Huge numbers of internally displaced people across Africa

There are more than 40.8 million people around the world on the run within their own countries, according to recent figures by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, (IDMC).

Nearly one third of these displaced people are on the African continent. At the end of 2015, 12.4 million people in 21 African countries were living in ongoing displacement as a result of conflict and violence.

A little acknowledged issue, the number of internally displaced people (IDPs) across Africa is more than twice as many as the continent’s total refugee population of 5.4 million, which only accounts for those who have crossed national borders.

In the eyes of the law the internally displaced are different from refugees. Not having crossed any borders, IDPs remain under the jurisdiction of their state, while refugees fall under international humanitarian refugee laws.

“We are always flabbergasted at just how little people actually acknowledge this issue,” says Alexandra Bilak, Director at IDMC. “There are twice as many conflict IDPs as there are refugees in the world. The figures are quite staggering, the problem is far bigger.”

Nigeria tops the list of African countries with the most new displacements in 2015 when 737,000 uprooted. More recent figures from the International Organization for Migration (IOM) show that the situation is still dire, with 1.8 million people estimated to have been on the move at the end of 2016. Conflict and violence caused by the Boko Haram insurgency make up more than 90 percent of displacements, according to IOM.

[CNN]

Ebola vaccine likely to stop the next outbreak

When Ebola struck West Africa a few years ago, the world was defenseless. There was no cure. No vaccine. And the result was catastrophic: More than 11,000 people died. Nearly 30,000 were infected.

Now it looks like such a large outbreak is unlikely to ever happen again. Ever. The world now has a potent weapon against Ebola: a vaccine that brings outbreaks to a screeching halt, scientists report in The Lancet.

“We were able to estimate the efficacy of the vaccine as being 100 percent in a trial,” says Ira Longini, a biostatistician at the University of Florida, who helped test the vaccine.

The 100% value reflects the fact that they just haven’t tested the vaccine on enough people yet. So it is likely to decrease as the vaccine is used over time. In the end, the efficacy is likely to sit somewhere between about 70 percent and 100 percent, Longini says. By comparison, the flu vaccine last year was about 50 percent effective.

And the Ebola vaccine works lightning fast, within four or five days, he says. So it could even be given after a person is exposed to Ebola but hasn’t yet developed the disease.

[NPR]

Chobani yogurt owner fills his production plants with refugees

The Kurdish-born founder of Chobani, Hamdi Ulukaya, tells CNNMoney’s Cristina Alesci why corporate America has to lead the way in solving the current refugee crisis. Watch video clip

Thousands of refugees trapped in freezing temperatures in Europe

Freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall are making life even harder for thousands of refugees living in limbo across Europe. The cold snap gripping Europe has left dozens of people dead, including refugees in Bulgaria, according to Agence France-Presse. Snow blanketed the Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos, home to more than 4,000 people.

More than 7,500 people are currently stranded in Serbia, living in overcrowded camps and informal settlements. Serbia has agreed with the European Union to host up to 6,000 people, of whom only 3,140 live in facilities adapted to winter. In Belgrade, about 2,000 young people, mainly from Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and Syria, are currently sleeping in abandoned buildings in the city center, while temperatures plummet far below freezing.

The international medical humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said, calling again on the authorities to improve conditions for people suffering in below-freezing temperatures.

“Today, people are severely lacking appropriate assistance and this is putting their lives in danger,” said Stefano Argenziano, MSF operations coordinator on migration. “We are witnessing the most cruel and inhumane consequences of European policies, which are being used to deter and victimize those who are only seeking safety and protection in Europe.”

Over the last year, European authorities have sought to stop people from seeking protection in Europe as they flee active war zones, including through an agreement between the European Union and Turkey and the official closure of the Balkan route for migrants and refugees.

[CNN / MSF]

Humanitarian aid no longer needs-based?

Year on year, we’ve witnessed an increase in the frequency and ferocity of natural, man-made and complex crises and disasters. The trend is set to continue in 2017, with an estimated 100 million people likely to be in need of aid. The United Nations has just released its largest ever funding appeal, seeking over $22 billion across 33 countries.

Half of the 65.3 million forcibly displaced people in the world — the highest number since World War II — are children; children in conflict-affected countries are more than twice as likely to be out of school as those in other countries; in emergency situations, instances of sexual violence increase, yet the reported figures are just the tip of the iceberg — practitioners estimate that for each rape reported in connection with a conflict, 10 to 20 cases go undocumented.

In the face of competing crises and dwindling resources, the EU is making deliberate choices about which crises and conflicts it directs its funds toward. Humanitarian aid is supposed to be based on the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence. But, increasingly, it is being repurposed to meet political objectives, based more on the self-interest of EU member states than on these humanitarian principles. Halting migration to Europe is apparently the number one aim.

It begs the question: how have countries been prioritized and funds allocated? The underlying and fundamental principle that humanitarian aid is needs-based is, it seems, no more.

[Read full Devex article]

The road less traveled

Many young women in rural Africa face difficult futures: of early marriage, young motherhood, limited education, and meager livings.

But not Modester. At 18, Modester is one of the top students in all of Zambia, headed for university and whatever big dream she may have in mind.

