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Al Jazeera
9 hours ago
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
‘Like a wastepaper basket': Life as a child refugee fleeing home
If the global refugee population were just 100 people, 33 would be children, each in need of protection. By Hanna Duggal and Mohamed A. Hussein Sameer - not his real name - fled Afghanistan when he was just 17 years old. The Taliban had overthrown the government of President Ashraf Ghani - which his father worked for - placing his family at risk. 'I was doing well in my life, practising and exercising normally," Sameer, an aspiring mixed martial arts (MMA) fighter, tells Al Jazeera. "But when the Taliban took power … the situation became very hard, like putting us under pressure.' Sameer became a child refugee and endured a journey not unlike that of many other displaced and fleeing children. Today, of the 41 million refugees around the world, 13.3 million are children. In other words, there are more child refugees than the entire population of Belgium, or Sweden, or Portugal, or Greece. That also means that 33 out of every 100 refugees are children, each in need of international protection. To better understand the lives of refugee children - their challenges, vulnerabilities and resilience - we visualise what the world would look like if it had just 100 refugees. According to the latest figures from the UNHCR , 6.8 million child refugees (51 percent) are boys and 6.5 million (49 percent) are girls. While that division is fairly equal, refugee children often face distinct challenges based on their gender. For example, girls may be more at risk of gender-based violence and sexual assault, whereas boys may face different hardships - including other forms of physical violence. These forms of abuse and violence are more pronounced among unaccompanied minors. For Sameer, this came in the form of police beatings at country borders. 'The worst effect or part of the journey was when we used to cross the borders. And different countries' police used to stop or catch us, and they used to beat us in front of others,' Sameer says. 'They did not spare a child or adult or anybody.' In 2024, 44 percent (5.9 million) of child refugees were aged 5-11 years, followed by 32 percent (4.2 million) aged between 12-17 years and 24 percent (3.2 million) aged between 0-4 years. At each stage of childhood, distinct and compounding risks threaten healthy development. For example, young children are especially reliant on caregivers and at heightened risk of malnutrition, illness and disease. Any child refugee of school age will face disruption to their education due to access. However, in adolescents, the effects of a trauma can be compounded as they go through puberty: It's in this age bracket that mental illness most kicks in. In addition, a child's ability to articulate distress or seek help evolves over time, David Trickey, consultant psychologist and co-director at UK Trauma Council (UKTC), a project of the Anna Freud Foundation, tells Al Jazeera. 'Younger children find it more difficult to tell the carers and those around them what's going on internally.' If Sameer were one of the 100 child refugees, he would be among 21 from Afghanistan. In 2024, two-thirds of child refugees came from just four countries - 21 percent (2.8 million) were from Afghanistan, followed by 20 percent (2.7 million) from Syria, 14 percent (1.8 million) from Venezuela and 10 percent (1.3 million) from South Sudan. When the UN Refugee Convention was adopted in 1951, there were 2.1 million refugees. Now, there are 20 times that number. In 1951, 1 in every 1,190 people was a refugee and now that number is 1 in every 185, with the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and civil wars in Syria and South Sudan, among major drivers of the crisis. It took Sameer one and a half years to reach the United Kingdom, making him a part of the 12 percent of child refugees who have travelled more than 2,000km (1,200 miles) to get to safety. According to an analysis of data from the UNHCR, 9 out of 10 refugee children have journeyed more than 500km (300 miles) from home. Half (50 percent) of all refugee children have had to travel between 500 and 1,000km (600 miles) from their homes. That's a distance that could be covered in a 10-12 hour drive or a two-hour flight. But most refugees fleeing their home country journey on foot, in boats or using other slower means of transport. Sameer tells Al Jazeera his journey was spent in the wet and cold. 'We passed through different countries, but we stayed most of the time in forest and mountain areas.' On top of the physical toll of travelling, Sameer faced brutality at the hands of border police he encountered when crossing into Turkiye and Bulgaria. 'They beat us in all senses. They used to poke at our clothes and send us back to the previous country.' Sameer's experience is a microcosm of the violence, unfamiliarity and grief - not just for lost family members, but also for a lost home - that accompany refugee life. 'The fact that they're fleeing something - that is dangerous in the first place, that has the potential to be traumatic. You're then taking them away from everything that they know that is familiar, possibly their friends, possibly even their families, going to somewhere that they don't know, a strange place, that all has the potential to get in the way of their recovery,' Trickey tells Al Jazeera. Sameer is one of the very small percentage of child refugees that has ended up in the UK. In 2024, the top host countries for refugees were Iran (1.8 million), Turkiye (1.4 million), and Uganda (965,000). He tells Al Jazeera how he finally ended up in the UK. 'First, when I tried to cross the Channel, the boat drowned and we were recovered by French police.' After taking another boat at midnight, Sameer reached British shores in the morning, ending an 18-month journey. Upon arriving in a host country, refugees often face additional risks like being held in detention centres. 