AlertNet Blogs

Yemen conflict: People living in limbo

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:30:00 +0000

Written by Oxfam's field staff member in Yemen.

It's my third week as an Oxfam engineer inside this makeshift city set deep in the mountains of Northern Yemen. This is the Al Mazarakh camp in Haradh - home to 950 families, or nearly 6,000 people, displaced by the ongoing fighting between Al Huthi rebels and government forces in the region. I have come to this place to provide urgently needed assistance for people who have been displaced by the conflict.

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For a few hours, London's Hyde Park hosts one of the world's worst toilets

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 14:49:00 +0000

Above ground, businessmen wearing pinstriped suits strolled past multi-million-pound houses in London's exclusive Hyde Park area and doormen welcomed guests into luxury hotels.

But below street level, the area housed one of the world's most repulsive public lavatories.

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Myanmar's neglected HIV patients face a struggle to the death

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 11:27:00 +0000

YANGON - Htay Htay Thwe is one of the lucky ones. True, she is infected with HIV, her husband died last year, she has tuberculosis, chronic abdominal pains, no job and a seven-year-old daughter to support.

But Htay Htay Thwe is receiving life-saving medicine, setting her apart from most people living with HIV in Myanmar, for whom the virus guarantees a slow, painful death.

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Corruption in Afghanistan - Blame and shame

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 10:33:00 +0000

By Martin Jelsma and Tom Kramer, Transnational Institute

Today Afghan President Hamid Karzai is inaugurated for his second term as the country's "elected" president. The first round of elections was mired in fraud, while the second round was cancelled after his main contester withdrew. Most Afghans we speak with on our trip here were pleased with the cancellation, as one of them told us: "Democracy may be good, but elections are a dangerous thing for us".

We are not in Kabul for the ceremony, but far away in Herat near the Iranian border to look at the increasing problems here with heroin use. Arriving in Herat is a relief after our first days in the capital. Herat doesn't feel like a war zone like Kabul. Here there are no roadblocks, hardly any concrete blocks with barbed wire, very few buildings destroyed, and no armed men on every corner of the street.

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Security in Afghanistan - Business as usual?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 16:05:00 +0000

By Martin Jelsma and Tom Kramer

The declining security situation in Afghanistan is costing international agencies billions of dollars a year. But for some people, security has become big business.

We are on a 12-day mission in Afghanistan to assess opium market trends. The country is responsible for over 90% of world opium production. We are meeting with representatives of the government and development agencies to assess the impact of drug policies by the Afghan government and the international community.

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How feasible is a financial tax to fund adaptation?

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 13:19:00 +0000

How might the world raise the $100 billion or more per year that experts believe developing world countries will need to adapt to the effects of climate change?

Dan Smith, the secretary general of International Alert, an independent peace-building organisation, thinks a tax on financial transactions is just the thing.

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Climate Displacement: The Muddle on Terminology

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:44:00 +0000

As fears of the global impact of climate change grow, Im seeing more and more references in the media to climate refugees, the millions of people who may be forcibly displaced by the natural and man-made disasters that climate change will provoke. As a descriptive phrase it has the advantage of being short and clear. The problem is that from a refugee rights perspective it is nonsensical, and therein lies yet another dilemma for anyone who wants to communicate clearly about a complex issue.

The 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as someone who is outside the country of her or his nationality owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. While in the succeeding decades fleeing conflict has become an accepted rationale for claiming international protection, flight from natural disasters has not. Thus, under international refugee law there can be no climate refugees.

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Why boosting food output is not enough to beat hunger

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 16:09:00 +0000

LONDON (AlertNet) - In a world that is producing enough food to feed everyone, why are one in six people going hungry?

Fighting rising hunger is top of the agenda at a summit hosted by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) this week which is discussing ways to boost agricultural output in poor countries.

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Can indigenous knowledge reduce climate disaster risk?

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 11:50:00 +0000

I have just spent three weeks in Northern Kenya among the Borana people, followed by three weeks in Mindanao, southern Philippines, partly with the Higaonan tribe.

Vastly different countries yet I was immediately struck by the similarities in the challenges the communities faced, including drought, conflict, floods and general environmental degradation.

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Climate skeptics: Take a look at the Sunderbans

Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:14:00 +0000

Every door you knock on in the Sundarbans reveals a story. I'd like to challenge any sceptic who believes that climate change is a myth to spend a week here.

Sundarbans is Bengali for beautiful jungle, and it could not be a more apt description of the lush green mangroves that form the backdrop of the Pashur River in southwest Bangladesh.

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