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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:34:23 | version 1.43.00
IN FOCUS akzente 4/1524 » WATER ProjeCt: Turning refugees into plumbers Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development Lead executing agency: Jordanian Ministry of Water and Irrigation TERM: 2014 TO 2016 JORDAN In Jordan – one of the world’s most arid countries – the influx of Syrian refugees is putting increasing pressure on scarce water resources. GIZ has set up a training programme for plumbers in two governorates. Many of the trainees are refugees, who are learning how to mitigate water scarcity and prevent water losses from leaky pipes. www.giz.de/en/worldwide/32347.html 3 EXAMPLES OF WORK AT Human rights ProjeCt: Protecting human rights in migration situations Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, European Union Lead executing agency: Secretaría Técnica del Plan Ecuador TERM: 2013 TO 2016 ECUADOR The border area between Ecuador and Colombia is a dangerous place, partly due to the protracted conflict in Colombia. GIZ is assisting Ecuador in improving the protection for refugees and displaced persons in this region by providing access to services such as legal advice and social support. www.giz.de/en/worldwide/15019.html 4 people smuggler is arrested one day and his operation is closed down, 10 new ones spring up the day after.’ Almost 3,000 people are thought to have drowned in the Mediterranean this year alone. And according to the International Organization for Migration, at least as many have died of thirst in the desert: in Niger, Libya or in the region between Sudan and Chad – currently a tem- porary haven for refugees from the conflicts in Darfur and South Sudan. Often, the distinctions between emi gration, migration, displacement and expulsion become blurred. Abubakar Demba from Gambia says that he grew up in abject poverty and has no future, and claims that he was beaten by the police. His troubles are negli- gible, one might think, compared with all that the Syrian refugees have to endure, but Abubakar Demba is willing, nonetheless, to embark on a journey that could cost him his life. No place for bureaucratic niceties For the people affected, the distinction between a refugee, an internally displaced person and a migrant is often irrelevant. This applies, for example, in the region where Nigeria, Niger, Chad and Cameroon intersect, where local people are being terrorised by Boko Haram militants and members of the various ethnic groups are on the move in all these states. Very few of them have a passport. In all, 1.5 million people here have been dis- placed. Women in particular live in constant fear of be- ing abducted, raped or forced into marriage. One of them is Kouli Ali, who was held prisoner by Boko Haram for two weeks. She tells her story in Diffa on the border between Niger and Nigeria. ‘They arrived in Damasak early one morning,’ says Kouli. ‘There were more than 1,000 young men and two old ones who told the fighters what to do.’ Kouli is 21 years old. She sits with her family and neighbours under a tree on the out- skirts of Diffa. The terrorists went from house to house, she says. ‘They shouted “Allahu Akbar” and then – tak- taktaktak.’ Kouli says that she was locked in a house with dozens of other women and children. After two days, the Islamists came back for the young girls. ‘They told the girls – the ones who were 13, 14 or 15 years old – “You are married now.” Then they took them away.’ Kouli was one of the lucky ones. ‘I was pregnant, so they weren’t interested in me.’ Three days later, while still in captivity, she gave birth to her baby, whom she cradles in her arms while she tells her story. The other women helped her while she was in labour. A few nights later,