Sudan/DRC: Abducted Children Flown Home by ICRC (Feature)

(HN, Janury 5, 2011) - Judy and several other children were abducted by an armed group that roamed the jungle between the Central African Republic (CAR), the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Sudan. For a whole year, she had to carry goods and food through difficult terrain, under dangerous conditions, unpaid and uncared for.Yambio airstrip, Southern Sudan. James climbs aboard the plane that will reunite him with his family in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. CREDIT: ICRC

Today, Judy is one of seven children eagerly waiting to rejoin their families in the DRC, with apprehension written all over their faces. They sit patiently at Yambio airstrip in Southern Sudan, straining to hear the distant sound of the ICRC plane arriving from Dungu in the DRC, just thirty minutes away.

Young lives, tough stories

James (14) is the most confident of the group. "My sister and I were abducted somewhere in the DRC and forced to march with the armed men. They gave us stuff to carry but we didn't know where we were going. It was like that most days, we just wandered around the bush. Later my sister died in a shootout between the group and the army."

Unlike James, Anne (12) was abducted right in her home. She recalls the episode in a voice so quiet as to be almost inaudible. "Armed men burst into our house early one morning. The rest of my family escaped. They took me into the bush. They made me do things I don't want to talk about, things I want to forget."

Judy was just nine years old when she was abducted and the details are hazy. Now ten, she does remember how she was rescued from somewhere along the border between the DRC and Sudan. "We were just moving off after I had fetched water, when soldiers started shooting at the men who had abducted me. A bullet hit me in the head and I fell down. My abductors thought I was dead and abandoned me. I was scared, but I crawled away from the fighting until the soldiers saw me and took me to their base where I was treated."

Two other children injured in the crossfire that day were subsequently rescued by soldiers, who handed them over to a humanitarian agency that referred them to the ICRC.

James and Anne also escaped during fighting between the army and the armed group, but at different times and in different places. Anne, who said she was beaten every time she asked her captors for her mother, was forced to follow the group during every attack. This ultimately proved a blessing in disguise, as it was during one of these attacks that she managed to escape.

The long route home

The children came into contact with the ICRC on the border between the DRC and Southern Sudan in 2008. They then moved to a refugee camp where they were looked after by the UNHCR while the ICRC and the Sudanese Red Crescent Society followed up on their cases. It took ICRC staff two years to establish contact with their families and complete the paperwork required to get the children back to their families in the DRC.

Looking at the people waiting to say farewell to her and other children, Judy becomes pensive. "There are still many children in the bush with this armed group and they're not happy. The fighters keep moving from place to place and when an attack comes, the children are killed if they can't run fast enough."

The ICRC aircraft finally appears, and smiles replace the apprehension on the children's faces. Nuala Ryan, the Deputy Head of the ICRC Mission in Southern Sudan, smiles too. "These children suffered a lot away from their families. By registering them and reuniting them with their parents, the ICRC not only returns them to the warmth and care of their families but also ensures that the world hears their stories."

Feature produced by the International Commitee of the Red Cross

Human Trafficking in Mexico Gets More Attention (News Brief)

(HN, December 5, 2010) - More than 20,000 people are estimated to be trafficked each year in Mexico, many of them ending up in the northern border state of Chihuahua.

According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), most of the victims are from Central America - especially Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador.

Last week, IOM finalized an agreement with a Mexican non-governmental organization (NGO) - Sexualidad Responsable (SERE by its Spanish acronym) - based in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez. It will help to shed light on human trafficking trends in the area.

IOM said it aims to produce additional information about human trafficking along the northern border - informing and raising awareness on human trafficking amongst at-risk populations and the public in general. The project also involves strengthening government and civil society's capacities to detect and assist victims of human trafficking.

"It is important to foster joint initiatives in order to bring together experiences and strengths from different sectors to combat human trafficking in areas where this crime has lacked the attention it deserves," says IOM Mexico Chief of Mission, Thomas Lothar Weiss.

Human trafficking has received little attention in Ciudad Juarez, IOM says, with the result that there is little awareness of it among the general population. It has mainly been overshadowed by the disappearances and murders of women which have monopolized the attention of the authorities, civil society organizations and the media during the last decade.

However, Chihuahua has been identified by the Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights (CNDH by its Spanish Acronym) as a destination point for trafficking victims in a country where more than 20,000 people are estimated to be trafficked each year.

Between 2005 and 2010, IOM has assisted more than 175 victims of trafficking in Mexico, most of them from Central America.

A surveyed carried out by SERE in 2009, based on its years of experience working in the field of sexual health, revealed that some 5,000 women work as prostitutes in Ciudad Juarez. Many of them are from other Mexican states such as Veracruz, Oaxaca, Zacatecas, Coahuila and Chiapas, and others are foreigners, mainly from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador.

--- HUMNEWS staff, files

Impact of Economic Crisis on Small Economies "Brutal" - UN

(HN, June 1, 2010) The ongoing economic crisis has dealt a huge blow on Least Developed Countries (LDCs), according to a new study focused on 49 economies that was released today.A global economic downturn often hurts small entrepreneurs, like this woman in Laos

"While overall the LDC group of countries saw improvement in their terms of trade between 2004 and 2008, these were “brutally reversed” in 2009," says the Geneva-based International Trade Centre (ITC).

LDCs have lost 43 per cent of their export earnings with developed nation trade partners and emerging economies such as Brazil and China. The report compares the boom period of 2008 to the bust period of 2009.

During 2009, LDC’s terms of trade had showed average declines ranging from minus 17 per cent to minus 36 per cent, compared to 2006, said Willem van der Geest, Lead Economist of the ITC.

While trade flows with the emerging economies, such as China, had proved more resilient than with developed economies, the LDCs terms of trade had deteriorated significantly with all partners.

 While in 2007 and the first half of 2008, LDCs had made some considerable gains, these had been completely eroded during 2009, said Van der Geest.

Overall, the terms of trade had regressed to levels of 2004. The overall picture for the LDCs remained that they were growing and exporting more but were nevertheless lowering their export-earnings.

The export-levels which might be reached by LDCs in coming years might not afford these countries to buy the same level of imports, said Van der Geest.

ITC Executive Director Patricia R. Francis said: “This important analysis of the trends in terms of trade for LDCs demonstrates how they are suffering from the fall-out of the global financial crisis. It is particularly disconcerting that South-South trade has not resulted in better terms of trade for the group.

Separately, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) issued a report today in Geneva which examines the social and economic impact of remittances sent by Angolans living in Portugal and South Africa.

The report says that for 16 per cent of the households, remittances constitute 100 per cent of monthly income.

About 67 per cent of respondents said remittances are used to meet basic household necessities, buy consumables and pay for utilities. A further 14 per cent say they use a portion of remittances for business purposes; and only 1 per cent of the respondents claim to invest part of the remittance funds in agricultural activities.

The report suggests ways to maximize their development effect in Angola, said the IOM's Jean-Phillipe Chauzy.