Friday, December 3, 2021
Britain Has Created Millions of Refugees and It Must Face Its Responsibilities
Nicholas Pritchard
On 24 November, Mohammed Shekha clung to the side of a flimsy boat in the waters between France and the United Kingdom while around him at least 27 people drowned. The 21-year-old had left his home in Iraqi-Kurdistan a month before, travelled through Belarus, and attempted the 20-mile journey across the Channel in the freezing conditions of the northern European winter. According to Muhammad, who spoke to Rudaw, 15 of those who died on the journey were Kurds. Mohammed and a man from Somalia are the only survivors.Almost 26,000 people are thought to have crossed the Channel in small boats in 2021, an increase of nearly 8,700% in three years. Politicians in the UK have pinned the blame firmly on those who profit from the dangerous journeys. The Home Secretary Priti Patel responded to the deaths by saying the UK will “stop the vile people-smuggling gangs”, insisting the journeys across the Channel are “absolutely unnecessary.” The migration crisis, as far as the British government is concerned, is that people are trying to enter the UK, rather than people being forced to leave their homes. However, British foreign policies over the past twenty years have increased the number of refugees around the world. Furthermore, the UK has one of the least generous refugee policies of any wealthy nation and there are plans to make it even harsher, threatening to push tens of thousands of people deeper into misery, poison public debate in the UK with more xenophobic rhetoric, and disalow the British public a chance to acknowledge the effects recent wars have had on their society.
Instead, Britain needs to acknowledge that post-9/11 wars led to the displacement of millions of people and provide routes for safe access for the very small numbers, when compared with countries in the Middle East and the European Union example, who wish to settle in the UK.
Asylum Requests in the UK
Contrary to popular belief, the number of asylum requests in the UK is tiny. There were 37,562 claims for asylum made over the last 12 months.
This is low compared with other EU nations and extremely low compared with less wealthy states in the Middle East, Africa, and Asia. For example, Germany received 122,015 and France 93,475 applications. Per head of the population, the UK has the 17th highest intake of refugees compared with EU states.
UK and US Wars and ISIS
Britain’s wars following 9/11, undertaken hand-in-hand with the US, have resulted in the displacement of between 37m and 59m people. By 2007, the Iraq War had left 4.7m people displaced within their own country or as refugees or asylum seekers elsewhere.
The rise of Islamic State and the bloody years in the second decade of the century caused the displacement of at least a further 2m people. Last year, 9.2m people were internally displaced or refugees abroad as a result of the invasion. Tellingly, there has been no thorough study on the number of refugees created from the conflict.
The UK has never had a proper scheme for the resettlement of Iraqis. Even now, Iraqis are far less likely than other nationalities to be granted asylum.
Following the civil war period in Iraq, Britain only accepted 69, 355, and 432 Iraqi refugees each year from 2007 to 2009 through a scheme designed to resettle Iraqis who had worked with British forces. In the same period, Sweden, France, and Germany accepted many more.
The UK has not improved in its obligations to Iraqis fleeing violence. In the year preceding June 2021, for example, only 30% of requests from Iraqi asylum seekers were granted on the first decision.
Some of these decisions are eventually overturned and for those who are waiting for a decision, often for years, it’s a grueling period; unable to work and given only £5.64 a day for food, sanitation, and clothing.
Displacement After Invasion of Iraq
Jason Hart, Senior Lecturer at the University of Bath, points out that the invasion of Iraq led to wider forced displacement in the Middle East. “It’s fair to link the destabilization in Iraq experienced since the invasion of 2003 to destabilization across the region", he told Al Bawaba. “This has not been properly discussed in the mainstream British media.
“When I was working in Jordan in 2014, looking at the response to the Iraqi displacement, the UK did not want to talk about it or acknowledge its role in creating the conditions for that displacement. It was surprising to me that the US were willing to do that, which just showed the UK in an even worse light.”
Every day more people attempt the same deadly journey across the Channel as Mohammed Shekha and those who died in horrific circumstances last week. The British government treats them as subhuman; housing them in inadequate accommodation and forcing them to sleep on concrete floors with only one toilet for up to 250 people.
