Global Voices » Humanitarian Response

South Korea: American Missionary Sue North Korea for Sexual Torture

Lee Yoo Eun — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 01:32:36 +0000

Robert Park, a Korean-American missionary and human rights activist who went to North Korea on 2009, sued North Korea for sexual torture. Park crossed into the country in protest of North Korea's human rights atrocity. However, as Marmot's Hole blogger wrote, the new has drawn some cynical reactions.

Puerto Rico: Extraordinary Decisions

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 22:17:29 +0000

“What do you say when you meet someone you think is extraordinary? You should say ‘Hi!' and then start a conversation,” says Gil the Jenius, who profiles the extraordinary Andrea Pérez, a speaker at the recently held TEDx San Juan.

Sahel Region: 1.6 Million Children at Risk of Malnutrition

Lova Rakotomalala — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 11:11:31 +0000

Afrik.com reports that [fr]: ” because of the low harvest and an increase of 60 to 80 % in cereal pricing, 10 millions people across Niger, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso and Chad will be affected by food security issues, including 1.6 million children.”

Bulgaria: Severe Flooding Emergency

Veronica Khokhlova — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:57:45 +0000

GV Author Ruslan Trad is tweeting - here, here, here, and here - about the severe flooding in southern Bulgaria, which was caused by heavy rainfall of the past few days and has killed at least eight people in the village of Bisser. The latest tweet came about an hour ago: “Breaking: Maritsa River’s dike broke close to the village of Generalovo, municipality of Svilenhrad, huge wave.” More photos from the disaster in the village of Bisser - at the Facebook page [bg] of the Bulgarian National TV's fundraising effort to help the victims.

China: Veto of UN Security Council Draft Resolution on Syria Draws Praise and Grief

John Kennedy — Sun, 05 Feb 2012 16:24:32 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Russia and China seem to have voted with their own interests in mind yesterday in their controversial opposition to a draft resolution at the UN Security Council which calls on Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to stop the killings in his country, a revision of an earlier draft calling on Assad to relinquish power.

China justified its decision to veto the draft resolution, saying it wants to promote peace in Syria, and Russia claims to hope for a diplomatic approach to resolving the conflict in the country. As FireDogLake writer David Dayen points out: “The fact that Russia still supplies arms to the Syrian security forces clearly weighed heavily on the vote today.”

US ambassador to the UN, Susan Rice, confronting Li Baodong, China. Image posted to Weibo.

Unrest in the country has led to an estimated 7,000 deaths since March last year, with more than 200 lives lost in a massacre earlier this week.

Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the People's Daily tabloid Global Times, made today what is perhaps one of the most vocal statements in support of China's decision to veto the draft resolution, ending up under heavy fire in the comments section. Taking offense at Susan Rice's reported “disgust” at China's vote, Hu confuses her [zh] with Condoleezza Rice but also writes:

美国代表不点名批评中俄“出卖了叙利亚人民的意愿”。骂去好了。美国多次在安理会涉以色列提案表决时搞“一票否决”，这次中俄是“两票否决”。叶利钦当年说的好：只要中俄联手，美国无论捣鼓什么，“都是手淫”。赞呵。

The American representative has criticized China and Russia for their “betrayal” of the Syrian people. Whatever. America has vetoed a number of Security Council propositions dealing with Israel with a lone vote. China and Russia's “veto” now was done with two votes. Yeltsin said it best: As long as China and Russia stick together, the most America can do is play with itself. Awesome.

Almost as a sort of response, writer Ran Yunfei wrote [zh] shortly after that:

一个政府做一次错事可以原谅，不可原谅的是把做错事当成事业。我不是个民族主义者，但百年来的历史证明，中国与俄国的联手从来都没有对过。

A government can be forgiven for making one mistake, but it becomes unforgivable when making mistakes becomes a legacy. I'm not a nationalist, but a hundred years of history has proven that China and Russia have never done anything right by sticking together.

One “verified” commentator on Sina Weibo wrote [zh] early Sunday morning Beijing time that Russia and China ought now to be removed the Security Council and China replaced by Taiwan; that post was quickly deleted.

