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JRS Dispatches No. 143

(Extracted from JRS Dispatches No. 143)
REFUGEE NEWS BRIEFINGS

LIBERIA EMBARKS ON ITS RETURN TO NORMALITY

As Liberia embarks on its returns to normalcy, cracks in the rebel groups, signatories to the Accra Peace Accord, appear, reports JRS Liberia. The two main rebel groups, MODEL and LURD continue to quarrel over political appointees. Increasingly, differences between the field commanders and the political leadership are surfacing, with field commanders often threatening to prevent the free movement of humanitarian agencies. The Catholic Church in Liberia has warned that continued violations committed by these groups should result in war crimes charges. No rebel group should be let off scot free for continued violations of human rights. The uneasy field situation will certainly delay the early return of those who have been displaced from their homes. In fact, new displacement camps are continuing to appear in many places, leaving the World Food Programme to face a daunting task in its attempts to provide food to the hungry. So far the WFP has distributed 7,000 metric tons of food and the need is increasing. More peacekeepers have recently arrived from various countries including from Ireland, and an international police force is expected in Liberia soon. The UN Administrator has talked of dismantling the present police force and recruiting a new one in its place. The law and order situation has been improving in the capital city, Monrovia, though the outskirts of the town continue to be uneasy at night. The rate of looting has decreased, but it still continues to be the major money-raising activity for the armed groups. In parts of Nimba and Gbarnga, militias were seen removing zinc roofs even two weeks ago. Meanwhile, the UN has launched an Appeal for Liberia to raise 137 million US dollars, and is preparing for the Aid conference that is scheduled for early next year. The country has witnessed a total collapse in many ways and unless the international community intervenes, the ghosts of two decades of war may return to haunt Liberia.

NATURAL DISASTER STRIKES LOCAL COMMUNITY IN NORTH SUMATRA, INDONESIA: MANY PEOPLE DISPLACED

Life may never return to normal for the villagers of Bahorok sub-district, North Sumatra, who survived the recent tragic floods, which tore through the area and destroyed their homes on November 1. 134 bodies have so far been recovered, and 121 people are still missing. The Indonesian government has allocated 1 billion Rupiahs (US$ 119,047) to assist the affected population; and in addition, private donors and organisations are providing funds, food and blankets. The 1,300 survivors of the floods are now in temporary shelters, though there is concern that they are not receiving adequate assistance from the government, despite the donations. Food rations are reportedly insufficient and some families have refused money from the government in protest at the manner of the distribution. Local and international organisations, including JRS, and UN bodies are present in the area and ready to assist the displaced persons. Education for the children, water and sanitation are important needs that will be served by UNICEF and international NGOs. The affected populations are now waiting to be relocated, with the reconstruction of the affected area likely to take an estimated 6 months to one year to complete.

500 PEOPLE, VICTIMS OF FLOODS IN THE NORTHWEST OF THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC, REPATRIATED BY DOMINICAN AUTHORITIES

Some 500 Haitian citizens who were residing in zones affected by the floods that took place during the month of November 2003 in the north-west region of the Dominican Republic, were repatriated by the Dominican authorities (police and military) via the border point of Dajabón on Tuesday 25 November 2003. According to the testimony of various victims of this mass repatriation as well as the testimonies of Dominican citizens interviewed in the refuges of Montecristi Province, the authorities came to the affected zones and took large numbers of Haitian people and also dark-skinned Dominicans affected by the floods. The groups taken were brought to a prison in the city of Santiago de los Caballeros where they were kept in unfit conditions, sleeping on the patio and receiving very little food. Then they were taken to Dajabón, from where they were deported to Wanament in Haiti. Amongst the group of repatriated people on the 25th November were at least 2 Dominican citizens who were deported at the same time as the Haitian victims and who suffered the same illegal and unfit conditions, apparently for the simple reason that they had dark skin. The case of the 2 Dominicans proves that the Dominican authorities carry out mass repatriations contravening international conventions, and also contravening the National Law 95 and its Rule 279, which clearly establish that the Migration Office must conduct a full individual investigation into the cases of migrants found in a situation of illegality on the territory prior to a deportation. With this wave of mass repatriations the Dominican state, via its authorities, violates basic fundamental laws and principles contained in international declarations, conventions and treaties that have direct and immediate application in the Dominican Republic according to what is established in articles 3 and 10 of the Dominican Constitution. Amongst the rights of these people that were violated are: a) guarantee of respect of the dignity of the person, b) the principle of the right to a prior hearing, c) the right to a defence, and d) to the precise formulation of the charges one is facing. It is helpful to remember that as recently as 13th November 2003 the Dominican Supreme Court of Justice recognised the rights just cited and stated that all the national authorities must comply with these - something that the Directorate General of migration and the military authorities that participate in the repatriations fail to do. Click here to read the report in full.