The UK’s recent wars created millions of refugees. It needs to stand up to its responsibilities to those who want to flee the violence.
https://www.albawaba.com/news/britain-has-created-millions-refugees-and-it-must-face-its-responsibilities-1457254
United Nations Should Create New Yemen War-Crimes Investigation
Louis Charbonneau
Saudi Arabia and UAE Fight for Impunity in Yemen Conflict.Last month, the Netherlands’ ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva said the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) had “failed the people of Yemen” by rejecting the renewal of an investigation into alleged human rights abuses and war crimes there. UN member countries have a chance to reverse that failure and create something better as the conflict in Yemen continues to rage. Last week, the Netherlands delivered a joint statement on behalf of 37 countries to the UN General Assembly voicing deep regret at the UNHRC’s failure to renew the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts (GoEE), which since 2017 has been investigating alleged violations of international humanitarian and human rights law in Yemen. The statement urged UN member countries to “use all opportunities within the UN-system to assess facts on the ground in an impartial manner, and work towards accountability.” In response, some two dozen mostly Arab governments endorsed a Saudi-drafted statement welcoming the demise of the GoEE. The UNHRC could seek to create a new Yemen accountability mechanism at its next session in March. But why wait? The General Assembly could establish a standing independent and impartial investigative body that would not only report on alleged violations to UN member countries but also gather and preserve evidence and prepare cases for possible future prosecutions.In 2016, the General Assembly created the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria in response to Russia and China using their Security Council vetoes to thwart accountability for war crimes and abuses. The IIIM’s job is to “assist in the investigation and prosecution of persons responsible for the most serious crimes.” In 2018, the UNHRC created a similar mechanism for Myanmar in the wake of the 2017 ethnic cleansing and possible genocide of Rohingya Muslims. Since 2015, the conflict between the Saudi and UAE-led coalition and the Houthi armed group has resulted in abuses and laws of war violations that have killed and injured thousands of civilians, and sparked the world’s worst humanitarian crisis . Some delegations fear failure. Creating the IIIM wasn’t easy but the efforts were successful. The Saudis and Emiratis will fight hard to prevent such a mechanism from seeing the light of day. But their joint statement backed by some two dozen states hardly represents an insurmountable obstacle at the General Assembly. And even if a push for a new mechanism fails, the people of Yemen will be no worse off than they are today. We owe it to the people of Yemen to try.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/11/03/un-should-create-new-yemen-war-crimes-investigation
France Should Stop Selling Arms to the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia
Elvire Fondacci
@elvirefondacci
Macron Should Address Rights Abuses in Gulf Region.This week, French President Emmanuel Macron will visit the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia and Qatar, with a large delegation of French ministers and major business executives. In the UAE, he will apparently be finalizing a weapons deal, when in all three countries he should be speaking out against human rights abuses. According to media reports, Emmanuel Macron's visit to the UAE on December 3, in addition to celebrating the country’s 50th anniversary, would have as its main purpose finalizing the sale of dozens of Rafales fighter jets produced by the French company Dassault Aviation. France is promoting these sales even though the UAE has played a prominent role in the Saudi and UAE-led coalition's atrocity-ridden military operations in Yemen. The UAE also took part in the latest conflict in Libya, which ended in June 2020, where UAE forces killed civilians in unlawful air and drone strikes, while also supplying abusive local forces with weapons and ammunition. Yet, the UAE ranks as France's 5th largest arms customer between 2011 and 2020. Macron's will next go to Saudi Arabia, the largest buyer of French weapons in 2020. France has stubbornly continued arms exports to Saudi Arabia in defiance of UN experts who have called on France and others to halt exports to the coalition as they could be used to commit unlawful attacks or even war crimes. France's support for the UAE and Saudi Arabia is even more objectionable as their leaders have failed to improve their countries’ disastrous human rights records domestically, although their public relations efforts to present themselves as progressive and tolerant internationally is in full swing. While there is little hope that Macron will condition France's support on concrete progress in this area, he should at the very least publicly call for the UAE to release Ahmed Mansoor and other dissidents. Likewise, in Saudi Arabia, he should address the atrocious 2018 murder of Jamal Khashoggi. Remaining silent on these matters would be tantamount to turning a blind eye to serious human rights violations. In Qatar, Macron should address human rights violations against migrant workers in the run-up to the 2022 FIFA World Cup, to be held there. France's arms sales to and protection of dubious military partnerships in the name of counterterrorism and at the cost of human rights will remain a stain on Macron's diplomatic record.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2021/12/02/france-should-stop-selling-arms-united-arab-emirates-saudi-arabia#
UN urged to restart Yemen war crimes probe after Saudis halted earlier efforts