That’s an extraordinary accomplishment for a girl from a small, rural community. And it all started with the gift of a goat. Read more

Syrian immigrants in US represent an American success story

An analysis of Syrian immigrants in the United States published this month offers a pretty compelling snapshot of what, indeed, is going on: A lot of hard work, integration and success.

The study, put out jointly by the Center for American Progress, a center-left think tank in Washington, and the Fiscal Policy Institute, examined 2014 census data to paint a picture of roughly 90,000 Syrian immigrants in the country. It found that, “when given a chance, Syrian immigrants are fitting into and excelling in the United States, both socially and economically, on a wide variety of metrics.”

Here are some of the major findings:
– Syrian immigrants are a highly entrepreneurial group: Eleven percent of the Syrian immigrants are business owners in comparison [with] 4 percent of immigrants and 3 percent of U.S.-born people.
– Syrian immigrant businesses are thriving: The median earnings of Syrian business owners are $72,000 a year. This means they are supporting and growing the local economy and providing employment.
– They are well-educated: Syrian men, in particular, are more likely to have a college degree or an advanced degree such as a master’s, doctorate, or professional degree.
– Syrian immigrants speak English at high levels compared to all immigrants.

[And related to any new Syrian refugee immigrants] “the 90,000 Syrian immigrants who were in the United States before the recent arrival of refugees have been thriving and are therefore well-positioned to help their compatriots when they arrive,” the report says.

[Washington Post]

Humanitarian evacuation of eastern Aleppo appears to be completed

Hundreds of rebel fighters and civilians, including small children swaddled in thick blankets, were bused out of war-ravaged Aleppo in heavy snow on Wednesday as the evacuation of former rebel strongholds entered its final phase. Scenes of buses slowly driving out of Aleppo in a shroud of white offered an evocative finale to what has been one of the most brutal chapters in Syria’s civil war.

The evacuation of the Syrian city of Aleppo has now come to a close, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and multiple other officials and a rebel group said.

A group of buses scheduled to evacuate the last civilians and rebels from eastern Aleppo had been delayed, Syrian state-run media said, blaming infighting among rebel factions.

More than 4,000 fighters left rebel-held areas of Aleppo, the Red Cross said Thursday, in the last stages” of an evacuation clearing the way for Syria’s army to retake the city.

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu tweeted Tuesday that 37,500 people had been evacuated from the war-torn city so far, adding that “all evacuations are intended to be finished [shortly].”

The Assad government has retaken Aleppo from rebel groups who have controlled parts of the city since 2012. The government has made significant territorial gains after its forces, backed by airstrikes, entered rebel-held areas in late November.

[CNN, AFP, Yahoo]

Children caught in the crossfire of the battle for Mosul

The desperate plight of a generation of children is in the balance as the bloody battle for the city of Mosul threatens to become a humanitarian catastrophe, Amnesty International said following a field investigation.

On a visit to the region this month, the organization met children of all ages who had suffered terrible injuries after being caught in the line of fire between the armed group calling itself Islamic State (IS) and government forces who are backed by a US-led coalition.

“Children caught in the crossfire of the brutal battle for Mosul have seen things that no one, of any age, should ever see. I met children who have not only sustained horrific wounds but have also seen their relatives and neighbors decapitated in mortar strikes, torn to shreds by car bombs or mine explosions, or crushed under the rubble of their homes,” said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Senior Crisis Response Adviser, who returned from a 17-day mission to northern Iraq.

With few or no functioning or accessible hospitals left in the conflict-affected areas of east Mosul, the epi-centre of the fighting, the best hope for the wounded to receive medical care is in Erbil, the capital of the semi-autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG).

Even though only some of those injured in the Mosul battle have been evacuated to Erbil, hospitals there have been overwhelmed by the large number of casualties.

“The scars left by these unimaginably traumatic experiences are psychological as well as physical, but these life-altering wounds are being neglected by the Iraqi government and its allies, who have so far failed to ensure adequate medical facilities are in place,” said Donatella Rovera. “If there are resources for the war there must also be resources to deal with the consequences of war.”

[Amnesty International]

UN sets up team to prepare Syrian war crimes cases

The United Nations General Assembly on Wednesday voted to establish a special team to “collect, consolidate, preserve and analyze evidence” as well as prepare cases on war crimes and human rights abuses committed during the conflict in Syria.

Liechtenstein U.N. Ambassador Christian Wenaweser told the General Assembly ahead of the vote: “We have postponed any meaningful action on accountability too often and for too long.” He said inaction has sent “the signal that committing war crimes and crimes against humanity is a strategy that is condoned and has no consequences.”

The special team will “prepare files in order to facilitate and expedite fair and independent criminal proceedings in accordance with international law standards, in national, regional or international courts or tribunals that have or may in the future have jurisdiction over these crimes.”

The team will work in coordination with the U.N. Syria Commission of Inquiry. The Commission of Inquiry, which says it has a confidential list of suspects on all sides who have committed war crimes or crimes against humanity, has repeatedly called for the U.N. Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court.

The Syrian UN Ambassador Bashar Ja’afari, along with Syrian allies Russia and Iran, spoke out against the resolution.

[VoA]