Tag Archives: refugees

Thailand grants work rights to long-term refugees from Myanmar, UN welcomes resolution

Posted on by
Reply

Some 81,000 forcibly displaced people are hosted in temporary shelters along the Thai-Myanmar border where they have been living in the camps for decades.

Nearly half the refugee population were born under canvas, where displaced families have largely depended on humanitarian assistance.

Over a million Rohingya, a mostly-Muslim minority from Myanmar, have fled conflict and persecution in multiple waves of displacement.

Monday marked eight years since the mass exodus of Rohingya from Myanmar’s Rakhine state in Myanmar and the UN on Monday called for greater international solidarity over their plight.

‘Turning point’

UNHCR’s Representative in Thailand, Tammi Sharpe, described the Government’s decision as a major “turning point.”

She said it would not only help refugees support themselves but also benefit local economies and strengthen Thailand’s long-term growth.

“By unlocking the potential of these individuals, Thailand is not only upholding humanitarian principles but also making a strategic investment in its own future,” Ms. Sharpe said.

Although the new resolution covers a limited number, the UN agency said it would continue to advocate for wider refugee inclusion – offering support to the Thai Government in rolling out the new policy.

Aid cuts

The move comes at a time when aid budgets for displaced people worldwide are facing severe cuts.

For the UN agency, Thailand’s move could set a regional precedent for sustainable, rights-based refugee policies – and serve as a model for countries facing similar challenges, UNHCR said.

According to agency, $25.4 million is needed in 2025 to ensure operations covered by the Thailand-based international office is sustained – which also oversees operations in Cambodia, the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Viet Nam.

Source link

UNHCR urges Pakistan to stop forced returns of Afghan refugees

Posted on by
Reply

He expressed particular concern over the plight of women and girls sent back to Afghanistan, which has been under Taliban rule for four years.

On 31 July, Pakistan confirmed that Afghan refugees would be deported under an ongoing ‘Illegal Foreigners Repatriation Plan’. 

UNHCR has received reports of arrests and detention of Afghans across the country, including PoR cardholders.

Violation of non-return principle

“We acknowledge and appreciate Pakistan’s generosity in hosting refugees for over 40 years amid its own challenges,” said Mr. Baloch.

“However, given that those holding PoR cards have been recognized as refugees for decades, their forced return is contrary to Pakistan’s long-standing humanitarian approach to this group and would constitute a violation of the principle of non-refoulement.”

The situation is unfolding amid a mass return of Afghans from neighbouring countries, including Iran.  

This year, over 2.1 million have already returned or been forced to return to Afghanistan, including 352,000 from Pakistan. 

Listen to our interview with Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative in Afghanistan, on returnees coming from Iran.

Concern for women and girls 

“UNHCR remains particularly concerned about women and girls forced to return to a country where their human rights are at risk, as well as other groups who might be endangered,” said Mr. Baloch. 

He urged the authorities to ensure that any returns are voluntary, safe and dignified.  

Moreover, UNHCR has continued to seek an extension of the validity of PoR cards, which expired at the end of June, and welcomed the additional one-month “grace period” granted by Pakistan. 

“UNHCR strongly urges the Government of Pakistan to apply measures to exempt Afghans with continued international protection needs from involuntary return,” he said.

“We also appeal to Pakistan’s established goodwill to allow legal stay for Afghans with medical needs, those currently pursuing higher education, or in mixed marriages.”

Far-reaching impact

He said the large-scale return of Afghans from neighbouring countries has put immense pressure on basic services, housing and livelihoods, as well as host communities.  

The general policy is worsening an already dire humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan. According to UN aid coordination office OCHA, almost half the population – nearly 23 million people – will require humanitarian assistance this year to survive.

Mr. Baloch warned that “mass and hasty returns significantly heighten protection needs, and risk instability in Afghanistan and the region, including onward movement.” 

Source link

Desperate Afghan refugees return to an unfamiliar home

Posted on by
Reply

The agency is calling for calm and cooperation to provide a dignified path forward for millions of displaced Afghans.

More than 1.6 million Afghans have returned from both neighbouring countries in 2024 alone, according to UNHCR – a figure that has already surpassed earlier forecasts for the entire year.

‘From Afghanistan – not of Afghanistan’

The scale and speed of these returns are placing enormous pressure on border provinces ill-equipped to absorb them, exacerbating poverty, insecurity and humanitarian need in a country still reeling from economic collapse and widespread human rights abuses.

Complicating the situation further is the fact that many returnees – especially women and children – are coming back to a country they barely know.

