EU launches debit cards for refugees in Turkey

Yahoo – AFP, September 26, 2016

European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management Christos
 Stylianides (L) delivers a speech next to Turkey’s EU Minister Omer Celik (R)
during a joint press conference following their meeting on September 26, 2016
(AFP Photo/Adem Altan)

Ankara (AFP) - The European Union on Monday launched a scheme worth almost 350 million euros providing mainly Syrian refugees in Turkey with pre-paid debit cards, the biggest project yet under a landmark deal between the bloc and Ankara.

EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Christos Stylianides, in Ankara for the start of the programme, said the debit cards will help give vulnerable refugees a "sense of normality" in their lives.

The refugees will be able to use the cards in shops or institutions to pay for food, education, housing and clothing or also to withdraw cash from ATMs.

Each card will be automatically topped up with 100 Turkish lira ($33.50) a month, giving people the chance to choose their own purchases.

Stylianides said the programme was an "unprecedented response" to an "unprecedented crisis".

"This (scheme) is, in our humanitarian field, a game-changer in the delivery of humanitarian aid. Refugees can choose what they spend money on."

Turkey is home to some three million refugees, most of them Syrian. The vast majority live in cities without direct support from non-governmental organisations and aid groups.

Supported with 348 million euros ($392 million) from Brussels and its member states, the scheme will be rolled out by Turkish Red Crescent and the UN World Food Programme supported by the Turkish authorities.

Applications will start in October for the scheme. Families who have children going to school will receive more cash. All refugees registered in Turkey, including Iraqis, are eligible to apply.

Stylianides suggested that the programme would also benefit Turks.

"The money will be spent in local shops, boosting local businesses and encouraging social cohesion between citizens and refugees."

The project is part of a six billion euro ($6.75 billion) deal struck in March between Brussels and Ankara to curb the migrant influx into Europe, which saw more than a million arrive in the EU last year.

There have been fears the deal could collapse with President Recep Tayyip Erdogan complaining that the promised money was not handed directly to Turkey.

In exchange for cutting the flow, Brussels also offered Turkey visa liberalisation for its citizens to visit EU countries in the Schengen area as well as accelerated membership talks.

But Ankara has threatened to withdraw from the agreement if Europe does not allow visa-free travel for Turks by next month, though the numbers coming to Europe have dropped significantly since March.

UN urges nations to take in 100,000 Syrian refugees

Google – AFP, 21 February 2014

Syrian refugees pictured in a refugee camp near the city of Marea, on the 

outskirts of the northern Syrian city of Aleppo, on February 19, 2014 

(Mohammed Al-Khatieb/AFP/File, Mohammed Al-Khatieb)

Genève — The UN refugee agency on Friday urged countries outside the Middle East to open their doors to 100,000 Syrians who need to find a haven outside their conflict-hit region.

The call from the United Nations high commissioner for refugees follows an earlier appeal to developed countries to grant a new home to 30,000 of the most vulnerable Syrians driven from their country.

With no sign of an end to the brutal three-year conflict between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and rebel forces, tens of thousands more will need help in the near future, it said.

"UNHCR anticipates that in the coming years, there will be increasing numbers of vulnerable Syrian refugees who will be in need of resettlement, relocation, or other forms of humanitarian admission," said spokesman Dan McNorton.

"We appeal to the international community to continue providing longer-term solutions for Syrian refugees who are most urgently in need," he told reporters.

The agency said it aimed to find a haven for the 100,000 new refugees during 2015 and 2016.

But it is still working to place the initial 30,000 before the end of this year.

Twenty countries have so offered more than 18,800 slots for resettlement or a long-term temporary permit.

Germany has done the most to shoulder the load, agreeing to take in 10,000 on a federal programme and 1,500 under schemes in individual states.

Canada has pledged 1,300, Sweden 1,200, Norway 1,000, and countries including Australia, Austria, Finland and France have agreed to take in 500 each.

UNHCR said it was likely to reach the total of 30,000 thanks to an open-ended number of slots proposed by the United States, already the world's top destination for refugee resettlement.

