Human Security Research in Focus: Climate Change and Human Security

Human Security Research is a monthly publication by the Human Security Report Project (HSRP) which compiles the latest human security-related research published by university research institutes, think-tanks, governments, IGOs and NGOs.

In this special issue, the HSRP highlights publications discussing the relationship between climate change and security. The contents are:

HUMAN SECURITY: Climate Change, Human Security and Violent Conflict
FRAGILITY: Climate Change, Conflict and Fragility: Understanding the Linkages, Shaping Effective Responses
ARMED CONFLICT: Climate Change, the Environment, and Armed Conflict
RESOURCE COMPETITION: Competition Over Resources: Drivers of Insecurity and the Global South
SCARCITY: Resource Scarcity, Climate Change and the Risk of Violent Conflict
PEACEBUILDING: Environmental Peacebuilding: Managing Natural Resource Conflicts in a Changing World
GENDER: Gender, Climate Change and Human Security Lessons from Bangladesh, Ghana and Senegal
MIGRATION: Human Security, Climate Change and Environmentally Induced Migration
MIDDLE EAST: The Blue Peace: Rethinking Middle East Water
NORTH AFRICA: Mapping Climate Change and Security in North Africa
NIGER BASIN: Climate Change, Water and Conflict in the Niger River Basin
AFRICA: After the Rain: Rainfall Variability, Hydro-Meteorological Disasters, and Social Conflict in Africa
INTERNATIONAL RIVER BASINS: A Geographical Curse? Asymmetries and the Risk of Conflict in International River Basins
SOUTHEAST ASIA: Climate Change and Migration in Southeast Asia: Responding to a New Human Security Challenge Read more

Somalia After the Ethiopian Withdrawal

After the withdrawal of Ethiopian troops in January 2009 and the almost inevitable total collapse of the so-called Transitional Federal Government, Somalia will once again be stateless, but probably in a much worse state than if nobody had tried to construct a state in the first place. In the brief, the confrontation between the impotent government and its opponents is analyzed, as are the roles of Ethiopia and other external actors, followed by a prediction of the future which may well be much less bleak than is often assumed. Read more

Opportunities and Pitfalls in the Migration-Development Nexus: Somaliland and Beyond

Against the background of increased human mobility over the last three decades, resurgent interest in the migration-development nexus has stimulated new lines of academic inquiry and pushed policy considerations in new directions. This paper outlines current discussions around the links between migration, development and conflict. It also considers the complex nature of ‘mixed flows’, the difficulties in distinguishing between forced/political and voluntary/economic migration, and the links to development from these various – and often overlapping – types of flows. The paper uses migration from Somalia/Somaliland as the main example. This case – like the cases of most other sending countries - is of course specific. Still lessons can be drawn that are useful in other contexts, and may provide a basis for constructive discussion of potential opportunities in the current migration and international cooperation regimes. Read more

Cutting Bread or Cutting Throats? – Findings from a New Database on Religion, Violence and Peace in Sub-Saharan Africa, 1990 to 2008

Abstract
Despite the religious diversity in sub‐Saharan Africa and the religious overtones in a number
of African conflicts, social science research has inadequately addressed the question of how
and to what extent religion matters for conflict in Africa. This paper presents an innovative
data inventory on religion and violent conflict in all sub‐Saharan countries for the period
1990–2008 that seeks to contribute to filling the gap. The data underscore that religion has to
be accounted for in conflict in Africa. Moreover, results show the multidimensionality (e.g.
armed conflicts with religious incompatibilities, several forms of non‐state religious violence)
and ambivalence (inter‐religious networks, religious peace initiatives) of religion vis‐à‐vis violence.
In 22 of the 48 sub‐Saharan countries, religion plays a substantial role in violence, and
six countries in particular—Chad, Congo‐Brazzaville, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda—
are heavily affected by different religious aspects of violence. Read more
Keywords: religion, sub‐Saharan Africa, violence, peace, conflict

