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1.5 million Syrian refugees are in Lebanon today. But as the fighting quells in areas of Syria, some of these refugees are considering returning home. Who gets to return, the places to which they will return, and the circumstances under which refugees move back to Syria are intensely political decisions. As journalist Charlotte Alfred explains, the return of refugees, albeit in small numbers, has begun. And it is becoming a tactic of the civil war. Charlotte Alfred is the managing director of the news website Refugees Deeply. Her recent longform article "Dangerous Exit: Who Decides How Syrians in Lebanon Go Home" explains the geopolitical calculations and the tactical military considerations behind these refugee returns; and on an individual level she explores the deeply personal dillemas facing individual refugees as they make this decision. It should be noted: the UN Refugee Agency is not aiding in the return of refugees to Syria. They have concluded that the situation in Syria is not safe enough to guarantee the security of returning refugees, and in fact, they have warned countries against returning refugees. But Lebanese and Syrian forces are working together to facilitate some returns. The return of refugees and the politics around may define the next phase of this civil war and Charlotte Alfred has written the most important explanation of what that means.
People smugglers use social media to advertise their services to refugees and migrants and quickly responding to changing routes and official restrictions. Smugglers and traffickers have also used social media to broadcast the abuse of migrants in order to extort their families. On this episode of Deeply Talks, we discuss how companies like Facebook should respond to the use of their platforms by people smugglers. Has social media made the journeys of migrants and refugees safer or more dangerous? The conversation with Leonard Doyle, spokesperson and director of media and communication at the U.N. migration agency (IOM), and Tuesday Reitano, deputy director at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime and co-author of the book “Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour”, is moderated by Refugees Deeply’s managing editor, Charlotte Alfred. For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
People smugglers use social media to advertise their services to refugees and migrants and quickly responding to changing routes and official restrictions. Smugglers and traffickers have also used social media to broadcast the abuse of migrants in order to extort their families. On this episode of Deeply Talks, we discuss how companies like Facebook should respond to the use of their platforms by people smugglers. Has social media made the journeys of migrants and refugees safer or more dangerous? The conversation with Leonard Doyle, spokesperson and director of media and communication at the U.N. migration agency (IOM), and Tuesday Reitano, deputy director at the Global Initiative against Transnational Organized Crime and co-author of the book “Migrant, Refugee, Smuggler, Saviour”, is moderated by Refugees Deeply’s managing editor, Charlotte Alfred. For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
On this episode of Deeply Talks, we take a closer look at the major issues and milestones to watch in 2018, including the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration and alternative models of refugee support, from development approaches to private sponsorship of refugees. The 30-minute conversation with Kathleen Newland, Senior Fellow and co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute, and Daniel Howden, Refugees Deeply’s senior editor, is moderated by Charlotte Alfred, Refugees Deeply’s managing editor. You can read our earlier outline of the top refugee issues to watch in 2018 here: https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2018/01/12/the-top-refugee-issues-to-monitor-in-2018 For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
On this episode of Deeply Talks, we take a closer look at the major issues and milestones to watch in 2018, including the Global Compacts on Refugees and Migration and alternative models of refugee support, from development approaches to private sponsorship of refugees. The 30-minute conversation with Kathleen Newland, Senior Fellow and co-founder of the Migration Policy Institute, and Daniel Howden, Refugees Deeply’s senior editor, is moderated by Charlotte Alfred, Refugees Deeply’s managing editor. You can read our earlier outline of the top refugee issues to watch in 2018 here: https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/articles/2018/01/12/the-top-refugee-issues-to-monitor-in-2018 For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
In September 2015, the president of the World Bank, Jim Yong Kim, King Abdullah of Jordan and David Cameron, then Prime Minister of the UK, met to discuss the so called Compact Model, to create jobs for refugees in Jordan. The Jordan Compact was agreed in early 2016 and a similar, but smaller scale Lebanon Compact followed. Was the Compact Model the win-win solution everyone has been waiting for? In this episode I talk to journalists Daniel Howden and Charlotte Alfred at Refugees Deeply. They have investigated the impact of the Compact Models in Jordan and Lebanon and found that what was meant to work in certain ways on paper, turned out quite differently in practice. Read the full report here: http://issues.newsdeeply.com/the-compact-experiment?utm_source=rd-banner
On this episode of Deeply Talks, Charlotte Alfred speaks with Elizabeth Ferris, acting director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University and former co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, and Oscar Ivan Rico Valencia, adviser to the deputy director at the Victims’ Unit of the Government of Colombia about opportunities to better tackle internal displacement and the lessons from Colombia, the country with the highest number of internally displaced people in the world. You can read more about their and other experts’ insights on refocusing attention on internal displacement here: https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2017/11/16/expert-views-what-would-refocus-attention-on-internal-displacement For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
