan Representative Robert Jenkins. “Jordan has made an incredible commitment to enable Syrian children to access education, but urgent support is required from the global community to further build on progress achieved to date.”

Since the conflict began, UNICEF has worked with partners to increase access to formal and informal education for children affected by the Syria crisis, including through the creation of double-shifting systems in nearly 500 schools in Jordan and Lebanon, ‘back-to-learning’ campaigns, and rehabilitation of some 1,000 classrooms across refugee host countries. However, a devastating funding gap is preventing the organization from reaching more children. UNICEF has received only half of the funding needed to provide education for children affected by the Syria conflict.

Fuente noticia: https://www.unicef.org/media/media_101054.html

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