---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: "IRIN" <[email protected]> Date: 26 Jun 2015 04:28 Subject: Your daily selection of IRIN Africa English reports, 6/25/2015 To: "Elisabeth Janaina" <[email protected]> Cc:
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humanitarian news and analysis
Table of contents
1. EU toughens stance on migrant returns <#14e2d7b37b8e00e4_1>
2. Words are weapons as Burundi heads to the polls <#14e2d7b37b8e00e4_2>
------------------------------
*EU toughens stance on migrant returns
<http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101675>*
[image: lead photo]OXFORD, 25 June 2015 (IRIN) - More than 125,000 migrants
and asylum-seekers have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year, all
carrying the hope that they will be able to start new lives in Europe. Many
more will have arrived by other means using forged documents or will have
overstayed on their visas.
Those from countries subject to conflict or severe human rights abuses such
as Syria and Eritrea have a good chance of being able to remain in the
European Union as refugees. But the majority will be classified as
irregular migrants who, in theory, can be returned to their home countries.
In practice, many member states lack the capacity to round up and return
thousands of undocumented migrants and failed asylum-seekers to home
countries that are often reluctant to receive them.
In 2014, more than half a million third-country nationals were found to be
“illegally present” in the EU. The vast majority were issued with so-called
return decisions ordering them to leave within a prescribed period. Those
who didn’t comply were supposed to be removed by force, but in reality only
about 40 percent were, according to Eurostat figures.
In some countries, the percentage was considerably lower. Italy, for
example, only returned 5,310 irregular migrants in 2014, despite being the
most popular landing point for migrants arriving by sea. By contrast, the
UK returned 46,610 migrants - 71 percent of the total number of people it
issued with return decisions.
Faced with increasing chaos at its borders, the EU Commission is urging
member states to take a tougher stance on returns. Draft conclusions
<http://www.statewatch.org/news/2015/jun/eu-council-draft-european-council-conclusions-june-2015.pdf>
from Thursday’s EU summit in Brussels note that “all tools shall be
mobilised to promote readmission of illegal migrants to countries of origin
and transit,” and that an increased budget will be made available to
support more effective returns.
In a 9 June letter to interior ministers, EU Home Affairs Commissioner
Dimitris Avramopoulos pointed out that, “Economic migrants pay high prices
to smugglers to bring them to Europe… knowing that once they are in the EU
they have a good chance to stay here, even if they are ordered to leave.”
In an effort to increase return rates, Avramopoulos urged EU leaders to
make use of “coercive measures,” including the use of detention to prevent
migrants absconding before they can be returned.
*Increased use of detention*
He called on countries confronted with large numbers of arrivals to take
advantage of an emergency clause of the EU Return Directive that allows
irregular migrants, including families with children, to be detained in
prisons rather than in separate immigration detention facilities, for up to
18 months.
Italy is the only country that has ever applied the emergency clause,
during the influx of migrants and asylum-seekers to Lampedusa Island as a
result of the Arab Spring in 2011.
The detention of migrants, including minors, for longer periods in prison
settings would be viewed as a major retrograde step by rights groups, who
have long campaigned for an end to immigration detention altogether. Not
only, they argue, does it have negative effects on those detained,
particularly children, but there are also more humane alternatives
<http://www.irinnews.org/report/98666/alternatives-to-immigration-detention-prove-cheaper-more-humane>
that would cost the taxpayer less.
“I think it represents a hardening of attitudes as part of a general
concern about trying to manage the big increase in numbers,” Steve Peers, a
law professor at the University of Essex, told IRIN.
*Forced fingerprinting*
Writing for the UK non-profit website Statewatch
<http://www.statewatch.org/news/2015/jun/eu-jailing-migrant-families.htm>,
Peers pointed out that the EU Commission also recently published a paper
providing guidelines for the use of force – as a last resort – on migrants
who refuse to be fingerprinted.
“To say the least, this is hard to square with the EU’s frequent
professions of support for the human rights and decent treatment of
migrants,” he wrote.
The issue of fingerprinting and identifying migrants on arrival is crucial
to improving return rates, noted Avramopoulos in his letter. It is also
central to the soon-to-be launched “Hotspot” approach outlined in the European
Agenda on Migration
<http://www.irinnews.org/report/101485/beyond-quotas-what-else-is-new-in-eu-migration-policy>,
which will see the European Asylum Support Office, Europol and Frontex
deploying staff to frontline states, Greece and Italy, to assist with the
screening and identification of new arrivals.
Faced with record numbers of boat arrivals in the past year, Greece and
Italy have been accused of neglecting to register and fingerprint large
numbers of migrants who have then proceeded north through Europe’s
border-free Schengen zone to countries such as France and Germany. Under
the EU’s Dublin Regulation, asylum-seekers can be returned to the first
member state where they were registered, but without fingerprint records
such returns are impossible.
