· January, 2009

Stories about Refugees from January, 2009

Palestine: “They used our clothes as a toilet”

Bloggers in Gaza are gathering information about what happened during the recent Israeli attacks. In this update, we hear from families whose homes were looted and left covered with faeces by Israeli soldiers, learn what the effects of DIME weapons are, and are told the story of a father whose baby daughter was shot, his wife breastfeeding the girl as she bled to death.

31 January 2009

Rohingya Muslims facing cultural genocide

Prof. Marranci writes that Rohingya Muslims are “victims of their lack of strategic value, both for their native Southeast Asia and the wider international community.” The Rohingyas are also “facing...

30 January 2009

The plight of the Rohingya

The Rohingya have been called “trafficked victims”, “refugees”, “forced migrants” and “illegal migrants”. The Irrawaddy provides a comprehensive background to the situation of the Rohingya. This issue has involved Malaysia,...

28 January 2009

Palestine: “In Gaza, only the dead have seen the end of this war”

The people of Gaza are discovering the extent of the destruction inflicted during three weeks of Israeli attacks, and are slowly starting to rebuild their lives. Some bloggers are wondering about the less visible psychological and emotional damage. One asks, "What will be the reward for getting up and going on, one more time?"

21 January 2009

Palestine: Assessing the Aftermath in Gaza

On Sunday evening the Israel Defense Forces began a troop withdrawal from Gaza, following three straight weeks of attacks. Israel's unilateral ceasefire was announced earlier in the day, and met with an offer for a one-week ceasefire from Hamas. Ayesha Saldanha shares blog reactions from Gaza.

19 January 2009

Flashfloods and landslides in south Philippines

More than 115,000 people in the Philippines’ northern Mindanao region had fled to safety due to flashfloods and landslides. The local government reported that the series of flashfloods that struck the region have reached humanitarian crisis proportions

17 January 2009

Indonesia: Flooding in 13 provinces

Thirteen Indonesian provinces experienced flooding the past week due to torrential rains. The disaster has claimed the lives of 14 people while three others are still missing. More than 50,000 people have to be evacuated. Jakarta, Indonesia’s capital, is under up to two meters of water.

17 January 2009

Palestine: Israeli Troops Enter Residential Areas of Gaza City

Thousands of Palestinians have been fleeing from Gaza City as IDF troops have entered residential areas. A number of the foreign activists in Gaza were helping at Al Quds hospital when it came under attack, and managed to get out reports of what was going on. We hear from them and other bloggers in this roundup of Gaza blogs by Ayesha Saldanha.

16 January 2009

Palestine: “Tell me, please God, tell me this is going to end soon”

The Israeli aerial attacks on Gaza show no sign of relenting, and in Gaza City there is now street fighting. In this post bloggers describe the fear experienced when Israeli soldiers arrive in the neighbourhood, explain how important prayer has become, and emphasise the need to keep telling the world what is going on.

13 January 2009

Azerbaijan: IDPs

“sIDe-tALKs” Azerbaijan visits Azeri refugees and IDPs displaced by the war with Armenia over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh in the early 1990s. The blog posts photographs of the...

10 January 2009