Ovi today

The challenge by Thanos Kalamidas
At this very moment more than forty million people all around the world have become refugees escaping from their homes, which is why we need days such as World Refugee Day.

In Darfur, Minnesota, Another Kind of Siege by Doug McGill
Every once in a while, someone in this tiny speck of a prairie town catches sight of a "Save Darfur!" poster in a magazine or a newspaper, or on the flickering TV at the Darfur Lounge on main street.

How Bizarre! by Asa Butcher
Browsing the news daily we often miss these little bits of news at the bottom of the page. They are often funny, sometimes weird, and they give us a new perspective on life, so here's the first of a new column series: How Bizarre!

Italian report by Euro Reporter
Euro-reporter travels to Italy, surviving tuna fish nets and getting ready for a bite into a pizza with the name ...Berlusconi special!!!

No to refugee camps

South Africa's government has denied it is setting up massive migrant or refugee camps for the tens of thousands of foreigners who fled recent attacks.

Aid agencies had said the government would reveal plans to set up seven camps for up to 70,000 people. But a home affairs spokeswoman said temporary shelters accommodating 2,000 each would be set up instead. A formal announcement will be made on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the UN said it is helping South Africa plan relief efforts. It is conducting a survey of the conditions in the police stations and municipal halls in which the displaced people are currently living, UN spokesman George Nsiah said.

Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF) has warned that those sheltering in makeshift camps or outdoors have been left without protection - either physical or legal. "It's very cold at night; it's almost like one or two degrees. It's been raining in the last few days," said MSF South Africa programme director Muriel Cornelis.

"And then legal protection - most of them do not have any status, no legal status, no temporary status." A spokesman for the UNHCR said very few of the displaced foreigners fit the formal definition of "refugee".

Nevertheless, the government is coming under considerable pressure to organize better accommodation than the makeshift camps currently housing most of the displaced people. Correspondents say it has made it clear that any option which isolates rather than integrates foreigners into the community would be contrary to its policy.

That’s one thing I found really difficult to believe and I’m happy is not true, refugee camps in South Africa, that was …going too far!!!

South Africa and refugee camps

South Africa is to set up seven refugee camps around the country for foreign migrant workers who have fled a recent wave of anti-immigrant violence.

The holding camps will take up to 70,000 people from the increasingly unsanitary conditions at temporary shelters put up around state buildings. The government decision comes despite strong advice from respected international aid agencies.

They say South Africa does not have the expertise necessary to run the camps. Medecins Sans Frontiers (MSF), the medical charity, says conditions for people seeking refuge in the existing shelters are worsening.

This is embarrassing for a country that has suffered for so long and so much in camps!