At the London conference one year ago donors and Syria’s neighbouring countries, who host most of the refugees from the war, agreed on a “comprehensive new approach” to tackle the humanitarian crisis. It consisted of financial pledges and policy changes aimed at improving the lives of refugees and host communities.
The Stand and Deliver report concludes that the conference failed to deliver on key commitments regarding civilians within Syria and the refugees in neighbouring countries. The review was made by 3 NGO platforms and 28 organisations, including Finn Church Aid.
Download the report from this link (pdf).
Geneva, 15 June 2016 — The world is facing the largest refugee crisis since WWII. At this year’s Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement (ATCR), 34 NGOs made an urgent call on all parties to support the UN Secretary General’s goal: for States to provide resettlement spaces and additional legal channels for at least 10 per cent of the global refugee population annually. This is the kind of bold responsibility sharing needed to respond to this historic challenge, the NGOs say.
Humane solution
“There is no doubt about it: resettlement saves lives. It prevents deaths at sea and it makes it harder for smugglers to exploit refugees for profit” says Jasper Kuipers, deputy director of the Dutch Council for Refugees and NGO co-chair of this year’s ATCR. Resettlement provides a humane solution for the most vulnerable refugees. It is also crucial that quality integration programs remain part of resettlement and alternative pathways.
Increase pledges
In the run up to the Leaders’ Summit on Refugees in September in New York, efforts are underway to double the number of resettlement slots to 340.000 for next year. This still falls far short of the 1.2 million refugees currently in need of resettlement according to UNHCR. “The Summit is a critical opportunity for States to show leadership by committing to resettle significantly more refugees. Given the staggering size and scope of the global refugee crisis, the time for action is now. Greatly increasing resettlement is fundamentally the right thing to do” adds Naomi Steinberg, director of Refugee Council USA.
Other safe and legal channels
In order to move towards the much needed ten per cent, sizable quality resettlement programs should be introduced by those countries, which have not already done so. The quotas of existing resettlement programs should increase significantly. Complementary safe and legal channels should be dramatically expanded. For example, refugees should be able to access extended family reunification, labour mobility schemes, student scholarships, private sponsorships, medical evacuation and humanitarian visas. These additional pathways can be crucial for refugees who are unable to access resettlement.
Resettle other refugee groups besides Syrians
The NGOs stress that other groups of refugees besides Syrians, such as Somalis, Afghans and Rohingyas, who are in protracted refugee situations, should not be overlooked when it comes to opening up resettlement places. Also in other regions such as the Africa and South West Asia resettlement needs remain high. Access to resettlement should be equitable – reaching refugees in need regardless of location or degree of media attention.
EU-Turkey deal: a bad example
Resettlement should be offered irrespective of political agendas. NGOs strongly condemn the EU-Turkey deal that has made resettlement of Syrian refugees from Turkey to the EU conditional on individuals being returned from Greece to Turkey. Catherine Woollard, Secretary General of ECRE, European Council on Refugees and Exiles says: “This deal is nothing more than a shameful one-for-one trading in human beings and implies large-scale returns between countries that do not ensure refugee protection. We cannot let this EU-Turkey deal set a precedent for other States to follow”.
Involvement of NGOs
NGOs play an invaluable role in all aspects of the resettlement process, from identification to the successful settlement of refugees. Partnerships between States and NGOs should be set up or strengthened to make sure that lives can continue to be saved through resettlement. We, as NGOs, stand ready to help our governments receive these newcomers into our communities.
Further information: Johanna Tervo, Humanitarian Adviser, Finn Church Aid, johanna.tervo(at)kua.fi, tel. +358 40 631 38 37.
See the statement in video:
Annual Tripartite Consultations on Resettlement (ATCR) 2016 – NGO Statement
This joint press release is supported by the Dutch Council for Refugees, Refugee Council USA , ECRE, AMES Australia, Amnesty International Australia, Auckland Refugee Community, British Refugee Council, Canadian Council for Refugees, Caritas Austria, Caritas Internationalis, Danish Refugee Council, Ethiopian Community Development Center USA, Finn Church Aid, Forum Refugiés, Foundation House, HIAS, ICMC, ICVA, IRC, ISSofBC, Japan Association for Refugees, Mennonite Central Committee Canada, MYAN, Refugee Action UK, Refugee Consortium of Kenya, Refugee Council Australia, Refugee Rights, Refugees as Survivors, RefugePoint, Romanian National Council for Refugees, Settlement Council of Australia, SSI, Swiss Refugee Council, WUSC.
