User:Spiteria/Sandbox

Changes to CDM Article
As the CDM is an alternative to domestic emissions reductions, a perfectly working CDM would ensure that the amount of total emissions did not increase with the implementation of its projects. However, there is a worry that through perverse incentives extra credits are being financed and manufactured. If the amount of 'spurious' credits created is large enough the market for CERs may become skewed. This means that that businesses will be allowed to emit GHGs at a higher level than if the project was not created. This can be well understood through examining HCFC-22 projects. The cost of the creation and sale of HCFC-22 is less than the sale of the credits made from the destruction of HCFC-22's byproduct, HFC-23. As a result, production of HCFC-22 increased in order to ensure that production reached the caps set by the CDM Executive Board. Once these caps were met however, production ceased or the HFC-23/HCFC-22 ratio declined. This means that extra CERs were introduced into the European Union Emissions Trading System. So, the creation of the gas that was supposed to be abated, HFC-23, increased even though it was being destroyed and emissions within the EU were allowed to increase at a greater rate as a result of the excess credits.

Camp Safety
Worries surrounding the infiltration of Kenya by Somali pirates, al Qaeda, and soldiers from the Union of Islamic Courts have created tension between the refugees and Kenyan law enforcement. Abuse of Somali refugees who are smuggled across the border is common. Men are regularly slapped, kicked, and beaten while being labeled as al Qaeda terrorists before being allowed to continue into the country. Fears are not unfounded despite such disregard for human rights though. Investigators from the US and Kenya have found ties between the camps and the suicide bombing of the US Embassy in Nairobi in 1998 and the suicide bombings in Mombassa in 2002. On November 5, 2011 a Kenyan police truck escorting a UN convoy struck a landmine, in Hagadara camp, which failed to detonate. That was first landmine that has been found in Dadaab. Following this, on the same day, there was a grenade attack on a Pentecostal Church in Garissa in which 2 died and 5 were wounded. Members of al Qaeda and Somali pirates are a constant feature of the camps. Pirates and their recruiters have a high degree of visibility, being well dressed with expensive clothing and jewelry. Everyday they can be seen at a café in the central market at Ifo. Being the home to such criminal organizations, the camps have also become centers for arms smuggling and illegal monetary networks.

Law Enforcement
The extortion and abuse of asylum seekers by police is common place outside of Dadaab. This became increasingly prevalent with the closure of the Somalian border. Police stationed near Liboi, northeast of Dadaab, systematically "extort money from Somali asylum seekers who cross the border in vehicles with the help of smugglers. In some cases, police then rape women and assault men." Refugees and their children have been known to be taken hostage until a ransom is paid. Many people from Dadaab, Garissa, and Liboi believed that the police were the only ones benefitting from the closure of Somalia's border with Kenya. It is also worth noting that "under the Kenyan Constitution, which reflects key provisions of international human rights treaties to which Kenya is a party, including the International Covenant on CIvil and Political Rights, all people in Kenya, including refugees and asylum seekers, are entitled to protection of their property, freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention, and freedom from all forms of inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment."

Sociodynamics of the Camps
The World Food Programme provides the foodstuffs for the camps refugees. Many of the refugees were pastoralists used to living off the milk and meat of their camels and other herd animals. The corn-soy food blend they were given by the WFP was not popular within the camp and many would only give to their animals as feed.

The availability of land is a very sensitive issue in Kenya. As a result,Dadaab was located in a semi-arid region on land that has no value. The soils of the area are poor in nutrients and sandy with rivers in the area only flowing seasonally. Therefore, water is held at a premium and vegetation is sparse. The belts of green surrounding the camps are simple fruit and vegetable gardens kept by the refugees. They are only for feeding poultry and goats, and to maintain vegetal cover to keep the dust down. Cattle can not be grazed off the gardens.

Within the camps there is discrimination of ethnic Bantu's is prevalent. Bantus are the descendants of Tanzanians migrants who were the slaves of Somalians, with their historic second class status continuing in the camps. This is evident from the spatial organization of the camps.

Maintaining an attitude of trust can be hard for those interacting with the refugees. This may or may not be as a result of any action of the part of the refugee. There is a common perception among government officials, UN and aid workers that all refugees do is complain and are constantly lying and cheating in order to receive more aid. This can be a dangerous attitude to have, allowing the people running the camps to overlook the legitimate needs of the refugees.

Dependency
While the ultimate reason for the camps would apparently be to provide assistance to the refugees in Dadaab however at times they face the same economic, physical, and existential threats they faced outside the camp. Being outside the protection of ordinary citizenship rights it is responsibility of international regimes focused on refugee rights to protect the interests of the refugees. This is normally carried out by the host countries, the UNHCR, agencies involved in delivering services, and donors. There are questions however, of whether the form the regime takes in Dadaab makes the refugees more vulnerable by making them completely dependent on the camps. Refugees have very little opportunity for making an independent livelihood. Some opportunities of making an income are provided by the regime that runs the camps. Kenya, however, has severely hampered refugees abilities to become integrated into the local economy. The refugees of Dadaab are looked at as temporary guests instead of the permanent residents many of them become. In 1992, with the creation of the Dadaab camps and the arrival of over 100,000 refugees Kenyan policy regarding refugees changed. "Kenya has added multiple reservations to its signature of the 1951 Convention (on the Status of Refugees), allowing it to restrict refugee access to some of the rights outlined in the Convention such as citizenship pathaways, mobility, employment, state education, state social security, and access to health care."

Environment
Deforestation is commonly viewed as a problem by Kenyan authorities, aid organizations, and refugees. There is disagreement about the degree of the problem however. Refugees, in particular, have been accused of using unsustainable practices in collecting firewood. As a result of the deforestation rates refugees and locals have to walk long distances to find firewood. This job is normally performed by women and puts them at great risk of being raped or sexually assaulted.

Relations with Locals
The relationship between the UNHCR camps and the local population is mixed. The creation of the camps has brought urban enclaves into the Northeastern Provinces of Kenya, bringing with it infrastructure and trade which would not have existed other wise. Unlike the surrounding area Dadaab has health facilities and an educational system. With the creation of the camps there also came running water and a slaughterhouse.

--The Invisible Walrus (talk) 22:47, 24 November 2011 (UTC)