Thousands of migrants, most of them from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have rushed to the Turkish border hoping to reach Europe, after the Turkish government announced on February 28 that it would no longer stop migrants from crossing into Europe. However, they are stuck between their dreams of going to Europe and being attacked by Greek soldiers at the Greek-Turkish border where Greek soldiers have fired tear gas, real bullets and water cannons to keep them from doing so. This is the story of the refugees who want to reach Europe to follow their dreams. Read the full report here

L'articolo Migrants at the border with Europe proviene da InsideOver.

The novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic has forced employers to ask their employees to work from home in order to contain the quick spread of the disease which has symptoms similar to influenza. While researchers are busy researching vaccines, and medical sectors around the world are facing shortages of protective clothing and masks, refugees seem to be the world’s most forgotten group.

Social Distancing? No Chance

Refugees in refugee camps can hardly do physical distancing (an order to keep distance to a minimum of two meters), given the camps’ crowded situation. Hand sanitizers are a luxury for refugees. No water and no soap to wash their hands is a daily reality. Khaled Abdul Razaq al-Dasher, a Syrian refugee in Lebanon, shares a tent with his nine family members; all are refugees who escaped from the nine-year civil war in Syria.

According to Sahar Tawfeeq, spokesperson for the International Red Cross in Iraq, physical and social distancing is a privilege refugees don’t have. As the hashtag #Stayathome is going viral, the displaced cannot do that as they no longer have a place to call home.

The United Nations and other organizations are facing a tough task to protect 70 million refugees across the globe from the Covid-19, which has infected over 740,000 worldwide and killed more than 35,000. In the Middle East, millions of people have been forced to seek refuge because of the Syrian war or other conflicts. They have to stay either in a crowded tent and an unfinished building. They are far from the world’s only refugees, either.

Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh Highly Vulnerable to Covid-19

Poor condition in refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, make Rohingya Muslims particularly vulnerable to Covid-19 infection. The Kutapalong camp, for example, is home to 600,000 Rohingya Muslims — one of the most persecuted minorities in the world — who are not recognized as citizens of Myanmar.

Face masks and hand sanitizers can hardly be seen in those shelters. Each makeshift camp is home to 10 to12 people, making it challenging to follow physical distancing which the World Health Organization (WHO) recommends.

One aid worker said that refugees can hear each other’s breathing the conditions are so crowded. The fear of Covid-19 spreading is increasing in Cox’s Bazar after a Rohingya family was placed under quarantine after returning from India.

What Happens if a Refugee Gets Covid-19?

Should a refugee be infected with COVID-19, experts warned that there is no proper health facility in the Kutapalong camp. As a consequence, the infected patients must be admitted to a hospital in Cox’s Bazar, making the situation more complicated since refugees are not allowed to leave camps.

Rohingyas Kept in the Dark About Covid-19

Many Rohingya seeking refuge in Bangladesh admitted they did now know much about Covid-19 due to Dhaka’s decision to cut internet access in September 2019.

Community leader Sayed Ullah stated that Rohingya Muslims only knew that the coronavirus had killed many people. Still, they had no idea about what the symptoms are, and other information related to the pandemic due to the internet access ban.

As of March 30, Bangladesh has reported 49 cases of Covid-19 infection with five deaths. Bangladesh had imposed a lockdown on 34 refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar as an effort to contain the spread of the virus.

“Since this morning [Wednesday] we have started lockdown in all Rohingya camps as per guidelines issued by the government due to the prevailing scare over coronavirus outbreak,” said Mahbub Alam Talukder, Bangladesh’s Refugee Relief and Repatriation Commissioner.

Access to Healthcare is a Priority

Ann Burton, Chief of UNHCR’s Public Health Section, described how dangerous the novel coronavirus is to the most vulnerable groups such as refugees and illegal immigrants, adding that the UN refugee agency is trying its best to improve sanitation to refugee’s camps.