'For some people, that's [being held in detention centres] the worst bit," Trickey told Al Jazeera. "You know, that was the biggest trauma.' Sameer had a more welcoming experience on arrival. 'The UK police was kind and very gentle. And they treated us very gently. They took us to a place where they provided us with the clothes, and also provided the food.' According to the UNHCR, about 153,300 children are unaccompanied or have been separated from their guardians and family. Sameer was separated from his brother in Turkiye. 'I was sent a different way and he was sent a different way, and since then I never saw my brother and I don't know about his wellbeing or whereabouts,' Sameer tells Al Jazeera. Some children travel alone because they have been sent by their parents to ensure their survival, while others are orphaned. Peter Ventevogel, senior mental health and psychosocial support officer at UNHCR, told Al Jazeera, 'If you're in a good social system, you feel safe, then you feel you're less affected. But for children, that effect is even stronger. 'We have these case reports of children who are in terrible situations, but as long as they're with their mother, if it's a young child, and the mother is able to convey that sense of safety, then you can buffer a lot of the consequences, which also means that in displacement settings where family structures are disrupted you see more issues among children.' According to research conducted by scientists at Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University, both in Northern Ireland, high rates of mental illness and symptoms among unaccompanied refugee minors were consistent across national and settlement contexts. But how they are treated once they reach their destination matters, say experts. Trickey tells Al Jazeera about two children from Afghanistan he has worked with. 'Both of them were from Afghanistan. Both arrived the same week in the UK. Both were unaccompanied. One was looked after by one particular local authority who found a foster placement that spoke the same language, had children the same age, and he just thrived. 'The other one, same age, same experience or similar experience, ended up being placed in this semi-independent hostel where no one spoke his language. The staff were pretty absent, and he really struggled. He really, really struggled with post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. So that stability and the connection that you're provided with can make a real difference to your capacity to process things that have partly happened in the past.' Sameer tells Al Jazeera,'Scenes of those things which I witnessed had a very bad effect on me and still when I remember, it [makes] me upset.' Research with refugee children finds the prevalence of emotional disorders to be generally higher than in non-refugee children. According to one study, the overall prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) was 23 percent (one in four) in refugee children, that of anxiety disorders was 16 percent (one in six) and that of depression was 14 percent (one in seven). 'One of the things about trauma is it keeps you on this very high state of alert,' says Trickey. "And I think those without refugee status, they're living this constant fear of being returned to the place they fled.' But not all children experience trauma the same way, Trickey adds. 'A more important risk factor, a predictor of PTSD, is not how big the event was, but it's what you make of it. Were you afraid? Did you think someone was gonna die? 'And different children will find different things frightening. There'll be some people that actually experience the most awful things and seem pretty unaffected, and they do OK. There'll be some people that seem to be doing OK, and then they have, we can sometimes call it, latent vulnerability. And later on in life, that's when they develop difficulties.' Ventevogel tells Al Jazeera that often, in younger children, there may be more issues with withdrawal, because they cannot verbalise how they feel, for example where 'a child withdraws, stops playing with other children, or a child shows in play, in the way the child enacts issues, that there is something not OK. 'It's not diagnostic, but this can be an indication that there is something deeper,' Ventevogel says. Trickey explains that during a trauma-focused therapy session, a boy he was working with described what he was going through by comparing his brain to a wastepaper bin stuffed with "scrunched-up pieces of paper" that represent "all the bad things" he had been through. "And as I walk to school, they fall in front of my eyes. And when I lie down and go to sleep, they fall into my dreams," the boy told him. "But when I come and see you, we take them out of the bin, and we unscrunch them. Then we read them through carefully, then we fold them up neatly, and then we put them back in the bin. But because they're folded up neatly, it means they don't fall out the top, and I've got more room in my head to think about other things.' For Sameer, his ability to cope came down to his mindset. 'With the passage of time, I became used to the situation and I feel confident and fine now. And I hope, whatever problems or difficulties I face in the future, I will overcome and hopefully things will get normal.'
Washington Post
4 days ago
- Washington Post
Israel's Bedouin rely on makeshift shelters when missiles fall
AL-FURA'A, Israel — With the red evening sun still slanting across the Negev desert, the Gabo'a family began moving into its emergency home for the night: the bed of a dump truck that Mohammad Gabo'a, 43, had flipped over and buried in the sand. 'It is the only protection we have,' Gabo'a said Monday. 'When the sun is setting, we come here.'
