Two new African Studies videos distributed by First Run/Icarus Films, 'In Rwanda We Say…The Family That Does Not Speak Dies' and 'J’y Crois: I Believe In It', have been selected for screening at this year’s African Studies Association Conference, November 11-14, in New Orleans.

According to a press release from Gary Crowdus, Director of Marketing and Publicity at First Run/Icarus Films the documentary 'In Rwanda We Say...The Family that Does Not Speak Dies' (54 minutes, color) portrays the difficult steps toward reconciliation between Hutu and Tutsi. For further details on this film, click on http://www.frif.com/new2004/inrw.html

'J’y Crois: I Believe In It' (55 mins., color) is a political documentary on the decentralization process in Mali, which aims to transfer political and economic power to the democratically elected political bodies in decentralized communities. Further details can be found at http://www.frif.com/new2004/jy.html

First Run/Icarus Films’s new release on South Africa, 'Story of a Beautiful Country', will be screened on February 3, 2005 at the Pacific Film Archive in Berkeley, California. South African filmmaker Khalo Matanabe travels in a mini-van taxi across his country with a hand-held camera, giving his fellow South Africans the opportunity to discuss a wide range of controversial issues, including land, race, language, democracy, identity, and violence. Further details can be found at http://www.frif.com/new2004/beau.html

There is a widespread belief that African teachers are a high-risk group for HIV infection. It is thought they are more likely to engage in risky sexual behaviour due to their relatively high social status, income, mobility and separation from spouses. But does the evidence support these ideas? Research by independent consultant Paul Bennell suggests that teachers are actually a relatively low-risk group in most sub-Saharan African countries.

The latest edition of the AfricaFocus Bulletin states: "Despite continued US refusal to allow the use of cost-effective generic drugs in its international AIDS programs, there is momentum on other fronts in the international campaign to give priority to health and development needs over narrow interpretations of patent rights. The European Commission on October 29 proposed a new regulation to allow generic drug manufacturers to produce patented medicines for exports. Earlier in October, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) adopted a proposal by developing countries to fully integrate development priorities into its consideration of intellectual property issues." This edition of AfricaFocus Bulletin contains further details on this issue.

A lack of resources has forced civil society actors to scale down on the number of observers to be trained and deployed in the upcoming election from 900 to 270, according to an election update by the Electoral Institute of Southern Africa. EISA said other factors likely to undermine election monitoring efforts included a late start to the sensitising, mobilising and training of observers at community level and inadequate publicity. But EISA also pointed to the role of other civil society organisations in the electoral process. "Other contributions are those of the National Society for Human Rights (NSHR), that started monitoring the electoral process by dispatching its human rights monitors to supplementary voter registration points, as well as to campaign rallies of political parties to monitor the extent to which parties are shouldering their responsibility towards ensuring an atmosphere for the free expression of political conviction, without threat or fear of intimidation."

The NEPAD Secretariat is seeking a suitably skilled and experienced African expert to work on aspects of HIV and AIDS Health Policy and Strategy in Africa. The position will initially be for a contract period until March 2005 in either a full-time or major-time capacity.

dot-ORG has been working with the Rwandan National Electoral Commission (NEC) to strengthen the capacity of the NEC via information and communication technologies (ICTs). This support has included using pilot hand-held computers to collect and validate voter registration information. This article focuses on the field testing of the hand-held computers for voter registration.

"The worst possible outcome of Tuesday’s election would have been that George Bush won with the help of a divided Black electorate. Instead, African Americans reaffirmed the vitality of the Black Political Consensus – our eyes firmly fixed on the prize: peace, jobs and justice. Undeterred by disinformation that insanely (or maybe just inanely) predicted a doubling of Black support for Bush, African Americans placed their numbers and sheer will in the path of the Bush II juggernaut. It rolled over us, by fair means and foul, but our Consensus – the impermeable historical glue that makes African Americans unique in the Diaspora – remained intact."

The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights has been mandated to prepare a report focusing on the responsibilities of transnational corporations and related business enterprises with regard to human rights. In particular, the report will list existing initiatives and standards, the scope and legal status of those initiatives and other issues.

The European Programme for Reconstruction and Development (EPRD) and Themba Lesizwe, the South African Network of Trauma and Service Providers (SANTSEP), invites proposals from the NPO sector under the project "Consolidating the Trauma Sector in South Africa." This initiative is aimed at South African activities in under resourced areas with an amount of R4mn made available for the project to run for the duration of seven months only.

Africa is facing a public health disaster in the form of multi-drug resistant malaria. People infected with malaria in eastern, central and southern Africa are rapidly becoming resistant to one of the most affordable and commonly used anti-malaria drugs, sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP). Previously, a number of safe and cheap drugs including SP have kept down the number of deaths and people suffering from severe ill health caused by malaria. But there are ominous predictions that disaster looms - unless governments are willing to reconsider their treatment regime.

