Archive for the ‘Migrant Crisis’ Category

Heading off a climate migration crisis in Asia – eco-business.com

Families affected by Typhoon Haiyan in 2013 live in temporary tents. Climate change is set to drive more people from their homes in the future, but the world is ill prepared to deal with climate migrants, say experts. Image: ADB, CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Nearly 15 million people worldwideapproximately the population of Cambodiawere forced from their homes in 2015 by weather-related disasters, including violent storms, floods and landslides.

As climate change intensifies, those numbers will rise. Not everyone will end up resettling elsewhere, but a large, undetermined number of displaced people are already becoming environmental migrants, defined by the International Organization for Migration as people who are obliged or choose to leave home due to sudden or progressive environmental changes that adversely affect their lives.

Climate change is one factor in the rising numbers of these displaced people, but the associated crisis is where many of these people live. Up to 650 million people live in areas that will be submerged or exposed to chronic flooding by 2100. The majority of people facing such threats make their home in Asia and the Pacific, the worlds most disaster-prone region, which is acutely exposed to the impacts of climate change.

Sea level rise, one of the most destructive climate change impacts, poses an irreversible threat to coastal communities and island states. Nine of the 10 countries with the largest number of vulnerable people living in low-lying areas are in Asia. In the Pacific, climate change threatens to literally redraw the map.

Entire countries and cultures on the small states in the worlds largest body of water confront an uncertain future. Australian climate researchers have identified five small reef islands in the Solomon Islands that have vanished over the past seven decades, and six other islands that have lost much of their land to the sea.

Receding shorelines have wiped out two villages, forcing residents to higher ground.The isolated nation of Tuvalu, just 2m above sea level, appears to be the country most threatened by climate change. Peak tides have reached as high as 3.4 meters.

The international community has awoken to the human toll of environment-related displacement, and to the likelihood that climate change will exacerbate these conditions. In 2015, governmental delegations from 109 countries endorsed the Nansen Protection Agenda for people displaced by disaster and climate change, and the Platform for Disaster Displacement has been established to implement this agenda.

More than 20 events discussing the link between climate change and migration were held during the COP22 meeting last November in Marrakech, Morocco.

The 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change called for the creation of a task force to develop ways of avoiding or minimizing human displacement caused by climate change. This was a significant advance, and it is important that the task force be formed, funded, and become active as soon as possible.

It has been given less than two years to deliver recommendations applicable at subnational, national, regional, and international levels, and to identify legal, policy and institutional challenges, as well as good practices and lessons learned.

Countries in Asia and the Pacific are already bolstering their defenses against environmental threats, and preparing for displacement in areas that are no longer safe to inhabit. The Peoples Republic of China, Papua New Guinea, and Viet Nam have relocated communities that face flood risks.

Bangladesh, long accustomed to cyclones and extensive flooding, has signed an agreement with the Netherlands to reclaim land by using sediment flowing through the countrys rivers, creating resettlement areas for people displaced by river erosion.

In Mangoroco, a village in Iloilo province in the Philippines, a sea wall built by residents saved many lives when Typhoon Haiyan hit the area in 2013. Kiribati has adopted a migration with dignity policy to create opportunities for those who wish to emigrate abroad now and in the near future.

With planning and investment, some migration can be averted or postponed. In other cases, migration should be promoted as a practical way of adapting before its too late.

A 2012 ADB study recommended that countries conduct national assessments of natural disaster risks, calling for strengthened disaster risk management through better early disaster warning systems and improved design of post-disaster sheltering plans.

Theres also a need for social protection and jobs for those who remain behind in vulnerable areas. Governments can support development initiatives driven by the communities themselves, as well as skills training and alternative livelihood programs.

They can invest in climate-resilient sustainable infrastructure and basic services in migrant-receiving cities, using hazard maps to guide future resettlement plans, and consulting with local communities in the construction of storm-resistant homes.