“We have stockpiled supplies, including personal protective equipment (PPE) for health staff. We are purchasing disinfectant, supplies to manage medical waste, laboratory supplies, pharmaceuticals and medical equipment for case management,” Burton said, adding that “we have improved WASH [water, sanitation and hygiene] conditions and prepared isolation facilities in select camps and settlements.”

L'articolo Social Distancing isn’t an Option for Everyone proviene da InsideOver.

As the coronavirus (Covid-19) spreads, the media focus has mainly centered on government action such as the response of the US government which recently passed a massive emergency spending bill.  But there are also large concentrations of refugee camps across the world. These people already face economic hardship, are often politically marginalized, and have fewer resources with which to combat the coronavirus. If these refugees end up encountering the virus, they will be especially hard hit.

What is Life Like in a Refugee Camp?

A Syrian refugee called Nour lives in a Jordanian refugee camp for Syrian refugees. She and her seven family members live in a tent the size of a small living room. This means that they cannot quarantine the elderly members of her family should the virus infect the camp. She must walk a great distance to stand in line for bread. This is some of the only food they get for the day, and thus she would be forced into close contact with many other people. People in the West are told to wash their hands frequently. But Nour and her family can’t even shower on a frequent basis, let alone wash their hands. They have little access to showers for much of the week. Their bathing consists of a bucket of cold water.

NGOs provide food and medical supplies but there often isn’t enough. In the event of an emergency the NGOs would have a difficult time traveling to deliver the aid. And their budgets are already stretched to meet people’s basic needs. Nour and her family are lucky that they have no major health problems. But many have skin, digestive, and respiratory problems which make them fertile targets of the virus.

Refugee Communities are Already Struggling — Coronavirus Would be a Nightmare

Even the refugees that don’t live in camps often have difficulty accessing the health care system of their host countries. They are often politically marginalized since they are new residents and often speak different languages. Analysts report that countries like Jordan can no longer afford to subsidize the cost of immigrants’ health care, thus making the already poor refugees pay more for health care. Therefore, the refugee communities would have a hard time getting even basic care should they get infected.

But the lack of health care is a downstream problem resulting from upstream political decisions. The Syrian dictator Bashar Al Assad refused to step down and even gassed his own people, sparking a massive number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) and refugees. That produced the first migrant crisis. With Russian support, Assad continues to advance in Idlib and the total number of refugees now totals one million.

Russia and Syria Bear Most Responsibility for This Crisis

Turkey has challenged Russian-backed Syrian soldiers who in turn have struck and killed Turkish soldiers and produced a political and military crisis. Even though they are creating the crisis, Turkey is refusing to accept more refugees, and they have encouraged refugees currently living in Turkey to flee to Europe. This means that Greece and potentially other countries like Italy will face another migrant crisis. As recently as January there were reports that Greece was unable or unwilling to provide adequate health care to migrants. That was before the recent wave of immigrants unleashed by the continuing conflict between Turkey and Russian-backed Syria. In short, while many people focus on the plight of refugees, argue over how much health care should be spent on them, or accuse their political opponents of not doing enough for them, the main culprits like the brutal dictators in Russia and Syria continue to wage the wars that produce them.

If the virus spreads to camps it will likely cause as many deaths as the wars that made them flee in the first place. Taking preemptive action is always tough: budgets are stretched thin for a multitude of problems and it is tough to convince voters to spend money on a problem that isn’t massive and immediate. But money spent preparing refugee camps for the coronavirus could save an enormous number of lives.

L'articolo The Coming Refugee Crisis Sparked by the Coronavirus proviene da InsideOver.

The situation remains tense on the Greek island of Lesbos  following several protests and violent incidents over the last few days.The situation has worsened due to the incapacity of the official authorities to manage efficiently the migration challenge on the island.