“They are from Afghanistan [but] not of Afghanistan – often born abroad with better education and different cultural norms. Their outlook is different from and often at odds with present day Afghanistan,” says Arafat Jamal, UNHCR Representative in the country.

Women and girls in particular face a jarring shift: from relative autonomy in host countries to a context where their rights are severely restricted by edicts from Taliban authorities.

© UNICEF/Shehzad Noorani

Women’s rights in Afghanistan continue to face severe setbacks, with restrictions deepening across education, employment and public life

Disorientated and disorganised

He reported conditions that he had seen for himself recently in Islam Qala, a key border crossing with Iran.

Daily arrivals have surged to around 50,000 people, many of them disoriented and exhausted after arduous journeys. UN officials described scenes of desperation at reception centres.

“Many of these returnees have been abruptly uprooted and have undergone arduous, exhausting and degrading journeys – they arrive tired, disoriented, brutalised and often in despair, and they sprawl throughout a crowded centre in often 40°C (104°F) heat,” Mr. Jamal said.

While some returns are voluntary, he added that many are occurring under duress or without proper protections in place. Those returning include both officially registered refugees and people in “refugee-like” situations who may face serious risks upon arrival.

Funding crisis

The UN and humanitarian partners have mounted a broad-based response along the borders, providing food, water, health services, protection and onward transportation.

However, funding shortfalls are critically hampering operations. UNHCR’s response is just 28 per cent funded as of July, forcing aid agencies to ration supplies and make painful choices.

“We are living on borrowed funds,” Mr. Jamal said. “Daily, we are asking ourselves – should we give one blanket instead of four? One meal instead of three? These are heartbreaking, soul-destroying decisions.”

The situation is equally dire for other agencies: the wider, UN-led 2025 Humanitarian Needs and Response Plan for Afghanistan – which seeks $2.4 billion to assist nearly 17 million people across the country – is only 22 per cent funded.

Poverty and drought

Recent UN assessments have also warned of deteriorating conditions and deepening poverty within Afghanistan.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued alerts over worsening drought across much of the country, while the UN Development Programme (UNDP) reports that 70 per cent of Afghans already live at subsistence levels, as the collapse of public services and ongoing rights violations leaves millions in despair.

As returnees cross the border, often without notice or resources, local populations are being stretched to the limit.

Mr. Jamal noted that this “precarity layered upon poverty” risks fuelling frustration, competition over limited resources and new forms of social tension.

“Afghanistan may be welcoming, but it is wholly unprepared to receive this volume of returnees,” he said. “The communities who are taking people in are doing so with great generosity, but they are themselves in crisis.”

Global attention

The growing emergency comes just days after the UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution expressing “deep concern” over deteriorating conditions facing Afghans.

The resolution, passed with 116 votes in favour and only two against, urged the Taliban to reverse repressive policies and called for renewed international cooperation to support Afghan civilians.

The resolution highlighted the need for “coherent approaches” that bridge humanitarian, development and political efforts. It also called on donor countries to maintain or increase support.

Source link

Funding shortages threaten relief for millions of Sudanese refugees: WFP

Posted on by
Reply

In an alert, the UN agency warned that it faces having to make “drastic cuts” to life-saving food assistance, which may “grind to a halt” in the Central African Republic, Egypt, Ethiopia and Libya in the coming months as resources run out.

WFP noted that the situation for many Sudanese refugees is already dire, more than two years since war erupted between Sudan’s national army and paramilitary rebels.

“In Uganda, many vulnerable refugees are surviving on less than 500 calories a day” – less than a quarter of daily nutritional needs – as new arrivals strain refugee support systems, WFP said. In Chad, which hosts almost a quarter of the four million refugees who fled Sudan, food rations will be reduced in the coming months without new contributions.

Vulnerable youngsters

Children are particularly vulnerable to sustained periods of hunger and malnutrition rates among young refugees in reception centres in Uganda and South Sudan have already breached emergency thresholds. According to WFP, refugees are already severely malnourished even before arriving in neighbouring countries to receive emergency assistance.

“This is a full-blown regional crisis that’s playing out in countries that already have extreme levels of food insecurity and high levels of conflict,” said Shaun Hughes, WFP Emergency Coordinator for the Sudan Regional Crisis.

“Millions of people who have fled Sudan depend wholly on support from WFP, but without additional funding we will be forced to make further cuts to food assistance. This will leave vulnerable families, and particularly children, at increasingly severe risk of hunger and malnutrition.”