Sorry world, sorry Syria, we Chinese have an evil government. —Michael Anti, on Twitter.

The horrific video below [WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT], however, purportedly of the massacre Thursday in Homs, has not yet been deleted and has gathered hundreds of comments across the different spaces on which it's been embedded. At Sina Video, where it's currently being hosted, the most recent comment reads:

尼玛的我们国家在干什么鸟呀

Damnit, what the hell is our country doing?

This post is part of our special coverage Syria Protests 2011/12.

Saudi Arabia: A Family Living in a Cemetery

Haifa Alrasheed — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 15:52:30 +0000

Away from the political scene and on a more human level, a short movie shot by young Saudi filmmaker Bader AlHomoud named “Almagbarah,” which translates to cemetery in Arabic, has changed the life of a Saudi family. Bader describes the montage phase in his tweet [ar]:

#ma8barah اليوم أصبت باكتئاب وانا اعمل مونتاج لفلم سيصيبكم بالكابة سترونه قريبا

Today I got depressed while editing a movie that will make you all depressed too

The three-minute movie, posted below from YouTube, shows a Saudi family living in a cemetery. It has no script, nor a dialog. It features members of the family and their children playing around the cemetery and the abject poverty they live in.

Saudi tweeps were emotionally touched by the movie and below are some of their reactions under the hashtag #ma8barah.

@MarwanAlrouqi describes the logic behind the location [ar]:

عزيزي المواطن : من اجل رفاهيتك اخترنا لك سكن بعيد عن الازعاج وقريبً من الاخره ! #ma8barah

Dear Saudi citizen, for your convince we picked you a residence that is far away from the noise and close to your resting place!

A screen shot from the movie

@hayaalshatti asks [ar]:

هل أصبحت خيارات الحياة تقف عند أنني يجب أن أفضح ملامحي وأنشر فقري في فلم .. حتى أحصل على كرامة .. تباً لمن سلبهم كرامتهم ! #ma8barah #KSA

Did we reach the point in which I have to expose my life in order to get some dignity? Woe to those who robbed them of their dignity!

And in reaction to the video, which has been watched more than 148,000 times on YouTube, smartman7779 says [ar]:

شي محزن فبكت عيوني من هذا الحال احمد ربي ع حالتي

This is sad, I cried watching it! Thank God for my circumstances

Three hours after publishing the movie, Princess Ameerah Al-Taweel, who is Vice-Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees and Head of the Executive Committee of the Al-Waleed bin Talal Foundations, announced on her Twitter [ar] account:

الحمد لله، ستقوم مؤسسة الوليد بن طلال الخيرية بتأمين سكن دائم لهذه العائلة وتم التواصل مع بدر الحمود وسنبدأ من الغد إن شاء الله #ma8barah

Al-Waleed bin Talal Charity Foundation will provide the family with a permanent residence, we are currently contacting Bader AlHomoud

@malsahli [ar] comments:

لو لم يقم شاب مبدع يدعى بدر الحمود بتسليط الضوء على عائله سعوديه تسكن مقبره..لماظهر المنقذون ولبقيت الأسره مهمشه خلف ناطحات السحاب #ma8barah

If the creative Bader did not shed light on this family they would have been still living behind the skyscrapers and forgotten!

and @essamz stresses on the power of the social media:

فيلم مدته 3 دقائق يؤدي لحل مشكلة عائلة خلال 3 ساعات من نشره. إنها قوة الإعلام الجديد. #ma8barah

A three minute movie solves a problem in three hours.. that is the power of the new media!

Two days later, @BaderAlHomoud announces:

#ma8barah الحمدلله حتى سيارة وصلت لأبو شريفة من فاعلة خير

The family received a car from an anonymous donor

South Sudan: Urgent Steps Needed to Counter Inter-Communal Violence

Ndesanjo Macha — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 11:38:33 +0000

Urgent steps are needed to counter inter-communal violence in South Sudan: “Inter-communal violence in Jonglei and throughout South Sudan, while traditionally cyclical in nature, is not inevitable. The causes of this violence go beyond the retaliatory nature of cattle raiding and touch upon broader issues of accountability, reconciliation, political inclusion, state effectiveness, development, and the proliferation of arms among the civilian population.”