More than 60 rights and humanitarian groups say investigators should 'publicly report on the most serious violations' in YemenDozens of rights and humanitarian groups on Thursday called on the United Nations to create a new independent panel to collect evidence of possible war crimes committed by all parties in Yemen's bitter conflict, after Saudi Arabia reportedly lobbied to shut down the previous investigation. The organisations said a new independent body should "investigate and publicly report on the most serious violations and abuses of international law committed in Yemen", while also preserving this evidence for possible criminal prosecution in the future. "The undersigned organisations call upon the UN General Assembly to move quickly and establish a new international accountability mechanism for Yemen," the groups said in a statement. In October, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) voted against extending the mandate for an independent war crimes investigation in Yemen by the Group of Eminent Experts (GEE).Earlier this week, a report by The Guardian found Riyadh used “incentives and threats” to force members of the Council to vote against extending the mandate.One such incentive was warning Indonesia - the most populous Muslim country in the world - that it would make it difficult for Indonesians to travel to the holy city of Mecca if Indonesian officials didn't vote against the 7 October resolution. "The international community cannot stand by and allow that vote to be the last word on accountability efforts for abuses and war crimes in Yemen," the statement said. "The people of Yemen need justice. And justice begins with investigations and accountability. The time to act is now." The 64 organisations that signed on to the statement include the human rights clinics at Yale University and Columbia University, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch (HRW), and the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED). 'Widespread and systematic abuses' Saudi Arabia and its allies, primarily the United Arab Emirates, militarily intervened in Yemen in March 2015, after Houthi rebels seized control of the capital, Sanaa, and began closing in on Aden, prompting Abd Rabbuh Mansour Hadi, president of the internationally recognised government, to flee to Riyadh. Fighting has displaced millions of people within the country, while shortages of fuel have severely impacted the economy and services. The death toll of the war, now in its seventh year, will reach an estimated 377,000 by the end of 2021, according to a recent report from the UN's Development Programme. The report's authors say 60 percent of deaths were caused by indirect effects of the conflict, such as hunger and disease and a lack of healthcare facilities.Meanwhile, some 150,000 deaths were caused by fighting between the Houthi rebels and Saudi coalition-backed government forces."All parties to the conflict in Yemen have perpetrated widespread and systematic abuses, including the killing and injuring of tens of thousands of civilians," the groups' statement said. The fighting has also seen some 80 percent of the population, or 24 million people, relying on aid and assistance, including 14.3 million who are in acute need.
https://www.middleeasteye.net/news/yemen-war-crimes-un-urged-new-probe-after-saudi-blocked-investigation
Pakistan’s Surging Religious Extremism
By Umair Jamal
Its political class has neither the will nor the intent to tackle religious extremism as all have benefited from it.
Pakistan’s Information Minister Fawad Chaudhry said last month that the Pakistani state and government are not ready to tackle the rising extremism in the country.
“Many people think that the remedial steps taken by us [the government] are inadequate while the truth is that neither the government nor the state is completely ready to fight extremism,” Fawad said, while addressing a seminar organized by the Pakistan Institute of Peace Studies in Islamabad.
Fawad’s admission that growing extremism in the country poses a serious challenge to Pakistan’s stability comes after a series of recent setbacks that forced the state into making deals with right-wing Islamist groups of different sects.
Last month, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP), a Barelvi religious group, forced the government into allowing it to operate as a political party even as the TLP’s workers had killed several law enforcement officials in clashes. In recent years, the group has openly challenged Pakistan’s foreign policy decisions and shown intent to take on the state without any hesitation.
Simultaneously, Pakistan has been negotiating a deal with the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), an organization of the Deobandi sect that has killed thousands of Pakistanis over the last decade. Pakistan’s decision to negotiate with the TTP comes years after the Pakistan military carried out a massive military operation against the group in the country’s tribal areas. The group has not only rebounded from that crippling military offensive but has also managed to unite numerous factions under its leadership.
Some groups in Pakistan carry agendas with an intent to spread their operations globally; others keep Afghanistan as a focus; some are India-oriented while many consider the domestic landscape their target and are sectarian. As a result, some of these groups wouldn’t shy away from inciting violence against the state if their political interests are not fulfilled by the ruling elite.
Some of these groups thrive as they receive support from state institutions. For instance, one of the reasons that the TLP has become a significant challenge for the Pakistani state is that the state itself adheres to the narratives that are propagated by the radical group. Unfortunately, what we see now is a race between different radical groups and the government to prove who is the bigger and better Muslim and win over the public’s support.
A few days ago, Pakistan’s Prime Minister Imran Khan asked universities to research the harmful effects of Western culture on Pakistan’s family system. There is not a single speech of the prime minister where he doesn’t link Pakistan’s economic troubles with citizens being lesser Muslims.
The issue is further complicated by political parties. They not only make electoral alliances with radical groups but also preach the same sectarian hate when in need of public support against their political foes.
Since the TLP’s restoration as a political party, leaders from all major parties have visited the group’s headquarters. Reportedly, the ruling party could even be considering making an alliance with the TLP in the upcoming local body elections.
On the other hand, when opposition parties need to weaken a government, their go-to weapon is bringing in religion to accuse the ruling party of either working for the United States or Israel. They accuse the government of attempting to make Pakistan a liberal country.
Unable to draw people to join its protest marches with its raising of political and economic issues, the Pakistan Democratic Movement, an opposition alliance, is now calling on the public to join a jihad against the Imran Khan government, as religious rhetoric resonate with the masses. Its main reason for appointing Maulana Fazlur Rehman, the head of the Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl (JUI-F), as the president of the alliance is due to his ability to mobilize and bring onto the streets thousands of students from his massive madrassa network across Pakistan.