A Review of “The World’s Banker, A Story of Failed States, Financial Crises, and the Wealth and Poverty of Nations” by Sebastian Mallaby (Penguin Press, October 2004)

In 'The World’s Banker', Sebastian Mallaby presents an insightful account of the World Bank during the presidency of James Wolfensohn. The author loses his cool when he discusses the role of advocacy groups that campaign against Bank projects, substituting research with polemic and a substantive debate with ideology.

“A fantastic force of nature”

Mallaby’s book centers on James D. Wolfensohn, and with good reason. Few other people have shaped the institution as much as its current President, whose second term ends in 2005. Mallaby portrays the subject of his fascination as a “screamer, schemer, seducer; Olympian, musician, multimillionaire; by no means a saint but by any standards a fantastic force of nature”.

'The World’s Banker' leads the reader through the many turns of James Wolfensohn’s presidency – the newcomer’s desire to “walk with the poor”, his decision to put the “cancer of corruption” on the agenda of his institution, Wolfensohn’s growing caution regarding controversial large-scale infrastructure projects, and his eventual return to such projects in the name of a new high-risk strategy. The author neglects other important topics. He gives short shrift to environmental issues. He does not discuss the Bank’s continued insistence on structural adjustment programs, even if under a different name. And he fails to mention how the Bank’s dogmatic privatization policies have wreaked havoc on the infrastructure and social sectors of many Southern countries.

Fundamental contradictions

Sebastian Mallaby claims that social and environmental safeguard policies have increased the cost of doing business with the World Bank to the point that industrializing countries like South Africa prefer to borrow from other sources. He strongly supports the backlash on social and environmental issues that is currently happening at the Bank as a move “back towards its future” (or maybe rather, forward towards its past).

Mallaby recognizes that the current weakening of Bank guidelines contradicts the efforts to fight corruption. “Wolfensohn’s two main instincts on development – that the Bank should listen to its clients, and that development depended upon noneconomic factors such as corruption – were in some ways in tension with each other”, he notes.
Yet his positions are marked by the same contradictions. He dismisses “the idea that you could ignore the political context and proceed by technocratic means alone”. Yet he supports the renewed promotion of large dams in repressive and corrupt countries like Laos. The author thus falls into the same technocratic trap that marks the Bank’s lending.

Mallaby insists that the World Bank should listen to the poor, and not to Northern environmentalists. He argues that it is unfair to apply what he calls the “Volvo” standards of the North in poor countries like Laos. Yet he unquestioningly assumes that Southern governments speak for the poor. He dismisses the safeguard policies, which give the poor a (limited) voice in Bank projects, as “infernal safeguards”. And he ignores that the environment may sometimes be considered a luxury issue in the North, but is a basic source of livelihood for poor people in many countries.

Research substituted by polemic

Sebastian Mallaby, a historian trained at Oxford, writes with British cool. Yet when he discusses the role of advocacy NGOs, he loses his gentlemanly style. With rapid fire, he disparages the NGOs as “ragtag legions” and “globophobes”. Mallaby argues that “discussions with the screamers from the Berkeley mafia will not get you anywhere”. He slanders the activities of International Rivers Network and other NGOs at considerable length. Yet in line with his own advice to the Bank, he did not bother to talk with these groups. He also spent very little time doing research for his book in Southern countries, let alone with project affected-communities.

As a consequence of his sloppy research, Mallaby’s accusations against campaigning groups are ill informed. In his opening salvo, he asserts that a campaign orchestrated by IRN stopped a dam in Uganda that even the affected communities supported. He does not mention that once they were displaced, the affected people found that the promises made to them were broken, and turned furiously against the dam. More fundamentally, the author ignores that Ugandan parliamentarians, civil society groups and academics opposed the Bujagali dam (and favored an alternative) because it was corrupt and excessively expensive. The project eventually collapsed because an anti-corruption investigation failed to clear it and the private investor withdrew from it.

Throughout his book, Mallaby accuses campaigning NGOs of being ill informed and ideologically biased. Given the many errors and misrepresentations in his own account, his accusations fall back on him and undermine the credibility of his book.

The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Program is planning to conduct two concurrent short courses during the period from January 25th to January 31st, 2005. Please find available through the URL below more details about the courses and the application procedures.

The Mano River Women's Peace Network would like to inform you that its has just launched its new on-line journal, "Voices of Peace," as well as several news articles on its website. Please visit our site regularly for information about the Network's activities and events. We welcome feedback on our site as well; to send a comment, please write to [email protected] with a cc to [email protected].com

The Mapambano Newsletter, a publication whose main agenda will be to provide an alternative ideological perspective of news and analysis in Kenya, will provide an alternative Left-oriented point of view of news and analysis of events happening in Kenya and the world and act as a tool for political education of the people of Kenya.