The Migrant And Refugee Crisis On Lesbos

A large number of asylum seekers is entering the island, with 200 to 250 new arrivals per day. This indicates the sharp rise compared to the week from January 27 to February 2, when only 376 asylum seekers arrived in Lesbos according to the latest UNHCR report. The island does not have nearly sufficient infrastructure to cope with the crisis and accommodate the significant number of people that need to temporarily remain there until a solution is sorted out. The immigration and refugee problem is still a ticking bomb in the hands of the government, even though addressing and eventually solving this issue has been on the top of the agenda of the current Greek administration since its formation last summer.

Moria Camp

Moria is a small village in the eastern part of Lesbos, with a population of just over a thousand residents. It is also the location of a major camp for refugees and asylum seekers. Moria camp has been a grave burden for Greek governments since the peak of the refugee crisis in 2015. The camp has an official capacity of up to 3,000 people, however, the current estimations indicate that the number of asylum seekers in the camp is far higher. Even though there are no official records of this number, the mayor of Mytilene has mentioned that over 20,000 refugees, migrants and asylum seekers are currently in the area, while unofficial reports suggest that the actual number might be closer to 30,000. The vast majority of these people are of Afghan origin and are seeking to make their way to Europe through Greece.

Protesters From Moria Camp Set Fires

On the morning of February 3, approximately 2,000 asylum seekers organized a massive protest starting from Moria camp and heading to the capital of the island, Mytilene. Local authorities tried to stop the protestors halfway, close to the refugee camp of Kara Tepe. This was the crisis point for the riots, with many of the asylum seekers setting up fires near their route and the riot police using tear gas to disperse the crowd. Fires have been officially reported in three different spots, with at least one of them located close to the local electricity generation station. Amidst the unrest, approximately 500 of the protestors managed to reach the center of the capital and tried to set up a temporary camp in the vicinity of the Rouselleio Municipal Theater of Mytilene, but the police stopped them.

The Local Community Reacts In Anger

Following the protests, numerous Lesbos residents gathered to voice their disapproval about the worrying situation in the island. The residents demanded the immediate de-congestion of the refugee camps and the deployment of additional police forces alongside the permanent presence of riot police in several spots of Lesbos. Some residents have proceeded to “squatting” the building of the General Secretariat of the Aegean & Island Policy in a desperate effort to address the scope of the problem. The municipal administration stands together with the residents, as Northern Aegean Regional Governor Kostas Moutzouris and Mytilene Mayor Stratis Kytelis are turning to the government and insisting on urgent action before the situation becomes irreversible.

Even though control over access is supposed to be implemented when entering or exiting the Moria camp, there have been several complaints about asylum seekers leaving the camp and breaking into nearby houses. In this regard, there have been instances of locals,self-organizing and patrolling the surrounding area. It should be noted that on February 7, 2020, at least seven people were also arrested by local police, as they had allegedly been illegally targeting asylum seekers and NGO members in the context of these self-organized patrols. Charges have not been officially confirmed yet. In the meantime, left-wing groups are present on the island, often provoking the asylum seekers to take to the streets and protest. The tension and frequent clashes between radical groups on the island makes the already fragile situation on Lesbos even worse and reveals the political implications that are also present behind the humanitarian crisis.

Controlling The NGOs And Managing Asylum Seekers

Greek Minister of Migration & Asylum Notis Mitarachi recently addressed a crucial aspect in the light of the recent events that no Greek Government official has ever directly tackled before; the controversial role of some NGOs in the refugee and migration crisis. Undoubtedly many NGOs have contributed considerably to the management of the challenges posed by the high number of migrants entering the country. However it should also be highlighted that only 86 NGOs—of which 13 are foreign-based—have been officially registered with the former Hellenic Ministry of Migration Policy. This accounts for only a fraction of the hundreds of NGOs that have been active in the affected Aegean islands since 2015.

Mitarachi indicated that some NGOs may possibly be heavily involved in fomenting the riots, encouraging the asylum seekers to proceed even to violence under the pretext of demanding better living conditions. Mitarachi’s statement raises serious concerns, as the facts on the ground seem to confirming his claim, while the motives behind the action of these NGOs are still vague. In order to address this concern the Greek government has approved an urgent vote that attaches updated legislation to NGOs operating in Greece. The new bill obliges all NGOs to subscribe to an official registry, with full details of the individuals affiliated with the organization, in order that enhanced control and transparency to be achieved.

