RIPOTI YA UNHCR YAONESHA UWAPO WA WAKIMBIZI MARADUFU KATIKA HISTORIA YA BINADAMU

TAARIFA ya hali ya wakimbizi duniani kufikia mwaka 2015 inaonesha kwamba watu milioni 65.3 wanaishi kikimbizi ikilinganishwa na watu milioni 59.5 kwa mwaka 2014.

Ongezeko hilo la watu milioni 5.8 katika kipindi cha miezi kumi na mbili kimelezwa kuwa ni la kiwango cha juu tangu kuanzishwakwa Umoja wa Mataifa.

Katika taarifa yake kuadhimisha siku ya wakimbizi duniani (Global Trends) Shirika la Kuhudumia wakimbizi (UNHCR) limesema dunia kwa sasa inakabiliwa na kundi kubwa la watu waliolazimika kuyakimbia makazi yao kwa sababu mbalimbali ikiwamo migogoro ya kivita, ubaguzi na uvunjaji wa haki za binadamu.

“Takwimu zilizopo leo hii, aina ya migogoro iliyopo na ugumu wake kumesababisha kuwapo na wimbi kubwa la wakimbizi tangu kuanzishwa tangu kuanzishwa kwa Umoja wa Mataifa; watu milioni 60 wameondolewa katika makazi yao duniani hapa. Kila siku janga la wakimbizi linatangazwa katika vyombo vya habari ; watoto, wanawake na wanaume wakipoteza maisha yao katika jaribio la kukimbia vurugu zilizopo katika eneo lao" anasema Filippo Grandi, Mkuu wa UNHCR.

Kati ya wakimbizi milioni 65.3, wakimbizi milioni 3.2 wako katika nchi zenye viwanda wakisubiri kutambuliwa hadhi zao kama wakimbizi, milioni 21.3 wametawanyika duniani kote na milioni 40.8 wamelazimika kukimbia maeneo yao lakini wapo katika nchi zao.

Mwakilishi wa UNHCR Tanzania, Bi Chansa Kapaya akizungumza kwenye maadhimisho ya siku ya wakimbizi duniani yaliyofanyika katika kambi ya wakimbizi, wilayani Kasulu, mkoani Kigoma.

Imeelezwa kuwa kwa kuzingatia idadi ya watu waliopo duniani takribani bilioni 7.349 ina maana kwamba mtu mmoja kati ya watu 113 ama anatafuta hifadhi, amekimbia makazi yake lakini yupo katika nchi hiyo hiyo au ni mkimbizi.

Kimsingi duniani kwa sasa kuna watu wengi waliolazimishwa kuhama makazi ya kuliko idadi ya watu waliopo Uingereza, Ufaransa au Italia.

Miaka 10 iliyopita, mwishoni mwa mwaka 2005, UNHCR ilirekodi wastani wa watu sita kukosa makazi kila dakika duniani lakini sasa ni wa 24 kila dakika.

Watu milioni 1.8 walilazimika kukimbia nchi zao kwa mwaka 2015 ukilinganisha na watu milioni 2.9 mwaka 2014.

Uturuki iliorodhesha idadi kubwa ya wakimbizi wapya wakiwamo 946,800 kutoka Syria. Urusi walikuwa na wakimbizi 149,600 kutoka Ukraine. Na vurugu zilipoibuka Burundi mwezi Aprili, karibu watu 123,400 walikimbilia Tanzania.

Kwa idadi hiyo Tanzania inakuwa nchi ya tatu kwa kuhifadhi wakimbizi wengi duniani.

Wakati wakimbizi wapya wa Burundi wanaingia Tanzania,UNHCR ilikuwa katika operesheni ya kuwawezesha wakimbizi waliopo kuendelea na maisha yao ya kawaida. Aidha katika kipindi hiki Tanzania ilitoa uraia kwa wakimbizi wa Burundi walioingia nchini mwaka 1972 ambao walikuwa wakiishi Tabora na Katavi na Marekani iliwapokea wakimbizi 30,000 wa Kongo waliokuwa wakiishi Nyarugusu, Kigoma.

Tangu kuanza kwa wimbi jipya la wakimbizi kutoka Burundi zaidi ya watu 141,000 wamekimbilia Tanzania kutafuta hifadhi na kuifanya Tanzania kuwa nchi inayohifadhi wakimbizi wengi kutoka Burundi.

Asilimia 77.9 ya wakimbizi hao wapya ni wanawake na watoto, Watoto wengi waliofika Tanzania ni wale waliozaliwa katika ardhi ya Tanzania (63,961) wamehifadhiwa katika kambi ya Nyarugusu, moja ya kambi kubwa duniani ikiwa na wakimbizi 131,733.Mazingira ya maisha yao yakiwa magumu. Moja ya vitu ambavyo vinafanywa na UNHCR ni kuwatawanya wakimbizi hao ili kuleta nafuu katika kambi hiyo.