Myanmar (Burma): Betwixt and Between

Onnik Krikorian — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:27:25 +0000

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees considers the situation of between 110-150,000 Burmese refugees located in camps on the border with Thailand as one of 29 protracted refugee situations globally. And, according to East Asia Forum, there are also an additional 1.5-2 million refugees in Thailand and represent the ‘visible side of human rights abuse.'

Ruled by a military junta from 1962 to 2011, Burma, known locally and by the United Nations as Myanmar, has often been accused of violating human rights and the forcible relocation of civilians. Although an ostensibly civilian government was controversially elected in 2010, a quarter of seats in parliament as well as three cabinet seats are reserved for the army.

Other concerns include the use of forced labour, among them children, human trafficking and internal ethnic conflict. In an extensive post, Mary Ditton, a Senior Lecturer in Health Management in Australia, looks at the problem of internally displaced people and refugees:

Most of the self-settled migrants from Burma work in the manufacturing, food processing and agricultural industries throughout Thailand […]. Further to the constant fear and threat of deportation, they work in poor conditions with neither basic rights of association, nor employee and health rights. […] Only some forced migrants choose to officially seek asylum and reside under the protection of UNHCR. Other forced migrants decide to earn a living within the informal economy and endure the risks of being deported. This protracted refugee process means the actual refugee camp populations are made up of women, children, the elderly and disabled, as the able-bodied men and women seek work elsewhere. This ‘left behind’ population is prey to corrupt practices such as people and drug trafficking, smuggling, and child labour. The self-settled group is vulnerable to these practices as well, since they have no effective legal protection.

Burmese Refugee Project on Flickr

A group particularly at risk are children, especially from minority communities, as the Rohingya Arakanese Refugee Committee explains:

Last week the human rights group Arakan Project released a report on children’s rights in Northern Arakan State, in western Burma. Arakan State is home to about 735,000 Rohingya Muslims, one of the most oppressed ethnic minorities in Burma.

The report stated that over 40,000 Rohingya minority children in Arakan State do not have Burmese (or any), citizenship, despite being born and having parents who live in Burma. The children’s stateless status, along with several other draconian laws that discriminate against Rohingya, are in fact severe human rights violations and can have dire consequences on their health.

All Rohingya living in Burma, according to Arakan Project, are required to pay bribes to get permission to travel outside of their villages. Some are forced by the Army or border forces to build roads and guard and clean bases. Rohingya have been pushed off their land, and Arakan Project estimates that only 30% of Rohingyas have access to farmland, with the rest working mostly as casual day laborers.

A study in the United States of 400 refugee children has found that health is a serious concern even when they leave Thailand and Burma:

Some Burmese refugee children heading to the U.S. have toxic levels of lead in the blood, according to a study released this week in the journal Pediatrics. Researchers at the Center for Disease Control and Prevention measured lead levels in Burmese children living in Thai refugee camps. They found that children under age two were at highest risk. Fifteen percent of them had lead poisoning, as did five percent of all children. […]

[…]

Lead poisoning is extremely toxic and can severe health effects on children, including brain damage, mental retardation and lowered IQ levels.

Well-Being For Rohingya Refugee Bangladesh says that changes and reform in Burma might help improve the situation:

While many humanitarian groups have called for more aid for Burmese refugees displaced by years of conflict, there is some optimism now that a series of cease-fire agreements may offer some hope to deliver badly needed food, medicine and shelter supplies.

A recent field report published by Refuges International (RI) focused on two key goals: allowing humanitarian groups freedom of access to refugee areas and the removal of elaborate donor restrictions.

[…]

There are an estimated 500,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) in Burma, and three million Burmese refugees in other countries, according to their study. There are also some 800,000 stateless Rohingyas in the west of the country, who live in dire humanitarian conditions because of their lack of basic human rights.

With the decrease in fighting now is the time for the humanitarian community – led by the UN Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator (RC/HC) and supported by key donors like the European Union, United Kingdom, and United States – to expand operations in Burma […].

