GEM Sites Bi-Weekly Updates
November 22nd to December 6th 2023
Malawi
Ministry of Homeland Security in collaboration with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has repatriated 77 Burundian refugees from Dzaleka Camp. The 77, who forms the third cohort of refugees to leave Malawi under voluntary repatriation initiative, left through Kamuzu International Airport (KIA) on Sunday at 2:25am. Under the initiative, the refugees voluntarily apply to be repatriated. In an interview on the sidelines of the repatriation, Senior Administrator in the Department of Refugees under Ministry of Homeland Security, Hilda Kausiwa, described voluntary repatriation as one of the most durable solutions that government is enforcing now. “Noting that the situation in most of the countries of origin for the refugees that we host has changed, we are encouraging those who feel that it is safe for them, to go back home. As government, we are facilitating this,” she said. She said they verified with Burundi before the repatriation and got assured of safety in that country.
A group of cyclists are aiming to raise £25,000 for education projects in Malawi by riding from London to Glasgow for the UCI World Championships. Up to 36 people will pedal almost 500 miles over six days and arrive in Scotland’s biggest city on August 10, in time to watch the last three days of the cycling competition.
The championships, which take place from August 3 to 13, have been billed as the biggest celebration of cycling in history as a number of different events will be staged at the same tournament for the first time. Think Malawi, a UK-based charity dedicated to supporting grassroots education initiatives in the Southeast African country, is looking for cycling enthusiasts to join its team on the Pedal With A Purpose trip.
Lebanon
Tripoli, Lebanon – When the humanitarian pause started in Gaza, Fatmeh Abu Swareh hadn’t heard from her daughter Wafaa in nearly two weeks. “I’m not sleeping. I sit here at 3am and cry. I cry all night… all day,” she said a few days before the pause in her living room in Beddawi, a Palestinian refugee camp northeast of Tripoli, Lebanon’s second-largest city. She feared the worst for her daughter and four grandchildren. Once the pause was implemented, Wafaa finally got through to her mother, but things are still tough.
“My daughter doesn’t have food or anything to drink,” she said. “Even with the truce, they’re scared of the [Israeli] planes.”
A Palestinian asylum seeker who claimed he was encouraged to fight for extremist groups at a refugee camp in Lebanon has lost his legal battle to stay in the UK. The man, who can’t be named for legal reasons, was born in the Ain El Hilweh refugee camp and was injured when he was caught up in fighting between rival factions in 2015. He claimed rival paramilitary groups tried to recruit him to fight for them. He fled the camp for Britain in 2017 after another outbreak of violence. Clashes erupted when representatives of several of the largest Palestinian factions, including Fatah, ordered the Islamist fighter Bilal Badr and his followers to hand themselves over to authorities or face a crack down. Violence was renewed in September resulting in 10 deaths, after 13 were killed in July in fighting between Fatah and Islamist groups.
The U.N. World Food Program said Monday it will end in January its main assistance program across war-torn Syria, where over 12 million people lack regular access to sufficient food. WFP in recent years has scaled down its support in Syria and neighboring countries that host millions of Syrians who fled the conflict, now in its 13th year.
Humanitarian agencies have struggled to draw the world’s attention back to Syria as they face donor fatigue and shrinking budgets.
In July, WFP said it had to cut assistance to almost half of the 5.5 million Syrians it supported in the country due to budget constraints.
Rwanda
A ray of hope appeared for Mugisha Pandasi last Thursday as he received news he was approved for resettlement in the USA at the end of November. The dream of a better life, once seemingly unattainable, was now a reality for the 31-year-old Congolese refugee and his family after living in Kiziba camp, nestled within the hill chain of western Rwanda, for almost three decades. “It was like dreaming during daytime,” Mugisha shares how he felt when the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) staff informed him of feedback from his previous resettlement interviews. “This is a rare chance for refugees.” Mugisha envisions a brighter future in the USA, where he can provide not only for his firstborn daughter aged 18 months, his wife, and siblings but also support his relatives still living in the camp.......
