| Last few months “among the worst” for Syrians, says UN relief chief. Addressing the UN Security Council on Tuesday, Mark Lowcock, the UN’s emergency relief coordinator, said that intense fighting in Eastern Ghouta had claimed more than 1,700 lives since the Security Council passed a resolution on 24 February demanding a ceasefire. Nearly 52,000 civilians from the besieged enclave have now taken refuge in eight shelters where access to food and medical assistance is limited. Another 183,500 people are estimated to have been displaced from Afrin district. Lowcock said aid agencies lack unimpeded access to civilians who remain trapped inside Eastern Ghouta and Afrin city. “We are essentially just given crumbs – an occasional convoy here and there,” he said. “5.6 million Syrians in acute need cannot live on crumbs.” Reporting for the Independent from Eastern Ghouta, Robert Fisk spoke to some of the civilians arriving at the shelters about life under siege. | | |
| Venezuelans take desperate measures to escape. Save the Children warned on Tuesday that Venezuelan children are being exposed to grave risks as they attempt to cross Venezuela’s border with Colombia at unofficial crossing points populated by armed groups and criminal gangs. Those that manage to reach Colombia often end up living in abysmal conditions with no proper shelter. In an opinion piece for the Washington Post, Carolina Jiménez and Alicia Moncada of Amnesty International tell the stories of Venezuelan families who have lost loved ones as they tried to reach the island of Curaçao in search of safety and work. They write that routes out of Venezuela have become increasingly inaccessible leading to the emergence of dangerous, clandestine routes controlled by smugglers. | | |
| UNHCR official shocked by suffering of asylum-seekers on Nauru. Following a visit to Australia’s off-shore processing centre on Nauru, UNHCR’s director for Asia and the Pacific, Indrika Ratwatte, writes for the Guardian about his “immense shock” at the suffering of those held there and their deteriorating ability to cope after years of detention. He notes a growing trend of self-harm and suicide attempts by adults and children as young as 10. Urging the Australian government to immediately accept New Zealand’s offer to resettle some of the refugees and to relocate the rest to Australia, Ratwatte argues that there can be no excuse for “a policy that knowingly and unrelentingly harms children for political ends”. | | |
| Refugee women speak out about sexual abuse in UK. Having fled sexual abuse in their home countries, many asylum-seeking women are highly vulnerable to more abuse and exploitation after they reach the UK. Fear of deportation means they rarely report it, but the Me Too movement has led some women to start sharing their stories. The BBC met Grace, a West African woman who fled an abusive marriage to London where poverty and the lack of a legal status made her vulnerable to more abuse. Marchu Girma of London-based NGO, Women for Refugee Women, told the BBC that even women who have applied for asylum are often unsure of their rights and may avoid approaching the police. | | |
| Rising number of Syrian refugee children out of school. More than 40 percent of Syrian refugee children living in neighbouring countries are missing out on an education and the number is rising due to a lack of funding and bullying in schools, according a new report by children's rights group KidsRights. The report found that about 777,000 of 1.8 million registered Syrian children in five neighbouring countries were not being educated at the end of 2017 - nearly 250,000 more than in 2016. KidsRights called for international donors and host governments meeting in Brussels in April to urgently fill a $603 million funding gap and make education a priority. | | |
| Qualifications passport for refugees launches in Europe. Refugees often struggle to get qualifications they gained back home recognized in their host countries, particularly if they fled without documentary proof. The European Qualifications Passport for Refugees , which is being launched by UNHCR and the Council of Europe today, will provide them with a document assessing their higher education qualifications, based on whatever documents they have and an interview. It will also show their work experience and language proficiency. It’s hoped the new “passport” will help refugees access the job market and universities. | | |
| When Syrian refugee Nada arrived in Istanbul four years ago, she found she missed reading more than anything, but she struggled to find Arabic books. She began sourcing them through donations from abroad and set up a library so friends could borrow them. Her library quickly expanded and Nada and her fiancé have since opened a small bookstore in Istanbul. “These people moved from Syria and their lives are different here, they have to work long hours. So, by doing this project we contribute … they can read,” she said. | | |
There are 158 children at Australia’s off-shore processing centre on Nauru. Forty of them have spent their entire lives there and another 60 have spent four years or more in detention.
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