A ceasefire recently signed between the government and rebels, as well as the release of political prisoners, has given some cause for hope. However, Tina McCloughy says more is necessary:

As part of my Fulbright research in Burma,Malaysia,and Thailand,a Burmese ethnic minority boy told me how he held on tight to his father’s back,as his father carried him through Burmese mountainous war zones to Thailand,leaving him alone in a refugee camp across the border. Why? Because the boy’s father saw how the Burmese government military had repeatedly torched his ethnic villages,schools,and never built them new schools. The only help any minority students have gotten in Burma has been from illegal forays by the Free Burma Rangers into Burma,risking their lives to take ethnic minority educators safely through dangerous conflict zones to be trained to start schools. Burmese minority educators shouldn’t have to risk their lives trying to educate their children.

Changing the lives of minority Burmese requires [Secretary of State] Clinton to also pressure Thailand and Malaysia to change their refugee policies,given that refugees continue to flow out of Burma and that it may take many years before Burma becomes safe for minority families. Thailand and Malaysia have deliberately refused to ratify the 1951 U.N. Convention protecting refugees,perhaps because they fear giving education and work rights to such an overwhelming number of Burmese minority refugees.

Following last year's visit by the U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, Andrew G. Lim writes on the Huffington Post that now is a “critical moment to press for further changes in the way that Myanmar's government deals with its ethnic minorities,” while Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, released from house arrest in 2010, this week addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland in a video message:

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate acknowledged the changes in her country and urged the international community to do more to support further reform.

El Salvador: Top Stories of 2011

Silvia Viñas — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 18:53:02 +0000

Tim's El Salvador Blog summarizes the top stories from El Salvador in 2011.

Philippines: Malong and Typhoon Sendong Evacuees

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 12:55:01 +0000

Journalist Keith Bacongco writes about how Typhoon Sendong evacuees in the southern Philippine island of Mindanao uses the malong, a traditional Muslim blanket, to cope with the disaster.

Syria: Emergency Refugees

Dieyna Ba — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:49:22 +0000

With large scale violence in Syria, the exodus towards neighboring countries is increasing continuously (Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey). As per Islamic Relief [it] non-profit organisation, at least 650 Syrian families (mostly from the high risk areas of Homs and Hama) are in urgent need of food, sanitation and other assistance. Currently different activities such as fundraising and other initiatives are taking place, details here.

Haiti: Two Years, Today

Janine Mendes-Franco — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 22:33:01 +0000

Today is the second anniversary of the Haiti earthquake. Regional bloggers post remembrances, here, here and here.

South Sudan: Humanitarian Crisis in the World's Newest Country

Onnik Krikorian — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 12:09:29 +0000

This post is part of our special coverage South Sudan Referendum 2011.

Less than a year since declaring its independence in July 2011 to become the world's newest country, South Sudan continues to face a humanitarian crisis. Civil war between the African South Sudan and the Arabic North, Sudan, had already claimed around 1.5 million lives by that time, and international organizations warn that the troubles are far from over.

At the beginning of this year, for example, South Sudan declared its Jonglei State a disaster zone after as many as 100,000 people were forced to flee from fighting between the rival Lou Nuer and Murle tribes. The United Nations has already launched an emergency operation to supply humanitarian assistance to around 60,000 people.

The Borgen Project Blog provides a comprehensive background to the latest tribal trouble:

It is reported that these clashes began as cattle raids, but have spiraled out of control. Conflicts such as these “cattle vendettas,” as well as other clashes between rival groups, are common in South Sudan. The United Nations says that about 350,000 people were displaced as a result of this kind of violence last year.

Intercommunal violence like this poses a major challenge for the fledgling government in South Sudan. Being a newly independent state, the country is faced with the task of establishing an effective system of governance. Furthermore, South Sudan is one of the world's poorest regions. It has hardly any roads, schools, medical clinics, or other vital infrastructure. The lack of economic development within the country only fuels instability and leads to a higher rate of clashes like these recent ones in Jonglei.