Source link

Bearing the brunt of war: UNICEF chief meets some of Sudan’s 700,000 child refugees crossing into Chad

Posted on by
Reply

In neighbouring Chad, children make up 61 per cent of the 860,000 Sudanese refugees and a staggering 68 per cent of the 274,000 Chadian returnees – that’s over 700,000 young lives uprooted by violence.

Chad, already one of the world’s poorest countries, has the fourth-highest child mortality rate in the world, despite significant progress in recent years.

The Government of Chad and humanitarian partners have been providing support, but the migration crisis remains overwhelming: measles and malnutrition are spreading, the risk of Sudan’s cholera outbreak spilling into Chad remains high.

Only one in three children are enrolled in school and essential services are stretched to the brink.

Horrific memories 

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Executive Director Catherine Russell concluded a three-day visit to Chad on Monday, where she met with refugee children and families displaced by the fighting and chaos across the Sudanese border.

“Hundreds of thousands of the most vulnerable children are bearing the brunt of both the war in Sudan and the lack of essential services for those who have fled to Chad,” Russell said.

In eastern Chad, Ms. Russell “met women and children who arrived with little but the horrific memories they carry” and heard their stories of killings, mass rapes and homes burned to the ground.

She visited families newly arrived in Adré, an overwhelmed border town now hosting six refugees for every resident.

Russell also met President Mahamat Idriss Déby Itno to reaffirm UNICEF’s long-term commitment to Chad and discuss support for the country’s newly launched National Development Plan 2030.

“The people of Chad have shown extraordinary generosity,” she said. “But they cannot face this crisis alone. We must stand in solidarity with them – and with the children of Sudan – by strengthening national systems and communities on the frontlines.”

Ramping up response

In Adré and surrounding areas, UNICEF-supported teams have vaccinated thousands of children, provided safe drinking water to tens of thousands, established child-friendly spaces and set up services for survivors of gender-based violence.

The agency is also working closely with Chadian authorities to scale up system-wide investments in health, including polio vaccination campaigns, as well as education and social protection.

But urgent funding gaps remain. Of the $114 million required for UNICEF’s 2025 humanitarian response in Chad, only 34 per cent has been secured.

Source link

World News in Brief: Global growth slows, deadly Ukraine attacks, Haiti hurricane hunger risk, legal migration for refugees

Posted on by
Reply

Growth is projected to weaken to 2.3 per cent, or nearly half a percentage point lower than expected at the start of the year, according to the Global Economic Prospects report.

“The global outlook is predicated on tariff rates close to those of late May prevailing,” it said.

“Accordingly, pauses to previously announced tariff hikes between the United States and its trading partners are assumed to persist.”

Although a global recession is not expected, average global growth is on track to be the slowest of any decade since the 1960s.

Poor countries suffer

Growth forecasts are being slashed in nearly 70 per cent of all economies, with the poorest countries most affected.

In most developing countries, nearly 60 per cent, growth should average 3.8 per cent in 2025 before reaching an average 3.9 per cent in the following two years – more than a percentage lower than the average in the 2010s.

The slowdown will impact efforts by developing countries in areas such as job creation, poverty reduction and closing income gaps with richer economies.

“The world economy today is once more running into turbulence. Without a swift course correction, the harm to living standards could be deep,” said Indermit Gill, Senior Vice President and Chief Economist.

The report calls for rebuilding trade relations as “economic cooperation is better than any of the alternatives – for all parties,” he said.

Countries are also urged to improve business climates and to promote employment by ensuring workers are equipped with necessary skills.

At least three dead in new Russian drone assault on Ukrainian cities 

A massive new wave of Russian drone attacks has killed at least three civilians and left Kyiv, Odesa and Zaporizhzhia engulfed in clouds of thick smoke, aid teams said on Tuesday. 

The attack was reportedly one of the largest since Russia’s full-scale invasion more than three years ago.

In an online update, the UN aid coordinating office, OCHA, said that a maternity ward in Odesa had come under fire, causing injuries and widespread damage to homes. 

Another terrible night

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, underscored the impact of the violence on civilians, citing 16-year-old Sonya from Kyiv in an online post. “It was a terrible night,” she said. “The sounds were so frightening – a buzzing sound that was getting closer and explosions every five minutes.”

Russia has intensified its airstrikes on Ukraine in recent days. 

According to Moscow, it stepped up its bombing campaign in retaliation for Ukraine’s suprise drone attacks deep inside Russian territory last week codenamed operation spiderweb.