MARTIAL LAW CONTINUES IN ACEH, INDONESIA

As reported in the last issue of Dispatches, the Indonesian government has announced that Martial Law has been extended for a further six months in the war-torn region of Aceh. In announcing the extension, the authorities stated that the first six-month period of Martial law had been a success, as the Indonesian army attempts to defeat the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). The authorities aim to restore the public's trust in the government through ensuring humanitarian assistance to civilians and internally displaced persons, social rehabilitation programmes, rebuilding of the education system and infrastructure, and through strengthening of the local economy. The Government has been able to mobilise enough funds to prepare 19 displacement camps with 2,500 tents in 16 regencies. Each camp can accommodate around 100,000 persons. However, JRS and other organisations have observed that participation of the displaced people in camp management has been lacking. Obsessive control has not allowed the people to enable themselves to cope with the difficulties in the camp. Lack of protection of civilians has also been reported both prior to and during displacement as well as after return to their place of origin. Public services such as transportation, communications and electricity have been restored, but there is no clear improvement in the situation in Aceh as a result of Martial Law. Despite plans for economic development, lack of preparation and coordination prevails. Consequently, the civilians suffer. There is not much which indicates that the extension will make life easier for civilians in Aceh. The civil society will still be restricted by the difficulties in obtaining permits for activities.

UPDATES ON JRS PROJECTS AND ACTIVITIES

UPDATE ON JRS EDUCATION ACTIVITIES IN LIBERIA

In Liberia, JRS continues with its activities in the field of education. Contrary to recent claims by UNICEF regarding its high profile "Back to School Programme", most of the children are still out of school, even in the Capital Monrovia, reports JRS in Liberia. An uneasy situation developed when the private and Catholic schools opened in Monrovia, provoking increased frustration among those involved in the public schools. JRS has also opened a further school in the Tumutu and Salala area, and has conducted the second part of a teacher-training programme. UNICEF has invited JRS for another consultation on teacher training, and this week the two organisations are meeting to work out areas in which we can work together. Adult literacy is another welcome project among displaced Liberian women. JRS has started its first school in Jah Tando Camps in Montserrado, one area that JRS will concentrate more on in the future. A JRS team also travelled to the Guinea border, an area only recently re-opened and secured for travel, and witnessed widespread vandalism and destruction of property, which has inflicted unbearable suffering on the local population. Click here to read more about JRS activities in Liberia, including details of how to support the education project.

NORTHERN UGANDA: NURSERY EDUCATION CONTINUING IN DIFFICULT CIRCUMSTANCES

Two of the topmost NorthWestern districts of Uganda, Adjumani and Moya, have become home for the largest population of Sudanese refugees who have fled their country. These people have escaped from the hunger and insecurity caused by the twenty-year old conflict between the Khartoum government in the north and the SPLA/M forces in the southern part of Sudan. Of prime interest to JRS is the population of over 35,000 school aged (5-17 years) children in this area. As an implementing partner of UNHCR, JRS is involved in formal educational assistance at nursery, primary, secondary and tertiary level, through projects that include Peace and HIV/AIDS education initiatives. In concrete terms, JRS provides support to 61 nursery, 37 primary and 4 secondary schools, as well as supervising a tertiary training programme that caters for 218 full and part-time student teachers. The JRS assisted nursery schools in Adjumani were all visited recently to monitor and assess their work plans, reports Sr Cathy Solano, JRS Adjumani Project Director. The monitoring team also checked the top students' performances and whether they were ready to be elevated to primary schools. The monitor found that in many schools, most of the children were able to write neatly on the slates, though the teachers emphasised the need for more slates so that students could practice more. One nursery school re-opened this term, more than a year after activity by the Lord's Resistance Army rebel group in that area last August and September forced it to close down. There were three teachers in attendance and over one hundred students present at this school during the visit by JRS staff. They were making a strong plea for the porridge-feeding programme to begin and for a distribution of books and stationery. The JRS Primary Education Team (PET) also carried out a recent routine inspection and supervision of teaching and learning in the primary schools in Adjumani. The inspection aimed at identifying areas that need to be addressed in order to improve the quality of teaching and learning in the schools, with the team identifying schools with a higher number of problems that hinder effective learning. A report detailing recommendations will be given to the District Education Officer (DEO), who will be asked to take the appropriate actions to address these problems. To read more about JRS projects in northern Uganda, consult the JRS Annual Report, which can be downloaded in PDF format from the JRS website. To receive a hard copy of the 2002 Annual Report, write to international@jrs.net .