Israel accused of dooming Ethiopian baby boom

Video

A feminist movement has accused the Israeli government of adopting a racist policy towards the country's Ethiopian Jews.
Activists believe black women are deliberately being given a controversial contraceptive drug to bring about a drop in the population – a claim the government denies.
Thousands of Ethiopians have immigrated to Israel since the 1980s, but their Jewish heritage has been questioned, while their social status continues to suffer.
For nearly four years, Racheli Mangoli has been running a youth center in one of Israel's poorer communities. Forty-five Ethiopian families live here, but throughout that entire time, only one Ethiopian baby has been born in this neighborhood, and that has alarmed Racheli.
She says: “I smelt something not good. I know about the discrimination here – when I am going with the children, I feel this even when I am going to the supermarket. One women said to me ‘I don¹t know how you can stand next to people like this. When they give me money – I am going and washing my hands.’”
After some investigation, Racheli discovered that many Ethiopian women, keen to avoid getting pregnant while setting up life in a new country, had been placed on a controversial contraceptive, Depo-Provera, a drug few Israeli women have heard of, let alone use. Read more

Israeli Kristallnacht: Africans attacked in Tel Aviv anti-migrant demo (PHOTOS)

Published: 24 May, 2012, 06:41
Edited: 24 May, 2012, 15:30

Hundreds of people demonstrate in the impoverished Hatikva neighborhood of the southern Mediterranean city of Tel Aviv on May 23, 2012 (AFP Photo / Roni Schutzer)Israel Out)

TAGS: Protest, Politics, Immigration, Israel

Thousands of Israelis, including high-profile politicians, attended an anti-African demonstration in Tel Aviv. The rally turned violent, with attacks on Africans and grocery shop windows being smashed.
­The gathering, which took place in Tel Aviv’s Hatikva neighborhood, targeted the influx of African asylum seekers and was organized by Michael Ben Ari, a Knesset member from the National Union party, along with far-right activists Itamar Ben-Guir and Baruch Marzel, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports.
Many protesters also blamed the government, and Benjamin Netanyahu specifically, for inaction.  
But the rally was also attended by politicians from the ruling Likud party, including Knesset members Miri Regev and Danny Danon.
Former army brigadier general and Israeli Defense Forces spokeswoman Regev described asylum seekers as a “cancer in our body.”
On Thursday, Regev explained that her use of the word "cancer" was meant "to illustrate the spread of a negative phenomenon. This is a manifestation of rage that has been unleashed after a long time of people feeling unsafe in their own homes."
"With all due respect to the Left and Peace Now – they are the reason that our country is in the state it's in. Because of their High Court petitions we cannot deport all those infiltrators to their countries of origin," she reportedly charged.
Danon also said the “infiltrators” had to be immediately expelled from Israel. Read more

Like (Black African) Sheep To The Slaughter

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Israel launches nationwide sweep to detain and deport African reugees

Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com June 12, 2012

Dozens of African refugees were rounded up yesterday and detained in a nationwide sweep conducted by Israel’s Immigration Authority’s special Oz Unit.

Israel plans on deporting the refugees.

The sweeps will continue for a period of weeks with the goal of detaining and deporting 1,500 South Sudanese.

115 people were arrested during the Oz Unit sweeps yesterday. 105 are South Sudanese.
At least 25 more refugees have been arrested so far today.

Also caught in the sweeps were illegal immigrants from Nigeria, China, Ghana and the Ivory Coast.

The raids took place after the Jerusalem Administrative Court granted the government’s request to suspend the "collective protection" status granted to South Sudanese refugees, an act akin to sanctioning their deportation.

Israel’s haredi Interior Minister, Eli Yishai of the Sefardi Shas political party, told Ynet that the sweeps were “not meant to be against the infiltrators, but rather to preserve the Zionist and Jewish nature of the State of Israel…[the operation's primary goal is] to return the infiltrators from Eritrea and South Sudan to their countries, despite the difficulties mounted by the so-called human rights groups.…What we witnessed today was just the beginning of the battle for the future of Israel. I'm certain that the court will also sanction the deportation of infiltrators from Eritrea and Sudan, who pose the main threat."
Vice Premier Shaul Mofaz, who is the head of the Kadima political party, claimed the migrants “are not refugees."
"They came illegally to look for work and do damage to Israel," Mofaz claimed. "The 1,500 to 2,000 who come in monthly must be stopped. The [Sinai] fence must be completed. The next goal should be to return them to their country of origin…”

