UN speaker airs plight of female victims of conflict
In places across the globe, including the Darfur region of western Sudan , Liberia , Lebanon and the Republic of Congo , more than a million people have been killed in recent civil conflicts while millions more have lost their homes. Natural disasters, such as the tsunamis of late 2004, have had a devastating impact on others. The majority of refugees created by these situations are women and children. Palm Beach Daily News, 5th November 2006

Rwanda : 624 refugees back home
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on November 3, repatriated over 624 Rwandan refugees from Musasa refugee camp of Ngozi province in Burundi . The repatriated refugees, who looked tired, were stationed in Huye stadium of Huye District before being transported to their respective homes. According to Emmanuel Ndayiga, a UNHCR official in Ngozi province ( Burundi ), more than 4,000 Rwandan refugees are still in Musasa camp and will soon be repatriated. The repatriated Rwandans, majority of whom are women and children, originate from the former Mugombwa and Kibingo districts (now Gisagara District).
www.andnetwork.com, 5th November 2006

EU aid for conflict victims and refugees in Tamil Nadu
The European Commission has allocated a further €5 million in humanitarian aid to help conflict-affected people in Sri Lanka and Sri Lankan refugees in Tamil Nadu, India , in addition to the €7 million decision adopted in July 2006. This new allocation will cover basic needs such as shelter, water, sanitation and healthcare with a particular focus on vulnerable groups such as women and children. EuropaWorld, 27th October 2006

No justice for Darfur rape victims
Whenever I have taken a camera into one of the many camps for refugees in Darfur , the children have immediately arranged themselves into a group. They want to be in the picture. And they insist on seeing the digital image. They smile and laugh while they point themselves out. At first glance, the burgeoning camps always seem happy places because of the uninhibited excitement of the children - that is if you ignore the tattered clothes and the reports from aid agencies, which paint a bleak picture. For the truth is that the settlements - known in international bureaucratic jargon as camps for Internally Displaced Persons - are places, once you move beyond the children's cheery welcomes, where human suffering can be smelled, seen, and touched. And women and girls seem to bear the brunt of the suffering. Middle East Times, 30th October 2006

Beyond Firewood: Fuel Alternatives and Protection Strategies for Displaced Women and Girls "The environment that surrounds refugee or internally displaced persons (IDP) camps, particularly in situations of ongoing conflict, is notoriously dangerous. Yet every day, in hundreds of camps around the world, millions of women and girls venture out into this danger, risking rape, assault, abduction, theft, exploitation or even murder, in order to collect enough firewood to cook with or to sell in order to survive. Rarely is cooking fuel provided by the humanitarian community, and even more rarely do men collect the wood. The risks associated with firewood collection have been well known for years, yet few effective strategies are in place to combat the problem." The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children

Managing a Refugee Camp
You and your group are part of a team responsible for managing a refugee camp in the Darfur region of western Sudan . There are about 1,000 people, mainly women and children who arrived on foot after the men in their village were killed. Refugees arrive and leave everyday, but sometimes large numbers arrive or leave all at once, which places a lot of pressure on your team and the camp's facilities. This is the scenario presented to students of upper primary and lower secondary level in a web learning quest designed by the Global Education Website. Students will determine the best way for a team to manage a refugee camp effectively so that the refugees remain safe and healthy. Also have a look at the 'refugees and internally displaced persons' section of the Global Education Website.

www.globaleducation.edna.edu.au

www.refugeecamp.org

MISSING - Red Cross Trace
Every war, every upheaval, every disaster results in more and more missing persons every year. The tracing services of the Red Cross are often the only means of locating them. For four years after fleeing Sudan , Mary and her family lived in a refugee camp in the dangerous border region of northern Uganda . She now lives a rather typical life with her family in suburban Melbourne , but she fears for the safety of her siblings left behind in the camp two years ago. She no longer knows where they are or even if they are still alive. Mary's only hope for finding them is with a Red Cross Message.

SBS TV, 8:00 pm Wednesday 15th November 2006

A prayer for refugees
Compassionate God, make your loving presence felt to refugees, torn from home, family and everything familiar. Warm, especially, the hearts of the young, the old, and the most vulnerable among them. Help them know that you accompany them as you accompanied Jesus, Mary, and Joseph in their exile to Egypt. Lead refugees to a new home and a new hope, as you led the Holy Family to their new home in Nazareth. Open our hearts to receive them as our sisters and brothers in whose face we see your son, Jesus. Amen.

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