Mitarachi: Asylum Application Process Is Broken

Mitarachi has also highlighted the flaws of the current asylum application process for migrants arriving in Greece. As he recently stated, approximately 91% of the appeals that have been made by asylum seekers for a second review of their applications have been rejected. According to the current law, the appeal process can be quite time-consuming, and in most of the aforementioned cases, the asylum seekers have already moved to the mainland by the time their appeal is rejected. The Greek government is seeking to update the procedure in order the asylum applications and any potential appeals to be processed much faster, as per Mitarachi’s comments.

An Unconventional Threat

The events of last week should also raise serious concerns with regards to the internal security of Greece and the readiness of the national and regional mechanisms to cope with such unforeseen crises. The fact that a significant number of asylum seekers have been mobilized with the involvement of the third parties is also worrying indeed. The way the situation developed has proven that the local Greek forces were not ready to control the crowd and restore order in a timely manner. The successful attempt of the protestors to bypass the police forces—utilizing alternative rural routes—also indicates that the moves had been carefully planned and well-executed. The riots and fires close to the electricity generation station is probably the most worrying aspect of these incidents; protestors have managed to approach and put at immediate risk a part of the essential infrastructure of the island. If the fires had reached the electricity station, the consequences would have been unparalleled.

The Greek government and all authorities involved should seriously consider the possibility as well that the protesters in this case were not just mobilized by local entities—like illegitimate NGOs and opposition groups—but by an external actor. Considering that the Aegean islands are very heavily affected by the migration crisis and are located in an area of strategic significance for the Hellenic Defence Doctrine, it is clear that the current situation constitutes an unconventional threat for the country. It is a threat that the Greek side is not adequately prepared to face yet, and in a potential confrontation with Turkey over the long-term disputes between the two countries, it could prove to be catastrophic.

L'articolo Violence On Lesbos Pushes Greece To Reconsider Migration Policy proviene da InsideOver.

Athens, 23 September 2019. Another police operation is taking place in one of the most central Athens neighbourhoods. Approximately 100 immigrants have been moved from what used to be one of the Greek capital’s landmark schools in the past decades; and this is only one instance of the several similar operations, that have been taking place since mid-summer in Greece. The recently elected Greek government is trying to establish the image of an administration, able to tackle this critical issue and adequately manage the unprecedented refugee crisis of the last years. But how viable and productive is the governmental plan and is Greece ready -or willing- to take drastic measures to cope with a situation that affects not only the Greek state but the integrity of the European Union, as a whole?

Roots and Security Concerns

The refugee crisis is not posing a new challenge for Greece. Due to certain lacks in current infrastructure, none of the Greek governments have succeeded to manage this issue efficiently so far and to implement a sustainable policy. However, the situation has dramatically deteriorated between 2015 and 2019 during the term of the leftist SYRIZA government. The said government applied a misinterpreted loose strategy to address the problem, in accordance with their pre-election announcements, drastically reducing the control process in the main points of entrance, encouraging the massive flow of immigrants through the Greek maritime borders. Therefore, a considerable number of the new arrivals, have never gone through the required vetting, creating several ensuing security concerns.

I happened to read recently a December 2018 analysis with regard to why Greek people are concerned about the security implications of the migrant crisis. Even though agreeing with the qualitative approach adopted by the writer, I consider that some of the findings are missing major parameters. To begin with the scenario of a terrorist attack within Greek territory, one should consider that the country functions as the entering point to Europe. A hypothetical terrorist attack in Greece by radical elements would be a strategic mistake of their terror patrons, who would see the in-country security framework being enhanced, toughening the entrance to an EU country, that provides access to major European metropolitan cities, targets of far greater significance for the terrorist networks. To  further emphasize this statement, we need to remember that terrorists involved in some of the most high-profile and deadly attacks, namely in Paris and Brussels, have entered Europe through Greece or have visited the country at least once.