Owei Sikpi, of the "Weekly Star" newspaper, based in Port Harcourt, the Rivers State capital, was assaulted by thugs allegedly acting on instructions from Steven Diver, chairman of the Southern Ijaw Local Government Area in Bayelsa State, reports Media Rights Agenda. The thugs, who were reportedly backed by anti-riot policemen, introduced themselves as State Security Service (SSS) operatives. They then forcibly took Sikpi to a house located at 24 Woji Road in Port Harcourt, where they beat him until he was nearly unconscious. Thereafter, they stripped him naked and took several photographs of him.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is deeply concerned by the detention of Mathieu N'do, managing editor of the pro-opposition weekly San Finna. Local sources say N'do was arrested November 5 at the airport in the capital, Ouagadougou, as he was returning from Ivory Coast, where he had traveled to report on ongoing tensions between government and rebel forces. Local journalists believe N'do's detention may be linked to his journalistic work, which is often critical of the Burkina Faso government.

What is hindering most of the African Elites in the Diaspora from returning home to contribute to the development of their various countries?
What is the future of the continent (AFRICA) when even those sponsored to study abroad refuse to return home to contribute their quota to the development process of their various countries?

Chanting “no more war” and praying for peace, a first batch of 500 internally displaced people (IDPs) headed home on Monday from a camp where they had lived for years, as the UN and Liberia's government kicked off a scheme to resettle 300,000 IDPs. The UN and the Liberian government have said people must be encouraged to return only on condition a county is safe. Key benchmarks for determining an areas safety are completion of disarmament, the presence of civil authorities, rehabilitation of basic services and unhindered access for humanitarian workers.

Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) are instruments used by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to enable developing countries to qualify for debt relief under the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative. The international financial institutions (IFIs) claim that developing countries and their national governments are primarily responsible for the design and implementation of the PRSPs, but evidence suggests this is largely superficial, says research from the University of Oxford’s Queen Elizabeth House which finds that local people, communities or organisations often have only minimal input. The research says civil society participants mostly consist of a mix of NGOs which are not necessarily representative either of society as a whole or of the poor in particular.

The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF), in collaboration with the Ministry of Education, and other educational partners, has launched a girls education enrolment Drive in Bomi, Bong and Cape Mount County. Tom Shafer, UNICEF Project Officer for Education, said enrolling the girl child is not only the fulfilment of her birthright, but gives the world the hope for the future of girls so that they will take their rightful places in school and in greater society.

Women's human rights advocates and practitioners are invited to share their views, experiences and concerns about ending violence against women and girls. Starting 8 November, UNIFEM will moderate an online discussion to assess achievements and challenges since the Fourth World Conference on Women was held in 1995. As part of a series sponsored by the United Nations Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality and hosted by WomenWatch, this discussion will feed into the forthcoming ten-year review and appraisal of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, which will focus on implementation at the national level.

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) originate in and complement human rights instruments, such as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), and the Beijing Platform for Action (BPFA). The MDGs are a potentially powerful tool for progress on development, including around gender. However there are inadequacies in the MDGs content: they instrumentalise women as girls and mothers; many key areas are ignored such as conflict, security and reproductive and sexual health and rights; accountability mechanisms are stronger for developing countries than developed countries. This report recommends re-grounding the MDGs in human rights instruments.

With an increasing number of children orphaned by HIV/AIDS seeking foster care, the HIV/AIDS epidemic is placing enormous pressure on South Africa's child welfare system. An estimated 18 percent of the country's children are orphans. According to the Medical Research Council (MRC), at least 5.7 million children could lose one or both parents to AIDS by 2015.

Media workers in Zambia have again demanded enactment of the Freedom of Information Bill, more than two years after the proposed law was withheld for "wider consultation". Press Association of Zambia Vice President Amos Chanda told IRIN on Tuesday that journalists would lobby for the bill to be brought before the current session of parliament, which began earlier this month.

Congolese security forces and UN troops have stepped up their patrols in Goma, a town in the Democratic Republic of Congo's eastern province of North Kivu, following a recent spate of night-time killings by unidentified armed men in uniform. The killings and general climate of insecurity that has gripped the area sparked protests in Goma on Monday. Some 1,000 demonstrators burned the Kayembe administrative offices and demanded the resignation of Gen Obed Rwibasira, commander of the 8th Military Region, based in Goma. The demonstrators are blaming him for failing to protect the population sufficiently.

Dwindling water resources in Africa could lead to conflicts and food shortages, experts attending an international conference in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa, said this week. Unsustainable use of water, poor management, pollution, increasing consumption and rapid population growth were fuelling water shortages, according to the experts attending the "Water for Food and Ecosystems" conference. Delegates warned that much more water would be needed to feed the world’s growing population - projected to rise from about six billion at present to 8.9 billion by 2050.

