Darfur+refugees+to+Chad

=Darfur Refugees to Chad = Over the past few years more than 250,000 refugees from Darfur have crossed their Eastern border with Chad to escape the ongoing conflict ravaging the region. These people flee from the tensions between Arab nomadic herders and African tribes (who are mostly farmers) which have yielded immense military conflict. Darfur is a war-zone; the Arab janjaweed militias target African rebel groups, not differentiating between the men of the rebel groups and innocent women and children. A deep-founded sense of fear for one's own life and the lives of one's family has caused these people from Darfur to migrate to the closest country to them: Chad. Although the situation may not be much improved in Chad, refugees travel to Chad with the hopes of finding a regular supply of food, clean water and health care. However, the area of Chad where most refugees settle is of arid terrain and harsh climate. Resources are scarce and thus diseases and health problems widespread. Refugees from Darfur come to Chad not only seeking food, water and protection; they also come seeking relief, relief from the violence and suffering. Many of these Sudanese people have witnessed atrocities beyond belief and are in need not only of material resources but of psychological help. These refugees arrive in the camps in Chad exhausted from the journey, grieving the deaths of loved ones and despairing because they have little or no chance of returning home.




 * __Statistics__**
 * About 6,000 Sudanese reached the border town of Birak in Chad on Feb 11.2008
 * One of the largest documented exoduses of Sudanese to Chad
 * Migrants were mainly men
 * Currently there are around 240,000 Sudanese refugees in Chad
 * At least two million people have been displaced by the conflict in Darfur

__**Push factors**__
 * Fleeing Sudanese Army Bombs and Arab Milias
 * Arab militia groups supported by the government (the janjaweed) attack non Arab rebel groups in Darfur
 * Ravaged western region
 * Active war zone
 * unsafe for families
 * Ethnic and political tensions
 * no one group in control
 * Darfur rebel groups splinter and fight among themselves
 * Arab militias switching sides in the fight more than once
 * Aerial bombardment, troops and the Janjaweed Arab militia threaten the Darfurians
 * Unstable villages- burnt down
 * Plundered goods
 * Family members killed, raped or wounded
 * Attacks on Seleah, Abu Shuruj, and Sirba

//NGO// //help-////Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)////://
 * __Pull factors__**
 * distribute essential relief items to the refugees
 * 2,500 blankets; 1,600 plastic sheets; 1,600 jerry-cans for water; 2,000 mats; soap; and nutrient-fortified, ready-to-use foods (RUF)
 * prevention and treating of malnutrition
 * provide access to medical care
 * Improved medical care- MSF organizes a measles vaccination campaign alongside a distribution of RUF for moderate and severely malnourished children under five years

__**Other pull factors**__
 * Security from the bombs and gunfire of the janjaweed and the rebels
 * Escape to a safer, more stable place
 * However, the refugees still remain close to home
 * the would be able to return to their country when the fighting subsides


 * __Type of migration__**
 * External- from one country to another. Sudan --> Chad
 * Forced- due to internal conflicts- civil war, political opinion


 * __Applicable Ravenstein’s laws__**
 * Each migration produces **a movement in the opposite direction** (although not necessarily of the same volume)
 * With the arrival of Darfur refugees in areas along the Eastern areas of Chad, it has been reported that Chadians have escaped to their war-ravaged neghboring country: Sudan
 * Within their own country females are more migratory than males, but **males are more migratory over long distances**
 * Most migrants **travel short distances** and the number decrease as the distance increases
 * Migrants are travelling from Darfur to Chad; they are unable to make longer journeys as most of the refugees are traveling by foot


 * __Implications on Sudan__**
 * Loss of youthful population
 * Most migrants are children
 * Disproportion of men to women ratio since most migrants are men
 * loss of certain tribal groups as a whole; diluted African culture in Southern Darfur


 * __Implications on Chad__**
 * refugee security needed
 * mounting tensions between the two countries[[image:campsmap.gif width="438" height="307" align="right"]]
 * Security for civilians living at the border has deteriorated-->lower security levels
 * increasing number of refugees
 * Regional instability
 * Chadians living along the border are displaced due to the chaos along the border and the influx of Sudanese refugees pouring into their country
 * Ethnic clashes amongst Chadians and Sudanese
 * Some desperate Chadians have chosen to flee the opposite direction – to the ravaged, insecure Darfur
 * Refugee camps housing Darfur refugees on the Chadian side of the border are targets of attacks
 * “The violence has ricocheted into Chad, where ethnic and political tensions mirror those of Darfur” (nytimes.com)
 * The conflict in Darfur has spread into Chad (they bring the conflict with them)
 * Chadians as well as Darfurians are vulnerable to attacks (rapes, killings, pillaging) by armed groups
 * This prompts the need for peacekeeping efforts in Darfur as well as in Eastern Chad
 * Attacks on aid workers in the refugee camps of Chad by the Janjaweed and Chadian rebel groups
 * Ties created with Chad and Sudan
 * Sudan has accused Chad of harboring the Sudan Liberation Army
 * Chadian rebels based in Sudan
 * Sudanese helping these rebels in their efforts to overthrow their government
 * Darfurian refugees migrate to a remote desert area in Eastern Chad
 * Resources are scarce (water supply, firewood, food)
 * This results in widespread malnutrition and dehydration as well as respiratory and other infectious diseases
 * Land is arid, climate is harsh
 * Competition for resources exists amongst the Chadians and the Darfur refugees
 * Darfur refugees travel from one poor area to an area just as poor and lacking just as many resources
 * They have no legal protection
 * Groups and organizations are needed to provide legal protection for refugees
 * The refugees from Darfur arrive in a desolate mental state due to the atrocities they have witnessed and have been forced to endure
 * Psychosocial and psychological rehabilitation programs are needed
 * The need for humanitarian aid in the area is great
 * The UNHCR is one of the principle providers of this aid along with Doctors Without Borders and other such organizations
 * There is a lack of refugee policy of the Chadian government
 * Generally, the Chadian government does not get involved with the Darfurian refugees in the Eastern region of their country; the responsibility of providing food, water, healthcare and education falls on the international humanitarian groups


 * Bibliography**
 * http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/world/africa/11darfur.html?_r=1
 * http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7237326.stm
 * http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32140&Cr=chad&Cr1=
 * http://doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=2563&cat=field-news&ref=tag-index
 * http://www.answers.com/topic/ravenstein-s-laws-of-migration
 * http://www.aegistrust.org/Sudan/-Darfur/chad-coup-failure-implications-for-darfur.html
 * http://doctorswithoutborders.org/photogallery/chad0505/?photo=9
 * http://www.brookings.edu/speeches/2007/0315humanrights_cohen.aspx
 * http://www.aiddarfur.org/site/c.ntJ2IeMTLuG/b.2257329/k.BF09/Home.htm?msource=k1005
 * http://www.redcross.int/EN/mag/magazine2005_2/22-23.html
 * http://www.amnestyusa.org/darfur/darfur-facts/darfur-refugees/page.do?id=1102022
 * http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/sudan_25018.html
 * http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/11/world/africa/11darfur.html?ex=1360386000&en=5005e7d031d6cb45&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss
 * //Darfur Diaries: Stories of Survival//, By Jen Marlowe with Aisha Bain and Adam Shapiro, Nation Books, published 2006