Malay Mail
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
What counts as whistleblowing in Malaysia? MACC explains who qualifies for legal protection
KUALA LUMPUR, June 20 — Individuals who report information about misconduct directly to enforcement agencies and meet the prescribed criteria and conditions will be granted protection as informants or whistleblowers. Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Senior Director (Legal and Prosecution Division) Datuk Wan Shaharuddin Wan Ladin said this is an important aspect the public needs to understand, apart from not being able to disclose the information to the public. He said that although the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 protects informants against improper retaliation, such protection is only applicable if reports are made through legal procedures to enforcement agencies such as the MACC, the Royal Malaysia Police (PDRM) or relevant government agencies. 'There's a misconception that anyone with information about misconduct can automatically seek protection as a whistleblower. In reality, it's not that simple. 'A common misunderstanding is the belief that informants can publicly disclose information, for example, to the media or on social media, before officially applying for protection. This is incorrect,' he told Bernama. He said that in order to qualify for whistleblower protection, a report must also be made in good faith and not be driven by personal motives such as revenge or defamation. Additionally, the whistleblower must not be involved in the offence being reported, he added. Citing Section 11(1) of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010, he said, protection can be revoked if the whistleblower is found to have participated in the misconduct they exposed. 'This provision is crucial to maintaining the integrity of whistleblowers and to prevent the misuse of protected status as a shield against offences they have committed,' he said. Wan Shaharuddin said that while the law provides legal protection, whistleblowers still face various challenges, including being labelled as 'complainants' or 'traitors', fears of retaliation and discrimination, and a general lack of public understanding about the legal process for applying for protection. In efforts to encourage more individuals, especially civil servants, to report corruption cases, he said, the government has introduced cash incentives and official recognition for those who report corruption to the MACC since 2011. He shared that as of last year, 514 civil servants had received rewards totalling over RM1 million, with the highest individual reward amounting to RM100,000. In addition, Wan Shaharuddin said that to further enhance whistleblower protection, the government had tabled the Whistleblower Protection (Amendment) Bill 2025 in the Dewan Rakyat on March 6. 'The amendment aims to strengthen protection for whistleblowers who report misconduct, particularly in cases of corruption within both the public and private sectors. It is expected to provide more comprehensive protection to whistleblowers, including protection from harmful actions and immunity from civil or criminal action. 'This amendment is hoped to encourage more individuals to come forward to report misconduct without fear,' he said. — Bernama
Malay Mail
20-06-2025
- Politics
- Malay Mail
Nothing shocking about he who reports ending up being charged for an offence — Hafiz Hassan
JUNE 20 — Section 11(1)(a) of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (Act 711) says that an enforcement agency (EA) 'shall revoke' a whistleblower protection if EA is of the opinion, based on its investigation or in the course of its investigation that the whistleblower himself has participated in the improper conduct disclosed in his report to the EA. The word 'shall' means must; there is no discretion. Some reformists have called for, among others, that 'shall' be substituted with 'may' to allow for discretion in the EA to allow whistleblower protection in genuine cases where a whistleblower is remorseful and has repented his participation in the improper conduct. Be that as it may, the EA 'shall give a written notice to that effect to the whistleblower' — Section 11(2). Aggrieved by the decision of the EA, the whistleblower may refer the decision to the court for determination — Section 11(3). The court may make an order for the preservation of the whistleblower protection and may also make such consequential orders necessary to give effect to the order for relief — Section 11(4). Section 11(1)(a) of the Whistleblower Protection Act 2010 (Act 711) says that an enforcement agency (EA) 'shall revoke' a whistleblower protection if EA is of the opinion, based on its investigation or in the course of its investigation that the whistleblower himself has participated in the improper conduct disclosed in his report to the EA. — Pexels pic There is no carte blanche protection, yet there is redress for the decision to revoke protection. Accordingly, there is nothing shocking if a whistleblower who has co-operated with authorities is later informed he would be charged in court on June 30. In any case, as I had written in December 2022, he who makes a report can be investigated, and charged if the investigation reveals an offence committed by him. Such a course of action is not prohibited by Section 107(1) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) which deals with information relating to the commission of an offence. It does not in any way prescribe the persons to be charged following the investigation. Following investigation, the person who makes a report can himself be charged if the investigation reveals an offence committed by him. Nothing shocking about he who reports ending up being charged for an offence. *This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of Malay Mail.