Along with millions of others, health workers celebrated South Africa's first democratic elections in 1994 as the first step in rolling back the devastating inequity of an apartheid era health system. At last the health needs of the whole population would be addressed with the advent of representative government and the anticipated “peoples” health system.

An impressive array of health policies and plans were designed to reduce inequities and improve the health of all South Africans. Health activists and struggle veterans were in consensus that a single, unified National Health Service based on a comprehensive Primary Health Care approach would be the key to this transformation.

Despite one of the most progressive constitutions on the planet and a strong rhetorical commitment to addressing the health needs of the poor, implementation has been slow. The huge effort put into reshaping the “architecture” of the health system has not translated into real health gain for all South Africans. Many of the poorest still find themselves marginalized and neglected, just as they were in pre-democratic South Africa.

In the 1980s, an uncontrolled poaching spree reduced the rhino population by 98%, but anti-poaching activities have now given the rhinos a chance to recover their numbers and rebuild populations. However, the problem of accurately monitoring the rhinos to implement realistic wildlife management strategies remains.

On his retirement, Uganda's anti-corruption czar says no-one has dared tempt him with a bribe. But Jotham Tumwesigye, who has been fighting sleaze for eight years, says despite investigating 10 government ministers none had been charged. Those in top jobs are good at hiding evidence needed for court action, he told the BBC. During his tenure, he said he has made many enemies and attempts were made by some to reduce his powers.

Environmentalists have reacted with guarded caution to announcements of new plans to mine more bauxite and iron in Guinea. The plans were released after conclusion of the International Forum on the Mining Sector (FISM) held in this West African country last month. The meeting, held in the northeastern city of Boffa, about 130 kilometres from the Guinean capital Conakry, attracted multinational corporations such as Alcoa (the United States), Alcan (Canada), Rio Tinto (Britain) and EuroNimba with ambitious mining projects. It is hoped that these projects will stimulate Guinea’s economy, which is cash-strapped but rich in natural resources.

The failure of the Nigerian government to rigorously enforce its obligations to protect human rights is fuelling violations of civil and political as well as economic, social and cultural rights in the process of the oil exploration and production in the Niger Delta, Amnesty International said in a new report entitled 'Nigeria: Are human rights in the pipeline?' The report examines how the human rights of individuals and communities have been abused as a result of practices of some transnational corporations (TNCs) and violated by the inactions and actions of the Nigerian Federal Government in the Niger Delta. It also includes three cases highlighting issues such as non-inclusive consultation processes and the failure to clean up oil spills, involving the Shell Petroleum Development Corporation (SPDC) and the Nigerian Agip Oil Corporation (NAOC).

Sudanese Arabs in Cairo have formed a fundamental part of Egyptian history and society during many centuries of close relations between Egypt and Sudan. In spite of being described as “brothers” in a united Nile Valley, recent political unrest negatively affected the Sudanese in Cairo. Neither citizens nor foreigners, their uncertain place in Egypt has given rise to an ethnic discourse that does not follow the common pattern of drawing upon obvious characteristics to mark difference. This rich study, available next year, shows that ethnicity does not only flow from sharply drawn distinctions, but can also be created from social values held in common.

The Sudan government has agreed to end military flights over Darfur and has signed a peace deal to end 20 months of hostilities with rebels from the western region. After three weeks of difficult talks sponsored by the African Union (AU) in the Nigerian capital, Abuja, the parties to the conflict late Tuesday signed a series of breakthrough agreements touching on security and humanitarian issues.

The African Conservation Foundation (ACF) has announced an exciting new Art for Conservation project, “When Paintings Come Alive” - The Endangered Species Project and are teaming up with internationally renowned creative artist Daniel Taylor to raise funds for the conservation of three endangered species in Africa: gorillas, elephants and lions. Taylor will create an original wildlife painting of each of these animals in the unique style of High Realist painting in acrylic. ACF will receive 100% of the revenues from the sale of these signed and numbered limited edition prints. The money raised will be used to fund the conservation of gorillas, elephants and lions in Africa.

Many of the routes delivering food, medicine and other necessary relief to hundreds of thousands of homeless in Darfur are increasingly labeled ‘no-go’ areas because of stepped up fighting from all sides, though many foreign non-governmental organisations have defied UN warnings in attempts to provide assistance. In early November the UN said some 160,000 people were inaccessible due to growing insecurity. The World Health Organisation (WHO) announced that at least 70,000 people had died in the camps from disease and malnutrition since March 2004.

For many HIV-positive mothers in resource-poor settings, breastfeeding is often the only option, despite the risk of HIV transmission. The challenge now is for healthcare workers to accept this reality and make breastfeeding safer, a recent report has said. A study by LINKAGES, a programme providing technical information on infant feeding, found that breastfeeding remained one of the most effective child survival interventions available. While breastfeeding increases the risk of HIV-transmission to the child by up to 15 percent, replacing breast milk increases the risk of infectious diseases like diarrhoea and respiratory infections up to sixfold during the child's first 2 months.