Amid the ongoing conflict, UN humanitarian teams and partners continue to work to help civilians in cities across Ukraine.

They provide first aid, protection services, food, construction materials and other support including counselling and legal advice.

Haiti: Hurricane season is here, but there are no food supplies

The World Food Programme (WFP) has reported that for the first time ever, it has no prepositioned food supplies in Haiti for the hurricane season, which lasts from June to November. 

WFP also said staffers do not have the financial resources to respond quickly to an emergency weather event in the country. 

Other UN agencies have prepositioned water and sanitation kits for 100,000 and health supplies for 20,000 people. However, these are not sufficient, especially in the absence of food, to meet needs during an emergency. 

“The current lack of contingency stocks and operational funds leaves Haiti’s most at-risk communities dangerously unprotected at a time of heightened vulnerability,” Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq said in a briefing Tuesday. 

Famine-like conditions

Food insecurity and malnutrition are already rampant, with over half the population facing acute hunger. Haiti is one of five countries worldwide which is experiencing famine-like conditions. 

Continuing armed violence by gangs in the capital and in other regions has displaced over one million people, compounding the hunger crisis and limiting access to other basic services such as clean water and health care. 

UN agencies in the country estimate that they will need $908 million to continue providing life-saving resources in Haiti, but currently, they have only received $78 million in emergency support. 

Refugees find hope through legal migration

Nearly one million refugees from eight countries with high asylum recognition rates were granted entry permits to 38 destination countries between 2019 and 2023, according to a new report from UN refugee agency, UNHCR, and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), Safe Pathways for Refugees. 

These permits were issued through existing systems for work, study, or family reunification.

“Refugees are using the same legal channels that millions rely on every day,” said Ruven Menikdiwela, UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection. 

“We don’t need new systems – just safer access to the ones already in place.”

In 2023 alone, nearly 255,000 permits were issued, marking a 14 per cent increase from 2022 and the highest number recorded since tracking began in 2010. 

Countries such as Germany, Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden have played a leading role. 

UNHCR is urging States to remove obstacles for refugees and integrate them into regular migration systems. It also calls for stronger partnerships to expand access to legal pathways amid growing displacement and strained asylum systems. 

Source link

UNHCR underscores plight of Rohingya refugees amid alarming reports

Posted on by
Reply

According to reports, one boat carrying 267 people from Cox’s Bazar in Bangladesh and Rakhine State in Myanmar, sank on 9 May, with only 66 survivors, UNHCR said. 

The following day, a second boat fleeing with 247 people capsized, leaving just 21 survivors. In a separate incident, reports indicate that on 14 May, a third vessel carrying 188 Rohingya was intercepted while departing from Myanmar.

Since August 2017, mass violence, armed attacks and human rights violations have forced hundreds of thousands of mainly-Muslim Rohingya to flee Myanmar’s Rakhine State to seek refuge in neighbouring Bangladesh, particularly in the Cox Bazar’s region.

Last week, UNHCR voiced alarm over reports that Rohingya refugees had been forced off an Indian navy vessel into the Andaman Sea. News reports said that dozens of refugees were detained in Delhi, blindfolded, flown to the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, then transferred to a naval ship and forced to swim ashore.

UN response

In Friday’s statement, Hai Kyung Jun, Director of UNHCR’s Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, warned that the worsening humanitarian situation exacerbated by funding cuts to UN agencies is pushing more Rohingya to risk dangerous sea journeys.

She stressed the urgent need for stronger protection in first-asylum countries and greater responsibility-sharing to prevent further tragedies.

Deputy UN Spokesperson Farhan Haq highlighted during Friday’s press briefing that, with the annual monsoon season now underway, the perilous sea conditions reflect the desperation of those attempting to flee.

Rohingya refugees arrive in North Aceh, Indonesia, after a dangerous sea voyage from Bangladesh.

He also noted that so far this year, one in five people undertaking such sea journeys in the region has been reported dead or missing, underscoring the scale of risk and despair facing the Rohingya.

According to UNHCR data, as of 30 April, there are 1,272,081 Rohingya refugees officially displaced and stateless from Myanmar. Some 89 per cent are seeking asylum in Bangladesh and 8.8 per cent in Malaysia.

The refugee agency requires $383.1 million to sustain essential support for Rohingya refugees and host communities across Bangladesh, Malaysia, India, Indonesia, and Thailand in 2025. To date, only 30 per cent of that funding target has been met.

