Month: July 2013

Short takes: refugees around the world, diseases, rapes, suicides, trafficking etc.

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

I’ve got such a backlog of stories to post, I’ve decided to do a compendium of sorts to catch up.

Rohingya men demand justice in Thailand. AFP photo

~Syrian refugee camp in Iraqi Kurdistan, overloaded and unsanitary conditions may lead to disease

Here is the story at Relief Web:

DOMIZ CAMP, 3 July 2013 (IRIN) – On a hot June afternoon, 27-year-old Gharib Mohammed stands outside his tent at this camp for Syrian refugees in Iraq, shovel in hand.

Sewage and garbage have blocked the small stream that runs the length of his dusty avenue and the smell has entered his tent.

~Center for Disease Control has a report on the high Bhutanese refugee suicide rate in the US.  Looks like not much new beyond what we have already reported.

From February 2009 to February 2012, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) reported 16 suicides among Bhutanese refugees in the United States. This number far surpasses the number of suicides reported to ORR among any other refugee community in the United States, yielding a suicide rate that is twice as high as that in the general United States population.

~In Egypt, Egyptian men think they can get Syrian refugee brides cheaply, from The Star:

Men across the region are now seeking Syrian brides. In Turkey and Jordan, where refugee camps pepper the landscape, the desperation of the Syrians is far easier to spot as rich Persian Gulf men scour the camps to buy brides living in tents. Rape, child brides and temporary marriages are prevalent.

[….]

But in Cairo, where there are no camps, the dashed dreams of both Egyptians and Syrians in the post-Arab Spring world meet on more equal terms.

Egyptian men, now poorer as the economy founders, find hope in the desperate Syrians, who can’t live in their own nation because a war that once promised revolutionary change has brought devastation and forced flight instead.

[….]

Some Muslim clerics have urged Egyptian men to marry Syrian women as an act of charity, and there are even rumours that top members of the Muslim Brotherhood, the secretive religious society through which Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi rose to prominence, have taken Syrian women as second wives.  [LOL!  I bet this practice came to a screeching halt in the last few days!—ed]

~In Thailand a policeman was charged with helping Rohingya man rape Rohingya woman, from AFP where the story is used to once again blame the Buddhists in Burma.

BANGKOK — A policeman has been charged with trafficking after a Rohingya woman was allegedly lured from a shelter in southern Thailand and subsequently raped by a man from the refugee Muslim minority, police told AFP Friday.

It is believed to be the first time a Thai official has been charged with trafficking of Rohingya boat people, despite probes into alleged people smuggling by authorities including the army.

[….]

The woman was allegedly raped repeatedly by the Rohingya man, believed to have worked as a translator at the shelter, who has been charged for the assault.

US Catholic Bishops would like the US to take more Rohingya (and Syrians!) to your towns, here.

~Woman (Mexican national) charged in US with trafficking child from El Salvador into the US, from the Brownsville Herald:

Another child is heading to the Office of Refugee Resettlement and a woman is accused of trying to smuggle the undocumented girl into the country, according to a U.S. Customs and Border Protection news release.

Mirtha Veronica Nava-Martinez, 38, is accused of inducing an undocumented child to enter the U.S. illegally for financial gain, a criminal complaint revealed.

Pandemic panic: MERS at Mecca

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Update July 5th: WHO to convene emergency talks on MERS, Tuesday (here).  Only second ever of such emergency talks.  Hat tip: Drudge

“Belgian medics have warned Muslims not to travel to Mecca, because the Hajj threatens to spread the virus worldwide.”

I’m wondering if every local US health department should be alerted in case Muslims from the US come in contact with the disease as they travel to the Hajj.

There has been another death of a Middle Eastern man in the UK from the mystery disease known to the health community, and soon to the world, as MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome).  Here is the story from the UK Telegraph, hat tip: Always on Watch via twitter:

A man being treated in a London hospital for a lethal ‘Sars-like’ Middle Eastern virus has died.

This May 23rd graphic is already outdated—77 cases now with 43 deaths!

The man, a Qatari national, had been admitted to a private clinic in London in September, before being transferred to the specialist centre at Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital.

He was diagnosed as suffering from the Mers virus – Middle East Respiratory Syndrome – which has affected 77 people worldwide, with 43 deaths.