These moves by parties in government and the opposition show that there is little will and intent in Pakistan’s political class to tackle the issue of religious extremism as everyone has benefited from radicalism one way or the other.
The country has become so radicalized that any attempt by the state or the government to push back against the rising extremism could very well backfire. Thus, for some, it’s too much risk and for others, it doesn’t even constitute a problem.
The last major opportunity to challenge rising extremism was when the country formed the National Action Plan (NAP) against extremism in 2014. However, that plan has not moved beyond reports and briefings.
For those in power, staying in power at any cost is what matters, but Pakistan is suffering.
https://thediplomat.com/2021/12/pakistans-surging-religious-extremism/
Pakistani hardline Islamist party supporters lynch Sri Lankan citizen over ‘blasphemy’
Several videos were circulated on social media showing hundreds of men gathered at the site surrounding the body of the Sri Lankan national. They were chanting slogans of the TLP.
In a grisly incident, a top Sri Lankan executive of a garment factory was lynched and his body burnt by angry supporters of a hardline Islamist party which attacked the facility in Pakistan’s Punjab province over blasphemy allegations on Friday, police said.Priyantha Kumara, who was in his 40s, was working as the general manager of the garment factory in Sialkot district, some 100 kms from here, a Punjab police official told PTI.
“Mr Kumara allegedly tore a poster of the hardline Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) in which Quranic verses were inscribed and threw it in the dustbin. The poster of the Islamist party was pasted on the wall adjoining the office of Kumara. A couple of factory workers saw him removing the poster and spread the word in the factory,” the official said.
Hundreds of men, enraged over the “blasphemy” incident, started gathering outside the factory from adjoining areas. Most of them were activists and supporters of the TLP.
“The mob dragged the suspect (the Sri Lankan national) from the factory and severely tortured him. After he succumbed to his wounds, the mob burnt his body before police reached there,” the official said.Several videos were circulated on social media showing hundreds of men gathered at the site surrounding the body of the Sri Lankan national. They were chanting slogans of the TLP.The Imran Khan government had recently lifted a ban on the TLP after signing a secret agreement with it after which its chief Saad Rizvi and over 1,500 activists accused of terrorism were released from jail. The TLP in return had ended its week-long sit-in in Punjab after withdrawing its demand of expelling the French ambassador on the issue of blasphemous cartoons in France.Sialkot District Police Officer Umar Saeed Malik told reporters that a heavy contingent of police has been deployed in the area to control the situation after the lynching of the Sri Lankan national.
The situation in the area is tense while all factories are shut, the police added. Meanwhile, Punjab government spokesperson Hassan Khawar said that “approximately 50 people have been arrested,” Geo News reported. “CCTV footage is being obtained so that those who were responsible can be identified. The IG has directed law enforcement personnel to produce results in 48 hours after which the probe will be extended,” the spokesperson said.“PAKISTAN: Amnesty International is deeply alarmed by the disturbing lynching and killing of a Sri Lankan factory manager in Sialkot, allegedly due to a blasphemy accusation. Authorities must immediately conduct an independent, impartial and prompt investigation and hold the perpetrators accountable. “Today’s event underscores the urgency with which an environment that enables abuse and puts lives at risk must be rectified,” it said in a series of tweets. Pakistan has extremely strict laws against defaming Islam, including the death penalty, and rights campaigners say they are often used to settle personal disputes in the Muslim-majority country. A US government advisory panel report says Pakistan used blasphemy laws more than any other country in the world. Mere allegations of blasphemy have triggered violence against minorities like Christians. Several persons accused of committing blasphemy have been lynched in recent years. https://indianexpress.com/article/world/mob-lynching-blasphemy-sri-lankan-killed-7654648/
Sri Lankan manager killed by mob of workers at Pakistan factory
By Mubasher Bukhari
A mob of factory employees in eastern Pakistan tortured and burned a Sri Lankan manager on Friday over apparent blasphemy in a "horrific" attack.
A police official in the eastern town of Sialkot, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said investigators believed the attackers had accused the manager of blasphemy for tearing down a poster with Islamic holy verses.
"The factory workers tortured the manager," said provincial government spokesman Hassan Khawar. "A total of 50 people so far have been identified and arrested."Television footage showed crowds of hundreds of people in the streets of Sialkot, in the heart of Pakistan's most heavily industrialised region where much of the country's export industry is based. Mob killings over accusations of blasphemy - a crime that can carry the death sentence - have been frequent in Muslim-majority Pakistan. Friday's killing came only weeks after days of violent protests by the radical Tehrik-e-Labaik Pakistan movement, a Sunni Muslim group founded in 2015 to address actions it considers blasphemous to Islam. https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/sri-lankan-manager-killed-by-mob-workers-pakistan-garment-factory-2021-12-03/
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