The New Humanitarian

THE YEMEN LISTENING PROJECT Where Yemenis talk, and the world listens The people planning and funding wars, devising aid plans, and trying to negotiate peace all too often fail to talk to the people living at the centre of it all. Long before Gaza hit the headlines, the term “world’s worst humanitarian crisis” often referred to Yemen. Its devastating war and economic collapse, which began nine years ago, has left hundreds of thousands of people dead from violence, disease, starvation, and a lack of healthcare. Tens of millions more have been caught up in Yemen’s conflict, but its story has mostly been told by journalists, aid groups, and politicians. Until now. What has it really been like to live through all this? To find out, The Yemen Listening Project asked Yemenis one question: “How has the war impacted your life?” More than 100 Yemenis – from inside the country and across the world – answered. They sent emails and WhatsApp messages, voice notes, videos, poems, and pictures. They include testimonies of loss, life in exile, and what it is like to live through bombing and ground battles. But there are also tales of love, family connection, and personal and professional persistence in the face of impossible-seeming obstacles. When #Yemen does make the news, it's too often reduced to faceless narratives. Follow link below to look into the lives behind the headlines, and to listen to Yemenis as they tell their stories, in their own words, in Arabic and English. https://lnkd.in/eB7JwsPV

In the last episode of our Snapshots series on the impact of climate change in Central America, photojournalist Fritz Pinnow finds out why wildfires in Honduras are becoming more frequent and witnesses first-hand efforts to put out a wildfire. https://lnkd.in/eETzaV64

Five refugees discuss their feelings about the Kenyan government’s new refugee integration plan. Spoiler alert: They are not happy. https://lnkd.in/eJu2gdyR

Amsterdam-based philanthropic organisation Porticus will close its Asia regional office in Hong Kong next year, and open a new regional hub in Malaysia. Nine staff face potential layoffs if they choose not to relocate. https://lnkd.in/e8hR557a

A creeping gentrification is underway in Mogadishu as wealthy business elites – including returning diaspora Somalis – take advantage of the slowly improving security to invest in new apartments and shopping malls. Read more: ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/djciUP5A

Amsterdam-based philanthropic organisation Porticus will close its Asia regional office in Hong Kong next year and open a new regional hub in Malaysia, according to an internal announcement seen by The New Humanitarian. All eight staff at the Hong Kong office and one staff member based abroad who is also part of the regional office face potential layoffs, a staff member told The New Humanitarian, requesting anonymity to avoid reprisals at work. They have been offered the option to relocate to Malaysia, but their salaries would be adjusted to local market rates. Porticus employs over 180 people, according to its website. Its staff work out of six regional main offices, as well as in India, Bangladesh, and several additional European offices. Staff across the organisation are alarmed by the sudden announcement. “Is it me next? Is it my office next?” the staff member said, describing the atmosphere among colleagues. The written announcement, shared with Porticus staff on 5 September, cited three reasons for the move: the high costs of operating in Hong Kong, a shift in activities from East Asia to South and Southeast Asia, and challenges posed by Hong Kong’s national security law. “[Despite] little to no work in the region, we find our team and organisation exposed to increased scrutiny because of the National Security Law in Hong Kong,” the announcement said. Hong Kong’s legislature passed the Safeguarding National Security Ordinance in March, making various, vaguely defined political crimes, like treason, sabotage, and insurrection, punishable by life imprisonment. China imposed a separate national security law on Hong Kong in June 2020. But the staff member who spoke to The New Humanitarian said this explanation seems inconsistent with the organisation’s previous messaging about the law. Read more: https://lnkd.in/e8hR557a

In the final episode of our Snapshots series on the impact of climate change in Honduras, photojournalist Fritz Pinnow talks to one of the many farmers displaced by climate change to urban gang areas. https://lnkd.in/eNCMn3iS

The ongoing war in Myanmar between the ruling junta and armed ethnic groups has led to widespread abuses and systematic atrocities, including torture, sexual violence, and attacks where civilians were “the target”, according to a UN rights probe. In an address to the Human Rights Council, Nicholas Koumjian, the head of the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar (IIMM), said the situation is particularly bad in Rakhine State, where hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims are caught in the crossfire between the military rulers and the Arakan Army, the largest and most well-known armed ethnic group in the country. “They have been directly targeted and thousands forcibly displaced from their homes,” Koumjian said. Rakhine was the site of a brutal military crackdown by the former government in 2017 that led more than 700,000 Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh, and now activists and residents warn of a similar situation, with both sides now being accused of abuses against the long-persecuted Rohingya minority. Adding to the troubles for the Rohingya is the fact that Bangladesh, which is facing its own crisis after former prime minister Sheikh Hasina fled last month, has increased border security in an effort to keep out Rohingya refugees. Koumjian also warned of airstrikes, almost entirely carried out by the junta, on everywhere from IDP camps to weddings, schools, and monasteries. Though Western countries have imposed jet fuel sanctions against the military, activists say those sanctions are not being properly implemented, despite the clear evidence of their toll on civilians. “Just last week, airstrikes near a night market in northern Shan state reportedly killed about a dozen people, including a pregnant woman and two children,” Koumjian said. He said his group had also received reports of abuses carried out while people have been detained: “Victims and witnesses have recounted beatings, electric shocks, strangulations and torture by pulling out fingernails with pliers. There is evidence that minors and other victims of all genders have been subjected to gang rape, burns on sexual body parts and other violent sexual and gender-based crimes.” For more context and background, read our coverage on Myanmar here: ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eZqZVNbZ

Eight and a half years later, aid funding and attention are moving elsewhere, creating existential questions about the future of Jordan Compact. It’s time to re-evaluate the entire system and push for legal changes to refugee employment that are based on rights, potential, and skills, rather than just what donors are prepared to fund. Read more: https://lnkd.in/ejMCHsX8

📰 The new Inklings newsletter: Notes and musings on how aid works, from @newhumanitarian’s policy desk. Sign up here ⬇️ https://lnkd.in/eudeD4Ur https://lnkd.in/ehBYfbru