"I went to South Sudan," Likud MK Danon said yesterday. "It's a country you can live in." Danon went on to call deported South Sudanese refugees “crybabies.” "We cannot let them bring Africa to Israel," Danon added.
Another Likud MK, Miri Rege – who last month called African refugees a "cancer" during an anti-refugee demonstration in south Tel Aviv that degenerated into a mini-pogrom against African refugees there – told the Knesset yesterday that Israel had been "captured" by the refugees.
Aid workers criticized the government, noting that the refugees had fled war zones, and that their lives will be in danger if they are deported.

The men arrested yesterday were sent to a regular Israeli prison. The women and children were transferred to the Saharonim refugee camp. At one time approximately 1,000 refugees from Darfur were imprisoned there.
Six families that agreed to leave Israel voluntarily were released to prepare for their scheduled flights to Africa.

There are 1,500 South Sudanese in Israel out of a total of 60,000 African refugees there.

35,000 of those refugees are Eritrean and 15,000 are from northern Sudan. Under International law, Israel can’t legally deport them.

Eritrea’s government has been recognized by the United Nations and the international community as a tyrannical regime that is a systemic abuser of human rights. Sudan has no diplomatic relations with Israel and is officially an "enemy state.”

To get around this, Israel tried in the past to deport Eritreans and Sudanese to other countries but was not successful.

Yishai wants to disregard International law and deport these refugees anyway.

Speaking to Ynet about yesterday’s arrests, an aid worker complained that that Israel had not reviewed the status of those refugees it detained. Instead, Israel just decided to send them back to their home country “like sheep to the slaughter.”
Mainstream American Jewish organizations have been largely silent about Israel's mistreatment of African refugees and the insistence of many of its politicians that International law does not apply to it.
Many of the same reasons Israel gives for wanting to deport African refugees were made by governments that denied entry to Jewish refugees from Europe during the 1930s and early 1940s. Many of those asylum seekers were murdered in the Holocaust.
Some of these arguments also parallel the arguments made by the ancient Egyptians about the ancient Hebrews in the biblical book of Exodus. The arguments were used then to enslave the Hebrews.
[Sources: Ynet (a,b); the Jerusalem Post (a, b, c, d.]   Read more

Africa: HRW Denounces Israel's New Migrants' Law Targeting Africans

Addis Ababa — Human Rights Watch has urged Israeli's government to refrain from enforcing a controversial migration law, arguing that the new bill violates international laws on migrants.
If put to effect, the new law will allow Israeli authorities to detain migrants without charge for up to three years and African migrants most of them from South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea will be the prime victims.
In a statement it released on Sunday the New York-based rights group said that the newly revised 'Anti-Infiltration' law denies asylum seekers rights of protections in violation to global refugee convention.
According to HRW, the new Infiltration Law treats all irregular border-crossers as "infiltrators."
The group urged the Israeli parliament to immediately amend the law and refrain from enforcing it.
"Israeli officials are not only adding rhetorical fuel to the xenophobic fire, but they now have a new law that punishes refugees in violation of international law," said Bill Frelick, Refugee Program director at Human Rights Watch.
"The law should be amended immediately, and not enforced until necessary revisions are made."
The rights watch dog alleged that Israeli government officials have recently made violent statements against the African migrant population that have contributed to a racially-motivated attacks against African nationals including fire bombings and a brutal deadly Arson attack against Eritrean migrants Read more

Fear, loathing in Tel Aviv as racial tensions soar

AFP - Day or night, rain or shine, small groups of African migrants can be found dotting the lawns of Levinsky Park in a rundown area of south Tel Aviv where hundreds of Israelis rioted in protest against them.
"I have fled war and violence in Sudan and now I'm here on the street in constant fear that the police will check me," 29-year-old Abdul Abed Abdullah tells AFP.
"I have no hope and there's no work," he says, dressed in a white shirt and jeans. "I dream of America."
Three years ago, he sneaked across the border from the Egyptian Sinai into Israel where the comparatively high standard of living makes it a tempting destination for those willing to risk everything for a better life.
Like others who have made the long and dangerous journey, he was guided through the lawless Sinai peninsula by Bedouin smugglers to whom he paid $1,000 (794 euros). Read more