“Guy’s and St Thomas’ can confirm that the patient with severe respiratory illness due to novel coronavirus (MERS-nCV) sadly died on Friday 28 June, after his condition deteriorated, despite every effort and full supportive treatment,” said Robin Wilkinson, a spokesman for the hospital.

The death of the Qatari man brings to three the number of victims who have died in the UK.

Warnings to be issued in advance of Hajj pilgrimage:

Known cases of the illness have quadrupled since April, and it is deadlier than Sars, which killed 774 people in 2003. SARS killed one in ten affected people; Mers has proved fatal in 65 per cent of cases.

The majority of the cases have been in Saudi Arabia, or in patients who have recently travelled to the region.

But with the annual Hajj pilgrimage due in October, and an estimated three million people travelling to Mecca, concerns are mounting that the deadly virus could spread swiftly.

“We need to get the facts clear and get the appropriate advice to all your countries where your pilgrims want to go to Mecca,” said Margaret Chan, head of the World Health Organisation, in May. “It is something quite urgent.”

[….]

Cases have been reported in Jordan, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Britain, France, Italy, Tunisia and Saudi Arabia – the country with the most confirmed infections.

Visit our ‘health issues’ category for our previous coverage of MERS and other diseases and ailments that follow immigrants around the world.

Canada announces it will take 1,300 Syrian refugees (to begin with)

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

Actually they didn’t say “to begin with,” that was me, because we all know that this is just the beginning with literally millions of Syrians on the move throughout the Middle East.

Syrians on the move. We are coming to Canada!
Washington Post photo

Be sure to read what the director of one of the largest Syrian camps said recently (here)—-most difficult refugees in the world!

Apparently the Canadian government has succumbed to pressure from its 100,000-strong Canadian ‘Syrian community.’

1,300 will soon be on the way, according to The Star:

Ottawa will resettle 1,300 Syrian refugees to Canada from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey over two years to address the deepening humanitarian crisis there, says Immigration Minister Jason Kenney.

The announcement on Wednesday came a month after the Syrian Canadian community made a public appeal urging the federal government to establish a special program for displaced refugees caught up in the two-year-old civil war between Syrian President Bashar Assad and the opposition.

The latest United Nations data shows more than 4.25 million Syrians are internally displaced and more than 1.6 million have fled to neighbouring countries.

“Our focus . . . is finding a long-term political solution to the crisis there,” Kenney told a news conference in Edmonton. “Our country is making an important effort to ensure the most vulnerable Syrian refugees are provided protection.”  [They love that word too—vulnerable!-–ed]

A coalition representing Canada’s 100,000-strong Syrian community welcomed the announcement, but worry about the lengthy screening and processing involved in the resettlement program.

“It is a step in the right direction. They finally recognized the crisis in Syria, which is the largest refugee crisis in the world today,” said Faisal Alazem of the Syrian Canadian Council in Montreal, one of seven groups involved in the coalition that met with Kenney in June.

Then US readers take note, in Canada many refugees are resettled with PRIVATE FUNDING.  In the US almost all refugees are resettled with taxpayer money funneled through resettlement contractors.

Two hundreds of the 1,300 Syrian refugees will be resettled with financial support by the Canadian government, while the rest will be assisted by community and faith groups that have sponsorship agreements with Ottawa.

If the US required private financial support and added legal responsibility for the resettlement sponsor group or individual sponsors, the refugee flow would be seriously curtailed.  It’s just too easy to want more (and more) refugees when using someone else’s money!

UN closes refugee camp on Libya-Tunisia border, refugees refuse to leave

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This is one of many enduring legacies Obama’s excellent adventure in Libya has left us.  Actually I should say Obama and his Humanitarian Vulcans—Clinton, Rice and Power—left us!   Tens of thousands of refugees were created when we helped oust Qaddafi.  Many were workers who had gone to Libya to work in the oilfields.  So much for Samantha Power’s “responsibility to protect!”

In truth, perhaps it was the Al-Qaeda rebels she and the girls were protecting.  Just think what a danger Samantha Power will be if confirmed as Obama’s UN Ambassador!

Samantha Power’s refugees at Choucha camp on the Libyan-Tunisian border at the heyday of US involvement in the Libyan conflict.  Photo: Renaud Philippe.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees was eager to close this camp, but the remaining refugees are demanding resettlement to third countries—that means the US, Canada, or Australia, because those three are really resettling the bulk of the world’s refugees

From the Saudi Gazette:

TRIPOLI — Some 650 refugees have refused to leave the Choucha refugee camp at the Tunisian-Libyan border, which officially closed Sunday.

