Migrants face ‘unimaginable horrors crossing Africa’

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Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR special envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean Situation, addresses a press conference in Geneva, Switzerland. (AP)
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In this undated still image taken from video, the Louise Michel, a migrants search and rescue ship operating in the Mediterranean and financed by British street artist Banksy, is seen at sea. (MV Louise Michel/REUTERS)
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Updated 05 July 2024
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Migrants face ‘unimaginable horrors crossing Africa’

  • Migrants face expulsion, organ trafficking risks, climate change, conflict, and racism
  • “Every one that has crossed to Sahara can tell you of people they know who died in the desert,” UNHCR special envoy says

GENEVA: Refugees and migrants face extreme violence, abuse, and exploitation on land routes crossing Africa to get to the Mediterranean, with far more believed to be dying there than at sea, a UN-backed report said.

Nearly 30,000 migrants have been declared dead or missing, attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in the past decade.
However, it could be even worse for those traveling through Africa to the coast, according to a report from UN agencies for refugees and migrants and the monitoring group Mixed Migration Center.
Based on more than 31,000 interviews with refugees and migrants, the report found that 1,180 people were known to have died while crossing the Sahara Desert between January 2020 and May 2024.
Five deaths a day are being recorded on the desert routes — taking the total to at least 870 so far this year — Laurence Hart of the UN’s International Organization for Migration told reporters in Geneva. But these numbers are believed to be a vast underestimate.

BACKGROUND

Nearly 30,000 migrants have been declared dead or missing, attempting to cross the Mediterranean to Europe in the past decade.

While data is lacking, the bodies behind the report say there are thousands of deaths each year.
“Deaths of refugees and migrants in the desert (are) presumed to be double those happening at sea,” they said in a statement.
“For everyone crossing the Sahara, you get the testimony of bodies being seen, being dropped,” said Vincent Cochetel, UNHCR’s special envoy for the central and western Mediterranean.
“Everyone that has crossed the Sahara can tell you of people they know who died in the desert,” he told reporters.
Those on the move face torture, kidnapping for ransom, people trafficking, sexual violence, robbery, arbitrary detention, and collective expulsions, the report said.
Migrants crossing the desert often find themselves abandoned there by people smugglers, while those who get sick are sometimes tossed off pickup trucks.
With no adequate aid structures or proper search and rescue systems along the way, they are pretty much destined to die.
Despite the “unimaginable horrors people face in some countries along the route,” the report highlighted an increase in the number of people attempting the perilous land crossings.
This was in part due to deteriorating situations in their homelands, the report said, pointing to the eruption of conflicts across the Sahel region and in Sudan and new and long-running violence in the Horn of Africa and the east of the continent.
There was also the devastating impact of climate change and disasters, as well as xenophobia and racism spurring refugees and migrants to leave.
While no clear statistics exist for overall migration flows through Africa, UNHCR data shows a tripling of arrivals in Tunisia between 2020 and 2023.
The organizations stressed the urgent need for protection along the routes.
“This is not to facilitate the movement of people,” Cochetel insisted.
“It is to find protection solutions to address the abuse and the violations they suffer.”
He said most people on the move globally were not going to Europe.
The pollsters conducting the survey used for Friday’s report found nearly four out of 10 migrants had run the risk of physical violence during their journey.
Eighteen percent spoke of the danger of kidnappings, while 15 percent said there was a clear risk of sexual violence, and 14 percent said they risked death.
Cochetel also estimated that “hundreds” of people had fallen victim to organ traffickers in some countries.
People sometimes sell an organ out of desperation.
“But most of the time, people are drugged, and the organ is removed without their consent,” he said.
“They wake up and one kidney is missing.”

