| Continuing Conflicts That Create Refugees - August 2017
Deteriorated Situations: Kenya, South Sudan, Zambia, Côte d’Ivoire, Mali, Korean Peninsula, Cyprus, Venezuela, Yemen
Outlook for August: Conflict Risk Alerts - Venezuela, Yemen
Resolution Opportunities: None
July saw Venezuela’s political turmoil worsen as the government pressed ahead with an election for an all-powerful constituent assembly, prompting fears of further violence and economic collapse. Political tensions rose in the run-up to polls in Kenya as Al-Shabaab intensified attacks. Grievances in the security forces led to more violence in Côte d’Ivoire and Zambia’s president imposed emergency rule. In Yemen, fighting between Huthi rebels and the Saudi-led coalition escalated, raising the risk of worse bloodshed in August, while in both South Sudan and Mali deadly clashes strained fragile peace processes. Talks between Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders to reunify the divided island collapsed. In East Asia, North Korea’s launch of two inter-continental ballistic missiles added to growing regional and international concern over the threat posed by Pyongyang. Source: International Crisis Group, http://bit.ly/2aglSjD
DRC: Child labourers Must Not Pay the Price For UK’s Shift To Electric Vehicles
Responding to the UK government’s commitment to ban all new petrol and diesel cars and vans from 2040, Mark Dummett, Business and Human Rights Researcher at Amnesty International, said: “This is good news for the environment and for air quality, but drivers should be aware that while electric cars may be green, they’re not always clean. Our research shows that there is a significant risk of cobalt mined by children and adults in appalling conditions in the Democratic Republic of Congo ending up in the batteries of electric cars. Workers in the DRC, earning as little as one dollar a day and at risk of fatal accidents and illness, must not pay the price for the UK’s shift to electric cars. Drivers will want to know that their new cars are not linked to the suffering of child labourers in the DRC, but there is a worrying lack of transparency across the car manufacturing industry, with many leading names failing to disclose information about their cobalt supply chains. With car makers in the spotlight today, we are calling on them to make public the steps they are taking to ensure that their supply chains are not tainted by human rights abuses, so that consumers’ minds can be put at rest.”
More information on the link between child labour and the electric car industry can be found here: http://bit.ly/2dbLvqb
Amnesty International, 26 July 2017, http://bit.ly/2v9fklZ
CPIN Somalia (South and Central): Security and Humanitarian Situation
Basis of claim
1.1.1 That the general humanitarian situation in south and central Somalia is so severe as to make removal a breach of Articles 15(a) and 15(b) of European Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2014 (the Qualification Directive) / Articles 2 and 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights; and/or
1.1.2 That the security situation presents a real risk to a civilian’s life or person such that removal would be in breach of Article 15(c) (serious and individual threat to a civilian’s life or person by reason of indiscriminate violence) of the Qualification Directive. Published on Refworld, 27/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5979e68c4.html
CPIN Egypt: Background Information, Including Actors Of Protection, And Internal Relocation
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Whether in general those at risk of persecution or serious harm from non-state actors are able to seek effective state protection and/or internally relocate within Egypt. Published on Refworld, 27/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5979e7d14.html
Sri Lanka: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Fear of persecution or serious harm by the state and/or non-state actors due to the person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
1.2 Points to note
1.2.1 This note provides policy guidance on the general situation of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals, transgender and intersex persons. They are referred hereafter collectively as ‘LGBTI persons’, though the experiences of each group may differ. Published on Refworld, 26/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5978abd94.html
CPIN Morocco: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Fear of persecution or serious harm by the state and/or non-state actors due to the person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
1.2 Points to note
1.2.1 This note provides policy guidance on the general situation of gay men, lesbians, bisexuals and transgender persons. They are referred collectively as ‘LGBT persons’, though the experiences of each group may differ. Published on Refworld, 26/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5978ab734.html
CPIN Egypt: Muslim Brotherhood
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Fear of persecution or serious harm by the state because of the person’s actual or perceived involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood (MB).
