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Washington - 19th March 2013
Taoiseach Enda Kenny in Washington D.C. with President Barack Obama and Speaker John Boehner of the House of Representatives

Taoiseach Enda Kenny visits the Whitehouse

nobody@flickr.com (MerrionStreet.ie) — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:37:59 -0700

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Washington - 19th March 2013
Taoiseach Enda Kenny presents President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama with the traditional bowl of shamrock to mark St Patrick's Day at the Whitehouse
Credit Marty Katz/washingtonphotographer.com

Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the St Patrick's Day Shamrock ceremony with President Obama

nobody@flickr.com (MerrionStreet.ie) — Fri, 24 May 2013 02:37:59 -0700

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Washington 19th March 2013
Taoiseach Enda Kenny presents President Barack Obama with the traditional bowl of shamrock to mark St Patrick's Day at the Whitehouse

Credit Marty Katz/washingtonphotographer.com

Suriye, Kimyasal Silah mı Kullanıyor?

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:58:54 -0700

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FB'nin Listesindeki Belhanda Konuştu

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:58:39 -0700

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G.Saray'ın Cezasını Trabzon Ödemek İstiyor

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:58:44 -0700

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Erdoğan, Muhalefete Fena Yüklendi

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:59:00 -0700

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Bülent Ersoy'un Saçları Olay Oldu

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:58:47 -0700

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Cimbom İlk Bombayı Patlatıyor

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:58:50 -0700

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UNHCR News Story: A learning curve for young Syrian refugees at model school in Lebanon

nobody@flickr.com (UNHCR) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:41:26 -0700

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Female students at the school in Arsal, which is running a second shift of classes in the afternoon to accommodate Syrian refugees.
UNHCR / G. Beals / May 2013

A learning curve for young Syrian refugees at model school in Lebanon

ARSAL, Lebanon, May 23 (UNHCR) – It's test day at the Arsal Public Second Shift Middle School and the students in the 8th Grade maths class are engrossed in their exam. They factor numbers, write a series of equations in the form of a single power – all in French, a language they have come to learn only since starting school here in north-east Lebanon two months ago.

"These children come to school with a deep desire for learning," says Ali Hujeiri, 55, the school principal. "They know what they've missed and now they appreciate the value of their education."

They have arrived from Syrian towns and cities such as Qusayr, Dara'a and Homs – places that are now battlegrounds. At least one of the boys in the class has seen his home blown to pieces. But somehow the silent walls of school that provide them a place for study also nurture a sense of hope beyond conflict. Here Billal, aged 11, can dream of becoming a teacher. Halid, also 11, aspires one day to be a doctor. Ten-year-old Selieman wants to be a hairdresser.

Arsal was once a sleepy town nestled in the hills a few kilometres from the Syrian border. When war broke out in Syria two years ago, the town bulged as civilians, most of them women and children, fled to Lebanon. Soon Arsal grew by 10,000 people – roughly half were children.

There wasn't enough room in the schools to handle all the newcomers, so the municipality was asked by the Lebanese Ministry of Education to create a second shift between one and six in the afternoon. Arsal Middle School gladly complied and 236 Syrian students were enrolled. "I look at these children and I say, 'What in this war is their fault?'" says Hujeiri. "They didn't do anything to deserve their fate. These children need to be educated."

Throughout Lebanon almost 40 per cent of the refugee population is of school age. But enrollment in the education system remains critically low. In the current academic year, only 30,000 of the estimated 120,000 school-age refugee children go to state schools.

It is estimated that another 10,000 receive some form of private education. This level of refugee participation in education is nowhere near the ambitious goal set by the Lebanese government to have 60 per cent of all refugee children in school.

While the Ministry of Education has promised that all refugee children are entitled to attend a state school, many schools are either overcrowded or lacking in basic resources such as books.

The Arsal approach of double shifts represents one solution. Tuition fees, which cost US$136 per term, are paid for by the UN refugee agency. Other UNHCR partners fund books, supplies and other educational needs. The Syrian students arriving in the village are unfamiliar with the Lebanese curriculum or the French language in which some courses are taught, but they have managed to excel in just a few months.

"We see the approach that Arsal has taken as a model for the rest of the country," says Linda Kjosaas, a UNHCR education expert in Lebanon. "With an increasing influx, the number of children in school-age at the end of 2013 will exceed the current number of children enrolled in state schools, and in some places even a second shift will not solve the space problem. The impact of the conflict is staggering, but despite what these children have had to endure in the past, they need to be given a real chance to further their education and not become a lost generation."

The refugee children of Arsal still face daunting problems. Many children cannot go to school because they are required to work by their parents. Others are traumatized by war as well as the transient nature of their lives. "It is the lack of stability that has affected them the most," says the school principal, Hujeiri. "They don't have food on their tables each day. They don't live in the same place every day."

To that extent, the educational environment at the school is more than just a learning tool. It is a way to create a shared space of safety. Children who are not in school are at much higher risk of ending up as child labour. Moreover, it would be more difficult for the government and humanitarian agencies to identify the health and other needs of the young not at school.

"For many villages, the school is the heart of the community, and to be able to bring children to the safety of a school and offer them needed services is very important. Quality education is the only way for these children to integrate well in their new reality and have a real chance for a future," notes Hujeiri.

