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	Death and Happy Talk by Chris Stone President, Open Society Foundations   September 21, 2016   This has been a week of exasperation over the relentless killing of innocents. The problem is that different people are exasperated by different killings.   This week, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry unleashed an uncharacteristically undiplomatic tirade at the United Nations over the bombings in Syria. “How can people go sit at a table with a regime that bombs hospitals and drops chlorine gas again and again and again and again and again and again, and acts with impunity?” asked the secretary of state.   “Are you supposed to sit there and have happy talk in Geneva under those circumstances when you’ve signed up to a ceasefire and you don’t adhere to it? What kind of credibility do you have with any of your people?”   Kerry was talking about the Syrian government, and its bombing campaign against its own civilian population. But his outrage might give white America and the world as a whole a glimpse into the exasperation of black America at the killings this week in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and in Charlotte, North Carolina, and earlier in Baton Rouge, Baltimore, Charleston, Chicago, Cleveland, Dallas, Ferguson, Staten Island, and more.   How can black Americans remain patient and polite with a police establishment that shoots black men and black boys again and again and again and again? Is black America supposed to sit there and have happy talk with the officials responsible for so many deaths?   The parallels go deeper than you might at first imagine. Those who kill innocents rarely do so sadistically. There are always excuses and explanations, stretching notions of self-defense, exaggerating threats, claiming mistaken identities: We didn’t know the building was a hospital; we didn’t know he was just holding a wallet. And if it only happened once, or twice, or even three times, those excuses might be acceptable.   But John Kerry’s exasperation is captured in his repetition of again and again and again and again and again and again. In that dramatic lament at the UN, he echoes the exasperation of so many Americans of color across the United States.   Earlier this year, on the occasion of another U.S. police killing of a black man, a colleague at the Open Society Foundations made a simple suggestion: how about disarming the police? There are many countries, she pointed out, where most police patrol without guns. Wouldn’t taking the guns away stop the killing?   At the time, I thought the suggestion was provocative but unrealistic. And then I heard the secretary of state propose a no-fly zone over parts of Syria to protect civilians - a proposal that has been repeatedly rejected as unrealistic. Still, he felt he had to say it anyway. The subtext was clear: we are being driven to extremes. It seems that if you get sufficiently exasperated, you might start thinking about extremes, like putting the weapons away.   John Kerry was speaking this week out of exasperation. Yet we all know he’ll soon be back at the table in Geneva. The same is true here at home with our police killings: There will be more investigations, commission reports, and training programs. We’ll be back at the table. More happy talk.   But that’s where the parallels should end. No simple alchemy of military and diplomatic engagement will end the carnage in Syria. But things should be more straightforward in the United States. We’re not talking about a regime dropping bombs from the sky, but police officers shooting people up close, people whose individual appearance, whose blackness, is part of what leads to the killing.   If we can share the anger, and feel the pain, then we can find the strength to change, to embrace our common humanity, to stop the killing.   At the Open Society Foundations, we’re investing in a three-part strategy: supporting local activists, supporting reformers within law enforcement, and building a new institution to bridge national resources and expertise with local energy and commitment. We have to do more than try - we have to succeed. That’s what it takes to restore credibility with any of your people. Visit the related web page
	They all had a name by Jan Egeland UNHCR, Norwegian Refugee Council   September 2016   A year later, the photo of Aylan Kurdi has faded in our minds: Where is sympathy and outrage today – when children continue to die in the Mediterranean, or in a war where there is no escape?   "Let this be the last," said a heartbroken Abdullah Kurdi, after losing his wife and two children in a shipwreck off the Turkish coast one year ago. The family''s perilous journey in search of protection from the brutal war in Syria ended in tragedy.   On the morning of Sept. 2, 2015, the ones Abdullah Kurdi loved the most were taken away from him. Soon, the iconic image of his son, Aylan Kurdi, lying drowned at a beach in Bodrum, Turkey, went viral. A wave of sympathy with the world''s refugees washed over Europe. It was every parents, every family''s nightmare: "What if this was our child?"   After his death, the young boy touched our hearts. Politicians became emotional. The British Prime Minister David Cameron promised that the UK would fulfil its moral responsibilities. His Italian colleague Matteo Renzi asked Europe for action in support of the refugees to accompany the sorrow so widely expressed. And the French Prime Minister Manuel Valls tweeted a photo of Aylan – with the following text in French: "He had a name: Aylan Kurdi. Urgent action needed. Urgent mobilization needed."   