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Author: Ben Fraser

  • INTERNATIONAL

    Communities confront flood fallout

    • Ben Fraser
    • 28 September 2010
    4 Comments

    Amid the horror and gloom there have been moments of inspiration in the flood crisis that have largely gone unreported. While they warmly accept the staples of relief, they know through a history of crippling food insecurity and mass displacement that they are masters of their own destiny.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Rehabilitation of a failed state

    • Ben Fraser
    • 21 May 2009
    2 Comments

    Perhaps it's an omen: election day in Somalia, and the first voter to approach the polling station wears an Obama t-shirt. Elections, and the act of voting, are a powerful affirmation of one's ability to stand and be counted. For refugees, it is all the more significant.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Uganda's aggressive peace

    • Ben Fraser
    • 14 October 2008
    1 Comment

    'Supernatural' rebel leader Alice Lakwena told her fighters that bullets would bounce off them and stones would become grenades when pitched at the enemy. For many Ugandans, religion was ballast against violence. For others it was an instrument of war.

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  • ENVIRONMENT

    Bangladesh climate under the weather

    • Ben Fraser
    • 13 December 2007

    Bangladesh is perhaps the most disaster prone country on earth, with seasonal monsoons and cyclones among its most destructive phenomena. The cyclical nature of these disasters has led the Bangladesh government to pursue a more holistic approach to disaster management.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Urban planning threatens Jakarta’s river dwellers

    • Ben Fraser
    • 08 August 2007

    More than 300,000 Jakarta residents were displaced following the floods in January. Preparedness for the next flood is compromised by the river dwellers' unlawful status, and the government’s desire to clear these slum areas from the riverbank.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Community trust the vital ingredient in refugee resettlement

    • Ben Fraser
    • 27 February 2007

    The recent 'racist firestorm' in Tamworth highlights gaps in the onshore component of the Australia's refugee resettlement program. These deficiencies have a significant bearing on the transition process for newly arrived asylum seekers.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Sudan hiding depth of Darfur conflict

    • Ben Fraser
    • 22 January 2007

    Credible estimates put the Darfur death toll at close to 400,000. President Bashir's most recent claim was less than 10,000. Slovenian journalist Tomo Kriznar received a two year custodial sentence after trial on charges of espionage and ‘bad-mouthing’ the government of Sudan.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Protecting women from danger in Darfur

    • Ben Fraser
    • 11 December 2006

    Internally displaced person (IDP) camps offer a modicum of safety and sustenance amidst spiraling levels of deprivation and insecurity. But there is an increasing incidence of rape and physical assault upon women who have ventured outside the camp to comb the barren landscape for firewood. In Darfur, an environment where law and order often functions as the exception rather than the rule, rights are regularly challenged and violated. For those denied protection, each day plays out in a familiar way—seeking little, but risking all.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Darfur's tenuous peace deal penned in blood

    • Ben Fraser
    • 07 August 2006

    Since the Darfur Peace Agreement was ratified in May, the Sudanese government has variously courted, confused and harangued the international community in an apparent successful effort to create discord in the peace process.

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  • INTERNATIONAL

    Unsettled city

    • Ben Fraser
    • 22 May 2006

    Life in Kabul.

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  • ARTS AND CULTURE

    Grandstand politics

    • Ben Fraser
    • 10 May 2006

    Ben Fraser enjoys the spectacle of Afghanistan’s equestrian past-time.

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  • AUSTRALIA

    Back up to par

    • Ben Fraser
    • 29 April 2006

    Golf in Kabul 

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