| Idlib province becomes “biggest refugee camp on earth”. Of the 130,000 people who have left Eastern Ghouta in recent weeks, some 50,000 have headed to Idlib, one of the last opposition-held areas in north-west Syria, putting further strain on a province where two thirds of the population of 2.2 million are already displaced people. Addressing the media on Wednesday, the UN’s humanitarian advisor for Syria, Jan Egeland, described the province as “the biggest refugee camp on earth , in many ways” and expressed concerns about an area so full of vulnerable civilians becoming a battle zone. Aid groups are struggling to respond to the needs of the displaced in Idlib where many lack shelter. “They are completely overwhelmed and on top of that, they are acutely underfunded,” said Egeland. | | |
| Caravan of Central Americans to end in Mexico City. Organizers of the caravan said the sheer size of the group made the logistics of travelling any further too difficult , although many said they would try to reach the United States on their own. Mexican immigration officials handed out month-long permits on Wednesday to hundreds of the Central Americans, the majority of them Honduran, staying at a public park in Oaxaca. Pueblo Sin Fronteras, the US-based group that organized the caravan, said it had achieved its aim of securing a meeting with Mexican authorities to discuss the need for legal reforms and more welcoming policies for asylum seekers. The New York Times examines how the ‘the Caravan’ story became a focus of the conservative news media in the US. | | |
| Israel releases jailed asylum-seekers. The Israeli government released 58 African asylum-seekers from Saharonim Prison on Wednesday. They had been held there since refusing deportation to Rwanda. Haaretz reports that an additional 212 detainees could be released if Israel fails to secure an agreement with Uganda to deport them there. Uganda’s foreign affairs minister said publicly on Wednesday that his country will not accept any asylum-seekers forcibly deported from Israel. The long-term fate of some 39,000 Eritrean and Sudanese asylum-seekers in Israel remains unclear since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu cancelled an agreement with UNHCR to relocate thousands of them to Western countries on Wednesday. | | |
| Mines pose fatal risks to children and families in Syria. Marking the International Day of Mine Awareness on Wednesday, UNICEF and the World Health Organization called for international action to address the devastating consequences of explosive devices in Syria . The situation is particularly worrying for those returning to Raqqa city. At least 658 people were wounded and 130 killed by landmines, booby traps and unexploded ordnance in Raqqa City between October 2017 and February 2018. The joint statement calls for demining activities and access to medical care for those with blast injuries to be urgently accelerated. | | |
| What next for the millions uprooted by Boko Haram? The Boko Haram insurgency has left 8 million people across the Lake Chad region in dire need and some 2.4 million people uprooted. The Guardian features images from four photographers who visited camps for the displaced in Cameroon, Chad, Nigeria and Niger. While the Nigerian government has repeatedly declared Boko Haram’s defeat, attacks on civilians in north-east Nigeria continue, farmers cannot access their land and trade routes are closed, pushing up food prices. The price tag for rebuilding damaged homes and infrastructure is estimated at $9 billion. | | |
| Rohingya refugees rebuild their lives in Bangladesh. This short film by The Wall Street Journal takes us inside the Rohingya refugee settlements in Bangladesh, where people are beginning the long, painful process of rebuilding their lives from scratch. Necessity has forced many to find new sources of income like selling vegetables or cutting hair. Despite having lost everything, they are grateful for having found safety in a place where their rights are respected. “Here, we are happy even eating rice with just some salt,” says one man. “I have no house, no electricity, no water. But the people here respect me.” | | |
| Born and raised in Baghdad, 22-year-old rapper Taher Raad now lives in Istanbul where he expresses his country’s plight through his music. In this video featured by the Atlantic, he describes how the first hip hop song he heard made little sense to him, “but I was hearing gunshots, I was feeling like this is my environment. I can relate to that.” Now Raad writes lyrics that speak to, as he describes it, “what the media doesn’t cover: what Iraqi people feel.” | | |
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