Source link

Kenya: Refugees facing ‘lowest ever’ emergency food rations amid funding crisis

Posted on by
Reply

Over the past five years, the refugee population in Kenya has surged by more than 70 per cent – from approximately 500,000 to 843,000 – driven largely by conflict and drought in neighbouring Sudan and Somalia. Of these, around 720,000 people are sheltering in the Dadaab and Kakuma camps, as well as the Kalobeyei settlement.

In Sudan, the civil war that erupted in April 2023 has killed over 18,000 people, displaced 13 million, and left 30.4 million in need of assistance, according to the UN.

WFP provides emergency food and nutrition support to 2.3 million Sudanese as violence and the collapse of essential infrastructure deepen the crisis. 

In Somalia, severe drought has placed 3.4 million people – including 1.7 million children – at risk of acute malnutrition.

At the weekend, Secretary-General António Guterres recommended that the Security Council ensure financing for the African Union’s Support and Stabilisation Mission there (UNSOM), as the country continues to battle insecurity and attacks from Al-Shabaab militants.

Shrinking rations, rising need 

Previously, a monthly WFP ration for a refugee in the camps included 8.1 kilogrammes of rice, 1.5 kg of lentils, 1.1 litres of oil, and cash for purchasing essentials. That support has now been halved, and cash payments have stopped entirely.

Without emergency funding, food rations could drop to just 28 per cent of their original level. WFP is appealing for $44 million to restore full food and cash assistance through August.

Cuts compound existing crises

Although cuts to foreign aid by many developed nations this year has further constrained operations, WFP began reducing services for Kenya’s refugee population in 2024.

Many of the families arriving are already food insecure, and Global Acute Malnutrition (GAM) rates among children and pregnant or breastfeeding women exceed 13 per cent – three percent above the emergency threshold. Targeted nutrition programmes ended in late 2024 due to lack of resources.

Source link

World News in Brief: Sudan refugees, aid for Syrian returnees, MERS alert in Saudi Arabia, Venezuela urged to end secret detentions

Posted on by
Reply

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, reported on Wednesday that most of the new arrivals are women and children.

Many have come from Zamzam camp and the city of El Fasher, locations targeted by paramilitary Rapid Support Forces, who’ve been fighting forces of the military government for more than two years.

In Chad, the high numbers of those arriving are putting significant strain on overwhelmed resources.

Exhausted and victimised

Aid teams say that many refugees arrive exhausted after walking for days because they are unable to afford transport.

They report being victims of targeted attacks, looting and sexual violence.

Numerous children have been injured, families separated, and others remain missing, the refugee agency said.

Immediate needs in Chad include shelter, food, medical care and psychological support but the $409 million refugee response appeal is only 20 per cent funded.

Syria’s returnees desperately need help to start over

Syrians trying to rebuild their lives in their war-torn country urgently need the support of the rest of the world to help them start again, UN aid agencies said on Wednesday.

Hopes rose this week in Damascus following Donald Trump’s move to end punitive sanctions – but after more than 13 years of civil war that ended with the fall of the Assad regime last December, many communities today face a range of basic problems.

These include unreliable access to electricity, clean water and healthcare.

Records destroyed

The destruction of public records is also preventing returnees from accessing essential services or claiming housing and land rights, according to the UN migration agency, IOM.

Its Director-General, Amy Pope, insisted Syrians were resilient and innovative but that they needed help, now. “Enabling (them) to return to a country that is on the path to stability and progress is critical for the country’s future,” she insisted.

A new IOM report from more than 1,100 communities across Syria found that work is scarce, partly because farming and markets are still struggling to recover.

Shelter reconstruction is also needed urgently, while unresolved property issues continue to prevent people from rejoining their communities.

Since January 2024, the UN agency has recorded more than 1.3 million returnees previously displaced within Syria, in addition to nearly 730,000 arrivals from abroad.

WHO issues warning over deadly MERS outbreak in Saudi Arabia

A recent outbreak of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV) in Saudi Arabia has raised concerns after two people died from the disease between March and April.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has released updated guidelines to help contain the outbreak, which has seen nine confirmed cases – seven of them in the capital, Riyadh. Several of those infected were healthcare workers who caught the virus from a patient.

MERS is caused by a zoonotic coronavirus, from the same family of viruses as COVID-19. While WHO estimates the fatality rate to be around 36 per cent, the true figure may be lower, as mild cases often go undiagnosed.

Despite the recent cases, the risk of wider spread remains moderate at both the regional and global levels, according to WHO.

MERS is primarily carried by dromedary camels and can be passed to humans through direct or indirect contact with infected animals.

