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| European countries according to the EU (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
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Showing posts with label refugee. Show all posts
Showing posts with label refugee. Show all posts
Tuesday, 4 April 2017
After display of unity back to disunity
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Wednesday, 27 January 2016
Pelagianism, abundant sex, no works and refugees
On the 27th of January we read in the Book of Genesis about Joseph, the 11th of Jacob's 12 sons and Rachel's firstborn, whose brothers sold him as a slave
into Egypt and how he revealed himself to his astonished brothers when they
came again to Egypt to buy food because of the continuing severity of
the famine.
We also have the remembrance day today of Pelagius (c.360–c.420), British or Irish monk, who denied the doctrines of original sin and predestination, defending innate human goodness and free will.
When we look at several stories in the Bible we can see that the characters of those stories are telling that they are speaking in the name of the Most High, that they are the sent one from the Elohim and/or that what happened had to happen.
When Joseph is visited by his brothers he tells them not to worry because it is the Most High Who sent him before them to preserve life. Later in history we also find a son of Joseph also being a sent one from God and also being there in the land to preserve life.. This time not for a real earthly famine, but for a spiritual famine.
With Joseph the son of Jacob there was also preserved for them a remnant on earth, so that also several survivors could be kept alive for them. Joseph sees the ‘big picture’ of God’s oversight!
Throughout history it has been difficult for many people to keep their eyes focused on the One God. they also had given preference to their own human doctrines instead of keeping to the words like they were meant in the Scriptures.
Having such human doctrines conquering the world made life not so easy for some religious people, monks and priests. The position of Jesus, also a remnant on earth, was a very delicate and often discussed one. Lots of Christians not only made the son of god into a god son, what is something totally different, but also looked at his ransom offer in a different way than described in the Bible.
For today we still see the wrong idea about what was the matter of debate in the 5th century. Pelagius his beliefs were opposed by St Augustine of Hippo and condemned as heretical by the Synod of Carthage in about 418.
In c.380, he had gone to Rome and became the spiritual guide of many clerics and lay persons. After 410, he preached in Africa, where Saint Augustine denounced his ideas, and later in Palestine. He maintained that man is master of his own salvation and rejected the idea of original sin. He countered criticisms from Augustine and Saint Jerome in his book De Libero Arbitrio in 416.and was excommunicated by Pope Innocent I in 417.
In many biblical accounts we can see how our Creator remarkably foresees the freewill actions of human nature and weaves it into his plan and purpose! The account of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt is just one example.
Throughout history we could see that God promised certain things and years later they did happen. Several times Jehovah ordered things to be done and we can see how wonderfully they fitted always in God's Plan.
Next month we are going to read in our bible reading sessions how the event in Egypt laid the foundation for the descendants of the sons of Jacob to become a nation (made up of 12 tribes). And how remarkable today is the action and reaction of the world with the reborn nation of Israel. But the world is blind to its significance, and what it portends.
Today still many do not want to accept what Jesus has done and who he really fits in the Plan of God. By saying he is God who died for our sins and that we are now saved for ever and have not do any works any-more, they not only forget that God cannot die, but also mislead people letting them think that because they are saved for ever they do not need to do any work to be able to enter in God's Kingdom.
This makes it that many Christians do not see any harm in certain actions taken against the refugees coming to Europe. For many Christians it is even best to halt them coming over here and becoming part of our nation.
The world has not only become blind to the wonder of the Creator and His creation, man has forgotten all the tasks Jesus has given to his followers. Many Christians do not seem to remember what is being told in the many comparisons or parables.
Reading the letters of Paul we can notice how the Romans, who had worshipped idols, gods of human imagination, got people who came to know God because "God has shown it to them". For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Letter to the Romans 1:19,20).
Several people have no shame today to give themselves over to degrading passions, for their males or females exchanged the natural relations for those contrary to nature. For years already we can see males, abandoning the natural relations with the female, having no objection to copulate with more than one partner form the same sex or even to have erotic fun with people from their own and from the other gender.
