U.N. Warns That ‘Diversified and Dangerous Journeys’ Result from Closed Borders
A U.N. refugee agency (UNCHR) report, “Desperate Journeys,” states that the “closure” of the Western Balkan route and the E.U.-Turkey deal have led to an increase in even more dangerous journeys from North Africa to Italy via the Central Mediterranean route.
At least 181,436 people arrived in Italy by sea in 2016, with more deaths in the Mediterranean than in any previous year on record – 90 percent of the 5,096 refugees and migrants reported dead or missing at sea in 2016 had taken the sea route to Italy.
UNHCR also reported that more people are arriving in Europe via the “Western Mediterranean route, either by crossing the sea to Spain from Morocco and Algeria, or by entering the Spanish enclaves of Melilla and Ceuta.”
Libya, in particular, is an extremely dangerous transit country, with reports of “women and children being raped, beaten and detained” and living in appalling conditions in migrant detention centers, according to a recent UNICEF report.
A Surge in Illegal Organ Trade as Syrians Get Desperate to Reach Europe
Fox News has reported that Syrian refugees in Turkey and Egypt are approaching smugglers to sell their organs to pay for clandestine journeys to Europe.
The report noted a surge in the illegal organ trade in Turkey and Egypt.
Successful anti-trafficking campaigns have resulted in a shift of trafficking hubs, from China and the Philippines to countries like Turkey and Egypt, where many desperate and impoverished asylum seekers are located, according to an ABC report.
A young Syrian man living in Egypt claimed that he posted an advertisement on a Facebook group called “Sell Kidney Online,” offering his kidney “in exchange for money,” according to the Fox News report.
Experts at Griffith University have been looking at “the links between the organ traffickers and organized criminal and terrorist groups,” according to the ABC report.
The experts added that kidneys fetch up to $100,000 on the black market.
Refugees from Trump’s Banned List of Countries Who Live in the U.S.
As President Trump prepares a revised ban on countries he targeted as part of a “security” move, the Associated Press has reviewed the conditions of resettled refugees from the current list.
At least 1,300 of them have been resettled in Iowa since 2007.
Trump’s temporary travel ban, which is supposed to last for 90 days, targeted refugees from Iraq, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen. While the courts halted the ban, Trump is expected to issue a new order later this week.
Des Moines, Iowa, is an attractive option for resettlement, principally because of the availability of affordable housing and secure jobs, said Anandita Das, a program coordinator with the Refugee Alliance of Central Iowa.
Akron, Ohio – which has taken in about 3,500 refugees since 2007, mostly from Bhutan – has been cited as a success in an article in the Christian Science Monitor.
“2016 was the busiest year in the past decade for refugee arrivals from the seven countries targeted by the executive order,” the Associated Press stated.
Recommended Reads:
- The Wire: Forced Into Leaving Pakistan, Afghan Refugees Struggle to Start Afresh
- Lutheran World Federation: Overwhelming Needs of Refugees in Uganda
- Al Monitor: Graphic Novel Illustrates Life of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
- IRIN: Myopic in Malta: Europe’s Short-Sighted Migration Policy with Libya
- International Organization for Migration: Libyan Detention Center Staff Receive Human Rights Training