Environmental migration should be systematically addressed in strategy, policy, and planning documents on climate change, such as nationally determined contributions under the COP process, as well as in country development plans and disaster risk reduction strategies.

With planning and investment, some migration can be averted or postponed. In other cases, migration should be promoted as a practical way of adapting before its too late.

What should be avoided, however, is inertia. Better policies, strong leadership, rigorous scientific research, and international cooperation will help vulnerable communities make informed choices about their future rather than let climate change decide for them.

Bart Edes is Advisor, Sustainable Development and Climate Change Department; Head, Knowledge Sharing and Services Center, Asian Development Bank. This blog first appeared as an article in Asian Geographic magazine and is republished from the ADB blog.

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Heading off a climate migration crisis in Asia - eco-business.com

Dutch Boat Tours With Refugee Guides Put a Human Face on Europe’s Migrant Crisis – Sputnik International

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16:10 09.03.2017(updated 16:14 09.03.2017) Get short URL

"When I came toEurope I had lost everything, I had gone fromworking ina Five Star hotel inDamascus, the capital ofSyria, totraveling formonths onend toreach safety inGreece," Mohammad told Sputnik.

Mohammad Al-Masri is a refugee fromSyria; he left Damascus and traveled toTurkey in2015 alongwith millions ofothers, ashe manged tosurvive the perilous journey bysea toGreece. He then ended uptraveling toa small village inthe Netherlands called Ter Apel, fromthere he went onto Amsterdam.

Recalling the time inSyria when he watched the Egyptian movie Hammam inAmsterdam, Mohammed felt likehe knew the city even beforehe arrived.

"After watching that film, I felt likeI knew the place already. It was home tome," Mohammad told Sputnik.

It was atthis stage that he made contact withartists and entrepreneur Teun Castelein, founder ofRederij Lampedusaboat tours. Mr. Castelein had the idea ofbringing awareness tothe plight ofrefugees and decided torun boat tours withrefugees asthe guides, asit was the easiest way tomake a statement and tobring awareness tothe issue ofimmigration.

The result was the resurrection oftwo boats, namedHedir and Meneer Vrijdag, once used totransport refugees toEurope fromTurkey.

"We have all read inthe media aboutrefugees, they were painted ina dark light, however I saw it asa huge humanitarian issue and I felt I had todo something; it had a very personal agenda. I have an entrepreneurial spirit and that is how the idea came about," Mr. Castelein told Sputnik.

The tour group will run daily cruises fromApril, each lasting one hour and costing US$20 per person. They will take passengers throughthe city's world-famous waterways.

Mr. Castelien hopes that the boat tours will bring tothe forefront the plight ofrefugees and migrants inEurope, inwhat he considers a bold statement aswell asan artistic outlet.

"If you put one ofthese boats ontothe canal, what will happen practically withyour audience? The easiest way tomake a statement is toput it inyour face," he said.

Mr. Castelein and Mohammad are now friends, united bya common cause and spurred onwith the aim ofachieving a better tomorrow.

"We are all friends so, we do not want tomake them [refugees] outto be victims likethe rest ofthe media. The boats are a symbol ofbeauty. The history ofour city has been one ofmigration, great philosophers, writers and artists have all been immigrants," Mr. Castelein told Sputnik.

For Mohammad this journey is more thana boat tour, it's aboutraising awareness and being inclusive.

"I hope that people living and visiting the city will see that it is all aboutinclusion and that it is far better tohave an inclusive society then one which aims toexclude," Mohammad told Sputnik.

These boat tours are just the start ofMohammad's new life, he has dreams ofone day owning his own hotel, a social enterprise project which will allow every person staying todo so forfree.