Inflamed in their desire toward one another, males with males, females with females, committing the shameless deed, they are very afraid for those who say we have to worship God and have to live according to God's Law. Everything what even smells of God is something they want to avoid. For them having a people coming into their country which possibly could want to have the others worshipping the only One True God makes them very afraid and gets them doing everything to keep such people out.
Strangely enough we do hear lots of people complaining that many churches have been turned in mosques, but they do not wonder why those places of worship came empty and got turned into prayer-houses for Muslims.
As they do not see fit to recognize God we may assume it is God Himself Who gave our people over to a debased mind, to do the things that are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greediness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malevolence.
Those gossipers have become fools (verse 22). They have become greater fools today, but in a different way. What we read from verse 28 fits our situation so aptly,
Lots of them do not acknowledge the Real One God. With their debased mind they also want others to believe we should not take care of those poor people, should not give them a roof above their head, nor should we feed them.
Those who call themselves Christian should think about what Jesus taught and at what he asked from his followers. they should take distance from those who are filled with all manner of unrighteousness and in contrast should be
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Please do find to read:
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We also have the remembrance day today of Pelagius (c.360–c.420), British or Irish monk, who denied the doctrines of original sin and predestination, defending innate human goodness and free will.
When we look at several stories in the Bible we can see that the characters of those stories are telling that they are speaking in the name of the Most High, that they are the sent one from the Elohim and/or that what happened had to happen.
 |
| Joseph and His Brethren Welcomed by Pharaoh, watercolor by James Tissot (c. 1900) |
With Joseph the son of Jacob there was also preserved for them a remnant on earth, so that also several survivors could be kept alive for them. Joseph sees the ‘big picture’ of God’s oversight!
Throughout history it has been difficult for many people to keep their eyes focused on the One God. they also had given preference to their own human doctrines instead of keeping to the words like they were meant in the Scriptures.
Having such human doctrines conquering the world made life not so easy for some religious people, monks and priests. The position of Jesus, also a remnant on earth, was a very delicate and often discussed one. Lots of Christians not only made the son of god into a god son, what is something totally different, but also looked at his ransom offer in a different way than described in the Bible.
For today we still see the wrong idea about what was the matter of debate in the 5th century. Pelagius his beliefs were opposed by St Augustine of Hippo and condemned as heretical by the Synod of Carthage in about 418.
In c.380, he had gone to Rome and became the spiritual guide of many clerics and lay persons. After 410, he preached in Africa, where Saint Augustine denounced his ideas, and later in Palestine. He maintained that man is master of his own salvation and rejected the idea of original sin. He countered criticisms from Augustine and Saint Jerome in his book De Libero Arbitrio in 416.and was excommunicated by Pope Innocent I in 417.
In many biblical accounts we can see how our Creator remarkably foresees the freewill actions of human nature and weaves it into his plan and purpose! The account of Joseph and his brothers in Egypt is just one example.
Throughout history we could see that God promised certain things and years later they did happen. Several times Jehovah ordered things to be done and we can see how wonderfully they fitted always in God's Plan.
Next month we are going to read in our bible reading sessions how the event in Egypt laid the foundation for the descendants of the sons of Jacob to become a nation (made up of 12 tribes). And how remarkable today is the action and reaction of the world with the reborn nation of Israel. But the world is blind to its significance, and what it portends.
Today still many do not want to accept what Jesus has done and who he really fits in the Plan of God. By saying he is God who died for our sins and that we are now saved for ever and have not do any works any-more, they not only forget that God cannot die, but also mislead people letting them think that because they are saved for ever they do not need to do any work to be able to enter in God's Kingdom.
This makes it that many Christians do not see any harm in certain actions taken against the refugees coming to Europe. For many Christians it is even best to halt them coming over here and becoming part of our nation.
