A Refugee's Identity - Erasure

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ARTWORK#5 Part 2

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ARTWORK#5 part 1 as i started off working with water colour paint i wanted to experiment how the ‘elements’ would effect the paint. So i painted a few faces of real life refugees and place them in the water, as seen in the film and photographs the paint that once portrayed a face wash away and disintegrated. i wanted to play with this idea and show how traveling to take refuge can often have life devastating effects and cause an erasure of identity and personality. in the start of the clip their faces are evident but as they are at sea the colour starts to run and the image disappears and is washed up blank. the images i have chosen support this, with the first image displaying their full identities and selves in contrast to the final image. this work - supported by my iterations, displays the devastating effects and the notion that they have abandoned everything including elements of themselves when leaving their home. 

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iteration#8 this famous image further shows the harsh impact of war and how and individual may need to flee their home with little time or preparation. fleeing ones home is traumatic especially in life threatening situations - working with erasure i want to examine this futher and how such experience can effect the individual 

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impacts on an adolescent

iteration#7

Family conflict due to the pressure to adapt to the new culture and its conflict with the culture of the family.

» Academic difficulties. » Difficulty in maintaining supportive friendships. » Isolation.

» Acting out beaviours due to feelings of frustra- tion, difficulties in dealing with emotions and dif- ficulties in understanding and being understood in the new culture.

» Missing school which may be a result of lack of parental supervision and other supports being available within the community.

» Self harm or suicidal behaviours. Young people in refugee communities present a higher risk of sui- cidal behaviour than their peers from non-refugee backgrounds. 

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Resettlement in a new country

iteration#6

Resettlement provides refugees with the opportunity to start a new life in a country where they will be safe. However, it also brings with it several challenges and adversities that may impact on children and families. These include:

» Difficulties associated with language, customs and knowledge of services in a new country.

» Financial hardship, difficulties with finding em- ployment and in some cases, suitable housing. » Difficulties in accessing help and assistance when unfamiliar with the way communities and services work.

» Feelings of isolation. » Feelings of loss of home, family and other connections. » A sense of disconnection living in a country with different customs and expectations. 

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Displacement

iteration#5

Many refugees flee first to temporary refugee camps or countries where they are not in danger. They

stay in this temporary accommodation sometimes for years at a time. Living in this state brings with it many experiences which can continue to traumatize. These include:

Accommodation is often inadequate for families and unsafe for children.

There are food shortages.

Many children, as well as adults, are the victims of rape and physical violence in these camps. Many may witness this occurring to others and may also be witness to murder.

Significant numbers of young people and children are unaccompanied and may have lost parents or carers.

Parents find it difficult to parent their children effectively.

Parents may be experiencing their own issues of grief, loss and trauma and may find it difficult to respond emotionally to the needs of their children.

There is ongoing uncertainty about their future and their safety.

They are often required to re-tell their story to several people in order proceed through the process of seeking refugee status.

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What to pack??...Nothing?!

iteration#4 -  These personal stories show that often people have to abandon everything from their old life in order to start new, taking very little with them i believe that this can have damaging effects of the physche and ones identity as they are forced to disregard and forget a part of themselves

1. "It was too dangerous to waste time on packing. When rebels entered my village in southern Somalia, I just grabbed my jacket and ran out," says Abas, a Somali asylum-seeker in Poland. "The jacket is a bit worn, but I don't mind; it's the only thing that reminds me of my previous life."

2. Wais was 15 when he had to flee Afghanistan because of growing feuds between local warlords in his home province of Parwan. Now he lives in Warsaw. "My mother gave me a ring and some family pictures. They are my most precious souvenirs from home," he says.

3. Magbola Alhadi, 20, and her three children fled the village of Bofe in Sudan when it was stormed by soldiers. She brought a pot that was small enough to carry but large enough to cook meals for her daughters during their journey.

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iteration#3 - the destruction of the sea upon the boat and thus the lives of the refuges - (i am questioning and looking at how experiences like this can impact the soul or change and 'erase' an identity or perspective

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When the boat sunk - A personal representation

iteration#2 - this story exemplifies the hard chaos and reality of traveling by boat and the harsh impacts that it can have e.g.. death With local authorities take care of, the refugees reached a beach on the south coast of Java at around midnight. There were smaller boats waiting to take them to a larger vessel, miles offshore. As they approached the boat that was supposed to take them to Christmas Island, Ishaq knew that his worst fears had been realised.

“There were men everywhere, all over the deck, shouting to us to go back, that there was no space, that the boat would sink, that we would drown,” he remembered. “I was terrified. But how could we go back?”

