Assignments

Re: Presentation of NGOs at the Embu Development Meeting, 12-14 January, 2001

At the beginning of next year the Embu Development Committee will be holding its annual meeting. It has become a tradition to invite all local and international NGOs to participate in the activities around the meeting the purpose of which is to promote an interest in development projects in Embu and the Eastern Province.

I have received your name from the co-coordinator of your organisation who has assured me that your organisation supports your participation. At this stage of the planning we need some information from you. The details required have to do with the physical planning of the meeting venue which is to be Uhuri Hall. Could you please answer the following questions as soon as possible?

• What is your project's formal title?
• How much space would you like reserved ( there are booth allotments of 10 and 20 square metres)?
• Do you plan to attend the welcome banquet on 12^th January?

We are also interested in hearing any suggestions you may have. The information should be sent to the District Commissioner's Office at the above address. Please mark the envelope "EDM". We are looking forward to hearing from you.

Yours sincerely,

Human Rights Check today urged the United Nations refugee agency to take immediate steps to protect the security of more than 100,000 Leopardian refugees in Utlandia. It called on the agency to move the refugees who are in camps too close to the border to safer locations inside Utlandia, as they are doing for Kosovar refugees in northern Albania.

"It is a long-standing, fundamental principle that refugee camps should not be located close to international borders with a war raging just on the other side," said Rachael O'Casey, Refugee Policy Director at Human Rights Check.!! "These refugees should not have been settled so close to the border in the first place. Their location leaves them completely vulnerable to armed attacks and abduction, and they must be moved immediately." Where to?

In May 1998, Human Rights Check first called on the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to move the refugees, in accordance with international law. Human Rights Check has also urged UNCHR not to settle new refugees too close to the border, and to ensure that the human rights of the refugees are respected in the moving process.

40, 000 refugees were relocated as of April 2000.

Fewer than 10,000 of the refugees have been moved to date. The rainy season has already begun in Utlandia and, in the very near future, unpaved roads leading to the refugee camps may become impassable, making it extremely difficult to move refugees to safety.

The entire budget was, in fact, promptly received!

Kosovar refugees in northern Albania face similar risks of being caught in the crossfire between the parties fighting in Kosovo. Unlike in Utlandia, however, UNHCR has taken pains to encourage refugees to move to safer camps in southern Albania. UNHCR has transported approximately 2,000 refugees to southern Albania in the last month.

It’s important to mention that there are also 50,000 refurgges from Fraterna at Smoka Camp. This complicates thing immensely!

UNHCR requested $4 million to move refugees in Utlandia to safety but has yet to receive the entire budget. In Albania, UNHCR has recognised that moving the refugees away from the border with Kosovo is a priority. It has essentially unlimited funds for the move.

"The refugees in Albania certainly deserve the world's help," said Ambutakke "But the refugees in Utlandia deserve it no less."