High Time for Refugees Trust Fund

By Amare Gebremariam Gebre (EAIM) 

Providing food, clothes and basic necessities to refugees and destitute is human, changes the lives of many and gives them hope. Refugees may be economic or political. 

The United Nations High Commissioner for refugees UNHCR defines a “refugee” as a person who has fled his/her country of nationality and is unable or unwilling to return to that country because of well –founded fear of persecution based on race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group. 

FOR ERITREANS SWEET HOME IS NEVER SAFE YET 

Eritreans of all walks of life have been and are leaving the country they love the most to no return since the 1960s because of occupation and these days because of brutal dictatorship. Many leave with out warning and could not bring basic necessities with them that mean they are destitute. Many of these Eritreans who flee their home get perish on the jungle, sea, desert etc while the fortunate enough get to a country where they are allowed to stay either temporarily or permanently. We appreciate the countries that are helping Eritreans  whether by settling them in camps, free to work in the country, finding them third country of asylum or finding countries that resettle them. We are also grateful to the humanitarian organizations and religious societies that are giving tremendous help with their meager resources. 

There are some countries that treat Eritrean refugees inhumanly that are returning them back to Eritrean when they thought that they arrived at a safe place. We appeal to these countries to stop Eritreans who made it to safety return back to Eritrea the only thing they expect is a grave.  These will be the fate of the Eritrean refugees you return back to Eritrea.    

THE SCOURGE OF THE ERITREAN GOVERNMENT DICTATORSHIP:

·       Enslave Eritrans in the name of national service and defense of the mother- land.

·       Massacres people who give opinion of hardship in the country..

·       Herd Eritreans in prisons of unknown locations.

·       Open accounts and invests in places like China while Eritrea is deprived of hard currency.

·       Practice corruption and bribery in governance.

·       Dived and rule the Eritrean society..

·       Cause human suffering of mal-nutrition, hunger, illness, and ignorance because of bad gobernance.

·        Cause economic destruction by governing the country with no economic plan.

·         Cause severe bodily and mental pains on the people who govern.

·        Creates flood of refugees.

·        Reins on one-party dictatorship the negation of our armed struggle and the Oath of independence.

ARE ERITREANS IN DIASPORA DOING ENOUGH 

Most of us who are in the Diaspora living comfortable to some extent passed through these problems our young and the main asset of democratic Eritrea are facing at this moment. 

What are we Eritreans in the Diaspora doing to alleviate the suffering of our destitute wondering in wonder land far away from home? Most of us lament, some of us write articles about it, some contact the governments to stop the mistreatment, some of us lobby certain governments to give asylum to stranded Eritreans, conduct demonstration on behave of the refugees, while others contribute in order to solve urgent problem.  Being aware of the problem and trying to help in one way or another is appreciable and is very Eritrean. But are we doing enough? In EAIM’s opinion we feel more can be done. Here is our suggestion: 

THE ERITREAN TRUST FUND- ETF 

This suggestion was put on the web sites some time ago by Mr Tesfaledet Meharena of Asmarino.com. It did not get the required response from Diaspora Eritreans we guess and did not materialize, so we cannot claim it as ours. 

Eritreans in the Diaspora have a strong weapon in our hand that can contribute tangible relief and hope to our stranded refugees. We have intellectuals who can organize and manage the ETF and all Ertreans have income which enables them to contribute small amount of money $10-$100 and when this is collected goes to millions in our prudent estimation. This fund once it is organized could enable us to buy basic necessities and up to and including defense lawyers in the country where the problem arises concerning our refugees and also can have a committee that can conduct research for the light at the end of the tunnel.. Eritreans are not eager to contribute because we see luck of accountability and proper audit of what we do as a group. 

To organize this we think we have to have a non-profit foundation that some groups have might serve as starting point. To make this successful we suggest the following Eritreans who could serve as board of governors of the foundation and are well respected by  many Eritreans in our opinion and they have the know how to organize the legal aspect, the social aspect and the humanitarian aspect of the foundation.. Any body can include or exclude to the list we suggest, our only intention is to contribute some thing to crucial problem of our refugees. Here is the list:

Dr.   Bereket  Habtesselase           USA

Dr.   Berhan   Ahmed                    Australia

Mr.   Tesfaledate Meharena         USA  ( From Asmarino.com)

MS.  Elizabeth  Chyrum                Great Britain

Mr.   Salih Younus                         USA

Dr.   Saadia  Hassanen                  Canada ( correction might be needed)

Dr.   Alganesh  Gandi                    Italy

N.B we would like to say to the above mentioned honorable intellectuals, people put trust on you on being a board of the trust fund you are expected to open, we had discussion on this issue at pal talk site ERITREA BEMBE MENISEY NIDEMOCRASIN FITHIN. Could you please respond to the administrators of the pal talk or to the e-mail address below? We did not contact these intellectuals, but because we believe that they can work it to success we put them in the list. Also we would like to apologize to any of these individuals if we made a mistake in putting their names without contacting them. 

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