On International Day of Social Justice, NCCP remembers the victims of enforced disappearances. During 2010-2014, altogether 21 persons have been victims of enforced disappearances in the Philippines.* The Court of Appeals has ruled that the military and government are responsible for these cases. Jonas Burgos was abducted in April 2007, almost eight years ago. Why was he taken and why is he still missing?
On the way to meet Jonas’ mother Edita Burgos, I thought: What can you say to a mother who has lost her son? But Mrs Burgos is used to speaking about the most painful part of her life. She has worked hard for years to find her son – but in vain.
I have googled on Jonas’ case before and after the meeting and there’s no shortage of information. There’s even a movie and a book.
Farmer-activist Jonas Burgos is the Philippines’ best known deseparecido. His father, Joe Burgos, was a figurehead of press freedom. After graduating with Honors degree in Agriculture, Jonas wanted to get to know the life of a farmer and went to live on the family’s farm in Bulacan. His connections to the New People’s Army there are believed to be the reason of the abduction.
“One Saturday, Jonas did not turn up for a family meeting. He did not send any message nor answer his phone. This was not like Jonas,” Mrs. Burgos recounts how the family first learned that something had happened.
Next day, when Jonas picked up the phone, his voice was weak and his speech slurred.
“And his answers didn’t make sense. He told me he was with a friend who used to live near camp Aquinaldo, but I knew the friend had moved overseas. He also said he had taken a bath. I think he wanted to tell me that he was with the military and that he had been tortured”, Edita Burgos says.
The strange phone conversation was the last she heard of Jonas.
The family decided to call a press conference and announce him missing. Shortly after, an eyewitness called to say that he had seen Jonas abducted at the Ever Gotesco mall in Quezon City. Slowly, the picture of what had happened started to form.
Edita Burgos, who had wanted and enjoyed a life of anonymity beside her famous husband, decided to become the family’s spokesperson on Jonas’ case. She was terrified of the publicity, but did not want any of her other children be the next victim.
Over the years, she has done everything there is to do to find her son. In 2008, with support from Finn Church Aid’s Philippine partner the NCCP Mrs. Burgos brought Jonas’ case to the UN Human Rights Council, as well as to churches and government bodies in the United States. She has tirelessly advocated for Jonas’ surfacing in the Philippines.
In 2013, the Court of Appeals found the military and police responsible for Jonas’ abduction. But they still deny they had anything to do with it.
“The Army should follow the orders of the Supreme Court and surface Jonas. It should investigate sincerely and clean up its ranks. Now the army is saving the institution with the cost of human lives”, Edita Burgos says.
“When I see people in uniform, I think: These are the people who torture other people.”
“The President is the Commander in Chief, but he hasn’t given a definitive statement. This fosters impunity”, Edita Burgos says.
“I do not want to speak harshly. I just pray that the military returns him to me.”
This is my prayer, too. Surface Jonas Burgos. Because, firstly, no matter what he has or has not done, this is just wrong. If you do something criminal, you are taken to court and if you are found guilty, you get a sentence determined by the law. You do not “disappear”.
Secondly, Jonas became an activist because he kept his eyes open. There is a lot of social injustice in this country. You can choose to not notice or care, but Jonas noticed, cared and also acted to make things more just.
As Edita Burgos told me, social injustice is where anger and war start.
But of course there are those who profit from injustice and want to keep things the way they are. Is this why people, who want to help the poor to change their lives for the better, are persecuted? They should be respected and supported by their government in their struggle to make the society more just.
Isn’t it ironic, that the Philippines is the first country in Asia to criminalize the practice of enforced and involuntary disappearances (in 2012)? According to for example, Human Rights Watch, the Aquino administration, however “has not made significant progress on its pledge to expedite the investigation and prosecution of extrajudicial killings, torture, and enforced disappearances”.
They are afraid to tell the truth. Who is afraid of whom?
Isn’t it alarming, that in Jonas’s case, no arrests have been made, even though the key players have been identified? Even the major, who abducted Jonas, has been named.
“Start with yourself, what you can do. Jonas was very poor financially, but he would give away his shirt, if he did not have anything else. We have social justice when everyone who is part of a society is able to live as a dignified member of it. This should be the aim of all governments”, Edita Burgos concludes.
*According to the human rights organisation Karapatan
Text and photo: Ulla Kärki / NCCP