The United Nations refugee agency UNHCR announced the closure of the camp in March but many refugees have stayed on, despite water and electricity supplies being cut off. A Chadian resident, Mussa Ibrahim, confirmed that the camp is still open and continuing to house around 650 residents.

“The camp may be closed theoretically,” he said: “UNHCR said they closed it for administrative reasons, but they did it for media hype.”

He also told the Libya Herald that basic services have been reduced over the last week. The water, he said, was stopped, forcing refugees to fetch water from neighboring areas in Ben Guerdane.

Ibrahim said that the camp’s residents, especially asylum seekers who have had their applications rejected, are waiting for a satisfactory solution.

The Tunisian government’s earlier decision to integrate remaining camp residents into Tunisian society, or return them to Libya, was rejected by some refugees, who asked UNHCR to reconsider their demand to be resettled in Western countries. These individuals are apparently mainly from sub-Saharan Africa, Palestine and Iraq. The Tunisian Ministry of Social Affairs, said Ibrahim, has started taking fingerprints from refugees, on a voluntary basis, in a move to grant some six-month residence permits. “This would also give us free movement in Tunisia,” Ibrahim explained, adding: “Until then, we cannot leave the camp.” However, his permit, which he needs to support his family, has not yet materialized.

By the way, we have been resettling refugees from the Libyan upheaval with the theory that we broke it, we fix it.  Now we are moving on to doing the same thing in Syria!  At my most cynical moments, I think the goal of all of  our involvements in the Middle East is the creation of more refugees.

US Conference of Catholic Bishops says it’s time to bring in the Syrians

~ Ann Corcoran ~ Leave a comment

This (below) is a press release from the Bishops on World Refugee Day which I hadn’t seen until I saw a short news account of it at Catholic World News earlier today.

USCCB Press Release.  I have to laugh, they sure work in one of their favorite buzz words—vulnerable—but not a word about vulnerable CHRISTIANS!  And, never a peep about how they are paid by the head to bring in the “vulnerable” Muslims.  See our recent post on the USCCB and its unholy dependence on Caesar’s money!

Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, leading his immigrant flock on facebook?

And, go here to learn more about Syrian refugees—-the most difficult in the world!

WASHINGTON—Archbishop José H. Gomez of Los Angeles, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Committee on Migration, marked June 20, World Refugee Day, by calling for U.S. support and resettlement of vulnerable refugee populations across the world, including Syrians fleeing conflict in their country.

“The conflict in Syria is worsening and it is time for the United States and the international community to do more to respond to the needs of Syrians fleeing their country for safety,” Archbishop Gomez said.

Archbishop Gomez added that particularly vulnerable Syrians should be considered for resettlement to the United States and other countries, such as vulnerable women with children, the elderly and disabled, and unaccompanied refugee children.

“Durable solution” (another buzz phrase!) is code for bringing them to America.

“Resettlement to a safe third country should be considered, both to provide the best durable solution for vulnerable Syrians but also to take pressure off of neighboring countries, such as Turkey, Lebanon, and Jordan,” Archbishop Gomez said.   [We gotta take the pressure off those Muslim countries you know!—ed]

To date, the United States has resettled only 24 Syrian refugees.  [I doubt that and we just learned recently that 2,000 are in the pipeline for this year—ed]

Gomez: We need to bring in the Rohingya Muslims too!

Archbishop Gomez referred to other refugee populations worldwide in need of support and possible resettlement, including Rohingya Burmese in Bangladesh, Malaysia and Thailand; Congolese in East and Southern Africa; and Afghans [Muslims too!] who are fleeing to Turkey and other areas of the world. “We have an obligation to help these vulnerable populations,” he said, “including and especially the most vulnerable refugees: unaccompanied minors and those that have become victims of human trafficking.”

“Sadly, there continues to be no shortage of refugees in need of the world’s attention and support,” Archbishop Gomez concluded.”As the world’s leader in protecting refugees, the United States must do more to respond to humanitarian crises in and around Syria and other parts of the globe.”

Did you get the message—they are VULNERABLE?   But, what about the vulnerable Americans who don’t have jobs and are struggling to make ends meet in your town.  And, what about the vulnerable taxpayers who pay for all of this?