 

 

 


At least 25 wounded as apartment building hit by Russian missile

Updated 4 sec ago
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At least 25 wounded as apartment building hit by Russian missile

  • 12-story residential building was struck by a bomb that partially destroyed the first and third floors
  • A barrage of drones also struck Odesa and its suburbs in south of the country, wounding at least two people
KYIV: At least 25 people were wounded in an overnight Russian strike on an apartment block in Kharkiv, the mayor of Ukraine’s second city said Friday.
The 12-story residential building was struck by a bomb that partially destroyed the first and third floors, Mayor Igor Terekhov wrote on Telegram.
“The number of injured keeps increasing. As of now, there are 25 of them,” he added.
Rescue efforts were under way for inhabitants trapped on the third floor.
The Ukrainian president’s chief of staff, Andriy Yermak, accused Russia of “deliberately hitting an apartment block.”
“The Russians are also attacking Kyiv with missiles,” he added.
Separately, Kyiv’s military office said that anti-missile air defenses were operating in the capital.
A barrage of drones also struck Odesa and its suburbs in the south of the country, wounding at least two people, the region’s governor Oleg Kiper said.
Kyiv was targeted on Thursday by another “massive” Russian drone attack that wounded two people, damaged buildings and sparked fires in several districts, Ukrainian authorities said.
Russia has systematically targeted the capital with drone and missile barrages since the first day of its invasion launched nearly three years ago on February 24, 2022.
Ukrainian authorities have been seeking air defense systems from their allies to fend off Russian aerial attacks.

At least 2 dead and 12 missing after a fishing boat sinks off South Korea’s Jeju island

Updated 13 min 51 sec ago
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At least 2 dead and 12 missing after a fishing boat sinks off South Korea’s Jeju island

  • Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead
  • 27 crew members were on the 129-tonne boat, which left Jeju’s Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel

SEOUL: A fishing boat capsized and sank off the coast of South Korea’s Jeju island Friday, leaving at least two people dead and 12 others unaccounted for, coast guard officials said.
Nearby fishing vessels managed to pull 15 crew members out of the water, but two of them were later pronounced dead after being brought to shore. The other 13 did not sustain life-threatening injuries, said Kim Han-na, an official at Jeju’s coast guard.
She said 27 crew members – 16 South Korean nationals and 11 foreigners – were on the 129-tonne boat, which left Jeju’s Seogwipo port late Thursday to catch mackerel. The coast guard received a distress signal at around 4:30 a.m. Friday from a nearby fishing vessel that conducted rescue efforts as the boat sank 24 kilometers northwest of the island.
At least 11 vessels and nine aircraft from South Korea’s coast guard, police, fire service and military were deployed as of Friday morning to search for survivors. They were being assisted by 13 civilian vessels.
South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol called for officials to mobilize all available resources to find and rescue the missing crew members, his office said.


South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches

Updated 11 min 38 sec ago
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South Korea holds missile drill after North Korea launches

  • The nuclear-armed North had test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile
  • Hyunmoo surface-to-surface short-range missile was sent into the West Sea in the exercise

SEOUL: South Korea fired a ballistic missile into the sea in a show of force after North Korea’s recent salvo of missile launches, Seoul said Friday.
The nuclear-armed North had test-fired what it said was its most advanced and powerful solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) as well as a number of short-range ballistic missiles in separate drills over the last two weeks.
South Korea’s military command said its live-fire exercise was aimed at demonstrating its “strong resolve to firmly respond to any North Korean provocation.”
It also underlined its “capability and readiness for precision strikes against the enemy’s origin of provocation,” the Joint Chiefs of Staff added.
A Hyunmoo surface-to-surface short-range missile was sent into the West Sea in the exercise, the military command said.
South Korea started domestic production of short-range ballistic missiles in the 1970s to counter the threats posed by North Korea.
Hyunmoo are a series of missiles which are key to the country’s so-called ‘Kill Chain’ preemptive strike system, which allows Seoul to launch a preemptive attack if there are signs of imminent North Korean attack.
In early October, the country displayed for the first time its largest ballistic missile, the Hyunmoo-5, which is capable of destroying underground bunkers.
Last Sunday, South Korea, Japan and the United States conducted a joint air drill involving a US B-1B bomber, South Korean F-15K and KF-16 fighter jets, and Japanese F-2 jets, in response to the North’s ICBM launch.
Such joint drills infuriate Pyongyang, which views them as rehearsals for invasion.
Kim Yo Jong, sister of the country’s leader and a key spokesperson, called the US-South Korea-Japan exercises an “action-based explanation of the most hostile and dangerous aggressive nature of the enemy toward our Republic.”
The drill was an “absolute proof of the validity and urgency of the line of building up the nuclear forces we have opted for and put into practice,” she added.


Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships

Updated 31 min 43 sec ago
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Taiwan coast guard offers rewards for spotting foreign ships

  • Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s coast guard said Friday it will reward people who report the presence of foreign military ships, including those from China, in waters around the island, as it seeks the public’s help with monitoring “abnormal” activity.
China regularly deploys fighter jets, navy ships and coast guard vessels around Taiwan to press its claims of sovereignty over the island, which Taipei’s government rejects.
Taiwan is massively outgunned by China, which has refused to renounce the use of force to bring the island under its control.
“The Coast Guard’s manpower is limited but the people power at sea is unlimited,” Taiwan’s coast guard said in a statement announcing the rewards.
The coast guard called on people, including fishers, to “stay vigilant to abnormal maritime activities” to help counter the growing “threats from the sea” and “all kinds of grey zone harassment tactics” — actions that fall short of an act of war.
People who reported homicide, piracy, arson and kidnapping to the coast guard could receive up to NT$200,000 ($6,200), while reports of Chinese “stowaways” would be rewarded with NT$50,000, and NT$10,000 for other foreign stowaways.
Verified reports to the coast guard about foreign and Chinese military ships and other vessels would be rewarded with NT$3,000.
China maintains a near-daily presence of naval vessels and warplanes around the island.
Chinese coast guard ships have also been spotted around Taiwan’s outlying islands, at times briefly entering its restricted waters.
A series of incidents involving boats from both sides have fueled tensions across the narrow waterway separating Taiwan and China.
A Taiwanese court in September sentenced a former Chinese naval captain to eight months in prison for illegally entering the island by boat.


Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable

Updated 08 November 2024
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Salman Rushdie’s ‘Satanic Verses’ can be imported in India as court told 1988 ban order untraceable

  • India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous
  • Salman Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988

NEW DELHI: India’s three-decade ban on importing author Salman Rushdie’s controversial ‘The Satanic Verses’ book has effectively been lifted after a court said the government was unable to produce the original notification that imposed the ban.
The India-born British author’s novel was banned by India in 1988 after some Muslims viewed it as blasphemous. The Delhi High Court was hearing a 2019 case challenging the import ban of the book in India.
According to a Nov. 5 court order, India’s government told the Delhi High Court that the import ban order “was untraceable and, therefore could not be produced.”
As a result, the court said it had “no other option except to presume that no such notification exists.”
“The ban has been lifted as of Nov. 5 because there is no notification,” Uddyam Mukherjee, lawyer for petitioner Sandipan Khan, said.
India’s interior and finance ministries did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Khan’s plea said he approached the court after being told at bookstores that the novel could not be sold or imported in India and then when he searched, he could not find the official import ban order on the government websites.
Even in court the government has been unable to produce the order, he said.
“None of the respondents could produce the said notification ... in fact the purported author of the said notification has also shown his helplessness in producing a copy,” the Nov. 5 order noted, referring to the customs department official who drafted the order.
Rushdie’s fourth fictional novel ran into a global controversy shortly after its publication in September 1988, as some Muslims saw passages about Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.
It sparked violent demonstrations and book burnings across the Muslim world, including in India, which has the world’s third largest Muslim population.
In 1989, Iran’s then supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie, sending the Booker Prize-winning author into hiding for six years.
In August 2022, about 33 years after the fatwa, Rushdie was stabbed on stage during a lecture in New York, which left him blind in one eye and affected the use of one of his hands.