VOA标准英语2009年-IOM Launches Campaign on Dangers of Crossi

By Lisa Schlein
Geneva
19 September 2009

 
Yemeni NGO workers give newly arrived Somali migrants water on the beach of Hasn Beleid village, 230 kms east of the Red Sea port of Aden, 15 Oct., 2008
The International Organization for Migration¹ and the United Nations refugee agency are starting a radio campaign Saturday to try to dissuade² migrants in the Horn of Africa from making the perilous³ journey across the Gulf⁴ of Aden on smugglers boats. 

The radio campaign is being run in the Somali language. Spokeswoman for the International Organization for Migration, Jemini Pandya says the campaign will target both migrants as well as host communities in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Somalia and Yemen.

"So, the information campaign is very much about targeting both the migrants and actually also the host communities in trying to encourage them to provide better protection and to be more understanding of what is actually driving these people to taking the risks and going through their territories and why they need the help. Often the smugglers are abandoning them in transit⁵ without food or water and often beating them up and abusing them physically," she said.

Every year, tens of thousands of migrants and asylum⁶-seekers make the hazardous⁷ journey across the Gulf of Aden in search of a better life. They come mainly from the Ogaden region of Ethiopia and South Central Somalia.

They travel through the North East region of Somalia, Puntland, and onwards across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen in makeshift boats operated by unscrupulous smugglers.

IOM, UN and non-governmental organizations have been running campaigns for years to educate and inform migrants and asylum seekers from putting their lives in the hands of smugglers whose only interest is to make money.

These campaigns have not succeeded in discouraging people desperate to flee war and poverty from risking their lives. Despite this, Pandya says it is important to keep trying to dissuade them from their perilous course.

"You have to keep trying. You just cannot give up. You keep hearing every week people are dying or drowning or suffering great abuses even if they are not dying. So, we cannot just give up just say well okay these things, we do not know if they work. Maybe they do deter⁸ people. You just never know how many," she said.

IOM reports nearly 43,500 migrants and asylum seekers crossed the Gulf of Aden from Somalia this year. Of these, it says about 280 people have drowned or are missing at sea and presumed dead. In the latest incident earlier this week, 65 people were reported to be dead or missing in the Gulf of Aden.

1 migration   

n.迁移，移居，（鸟类等的）迁徙

参考例句：

• Swallows begin their migration south in autumn.燕子在秋季开始向南方迁移。
• He described the vernal migration of birds in detail.他详细地描述了鸟的春季移居。

2 dissuade   

v.劝阻，阻止

参考例句：

• You'd better dissuade him from doing that.你最好劝阻他别那样干。
• I tried to dissuade her from investing her money in stocks and shares.我曾设法劝她不要投资于股票交易。

3 perilous   

adj.危险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• The journey through the jungle was perilous.穿过丛林的旅行充满了危险。
• We have been carried in safety through a perilous crisis.历经一连串危机，我们如今已安然无恙。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 transit   

n.经过，运输；vt.穿越，旋转；vi.越过

参考例句：

• His luggage was lost in transit.他的行李在运送中丢失。
• The canal can transit a total of 50 ships daily.这条运河每天能通过50条船。

6 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

7 hazardous   

adj.(有)危险的，冒险的；碰运气的

参考例句：

• These conditions are very hazardous for shipping.这些情况对航海非常不利。
• Everybody said that it was a hazardous investment.大家都说那是一次危险的投资。

8 deter   

vt.阻止，使不敢，吓住

参考例句：

• Failure did not deter us from trying it again.失败并没有能阻挡我们再次进行试验。
• Dogs can deter unwelcome intruders.狗能够阻拦不受欢迎的闯入者。