Human-to-human transmission usually happens in healthcare settings, through respiratory droplets or close contact.

No vaccine, no cure

Much like COVID-19, MERS can range from no symptoms at all to severe respiratory illness, including acute respiratory distress — and in some cases, death. There’s currently no vaccine or specific treatment.

To stop the virus from spreading, WHO urges hospitals and clinics to step up infection prevention and control measures, especially where suspected cases are being treated.

Since MERS was first identified in 2012, it has caused 858 deaths across 27 countries in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia.

Call for Venezuela to end secret detention of political opponents

Top independent human rights experts have urged the Venezuelan authorities to stop the reported practice of holding political opponents incommunicado.

In an alert on Wednesday, they insisted that these “targeted detentions” were illegal and amounted to enforced disappearance, a major human rights violation if proved and potentially an international crime.

They maintained that using secret detention was a deliberate strategy by the State “to silence opposition figures…and to instill fear among the population”.

Lack of legal protection

The mission pointed to a widespread lack of “effective judicial protection” for civil society in Venezuela and accused State security forces of colluding with the Public Prosecutor’s Office.

The services allegedly responsible for detentions include the national intelligence service, the national guard and military counterintelligence.

The mission’s independent rights experts also maintained that criminal courts and the Constitutional Chamber of the Supreme Tribunal of Justice were also “complicit” by ensuring that the alleged crimes went unpunished.

The Fact-Finding Mission on Venezuela was created by the Human Rights Council in 2019; its members are not UN staff and they work in an independent capacity.

World News in Brief: ‘Massive’ needs in Sudan, DR Congo aid shortfall, support for Congolese refugees and Angola cholera relief

Posted on by
Reply

The UN estimates that in the past few weeks, over 330,000 people have fled into Tawila after the Rapid Support Forces (RSF) launched violent attacks in the Zamzam and Abu Shouk displacement camps and in El Fasher, the regional capital. 

Over 100,000 people also remain trapped in El Fasher. 

‘Massive’ humanitarian needs

Since the beginning of the civil war in Sudan in April 2023, over 18,000 civilians have been killed and over 13 million have been forced from their homes. 

According to UN estimates, over 30.4 million Sudanese are in desperate need of humanitarian aid. 

The World Food Programme (WFP) has provided food assistance to over 300,000 people from the Zamzam displacement camp. Yet, UN Humanitarian Affairs Coordinator Tom Fletcher noted on Thursday that needs remain “massive” in the region. 

“Our humanitarian colleagues also underscore the urgent need for stepped-up, flexible funding to sustain and expand life-saving support for people in need in North Darfur and elsewhere in Sudan,” said UN Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq, briefing reporters on Friday. 

However, with ongoing drone strikes in Port Sudan, the main entry point for humanitarian supplies, and increasing violence in North Darfur, providing life-saving assistance has become increasingly difficult. 

“We call once again on all parties to facilitate safe, unhindered and sustained access to the area, via all necessary routes,” Mr. Haq said. 

© UNICEF/Jospin Benekire

A displaced family sit in front of their makeshift shelter in Goma, North Kivu province, DR Congo.

DR Congo: Dire impact of funding cuts amidst cholera outbreak   

Funding shortfalls have forced the humanitarian community to re-prioritise its response plan to alleviate the crisis in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the UN aid coordination office OCHA said on Friday. 

Nearly seven million people have already been forcibly displaced by violence since advances by M23 rebels earlier this year.

While the 2025 UN humanitarian plan aims to provide life-saving interventions to 11 million people across the DRC at a cost of $2.5 billion, only $233 million has been received so far. 

Despite escalating needs in the wake of the crisis in the east of the country, “that’s only half the amount we had secured by this time last year,” Farhan Haq told journalists in New York.

Congolese health authorities are facing shortages of medical supplies as the DRC is now facing a cholera outbreak in six provinces.

OCHA is calling for greater protection of civilians in conflict-affected areas, and more support to prevent the collapse of essential services and address the root causes of the crisis.

UN fund allocates over $4 million to support Congolese refugees, Angola cholera outbreak

Two new allocations from the UN Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) will support Congolese refugees in Uganda and efforts to combat a deadly cholera outbreak in Angola. 

UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher released the funding on Friday.

More than 60,000 people have fled violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) for neighbouring Uganda since January.

The first allocation, for $2.5 million, will allow the UN and partners to provide life-saving assistance to over 40,000 refugees, including clean drinking water, food, healthcare and nutrition support.