Displaced population caused by cattle raiding in Pibor county, Jonglei State © Liang Zi/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

Catholic Relief Services, an international relief organization operating in South Sudan, concurs:

The troubled state of Jonglei has a long history of ethnic tensions, cattle raiding, kidnappings and sometimes violent competition for scarce resources.The most recent attacks were led by the self-proclaimed Nuer White Army, a group of as many as 6,000 armed youth from the Lou Nuer ethnic group. Spokespersons of the armed group stated that their intention was to reclaim stolen cattle and 180 kidnapped children that they say raiders from a neighboring ethnic group, the Murle, had taken from their communities.

[…]

“After nearly four decades of working in Sudan and South Sudan, CRS recognises that sustainable development and peace are tightly interwoven,” Boyd says. “To contribute to a lasting improvement in the level of basic services and economic opportunities available to people throughout South Sudan, it is imperative to support communities to find meaningful, concrete ways to resolve their differences and put an end to destructive conflict. Simultaneously, tensions between groups are often exacerbated by the scarcity of basic services like access to water, schools, or health clinics. Development and peace have to happen at the same time.”

Another international organization, Oxfam, also links averting conflict with the provision of essential goods and services:

As South Sudan emerges as a new nation, there may be no more pressing issue for its people, and perhaps for the stability of the nation as a whole, than the investments it makes in its agricultural sector and long term food security.

[…]

The international community has invested a tremendous amount in shepherding Sudan and South Sudan through the Comprehensive Peace Agreement and independence. Now, however, the work just begins and donors must double down on their commitments to help South Sudan overcome the challenges of insecurity, displacement, and cyclical droughts and floods.

As it makes this transition to a nation at peace with itself and with its neighbor, South Sudan will require a comprehensive balance of predictable, multi-year development assistance alongside continued support for humanitarian needs focused on strengthening the GoSS emergency preparedness and disaster management capacity

It will also be important to invest in programs of Disaster Risk Reduction and resilience that enable communities to prevent, mitigate and recover quickly from humanitarian crises. Donors should also look to emergent South Sudanese civil society as an important actor in providing humanitarian and development assistance that complements the programs of the state and private sector.

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) also provides an account from the ground:

“Thousands of people have fled for their lives in Lekongole and Pibor in the last week and are now hiding in the bush, frightened for their lives,” said Parthesarathy Rajendran, MSF head of mission in South Sudan. “They fled in haste and have no food or water, some of them doubtless carrying wounds or injuries, and now they are on their own, hiding, beyond the reach of humanitarian assistance.”

The village of Lekongole has been raised to the ground and an MSF team that assessed the situation in Pibor on 28th December described it as a ghost town, virtually everyone having fled into the surrounding country. While the people are hidden in the bush, we cannot reach them to clean and dress wounds, treat diseases and provide general primary healthcare. The longer they are in the bush, the more serious it will become for people who are injured or sick.

[…]

“There are several crisis situations evolving in different parts of South Sudan right now,” adds Rajendran. “Our medical teams are also currently responding to the crisis of refugees fleeing conflict in neighbouring Sudan. These are staunch reminders that despite independence, acute emergencies are still all too present in South Sudan and the capacity for emergency humanitarian response remains an absolute priority.”

Bill's Space comments:

It only seems a few months ago that we saw the creation of a new nation in Africa, with the arrival of Southern Sudan out of Sudan. But it seems that a new name and new existence does little to change the way things are in that part of the world. I’m seeing reports of more than 3000 people killed in South Sudan last week in ethnic violence, that forced thousands of others to flee – although ‘fleeing’ seems to what the people in part of the original Sudan have been doing for decades - these kind of mass killings or massacres seem able to be perpetuated despite the presence of United Nations personnel, South Sudanese army,. etc With the report that this is the worst outbreak of ethnic violence in the new nation since it split from Sudan in July, seems to be the indication that such violence is an ongoing activity […].

Others are also cynical towards the international community's stated aim of assisting South Sudan, with The Impudent Observer making a satirical post, Death in Sudan, Who Cares?, ridiculing the US in particular:

This intrepid reporter asked prominent American political leaders for a reaction to this massacre of the innocent.

George Bush: ”The key thing is whether there are WMD in South Sudan that pose a threat to the security of America.”

Michele Bachmann: ”South Sudan? Is that near New Orleans?”

Herman Cain: ”I wonder if anyone there would be interested in a fabulous pizza deal.”