Wakimbizi wengine wapo katika kambi za Nduta na Mtendeli zilizofunguliwa Oktoba 2015 na Januari 2016 kwa lengo la kupunguza msongamano katika kambi ya Nyarugusu na wakati huo huo kutoa nafasi kwa wakimbizi wapya.

Hata hivyo Nduta haraka sana ilifikia kiwango chake cha juu kinachopaswa kuwepo hapo Ilipofika Aprili mwaka huu; Kambi hiyo ina wakimbizi 55,000. Wakimbizi wapya kwa sasa wanapokelewa kambi ya Mtendeli ambapo wakazi wake waliongezeka kufikia 21,796.

Lipo eneo jingine linafikiriwa kufanywa kambi ya wakimbizi eneo la Karago, lakini eneo hili lina matatizo ya maji na haifikiriwi kwamba inaweza kubeba wakimbizi 50,000 wanaotarajiwa kuingia Tanzania kutoka Burundi.

“Wahisani wa kimataifa wameweza kuitikia wito wa kukabiliana na wimbi la wakimbizi wa Burundi na hivyo kuipunguzia mzigo serikali ya Tanzania,UNHCR na Mashirika mengine ya Umoja wa pamoja na taasisi zisizo za kiserikali. hata hivyo bado kunatakiwa raslimali nyingi zaidi ili kukabilina na wimbi hilo,” anasema Mwakilishi wa UNHCR Tanzania, Bi Chansa Kapaya.

UNHCR Tanzania imepata asilimia 40 ya mahitaji yake kusaidia wakimbizi wa Burundi mwaka kukiwa na pengo la dola za Marekani milioni 44.8 hadi kufikia Juni 19,2016.Kwa mantiki hiyo fedha kwa ajili ya kusaidia wakimbizi wa Burundi wanaotarajiwa kufikia 330,000 mwishoni mwa mwaka huu zipo kidogo sana.

HOW INTERNET CONNECTIVITY, YOUTUBE AND AMATEUR FOOTAGE IS CHANGING INTERNATIONAL JOURNALISM

By Caroline Lees

Internet connectivity, YouTube and amateur footage from citizen journalists have helped to create a new form of journalism that has enhanced international reporting, especially of the current conflict in Syria, according to Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor for Channel 4 News. However technology can never replace a journalists' primary role as an eyewitness, Hilsum said.

Connectivity has had a particularly significant impact: reshaping global communications and transcending national boundaries. “The world is being remapped in terms of connections,” Hilsum told an audience at the Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism at the University of Oxford last week. Quoting Parag Khanna, author of Connectography, Mapping the Future of Global Civilisation, she said there are less than 500,000 kilometres of borders across the world, but more than one million kilometres of internet cables.

More efficient international connectivity means that journalists can verify information, reach contacts and find potential sources very quickly, often instantly. It also means there is wider awareness of news and information nearly everywhere.

Hilsum said better access to information was evident when covering Europe's refugee crisis, both for journalists and refugees: "I spent last summer in the Balkans with refugees. Little dinghies would arrive on the beach and the first thing everyone would ask, often before they took off their lifejackets, was ‘where is the nearest wifi?’ They wanted to let people at home know they had arrived safely and to share information about their journey. It is this connectivity and flow of information that has made this refugee and migrant movement possible,” Hilsum said. “Everybody in Syria knows exactly what is going on with the refugees and Europe," she added.

Hilsum referred to a recent comment by Matteo Renzi, Italy's prime minister, about the refugee crisis. Renzi said he believes man-made borders are becoming irrelevant in a digital world: "How long do you think a wall might last in the internet age? How can you defend a border when terrorists are born and raised in our cities?"

“The point is that there is a digital caliphate, that is what governments are failing to understand," Hilsum said. "As journalists we have to understand and explain that. This flow is not going to stop - everyone knows everything now, because of connectivity….”

In another example she described how, while in Greece, she tweeted that she was boarding a ferry in Lesbos. “A friend on Twitter saw my post and at the same time noticed that a friend of his, a refugee from Erbil, had posted on social media that he was also getting on a ferry at Lesbos. He tweeted this information to us, as well as a picture of the refugee and within minutes we found him on the same ferry. It is extraordinary how you can make these connections instantly now,” she said.

Social media helps reporters in other ways, Hilsum said. “It is a useful tool for checking things. We had some footage from Syria although we did not know much about it. I tweeted a question asking for help in verifying it. The answer came back straight away.”

But connectivity has also made reporting more difficult and sometimes more dangerous. “It works both ways, when I started in this game, you could fly into [a place like] South Sudan and you could write what you wanted, and get interviews because nobody knew what you were writing. Now everybody knows what western journalists and local journalists do. Now people are far more aware of how to manipulate journalists, or how to use their own propaganda instead of talking to journalists.”