Ethiopian Israelis slam attacks against migrants

Ethiopian Jews, some of whom passed through Sudan as refugees on their own journeys to Israel in the early 1980s, expressed horror and regret Monday as attacks – both physical and verbal – against African migrants from Sudan and Eritrea have been on the rise in recent days.
“When I think how people are treating the Sudanese and of how they treated us when we passed through as refugees, I am ashamed,” Ziva Mekonen-Degu, executive director of the Israel Association of Ethiopian Jews, told The Jerusalem Post.

Related:

“When we arrived there, they brought us water and helped us find work so that we could make enough money to live. [They were] difficult times,” said Mekonen-Degu.
“It should not just be the Ethiopian Jews who remember what happened to us in Sudan nearly 30 years ago – this whole country was created because we were all once refugees. We should all be thinking about what happened to those Jews who did not find shelter in other countries,” she added. Read more

Israel's demonisation of refugees – is this a nation forgetting its history?

Throat-clearing to begin with: racism happens everywhere, and there are few countries (perhaps Sweden is one?) where refugees get a genuinely welcoming reception. The lines engraved onto the Statue of Liberty, from the "New Colussus" by Emma Lazarus, have never fully been honoured anywhere: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
But there is something particularly depressing about the stories emerging from Israel about xenophobia and hatred of refugees from Eritrea, Sudan and Somalia. Take this report in the Guardian, about an apartment building housing ten Eritrean refugees which was firebombed on Monday. Or this story, from the Economist, which recounts a demonstration where hundreds of Jews, led by settlers from the West Bank, marched through Tel Aviv chanting "Africans out". Meanwhile, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, denounces "infiltrators" while the interior minister Eli Yishai attacks "Aids-infected migrants" who, he alleges, only come to rape women. Read more

A Jewish nation of refugees

Every year, on the Second Day of Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish world intones the comforting words of the prophet Jeremiah, a prophecy meant to remind us that the people once left for ruin, will again find comfort and peace in the land of Israel.
Koh amar Adonai: Matza chein bamidbar am s’ridei charev, halokh l’hargi’o Yisrael.
“Thus saith the Lord; the people that were left of the sword have found grace in the wilderness, even Israel, when I go to cause him rest.”
These words, foretelling an ultimate return of the Jewish people to their ancestral homeland after the destruction of the First Temple, have become a ubiquitous clarion call for our people: a reminder that though we were once a people of dispersion, despair and Diaspora – we have now established a haven of grace in the wilderness.
Yes, unfortunately the Jewish people know what it means to be an “am s’ridei charev,” “a people who were left of the sword.” We were forced to run away from thousands of swords for the better part of two millennia; so surely our collective memory mandates that we harbor a love for the stranger, the widow, and the orphan – the refugees who live in our midst. Readmore

Israel rounds up African migrants for deportation

Israel said on Monday it had started rounding up African migrants in the first stage of a controversial “emergency plan” to intern and deport thousands deemed a threat to the Jewish character of the state.

Israel Radio reported that dozens of Africans, mainly from South Sudan, had already been detained in the Red Sea resort of Eilat, including mothers and children.

“This is only a small group of the infiltrators,” Interior Minister Eli Yishai said. “I’m not acting out of hatred of strangers but love of my people and to rescue the homeland.”

The goal is to repatriate all the estimated 60,000 African migrants, whose growing numbers are seen by many Israelis as a law and order issue and even a threat to the long-term viability of the Jewish state.

Illegal migration, and the pool of cheap labor it provides, is a common headache for developed economies. Israel is grappling with its own special ghosts as it tackles the problem.

For some in Israel, built by immigrants and refugees, internment and deportation are bad solutions that may damage the international image of the country needlessly.

They say rounding up members of a different racial group and holding them in camps for deportation may invite allusions to the Nazi Holocaust, however unfair such comparisons may be, and betrays Jewish values. Readmore