Ron Santorum: ”I urge those unfortunate people to pray to God”

Mitt Romney: ”America sends its condolences to all who are persecuted. I will inform Mormon headquarters so they can send some missionaries.”

Newt Gingrich: ”If South Sudan leaders would contact me, I have some interesting ideas that might help them and my organization offers a beginning of year discount.”

Barack Obama: ”We are leaving troubled areas, not going in.”

For more updates on South Sudan, Washington-based PannLuel Wël is providing updates on a blog, PannLuel Wël: South Sudanese Blogger, as well as on Twitter at @PaanLuelWel2011.

This post is part of our special coverage South Sudan Referendum 2011.

Africa: ICTs for Refugees and Displaced Persons

Onnik Krikorian — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 17:11:09 +0000

In recent weeks Global Voices has presented to its readers more examples of how citizen media is used to amplify the voices of refugees and displaced people. However, while blogs and social networking sites clearly have a role to play in empowering marginalized groups, so too do ICTs in general.

MobileActive, for example, is encouraged by the potential for mobile phones to allow refugees to not only remain in contact with loved ones, but to also more easily locate them. Attention is especially drawn to a special issue of Forced Migration Review which takes an in-depth look at the use of ICTs in this context.

Refugees in Uganda are using SMS and cellphones to reconnect with family members and close friends. Photo via MobileActive

Refugees often experience a compound trauma: The situation that caused them to flee in the first place, as well as the fact that many families become separated during migration. For refugee's health and well-being and ability to resettle, it is vital to know the whereabouts of relatives, their safety, and their ability to remain in contact. Today, mobile phones are the most important technology for refugees to find relatives and remain in contact.

The Forced Migration Review Issue 38, The Technology Issue covers technologies for refugees in particular. Two chapters shine a light on the use of mobile phones among refugees, as well as some of the problems with this tech to find and contact family member such as issues of security, and accessibility.

Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees T Alexander Aleinikoff provides an introduction to the special issue:

Superficially at least, today’s refugee camps do not appear significantly different from those that existed 30 or 40 years ago. Modernisation seems to have passed them by. But upon a closer look, it becomes apparent that things are changing.

Today, refugees and IDPs in the poorest of countries often have access to a mobile phone and are able to watch satellite TV. Internet cafés have sprung up in some settlements, the hardware purchased by refugee entrepreneurs or donated by humanitarian organisations such as UNHCR. And aid agencies themselves are increasingly making use of advanced technology: geographic information systems, Skype, biometric databases and Google Earth, to give just a few examples.

In one article, the example of a tracing project implemented by the Refugee Consortium of Kenya (RCK) in cooperation with Refugees United (RU) is highlighted:

In 1991 Ahmed Hassan Osman* fled the conflict in Somalia, leaving his family in Kismayu, and made his way to Kenya in search of asylum. Ahmed lived for a while in Ifo refugee camp before being resettled to Colorado in the US where he was granted full US citizenship.

In 1992, his cousin Abdulahi Sheikh arrived in Kenya in search of support. Granted refugee status, Abdulahi ended up in Dagahaley camp in Dadaab. He believed Ahmed was either in Dadaab or had been there but his efforts to find him were unsuccessful and he soon gave up hope of ever finding him. In fact, Abdulahi believed Ahmed had gone back to Somalia.

In early 2011 RCK employed Abdulahi to assist the RU project in Dagahaley refugee camp. Abdulahi registered with the tracing project and began a search for missing loved ones. Coming across a name that was familiar, he contacted the person through the RU message system. When he received a reply he realised that, after 20 years of separation and search, he had found his beloved cousin. They exchanged phone numbers and Ahmed called, breaking 20 years of silence. Today, the two keep in touch regularly and both Abdulahi and Ahmed continue to search for more friends and family members.

Of course, as MobileActive also stresses, some problems with local infrastructure remain an obstacle to the widespread adoption of such systems:

In some areas of Africa, there is no telecommunications coverage. Workshop participants commented that where it does exist, phone connections are regularly cut off, and some of them had also experienced intrusion in communication such as crossed lines. The strength of the network signal overseas is weak, and the lack of a reliable or steady source of electricity in a recipient’s country can be a major problem, although this varies by region. Growth of populations in some areas weakens network strength, due to the drain on power. Individuals may also have difficulty accessing electricity to charge their mobile phones.