EU leaders are expected to reach a decision about a deal to relocate 40,000
asylum-seekers from Greece and Italy to other member states by the end of
July. Key to the agreement will be a commitment by the two frontline states
to implement the Hotspot approach and fingerprint all new arrivals.
“In a way it undercuts the relocation process because it could mean that
more [asylum-seekers] will end up in Italy,” said Peers, adding that Greece
has remained exempt from returns under the Dublin Regulation because of the
poor state of its asylum system and detention conditions.
*Return agreements with third countries*
Other measures aimed at improving return rates include amending the role of
EU border agency Frontex so it can initiate return operations. Currently,
Frontex is limited to coordinating returns after being approached by member
states.
The EU also plans to offer various incentives such as trade agreements and
development aid to persuade countries of origin, particularly those in
North and Sub-Saharan Africa, to take back their citizens through
readmission agreements.
Avramopoulos described the EU’s eastern flank as “well-covered” by such
agreements with Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and nations in the Western Balkans,
but pointed out that “the EU has no readmission agreements in force with
the North African countries,” although, “not for lack of trying.”
While discussions about migration at Thursday’s EU Summit focused on how to
improve return rates, rights groups and NGOs called on EU leaders to
rethink policies that are failing to provide protection and adequate
reception facilities to large numbers of asylum-seekers and vulnerable
migrants.
Referring to “a crisis of human suffering” at EU borders, Médecins Sans
Frontières (MSF) accused
<http://www.msf.org/article/migration-eu-leaders-orchestrating-humanitarian-crisis-europe%E2%80%99s-shores>
member states of neglecting their humanitarian duty.
“The current system, which includes the Dublin Regulation, is clearly not
working. Returning vulnerable people to Italy under the Dublin Regulation
should immediately be suspended,” said Loris de Filippi, president of MSF
Italy.
“Urgent action should be taken to allow asylum-seekers entering through
EU’s southern borders to get the assistance and protection they are
entitled to according to EU directives.”
ks/ag
Access report online <http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101675>
------------------------------
*Words are weapons as Burundi heads to the polls
<http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101677>*
[image: lead photo]BUJUMBURA, 25 June 2015 (IRIN) - In the weeks ahead of
Monday’s highly contentious parliamentary elections in Burundi, a profusion
of hate speech has been used as a key tool to whip up support in a campaign
marred by harassment, intimidation and violence.
Political tension has gripped this small central African state for months,
triggered mainly by President Pierre Nkurunziza’s decision to run for a
third term in office, a move seen by many as unconstitutional.
The unrest has been marked by a *failed coup
<http://www.irinnews.org/Report/101489/Who-is-Burundi-s-coup-maker>* bid in
May and the *flight
<http://www.irinnews.org/Report/101534/Photo-Feature-Burundi-s-Endless-Exodus>*
of tens of thousands of people to neighbouring countries. This week, second
vice-president Gervais Rufyikiri became the latest in a string of top
officials and legislators to flee the country.
It has been less than a decade since the end of Burundi’s civil war, which
claimed some 300,000 lives after igniting in 1993. The conflict was driven
by a power struggle between the country’s large Hutu majority and a Tutsi
minority that had dominated government and the security forces.
Much of the provocative and hateful messaging fuelling the febrile climate
in the run-up to Monday’s elections – and the presidential poll scheduled
for 15 July – harks back to that era.
Other bits are just plainly aggressive. For example, a piece of government
propaganda circulating on social media depicts an eagle – the symbol of the
ruling CNDD-FDD party – its wings raised, yellow eye menacing, claws
outstretched, as if descending to snatch its prey.
“Don't play with the Eagle!” says the accompanying text, in red, white and
black, the colours of the national flag. “It will tear you apart, it will
claw you and it will peck you. No one can stop the Eagle soar above the
people.”
This appeared earlier this year on a senior CNDD-FDD politician’s Facebook
page before being shared again on the social media site last month by a
spokesperson for the president.
Nkurunziza loyalists are not the only ones generating such incitement. “We
are killing the eagle,” shouted youths in Musaga, a district of Bujumbura,
in early May, as a crowd of them tore apart a dead crow that was strapped,
crucifixion-style, to a cross.
<http:///Photo/Details/201506251547450310/Protestors-denigrate-Burundi-ruling-party-by-feeding-beer-to-a-dead-bird>
Photo: Jessica Hatcher/IRIN <http://www.irinnews.org/photo/>
Protestors denigrate Burundi ruling party by feeding beer to a dead bird
For those who lived through the civil war, the Kirundi word “kumesa,” used
to issue a threat, is nothing new. Survivors of kidnappings and atrocities
by rebels and soldiers alike recall armed men shouting “mumese!” an
imperative form of the same verb meaning “kill him!”
The literal meaning of kumesa is to lather or wash. During the war, “to
wash someone up” became a euphemism for beating or killing them.
The word has resurfaced again, used by the Imbonerakure, the youth wing of
the ruling party during recent street protests over Nkurunziza’s bid for a
third term. A government supporter was also heard walking down the street
in Musaga muttering: “We’re going to wash you up.”