In the same time, even though major funding has been allocated for the settlement procedure of these people, through the competent authorities of the European Union and the United Nations, but also through other major international organizations, including several NGOs, a paradox has been occurring in Greece since 2015. In various locations of the country’s urban centres, and predominantly Athens, the displaced people have been staying in totally inappropriate structures, most often private properties that have been occupied without any authorization from the legal owners. In those cases the lack of control and monitoring raised not only security concerns but also health implications, considering that the health and safety essentials have been completely absent in those places; in order to provide a more accurate picture of this situation, it would be enough to say that in many of those recent police raids, hundreds of people were found to be living in spaces of just a few square meters.

Facts and figures

In order to comprehend the size of the crisis and the challenge posed to each respective Greek government, let’s examine the graph below:

There has been a surge in the asylum applications since 2015, a figure correlated to the massive flow of immigrants and refugees from that year onwards. It is perplexing though, how those numbers remained lower in the first years of the Syrian conflict. There have been some decisive factors, like the action taken from the FYROM government, back then, to ease the measures and controls when migrants were entering the country; or the shift in stance of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who in an effort to tackle the crisis, suggested that Berlin would adopt a much more friendly and open policy towards Syrian refugees. However, a significant point that many analysts have surprisingly overseen, has been the role of the 2015-elected Greek government. As mentioned earlier, the leftist ruling party has been advocating an open-border policy before the elections, a fact that triggered thousands of people –many of whom would not qualify for the refugee status whatsoever- trapped in Turkey or elsewhere to move to Greece, considering that the country is the entrance to central and northern Europe.

Following the political backlash that many European governments faced due to the escalation of the migrant crisis though, the problems for Greece have been growing even further. With thousands of people planning to enter richer countries of the EU, remaining in Greece, the existing infrastructure proved to be far from efficient. For instance, Lesvos, a Greek island of approximately 86,000 residents, in the eastern Aegean Sea and quite close to the Turkish border, has been one of the “busiest” points of entrance. A major camp is located within the island, where all the migrants are stationed until their asylum applications are assessed; however, the disproportionate flows eventually led to an unmanageable and dangerous situation for all the parties involved, considering that more than 12,000 people are currently living in a structure designed for 3,000. According to an up-to-date report from the UNCHR, the capacity of structures intended for immigrants and refugees in the islands and mainland Greece, under the ESTIA scheme, is approaching 100%; and this scheme covers only a handful of the people who are currently in the country looking to settle in.

Facing the real problem or just another political grandstanding?

The Greek Minister of Citizen Protection, Michalis Chrysochoidis, recently stated that out of the 80,000 people currently in the country, more than half should be readmitted to Turkey, since they do not fulfil the criteria to be considered asylum seekers; however, just over 2% of those people have been sent back so far. Among the same lines, Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis, in front of the UN General Assembly, urged last week that Greece cannot cope with the situation anymore, indicating the country’s inefficiency compared to the real dimensions of the crisis.

The unprecedented flow of migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees in Greece since 2015 has created a problem that still seems to be unmanageable. By the time these lines are written, grim images from the foresaid camp in Moria, have been dominating the Greek and international media. Two fires have been set simultaneously in the interior of the facilities and in a nearby small wooded land, with the local authorities still examining the reasons behind the catastrophe. Police forces and fire brigades that rushed to the area hardly managed to operate in the camp as for several hours, the official authorities have lost control of the situation and the camp itself with hundreds of immigrants rioting in the inside. The tragic outcome of this violent breakthrough has been a woman confirmed dead and another 17 people injured.

Apparently, the government has not been able to handle this challenging reality efficiently so far, even though governmental sources are struggling to provide a different image to the Greek public. The Sunday incident in Moria proves that the situation can instantly and unexpectedly get out of control. On top of that, one should consider Turkey’s role; the immigration crisis has been a considerable burden for Ankara over the last few years. But at the same time, Turkey can use anytime the crisis to gain leverage on political disputes with the EU. In case that the Turkish government decides to use the refugee crisis, as a means to put pressure on Europe on a wide-scale basis, then even the most pessimistic scenarios could not foresee what is to come.

