Ongoing flow of Central American children to US

A disturbing number of unaccompanied children from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala have tried to reach the United States in the past two years, risking detention by law enforcement, abuse by human traffickers and dire conditions along the way.

From the beginning of October 2013 through July of this year, nearly 80,000 unaccompanied minors from those Central American countries were detained by United States authorities along the Mexican border. And those were the ones who made it that far. Others were ransomed by the very smugglers to whom their families paid thousands of dollars to sneak them into the United States. Some lost limbs during the journey or found themselves sold into sexual slavery, still others turned back.

What would drive children to make such a perilous journey without their parents or another adult? Endemic gang violence in Central America and lack of economic opportunity for young people, as well as governments unable to adequately respond to those problems, have driven many young migrants north. Others have sought to be reunited with their families who had already left in search of a better life in the United States.

The situation has alarmed American officials and forced them to confront a growing crisis to the south. The authorities responded by announcing a plan for $1 billion in development aid to help address the causes of the crisis. Even before those funds have been approved, the number of migrants reaching the United States has begun to drop. In reality, the problem seems to have simply been pushed farther south: Many of the young migrants are now stopped entering Mexico instead.

The Mexican government detained close to 92,000 Central American migrants from October 2014 to April 2015. The desperation in Central America driving people north has not abated. The escape route for many migrants has, for now, just shifted.

[New York Times]

How Canadian foreign aid has changed over a decade of Conservative government

When measured as a percentage of gross national income, foreign aid is now lower than when the Conservative government came to power. It is barely a third of the target to which Canada committed in 1970.

For a while, security interests seemed dominant. Afghanistan became the largest Canadian aid recipient ever. Under a new “whole-of-government approach,” the government increasingly linked aid with other elements of foreign policy, including diplomacy and especially defense. The result was disappointing on all levels.

Ottawa is now emphasizing Canadian commercial interests. Using aid funds to promote Canadian businesses has a long and shameful history of failure. And yet the current government wants to do more of the same.

Nowhere is commercial self-interest more evident than in the use of aid funds to support Canadian mining companies. The government set aside tens of millions of dollars to support stand-alone projects that benefit communities affected by Canadian mines, helping buy local support and thus indirectly contributing to the companies’ bottom lines.

The government’s choice of “countries of focus” for Canadian aid also clearly reflects commercial interests in countries like Peru, Colombia, Mongolia, Myanmar and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. To make way for them, many poor African countries were unceremoniously dropped from the list.

The devaluing of Canadian non-governmental organizations’ contributions mirrored the rising place of the Canadian private sector in the government’s development policy. NGOs’ funding increasingly depended on aligning with government priorities — and not criticizing government policies. Those that refused to toe the government line found their applications for funding renewal denied or were suddenly faced with onerous audits by the Canadian Revenue Agency.

If we want to re-establish Canada as a reputable player in the field of international development, the next government, whatever its political stripe, should take immediate steps to restore greater autonomy to Canada’s aid program, significantly increase its budget every year, re-engage with NGOs as partners rather than subcontractors, decouple aid from Canadian commercial interests and focus instead on fighting poverty and inequality, as well as align its strategies with developing countries’ own long-term priorities.

[Stephen Brown, political science professor, writing in the Toronto Star]

Unaccompanied child refugees at the end of a long risky journey

Afghan, Eritrean and Sudanese boys are on the move again, but this time it’s a happy occasion: After months of hardship traversing continents, the teenage refugees are finally on the way to English homes where they can settle down for a long dreamed-of life in Europe. These unaccompanied child refugees have come to the end of a long, risky journey by boat, foot, truck and train.

Europe’s migrant crisis has seen a record surge of unaccompanied child asylum seekers fleeing civil war, conscription and poverty at home to countries including Britain and Sweden, which have scrambled to provide care for thousands of newly arrived minors. Most are boys aged between 14 to 18 hailing from Syria, Afghanistan, Eritrea and Sudan.

“I’m happy to leave today,” said Sadiq, a shy 17-year-old Sudanese, who said he wanted to become an engineer. Like the other youngsters, Sadiq had made it to Europe alone after leaving behind his family, and may never see his loved ones again. He lowered his head when asked about his homeland, where a years-long conflict has killed thousands and driven millions from their homes. “Since I left I have had no information, I don’t know anything about my family. I’m very sad because of that, but what can I do?”

For the children, Europe is s a ticket to a dramatically improved future. “I want to continue my education here–back home I couldn’t go to school. I miss (my family), but no, I wouldn’t want to go back,” said Simon, 16, who left his parents and seven siblings in Eritrea.