*See: Who are the Imbonerakure and is Burundi unravelling?
<http://www.irinnews.org/Report/101418/Who-are-the-Imbonerakure-and-is-Burundi-unravelling>*
Another word used by members of the ruling party, “zirye,” comes from
Rwanda, and literally means “to eat.” It also carries a lot of historical
baggage. During Rwanda’s 1994 genocide, those carrying out the killings of
Tutsis used the command, “inyezi zirye,” meaning, “eat the insects.”
Pierre-Claver Mbonimpa, Burundi’s leading human rights campaigner, agrees
that the language being used by both sides is dangerous. Even the
government, he says, is telling its young supporters at rallies that
everyone who is against the third term should be “cleaned up.”
(Mbonimpa uses the French verb “savoner”)
Examples of threats couched in metaphorical language abound. One Sunday in
May, warnings appeared in bullet-point form on lamp-posts and road signs in
districts of Bujumbura where protests were taking place.
Anyone who tried to leave their neighbourhood to go to work would be
"figured out,” the poster said, because if they were not actively
protesting then they were no better than those who support Nkurunziza, a
Hutu and former rebel leader.
The Kirundi verb used was “gukorerako.” Its other meanings include to beat,
punish and even kill. The same word was also used as a threat and an order
by combatants during the civil war. You hear it a lot these days in
Bujumbura.
Opposition leaders have been quick to reject the ethnic framing of the
current crisis.
It’s almost impossible to control all their behaviour, but we try to stop
them. It’s only when they’ve been provoked.
Standing on a makeshift soapbox in early May, Charles Nditije addressed
youths in the restive district of Nyakabiga: “When I say us, I mean all the
people, all the Tutsis and Hutus, all the protestors. Everyone who is
against the third mandate. Now, there are Hutus who are against them, so
they’re pretending it’s a fight against Hutus in order to regain support.”
At a CNDD-FDD rally in Nkurunziza’s hometown of Ngozi, Persille Mwidogo,
first vice-president of the senate, insisted that the ruling party would
never use divisive language. She told IRIN that the party promotes respect
for fellow citizens above all.
Mwidogo laughed when IRIN asked whether the verb “kumesa,” to wash up, was
being used to incite division and violence. “It’s youths amusing
themselves,” she said. “It’s almost impossible to control all their
behaviour, but we try to stop them. It’s only when they’ve been provoked."
Two-and-a-half weeks into the protests, Burundi’s independent radio
stations were silenced. After a dissident general tried and failed to stage
a coup, protestors set alight pro-government Rema FM.
In retaliation, the government launched armed raids and arson attacks on
all of Burundi’s independent media houses. Journalists who had
painstakingly collected evidence of alleged hate speech and stored it in
the buildings lost everything.
In the wake of this radio silence, social media – including blogs, WhatsApp
and Facebook – took on new prominence as the sole means of communicating
the news.
Although the Internet penetrates just two of Burundi, there is also a
strong oral tradition here, so what initially only reaches a small minority
is soon propagated to a larger audience by word of mouth.
There are now scores of propagandist websites, online groups and individual
blogs – some anonymous, others fake – circulating disinformation on both
sides of the political divide, including takedowns of politicians, civil
society leaders and independent journalists.
Burundi 24, for example, cites a contact address in Paris. The blog's *homepage
<http://www.burundi24.wordpress.com/>* presents a collection of character
assassinations and unfounded claims designed to besmirch the ruling party,
CNDD-FDD.
Burundi Forum, a pro-government website *designed to look like a news site
<http://www.burundi-forum.org/>*, opens an article about Pacifique
Nininahazwe, who chairs the Forum for Conscience and Development and is a
leading figure in the campaign against Nkurunziza's third term, “too much
blood has been shed at the instigation of this man.”
“At the start, there was nothing ethnic about this crisis, it was just a
clash of ideas,” a member of the Imbonerakure in the capital told IRIN.
“Now, people are using the protests to conceal their ethnic designs,” he
said, adding that cars are being burned simply because their owners are
Hutu.
The Imbonerakure have also been demonised. Before the birth of CNDD-FDD,
the word imbonerakure signified a white tree, one that could be seen from
far away. It has now become a loaded term, synonymous with violence.
Protestors regularly claim that the police are firing live rounds. Those
who enter anti-Nkurunziza neighbourhoods on unauthorised intimidation
exercises at night must be Imbonerakure, they say.
But members of the Imbonerakure such as Pascal Bigirimana argue that it is
a legitimate political group, simply consisting of party loyalists under
the age of 35. Bigirimana, who lives in the Bujumbura district of Kanyosha,
insisted there had been “no bad behavior” and dismissed allegations of
violence as “clichés.”
Dissembling fact from fiction in Bujumbura is becoming harder by the day.
hm-dn/am/ag
Access report online <http://www.irinnews.org/report.aspx?reportid=101677>
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