The world has not only become blind to the wonder of the Creator and His creation, man has forgotten all the tasks Jesus has given to his followers. Many Christians do not seem to remember what is being told in the many comparisons or parables.
Reading the letters of Paul we can notice how the Romans, who had worshipped idols, gods of human imagination, got people who came to know God because "God has shown it to them". For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse” (Letter to the Romans 1:19,20).
Romans 1:19-25 Complete Apostles' Bible (19) Because that which is known of God is manifest among them, for God has shown it to them. (20) For the invisible things of Him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things made, both His eternal power and Divinity, so that they are without excuse. (21) Because, having known God, they did not glorify Him as God, or give thanks, but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. (22) Professing to be wise, they became fools, (23) and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for a likeness of an image of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and reptiles. (24) Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of the own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies among themselves, (25) who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever. Amen.Also today there are people claiming to be wise but became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God with the likeness of an image of mortal human beings. As in the time of the apostles we may say that now also it is God Who gives them over in the desires of their hearts to immorality, that their bodies would be dishonoured among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worship in front of graven images or even do not worshipping at all but look up at all sorts of gods or idols.
Several people have no shame today to give themselves over to degrading passions, for their males or females exchanged the natural relations for those contrary to nature. For years already we can see males, abandoning the natural relations with the female, having no objection to copulate with more than one partner form the same sex or even to have erotic fun with people from their own and from the other gender.
Inflamed in their desire toward one another, males with males, females with females, committing the shameless deed, they are very afraid for those who say we have to worship God and have to live according to God's Law. Everything what even smells of God is something they want to avoid. For them having a people coming into their country which possibly could want to have the others worshipping the only One True God makes them very afraid and gets them doing everything to keep such people out.
Strangely enough we do hear lots of people complaining that many churches have been turned in mosques, but they do not wonder why those places of worship came empty and got turned into prayer-houses for Muslims.
As they do not see fit to recognize God we may assume it is God Himself Who gave our people over to a debased mind, to do the things that are not proper, being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, greediness, malice, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malevolence.
Those gossipers have become fools (verse 22). They have become greater fools today, but in a different way. What we read from verse 28 fits our situation so aptly,
Romans 1:28-32 Complete Apostles' Bible (28) And just as they did not approve to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up to a reprobate mind, to do the things which are not fitting; (29) having been filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, greed, malice; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness; they are whisperers, (30) slanderers, hateful to God, insolent men, proud, braggarts, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, (31) without understanding, untrustworthy, unloving, unforgiving, unmerciful; (32) who, having known the righteous judgment of God, that those practicing such things are worthy of death, not only do them, but also approve of those who practice them.We notice that there are many who claim to be Christian but do not the works according to their faith and who oppose those people who fled from the war zones in the East, to come to stay here until the situations becomes more peaceful.
Lots of them do not acknowledge the Real One God. With their debased mind they also want others to believe we should not take care of those poor people, should not give them a roof above their head, nor should we feed them.
Those who call themselves Christian should think about what Jesus taught and at what he asked from his followers. they should take distance from those who are filled with all manner of unrighteousness and in contrast should be
“filled with all manner of” righteousness, which increases as we feed on God’s word every day.Let us also remind that Faith without works is death.
