The New Londoners - 2009 Issue

Issue 2009, Click on image to download the pdf

Editor’s Letter

A warm welcome to the third issue of ‘The New Londoners’, the paper that strives to build understanding between the newcomers who are making London their home and the city’s long-standing communities.

My colleagues and I were heartened and overwhelmed by the wonderful response to our previous issue that brought together a wealth of articles, stories and celebrities including the award-winning writer Mark Haddon and actor Colin Firth.

The New Londoners carries the voices and tells the stories of members of London’s newest communities; and has become an established platform for intercultural dialogue. The free annual newspaper brought many Londoners, new and old, together and facilitated a productive conversation. More volunteers are joining the paper to engage in this dialogue and to assist new Londoners telling their stories and dispelling the myths that surround them.

The New Londoners invites you to travel the amazing journeys of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers, and to share their lives, pain, hopes and successes.

New Londoners play an important role in London’s diversity, vibrancy and success; their contribution is celebrated in this paper.

The New Londoners is planned, written and produced on a voluntary basis by migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who are members of the Migrant and Refugee Media Action Group at the Migrants Resource Centre as well as British journalists and other Londoners.

I hope you will enjoy reading the paper as much as we have enjoyed working on its production. This edition is particularly significant to us as it falls during the Migrants Resource Centre’s 25th year of operation accompanying newcomers on their journeys to making London home.

We are grateful to the following organisations for their invaluable contribution and both practical and financial support: MRCF, OneWorld UK, Refugee Council, UNHCR, The Guardian, City Parochial Foundation, Barrow Cadbury, Loyds TSB Foundation, Epim and Oxfam.

Nazek Ramadan
Editor in Chief

Stranded with no solutions

Palestinians in Iraq

Following the 1948 war, tens of thousands of Palestinians who fled their homes were relocated to Iraq, while others have moved to the country in the intervening years. But with the fall of the Saddam Hussein regime many were targeted by militia groups. Most Palestinians have now fled Iraq, many to Syria, where they live at two desolate border camps.

Al Tanf, located in the no man’s land on the Syria-Iraq border, is a rag-tag gathering of tents and makeshift shelters housing some 800 Palestinians, including hundreds of children. The Baghdad-Damascus highway runs right past the settlement on the Iraqi side. A child was killed by a vehicle in 2006. Conditions within the camp are extremely tough; aside from sandstorms, fire risks and extremes of cold and heat, the area is infested by snakes and scorpions. Many of the Palestinians, who cannot enter Syria except in an emergency, suffer from severe trauma and a range of ailments, yet the nearest hospital in Iraq is 400km away, while the nearest medical facility in Syria is 270km from Al Tanf.

Another 1,400 Palestinian refugees live at a nearby border camp in the desert area, Al Waleed.

Few Palestinians in the border camps have been accepted for resettlement or offered shelter in third countries. Only some 300 Palestinians have gone to non-traditional resettlement countries such as Brazil, Chile and Iceland. Several dozen may be relocated to the UK in coming weeks under the Gateway Protection Programme.

UNHCR continues to advocate for alternative humane solutions in the hope that all these Palestinians will be able to leave the harsh conditions of the camps. Their relocation would in no way jeopardise their right to return at any stage, if and when such a possibility arises.

Iraq’s refugees

UNHCR has less than half the funding it needs for its £181m operation in Iraq this year. It may not be able to implement certain programmes if more money is not received soon. While security conditions have improved, they are not yet sustainable enough to have encouraged substantial numbers of Iraqis to return. More than 1.5m Iraqis are still outside the country – mostly in Syria and Jordan, and another 2m are internally displaced. UNHCR believes that Iraqis should not be forced back. Outside Iraq, asylum countries continue to carry a huge burden and are increasingly concerned over what they fear is gradually becoming a protracted refugee situation. They need and deserve continuing international support.

source: UNHCR