L'articolo Is The Greek Immigrant Crisis Manageable After All? proviene da InsideOver.

Damascus – The rising numbers of child marriage among most vulnerable Syrian refugees over the past 7 years has sent alarm bells amongst humanitarian and civil rights organisations worldwide. Refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey have been fertile grounds for thousands of child marriages with catastrophic social and psychological consequences. Whilst the reasons behind this alarming phenomenon vary, the dilemma has been further exasperated by the growing numbers of divorce amongst child brides, and the emergence of child trafficking gangs operating within and outside of those refugee camps.

Although child marriage existed before the war in Syria broke out 8 years ago, particularly in remote rural areas and certain conservatively religious communities, the numbers rocketed since the war broke out, particularly amongst hardest-stricken families displaced from their native homeland by
the conflict, as well as in areas controlled by Islamic fanatic groups whose members and leaders bragged about marrying girls as young as 11 and even younger, as documented in parts of Iraq and Syria controlled by ISIS or Al Nusra terrorists or similar hardline Islamic groups.

A survey conducted by UNFPA, the American University of Beirut and Sawa for Development and Aid targeting the Syrian refugee population in Lebanon revealed some alarming figures of child marriages. The survey which was conducted in 2016 covered some 2,400 refugee women and girls living in Western Bekaa, and found that more than a third of those surveyed between the ages of 20 and 24 had been married before reaching age 18.

Among refugee girls currently between ages 15 and 17, some 24 per cent are married. Although estimates vary, some show child marriage rates to be four times higher among Syrian refugees today than among Syrians before the crisis. This indicates that displacement, instability and poverty are driving the underage marriages.
“I am convinced that no girl should get married before the age of 18. But when it comes to reality, it is different,” said Iman, a Syrian refugee who was one of the data collectors for the survey. She explained that, as a widow and the sole breadwinner for her family, she has trouble supporting her three children and ageing father. “For this, reason my cousin, out of his good heart, wanted to help out by getting engaged to my daughter and supporting us financially,” she said. Her daughter was 15.

Similar to rampant child labour and growing prostitution following years of war and displacement, Syrian refugees are marrying for Survival, sometimes against their will. Many parents would rather their daughter be married when up to 70% of Syrian refugee children are working.

Sandy Zakhem is the project manager of Tassmim wa Irada ( Will and Determination), a group of local lawyers who provide legal assistance to child brides, stateless children, and child abuse survivors, maintains that refugee families sometimes marry off their daughters when they are as young as 12 in order to get money for things like rent, food, and a job for the father. The Syrian conflict that erupted in 2011 has generated 5.6 million refugees in the Middle East, with Lebanon hosting more than 950,000 registered refugees, according to UNHCR.

Twenty-nine percent of Syrian girls aged between 15 and 19 are married in Lebanon, a number that has been growing, according to the report. “These findings are a reminder to all of us that the situation for children is becoming more delicate,” said Tanya Chapuisat, UNICEF Representative. “We are seeing refugee families resorting to behaviours that put their children at increasing harmful risks,” she stated in the report.

The tragic situation in Turkish and Jordanian refugee camps are not any different. A small shop in Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan displays child-sized wedding dresses. In the camp, Syrian refugee girls down to 13 years of age are married off by their parents. Child marriage there has also been rising at an alarming rate in Syrian refugee communities. The parents want the best for their daughters, but the result is often the opposite.

Several reports have been published over the past few years documenting or even filming girls as young as 13 or even younger being “sold” in slave-like marriages at Syrian refugee camps to men in their 60s or even 70s, particularly Arabs from Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, where wedding an underaged girl is a common perversion.

Although child marriage is a global phenomenon, particularly in third world nations and poor uneducated communities, the scaring surge in numbers of underaged girls forced to marry in refugee camps, for reasons beyond their will and control, remains a tragic phenomenon of colossal human dimensions.