In Germany, the European country receiving the second largest number of refugees last year following Turkey, Chancellor Angela Merkel came with strong appeals for European solidarity: "If Europe fails on this question of refugees, its close association with the universal rights of citizens will be destroyed," she argued.   A year later, the photo of Aylan Kurdi has faded in our minds. The same waves that surround our Mediterranean holiday destinations have continued to become a graveyard for an increasing number of children. Aylan did not become the last. The haemorrhage of human lives on the doorstep to our continent has got worse. More than 4,100 people have drowned on their way to Europe since the tragic death of Aylan Kurdi.   The values, our sympathy and the humanity that we so wholeheartedly expressed last year have lost ground to a strong xenophobic wind across Europe. Walls are being built and controversial deals have been made to make it ever harder for refugees to find a safe heaven on our continent. Is this what we call "fulfilling our moral responsibilities"? Is this "European civilisation"?   Fewer refugees are able to come to Europe, in spite of a dramatic increase in people forced to flee globally. While we have been able to increase emergency relief for some places where civilians are under attack, we have failed to tackle the root causes: The brutal wars in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq have all escalated over the last year, and the catastrophic situation for refugees in neighbouring countries has not improved.   It is an ancient sign of civilization and values that the persecuted have the right to seek protection in safe heavens elsewhere. By closing our own borders to and in Europe, we are making it increasingly difficult to convince the neighbours of bad wars, like Kenya, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan, to keep their borders open.   Recently, the World Food Program had to use cranes in a desperate attempt to lift food aid across the closed border between Syria and Jordan. Some 75,000 people in need are stranded on the other side, hoping for an opportunity to escape the war. Other civilians are not even trying to flee: they know they have nowhere to go.   The wave of solidarity with refugees caused by the photos of Aylan Kurdi last September was inspiring to humanitarian workers like myself. Children sold their toys for Syria or gave them to young asylum seekers at reception centres across Europe. Youth defended the rights of asylum seekers in heated social media discussions. Many made donations, others gave of their time. It was beyond anything we at the Norwegian Refugee Council have ever witnessed before.   Where is that sympathy and outrage today – when young children continue to die in the Mediterranean, or in a brutal war where there now is no escape?   "My Aylan died for nothing. Little has changed," said Aylan Kurdi''s father in an interview with the Italian newspaper La Repubblica this spring.   I hope he is wrong. There is so much we can still do to avoid more tragedies: more safe routes for refugees to seek protection in Europe, family reunification and resettlement places, strengthened rescue capacity, more support to countries hosting large number of refugees and intensified work for political solutions. We can still prove there is a European civilization that does not stand idly by watching children drown in our ocean or leave them trapped in war. Just like young Aylan Kurdi, they all have a name.   http://www.nrc.no/   6 September 2016   Konstantinos Mitragas on behalf of the Hellenic Rescue Team (HRT) and Efi Latsoudi, the human rights activist behind “PIKPA village” on the Greek island of Lesvos, are joint winners of UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award 2016.   The award recognizes their tireless voluntary efforts to aid refugees arriving in Greece during 2015, and reflects the spirit of volunteerism across Europe at the height of the refugee and migrant emergency.   Since 2007, Greece has been challenged by the arrival of a large number of refugees and migrants, but in 2015 sea arrivals escalated to an emergency. On the island of Lesvos alone, numbers topped 500,000 last year. In October 2015, arrivals peaked at more than 10,000 per day, as conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq continued to uproot people from their homes.   Other Greek islands, including Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos also hosted refugees as thousands more risked the freezing waters, fake lifejackets and surging storms in order to find safety.   For many refugees, the heroic humanitarian efforts of Greek volunteers in 2015 went well beyond pulling survivors from the seas, they helped them to take the first steps towards a normal life.   During 2015 the HRT conducted round-the-clock operations to save refugees and migrants in distress at sea and Latsoudi showed compassion and care for the most vulnerable refugees arriving on the island of Lesvos through her work at PIKPA village.   UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi paid tribute to the efforts of the winner of the global humanitarian award. “Hundreds of thousands of people fleeing conflict and persecution last year made the desperate bid to reach Europe in search of safety, many risking their lives in unseaworthy boats and dinghies, in a journey which all too often proved insurmountable,” he said.   “Both the Hellenic Rescue Team and Efi Latsoudi refused to stand by as they witnessed the dramatic humanitarian situation unfolding on their shores, and are fully deserving of the Nansen Refugee Award. Their efforts characterize the massive public response to the refugee and migrant emergency in Greece and across Europe, in which thousands of people stood in solidarity with those forced to flee, and the humanity and generosity of communities around the world who open their hearts and homes to refugees.”   http://www.unhcr.org/en-us/nansen-refugee-award.html http://www.unhcr.org/news.html   Sep 2016   Refugee crises are, in large part, a symptom of the failure to protect and assist IDPs in their own country, writes Alexandra Bilak.   Media attention focuses almost exclusively on refugees, yet they make up only a third of the 60 million people often cited as having been driven from their homes by conflict and violence.   The world is witnessing internal displacement on a scale not seen since World War Two. Nearly 28 million people had their lives uprooted by conflict, violence and disasters in 2015. In the first eight months of this year, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) has recorded more than 10 million new displacements across 16 countries, with China, Indonesia, Syria, Turkey and Yemen worst affected.   Media attention focuses almost exclusively on refugees, yet they make up only a third of the 60 million people often cited as having been driven from their homes by conflict and violence.   The “other” two-thirds are displaced within their own borders. Disasters, meanwhile, mostly triggered by weather-related hazards, have caused more than 203 million displacements over the past eight years, a figure comparable with the population of Brazil. The vast majority of those affected are internally displaced.   Displacement of any kind does not only mean losing one’s home. Those affected are separated from their livelihoods and incomes, and their families and friends – in essence all that is familiar to them. Many suffer deep psychological trauma.   Next week, the UN General Assembly will convene for its Summit for Refugees and Migrants, a much anticipated gathering that aims to get to the root of the global displacement crisis. As its title suggests, however, internally displaced people (IDPs) are not on the agenda.   I believe, this exclusion is a strategic mistake, and symptomatic of the ever-growing disparity between the scale of internal displacement worldwide and the lack of global focus on protecting and assisting IDPs. This stems in part from a global political and diplomatic environment that invokes sovereignty as immunity instead of responsibility.   The “end game” focus of the refugee crisis is a justifiable moral reaction to the throngs of people who have made long and dangerous journeys to seek safety on European shores, and to the sight of those who don’t quite make it being plucked – alive or dead – from the waters of the Mediterranean. If this outrage leads to new commitments to resettle more refugees, then so much the better. But as a worldview it is short-sighted.   Earlier this year, the UN secretary general’s own report, One Humanity, Shared Responsibility, proposed that governments commit to a comprehensive global plan to reduce the number of IDPs by at least 50 per cent by 2030. Echoing the Sustainable Development Agenda, his report made the commitment to “leave no one behind”.   To avoid the summit next week doing just that, the UN General Assembly should take up the secretary general’s call to protect and assist IDPs and to resolve their plight before they choose or are forced to flee across borders. The timing would be right as we look ahead to the 20th anniversary of the establishment of the UN’s Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement in 2018.   Governments should also reaffirm their commitments, recognised by numerous UN resolutions since 1998, to collect and share reliable disaggregated data in order to improve policy, programming and responses to internal displacement. At a bare minimum, the international community must ensure that financial commitments made to migrants and refugees next week do not divert funding from efforts to respond to IDPs’ needs.   Refugee crises are, in large part, a symptom of the failure to protect and assist IDPs in their own country. Many if not most refugees do not cross a border at the first sign of war. They flee first inside their country, hoping for peace or aid that never comes. Only by understanding the roots of internal displacement and addressing its impacts can we start to tackle the global refugee crisis head-on, rather than scurrying to treat its symptoms.   * Alexandra Bilak is the director of the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre: http://www.internal-displacement.org/ http://bit.ly/2ddh0hX http://www.unocha.org/idps   * When world leaders gather in September for summit meetings hosted by the UN to tackle the global refugee crisis, they must redouble their efforts to resolve those conflicts driving the global exodus and to prevent new conflicts before the emergency is compounded, argues a new report from the International Crisis Group:   http://www.crisisgroup.org/global/what-s-driving-global-refugee-crisis Visit the related web page
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