Health systems research has the potential to produce dramatic improvements in health worldwide and to meet some of the major development challenges in the new millennium. Effective research could prevent half of the world's deaths with simple and cost-effective interventions, the World Health Organization (WHO) says in a new World Report on global health research. The WHO World Report on Knowledge for Better Health: Strengthening Health Systems highlights aspects of health research that, if managed more effectively, could produce even more benefits for public health in future. It sets out the strategies that are needed to reduce global disparities in health by strengthening health systems.

Local HIV/AIDS NGOs in Burkina Faso are planning to raise funds in the country rather than seek external sources of funding for antiretroviral (ARV) drugs, activists told PlusNews. About 43,000 HIV-positive people in the country need treatment, but in June this year only 2,000 people were receiving it. An estimated 300,000 people in Burkina Faso are living with HIV/AIDS.

"We, the landless people of South Africa, declare our needs for our government and the world to know. We are the people who have borne the brunt of colonialism and neo-colonialism, of the invasion of our land by the wealthy countries of the world, of the theft of our natural resources, and of the forced extraction of our labour by the colonists. We are the people who have borne the brunt of apartheid, of forced removals from our fields and homes, of poverty in the rural areas, of oppression on the farms and of starvation, neglect and disease in the Bantustans."

All World Bank projects in Kenya are being investigated for possible corruption, it has been revealed. And a sampling of other donor schemes will also be audited, according to a statement by Finance minister David Mwiraria. The decision to launch the investigation follows the presentation of a report, last week, which showed the Kenya Urban Transport Infrastructure Project (Kutip) had lost millions of shillings through graft.

There is urgent concern from civil society over the diversion of attention and resources from development and economic and social justice to the military, the so-called 'war on terrorism' and war itself. This is according to a report that gives an overview of civil society engagement with the UN Millennium Declaration and its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The report presents the findings of on an electronic survey of more than 270 civil society organisations, from over 82 countries, predominantly from the South, that have already been engaged with the UN and other international institutions. The report also states that there was a strongly held view among respondents that developed countries must demonstrate greater commitment to the MDGs and the creation of a true global partnership for development.

Sudan’s government has vehemently denied claims by the United Nations that it is forcibly relocating internally displaced persons from camps in the strife torn western region of Darfur. "It is the responsibility of a country to relocate its internally displaced persons. We have not violated any international law," the country’s minister of humanitarian affairs, Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamid, told journalists at a press briefing held in the Kenyan capital of Nairobi, Tuesday.

An anthrax outbreak has killed at least 180 hippos in a national park in south-western Uganda, reports say. The first hippo deaths in the Queen Elizabeth National Park occurred in July, but it has taken months to determine the cause. Scientists say they are struggling to develop a way to diagnose the disease quickly and contain it.

As its poorer West African neighbours, Guinea and Sierra Leone, grapple with endemic cholera, Senegal is facing a rare but telling explosion of the disease in low-income neighbourhoods of its busy capital, Dakar. The first cholera epidemic to surface in Senegal in eight years broke out on 11 October in a crowded, low-income suburb of the capital, highlighting the link between disease and the poverty across the continent that is associated with urban decay and rural exodus.

Swaziland's High Court judges resumed work on Wednesday, ending a two-year hiatus created by their en masse resignation in protest over the government's refusal to abide by their judgements. Registrar of the high court Shiyumhlaba Dlamini told IRIN the judges' return to work followed an assurance that the government would adhere to court decisions.

"The first Bushman woman to give evidence during the court case in which 243 Bushmen are suing the government for the right to return to their ancestral land has told the court that she 'feared for her life' when being evicted in 2002. Mongwegi Tlhobogelo described how huge numbers of vehicles and people suddenly arrived at her community in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve and ordered that all the Bushmen's huts be dismantled. Her husband had already been relocated without her knowledge. The men then emptied out all the Bushmen's water tanks, and loaded them onto lorries."

“You talk of refugees as though human rights did not exist which are broader and more important. Once an individual, a human being, becomes a refugee, it is as though he has become a member of another race, some other sub-human group (Rizvi 1984).”

Introduction

The lack of attention to the ways in which refugees’ rights are violated in host countries is astonishing if one considers that the protection of the rights of all people has been on the United Nations (UN) agenda since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and that refugees have formed an important part of the UN’s work since the Second World War. Refugees should enjoy the same human rights as any other people. However, refugees have traditionally been relegated to the category of ‘humanitarian’ problems, the human rights dimension of their plight being generally ignored.

In practice, to enjoy the most basic human security, it is not enough today for an asylum-seeker to be a human being. S/he must obtain the formal label “refugee” to enjoy even legal recognition as a person in most countries. Without this label, a person will find themselves in fear of the state rather than protected by a government. Living without documents, without UNHCR or government protection, places refugees at imminent risk of detention and refoulement. It leaves them vulnerable to exploitations large and small by their neighbors, landlords, and employers.