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Dutch Boat Tours With Refugee Guides Put a Human Face on Europe's Migrant Crisis - Sputnik International

At Nearly Four Million, Immigration to Germany in 2000s Near Double 1980s Turkish Surge – Breitbart News

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According to figures compiled by the German Federal Institute for Population Research (BiB) and reported byWelt, between 2005 and 2015 some 3.8 million non-Europeans came to Germany. The migration statistics, which counted individuals fromAsia, Africa, America and Oceania who registered themselves as long-term residents of Germany as opposed to mere tourists, didnt include another four million individuals living in Germany from other European Union nations.

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The 3.8 million surge in new arrives in the decade leading to 2015 was nearly twice as high as the less than two million who came in the last decade of the Cold War between 1980 and 1990, when West Germany was pursuing a deliberate policy of welcoming Turkish guest workers. Although the scheme had initially intended to see the workers return home to start new lives in Turkey with money they had saved from high German wages, in reality the majority stayed.

Today Turks are the second largest group in Germany after Germans themselves.

The makeup of migrants coming to Germany in the 21st century is not only greater in number, but more diverse. While in the 1980s the vast majoritywere Turkish with the next nearest being citizens from the USA, today the largest group are Syrians, followed by Turks, Americans, Chinese, Indians, Afghans, and Iraqis.

Of all the groups represented in the highest inflows, only arrivals from the United States have remained reasonably stable in the intervening 25 years. Americans, like migrants from other wealthy nations like Japan and some EU countries only live in Germany briefly for professional reasons before going home, according to the report.

Of European migrants to Germany, counted in a separate figure of over four million who presently live in the country, amajority of around four-fifths are from Eastern nations likeRomania, Poland, Bulgaria, and Croatia.

Overall, individuals who are migrants or have a migratory background either from other EU states or the rest of the world make up one-fifth of all people living in Germany today. This figure rises to one thirdwhen only children under ten are counted, pointing toward a sharp and sudden demographic change looming that could see the face of Germany radically changed in coming decades.

Leading just to 2015, and with the official 2016 migratory figures not expected for months, these statistics do not yet include the record-breaking influx of people to Germany from the migrant crisis, which in just two years could easily have outstripped all migration to the nation in the 1980s.

The sudden surge of immigrants to Germany has not come without unrest. As reported by Breitbart London in November, global polling found that Germans had the highest level of concern about immigration and extremism of any country worldwide.

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At Nearly Four Million, Immigration to Germany in 2000s Near Double 1980s Turkish Surge - Breitbart News

Merkel visits Tunisia for talks on migrant crisis – Arab News

TUNIS: German Chancellor Angela Merkel is set to press Tunisian leaders to step up efforts to help curb an influx of illegal migrants to her country during a visit on Friday. Her two-day trip, which also included a stop in Egypt, comes with Germany still reeling from several jihadist attacks, including a truck rampage by a Tunisian suspect at a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people. Merkel's talks with top officials including President Beji Caid Essebsi are expected to include ways to tackle years of instability exploited by people smugglers in neighbouring Libya. The visit is also a chance for Merkel to pledge support for a country often hailed as a rare success story of the Arab Spring uprisings that shook the region and toppled autocrats including longtime Tunisian dictator Zine El Abidine Ben Ali. Since its 2011 revolution, Tunisia has passed a new constitution and held free parliamentary and presidential elections. But the nation faces high unemployment, social tensions and the threat from jihadists who have killed dozens of soldiers and police as well as civilians including 59 foreign tourists. Merkel, who faces elections in September, is under pressure to reduce the number of asylum seekers coming to Germany, which has taken in more than one million migrants since 2015. "There are routes for illegal immigration from Libya to Germany. We have a lot of mutual concern and interest in putting an end to this," she said on Thursday at a press conference with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. Merkel, who will address Tunisia's parliament, has urged the North African states to step up border controls and speed up procedures to repatriate migrants whose asylum applications are rejected. On migration, the procedures "were very slow but they have improved recently and will continue to improve," Germany's ambassador to Tunisia, Andreas Reinicke, told RTCI public radio. The Tunisian presidency told AFP that issues surrounding immigration "do not constitute a problem between the two countries... In Europe, everyone has seen that Tunisia now controls its borders much better." Germany has said that Tunisian bureaucratic delays meant it could not expel the Tunisian suspect in the Berlin Christmas market attack, Anis Amri, even though his asylum application had been rejected six months earlier. Essebsi told AFP in January that Tunisia "is a country which assumes its responsibilities." And a Tunisian official, who did not want to be named, said that Prime Minister Youssef Chahed's visit to Germany last month for talks had "helped appease things." The migrant issue had already been contentious in Germany where sexual assaults by large groups of mostly North African men on New Year's Eve 2015-16 against women in Cologne provoked outrage. Merkel's interior minister floated an idea for North African countries to build holding centres for returned migrants but it was rejected by Merkel's centre-left coalition partners and rights groups. Her trip is part of a larger diplomatic push by the German leader, who last year visited Mali, Niger and Ethiopia. She had also planned a trip to Algeria last week, but it was called off after President Abdelaziz Bouteflika fell ill. Germany, which this year holds the G20 presidency, has also announced investment partnerships in Africa with the long-term goals of reducing poverty and deterring people from leaving. Merkel is joined on her trip by a business delegation that could bring much-needed investments.

