600 refugee women and children facing deportation - action required

Following the recent events, a group of NGOs and individuals who work and have worked in the Buduburam refugee settlement have come together to call on the international community to insure that the rights of all refugees in Ghana are upheld.

We are gravely concerned for the fate of the 600 detained refugee women and children, who are facing imminent deportation - we humbly ask for your support in order to press authorities to respect the rights of refugees.

Please click here to sign the petition calling on authorities to uphold the rights of refugees in Ghana

We will pass it on to authorities very shortly.

On behalf of the Liberian refugees in Ghana, thank you for your support.

The Niapele Project Team

Stories from the Field - exposing the truth

We, at The Niapele Project, are completely appalled by the lack of journalistic (dare we say "human"?) integrity displayed in the media coverage of the current situation in the Buduburam refugee settlement.

Here is the latest update from Jessica Leombruno, who managed to get her hands on official documents released by the UNHCR as well as the Ghanaian Ministry of Interior last week, prior to the dramatic events of March 17th.

For a bit of context, they were released on the day that the 20 Liberian representatives went to Accra. That day, they met with a UNHCR representative (I believe the same one that is mentioned in the documents), and Ghanain authorites - Ministry of Interior and police chief, I believe. MD [a Liberian refugee who runs an NGO that works to improve the livelihoods of Ghanaian farmers,ndlr] was one of the 20 representatives. He told me that when they arrived, they were searched at gun point (while the press was made to stay outside, of course) and there were armed guards present during the meeting as well. While no compromise was actually reached, MD was encouraged by their response to integration into Ghana. He said that in response to their concerns about integration, the Ghanaian representatives adamently agreed that integration was not a possibility and that they had no interest in integrating the Liberian population either.
The representatives returned to camp feeling that they had made a significant advancement - at least integration was off the table. Upon returning to the camp though, the following press releases/documents were circulating - condeming the refugees for thier unwillingness to integrate. What an obvious difference between what people are willing to say when there is no one there (besides refugees) to substaniate what they are saying and what they release publicly

Apologies for the poor quality of the documents below - but you can click on the images for a larger view:




Please share these stories - post them on Facebook, on your blog, email your friends....

Hundreds of women and children are facing an immediate threat of unjust deportation - we need your help to make sure that the truth is exposed, and that the rights of refugees are being safeguarded.

Stay tuned for more information....

Stories from the Field - update

While we wait for an update from Jess, here is a link with the most updated news concerning the situation at the Buduburam refugee settlement.

We will continue to monitor this story, and provide you with the most accurate coverage possible.

Stories from the Field

An update from Jessica on the current situation in the Buduburam refugee settlement -
Stay tuned for regular updates!

At about 4am today, the Ghanaian police showed up to camp armed with machine guns and tear gas - luckily they never used either, but still - I consider it to be unnecessary force... They arrested a couple hundred of the women. No one knows exactly how many, but I have heard from several different people (including Mark [ARCH staff member, ndlr] who was there when it happened) that there were 5 buses (big buses, not the tro tro size) and 2 trucks that they filled with women. They went along willingly and the police even had to refuse women from getting arrested (they were all volunteering to go ! ) Apparently 8 women got minor injuries - there is conflicting information over how it happened. Some people are saying it was the confusion and people were moving around too quickly, but Mark told me that one of the officers used a beat stick on one of the women. I have even heard that one woman gave birth on the way to the police station!

Overall things remained calm during the ordeal and no real violence broke out, which I am very shocked about. But after they left with the women [one of which is Doris, the head cook at the School Feeding Program] hundreds of additional women went to the field. I went there around 10 this morning and there must have been at least 600 or 700 people there. The Ministry of Interior is saying that when the numbers of women decrease a bit, they wil be back to arrest more of them. They are also threatening to prosecute all arrested women and deport them back to Liberia as criminals.

As you can imagine, tensions on camp are a bit high at the moment and all possibility of normal work is pretty much stopped. Even the markets were empty today cause many of the market women were arrested.

EABJM ISound Concert for Niapele!

The Ecole Active Bilinge Jeannine Manuel is generously organizing this concert to benefit The Niapele Project - thanks to the EABJM for their continued support!

Images of Buduburam

Click here for recent photos of the women's protest in Buduburam We continue to monitor the situation, and will bring you regular updates!

Stories from the Field

Today is International Women's Day, and, coincidentally, we have the perfect story to share with you to mark the occasion.

This is our first "Stories from the Field" feature - we hope to shed light on the reality of life as a refugee through these occasional stories.


By Jessica Leombruno, Field Coordinator, The Niapele Project

Hundreds of women are staging a peaceful sit-in on the roadside soccer field of Buduburam refugee camp. With each day, the women's movement is growing. What started as five women facing the road with illegible signs, has grown to a force of hundreds of woman and children. They sit outside all day under the hot Ghanaian sun, sleep outside with the relentless mosquitos and dance through thunder storms.

The women are trying to draw the attention of the world community, or at the very least, the attention of the UNHCR. They are requesting that each repatriated refugee be given $1000 to return home with. Their hope is that this money will be enough to start a new life in Liberia - to buy a house, food, water, pay school fees, perhaps even start a small business. During other rounds of repatriation the UNHCR had been giving each returning refugee a laughable sum - $5, a bag of rice, a gallon of oil, and a blanket. Not surprisingly, many of those people quickly ended up in Liberian IDP settlements. After all, how can anyone expect a refugee to return to a war afflicted country after 5, 10, or 15 years with $5, little or no family, no place to call home, and no one to turn to for support? Despite this, I seriously doubt the women will be able to achieve their demands. By many estimates, there are still 35,000 Liberian refugees at Buduburam. Giving each individual amounts to $35,000,000. Given UNHCR's relative disinterest in Buduburam in recent years, there is little evidence to indicate that they would even consider meeting the demands of the women.

Nevertheless, the UNHCR is aware of the women's protest and have taken steps to respond. A representative visited the camp recently, but was reported to have not taken the protest seriously. He sited the fact that the schools were still in session, the markets were running, and life on camp was pretty much business as usual. In turn, the women responded by asking every school on camp to close, and asking the markets to close by noon each day. I was shocked to see that these changes took place rather quickly. Many people foresee the protests lasting through the end of the month at the very least. Considering the momentum the movement gains each day, I would not be surprised in the slightest.