After ‘getting in’ to a country, the determination of refugee status is the most critical challenge that people in danger face when they seek protection. There is a growing tendency in Africa to put individual refugees through the process of individual status determination, rather than group-based recognition.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has said that ‘the importance of these procedures cannot be overemphasized… A wrong decision might cost the person’s life or liberty’. For UNHCR, fair refugee status determination (RSD) procedures are ‘essential’ for full application of the 1951 Convention’ The General Assembly has repeatedly referred to the need to establish ‘fair and efficient procedures’ in the asylum process (e.g. GA res. 51/75, 12 February 1997 and GA res. 50/152, 9 February 1996).

Being granted status is also the first step towards refugees taking an active part in governing their own lives and future. Determining their status is the responsibility of the state where they seek asylum. However, in over 60 countries – mainly in Africa, the Middle East and Asia - the local office of the UNHCR handles RSD, making it nearly the largest RSD decision-maker in the world. The fact that so many states have handed this responsibility over to UNHCR (more than half have ratified the 1951 Convention) is indicative of how little some governments have done to implement the Convention, shifting responsibility instead to the UN.

When UNHCR fills the gap, refugees and governments should be able to rely on UNHCR to perform such an essential role in keeping with the highest standards. When human rights groups raise alarm about a government’s refugee policies, they usually call for UNHCR to have more access. UNHCR has given progressive, legally sound advice to governments about RSD. UNHCR is responsible for supervising refugee law, and refugees ought to be able to trust that in UNHCR’s hands their rights will be respected. Yet, on RSD, UNHCR is saying one thing to governments, and doing something much worse.

UNHCR’s RSD procedures have been assessed independently by lawyers, scholars, and human rights organizations in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and East Africa. Their conclusions are the same: UNHCR’s RSD procedures lack the most basic safeguards of fairness, resulting in a high chance of mistakes in a field where there simply is no margin for error. There is an unacceptable risk that people in grave danger will be refused protection when they apply to UNHCR offices. Furthermore, by not following its own advice about RSD procedures, UNHCR sets a bad example for states. The system is broken and needs to be fixed.

What exactly is wrong with UNHCR’s Refugee Status Determination?

The essential problem with UNHCR conducting refugee status determination is that by assuming the role of decision-maker, it compromises its role as protector of refugees with that of being ‘judge and jury’ of their claims. These are contradictory roles and wherever UNHCR places itself in this situation, it loses the trust of refugees. Secondly, its RSD practices lack procedural safeguards and fairness. They are hence high risk for error, and can put people in danger of refoulement in fact if not refoulement in form.

Despite being absent from the text of the refugee conventions, UNHCR has issued fairly comprehensive specific procedural requirements for fair RSD. The earliest attempt conclusions of the Executive Committee of the UNHCR (EXCOM) – in particular conclusion 8 (XXVIII), 1977 – and the Handbook on Procedures and Criteria for Determining Refugee Status (UNHCR 1992a), set out basic procedural requirements. State practice has also over the years fleshed out standards of procedural fairness that apply to refugee status determination, both through case-law and through statutes or administrative regulations (Verdirame and Harrell-Bond 2004). UNHCR has now issued more comprehensive advice to states about standards necessary for a fair and effective RSD procedure. In May 2001, as part of its Global Consultations on International Protection, UNHCR issued its most comprehensive guidance on RSD procedures to date, a background paper called FAIR AND EFFICIENT ASYLUM PROCEDURES. UNHCR added to this guidance in February 2003 with comments submitted to the Council of Europe.

The standards UNHCR has set out are admirable. But, for whatever reason, UNHCR itself has not seen fit to follow them.

We detail a number of specific problems:

Secret evidence. Withholding evidence considered in an applicant’s case – which the applicant involved cannot see or dispute – is a familiar (and very worrisome) part of military and state security trials, but with rare exception it should not be part of RSD. UNHCR told the Council of Europe:

“UNHCR […] recommends that information and its sources may be withheld only under clearly defined conditions where disclosure of sources would seriously jeopardize national security or the security of the organizations or persons providing information.” - [UNHCR annotated comments on the amended proposal for a Council Directive on minimum standards on procedures in Member States for granting and withdrawing refugee status, COM(2002) 326 final of 18 June 2002, presented by the Commission (commenting on Article 14).]

But in its own RSD procedures, UNHCR offices withhold nearly all evidence from asylum-seekers, in accordance with a confidential August 2001 memorandum from the Department of International Protection. Evidence routinely withheld from asylum-seekers includes reports from mental health assessments and medical examinations, transcripts of their own interviews, statements by other witnesses, and country of origin information.