Pushed aboard by the press of men behind him, he fought his way through the crowd and grabbed one of the last life jackets. “The old and the weak were pushed aside,” he remembered. The traffickers had taken his mobile phone. He had just his clothes, passport, wallet and a few hundred dollars.

At dawn, the ship got under way. The refugees saw a few fishing boats. Then nothing. The few bottles of water, supply of tinned cheese and bags of dry noodles on board were grossly inadequate for 200 men for a five or six-day journey.

One of the refugees on the boat was Abdul Aziz, the Parachinar labourer with five children. After three days at sea, he used the crew’s single satellite phone, to call home.

"He spoke to us from the boat on 21 June,” his brother-in-law said. "He said, 'We are leaving for Australia and I will call you from there.’ When he spoke to his only daughter, then six years old, he promised to bring her dolls and clothes.”

But that night a crew member fell asleep and allowed the engine and the pumps to run out of fuel. The hold of the leaky, overburdened boat rapidly filled with water.

“It happened very fast. The boat just capsized. Everyone went in the water. People were very scared and shouting, trying to grab each other, fighting and sinking and pulling each other down,” Ishaq said.

It was around 2am and very dark. There were no life rafts, and only half the refugees had managed to grab one of the worn-out life belts heaped in the boat’s hold.

Though 30 or 40 people managed to clamber on to the hull, the rest were left in the waves. Almost none could swim. Ishaq, treading water, tightened the strings on his own life jacket as a current drew him away.

“I thank God there were no women or children on the boat, just young men and teenagers,” he said.

After a few hours, the strings on his lifejacket parted. He held it with one hand and swam with the other. Bodies floated on the water. Men shouted to each other, then their voices faded as they sank beneath the waves. “We prayed and cried and tried to encourage each other. They died before my eyes. My own hopes were fading,” he said.

After nearly 24 hours in the water, a plane flew low overhead, but dropped a raft full of supplies too far away for the exhausted refugees. A second aircraft dropped an inflatable tube. Ishaq hung on to it. An hour later an Australian naval vessel picked up survivors and took them Christmas Island.

“I was looking for my friends but there were so few of us. So many had drowned,” he said. Among them was the food-loving banker Ali Hasaan Kaka, his cousin, and Ali Abdul Aziz, the labourer from Parachinar.

A week later, another boat would sink, this time with the loss of about 65 asylum-seekers. During the last days of August, about 100 heading to Christmas Island may have drowned in two incidents. Other boats have simply disappeared. More than 200 died in March when another vessel sank, according to reports in Pakistan. Last month news reached Quetta and Parachinar of another shipwreck in which about 60 died.

Ishaq, the survivor, is unsure what advice he would give to those planning their own bid to reach Australia. “If your life is safe and you have a choice then don’t do it, it isn’t worth the risk,” Ishaq said. “But if you have no alternative ...”

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iteration#1 - i now want to look at the journey and what it can do to the individual 

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ARTWORK#4 Today the amount of fake ID’s being used to cross international borders is growing. A valid document could be altered – by changing the name, date of birth, picture, or adding a visa stamp for example – to suit the identity of the holder and their purpose. in this work i have shown the stages of changing a passport - steps that are often taken by refugees to jump the system, gain access to a country or change their own identity - which i have highlighted through my iterations. i think this artwork is important as is show the erasure of one identity and the transformation of another. (first panel - original ID, second panel - ID with information erased, third panel - new and altered ID) 

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False documents give refugees false hope

Most people looking for false identity documents in order to travel obtain them through a third party, a high-level General Security source told The Daily Star. The security body has arrested “tens” of individuals for possessing false documents, including passports, visas and residency permits. Some of them [get the document] to try and leave Lebanon for another country; others couldn’t get a visa so they try to get one [forged],

European countries, especially those that have laws against deporting illegal arrivals, are a popular destination for such people.

Forged documents may also be used to cover up terrorist activities, the source said, but he was reluctant to divulge how General Security goes about identifying these individuals, saying it was “confidential.”

There are two main ways that false documents are obtained. A valid document could be altered – by changing the name, date of birth, picture, or adding a visa stamp for example – to suit the identity of the holder and their purpose.

“These people have a valid travel document, but make changes to it,” said the security source. Alternatively, an entirely new document, typically a passport, could be purchased through agents working for illicit networks that in turn acquire them either by forgery or theft.

iteration#8

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News article on how people get fake ID's to jump the system and get refuge benefits

iteration#7 Ahmednadhir Yussuf Abdi, 20, a Somali-Kenyan, said he ruined his life when he went to the Dadaab refugee camp to falsely register as a refugee from Somalia.

That decision has haunted him since, he said.

