I am SAM, an Iraqi refugee living in Lebanon at the moment; I have spent the last 10 years of my life as a refugee registered with the UNHCR in Beirut. The last 4 years, I have spent as an activist for peace and human rights (especially refugees and asylum seekers) on the Internet; I'm also books author and ebooks publisher. I have launched many campaigns to improve our situation as refugees in Lebanon and hopefully bring more understanding to our problems worldwide. I helped make many changes and improvements at the UNHCR office in Beirut; I used the Internet as the field for my activities (you can read more about that in my free ebook 'MY CAMPAIGNS'). All my ebooks are free and could be download from my sites. This is my newest campaign, it's about the illegal and humiliating actions of the UNHCR, who using photos of refugees as banners and human-buttons to collect money. This is an abuse of the dignity and humanity of the refugees and must stop immediately and a clear public apology present by The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. My friends, I am talking about the pictures you can see here: http://www.tbns.net/unhcr/human-buttons.htm Where you can read the rest of this message as web page. For more info about UNHCR and life of refugees you can read my free ebooks. I invite you as fellow humans and members of the world community to support my campaign by reading my article on my site and see the human-buttons. The campaign is to support and improve the UNHCR especially after the last scandals in the UN and UNHCR, just for example: A massive $60-million funding shortfall is forcing food aid cuts to as many as 4.3 million people across southern Africa, particularly HIV/AIDS patients, who remain chronically vulnerable despite this year's reportedly good harvests, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has warned. The refugees allege that UNHCR staff is selling most of the food items they are supposed to be supplied. "They aren't supplying sufficient food to us because they sell most of the food items."
Here is another example: Burmese Refugees Withdraw Protest Against UNHCR
Thazin
New Delhi, April 12, 2005
With a threat of arrest and partial fulfillment of demands, Burmese refugees withdrew their protest in front of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here yesterday.
The 44 Burmese refugees had been staging a sit-in demonstration in front of the UNHCR office in Jor Bagh, Lodi Road in New Delhi, demanding restoration of the Subsistence Allowance, which was stopped.
According to the protestors, the UNHCR officials asked them to stay at the All Burma Refugees Committee (ABRC) office in Janakpuri, west Delhi for a temporary period. The UN refugee agency reportedly assured them of providing jobs through Don Bosco, a Christian Non-Government Organization. UNHCR was also said to have promised them supply of ration till they could get secure jobs.
The agency also reportedly promised to restore the monthly subsistence allowances for those, who are not able to work because of failed health. But, at the same time, it warned the agitators that they would be put under arrest by police if they refused to accept the offer and continued demonstration.
"We will have to wait and watch whether the UNHCR really fulfils its promises. I personally do not believe in its promises. But even then we had to call off the demonstration. If UNHCR does not keep its words, we will resume our protest," said a woman demonstrator, Ngun Thein.
The refugees had started demonstration in front of Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA), a partner NGO of UNHRC, on March 30 in protest against withdrawal of the Subsistence Allowance. They, however, called off the sit-in on April 1 when YMCA arranged temporary shelter and food for them. The refugees started a fresh demonstration in front of the UNHCR office on April 7 when YMCA failed to fulfill its promises.
And Another:
"We make demonstration and fast because the UNHCR office in Cairo did nothing for our problem..."
Harsh life in Egypt protest camp
By Ranyah Sabry
Mona, a mother of three, is one of 4,000 increasingly desperate Sudanese refugees and failed asylum-seekers who have been camped outside the United Nations refugee agency headquarters in Egypt's capital for some three months.
"Even if one of my children dies, we are not moving until our case is solved," she said after going on hunger strike in November.
The Egyptian police have now stormed the camp, where protesters sat on blankets in the open-air, with neither potable water nor bathrooms.
The only protection the demonstrators had was their banners hung around the garden calling on the UNHCR to resolve their refugee status.
The protesters used suitcases to mark out their family groupings and tree branches as hangers.
Since their continuous sit-in began, seven demonstrators have died, three babies have been born and four women have had miscarriages. Another 20 have died during the police raid, according to the Egyptian authorities.
Persecution fears
The catalyst for the demonstration came after the UNCHR stopped aid to those who had applied and failed to get refugee status.
The agency said it could only provide regular financial assistance to those extremely vulnerable groups among the needy refugees as its assistance programme has come under tremendous pressure in recent years.
While not all the demonstrators have the same demands - some wanting aid and others resettlement to another country - most do not want to go back to Sudan despite the signing of a peace accord in January ending the 21-year civil war.
Some think is not safe enough yet to return home and others believe that if they go back they will be executed for treason.
Many of those at the sit-in want to leave Egypt altogether, saying they face harassment here. "Most of us were smuggled into Egypt escaping the war. We are harassed by the Egyptians even on public transport. They do not want us here," Nizar says.
An Egyptian volunteer at the garden camp site explains that with unemployment at 25%, local people and refugees are often competing for jobs, which makes the situation difficult for all parties.
Vulnerable
Under international law, failed asylum seekers could face deportation by the Egyptian authorities. The UNHCR has expressed its concern for the many vulnerable people sitting in the park, but says its hands are tied as it is unable to change policies on what determines refugee status and resettlement assistance.
"I think that what will happen is very much up to them [the demonstrators]. We have been trying hard to work with them to make clear what we can and cannot do in terms of their concerns," said the UNHCR's Layla Jane Nassif in Cairo, adding that it is not always clear whether all those camped out were Sudanese or other opportunists.
But the protesters are determined to continue. "We are staying here until the UNHCR takes us out of Egypt or we die. The hunger strike will make us just go faster," said a Sudanese man, demanding resettlement.
Meanwhile, those refugees who are receiving some UN support complain that it is inadequate. "The UNHCR offers an integration programme but with no houses, no education, no work. We have been eating beans for weeks," said 40-year-old Napoleon.
In November, he risked his life by jumping over security guards to reach the car of Kofi Annan, who was visiting Cairo at the time. He handed over a letter to the UN boss asking to be resettled in a Western country. "It is our right under the 1951 Geneva Convention to seek asylum in a country that can afford to host us," he said.
Napoleon's wife is one of the women to have given birth during the sit-in. "I have not bathed him with water since he was born," she said about her third-born. "I just rub his body with oil. But I am proud he was born here. His father and I will sit here until we guarantee him a better future."
Story from BBC NEWS
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