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Please do find to read:
- January 27, 417, Pope Innocent I condemning Pelagius about Faith and Works
- Salvation and Righteousness
- Elul Observances
- God’s wrath and sanctification
- A god who gave his people commandments and laws he knew they never could keep to it
- Outflow of foundational relationship based on acceptance of Jesus
- Back from gone #4 Your inner feelings and actions
- Being Religious and Spiritual 8 Spiritual, Mystic and not or well religious
- Cognizance at the doorstep or at the internet socket
- Good and bad things in this world
- Establish your hearts blameless in holiness
- Myth 12: The Hyper-Grace Gospel Makes People Lazy
- Faith Alone Does Not Save . . . No Matter How Many Times Protestants Say It Does
- A Living Faith #3 Faith put into action
- A Living Faith #6 Sacrifice
- Humbleness
- A race not to swift, nor a battle to the strong
- The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong
- Being of good courage running the race
- Bearing fruit
- To Soar In The Spirit You Have To Be Hard Core
- Our stance against certain religions and immigrating people
- Religion, fundamentalism and murder
- Daring to speak in multicultural environment
- As Christ’s slaves doing the Will of God in gratitude
- 2014 Religion
- Disobedient man and God’s promises
- From pain to purpose
- Trusting, Faith, Calling and Ascribing to Jehovah #17 Sorts of prayers
- God’s forgotten Word 5 Lost Lawbook 4 The ‘Catholic’ church
- Daily Spiritual Food To prepare ourselves for the Kingdom of God
- Evangelisation, local preaching opposite overseas evangelism
- When not seeing or not finding a biblically sound church
Tuesday, 17 November 2015
Trump brand of migrant demonization #1
'We were once foreigners': pope attacks Trump brand of migrant demonization
The fourth of five children of Frederick C. and Mary MacLeod Trump for sure did not fall on his mouth. As an energetic, assertive child, he was sent to the New York
Military Academy at age 13 by his parents hoping the discipline of the school would
channel his energy in a positive manner.
Perhaps it was there that he learned to shout at others in an impolite way. Convinced of the economic opportunity in the city, Trump became involved
in large building projects in Manhattan, that would offer opportunities
for earning high profits, utilizing attractive architectural design,
and winning public recognition. In business he has been very successful.
Donald Trump's two marriages failed and when we do hear him talking about women this does not surprise us. though it surprises us how he gained popularity, though this might be because of his outspoken nature. the Americans finding not enough politicians are saying what they think could find a good partner in Donald Trump.
In September a Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that 49% of
Likely U.S. Voters say they want the government to allow no refugees
from Syria and other Middle Eastern countries into the United States.
Another 20% only support President Obama’s initial proposal of allowing
10,000 refugees to resettle in the States. Just 22% agree with the
administration's decision to allow in even more refugees, including
seven percent (7%) who favour resettling 100,000 or more in the country which was so loved in the previous centuries by Europeans looking for a better future.
The children of those many migrants now seem to have a problem with others which try to do the same as their grandparents or their ancestors from Europe.
From 2004
"the Donald,"
Trump stared in his own reality television show, which I never have seen, but wonder if he talks and treat the others the same way as he did at the Republican debates.
But his rude behaviour against people of his own republican party does not seem to bring him the hoped popularity, because after some months of shouting and calling names he never succeeded to bring real answers for the issues brought forward. The joker or the clown can not bring some new tricks and the public now has seen it all.
Trump's performance during the October debate had "taken its toll" on his poll numbers. The Washington Post said that the reality-television star's "slide in the polls was beginning to look real."
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has climbed into a virtual tie with real-estate magnate Donald Trump, according to a new poll.
Retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson has climbed into a virtual tie with real-estate magnate Donald Trump, according to a new poll.
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| Republican presidential candidates Ben Carson, left, and Donald Trump talk before the start of the CNN Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library and Museum on September 16, 2015, in Simi Valley, California. |
Trump naturally has his answer ready concerning those polls and calling them absurd, dishonest reporting and
In September Trump lashed out at The New York Times for suggesting that the relatively small crowd size at an event was an indicator that the real-estate mogul may be struggling to expand his base of support."Because the polls speak for themselves. I'm up. Check out Zogby. Check out Reuters — the Reuters — what do they call that? The Reuters average. Even The Huffington Post. Check all of them."
Good news for him, after a week in which he hosted Saturday Night Live and stood center-stage at a Republican debate, Donald Trump is surging among Republicans likely to cast votes in the party’s presidential primary.
According to the five-day rolling Reuters/Ipsos
presidential poll, Trump has leapt some 17 percentage points among
likely Republican voters since Nov. 6, when he was essentially tied with
Ben Carson at about 25 percent. Trump now captures 42 percent of those
voters while Carson has fallen off slightly.
