Pambazuka News is produced by a pan-African community of some 2,600 citizens and organisations - academics, policy makers, social activists, women's organisations, civil society organisations, writers, artists, poets, bloggers, and commentators who together produce insightful, sharp and thoughtful analyses and make it one of the largest and most innovative and influential web forums for social justice in Africa. 
refugees
Refugees as human rights defenders: Can they protect or do they need protecting?
Katie McQuaid
2011-07-26, Issue 541
cc J HA panel discussion at the recently held International Association for the Study of Forced Migration conference tackled the often precarious position of refugee human rights defenders. Katie McQuaid reports on the issues at stake.
Local integration: The forgotten durable solution
Berna Ataitom
2011-07-27, Issue 541
cc J & M KnotsBerna Ataitom makes the case for the local integration of refugees in their host countries, describing it as the forgotten yet ultimate solution.
Bringing LGBTI issues into the forced migration debate
Jeff Ogwaro
2011-07-26, Issue 541
cc IGLHRCThe recent International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) conference discussed a range of issues around LGBTI people and forced migration, writes Jeff Ogwaro, such as the fears asylum seekers may have around declaring their sexuality.
Can the crime of displacement be accounted and paid for?
Levis Onegi
2011-07-26, Issue 541
cc B HFaced with the slow response to the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons, the International Association for the Study of Forced Migration (IASFM) convened a debate over 3–6 July in Kampala on gaps between ratification and implementation, engaging member states and involving civil society.
The exclusion of urban IDPs
Eveliina Lytinen
2011-07-27, Issue 541
cc MFFOEveliina Lytinen reports back on a roundtable discussion about the exclusion of internally displaced persons from protection and assistance, during the recent International Association for the Study of Forced Migration conference in Uganda.
Human tsunamis and the world refugee system
Tricia Redeker Hepner
2011-05-05, Issue 527
cc SandyThe dictatorship in Eritrea results in large numbers of people feeling the country. But once they enter the international refugee system their problems are only just beginning, writes Tricia Redeker Hepner.
Refugee refoulement in the East African Community
Lawrence Carter
2009-11-05, Issue 456
cc J HarneisHighlighting the plight of Rwandan refugees in Uganda following a UNHCR announcement that they will lose their refugee status by 2011, Lawrence Carter writes in Pambazuka News that the ‘pervasive practice of coercion and forced return of refugees within the East African Community requires urgent attention’. Rwanda may be ‘stable’, argues Carter, but this ‘does not detract from the fact that many Rwandan refugees possess legitimate concerns over their safety and ability to live a peaceful and dignified life if they were to return’.
The plight of Eritrea's boat people
Why Eritrea's refugees shouldn't accept their fate
Yohannes Woldemariam
2009-10-29, Issue 455
cc N B NWith a government that makes it illegal to leave the country and military service compulsory for all men and women aged 18 to 40 in the name of a festering border conflict with the more powerful Ethiopia, it’s no wonder Eritreans undertake perilous journeys in search of a better life. But getting out of Eritrea itself is no guarantee of change for the better, thanks to flawed international responses that fail to see the humans behind ‘the refugee problem’, Yohannes Woldemariam writes in Pambazuka News.
Tragic end for Eritrean family's reunion attempt
Mihret Goitom
2009-07-16, Issue 442
cc C T SnowUK-based lawyer Mihret Goitom tells how his sister–in-law’s attempt to escape Eritrea and join her husband ended in tragedy, after she and her children were incarcerated in a refugee camp in Sudan en-route.
Forcible repatriation threat for Burundian refugees
Leave or 'be beaten and forced to run empty-handed to Burundi'
Zachary Lomo
2009-05-21, Issue 433
cc AnduzeAround 40,000 Burundian refugees face involuntary repatriation when Tanzania’s Mtabila refugee camp is closed at the end of June, writes Zachary Lomo. Officials have told refugees that ‘if they are still in the camp after 30 June, they will be beaten and forced to run empty-handed to Burundi’. Although the camp schools have been closed and the markets destroyed, very few refugees have registered to return home. There is no longer fighting in Burundi but many refugees fear the reprisal killing of anyone suspected of supporting opposition groups, as well as disputes over property. Tanzanian field officers claim they have no plans to force the refugees to return to Burundi and will negotiate the integration and naturalisation of those unwilling or unable to go back with the Tanzanian government.
Somalia: Time to pay attention
Frankie Martin
2008-08-05, Issue 392
While the world looks elsewhere, Somalia is in flames. The nation just topped a list of the world’s most unstable countries by Foreign Policy magazine, and the United Nations has declared the humanitarian situation there “worse than Darfur.”...
Africa and the fate of MDGs
Mildred K Barya
2008-07-30, Issue 391
When I was young and impressionable I had this grand vision of saving the world. It was so easy to dream up a free and fair world where sanity, justice and good health prevailed. It was even easier to engage in activities that could quicken the comin...
Xenophobia is a global phenomenon
Chengiah Rogers Ragaven
2008-07-17, Issue 389
Xenophobia, refugees and immigration politics in their own right have negative connotations when examined through the lens of universal values, moral truths or scriptural teachings which form the basis of our humanitarian civilization, but when translated and practiced through the lens of racism, religious chauvinism, cultural and ethnic ‘otherness,’ the consequence can be horrendous and catastrophic.
Shattered Myths: The xenophobic violence in South Africa
Nathan Geffen
2008-07-03, Issue 385
On Thursday 22 May, Cape Town changed forever. The xenophobic violence that started 1,200 kilometres away in Gauteng spread to Du Noon township. On Friday the TAC offices began to get reports of violence on trains and Somali shops being looted. The details were scanty, but by Friday evening the consequences became visible even in the affluent city centre. About 150 people sought refuge outside Caledon Square, the city's main police station. Hundreds more gathered at the central train station so they could catch a train to Johannesburg in the morning and then leave the country.
Is this integration?
Azad Essa
2008-07-03, Issue 385
The barbaric acts of violence against foreign African nationals in South Africa over the past month appears to have drawn to a close. However, thousands remain displaced and face the daunting task of putting their lives back together. Government indecisiveness, continuing xenophobic sentiment and the bitter cold of winter remain sizeable stumbling blocks in advancing the process of their reintegration into South African society. Durban suffered mainly reverberations of the mass violence emanating from Gauteng, but reports of harassment, poor living conditions for displaced refugees and growing fear amongst immigrant communities continue to filter in. What are the underlining issues and are they new? More importantly, how do we move forward? Azad Essa speaks to Pierre Matate, Deputy Chairperson of the KZN Refugee Council, to find out more.
A drive through a Xenophobic landscape
A trade unionist
2008-05-22, Issue 373
In this vivid and personal account, a trade unionist walks through the unfolding xenophobic attacks in South Africa.
The Rights of the Forcibly Displaced and the Stateless
The work of the African Commission on Human and Peoples Rights
Déirdre Clancy
2007-12-12, Issue 331
Déirdre Clancy analyses refugee human rights, statelessness and the African commission.
Refugees and displaced people in Africa
An interview with the special rapporteur on refugees and displaced persons in Africa
2007-11-13, Issue 328
Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga, commissioner responsible for upholding the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ rights talks to Hakima Abbas about Africa’s commitment to protecting refugees and his belief that democratic states that tolerate diversity do not experience the conflict that generates the displacement of their citizens.
Celebrating minor victories? Zimbabwe at the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights
Otto Saki
2007-11-13, Issue 328
Otto Saki asserts that the case of Zimbabwe has provided an excellent example of the flaws and the achievements of Africa’s own system for defending its citizens’ human rights against attacks from their own governments.