[…]

Finding the best technology to use for different family members can be difficult, particularly if they themselves are displaced, because of factors such as the variety of available services, whether the family member could afford them and whether they have the skills to use them. One participant observed that the majority of their family members overseas needed to access communication technology through others. One participant described the difficulties she had in contacting her husband in a camp. She sent money to him to buy a phone but other people in the camp would also use it leaving her often waiting for hours to get in touch.

Cheap options such as email, voice-over-internet or instant messaging may not be accessible or affordable, and access to the internet in Africa is very expensive. Furthermore, displaced family members overseas may not know how to use these facilities.

From providing refugees with access to information on health and educational opportunities to using Facebook, Gmail Chat and Skype to maintain connections with family members and friends across geographical divides, the issue provides a comprehensive overview of how ICTs are being used.

Ushahidi also gets a mention in relation to the 2010 earthquake in Haiti as well as in general as it pertains to conflict, disaster and refugees. Indeed, PBS' Idea Lab takes a look at an Al Jazeera and Ushahidi collaboration to connect and empower Somalis separated by conflict and famine:

Somalia Speaks is a collaboration between Souktel, a Palestinian-based organization providing SMS messaging services, Ushahidi, Al Jazeera, Crowdflower, and the African Diaspora Institute. “We wanted to find out the perspective of normal Somali citizens to tell us how the crisis has affected them and the Somali diaspora,” Al Jazeera's Soud Hyder said in an interview.

[…]

The goal of Somalia Speaks is to aggregate unheard voices from inside the region as well as from the Somalia diaspora by asking via text message: How has the Somalia Conflict affected your life? Responses are translated into English and plotted on a map. Since the launch, approximately 3,000 SMS messages have been received.

[…]

For Al Jazeera, Somalia Speaks is also a chance to test innovative mobile approaches to citizen media and news gathering.

In October 2010, MobileActive also profiled a mobile-based project implemented by Refugees United in Uganda with the support of Ericsson, UNHCR and the Omidyar Network, noting that one blog called it “the social network that is more important than Facebook.”

The Technology Issue by Forced Migration Review can be read online here.

Philippines: Environment Disasters Linked to Mining, Logging Operations

Karlo Mikhail Mongaya — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 06:06:33 +0000

While Typhoon Sendong (international name: Washi) flood victims were trying to cope with the massive scale of the death and destruction brought by the calamity, another series of flash floods and landslides ripped through the Philippines in the past three weeks.

Days after Sendong killed 1,257 people last December and left thousands missing and homeless, more floods hit many provinces including Cebu, Davao, Bukidnon, Maguindanao, Compostela Valley, Negros, Leyte and Aklan in the southern Philippines. A deadly landslide meanwhile hit the mining town of Pantukan in Mindanano island last week, leaving 31 dead and over a hundred missing.

As relief operations continue to pour in to flash flood and landslide victims, Filipino netizens also began to ask some questions. The country's tropical climate makes it no stranger to floods and landslides, but the extent of the recent devastation have left many pondering: What are the causes, especially with the increasing scale and frequency of such disasters? What can be done to prevent them or prepare for them in the future?

Antonio J. Ledesma, SJ, the Archbishop of Cagayan de Oro, said that logging and mining is one of the culprits behind the disaster:

Last January 2009, the city had already experienced severe flooding. Some old-time residents recalled that this phenomenon happens every forty years. But barely three years after that, Typhoon Sendong came with greater vengeance.

Illegal logging and irresponsible mining activities have contributed to the degradation of the environment and the siltation of the river bed. The erection of man-made structures may have also impeded the natural flow of the waters.

Cagayan De Oro City Flood Damage Map

Ateneo Physics Laboratories posts the flood damage map of Cagayan de Oro City.