LEARNING FOR THE FIRST TIME: CHILDREN IN THE JRS BUTERERE CATCH-UP SCHOOL, BURUNDI

Since 1997, JRS has been assisting the displaced population in Buterere district, Bujumbura, Burundi. Among other activities (workshops, restaurant, cultural animation, agricultural assistance, psychological assistance), JRS provides education to 116 children from the most vulnerable families in the area. Set up in 2000, the school this year aims to help the children catch up with and join the Burundian education system for the year 2004-2005. Janvier, Hussein and Sandrine are three children living in Buterere. Sandrine, 9, lives in Mutakura, 3 kilometres away from Buterere. Every morning she takes the bicycle-taxi, a very common means of transport here, to go to school. From 8 until 11:45 she learns to write and count with her new classmates. Hussein, 12, also enjoys studying. He comes from one of the many Muslim families living in Buterere. Despite the fact that chips are offered to the children, he doesn't accept, as it's the time of Ramadan. Janvier, 10, is the youngest of four in his family. He makes his point with great clarity: "I like very much the daily food ration we receive, because when I'm having it I forget that I'm at school". Being in class is something new for these three children. "They have begun to study this year for the very first time", says Carine Parent, director of the JRS Centre in Buterere. "Even though they are aged between 9 and 12, it's the first time they've been in a school. They had never been in a class before". Children in Buterere attending the catch-up school previously couldn't go to class because their parents lacked the means to send them. In order to assist this population, JRS initiated a project in 2000 aimed at the most vulnerable children; 116 boys and girls were selected from the poorest in the district. "Vulnerability was the main criteria," says Carine Parent. "Priority was given to orphans and to children belonging to the Batwa (Pygmee) community". Often marginalised in Burundian society, 47 children belonging to this community now attend the classes. The project pays for the teachers, school uniforms for the children as well as for notebooks and pens. Click here to read this report in full.

CRAMPED TOGETHER IN A GARAGE IN KINSHASA, DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

More than one thousand women and children have been cramped together in intolerably over-crowded conditions in an old garage in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) since 1999. They are widows of soldiers, wives of former high-ranking officers in Mobutu's army, and their children. JRS has been accompanying them since 2000, providing health and nutritional assistance, as well as training in Income Generating Activities and formal education. In May 1997, the forces of the coalition led by Laurent-Desiré Kabila entered Kinshasa, the capital city of the DRC, and overthrew the then dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko. It was the end of a dictatorship which had asphyxiated the Congolese economy for more than thirty years. When the victorious troops arrived in Kinshasa, the wives of thousands of soldiers from Mobutu's army were removed from their military residences, which were then occupied by the troops of the new regime. For two years, these women and their children wandered around the streets of Kinshasa, with no place to live. In January 1999, the new government of the DRC designated a place where they could lodge temporarily. The site chosen was an old garage in Bralima district, facing the factory of Primus beers, in the city centre. Long-abandoned and many times looted, the filth left behind by thousands of vehicles that had been repaired on the spot combined with the lack of light and proper ventilation had turned the garage into a totally unhealthy and unsuitable place to live. Since June 2000, JRS has been assisting the displaced population in Bralima. A health dispensary, nutritional assistance to the most vulnerable, workshops (sewing and embroidery) and education in a nursery school are some of the activities conducted by JRS at this site. When JRS began providing assistance we discovered dreadful living conditions and poverty. The first measure taken was the opening of a dispensary, which now conducts more than three thousand annual consultations. The main diseases and ailments treated are malaria, diarrhoea, different breathing disorders and dermatosis, among others. A small nutrition centre distributes rice, sugar, corn, fish, pasta and salt, as well as soap. Since the arrival of JRS, each family is in possession of a card, which affords them access to health services, assistance for the most vulnerable and education. Click here to read this report in full.