[AP]

Record surge of child refugees to Europe

In Sweden, which takes the largest number of refugees per capita in Europe, the Migration Agency says almost 1,300 unaccompanied child asylum seekers sought asylum in a single week in September–a staggering increase from about 400 a week in June.

“The municipalities have never been close to having a situation like this before, ever,” said Kjell-Terje Torvik, an expert at the Swedish migration board who has worked with child refugees for over a decade. “Even though we knew the numbers were going to rise, this is far beyond our imagination.”

Social workers say many child refugees have to take off alone because of desperate circumstances: Some became separated from their families in war; others are alone because their family cannot afford to send more than one member abroad. Younger refugees also often have better chances of getting asylum in Europe. A journey from Afghanistan to Sweden could take months, sometimes years.

Compared to adult asylum seekers, unaccompanied children are treated under a different set of rules in many European countries. Because they are more vulnerable, they are separated from other migrants and refugees on arrival at their destination country, and transferred to local reception centers, where they stay for up for two months while authorities make further plans for them: Some will transfer to social housing with supervision by social workers or a guardian, while others stay with local foster families. All have the right to accommodation and welfare benefits including education, health care, and money to buy food and clothes.

[AP]

60 million displaced persons and rising

When Antonio Guterres became the U.N. refugee chief almost 10 years ago, the world counted 38 million people displaced by conflict and persecution and the number was declining. Today, it’s more than 60 million and rising.

The “interlinked mega-crises” in Iraq and Syria have uprooted 15 million people. And in the last 12 months, 500,000 people have fled their homes in South Sudan, 190,000 in Burundi, 1.1 million in Yemen and 300,000 in Libya. Tens of thousands are fleeing gang violence in Central America. And there has been little or no improvement in the crises in Central African Republic, Nigeria, Ukraine and Congo, he said.

The world is faced with 15 conflicts that have erupted and or reignited in the past five years. And more than two-thirds of refugees worldwide are Muslim, Guterres said, stressing the world must counter “the backward narrowness of xenophobia.”

The refugee chief said the spike of Syrian refugees coming to Europe this year is mainly due to three factors. Many Syrians have lost hope that a political solution to end the war is near and after years in exile their resources have run out and living conditions have deteriorated, he said. But “the trigger” is UNHCR’s funding shortfall and its struggle to provide cash and shelter to the growing number of vulnerable families ahead of winter, he said.

“As a result, more and more people have embarked on the desperate journey to Europe, despite the enormous risks and cost this entails,” Guterres said. “To be honest, in these circumstances, I would probably do the same with my own family.”

[AP]

Oxfam says aid to Syrians utterly inadequate

Global efforts to help Syrians both inside and outside their war-torn country have proved “utterly inadequate”, international aid group Oxfam said in a damning report which analyzed aid and resettlement opportunities for Syrian refugees provided by more than 28 countries.

“The international community is proving utterly inadequate in helping Syrians both inside and outside their country,” Oxfam said.

It criticized countries including Russia, which has not resettled any Syrian refugees and has only provided one percent of its fair share contribution to humanitarian aid, and France, which has only contributed 22 percent of its fair share to aid.

Oxfam said the only laudable exceptions to their criticism — besides countries neighboring Syria, which have taken in more than four million Syrians — were Norway and Germany.

Only 17,000 Syrians have so far been resettled in a third country. The slow resettlement process has pushed thousands more to try to reach Europe by a dangerous sea and land route.

[AFP]

EU offers Turkey incentives to better tackle refugee crisis

The European Union is ready to offer Turkey new incentives to better tackle the Syria refugee crisis, including money, the easing of visa restrictions and better intelligence sharing. In exchange, Turkey would improve its asylum and documentation procedures and beef up border security.

Around 2 million refugees from Syria are currently in Turkey, and tens of thousands of others have entered the EU via Greece this year, overwhelming coast guards and reception facilities.

It doesn’t address demands made by Turkish President Erdogan for Turkey’s EU membership process to move ahead more quickly.

Under the offer, Turkey would receive up to 1 billion euros ($1.1 billion) to help manage its refugee crisis, and EU funding to help build six reception centers for refugees in Turkey.

The EU is caught in a delicate balancing act, wanting to encourage Turkey to better control its borders amid continued criticism of the abuses of the Kurdish minority there and attacks on the media and justice system.

Meanwhile, Austrian Chancellor Werner Faymann arrived on the eastern Aegean island of Lesbos with Greece’s prime minister to see the impact of the refugee crisis and to examine facilities set up to handle the thousands of people who arrive daily.

About 400,000 people have reached Greece so far this year, most in small overcrowded boats from the nearby Turkish coast. Most arrive on Lesbos.

[AP]