The figures are a shadow of the number of Syrian refugees in the Middle East.

All told, there are some 2.4 million Syrians spread across the region.

According to UNCHR figures, there are some 932,000 in Lebanon, 613,000 in Turkey, 574,000 in Jordan, 223,000 in Iraq, and 134,000 in Egypt.

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Tony Abbott: Broadcaster ABC on 'everyone's side but Australia'

BBC News, 29 January 2014

Tony Abbott said the ABC should not "leap to be critical" of Australia

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• Canberra 'spied on Indonesia leader'
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Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott has criticised national broadcaster ABC for "taking everyone's side but Australia's".

Mr Abbott said the publicly-funded broadcaster should show "some basic affection for the home team".

The ABC has been at the forefront of reports on abuse claims from asylum seekers and reports that Australia had spied on Indonesia.

The ABC had no immediate comment on Mr Abbott's statements.

However, the opposition said that the government should welcome media scrutiny.

'Benefit of doubt'

Mr Abbott made the comments during an interview with radio station 2GB.

He said he was "worried and concerned" by the ABC's role in reporting spying claims in documents leaked by former CIA contractor Edward Snowden.

The documents appeared to show that Australian spy agencies named the Indonesian president and other senior ministers as targets for telephone monitoring.

The reports led to a diplomatic row, with Indonesia suspending military co-operation with Australia.

Mr Abbott also criticised the ABC's coverage of allegations that Australian navy personnel had mistreated asylum seekers.

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said it was right that the
ABC scrutinised government

Footage obtained by the ABC showed asylum-seekers being treated for burns that they said had been caused when they were forced to hold on to a hot boat engine.

Indonesian police said some asylum-seekers had burn marks on their hands, but they did not know who had inflicted them.

The claims were strongly rejected by both the Australian military and government, which has offered to co-operate with an Indonesian investigation.

"If there's credible evidence, the ABC, like all other news organisations is entitled to report it," Mr Abbott said.

"[But] you can't leap to be critical of your own country," he said, adding that the ABC should be prepared to give the Australian navy "the benefit of the doubt".

'Welcome scrutiny'

Acting Opposition Leader Tanya Plibersek said every government had "been subject to the close scrutiny of the ABC, and we should all welcome that".

"From emergency broadcasts in times of trouble to coverage of the events that shape our nation, the ABC is there, free for all Australians," she said.

The number of asylum boats travelling to Australia from Indonesia rose
in 2012 and the beginning of 2013

"[Mr Abbott] should stop complaining about media coverage and start behaving like a prime minister," she added.

Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said: "We need strong voices in parliament to stand up for the public's right to an independent national broadcaster".

Critics have accused the government of secrecy over asylum policy.

The government has refused to comment on reports that the navy are towing asylum boats back to Indonesia. It has however recently issued an apology to Indonesia for "inadvertently" violating its waters on multiple occasions.

The government has also limited information on asylum arrivals and vessel-related incidents to a weekly e-mail, citing operational needs.

The ABC charter describes the corporation as "the provider of an independent national broadcasting service".

In December, ABC managing director Mark Scott defended the ABC's coverage of the spying allegations.

"We are an independent media organisation and of course sometimes we will publish stories that politicians won't be happy about," he said. "That's the role we have to play."

Related Article:

"The Recalibration of Awareness – Apr 20/21, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll) (Subjects: Old Energy, Recalibration Lectures, God / Creator, Religions/Spiritual systems  (Catholic Church, Priests/Nun’s, Worship, John Paul Pope, Women in the Church otherwise church will go, Current Pope won’t do it),  Middle East, Jews, Governments will change (Internet, Media, Democracies, Dictators, North Korea, Nations voted at once), Integrity (Businesses, Tobacco Companies, Bankers/ Financial Institutes, Pharmaceutical company to collapse),  Illuminati (Started in Greece, with Shipping, Financial markets, Stock markets, Pharmaceutical money (fund to build Africa, to develop)), Shift of Human Consciousness, (Old) Souls, Women, Masters to/already come back, Global Unity.... etc.) - (Text version)

“…  Government

Let us speak of government. We're not speaking of your government, but of any government - the way it works, how it survives, how it has survived, the way it campaigns, and how it elects leaders. It's going to change.