British Home Secretary James Cleverly has signed a new treaty to send asylum seekers to Rwanda after the United Kingdom’s top court declared the deportation scheme unlawful. The agreement was signed by Cleverly, who travelled to Rwanda’s capital Kigali on Tuesday, and Rwandan Foreign Minister Vincent Biruta. The details of the new agreement were not immediately available but British media reports said it would include commitments by Rwanda regarding the treatment of asylum-seekers and other migrants sent there. Cleverly said he expected migrants to start arriving in the coming months. “I can see no reason why that should not happen,” he told reporters in response to a question about whether a plane would soon be carrying asylum seekers to the African nation.
Unleash, a non-profit organization committed to accelerating positive change toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), has inaugurated its annual global innovation lab in Kigali.
The week-long event, taking place from December 2 to December 8, has gathered 1,000 youth from 136 countries, including 200 from Rwanda and 100 refugees. Among the key benefits, these young participants will have the opportunity to formulate ideas, gain insights from experts and industry professionals, and pitch their concepts during ‘Hanga Pitchfest’ on December 8.
Kenya
He said National Government Constituency Development Fund (NGCDF) will also give support to guarantee that the classrooms are ready for use by 2025. We are taking steps to ensure that our schools have the facilities they need so that staff members and students can work together in a supportive environment,” he said. The pioneer class of Competency Based Curriculum (CBC) will in January 2024 join Grade 8. Kenya’s refugee reform programme is still awaiting donor funding to kick off months after Nairobi detailed the planned shift from encampment to settlement towns. And donors, The EastAfrican understands, have demanded an elaborate strategy of more direct benefits to refugees as the basis for committing funds that could see Kakuma and Dadaab Refugee camps turned to formal towns whose residents will no longer be restricted in movement.
Kenya’s Open University has signed a course sharing agreement with India’s Indira Gandhi National Open University in a deal that will see Kenya benefit from new training opportunities. This follows bilateral agreements between President William Ruto and his Indian counterpart Narendra Modal on how Kenya and India can collaborate to scale up their human capital. “We just signed an MOU between the Indira Gandhi National Open University and the Open University of Kenya to share courses, to share capacities, so that we can train our people more, added on to the human capital we already have,” said the head of state. Ruto who was speaking during a meeting with Indian investors in New Delhi wooed them to invest in the country, urging them that Kenya presents huge investment potential for their companies.
Mastercard and Hatua.net – an independent UK and US registered charity working to promote education and employment among youth in Kenya and Uganda – have joined hands to empower young people with the essential skills needed to thrive in today's competitive job market. Primary school in Kenya and Uganda is free but secondary school fees, as well as the related costs, are most often not affordable for those living in slums. This means talented students are often unable to fulfill their full potential and make a difference to their communities and the wider world by continuing their education.
South Africa
Members of South African political parties and civil society organisations marched through the streets of Johannesburg on Wednesday demanding a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip as they marked the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. Rival political parties including the ruling African National Congress and the left-wing opposition Economic Freedom Fighters were among many demonstrators who marched across the Nelson Mandela Bridge to protest against Israel’s military offensive in Gaza against Hamas.
A recent study by Zulfah Albertyn-Blanchard, a PhD candidate from the University of Cape Town (UCT), has highlighted a concerning trend in child mortality in Cape Town. The study, titled ‘The spatial distribution of injury burden of children in the western geographic service area, City of Cape Town (2011–2015),’ reveals that road traffic crashes are the second leading cause of death among children in Cape Town, with more than half of these fatalities being unintentional. The research, focusing on the period between 2011 and 2015, found that the Klipfontein sub-health district, particularly Nyanga, had the greatest burden of child injury deaths. Here, homicides, predominantly from sharp-force injuries like stabbings, were more common than any other type of injury death among children, especially adolescent males aged 15 to 17 years.
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