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ePaper created 2015-12-01, 11:34:23 | version 1.43.00
akzente 4/1526 A mobile phone – a vital accessory for every refugee nowadays. With a phone, refugees can organise their journey, find a route and stay in contact with friends and family. ‘The Migrants’ Files’ is an award-winning and stead- ily growing online dossier on migration to Europe. Partners of this research network include the newspapers Süddeutsche Zeitung, Libération and Der Standard. www.themigrantsfiles.com she managed to escape, mainly because the terrorists lost interest in her. Others are less fortunate, especially the countless women refugees who are raped, exploited or forced into prostitution in camps. And according to the United Na- tions, half of the world’s refugees are children – and many of them are abused as well. So what should be done? As long as there is open warfare in so many countries, little will change, no mat- ter how much effort is made. Genuinely effective refugee policies must go hand in hand with security policy. The European debates about the resettlement of refugees who have already reached the EU do little to address the prob- lem. The fact is that refugee numbers are unlikely to de- crease substantially until the conflicts raging in Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya and Somalia die down – for ex- perience has shown that people will not return home un- til the war is over. But building peace takes more than humanitarian aid. It needs considerable diplomatic com- mitment and, indeed, military engagement by the West, including the deployment of international peace troops. However, all the negotiations in the world have little effect if the governments of the countries concerned re- main disengaged. Gambian dictator Jammeh recently ejected the EU ambassador because she dared to voice crit icism of the situation in his country in the context of the refugee crisis. It’s a similar situation in Eritrea, where the leadership presses the people into never-ending military service. Much depends on the situation in the refugees’ countries of origin. However, the host countries too – es- pecially the Western industrialised nations – should not be short-sighted: an unwavering determination to make a new start is always one of the chief characteristics dis- played by refugees – and one that can benefit everyone. www.giz.de/refugees www.giz.de/support-for-refugees www.giz.de/migrationdevelopment