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Merkel visits Tunisia for talks on migrant crisis - Arab News

Desperate Merkel flies to North Africa to tackle migrant crisis before German elections – Express.co.uk

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As national elections loom, Mrs Merkel is attempting to shore up support in Germany and try to wrestle votes back from the staunchly anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party.

At the height of the migrant crisis, the European powerhouse welcomed more than one million migrants fleeing war-torn countries such as Syria.

The chancellors open-door migration policy was applauded at the time but public opinion began to sour after reports of mass sexual attacks on New Years Eve in Cologne, where more than 1,000 women reported being assaulted.

A further attack on a Christmas market in Berlin, whited killed 12, was perpetrated by Tunisian Anis Amri, who had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (ISIS).

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Protest on the sidelines of Angela Merkel's official visit in Brussels

Angela Merkel has been under pressure to reduce the intake of refugees and as part of her to drive to scale back arrivals she is visiting Egypt and Tunisia.

Scheduled to meet with Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Mrs Merkels government has urged the country, along with the other Maghreb states, to step up efforts to tackle the migrant problem.

Libya, a Magreb country, has been without an effective government after the overthrow of the dictator Mummer Gaddafi in 2011.

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As a result, the country has fallen prey to lawlessness, with the tentacles of ISIS permeating the country and people traffickers operating out of it, making it one of the main gateways into Europe across the Mediterranean.

The German leader urged Egypt - Libya's neighbour - to increase border controls and speed up the repatriation of rejected asylum-seekers.

Mrs Merkel said: Without a political stabilisation of Libya, we won't be able to stop the human traffickers operating out of Libya who are responsible for, by far, the most arrivals in Italy

We won't be able to stop the human traffickers operating out of Libya

Angela Merkel

"Egypt, as a regional institution, as a regional power, plays a major role here, as do Algeria and Tunisia.

She is due to meet with Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi before flying back home.

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The two-day trip is part of wider diplomatic efforts to address the immigration issue, and followed trips to Mali, Niger and Ethiopia last year.

But a sticking point in negotiations with the African countries is over their human rights records, sparking fears for any migrants returning to them.

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Judith Sunderland, the Europe and Central Asia director for Human Rights Watch, said: "Ensuring safe and swift returns of Tunisians and Egyptians who are not in need of protection is legitimate, as long as the procedures are fair.

"It's another thing entirely to pursue dodgy deals that could trap asylum-seekers and migrants from elsewhere in countries like Tunisia and Egypt that cannot guarantee decent treatment or meaningful access to asylum.

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Desperate Merkel flies to North Africa to tackle migrant crisis before German elections - Express.co.uk