Archive for ‘War Lords’

23/04/2022

Europe Sweeps Away More Refugees, Asylum Seekers – Part I: UK, Greece

Human Wrongs Watch

MADRID, Apr 21 2022 (IPS)* – In what looks pretty much like an ‘operation clean sweep’ aiming at getting rid of more and more migrants, refugees and asylum seekers by shipping them far away, the process of ‘externalisation’ of millions of victims of wars, poverty, climate crisis and political persecution, is now growing fast.

“At a time when the people of the UK have opened their hearts and homes to Ukrainians, the government is choosing to act with cruelty and rip up their obligations to others fleeing war and persecution” says HRW report. Credit: UNOHCR

In fact, in a short period of time, reports by major human rights organisations have revealed how the US and Europe, in addition to Australia, are increasingly sending migrants, refugees and asylum seekers to other countries, regardless of their human rights records.

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22/04/2022

Road to European Dream Paved by Extortion and Exploitation

Human Wrongs Watch

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Mit Al Korama’s youth (left) spent five months at the warehouse waiting for the trip to Italy (Ahmed Emad is in the middle and Ibrahim Abdullah is on the left). The group (right) during their kidnapping ordeal by Libyan militias. The group were waiting for the ransom to be paid. Credit: Supplied

Some, they heard, returned with a large sum of money and built European-style homes for their families. Others chose to stay in the European Union and encouraged their brothers to do so.

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22/04/2022

Women and Girls in South Sudan Battle Mounting Sexual Violence amid Conflict and Climate Crises

Human Wrongs Watch

BENTIU, South Sudan, 20 April 2022 (UNFPA)* – “I used to collect firewood, make charcoal, and sell fresh milk to help meet our family’s needs,” Nyachar Gatneay Rial, 38, told UNFPA. “Now I have to sell tea in the local market to earn some money.” 

Women and girls in South Sudan battle mounting sexual violence amid conflict and climate crises
Women return from collecting firewood in South Sudan’s Unity State, which has seen alarming levels of gender-based violence amid mounting conflict and spiralling climate catastrophes. ©UNFPA South Sudan

Ms. Rial’s family are among some 220,000 people whose homes and livelihoods were demolished by floods in South Sudan’s Unity State in July 2020, and who have spent years on the move in search of refuge in camps for internally displaced populations.

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21/04/2022

From Mosul to Raqqa to Mariupol, Killing Civilians Is a Crime

Human Wrongs Watch

By Medea Benjamin and Nicolas J. S. Davies – TRANSCEND Media Service*

North Americans have been shocked by the death and destruction of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, filling our screens with bombed buildings and dead bodies lying in the street. But the United States and its allies have waged war in country after country for decades, carving swathes of destruction through cities, towns and villages on a far greater scale than has so far disfigured Ukraine.

House bombed by coalition forces in East Mosul, Northern Iraq, 15 March, 2017. Credit: Amnesty International

As we recently reported, the U.S. and its allies have dropped over 337,000 bombs and missiles, or 46 per day, on nine countries since 2001 alone. Senior U.S. Defense Intelligence Agency officers told Newsweek that the first 24 days of Russia’s bombing of Ukraine was less destructive than the first day of U.S. bombing in Iraq in 2003.

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19/04/2022

High Cost of Debt Is Crippling Developing Nations: How Can We Bridge the Finance Divide?

Human Wrongs Watch

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UNITED NATIONS, Apr 18 2022 (IPS)* – As the world is rocked by a confluence of crises, the global economic outlook for 2022 is becoming ever more uncertain and fragile. Prospects for sustainable development for all and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 are bleak, particularly for developing countries.

A rainy day in the camps under COVID-19 lock-down, Maina IDP camp, Kachin, Myanmar. Credit: UNICEF/UNI358777/Oo.

While some, mostly developed countries, had access to cheap financing to cushion the socio-economic impacts of the pandemic and invest in recovery, many others did not.