The $1.8 million CERF contribution in Angola will support the urgent response to the country’s worst cholera outbreak in two decades.

Since the beginning of the year, the outbreak has spread to 17 out of 21 provinces, with more than 18,000 cases and 586 deaths reported as of 7 May. 

The funding will go towards scaling up the response and helping to prevent further spread of the disease. 

Source link

Funding crisis increases danger and risks for refugees

Posted on by
Reply

With humanitarian resources running dry, critical support for millions of forcibly displaced people is under threat.

UNHCR said that two-thirds of countries hosting refugees are already severely overstretched and urgently need support to continue providing education, healthcare and shelter.

Global solidarity with those fleeing conflict and violence is weakening, the agency added.

‘No one wants to be a refugee for life’

“The safety that refugees seek in neighbouring countries is at risk,” said Elizabeth Tan, Director of International Protection at UNHCR.

“Without international solidarity and burden-sharing, the institution of asylum is under threat.”

Ms Tan noted that some 12,000 Central African refugees in Chad and Cameroon have expressed a desire to return home but cannot do so safely without transport and reintegration assistance.

“No one wants to be a refugee for life,” she said.

Lifesaving services

Marking the agency’s 75th anniversary, Ms Tan reminded journalists that refugees – unlike migrants – have lost the protection of their home countries.

“They arrive across borders traumatised, often after experiencing torture or persecution, and they need specialised support – including mental health care,” she said.

Children separated from their families face especially grave risks, including recruitment by armed groups, exploitation and trafficking.

Protecting them, Ms Tan stressed, “is not a luxury – it is lifesaving.”

© UNHCR/Andrew McConnell

Refugees from Sudan arrive in Adre on the border with Chad.

Source link

From border control to belonging: How host communities gain from empowering refugees

Posted on by
Reply

In 2024, 122 million people were forcibly displaced — a number expected to rise in the coming years, according to Bob Rae, President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), addressing a meeting on the pressing issue in New York on Thursday.

As population movements become much more complex due to wars disproportionately impacting civilians, climate disasters, hunger and poverty, 70 per cent of refugees live in low to middle-income countries.

Refugee rights

International responses to refugee flows are becoming increasingly politicised, especially as aid is decreasing.

Rather than focusing on addressing the root causes of such crises, the Global North has focused on border management and the control of refugee flows, “often at the expense of the rights of people on the move,” Filippo Grandi, Head of the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) told the ECOSOC gathering.

According to Mr. Grandi, although border management is an important aspect of national government response to the refugee crisis, the emphasis should rather be on making refugees feel more integrated within host communities.

Inclusion of refugees translates to freedom of movement, access to basic services such as healthcare, education, work opportunities, and valid documentation that allows them to work and contribute.

Representatives from Colombia and Mauritania joined a meeting convened by Mr. Rae to talk about better ways to help refugees and the communities that host them, while also finding long-term solutions to the forced displacement crisis.

Both Colombia and Mauritania have welcomed thousands of refugees into their countries, and outlined the positive impact refugees have had on their countries.

Temporary Protection Status in Colombia

In 2021, Colombia adopted a Temporary Protection Status (TPS) programme for Venezuelan refugees.

Today, 2.5 million Venezuelans in Colombia have valid documentation, which provides them access to public services, legal employment, and education.

TPS has not only allowed them to regain dignity and security, but it has also helped Colombia regulate refugee flows.

Human rights at the fore in Mauritania

For over a decade, Mauritania has been hosting large numbers of refugees, most of them from neighbouring Mali.

Committed to upholding the human rights of both refugees and host communities, Mauritania recognises refugees as citizens, providing them with the right to education, healthcare, employment, and legal protection.

Mauritania is working to improve refugee livelihoods while simultaneously enhancing the capacity of host communities by emphasising the role refugees have in local development.

By investing in the resilience of host communities and social cohesion, Mauritania ensures both refugees and host communities live in dignity.

Source link

DR Congo crisis forces refugees to swim for their lives to Burundi

Posted on by
Reply

“We’re pushed to our limits,” said Ayaki Ito, Director for Emergencies for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

One mother was so desperate to reach safety she crossed the 100-metre wide Rusizi river separating DRC and Burundi with her three small children and their belongings, Mr. Ito told journalists in Geneva:

“I saw this plastic sheeting ball – it’s one mother and three small children – she put her belongings and wrapped it with a plastic sheet, to make it float…It’s a very perilous journey and I was told it’s full of crocodile and hippos.”

