| EU leaders reach tentative agreement on migration. Following tense, all-night talks in Brussels, EU leaders reached broad agreement to strengthen the EU’s external borders, create new closed centres on European soil for processing asylum-seekers and explore the concept of “regional disembarkation platforms” in third countries. The new closed centres inside the EU are to be set up “only on a voluntary basis” and with “full EU support”. It’s unclear where they would be located or how they would differ from the current “hotspot” system being applied in Italy and Greece. The leaders failed to reach an agreement on reform of the Dublin Regulation or the specifics of how to share responsibility for refugees and migrants rescued on the Mediterranean, pledging only to continue work on finding “a speedy solution”. The final statement published on Friday morning also promises more support for the Sahel region, the Libyan Coastguard, Turkey and African countries via the EU Trust Fund for Africa. | | |
| UNHCR and IOM release proposal for cooperation on migrants and refugees rescued at sea. Ahead of last night’s discussions by EU leaders, the two agencies released details of “a regional cooperative arrangement” for disembarking and processing refugees and migrants rescued at sea. The proposal notes that disembarkation should be done promptly to ensure lives are saved and be based on geographical distribution and the capacity of state-run reception centres. Those eligible for asylum could be transferred to other EU member states, particularly if they have family members in other countries. | | |
| Temporary true in Syria’s Daraa expires as thousands flee. Al Jazeera reports that the government and the rebel group, Free Syrian Army agreed to a 12-hour true that began at midnight and lasted until noon on Friday, but not before air strikes killed at least 32 people, including 11 children on Thursday. A total of 96 civilians have been killed since the offensive on Daraa began on 19 June, according to Al Jazeera. UN Syrian aid envoy Jan Egeland said on Thursday that aid shipments to Daraa and the southern region of Quneitra has been disrupted by the fighting since 26 June. Egeland has called on Jordan to open its border to fleeing civilians. | | |
| Hundreds of Syrians return home from Lebanon. Some 300 Syrian refugees left the Lebanese border town of Arsal on Thursday to head back home to an uncertain future in Syria’s Qalamoun region. The group had requested permission from both the Lebanese and Syrian authorities and were part of a total of 3,194 Syrians registered to return. The rest are expected to return in batches over the coming weeks. UNHCR told Reuters that it was not involved in organizing Thursday’s returns and that its team in Syria had so far not been able to access the villages where the refugees were headed. | | |
| World Bank to provide up to US$480 million in aid to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. The World Bank’s board on Thursday approved an initial $50 million grant for a project to support the health sector in Bangladesh. Reuters reports that it is the first in a series of grants from the Bank’s International Development Association arm that could total $480 million. The grant will help Rohingya refugees access maternal, neonatal, child and adolescent health and nutrition services and family planning support. World Bank president Jim Yong Kim is due to visit refugees and government officials in Bangladesh on Sunday with UN Secretary-General António Guterres. The visit will include discussions with the government on medium-term planning for the refugee situation and will reiterate the UN’s support for solutions to the situation of the Rohingya people. | | |
| The “miracle clinic” run by refugees for refugees. Vice News profiles Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Myanmar border, which has helped tens of thousands of refugee and migrant women give birth safely over nearly three decades. The clinic’s founder, Dr Cynthia Maung, fled to Thailand from Myanmar in 1988 and witnessed first-hand the immense need for doctors in the refugee camps. Over time, her small informal clinic has grown into a comprehensive healthcare network. Because it’s run by refugees, for refugees, patients know they won’t be turned away or discriminated against. | | |
| Some 350 schools across Lebanon squeeze two days of lessons into one so that 150,000 Syrian refugee children don’t miss out on an education. This film was shot at Bar Elias School in the Bekaa Valley, where 770 Syrian pupils attend the afternoon shift of classes. The curriculum, teaching materials and most of the teachers are the same as those for their Lebanese counterparts who attend morning lessons. | | |
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