| Fighting in Syria’s south escalates, displaces 50,000. The Associated Press reports that fighting intensified in Daraa province on Tuesday as part of an offensive that the UN estimates has displaced as many as 50,000 people in 10 days . At least 13 civilians are said to have been killed and many more injured since Saturday. Attacks have put several health facilities out of service and destroyed large swaths of farm land and houses in some areas. The majority of the displaced have fled to areas near the border with Jordan, where the government has said it will not let in new refugees. The fighting has closed key supply routes within Syria, but according to the World Food Programme aid is reaching Daraa via cross-border deliveries from Jordan. “The WFP is really worried about the situation,” said spokesperson Bettina Luescher. “We expect the number of displaced people could more than double as the violence escalates.” | | |
| German coalition talks fail to resolve dispute over migration policy. Four hours of talks on Tuesday night failed to defuse disagreement about plans drawn up by interior minister Horst Seehofer, head of Bavaria’s Christian Social Union, to turn away asylum-seekers at the German border who have registered in other EU states. Seehofer has agreed to delay implementing the policy until the conclusion of an EU summit due to take place tomorrow and Friday. Chancellor Angela Merkel is under pressure to secure agreements with EU partners to reduce arrivals of asylum-seekers to Germany, but Italy’s newly elected government has made it clear that it wants more shared responsibility among member states when it comes to people arriving by sea at the EU’s external borders. Despite a significant drop in arrivals of asylum-seekers to Europe this year, discussions about reforms of migration and asylum policy are expected to dominate this week’s summit. | | |
| Lifeline ship prepares to dock in Malta. On Wednesday the Maltese prime minister said his country would allow the NGO vessel to dock in Malta after seven other European states agreed to share responsibility for the 234 rescued refugees and migrants on board. In a tweet on Wednesday morning, the Lifeline said the weather at sea had worsened and many of those on board were suffering from severe seasickness. | | |
| US judge rules separated families must be reunited within 30 days. A judge in California on Tuesday ordered US border authorities to reunite families separated at the border within 30 days and within 14 days for children under five, the AP reported. The US district judge also issued a nationwide injunction on future family separations, unless the parent is deemed unfit. The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed in March involving a 7-year-old girl separated from her Congolese mother and a 14-year-old boy separated from his Brazilian mother. Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar told Congress on Tuesday that his department still has custody of 2,047 children, the AP said. | | |
| Evacuation and resettlement from Libya offers pathway to safety for lucky few. So far, just under 1,600 refugees and asylum-seekers have been evacuated from Libya to Niger through UNHCR’s Emergency Evacuation Mechanism, but in seven months only 174 have been resettled to Europe. IRIN met some of the refugees in Niamey who are waiting to find out if and when they will go to Europe as well as some of the first group of evacuees from Libya who were resettled to a French village in December. Niger’s interior minister, Mohamed Bazoum, told IRIN that the pace of resettlement had been frustrating. | | |
| What Europe could learn from the way Africa treats refugees. Alexander Betts argues that European agreements with African countries focused on reducing migrant departures, strengthening borders and increasing returns are short-sighted. He suggests that Europe should instead look to African states as sources of inspiration they could learn from when it comes to hosting refugees. Even countries that have encampment policies, like Kenya and Ethiopia, have been moving towards approaches that support self-reliance and job creation for refugees and host communities. “We should support Africa’s economic inclusion of refugees, and we might even learn from it,” Betts writes. | | |
| This Frankfurt-based orchestra called Bridges is bringing refugee musicians together with local and other international performers. Around half of the orchestra’s 70 musicians arrived recently in Germany, with a wide range of musical backgrounds. “I met many people here,” says Waseem Hariri, a 26-year-old violinist from Damascus. “Music is a good way to integrate; it makes the whole world better." | | |
So far in 2018, 44,300 people have travelled by sea to Europe, about half the number who arrived during the same period last year.
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