Originally published on the CGS blog on October 23, 2015.
With today’s technology, it is easy for us to keep up with what’s going on around the world. We can receive email updates from government institutions, check up on current events from our smart phones, watch the news on our computers, and more.
Although it’s wonderful that we can easily stay informed, there’s one problem with this: sometimes by getting caught up in the “new,” crises that have been occurring for months or years get lost in the crowd.
Here are some of these “forgotten” issues:
1. Refugees in Kenya’s Dadaab Camp
Dadaab refugee camp is the world’s largest, inhabited by some 350,000 people. The camp, which has been in place for over 20 years, is home mostly to Somali refugees who fled their own country’s prolonged fighting and droughts.
Families in the camp struggle to live on the bare minimum provided by aid agencies. The World Food Program (WFP) was forced to drop rations at the camp by 30% this summer due to lack of funding. Hospitals too have suffered, as they can’t afford proper staffing. In Kenya, refugees are not allowed to work for an income, so families survive by engaging in trade within the camps.
Recently, insecurity has been rising in Dadaab. Criminal gangs and Islamic militants frequently attack the camp. The fact that so many young people aren’t able to work or study also contributes to a rise in crime—60% of Dadaab’s population is age 17 and younger. Amongst this chaos, it is not possible for the Kenya police or the UN Refugee Agency to maintain order.
According to international law, refugees have three options if they want to leave camps: apply for resettlement in a third country, return to their country of origin, or integrate into the country where their camp is located. Unfortunately, many Dadaab refugees cannot return to Somalia as the war is still continuing, and they no longer have any belongings there. They cannot settle in Kenya because the government refuses to grant them citizenship. Finally, resettlement in an alternate country is rare, with less than 1% of refugees worldwide successfully doing so.
Dadaab refugees are basically trapped in a horrible cycle, stuck within the boundaries of their camp and dependent on inadequate food aid.
2. Ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims in Burma
A few months ago, the United Nations announced that the Rohingya Muslims in the state of Myannar (Burma) are “the world’s most persecuted minority.” For decades, this ethnic community has faced practices of ethnic cleansing and racial discrimination. This is carried out both by Burma’s government and by Buddhist extremist groups.
Although Rohingya Muslims have lived in Burma for many generations, the national government does not recognize them as Rohingyas and instead treats them as illegal settlers from Bangladesh. For the past 50 years, “Burmanization” has been the government’s policy. This process includes the promotion of a single religion (Buddhism), language (Burmese), and culture (Burman). This focus on “cultural assimilation” has led to the ethnic cleansing of minorities such as the Rohingyas.
On top of government policy, groups led by Buddhist monk Ashin Wirathu are murdering Rohingya Muslims and driving them from their homes. This violence has led thousands to flee Burma via the Bay of Bengal, hoping to end up in Thailand, Indonesia, or Malaysia. Unfortunately, these countries refuse entry to the migrants and force them back to sea, leading to many additional deaths.
On October 15, Burma’s government signed a peace agreement with some of its armed ethnic groups. This agreement, which has been under negotiation since 2011, was refused by eight ethnic armies. The hope that it may bring some peace to the nation is slim.
3. Continued violence in the Central African Republic
Often referred to as the “forgotten” conflict, violence in the Central African Republic (CAR) has risen to extreme levels ever since the Muslim rebel group Seleka initiated a military campaign in 2013 to overthrow then-president Bozize. Seleka fighters were accused of using child soldiers, looting villages, raping and killing civilians, and other crimes against humanity. Frustrated that these crimes were continuing unpunished, many civilians formed self-defense militias known as Anti-Balaka to confront the Seleka.
Although the Anti-Balaka groups were created for a civilian protection, eventually the fighting became more religion-oriented, with some Anti-Balakas targeting Muslims in response to claims the Seleka had been terrorizing Christian communities. In February 2014, Amnesty International released a report documenting how several Muslim towns were now completely empty of Muslims, as they had been forced to flee the country to escape violence. In other words, Muslim civilians have been facing massive ethnic cleansing.
Nearly 900,000 people from the CAR have been forcibly displaced since the outbreak of violence in 2013, with some 2.7 million in need of humanitarian aid. Violence continues to plague the country, as demonstrated by the new surge that occurred in early October which forced more than 30,000 additional people to be displaced. Despite the fact that the international community has taken note of the crimes against humanity occurring in the CAR, the current funding for adequate humanitarian response is not enough, and it seems that the international community has forgotten about the crisis.
4. Ongoing humanitarian crisis in Iraq
Although it may seem like Iraq is often in the news these days, there are important gaps in what is being covered. Media explanations tend to focus exclusively on the fighting between the Iraqi government and the ISIL militants. What we don’t hear about is the humanitarian consequences of the current crisis. Iraq now has one of the highest populations of internally displaced people (IDPs) in the world–since January 2014, 2.6 million people have been displaced. In addition, a quarter of a million Syrian refugees have made their way into the country. Civilians are increasingly unable to cope with the consequences of the crisis, with children particularly impacted by protection risks and disruption to their education.
Today, security concerns have dominated priorities in Iraq at the expense of humanitarian assistance and efforts to create long-term stability. Although Iraq has been classified as a Level 3 emergency (the highest level) by the United Nations, its displacement crisis is being overshadowed by Syria in terms of funding and international attention. Iraq’s displaced civilians are not allowed in the country’s Syrian refugee camps, for example. This is partially because refugees have a different legal status than IDPs. Governments are responsible for IDPs, who are their citizens, whereas refugees are seen more as an international responsibility.
This September, the situation worsened for Iraqis due to a cholera outbreak in the country. By the end of the month, some 1,700 people with suspected cholera had reported for treatment in hospitals. Water supply systems that have insufficient amounts of chlorine to provide clean water are the main sources of the outbreak.
The Iraq Humanitarian Response Plan, created in June 2015, requests $498 million to provide humanitarian aid in Iraq. To date, only 40% has been received, and humanitarian needs are outpacing available resources.
5. Saudi blockade starving Yemen
Yemen has long been one of the poorest countries in the Middle East. Since March, Saudi Arabia has led an Arab military intervention in the country, in an attempt to get rid of Shia rebels known as Houthis, who forced ex-President Abradduh Mansour Hadi to flee the capital in February. The Saudi-led coalition has been conducting airstrikes across the country, causing injury and death among the civilian population and destroying homes, hospitals, and other infrastructures.
As if this were not enough, the coalition has also imposed a blockade on Yemen. All the major ports, airports, and roads to the country are closed off. Even before the conflict, Yemen depended on imports for 70% of its fuel and 100% of its medicine. Right now, 13 million people are food insecure, as 90% of Yemen’s food is normally imported. There are a total of about 21 million people in need of assistance.
Despite the gravity of the situation in Yemen, the crisis is not featured in the news. This is because the Saudi blockade of the country doesn’t just apply to goods; it applies to people and personnel as well. In the last six months, there have been hardly any journalists in the country, and those who are allowed in must wait months to be granted visas.
A nutritional survey will be done at the end of the month to determine whether a famine is occurring in Yemen. According to the latest figures, 537,000 children under the age of five are at risk of severe malnutrition, and 1.3 million more are moderately malnourished. In addition, UN officials predict negotiations on a resolution to end the war between the Saudi and the Houthi rebels will start by the end of the month. One can only hope these negotiations are successful, and that the blockade on Yemen will be lifted as soon as possible.
Hearing about so many international crises can be very depressing. Rather than feeling helpless, check out some ways in which you can make a difference:
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