Yahoo
15-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
10 Life Insurance Myths That Could Be Costing You
Life insurance can be a powerful tool in your financial planning arsenal, but you may be missing out due to a lack of real understanding of what it is and who it's for. A number of common misconceptions about life insurance, especially around cost and eligibility, may make it seem out of reach for you when it really isn't. Read Next: Check Out: Here are 10 important facts about life insurance that you should be aware of to decide if it's a smart fit for your financial future. A common myth about life insurance is that it's too expensive for most people. 'Many people, especially younger individuals, overestimate the cost of life insurance and needlessly leave their families unprotected,' said Jack Elder, director of advanced markets at CBS Brokerage, an independent insurance brokerage firm. 'The truth is, a healthy 30-year-old can often secure a $250,000 20-year term life policy for around $13 a month.' Some employers offer life insurance as part of their benefits package, but this typically does not provide the amount of protection your beneficiaries would realistically need. Believing your employer-provided insurance is enough is a common mistake. 'These group policies typically offer a benefit equal to one or two times your annual salary, which is rarely enough to cover long-term obligations like a mortgage, outstanding debts, and future child care or college expenses,' Elder said. Explore More: A common misconception is that Medicare covers long-term care — but it doesn't. 'Approximately 70% of individuals over age 65 will require some form of long-term care services in their lifetime,' Elder said. 'Critical services like full-time skilled nursing care, memory care facilities or modifications to your home for accessibility are not covered by Medicare. A life insurance policy with a long-term care rider can be invaluable for situations like these.' Another common myth is that life insurance isn't necessary if you have savings — but that's not the full picture. 'While savings help, unexpected expenses like medical bills can deplete them,' Elder said. 'Life insurance ensures your family isn't financially burdened.' Life insurance isn't only about death benefits. 'One of the biggest misunderstandings about life insurance is that its only purpose is a death benefit,' Elder said. 'Modern permanent life insurance policies can be powerful tools for the living, allowing you to build cash value that grows tax-deferred.' Another myth is that applying for life insurance is complicated and time-consuming. 'Today's technology has streamlined the application process to reduce redundancies and remove obstacles,' said Michelle Buswell, senior vice president and chief operating officer at Legal & General America. 'Questions are built to be reflexive; the multi-hour process of years ago has been shortened to just 15 to 20 minutes for most individuals.' Many assume that if you have a preexisting medical condition, like diabetes or a heart condition, you'll be denied life insurance. 'Modern medicine and treatments have helped underwriting rules adjust with the times to provide easier access to policies for those who have certain medical conditions,' Buswell said. 'If an applicant is actively managing their conditions and/or has no comorbidities, companies take that into consideration when calculating the health classifications and premiums.' Another common myth is that life insurance is only for older people. However, it's a tool that can be useful for people of all ages. 'Age milestones don't spur [the need for] life insurance — life milestones do, i.e. getting married, having a baby or buying a home,' Buswell said. 'Purchasing a policy at a younger age or after a life event can help avoid increased premiums. 'The earlier an individual purchases a policy, the less expensive the premium will be over time,' she continued. 'More importantly, they are likely to have fewer health concerns in their 20s, which will always lower the cost of premiums. Purchasing early will serve you best.' Some people see term life insurance as a waste of money because it doesn't last forever. 'Many people dismiss term life insurance as a waste, considering it a product that offers coverage for a limited time and does not pay out if the policyholder survives the term,' said Chris Jean-Charles, a financial planner at Northwestern Mutual. 'However, this perspective misses what term life insurance provides — affordable protection tailored to short-term needs.' Jean-Charles emphasized that the working years are actually when the need for insurance is highest, since this is when you most need to protect your income. 'A term policy can ensure their family has the required financial backing in the event of an untimely death,' he said. 'The lower cost of premiums with term life insurance often makes it a feasible choice for individuals on tight budgets.' There are a number of myths surrounding who should and should not have a life insurance policy, one of them being that only the breadwinner needs life insurance. 'This is one of the most overlooked financial planning mistakes,' said Melissa Murphy Pavone, CFP, CDFA, founder and financial planner at Mindful Financial Partners. 'Just because one spouse doesn't bring in a paycheck doesn't mean their contribution doesn't have monetary value. In fact, replacing the non-working spouse's role often requires hiring multiple people: child care, transportation, housekeeping, meal prep and sometimes elder care too. 'If that spouse were to pass away, the surviving partner may face both emotional devastation and the immediate financial strain of replacing those services, often while still working full-time,' she continued. 'Life insurance for the non-earning spouse can help cover those unexpected costs and allow the surviving parent to take time off to care for children, grieve or simply adjust.' Another common belief is that life insurance is not necessary for people without children. However, if you take care of parents, siblings or a spouse, you could benefit from having a life insurance policy. 'While these loved ones may not be considered 'dependents' in the traditional sense, they often rely on that individual's income now or will in the future,' said Uziel Gomez, CFP, financial planner at Primeros Financial. 'If something were to happen, the financial impact would be very real.' More From GOBankingRates 4 Things You Should Do When Your Salary Hits $100K If a Financial Advisor Doesn't Ask These 5 Questions in Your Consult, Keep Shopping 5 Steps to Take if You Want To Create Generational Wealth Robert Kiyosaki: 5 Money Habits of People Who Retire Early This article originally appeared on 10 Life Insurance Myths That Could Be Costing You