Years ago, I told you, "When everybody can talk to everybody, there can be no secrets." Up to this point on this planet, government has counted on one thing - that the people can't easily talk to each other on a global scale. They have to get their information through government or official channels. Even mass media isn't always free enough, for it reports that which the government reports. Even a free society tends to bias itself according to the bias of the times. However, when you can have Human Beings talking to each other all at once, all over the planet without government control, it all changes, for there is open revelation of truth.. 

Australia Asylum Policy ‘Draconian’: Rights Group

Jakarta Globe, January 22, 2014

An exhausted boy during a rescue operation in Cidaun, Cianjur, West Java,
Indonesia on July 24, 2013. (EPA Photo/Andra Subhan)

[Updated November 23]

Australia has neglected its legal responsibility to protect the rights of asylum seekers in favor of popular domestic appeal, Human Rights Watch said on Wednesday at the launch of its 2014 World Report.

In its 24th edition of the report, HRW slammed Australia’s scare-mongering politics and punitive resettlement policies.

“Last year Australia’s two major political parties were hell-bent on using cruel policies to deter asylum seekers, even at the expense of Australia’s international reputation,” said Elaine Pearson, director of HRW Australia.

In 2013, the Abbott government’s Operation Sovereign Borders policy promised to combat people smuggling by empowering the navy to turn back boats carrying asylum seekers.

HRW’s report said policies like these demonized asylum seekers, and risked destroying Australia’s global standing as a leader on human rights in Asia Pacific.

“It is a case of the richest country in the region foisting its burdens off onto poorer countries,” Pearson said.

She likened the impact of Australia’s mandatory offshore detention policy to the damage the US detention center in Guantanamo Bay had caused to that country’s human rights record.

“Australia risks its war on people smuggling being compared to another country that has had an abysmal record in an offshore jail, and of course I’m talking about the US and Guantanamo,” she said.

The report said Australia’s policy of mandatory detention in offshore processing centers in Papua New Guinea and Nauru exposed asylum seekers to harsh and unsatisfactory conditions.

Last year, after visiting the processing centers, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees reported that the facilities were neither fair nor humane, and failed to meet international standards.

Pearson said the ban on journalists entering processing centers and the secrecy surrounding Operation Sovereign Borders meant information was difficult to verify.

On Tuesday, a group of asylum seekers claimed they had been burned and beaten by the Australian navy before being returned to Indonesia under the policy to “turn back the boats.”

Australian Immigration Minister Scott Morrison denied the allegations, telling reporters in Sydney “the Australian government is not going to put up with people sledging the Australian navy.”

Pearson said the public’s right to information must be prioritized, as it was difficult to the get to the bottom of issues when “what happens at sea, stays at sea.”

“It is not sufficient to rely on the Australian government to act in the best interests of the people, when clearly this is not the case,” she said. She predicted Operation Sovereign Borders would not achieve Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s goal of stopping asylum-seeker boats.

“When people continue to be mistreated in detention centers, in worst cases being subjected to rape or human torture, then of course people are going to do anything they can to escape those conditions,” Pearson said.

HRW Indonesia researcher Andreas Harsono agreed, saying asylum seekers boarded the boats because there was no certainty for them in Indonesia.

“The ideal situation would be for those people not to be detained at all; for their children to have access to education and to have the right to work,” Pearson said.

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Australia Vows No More Intrusions in Indonesian Waters

UN Warns Australia Over Reported Refugee Boat Push-Backs

Asylum seekers from Afghanistan, Iraq and Iran cry as Indonesian officers
 force them to leave the Australian vessel Hermia docked at Indah Kiat port in
 Merak, Indonesia’s Banten province in this April 9, 2012 file photo. (Reuters
Photo/Aulia Pratama)

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