Dugo at Panulat holds [fil] the Aquino government accountable for allowing big business to hold destructive logging and mining operations in the country:

Pinahihintulutan ng gobyerno ang pagmimina at pagtrotroso ng mga naghaharing korporasyon at ng kapatid nitong gahamang dayuhan. Pinahihintulutan ng gobyerno na gahasain ng magkapatid ang ating likas na yaman kapalit ng konting kita at pamumuhunan ng mga ito.

The government permits the mining and logging operations of the ruling corporations and their greedy foreign partners. The government permits the two to rape our natural resources in exchange for a little profit and investment.

Lisa Ito also points [fil] to the conversion of forests by transnational corporations into plantations for export crops:

Laganap din ang kumbersiyon ng kagubatan upang gawing plantasyon ng pinya, jatropha, saging, at iba pang export crops, ayon sa maka-kalikasang grupo na Panalipdan Mindanao. Ayon sa mga pag-aaral mula sa National Institute of Geological Sciences, ang CdO ay lalong nagiging bulnerable sa baha dahil sa kumbersyon ng 2,000 ektarya ng kagubatan sa Upper Pulangi Watershed upang gawing taniman ng pinya ng Del Monte Philippines—isa sa pinakamamaking exporter ng pinya sa buong mundo.

The conversion of forests into plantations for pineapples, jatropha (for biofuel), banana, and other export crops is also widespread, said the environmentalist group Panalipdan Mindanao. According to studies from the National Institute of Geological Sciences, Cagayan de Oro became more vulnerable to flooding because of the conversion of 2,000 hectares of forests in Upper Pulangi Watershed for the pineapple farms of Del Monte Philippines-one of the largest pineapple exporters in the whole world.

Environmentalists have pointed out that a geo-hazard analysis conducted by the University of the Philippines confirmed the role of state neglect in the Sendong tragedy. Youth activists have been very vocal about President Noynoy Aquino's veto of a P5 billion disaster preparedness allocation in the past year that could have helped lessened the impact of the floods:

We reiterate that it is the Aquino regime which is a man-made disaster, turning the unavoidable reality of heavy rains into a tragedy: First, because Noynoy himself removed the funding for disaster preparedness in the 2011 national budget. Not a single centavo in the P5 billion ‘Calamity Fund’ went to preparing Northern Mindanao, or any other part of the country for that matter, for natural disasters. Second, because he continues to allow massive, ‘legal’ logging by mining, agricultural, timber, and real estate corporations.

A MindaNews photo shows the logs brought down by the floods to Iligan City from logging sites.

Politika 2013 meanwhile exposes the efforts by big business publicists to confuse the issue and steer the discussion away from the linking of large-scale mining and logging to the calamities:

Aside from sweepingly labeling all critics as leftists, the pro-mining and logging publicity offensive likewise attempts to confuse and dishes out lies:

“The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has confirmed that there are no large-scale mining operations in Cagayan de Oro and Iligan…,” CMP President Philip Romualdez said in a statement.

Of course, the mining operations are located in the very wide watersheds beyond the boundaries of both Cagayan de Oro and Iligan.

Meanwhile, Philippine Wood Producers Association (PWPA) deputy executive director Maila R. Vasquez denied the presence of commercial logging operations in northern Mindanao…

So where did the thousands of cut logs that destroyed houses and now littering the coastline and clogging the rivers come from?

Dr. Giovanni Tapang listed 7 ways to reduce disaster risks in the country, including adequate disaster preparations. One of his recommendations is the emulation of socialist Cuba's storm preparations.

Various groups called on the Aquino government to punish those accountable for the disaster. Photo Credits: Karlos Manlupig

Dean Tony La Viña suggests 10 things that should be done after Sendong. He counsels against distractions and blame games, but at the same time calls for holding those responsible accountable:

Although this is certainly not the time for blame games, accountability must be exacted. In other countries, notably in Japan, officials take themselves out of the equation by resigning and taking responsibility. Unfortunately, we do not have that tradition here. And so I welcome the task forces created by the President to investigate what happened, although I would have preferred an independent commission to do this job to have more objective findings. Nevertheless when they finish, I hope they will file the appropriate criminal, civil and administrative cases against accountable officials. I would especially want charged those officials who abetted the activities that exacerbated the disaster, or those which had the information and the power to prevent it (but negligently did not do so).