Without urgent and serious campaigns to raise awareness among target communities, and change the conditions that lead to this grave human disgraceful reality, the situation is bound to get much worse for thousands of Syrian and other would-be child brides forced into a marriage that could easily destroy their life once and for all.

L'articolo Marriage of Minors at Syrian Refugee Camps, a Tragic Fallout of the War proviene da InsideOver.

Reportage / Migration 18.04.2019

Despina, stories of an exodus

The third millennium, awaited as no other century ever before with a thrill of futuristic hope in the power of modernity, all-out technology and progress, has instead brought us into a feverish and unexpected era: that of Exodus. Ours is…

Daniele Bellocchio

Marco Gualazzini

Here, under a small tent, they are registered and receive a first reception. An expanse of orange earth and small shrubs stretches away to the horizon and only the sound of the wind breaks a surreal and unsettling silence. In it we seem to hear, as if borne by the memories of the refugees, the echo of the screams of the wounded, the gunshots fired by the government troops, their prayers on their knees before soldiers drunk with waragi and venom, the fierce and vulgar laughter before the shooting, the weeping of children abandoned to themselves and the crackling of the flames in the burning villages. The echo of all this is etched in the memories of the refugees who have crossed the border between an inferno and a region of limbo where they wait to be restored to life.

The Land of the Great Lakes has become the biblical point of arrival for over a million African citizens fleeing conflicts and humanitarian crises. One million South Sudanese, 280,000 Congolese, 40,000 Burundians and almost as many Somalis have recently sought refuge in the former British colony. To understand how it is possible for the African nation to give hospitality to almost a 1.5 million people, doing more than any state of the first world has done, we have to retrace the recent history of the country headed by Yoweri Museveni and understand the model of reception devised by the central government. On the one hand the people of Uganda have known at first hand in recent years the drama of war and being forced to flee and, on the other, there is the welcoming process created by Kampala, which works as follows: after entering Uganda, the refugees are registered, receive initial aid and then, in a period ranging from one week to two at most, they are relocated to one of the 30 tent cities present on the national territory.

To understand what the lives of refugees are like in Uganda, you just need to visit Rhino Camp, once a tourist safari park and today the country’s second-largest tent city with over 250,000 inhabitants. Gentle hills and an expanse of field tents and huts built with mud and straw reveal the beginning of the tent city.

Among them is Emma Senya, 27, who arrived in the tent city in 2016 together with her two children and those of her neighbours. “We refugees have great sadness in our hearts. For what we have seen, for what we have lost, for the horror we have witnessed. They killed one of my sisters by shooting her in the head. Another had her throat cut.

L'articolo Despina, stories of an exodus proviene da InsideOver.

The heat is stifling, the heat drains life of any purpose or desire, the heat sets the sand ablaze, smolders the clouds and leaves no respite. It is the caretaker of the world’s largest refugee camp: Dadaab, in Kenyan territory, 80 kilometers from the Somali border.

The plane lands on the runway with a jolt. And from the first step, the tent city of Dadaab instantly overwhelms anyone entering it, like a mammoth entity devouring the lives of its inhabitants. It is ruthless, unforgiving. It is anything and everything, the Dadaab Leviathan. Because where there are refugees, there should be a refuge, a safe place, a transitory land of shelter. But it isn’t so: it is an African Gehenna where sinners and innocent people await tomorrow and suck today dry, trapped in a monstrous hourglass of scorching sand with no apparent end. Men dressed in coloured osgunti wander, ebony skinned women draped in purple hijabs drag themselves in search of a well and children wearing European football club shirts cry out as the Marabou storks fly around carrying dromedary entrails in their beaks. Here it lies, this immense refugee camp: a lysergic delirium made of scorching temperatures, souls imprisoned by time and by the wind spreading damnation in every corner, insinuating it under their skin, throwing it into their eyes with the dust, blowing it into their ears filled with relentless cries. This is Dadaab. This is it.

