Grace Benton & Rochelle Davis

https://blogs.commons.georgetown.edu/rochelledavis/refugee-video-project/

Sample Lesson Plan:Sudanese Refugees in the Middle EastBackground Reading: Sudanese Refugees in the Middle East

Sudan Country Profile

BBC News (March 2013)

Sudan interrogating migrants repatriated from Israel via Jordan

Haaretz (13 June 2013)

Jordan: Sudanese refugees struggle against racism everyday

Jesuit Refugee Services (18 June 2012)

ARDD-Legal Aid: Section on Sudanese and Somali Refugees in Jordan

Lebanons forgotten refugees

Al-Jazeera English (31 June 2012)

Activity: Portrayal in the Media

Briefly discuss: what do students know about refugees from Darfur? What kind of visibility has the issue had in recent years? Discuss initiatives like Darfur Now, Save Darfur, etc.

Divide students into groups. Assign each group a background reading from the list above (attached). Instruct students to read the article and then present the main ideas to the class. Discuss:

Describe the political situation in Sudan.

What challenges do Sudanese refugees face?

How does the situation for Sudanese refugees compare across different Middle Eastern countries?

What messages do the articles convey?

What do these articles tell us experience of Sudanese refugees in the Middle East? What dont they tell us?

In what ways does the media shed light on issues of forced displacement and in what ways does it obscure them?

Activity: Videos and Discussion

Tell students that they will now see another dimension of the issue. Show video on Sudanese refugees in Jordan.

Open discussion by identifying major themes in videos:

How do people define themselves? And/or how do others define them?

Problems in Darfur leading to displacement

Discuss background of conflict

Working in Jordan

Legality of working and Jordans status with the 1951 Convention

Are these people labor migrants or refugees? How do these labels shape perceptions of them, both in Jordan and globally?

Education

What role does education play for the people in the videos?

What do you think about the statement about peace as a necessary precursor to education?

AFRICA

14 March 2013Last updated at08:11 ET

Sudan profile

Sudan, once the largest and one of the most geographically diverse states in Africa, split into two countries in July 2011 after the people of the south voted for independence.

The government of Sudan gave its blessing for an independent South Sudan, where the mainly Christian and Animist people had for decades been struggling against rule by the Arab Muslim north.

However, various outstanding secession issues - especially the question of shared oil revenues and the exact border demarcation - have continued to create tensions between the two successor states.

Sudan has long been beset by conflict. Two rounds of north-south civil war cost the lives of 1.5 million people, and a continuing conflict in the western region of Darfur has driven two million people from their homes and killed more than 200,000.

Sudan's centuries of association with Egypt formally ended in 1956, when joint British-Egyptian rule over the country ended.

Independence was rapidly overshadowed by unresolved constitutional tensions with the south, which flared up into full-scale civil war that the coup-prone central government was ill-equipped to suppress.

The military-led government of President Jaafar Numeiri agreed to autonomy for the south in 1972, but fighting broke out again in 1983.

After two years of bargaining, the rebels signed a comprehensive peace deal with the government to end the civil war in January 2005.

The accord provided for a high degree of autonomy for the south, and an option for it to secede. South Sudan seceded in July 2011, following a vote.

However, the grievances of the northern states of South Kordofan and Blue Nile remain unaddressed, as provisions laid out for them in the 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement were never fully implemented.

In Darfur, in western Sudan, the United Nations has accused pro-government Arab militias of a campaign of ethnic cleansing against non-Arab locals.

The conflict has strained relations between Sudan and Chad, to the west. Both countries have accused each other of cross-border incursions. There have been fears that the Darfur conflict could lead to a regional war.

The economic dividends of eventual peace could be great. Sudan has large areas of cultivatable land, as well as gold and cotton. Its oil reserves are ripe for further exploitation.

Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-14094995

Sudan interrogating migrants repatriated from Israel via Jordan

ByIlan Lior|Jun.13, 2013 |

Sudanese authorities have been interrogating citizens who spent time in Israel and have returned to their country secretly via Jordan, Sudanese news organization Alrakoba has reported.

Israel and Sudan do not have diplomatic relations, meaning that Israel cannot return citizens directly to Sudan, which has vowed to punish citizens who have set foot on Israeli soil. Sudanese passports even state that the bearer is entitled to enter all countries except for Israel.

Israel earlier this year admitted that it has repatriated about some 2,100 migrants to Sudan via a third country but refused to disclose the name of that country. The repatriation was done secretly, over the last few months, without the knowledge of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

So as not to endanger the returnees, the population and Immigration Authority had them sign consensual repatriation forms, blurred their tracks, saw to providing them new passports if necessary and returned them via a third country. Now, however, it appears that Sudan knows which country served as a way-station.

According to a report on Alrakoba, Sudanese security authorities are conducting an inquiry against eight people who were expelled from Israeli territory and arrived at the Khartoum airport on a special flight on the Jordanian airline. The site added that the Sudanese citizens returned thanks to local authorities cooperation with the Jordanian government and notes that 89 more Sudanese have recently returned to their country after spending time in prison for illegal immigration and being deported from Israel.

The report noted that knowledgeable sources said Israel and Amman have reached understandings about implementing the repatriation to Sudan, due to the absence of a Sudanese embassy in Israel. Amman has therefore issued the necessary documents for the Sudanese citizens' deportation to Khartoum.

According to Nadav Franckovich, who maintains contact with the Sudanese community in Israel, the site that published the report is quite popular. Its a site that many people in Sudan and refugees outside the country read. It is relatively critical and it is constantly updated, he said.

The report on the site concurs with testimonies that human rights organizations have received from Sudanese citizens who returned home via a third country and said they were questioned at the airport in Khartoum.

Sudanese community members in Israel have said that the interrogations aim mainly to find out who has acted or spoken against the regime.

A Sudanese citizen who lives in Tel Aviv said on Wednesday that a friend of hers who recently returned home told her she was interrogated at the airport in Khartoum about the time she spent in Israel. According to the woman, her friend said the authorities detained her overnight at the airport and demanded details from her about other Sudanese citizens residing in Israel. The authorities then confiscated her belongings and fined her before releasing her.

Others in the Sudanese community say some of their peers have vanished after returning home and no one knows what has happened to them.

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) has previously warned against the repatriation of Sudanese citizens, out of concern for their safety. The agency has said that consensual repatriation would be possible only if it is carried out discreetly and if the migrants decide to return of their own free will and not under pressure or threat of deportation.

According to Population and Immigration Authority data, there are currently about 14,000 migrants from Sudan in Israel.

Israel last week confirmed it had reached an agreement with an unnamed African country that is prepared to absorb migrants and is inadvanced talks with another four African countriesintended to serve as way stations for Sudanese migrants.

Source: http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/sudan-interrogating-migrants-repatriated-from-israel-via-jordan-1.529534

Jordan: Sudanese refugees struggle against racism every day

Jesuit Refugee Services

Amman, 18 June 2012 Hidden amongst the throngs of Amman's population, Sudanese face discrimination on a daily basis."It's normal to be called 'Chocolate', 'Abu Samra' or other racist names when we walk in the street. I don't care what they say to me, but what makes me angry is when my children suffer", says Sudanese woman, Iman.Iman once found her young son covering his arms with flour. When she asked him what he was doing, he answered, "Now I'm white."Although Sudanese children can access the public schools in Jordan, they still face racism from their teachers and peers."My children come home crying on most days, and some of their teachers call them 'Blackie'."After conducting a survey with Sudanese men and women who