Reasons for rejection. UNHCR has advised governments that refused asylum-seekers “should receive a written decision …[and] the decision should be a reasoned one.” [UNHCR, Asylum-Processes: Fair and Efficient Asylum Procedures (May 2001)] But when UNHCR refuses a refugee claim, its offices generally refuse to provide detailed written reasons that could be used in preparing an appeal. In some offices, the person receives a letter with just one or two sentences explaining the rejection. In other offices, rejected applicants get only a three-letter code, such as “LOC” (lack of credibility). Some UNHCR offices give no explanation at all. At the same time, UNHCR offices write, and keep on file, detailed assessments of each case.

Independent appeals. Since 1980, UNHCR has called on governments to provide rejected asylum-seekers with access to an independent appeal. [OAU-UNHCR Guidelines for National Refugee Legislation and Commentary (1980).] In 2001, UNHCR said that this appeal must be to “an authority different from and independent of that making the initial decision.” [UNHCR, Asylum-Processes: Fair and Efficient Asylum Procedures (May 2001).] But in most UNHCR offices, the only appeal is to a different staff member in the same office, usually a colleague of the person who made the original rejection, working under the same supervisors.

Right to counsel. UNHCR has advised governments that “at all stages of the procedure, including at the admissibility stage, asylum-seekers should receive guidance and advice on the procedure and have access to legal counsel.”

In a few UNHCR offices, the principle of legal representation is accepted. But other offices resist the right to counsel. Some UNHCR offices refuse to accept submissions by lawyers. Others refuse to speak with lawyers about their clients’ cases. Still others have questioned asylum-seekers about why they chose to seek legal assistance. In one UNHCR office in the Middle East, a protection officer recently insisted that an indigent refugee pay a significant fee to a notary in order to be represented by a lawyer in a hearing over whether UNHCR would withdraw his refugee status.

Behind these failures are fundamental questions of transparency and accountability. By withholding evidence and the reasons for rejection, UNHCR shields its actions from scrutiny. But this tendency toward secrecy goes beyond individual cases. UNHCR’s RSD operating procedures are generally not released to the public. The Department of International Protection (DIP) memorandum instructing UNHCR offices to withhold evidence from asylum-seekers was never circulated to the public for comment, and to this day it is officially internal.

UNHCR has indicated that it is drafting a new handbook governing its RSD activities, but it has not yet asked for public comment. It is worrisome to think that procedural standards are being re-debated within UNHCR simply because this time UNHCR offices are meant to apply them. There is no plausible reason why the legal standards of UNHCR’s RSD procedures should differ from the high standard that it recommends to governments. When UNHCR tells the public that certain standards are essential for refugee protection, these standards should automatically be implemented in UNHCR's own offices.

Prima Facie recognition of refugees and their right to identity papers

Although reforming RSD procedures themselves in urgent, it is also important to reduce their importance. Individual RSD is, as a rule, intensive, burdensome on all involved, high stakes, and high risk for error. The more UNHCR and governments can find other ways to recognize refugee status, the better.

In cases of mass movements where it is impracticable to conduct individual status determination of refugees seeking asylum, governments may grant prima facie recognition to the group on the basis of nationality. Prima facie recognition may be granted either under the 1951 Convention or the Organization of Africa Unity (now African Union) Convention (OAU).

This makes sense; it reflects the practice in post-World War II Europe when all refugees were recognized on the grounds of nationality. When Nansen, appointed by the League of Nations, was first named Commissioner for Russian Refugees, all Russian refugees in Europe after the revolution were entitled to recognition. Similarly, everyone knows there is war in southern and western Sudan; people fleeing that war should simply have to ‘prove’ their nationality.

Decisions to grant prima facie recognition to particular nationalities should be ‘gazetted’, i.e. as legal decisions they must be published officially. This is only the first step; every adult refugee must be issued with an identity card (1951 UN Convention (Article 27). The Conclusion of the Executive Committee of UNHCR (EXCOM), in 1993, also reiterated the necessity of the issuing of personal documentation as a device to promote the protection of the personal security of refugees (No.72 (XLIV).

Nansen went much further. Realizing that movement was necessary to find solutions to their plight, the Nansen Passport was introduced, allowing refugees to move to another country where they could find, for example, employment or education or re-join relatives. The Nansen passport thus served refugees as a passport, allowing them to travel between states. It was the forerunner of today’s Convention Travel Document (CTD). Article 28 of the 1951 UN Convention provides that ‘Contracting States’ shall issue travel documents, that is, CTDs to refugees lawfully in their territories for the purpose of travel outside their territories. (There are only two reasons for which Contracting State can deny refugees this right: compelling reasons of national security or public order.)

In Africa, where most refugees are sent to camps or settlements, the only identification the vast majority receive is a family ration card, which usually includes only an indication of the size of the family with marks to punch when rations are received or non-food items are distributed, not their name.

What is being done?