On this episode of Deeply Talks, Charlotte Alfred speaks with Elizabeth Ferris, acting director of the Institute for the Study of International Migration at Georgetown University and former co-director of the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement, and Oscar Ivan Rico Valencia, adviser to the deputy director at the Victims’ Unit of the Government of Colombia about opportunities to better tackle internal displacement and the lessons from Colombia, the country with the highest number of internally displaced people in the world. You can read more about their and other experts’ insights on refocusing attention on internal displacement here: https://www.newsdeeply.com/refugees/community/2017/11/16/expert-views-what-would-refocus-attention-on-internal-displacement For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
Twenty years ago this year, Japan was to become a nuclear wasteland, according to the leader of a sect who claimed that the only survivors would be his followers and 10% of the major cities. It was in the lead up to this year of the predicted apocalypse, 1997, that he ordered shocking acts that would eventually result in his group being labelled a terrorist organisation, and himself and 12 other sect members being sentenced to death.CW: references to physical and emotional abuse, controlling behaviours, references to suicide, murder, and psychological trauma associated with being in a cult. Please consider whether you would like to listen on this basis. Content is not suitable for children.UPDATE 2: The death penalty was carried out in Japan in July of 2018. Aum sympathizer Kazuhiro Kusakabe left 8 injured on 1 January 2019 when he drove into a crowd of people in the Harajuku district of Tokyo.UPDATE: An Aum Shinrikyo update episode was released on 21 March 2018. It includes a small correction from this episode.Full research sources listed on each episode page at www.ltaspod.com.If you have been personally affected by involvement in a cult, or would like to support those who have been, you can find support or donate to Cult Information and Family Support if you’re in Australia (via www.cifs.org.au), and you can find resources outside of Australia with the International Cultic Studies Association (via www.icsahome.com).If you or someone you know is in crisis or needs support right now, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14 in Australia, or find your local crisis centre via the International Association for Suicide Prevention website at www.iasp.info.Links:Profile: Shoko Asahara — BBC News, 27 February 2004A Guru's Journey – A special report. The Seer Among the Blind: Japanese Sect Leader's Rise — by Nicholas D. Kristof with Sheryl WuDunn, The New York Times, 26 March 1995Daughters of doomsday cult leader fight to save their 'loving' father — by Justin McCurry, The Guardian, 19 April 2006How a Religious Sect Rooted in Yoga Became a Terrorist Group — by Jennifer Latson, TIME, 20 March 2015Asahara’s No. 3 daughter writes on life during, after cult — by Keiji Hirano, Japan Times, 26 March 2015Former Aum cultist publishes memoir on gas attacks, Asahara — by Eiji Shimura, The Asahi Shimbun, 10 January 2017Sarin gas attack survivor recalls near miss on Tokyo subway — by Julian Ryall, South China Post, 19 March 2015Why Japan's Terror Cult Still Has Appeal — by Tim Larimer, TIME, 10 June 200220 Years Ago, A Shadowy Cult Poisoned The Tokyo Subway — by Charlotte Alfred, Huffpost, 20 March 2015
Refugees Deeply’s wide-ranging investigation into migration flows in the central Mediterranean has been hailed as a must-read and the most comprehensive reporting of the crisis to date. You read it here: http://issues.newsdeeply.com/central-mediterranean-european-priorities-libyan-realities On this episode of Deeply Talks, Refugees Deeply's managing editor Charlotte Alfred speaks with the report’s author Daniel Howden, who offer a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the latest Quarterly. He is joined by Giulia Lagana, asylum and migration expert at Open Society Foundations, to examine the main findings and discuss Italy’s deals and the E.U.’s complicity. For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
Refugees Deeply’s wide-ranging investigation into migration flows in the central Mediterranean has been hailed as a must-read and the most comprehensive reporting of the crisis to date. You read it here: http://issues.newsdeeply.com/central-mediterranean-european-priorities-libyan-realities On this episode of Deeply Talks, Refugees Deeply's managing editor Charlotte Alfred speaks with the report’s author Daniel Howden, who offer a behind-the-scenes look at the making of the latest Quarterly. He is joined by Giulia Lagana, asylum and migration expert at Open Society Foundations, to examine the main findings and discuss Italy’s deals and the E.U.’s complicity. For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
On this episode of Deeply Talks, Charlotte Alfred speaks with Maria Stavropoulou, director of the Greek Asylum Service since 2012, and Gerald Knaus, founding director of the European Stability Initiative, about what role the E.U. can and should play in asylum systems in Greece and Italy. For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.
On this episode of Deeply Talks, Charlotte Alfred speaks with Maria Stavropoulou, director of the Greek Asylum Service since 2012, and Gerald Knaus, founding director of the European Stability Initiative, about what role the E.U. can and should play in asylum systems in Greece and Italy. For more information on the global refugee crisis, visit www.newsdeeply.com/refugeesdeeply and subscribe to our weekly emails.