YouTube and citizen journalism have also changed the way reporters cover international stories, especially conflicts. Few news organisations now send staff to Syria because of the risks, nor will they buy stories from freelancers working in the country. “It has been a disastrously dangerous war to report. YouTube has become an incredibly important part of how we report it," Hilsum said. She referred to a comment once made by Marie Colvin, the Sunday Times journalist who was killed while covering the siege of Homs, Syria in 2012. "Marie used to say sometimes she felt she was the only reporter left in a YouTube world."

YouTube and amateur footage helped in reporting the recent bombing of al-Quds hospital in Aleppo. “We all had to report the bombing without being there ourselves, but then a clip taken from a security camera at the hospital was released. It showed the very moment the bomb hit. It was extraordinary footage because it showed the last moments of the doctor who was killed. It illustrates the power of security cameras and YouTube in reporting,”

“Sometimes you cannot get over the border into a country, but now it is possible to get original footage to show what has happened.”

Hilsum acknowledged the danger of receiving and broadcasting film footage from unverified sources. “Sometimes a clip doesn't tell the whole story,” she said. “People putting footage out often have an agenda.” She explained that Channel 4 News has a staff member whose job is to verify footage received from external sources.

YouTube will never replace first-hand reporting, Hilsum added: “As a reporter, I am an eye witness. If I am not there I cannot smell it and I cannot feel it,” she said. “The most important role of a journalist is being there.”

Hilsum described a recent visit she made to to the ancient city of Palmyra, Syria. She was one of the first western journalists to visit the site, which had been largely destroyed by Isis. News of the murder of the Keeper of the Monuments, 82-year old Khaled al-Asaad, had already been widely reported, but Hilsum uncovered the story of another execution in the city by Isis.

A passing comment from a government minder led Hilsum to learn about Fatima, a young woman who had been tried by the Islamic Court set up by Isis in the basement of Palmyra’s museum. Fatima’s mother showed Hilsum a tattered piece of paper on which the court’s judgement was written. It read: “Sentenced for apostasy, all belongings to be confiscated. Death sentence, no appeal.”

Fatima was executed the same day as the Khaled al-Asaad. “The story became about a famous man and the unknown woman who both dared to defy the Islamic State. It is not the kind of story you find without being there,” Hilsum said. “I felt I made her live again for four minutes, for that very brief moment of time this unknown woman became famous. I feel that is part of what we do as journalists.”

Lindsey Hilsum, International Editor, Channel 4, was speaking at a Business and Practice of Journalism seminar at Green Templeton College on Wednesday May 18, 2016.

Bonded labourers, sex workers, forced beggars: India leads world in slavery

Faizan Haider, Hindustan Times, New Delhi | 

The Gallup survey was conducted across 15 states and covered nearly 80% of India’s population, the foundation said. (HT File Photo)

India has the largest population of modern slaves in the world with more than 18 million people trapped as bonded labourers, forced beggars, sex workers and child soldiers, a global survey report said on Monday.

The Global Slavery Index by human rights organisation Walk Free Foundation said the number was 1.4% of India’s population, the fourth highest among 167 countries with the largest proportion of slaves.

“Existing research suggests all forms of modern slavery continue to exist in India, including inter-generational bonded labour, forced child labour, commercial sexual exploitation, forced begging, forced recruitment into non-state armed groups and forced marriage,” said Grace Forrest, co-founder of the Australia-based foundation.

The survey said an estimated 45.8 million people are living in modern slavery globally and 58% of them are concentrated in India, China, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Uzbekistan.

The Gallup survey was conducted across 15 states and covered nearly 80% of India’s population, the foundation said.

The report coincided with the Centre unveiling a draft bill that envisages punishment for gangs involved in human trafficking and scrutiny of placement agencies, many of which are accused of forcing children into bonded labour and prostitution.

The Cabinet recently cleared proposals to “address new forms of bondage such as organised begging rings, forced prostitution and child labour”. India abolished bonded labour in 1976 but gangs continue to trap people from poor rural areas with the promise of better jobs. Most of them are sold into domestic work, prostitution, or to brick kilns, textile units and farms.

The foundation requested the Centre to frame a policy for private employers so that they keep a check on bonded labour in their supply chain, an issue repeatedly raised by Nobel Laureate Kailash Satyarthi, who runs a campaign called Bachpan Bachao Andolan against child labour.

His organisation said on Monday the true test of the draft bill “will lie in ensuring time-bound prosecution and rehabilitation, and fixed accountability and stringent monitoring parameters for law enforcement agencies”.

The survey produced case studies to highlight individual cases, underpinning social and economic reasons behind this.

“This is an old disease in the village that if you are not able to pay off your debts you will have to work as a bonded labour in the field of a powerful person. My husband was employed far from the village so that he cannot run away,” the report quoted a woman as saying.

Another woman working as a domestic help said she was never paid wages and “in the name of debt, I was made a victim of sexual violence”. It said a skewed sex ratio in some parts of India “has fuelled trafficking of women for forced marriage”.

The report also highlighted the recruitment of child soldiers by militant groups active in several states, including Jammu and Kashmir, and Jharkhand, and the Northeast.

MAGAZETINI LEO JUMATANO