Maybe this might be because Trump has opened the cupboard of popular issues, making use of an always working strategic, bringing fear to the American citizens.
The Republican establishment has long expected the outspoken billionaire
to fade, and he has yet to give it the satisfaction. Trump has
consistently held more than 25 percent of the support among all
Republicans in the Reuters/Ipsos rolling poll for more than two months.
59 percent of Hispanic Americans have a “very unfavorable” opinion of the real estate tycoon heading into 2016. Thirty-two percent of Hispanics polled view retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson favorably, while 37 percent have not heard of him.
Critics frequently argue his message on illegal immigrants, particularly Hispanics, is derogatory.
He has nonetheless made sharply curbing illegal immigration and building up border defences central parts of his campaign message.
As thousands travel from Mexico and Central America to the US, Trump uses the ongoing European migration crisis to fight against all who dare to set their hopes on entering the United States and wanting to live and work there.
He even is not ashamed to give totally unrealistic or untrue figures.
For Trump when politicians talk about “immigration reform” they mean: amnesty,
cheap labour and open borders. According to him the Schumer-Rubio immigration bill was
nothing more than a give away to the corporate patrons who run both
parties.
For him
He also present immigrants as criminals with no other means than to profit from the American citizens.A nation without borders is not a nation.
For him
the Mexican government has taken the United States to the cleaners. They are responsible for this problem, and they must help pay to clean it up.He also warns for the Syrian refugees which could lead America in a Islamisation. he would not mind allowing more European immigration and a legal status to those graduating from U.S. colleges, but for sure they may not be Muslim or have roots in the Middle East.
Trump knocked former Florida governor Jeb Bush, calling him "weak on immigration." Trump specifically mentioned a view Bush espoused in a 2014 Fox News interview that immigrants cross the U.S.-Mexico border as an "act of love."
"We need strong borders. We need a wall,"Trump said, addressing his solutions to the immigration issue.
"The king of building buildings, the king of building walls--none of them can build them like Donald Trump." {CBS News on 2015 Conservative Political Action Conf. , Feb 27, 2015}Trump is opposed to new people coming in. He says
“We have to take care of the people who are here.”With the terrible Islamic State terrorist attack in Paris, immigration and our open border with Mexico just became the No. 1 issue in America. All the presidential candidates are now playing on Trump’s home turf. Trump is in command of the most important issue in America.
The billionaire wants to "deport millions of illegal aliens" which puts him in the drivers seat to get what he really wants.
He now points out at the French president who closed the boarders after the attacks.
Even a Socialist just proved how important it is to control your borders. It’s how you keep your citizens safe from terror. It’s literally the difference between life and death.For him walls work.
Ask Israel. After they built their wall, terrorist attacks were stopped cold in their tracks. If America wants to keep Islamic State out of America, we must seal and control our border.Many Americans hear the Republican and conservative Christmas bells ringing having created a strong defensive wall, singing
Under Trump the days of America being stupid are over.Wayne Allyn Root, known as “the Capitalist Evangelist” writes
It’s a new dawn in America under Trump. You can’t break into our home and then expect us to pay your bills. You can work, you won’t be deported, you’re in. That’s the American Dream. Welfare is not the American Dream. You can never collect welfare, food stamps, housing allowances, aid to dependent children, or all the hundreds of other entitlements available to citizens. You get a work permit, but you’ll never be a citizen. That’s the deal under Trump. Take it, or leave. {Islamic State Terrorist Attack Proves Donald Trump was Right About Border and Immigration}At Saturday night’s Democratic debate, criticizing the GOP candidate’s stance on immigration presidential candidate Martin O’ Malley called Donald Trump an
“immigrant-bashing carnival barker”The former Maryland governor noted that net immigration from Mexico last year was zero, after drawing a distinction between border security and a comprehensive immigration policy.