Published on Refworld, 26/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5978ad964.html
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Six-Month Impact of Trumpski Refugee Bans
As the Trump Administration’s refugee ban executive order hits the six-month mark, Human Rights First today released a new analysis detailing the impacts of this policy on vulnerable individuals fleeing persecution and on U.S. national security interests and global leadership. The analysis, "U.S. Leadership Forsaken: Six Months of the Trump Refugee Bans," reveals a sharp decline in U.S. resettlement of over 50 percent, an 80 percent cut in Syrian resettlement, resulting in damage to global resettlement capacity and substantial cuts in resettlement from countries that host many of the world’s refugees.
“Though President Trump’s executive orders have been tangled in the courts the past few months, there is no doubt as to the monumental impact of these policies on refugees who have fled persecution and are still facing grave risks,” said Human Rights First’s Eleanor Acer. “By abdicating our leadership on refugee resettlement, the United States has stranded tens of thousands of the most at-risk refugees, reduced support to key allies, and damaged its own national security interests. The Trump Administration has also stranded the many Iraqis who put their lives on the line to work with the U.S. military and other U.S. entities. The damage done over the last six months has been astounding.”
Read more: Human Righta First, http://bit.ly/2tTv1JW
Spain: Migrants Held in Poor Conditions
Asylum seekers and other migrants arriving by sea to Spanish shores are held in poor conditions and face obstacles in applying for asylum. They are held for days in dark, dank cells in police stations and almost certainly will then automatically be placed in longer-term immigration detention facilities pending deportation that may never happen.
“Dark, cage-like police cells are no place to hold asylum seekers and migrants who reach Spain,” said Judith Sunderland, associate Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Spain is violating migrants’ rights, and there is no evidence it serves as a deterrent to others.” The number of asylum seekers and other migrants crossing the western Mediterranean to Spain is increasing. According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 7,847 people reached Spanish shores between January 1 and July 26, 2017, compared with 2,476 during the same period in 2016.
Almost all adults and children traveling with a family member arriving to mainland Spain by boat are detained for up to 72 hours in police facilities for identification and processing. The majority of adult men and women are then sent to an immigration detention center for a maximum of 60 days, pending deportation. If they cannot be deported they are released but have no legal right to remain and are under obligation to leave the country. Read more: Human Rights Watch, http://bit.ly/2wd5WdI
Home Office Breached Woman's Human Rights in Yarl's Wood 'Punishment Room'
A Kenyan asylum seeker has won a landmark court victory after the Home Office was found to have acted unlawfully and in breach of her human rights by locking her up in segregation in a so-called “punishment room” for too long while she was in detention. It is the first time that the Home Office’s policy of placing some immigration detainees in segregation has been challenged. Several thousand of the 30,000-people detained every year are placed in segregation, according to data gathered by the charity Medical Justice in its report about segregation, A ’Secret punishment’. Many of those held in immigration removal centres have committed no crime.
Segregation is permitted in immigration detention in certain circumstances but after the first 24 hours of locking someone in a cell on their own, the home secretary has to authorise any further period of being held in isolation. In the case of the woman who brought Thursday’s challenge no such authorisation was sought despite the fact she was held for a total of 28 hours. For this reason, Mr Justice Holman, who heard the case, found that she had been held unlawfully. Read more: Diane Taylor, Guardian, http://bit.ly/2v33bi0
CPIN Egypt: Christians
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Fear of persecution or serious harm at the hands of the state and/or non-state actors because the person is a Christian.
1.2 Points to note
1.2.1 Generally, the term ‘Coptic’ is used to describe all Egyptian Christians. This includes members of the Coptic Orthodox Church but extends to, amongst other denominations, evangelicals and Catholics.
Published on Refworld, 26/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5978ad374.html
CPIN Egypt: Military service
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Fear of persecution or serious harm by the state because of:
a. the treatment and/or conditions likely to be faced by the person during
compulsory military service duties; and/or
b. the penalties likely to be faced by the person’s refusal to undertake, or
their desertion from, military service duties. Published on Refworld, 26/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5978acca4.html
CPIN South Africa: Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Basis of claim
1.1.1 Fear of persecution or serious harm by the state and/or non-state actors due to a person’s actual or perceived sexual orientation/gender identity.
1.2 Points to note
1.2.1 For the purposes of this note, sexual orientation or gender identity means gay men, lesbians, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons although the experiences of each group may differ.
1.2.2 Where a claim is refused, it must be considered for certification under section 94 of the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 as South Africa is listed as a designated state.
Published on Refworld, 26/07/2017
http://www.refworld.org/docid/5978aaff4.html
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