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18/04/2022

Einstein and Freud’s ‘Why War?’ Revisited: Why Anti-War Efforts Go Nowhere

Human Wrongs Watch

By Robert J. Burrowes*

In 1932, Sigmund Freud and Albert Einstein exchanged letters, later published under the title ‘Why War?’ See ‘Why War? An exchange of letters between Freud and Einstein’.

Robert-J.-Burrowes1

Robert J. Burrowes

However, whatever insight these two giants of an earlier era brought to our understanding of war, the reality is that a great deal has been learned since they corresponded.

Nevertheless, since the emergence of an identifiable, organized anti-war movement during World War I which has grown to include a diverse range of activists and organizations from across the political spectrum, as well as peace and conflict resolution scholars from various disciplines, there is little evidence that this movement, or any of the many organizations within it, has been learning from its failures by systematically undertaking or commissioning further research to understand the phenomenon of war more completely and then devising a strategy to end it based on that learning.

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15/04/2022

Poland/Belarus: New Evidence of Abuses Highlights ‘Hypocrisy’ of Unequal Treatment of Asylum-Seekers

Human Wrongs Watch

By Amnesty International*

The Polish authorities have arbitrarily detained nearly two thousand asylum-seekers who crossed into the country from Belarus in 2021, and subjected many of them to abuse, including strip searches in unsanitary, overcrowded facilities, and in some cases even to forcible sedation and tasering, Amnesty International said today [11 April 2022].MicrosoftTeams-image-4-1444x710

REUTERS/Kacper Pempel

  • Authorities violating rights of asylum-seekers, including strip searches and other degrading treatment, in overcrowded detention centres
  • Some people forcibly sedated during return
  • Pushbacks and arbitrary detention in stark contrast with welcome shown to those fleeing Ukraine

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15/04/2022

UK Plan to Ship Asylum Seekers to Rwanda Is Cruelty Itself

Human Wrongs Watch

By Yasmine Ahmed and Emilie McDonnell*

Government Continues to Rip Up its Duties to Asylum Seekers

202204eca_africa_uk_rwanda_asylum.jpg

British Home Secretary Priti Patel (L), and Rwandan Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Vincent Biruta sign an agreement at the Kigali Convention Center in Kigali, Rwanda, April 14, 2022.© 2022 Simon Wohlfahrt/AFP via Getty Images

(HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH)* — Shirking its obligations to persons seeking asylum at its shores, the UK government has today [14 April 2022] signed an agreement with Rwanda to send asylum seekers crossing the English Channel there.

Under the new Asylum Partnership Arrangement, people arriving in the UK irregularly or who arrived irregularly since January 1, 2022 may be sent to Rwanda on a one-way ticket to have their asylum claim processed and, if recognized as refugees, to be granted refugee status there.

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15/04/2022

$100 [!] Million to Fight Hunger Facing Millions in 6 African Countries and Yemen

Human Wrongs Watch

(UN News)* — The UN has allocated $100 million to fight hunger in Africa and the Middle East as the spillover effects of the war in Ukraine threaten to push millions even closer to famine.

© UNICEF/Sebastian Rich | Mother and child at Health Centre for malnutrition, Somalia
The contribution from the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), announced on Thursday [14 April 2022], will go towards relief projects in six African countries and Yemen.

Lifesaving relief 

The money will enable UN agencies and their partners to provide critical support, including food, cash, nutritional help, medical services, shelter, and clean water.

Projects will also be tailored to help women and girls, who face additional risks due to the crisis.

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14/04/2022

Europe: The Return to the Periphery of the World

Human Wrongs Watch

By Boaventura De Sousa Santos*

The beginning of the end of eurocentrism

Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) brought peace to Europe until 1914
Congress of Vienna (1814-1815) brought peace to Europe until 1914 | Image from Wall Street International Magazine.

11 April 2022 (Wall Street International Magazine)* — One hundred years after World War I, Europe’s leaders are sleepwalking toward a new, all-out war. As in 1914, they believe that the war in Ukraine will be limited and short-lived.

In 1914, the word in Europe’s chancelleries was that the war would last three weeks. It lasted four years and resulted in more than 20 million deaths.

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