“We’ve actually been focusing on border security to the exclusion of talking about comprehensive immigration reform,”said O’ Malley.
As he has in the past, Trump referenced President Eisenhower’s program from the 1950s, fatuously insisting that it must be “nice” since everybody “liked Ike,” even as he assiduously avoided calling the plan by its name: “Operation Wetback.”
Here’s Trump’s exact quote from the debate:
Let me just tell you that Dwight Eisenhower, good president, great president, people liked him. “I like Ike,” right? The expression. “I like Ike.” Moved a 1.5 million illegal immigrants out of this country, moved them just beyond the border. They came back.The hearty laughter at that reprehensible tale certainly confirms those poll findings. He sounds as though he speaking of animals not human beings. And it would cruel to do that to animals. {The GOP’s totalitarian nightmare: Donald Trump’s immigration plan is insane—and insanely popular}
Moved them again beyond the border, they came back. Didn’t like it. Moved them way south. They never came back.
(Laughter)
Dwight Eisenhower. You don’t get nicer. You don’t get friendlier. They moved a 1.5 million out. We have no choice. We have no choice.
> Please read also: Donald Trump on Immigration 2000 Reform Primary Challenger for President
> More and more Republicans support Trump's draconian—and downright inhumane—deportation proposal
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Additional reading
- Brussels-born Salah Abdeslam key suspect Paris terrorist attacks
- Refugee crisis, terrorist attacks and created fear
- Are people willing to take the responsibility for others
- If Europe fails on the question of refugees, then it won’t be the Europe we wished for
- State of Europe 2015 – Addressing Europe’s crises
- Schengen area and Freedom for Europeans being put to the test as never before
- The New gulf of migration and seed for far right parties
- Asylum seekers crisis and Europe’s paralysis
- Can We Pay The Price To Free Humanity?
- What we don’t say about the refugee crisis?
- Human tragedy need to be addressed at source
- Poster: Please help the refugees
- Real progress leaves nobody behind
- Swallowed in the Sea but belonging to earth
- The natural beauties of life
- How to make sustainable, green habits second nature
- Vatican meeting of mayors talking about global warming, human trafficking and modern-day slavery
- Republican member of Congress from Arizona to boycott pope’s address over climate change
- Vatican against Opponents of immigration
- Welfare state and Poverty in Flanders #12 Conclusion
Thursday, 9 July 2015
Bringing into safety from Irak and Iran
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| English: Map of Iran-Irak war, Furthest ground gains. Red = Irak / Yellow = Iran Deutsch: Irak-Iran-Krieg (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
Brother Mehdi escaped persecution in Iran and recently left Turkey, being granted asylum in the United States. His wife and daughter remain in Turkey awaiting permission to resettle. After originally being sent to Kentucky by the resettlement agency, the Bloomington ecclesia supported his relocation to their city, so that he might be in the company of brethren and be able to benefit from ecclesial life.
Although the federal government provides some funding to refugees, many expenses are not covered.
There are also numerous practical issues that need to be addressed such as enrolling in ESL classes, finding suitable housing, obtaining employment and securing transportation. At the request of the Bloomington ecclesia, WCF has provided financial assistance to cover rent and utility expenses until our brother becomes self-sufficient.
The Foundation also continues to financially support many of the brethren remaining in Turkey as they await the slow process of resettlement to a new home in the West.
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Wednesday, 3 September 2014
The world Having to face a collective failure
These last few days we not only have seen how ISIS or the fighters for IS destroyed the treasures of culture and unashamed pitiless killed thousands of innocent people and animals. In many countries at the south half of this world several tribes bring suffering to each other and make it that millions of peopel have to flee for the violence.
The West can only look how she is not able to bring a solution in those war-countries. It only can note a collective failure. It also does not manage to get a good working international refugee regime.
Without addressing these inadequacies and putting other
policies and strategies in place, the World Food Programme and UNHCR also faces a crisis with a $186 million funding gap.
The UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday warned that funding difficulties, compounded by security and logistical problems, have forced cuts in food rations for nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa, threatening to worsen unacceptable levels of acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia, particularly in children.
WFP Executive Director Ertharin Cousin and UN High Commissioner for
Refugees António Guterres, at a meeting with government representatives
in Geneva, made an urgent joint plea for US$186 million to allow WFP to
restore full rations and prevent further cuts elsewhere through December
2014. For its part, UNHCR needs US$39 million for nutrition support it
provides to malnourished and vulnerable refugees in Africa.
Supplies have been cut by at least 50 per cent for nearly 450,000 refugees in remote camps and other sites in the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan. Another 338,000 refugees in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania and Uganda have seen their rations reduced by between five and 43 per cent.
In addition, a series of unexpected, temporary ration reductions has affected camps in several countries since early 2013 and into 2014, including in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon. Some cuts were also due to insecurity that affected deliveries.
A joint UNHCR-WFP report issued in conjunction with today's Geneva meeting says that refugees are among the world's most vulnerable people and warns that reductions in their minimum rations can have a devastating impact on already weakened populations.
Many refugees arrive in countries of exile already in urgent need of emergency nutritional care. Lacking any means to support themselves in many host countries, they remain totally dependent on international assistance – sometimes for years – until they can return home or find other solutions. Generally, WFP tries to provide 2,100 kilocalories per refugee per day.
Guterres warned that while a sustained 60 per cent reduction in rations would be catastrophic for refugees, even small cuts can spell disaster for undernourished people. The impact, especially on children, can be immediate and often irreversible. Undernutrition during a child's first 1,000 days from conception can have lifelong consequences, compromising both physical growth and mental development. Numerous studies have shown that this "stunting" leaves affected children at a severe social and economic disadvantage for the rest of their lives.
Even before the most recent ration cuts, refugees in many of the camps surveyed were already experiencing unacceptable levels of malnutrition, despite some progress over the past five years in improving nutrition standards. For example, a programme to prevent and treat micro-nutrient deficiencies has helped to slow or even reverse rising malnutrition rates and associated problems in some areas. But the current shortfall now threatens to negate even those hard-won gains.
Nutritional surveys conducted between 2011 and 2013 showed that stunting and anaemia among children was already at critical levels in the majority of the refugee sites. Only one of 92 surveyed camps, for example, met the agencies' goal of fewer than 20 per cent of refugee children suffering from anaemia. And fewer than 15 per cent of camps surveyed met the target of less than 20 per cent stunting among children. The surveys also showed that acute malnutrition levels among children under five years of age remain unacceptably high in more than 60 per cent of the sites.
Refugees hit by the food shortages are struggling to cope, posing a host of additional problems as they resort to what the report calls "negative coping strategies." These include an increase in school dropouts as refugee children seek work to help provide food for their families; exploitation and abuse of women refugees who venture out of camps in search of work; "survival sex" by women and girls trying to raise money to buy food; early marriage of young girls; increased stress and domestic violence within families; and increasing theft.
The end result, the report says, is a
+
Please do find:
The West can only look how she is not able to bring a solution in those war-countries. It only can note a collective failure. It also does not manage to get a good working international refugee regime.
The UN refugee agency and the World Food Programme (WFP) on Tuesday warned that funding difficulties, compounded by security and logistical problems, have forced cuts in food rations for nearly 800,000 refugees in Africa, threatening to worsen unacceptable levels of acute malnutrition, stunting and anaemia, particularly in children.
 |
| Ambassador Ertharin Cousin, the United States Representative to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, addresses volunteers at the Earth Day Tri-Mission Community Project in Rome, Italy. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) |
"Many refugees in Africa depend on WFP food to stay alive and are now suffering because of a shortage of funding," Cousin said. "So we are appealing to donor governments to help all refugees – half of whom are children – have enough food to be healthy and to build their own futures."Across Africa, 2.4 million refugees in some 200 sites in 22 countries depend on regular food aid from the World Food Programme. Currently, a third of those refugees have seen reductions in their rations, with refugees in Chad facing cuts as high as 60 per cent.