Overstretched resources

Since January, more than 71,000 people have crossed into Burundi, fleeing ongoing violence in eastern DRC, UNHCR data shows. Since then, more than 12,300 have been relocated to Musenyi refugee site, while others live with host communities in border areas.

Living conditions in Musenyi – five hours’ drive from the DRC border – are becoming unsustainable.

The site today houses 16,000 people although it was designed for 3,000, adding to tensions. “Food rations are already cut to half of what they’re supposed to be,” Mr. Ito explained, warning that even these rations will run out by the end of June without additional funding.

Food is far from the only concern, however, as emergency tents set up on lowland farming areas have now flooded during the onset of the rainy season.

Aid teams are already bracing themselves for diseases to spike.

People who fled violence in DR Congo to Burundi use a water point at a refugee camp in Cibitoke Province.

“Schools, clinics, basic sanitation systems are either non-existent or overwhelmed” and the UN agency has no more dignity kits, leaving nearly 11,000 women and girls with access to basic hygiene items, Mr. Ito said.

Funding crisis cutbacks

UNHCR’s funding crisis has also “severely reduced” support for family tracing, making it increasingly difficult to identify, locate, and reunite separated children with their families.

There are currently no child-friendly or women-friendly spaces where groups can gather for services and peer support in key hosting areas, Mr. Ito added.

Confronted with the catastrophic living conditions in Burundi and ongoing violent clashes in eastern DRC between Rwanda-backed M23 rebels and government forces, refugees often move back and forth between the two countries. “Nearly half of last week’s registered 700 arriving refugees have been previously registered in Burundi,” the UN official said, pointing out that Congolese refugees are among the most vulnerable in the world.

Citing reduced resources and operational challenges, the UN agency insisted that the delivery of lifesaving aid and protection services remains a priority. This includes additional support amid a 60 per cent increase in reported sexual violence cases, most involving rape in the DRC.

“This balancing act is becoming increasingly impossible, with teams on the ground running a full-scale emergency response, responding to the needs of existing refugees in the country and preparing for future arrivals while also facing pressure to reduce their operations because of funding shortages,” Mr. Ito said.

Source link

Slovenia to Resettle 60 Syrian Refugees from Turkey

Posted on by
Reply

Slovenia will implement its first ever refugee resettlement programme with the support of IOM, the UN Migration Agency, by resettling 60 Syrian refugees from Turkey to Slovenia in 2018. The new programme officially came into effect after the signing of a Framework Agreement between IOM and the Slovenian government on Thursday (12/04).

“The resettlement agreement marks a new milestone in the cooperation between Slovenia and IOM,” said Iva Perhavec, IOM Slovenia Head of Office.

“Through the programme, we will support the Slovenian Government in meeting its commitments to providing a safe and legal pathway for vulnerable Syrian refugees in Turkey, and sharing responsibility with Turkey as a host country for refugee protection,” Perhavec continued.

In 2017, Turkey was the top departure country for resettlement globally, with 10,162 vulnerable refugees resettled to European countries alone.

Resettlement from Turkey is implemented through a close partnership between EU Member States, the Turkish Directorate General of Migration Management (DGMM), UNHCR and IOM.

The resettlement process from Turkey begins with the DGMM and UNHCR, which identify, assess and submit refugee files to countries for resettlement consideration. Following the selection missions undertaken by EU Member States in Turkey, selected refugees are assisted by IOM with case processing, including assistance with obtaining visas and travel documents, pre-departure health assessments, pre-departure orientation sessions and movement management.

When the refugees are travel-ready, IOM facilitates their transfer from Turkey, including by providing operational and/or medical escorts to particularly vulnerable persons with special needs to resettlement states in the EU, where representatives of the local IOM office meet and greet them at arrival.

Following the arrival of refugees in Slovenia, local non-governmental organizations and other service providers will provide them with integration assistance to support their smooth and successful start to integration in their new home.

Resettlement of refugees has continued to be one of the fundamental purposes and priorities of IOM. Founded in 1951 to assist in the resettlement of Europeans displaced in the aftermath of World War II, IOM has been working closely with governments, UNHCR, non-governmental organizations and other partners to provide a durable solution for vulnerable refugees through resettlement for over 65 years.

In 2017, some 93,216 refugees were resettled worldwide by IOM, of which 26,673 beneficiaries were assisted with resettlement to and humanitarian admission in European countries, an increase of 49 per cent compared to the previous year. A total of 23 European countries implemented resettlement or humanitarian admission programmes in 2017, two more than in 2016.