At the International Consortium of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA) Pre-Executive Committee October 2004 meetings, four lawyers from Africa and the Middle East successfully lobbied for ICVA to call for an independent evaluation of UNHCR RSD. The following are excerpts from final NGO Statement to UNHCR’s Executive Committee on Evaluation and Inspection Activities:

“We would suggest that such an independent global evaluation be carried out by a team that includes international human rights lawyers, international and national NGOs working on refugee issues, academics, and legal aid practitioners. The issues that should be examined in the evaluation include an inventory of the RSD procedures that are applied in each UNHCR field office, with an examination of the possible solutions to the political, financial, and human resource constraints that contribute to RSD procedures that do not fulfill practices advocated by UNHCR. The evaluation should recommend rights-based RSD procedures to be followed consistently by all field protection officers with a mechanism to ensure their implementation.”

And from the Statement on Protection:

“Further, while recognising the important role played by UNHCR in asylum determination procedures in many countries worldwide, NGOs have concerns that some of UNHCR's refugee status determination (RSD) practices in some countries in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia do not always meet the standards of fairness to which UNHCR urges states to adhere. … UNHCR should not see its role in RSD as a substitute for government-run procedures. UNHCR should make it a priority that governments take over these activities and build their capacity to do so. We call on UNHCR to initiate public consultations on the new draft refugee status determination procedures (from – follow ‘What’s Hot’).”

It will be important to follow this initiative carefully over the next year and at the 2005 ICVA Pre-Excom meetings to ensure the issue is actively followed up.
What can you do?

The first step to change the situation for refugees is to inform yourself. While presuming that readers of Pambazuka News, are committed to human rights, too few human rights organisations consider refugee rights as part of their mandate. In your country, as in so many, refugees are probably segregated in camps and those who manage to live elsewhere are usually trying to remain invisible to authorities for the reasons of lack of proper papers and the right to live outside of camps. Join the US Committee for Refugees’ Anti-warehousing campaign and begin to study and expose the way refugee rights are being violated in your country. Lobby for their minimal right to freedom of movement (http://www.refugees.org/warehousing)

For those who think of refugees as ‘just another problem among so many’, remember that getting it right for refugees may be the best way to get rights for all! Is not the extent to which refugee rights are upheld, a barometer for the extent that human rights are generally respected in any society? Human rights are indivisible, interrelated and inter-related; focusing on the violations of the rights of refugees (who represent the most marginalized and unprotected population) is perhaps the most effective ‘entry’ point for improving the observance of human rights for all members of any society. Any investment in promoting the rights of refugees is an investment in a more just society.

Find out if there are any legal aid clinics in your country who would be in a position to represent refugee clients whatever their problems might be and encourage them to consider getting the necessary training to expand their clients to include refugees. The Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Programme ([email protected]) at the American University in Cairo (www.aucegypt.edu/fmrs) and AMERA Egypt, a refugee legal aid clinic ([email protected] ) both provide training opportunities. Oxfam, through Reach Out also offers a Refugee Protection Training Project for all NGOs (http://www.reachout.ch/). Where legal aid clinics for refugees exist, support their work and see how you might get involved.

Clinics providing legal aid for refugees have been established in a few countries in the ‘south’, in Africa, in 1999, the Refugee Law Project in Kampala (www.refugeelawproject.org); the Kenyan Refugee Consortium, Nairobi ([email protected]); AMERA-Egypt in Cairo (www.amera-uk.org). Others are the Frontiers Centre in Lebanon ([email protected]) and the Istanbul Refugee Legal Aid Project in Turkey ([email protected]).

If you are a lawyer, learn how to take refugee cases that have been unfairly dealt with by the legal system in your country to the Africa Commission. At its 35th Session the Africa Commission nominated a Special Rapporteur on Refugees and Displaced Persons in Africa. He is Mr. Bahame Tom Mukirya Nyanduga. His address is: P. O. Box 7239, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; his E-mail: [email][email protected]; [email][email protected]

In the end, two points are absolutely essential. First, don’t rely blindly on the UN. A strong UN is essential for a just and peaceful world, but that does not mean that UN agencies can be trusted anymore than governments. They must be transparent, they must be accountable, and we must watch to make sure they practice what they preach.

Second, this entire discussion has been devoted to how we determine whether a person is a “refugee” under the law. But we ought to remember: We don’t need UNHCR or a complicated procedure to recognize another person as a human being. And that ought to be enough to give refugees the most essential human rights.

* Barbara Harrell-Bond is Distinguished Visiting Professor, Forced Migration and Refugee Studies Programme, American University in Cairo. Mike Kagan is a refugee law specialist. Please click on the link below for references.

* Please send comments to [email protected]

A referendum on the Central African Republic's (CAR’s) constitution will now be held on 5 December and not 28 November, as initially planned, an official told IRIN on Thursday. The postponement would give the Mixed Electoral Commission, known as CEMI, time to prepare for the vote, its chairman, Jean Wilibiro-Sacko, said.