Currently UNHCR, UNICEF and partners are planning for next year's Back to School programme. With a forecast number of 300,000 registered refugees in school-age in Lebanon, the costs of failure for these students is simply too high and so a strong spirit of cooperation has flourished between school officials, local government, UNHCR and other key partners. "We are all team players here," says Terra Mackinnon, UNHCR associate field officer. "Gold stars for collaboration for everyone!"

FB'nin Listesindeki Belhanda Konuştu

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:46:45 -0700

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UNHCR News Story: Repatriation of refugees from Liberia to Côte d'Ivoire picks up this year

nobody@flickr.com (UNHCR) — Fri, 24 May 2013 01:41:26 -0700

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Smiling Ivorian children return home on a UNHCR convoy to Danane in Côte d'Ivoire.
© UNHCR/L.Palmisano

Repatriation of refugees from Liberia to Côte d'Ivoire picks up this year

ABIDJAN, Côte d'Ivoire, May 23 (UNHCR) – Two years after the end of Côte d'Ivoire's brief civil war, growing numbers of refugees have been returning to the country since January after violence last year slowed the rate of returns. But tens of thousands remain in exile.

In the first four months of 2013, some 7,300 Ivorians returned home with UNHCR's help from neighbouring Liberia under a voluntary repatriation programme launched in October 2011. "At this rate, UNHCR anticipates that up to 10,000 refugees will come back before the rainy season starts at the end of June," said Ann Encontre, the UNHCR representative in Côte d'Ivoire.

Over the same period, UNHCR organized the repatriation of about 100 Ivorian refugees from other countries. Most were from Togo (89), but they also included returnees from Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Ghana, Guinea and Thailand.

The Ivorians had fled their country to escape the violence that followed the presidential election of November 2010 between incumbent Laurent Gbagbo and challenger and winner, Alassane Ouattara. By the time forces loyal to Ouattara had defeated Gbagbo's forces in April 2011, some 250,000 people had fled to Liberia or other countries and hundreds of thousands were internally displaced.

Most have since returned to Côte d'Ivoire with UNHCR help or on their own, but more than 80,000 Ivorians remain in other West African countries, including 61,000 in Liberia.

They are mainly concerned about the security situation, especially following renewed violence last June and July, including the killing of seven UN peacekeepers in western Côte d'Ivoire and the torching of a site for internally displaced people in the town of Duekoue. Repatriation to Côte d'Ivoire ground to a near halt in the second half of last year.

However, the security situation improved towards the end of 2012 and people, like returnee Victor, began to have more confidence in the improved situation. "I'm back in my country and I am happy," Victor told UNHCR after recently returning to his home in western Côte d'Ivoire on a UNHCR convoy. "Liberia treated us very well, but there is no place like home," said the 25-year-old, who lived in the Bahn refugee camp in Liberia's Nimba County for two years.

"The authorities explained to us that the security situation in Côte d'Ivoire has improved, and our friends and family in the country confirmed that," he added. UNHCR organized go-and-see visits for refugees in Liberia who were trying to decide whether or not to return.

"A friend of mine was among them," noted Victor, whose own family had remained in Côte d'Ivoire. "When he called me and told me all was ok, I felt reassured and I decided immediately to come back," added the young man, who said he hoped to find a job and contribute to the development of his country.

The UN refugee agency has been encouraging people to return. "To return to your own country is a real durable solution for a refugee and UNHCR fully supports this decision," said Ali Tchanile Tchacoly, head of a UNHCR sub-office in the Côte d'Ivoire town of Guiglo. "Returnees will be in a position to contribute to the development of their country."

But although things have improved since the middle of last year, insecurity remains a problem in some parts of western Côte d'Ivoire, including the border areas. Reconciliation between the former warring groups is progressing at a slow pace and armed groups occasionally target civilians.

Three armed attacks in popular return areas last March led to the biggest population displacement in months, Encontre noted, while adding that "the situation is slowly returning to normal, and most people have returned to their villages."

The attacks also disrupted return convoys along the road linking Grand Gedeh in eastern Liberia and the Côte d'Ivoire border town Toulepleu, but these have since resumed and on April 29 a group of 425 Ivorians returned home via this route. They included 218 people who returned to the Tai area, where the peacekeepers were killed and to where returns had been suspended for more than a year.

Meanwhile, UNHCR and the Côte d'Ivoire authorities continue to assist refugee returnees on arrival. Every adult returnee receives a cash grant of US$150 and those under 18 years of age each receive US$100. The World Food Programme provides returnees with a food aid pack for a month and UNHCR also distributes a range of non-food items such as blankets, plastic sheeting for shelter, buckets and kitchen utensils.

UNHCR is also involved in programmes aimed at easing the reintegration of the returnees. These include shelter and housing support, easing access to education, rehabilitation of community facilities such as markets and health facilities, and implementation of income-generation projects.

By Lara Palmisano in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire

FB'nin Listesinde ki Belhanda'dan Önemli Açıklamalar

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:31:30 -0700

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Dikkat cekerler - Draw attention to - Baris Kaykusuz

nobody@flickr.com (bariskaykusuz) — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:30:59 -0700

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Erdoğan'dan Kılıçdaroğlu'na Rekor Dava

nobody@flickr.com (stargundem) — Fri, 24 May 2013 00:14:30 -0700

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