The camp’s history stretches back to the nineties, when Somalia was besieged by civil war. The ruler of the former Italian colony, Siad Barre, was deposed and war lords began a widespread conflict which hurled the country on the Horn of Africa into violent anarchy at the hands of insubordinate soldiers. The conflict was made worse by famine, forcing men and women to flee their land and seek refuge in Kenya. The exodus has been incessant, since the nineties violence in Somalia has seen no end. After the war lords came Al Shabaab and Jihadism. Increasing numbers of people kept on fleeing, on foot, on donkey drawn carts, day and night.

Worn out men, the embodiment of exhaustion, cross the African savannah and those who make it arrive at Dadaab. The enormous camp is divided up into five minor tent villages (Hagadera, Kambioos, Ifo, Ifo II and Dagahaley) and today houses 350,000 people. It is Kenya’s third “city” in terms of inhabitants, after Nairobi and Mombasa, but overpopulation, the lack of structures providing the population necessary basics for survival, as well as the absence of concrete plans for the future mean that, especially among the younger generations, the prevailing feeling is one of absolute anger which has been channeled into Islamism. “To live” in Dadaab is “to survive”: 50 kilometers of tent city where the present is but an endless cluster of horrors: cholera epidemics, Islamic Jihadism, drug abuse and rape. The government in Nairobi has now announced it wants to shut down the camp which it considers a terrorist recruiting ground and its inhabitants are faced with an even darker tomorrow: while talks about closure have been made, no proposals have been put forward concerning the fate of the over 350,000 refugees.

At dawn the pick-ups arrive at Hagadera packed with sacks. As these are unloaded dozens of men and women rush to open them, grab the bunches of khat and get ready to sell the psychotropic substance. Khat is a plant grown and used in Kenya, the Horn of Africa and the Arabian Peninsula. It contains ketamine, a substance similar to amphetamine, which produces euphoria, excitement, inhibits hunger and increases sex drive. In Dadaab, the use of these leaves, which the World Health Organization has classified as a drug, has become a social scourge. Addiction is increasing, as are depression, mental disturbances and paranoia caused by its use. But there is more: women also pay the price of its abuse; while not being allowed to use it , they are increasingly the victims of rape perpetrated by men under its effect.

A few hours after sunrise the trucks are unloading tons of plants at all the camp’s markets. The men separate the bunches, check that there are no dry twigs and that the produce is fresh as after 48 hours from picking the substance becomes less powerful. And so the sale starts as does consumption. Eyes become bleary, mouths bulge with leaves, ivory teeth turn green and the high from the drug distorts the face of Yussuf Mohamed who cries out: ”I feel good, khat gives me strength, I have no work, I have no food, khat is what keeps me alive”. The man’s words are revealing and help us understand why the plant is so widespread, worshipped like a survival effigy in a desert of desperation. Jobs are scarce at Dadaab, food is rationed and distributed monthly, hundreds of thousands of refugees have renounced their faith in tomorrow, which seems to bear no future for them and led them to idolize fatalism. Chewing tons of khat helps them fight awareness of their misery. ‘‘Khat has become a reason to live,” explains Simba Karimba, head of a group of merchants. And not just for those using it but also for those selling it. It’s true, it creates problems, but problems are all there is here, and khat also appeases many. Women earn a few shillings to buy milk for their sons, their sons will grow and when they are older will spend those shillings to buy leaves, chew them and forget some of their sufferings. And so khat allows us to carry on in our cycle of non-life.” One more bunch of leaves bulging the cheek, until it is ready to explode, until the eyelids shut, the temples pulse, the jaws clench, the heart becomes delirious and the head explodes providing escape: and for one hour, one night, Dadaab is a sky with a thousand stars and a thusand dreams: but it ceases to be so with the new dawn, with the searing overpowering heat and the sand walls of this prison of misery reminding us that there is no way out of Dadaab, not even by chewing khat.

Photos by Marco Gualazzini

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