| Israel cancels new agreement to resettle African asylum-seekers. Hours after his office announced on Monday an agreement with UNHCR to resettle thousands of Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers who had been facing prison or deportation, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Facebook that he was suspending implementation of the accord. The agreement was to involve the resettlement of at least 16,000 Eritreans and Sudanese to various unnamed Western countries while the same number who remained in Israel would receive legal status and help to move out of the congested neighbourhood of southern Tel Aviv to other parts of the country. “This agreement will ensure that protection is provided to those who need it,” said Volker Türk , UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, who signed the agreement on behalf of the agency. But according to news reports, the agreement angered members of Netanyahu’s conservative Likud party and residents of southern Tel Aviv. Haaretz reports that at a meeting with representatives from the neighbourhood on Tuesday, Netenyahu said he had decided to cancel the deal . Larry Bottinick, UNHCR’s representative in Israel, said the agency stood ready to work with the Israelis if and when they were ready to move forward. | | |
| Aid groups appeal for funding and peace for Yemen. Government leaders are gathered in Geneva today to mobilise resources for Yemen’s severe humanitarian crisis. The pledging conference aims to raise funds for a US$2.96 billion UN appeal to provide life-saving assistance and protection to more than 22 million Yemenis who are in desperate need. Ahead of the event, aid agencies noted that money alone would not solve a crisis that is largely the result of three years of conflict. Peace talks have stalled and Robert Mardini, director of operations for the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Middle East, said his staff had treated “a peak of weapon wounded in January”. He called for an end to the targeting of hospitals and civilian neighbourhoods. An airstrike on Monday hit a compound sheltering displaced people near the Red Sea port of Hudaydah killing at least 14 people, according to a senior health official. | | |
| Malaysia intercepts boat carrying Rohingya refugees. Malaysian authorities intercepted the boat carrying 56 Rohingya refugees from Myanmar’s Rakhine State after it entered Malaysian waters this morning. The passengers, most of them women and children, were safe but tired and hungry , according to Malaysia’s army chief who said they were given food and water before being handed over to immigration authorities. The sea route from Myanmar to Malaysia was used by thousands of Rohingya until a crackdown on smugglers and traffickers in 2015. | | |
| Greece to receive €180 million in emergency aid for refugees.The European Commission announced the new funding on Monday. Most of it will be used to expand a program, run jointly with UNHCR, that aims to move refugees out of camps and into urban areas where they receive accommodation and monthly cash assistance. The program has placed more than 23,000 refugees in rented apartments in cities on the Greek mainland since it launched in July 2017. The new funding will raise that figure to 27,000 by the end of 2018 as well as supporting aid groups providing refugees with health care, psycho-social support and education. | | |
| Gaza protesters remain at border tent camps. Several thousand Palestinians remained in tent camps along the Gaza border on Monday, continuing their protest for a right of return for refugees and their descendants to what is now Israel three days after Israeli troops shot at demonstrators, killing at least 16 people. The number of protesters was far smaller than at the peak of the demonstration over the weekend and many were staying a safe distance from the border fence, according to Reuters. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called for an independent investigation into last week’s deaths. | | |
| Millions flee bloodshed in the Congo. The Guardian reports from eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo’s North Kivu province where fighting between rebel groups and government troops have forced more than 1.4 million people from their homes . The growing insecurity and logistical challenges have made camps for the displaced largely inaccessible to aid organisations. Médecins Sans Frontières, one of the few international NGOs working in the area, is struggling to respond to a wave of sexual violence that has accompanied the renewed fighting. | | |
| Venezuelans find haven in Colombian barrio. The arrival to Colombia of tens of thousands of Venezuelans escaping their country’s extreme downturn has raised levels of xenophobia and discrimination. But a few hundred Venezuelans have been welcomed into the small community of Las Delicias, on the outskirts of the border town of Cucuta. Las Delicias is home to around 2,500 internally displaced Colombians who can relate to the Venezuelans’ experience of displacement. Some are now sharing their cramped homes with Venezuelan families. | | |
| This New York Times feature, spotted by my colleague Kathryn Mahoney, looks at the increasing trend of US labour recruiters turning to refugees to fill entry-level jobs that native-born Americans are unwilling to do in out-of-the-way places. With the US economy in recovery, meat-processing plants and lumber mills in rural towns are having a particularly hard time finding and retaining workers. Refugees are often more than willing to relocate for a foothold on the job ladder. | | |
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