"Some of my family members and close relatives were registered and were receiving food rations and I did not see anything wrong…I just wanted relief food to see me through the drought period," he said.

After that, Abdi said he was denied an identification card, the ability to leave the camp when he wants, the right to own property and vote, as well as other benefits afforded to citizens.

According to Minister of State for Immigration and Registration of Persons Otieno Kajwang', about 12,000 Somali-Kenyans are registered as refugees. He said the government is in the process of deregistering the fake ones.

Kajwang' told Sabahi that some Kenyan citizens of Somali descent negligently or deliberately falsified their status without factoring in the negative implications.

The practice has been going on for 12 years, but the government has never prosecuted any offenders, Kajwang' said. "The number of those cheating about five years ago was negligible, but we discovered that the cheating peaked last year, when we found out that more than 3,000 had cheated the system," he said.

Kajwang' said the government has started drafting a law that will criminalise falsely registering as a refugee to deter offenders.

Suspected fakes go through an exhaustive vetting process before they are deregistered as refugees and re-issued Kenyan identity cards. However, Kajwang' cautioned that if the trend continues to grow, the government will begin revoking the citizenship of fraudsters.

Kajwang' said some people also had the incorrect impression that in addition to food aid they would also benefit from relocation to Europe and United States.

North Eastern Provincial Commissioner James ole Seriani said some Somali-Kenyans were registered while young with their parents. Some Kenyans have sacrificed their citizenship to live in squalid conditions in the camps, nursing far-fetched hopes that they will be relocated abroad, he told Sabahi.

"It appears to some Kenyans that the crisis in Somalia is a kind of blessing," he said.

Moulid Abdi Hussein, a 37-year-old refugee at Ifo camp, told Sabahi that Somali-Kenyans live under the same conditions as others in the teeming camps.

"They queue for food handouts just like genuine refugees do. They squat, they receive free medication and even their children get educations in our schools. Some are even lucky to get sponsorship to further their education from UNHCR partners in the camps," he said.

UNHCR spokesperson for Kenya Emmanuel Nyabera said the agency is working in collaboration with Kenyan government to ensure only genuine refugees are registered. However, it is sometimes difficult to discern due to similarities between Kenyans of Somali descent and refugees who come from Somalia, since they share a common language and culture, he said.

"Last year, we witnessed a largest influx that saw the expansion of the Dadaab camp and under such circumstances, we never rule out some Kenyans posing as refugees," Nyabera said.

In an attempt to deter fraudsters, the Kenyan government five years ago suspended the registration of new Somali refugees, but the suspension was lifted after it became apparent that genuine refugees were suffering because of a few people trying to beat the system, he said.

Kenya's Acting Commissioner for Refugees Badu Katelo said the government is working to provide more stringent screening and registration procedures for refugees to make it difficult to cheat the system.

In 2011, the Kenyan government rolled out a system that allows the UNHCR to send fingerprints of incoming refugees to the National Registration Bureau, which issues national identity cards, for cross-checking against the government's records.

"The new upgraded system is fast. The Kenyan National Registration Bureau checks the prints against the UNHCR database and [imposters] can be detected while still in queue," Katelo told Sabahi.

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iteration#6 - these are some ID documents that i have found off the internet that have previously been plagiarised and stole as a form of fake ID.

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iteration#5 in lower developed countries ID are often fragile and easily destroyed or lost on the journey to a new country 

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iteration #4

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No Identification- reasons

iteration #3 1. When you're fleeing persecution it is dangerous to be identified

Asylum seekers arriving by boat are fleeing persecu- tion. They come from countries like Iran, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka where opponents of the government or ethnic minorities are routinely arrested, tortured and killed. If they are caught before they can get away or in a country that does not accept asylum seekers, they will be returned and handed over to their gov- ernment. Having tried to flee, the asylum seeker is viewed as a traitor as well as an opponent of the gov- ernment and could be subjected to even worse treat- ment. For these reasons, asylum seekers often move without identity documents so if they are caught, there is a chance they can still get away. Sometimes asylum seekers need false identity documents to be able to get away safely, in this case, they destroy the documents once they no longer need them so they or the people who helped them get the false documents don’t get into trouble.  2. Some asylum speakers don't have passports to begin with

If you are an ethnic Hazara in a Taliban controlled part of Afghanistan and don’t have a passport, you can’t exactly go to the authorities saying ‘I am afraid for my life and want to flee to seek asylum, can I have a pass- port?’ It is the same situation for a Sri Lankan Tamil or Iranian democracy activist on a government wanted list. So if you don’t already have a passport, you can’t get one.  3. the passports are often confiscated by the people who organise their passage 4. they may be fleeing for their lives and don't have time to pack