#humanitariancrises

UN monitors backtrack on Yemen money-laundering accusations

UN monitors backtrack on Yemen money-laundering accusations

Independent UN sanctions monitors have withdrawn accusations against Yemen’s government of money-laundering and corruption that they said “adversely affected” access to food supplies in a country on the brink of famine, a document showed.

The experts said in an annual report to the UN Security Council that Yemen’s central bank broke its foreign exchange rules, manipulated the foreign exchange market, and “laundered a substantial part of a $2bn Saudi deposit in a sophisticated money-laundering scheme”.

In a March 26 document seen by the Reuters news agency, and whose authenticity was confirmed by a diplomat, the experts provided an update to a Security Council committee saying a preliminary review showed no evidence of corruption or money laundering and indications show “food prices were stabilised in 2019”.

It said those sections of the report should be disregarded pending a final assessment.

The deposit made by Saudi Arabia in 2018 was intended to fund credit to buy commodities to strengthen food security and stabilise domestic prices.

Yemen’s central bank has said the operations it carried out were transparent and compliant with international banking and trade requirements.

In February, Yemen’s government said it appointed Ernst & Young to audit its central bank accounts.

Yemen’s six-year war and ensuing economic collapse have caused what the United Nations has said is the world’s largest humanitarian crisis, with 80 percent of the population reliant on aid.

The conflict has divided the country with the Iran-aligned Houthi movement holding most of northern Yemen and the internationally recognised government, backed by a Saudi-led military coalition, based in the south.

The monitors’ January report also accused the Houthi movement of collecting at least $1.8bn in state revenue in 2019 to help fund its war effort.

Young Syrians paying heavy toll for decade of war: Report

Young Syrians paying heavy toll for decade of war: Report

A decade of war in Syria has left young Syrians with heavy personal losses and yet to face the rebuilding of their shattered homeland.

A new survey by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) of 1,400 Syrian nationals living in Syria or in exile in Lebanon and Germany, highlighted on Wednesday the costs for those aged 18 to 25 of a war that has killed hundreds of thousands, displaced millions more and destroyed schools and hospitals.

“One of the shocking results of this survey is that we realised that 50 percent of Syrians had friends or a family member who was killed … One out of six Syrians had one of their parents either killed or wounded,” Fabrizio Carboni, the ICRC’s regional director for the Middle East, told Reuters news agency.

“Rebuilding the country is on their shoulders and obviously it’s quite unfair.”

The report coincides with the 10th anniversary of the start of protests against President Bashar al-Assad’s rule that turned into a full-scale civil war.

Assad’s military has now regained control of most of the country with the help of Russia and Iran.

Nearly half of young Syrians lost their income because of the conflict and almost eight in 10 reported struggling to afford food and other necessities, the report showed.

“Women have been particularly hard hit economically, with almost 30 percent in Syria reporting no income at all to support their family,” the ICRC said.

Worsening conditions

Ahmad, originally from Homs and living in Lebanon, said his situation is worsening by the day.

“I had more money when I was 10 years old than now when I am 24. I have nothing of my personal belongings I used to have at home,” he said in the report.

A video released by the ICRC shows 33-year-old Mouna Shawat, on crutches, walking on one foot past blocks of bombed-out buildings on streets full of rubble in the Syrian city of Aleppo before being fitted with a prosthetic device at a rehabilitation centre.

Shawat’s lower left leg had to be amputated several years ago after an IED blew up as she made her way home.

“We had everything – gas, diesel, services. Now we are cold and hungry, and we need to wait for gas to get warm. Sometimes we have to cook over a fire,” Shawat, who lives with her two children in Aleppo, recalled with nostalgia her youth before the civil war.

Referring to her children’s anxiety over her lost leg, she said: “To this day, every time it comes up they start crying, I try to comfort them.”

Dozens of migrants killed in shipwreck off Libya’s coast | Human Rights News

Ten survivors brought back to Libya after at least 43 migrants and refugees died on Tuesday, UN bodies report.

At least 43 migrants and refugees have been killed in a shipwreck off the coast of Libya, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said, the first tragic event of 2021 in the Central Mediterranean where more than 17,000 have drowned since 2014.

In a joint statement released on Wednesday, the IOM and UNHCR said the boat sailed from the city of Zawiya in the early hours of Tuesday and reportedly sank due to bad weather just a few hours later.

The statement added that 10 survivors – mainly from Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Ghana and The Gambia – were brought back to land by Libyan authorities.

Libya acts as a major gateway for African migrants and refugees hoping to reach Europe. The conflict in the country drives the people to the sea.

The Central Mediterranean route is described by the UNHCR as the most dangerous migration route in the world – one in six people who depart the shores of North Africa dies.

Human smugglers based in Libya launch vessels, many of them flimsy rubber dinghies or rickety fishing boats, crowded with migrants who hope to reach European shores to seek asylum.

Some are fleeing conflict or persecution, while many of the hundreds of thousands of migrants who have been rescued at sea in recent years are fleeing poverty.

In addition to the casualty figures are the ones forcibly returned to Libya, which is described as “hell” by those who survived the ordeal on their transit.

‼️ Today 48 migrants, among them 11 children, were intercepted and returned to #Libya by the coast guard.

Urgent action is needed to end returns to Libya, establish a safe and predictable disembarkation mechanism and redeploy Sate search and rescue operations. pic.twitter.com/wO6mbMQ78N

— Safa Msehli (@msehlisafa) January 20, 2021

Since February 2017, at least 36,000 people have been intercepted by the Libyan coastguard and returned to the North African country, UN figures show.

The EU has reportedly spent more than 90 million euros ($100m) in funding and training the Libyan coastguard to stop the crossings.

An Associated Press investigation revealed the EU sent more than 327.9 million euros ($373.8m) to Libya, largely channelled through UN agencies.

EU nations such as Italy and Malta have often refused docking permission to humanitarian rescue boats.

According to Italian interior ministry data, there has been an uptick in the number of people trying to reach Italy with at least 31,000 refugee arrivals in 2020, compared with almost 10,000 over the same period last year.

Bangladesh ‘set to move’ new group of Rohingya to remote island | Human Rights News

About 1,000 Rohingya refugees will be moved to a remote, cyclone-prone island despite calls by rights groups to stop relocation.

Bangladesh is set to move a second batch of Rohingya refugees to the remote island of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal this month, officials say, despite calls by rights groups not to carry out further relocations.

About 1,000 Rohingya refugees, members of a Muslim minority who fled neighbouring Myanmar to escape violence, will be moved to the flood-prone island in the next few days after Bangladesh relocated more than 1,600 earlier this month, two officials with the direct knowledge of the matter said on Sunday.

“They will be moved to Chittagong first and then to Bhasan Char, depending on the high tide,” one of the officials said.

The officials declined to be named as the issue had not been made public.

Mohammed Shamsud Douza, the deputy Bangladesh government official in charge of refugees, said the relocation was voluntary.

“They will not be sent against their will.”

Rohingya on board a ship as they are moved to Bhasan Char island

The UN has said it has not been allowed to carry out a technical and safety assessment of Bhasan Char in the Bay of Bengal and was not involved in the transfer of refugees there.

Bangladesh says it is transferring only people who are willing to go and the move will ease chronic overcrowding in the Cox’s Bazar camps that are home to more than one million Rohingya.

But refugees and humanitarian workers say some of the Rohingya have been coerced into going to the island, which emerged from the sea only 20 years ago.

Several attempts at repatriation of Rohingya to Myanmar have failed after the refugees said they were too fearful of further violence to return.