Supplies have been cut by at least 50 per cent for nearly 450,000 refugees in remote camps and other sites in the Central African Republic, Chad and South Sudan. Another 338,000 refugees in Liberia, Burkina Faso, Mozambique, Ghana, Mauritania and Uganda have seen their rations reduced by between five and 43 per cent.
In addition, a series of unexpected, temporary ration reductions has affected camps in several countries since early 2013 and into 2014, including in Uganda, Kenya, Ethiopia, Republic of Congo, Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Cameroon. Some cuts were also due to insecurity that affected deliveries.
"The number of crises around the world is far outpacing the level of funding for humanitarian operations, and vulnerable refugees in critical operations are falling through the cracks,"said Guterres.
"It is unacceptable in today's world of plenty for refugees to face chronic hunger or that their children drop out of school to help families survive,"he said, calling for a rethink on funding for displacement situations worldwide.
A joint UNHCR-WFP report issued in conjunction with today's Geneva meeting says that refugees are among the world's most vulnerable people and warns that reductions in their minimum rations can have a devastating impact on already weakened populations.
Many refugees arrive in countries of exile already in urgent need of emergency nutritional care. Lacking any means to support themselves in many host countries, they remain totally dependent on international assistance – sometimes for years – until they can return home or find other solutions. Generally, WFP tries to provide 2,100 kilocalories per refugee per day.
Guterres warned that while a sustained 60 per cent reduction in rations would be catastrophic for refugees, even small cuts can spell disaster for undernourished people. The impact, especially on children, can be immediate and often irreversible. Undernutrition during a child's first 1,000 days from conception can have lifelong consequences, compromising both physical growth and mental development. Numerous studies have shown that this "stunting" leaves affected children at a severe social and economic disadvantage for the rest of their lives.
Even before the most recent ration cuts, refugees in many of the camps surveyed were already experiencing unacceptable levels of malnutrition, despite some progress over the past five years in improving nutrition standards. For example, a programme to prevent and treat micro-nutrient deficiencies has helped to slow or even reverse rising malnutrition rates and associated problems in some areas. But the current shortfall now threatens to negate even those hard-won gains.
Nutritional surveys conducted between 2011 and 2013 showed that stunting and anaemia among children was already at critical levels in the majority of the refugee sites. Only one of 92 surveyed camps, for example, met the agencies' goal of fewer than 20 per cent of refugee children suffering from anaemia. And fewer than 15 per cent of camps surveyed met the target of less than 20 per cent stunting among children. The surveys also showed that acute malnutrition levels among children under five years of age remain unacceptably high in more than 60 per cent of the sites.
Refugees hit by the food shortages are struggling to cope, posing a host of additional problems as they resort to what the report calls "negative coping strategies." These include an increase in school dropouts as refugee children seek work to help provide food for their families; exploitation and abuse of women refugees who venture out of camps in search of work; "survival sex" by women and girls trying to raise money to buy food; early marriage of young girls; increased stress and domestic violence within families; and increasing theft.
The end result, the report says, is a
"vicious cycle of poverty, food insecurity, deterioration of nutritional status, increased risk of disease, and risky coping strategies. Therefore, improving livelihood opportunities and food security is paramount to break this vicious cycle, and ensuring that previous investments and advances in nutrition and food security are preserved."In addition to urging donor governments to fully fund the refugee food pipeline, WFP and UNHCR are also encouraging African governments to provide refugees with agricultural plots, grazing land, working rights and access to local markets to promote self-sufficiency among refugees. Given the unpredictability of funding, the agencies are also refining their methods of prioritizing those affected by possible cuts to ensure that the most vulnerable are identified and receive the help they need.
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