| Five EU countries agree to take share of rescued refugees and migrants. Italy gave permission for two ships carrying 450 rescued refugees and migrants to dock in the Sicilian port of Pozzallo on Sunday after France, Germany, Spain, Portugal and Malta each agreed to take 50 of the passengers . The two ships, one belonging to the European border agency, Frontex, and the other to the Italian border police, carried out the rescue on Saturday but were initially told by Italian interior minister Matteo Salvini they would have to “head south, to Libya or Malta”. The BBC reports that the Italian position changed after Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote to all the EU member states asking them to accept some of the refugees. AP reports that by Sunday evening, roughly 70 passengers, most of them women and children or those in need of medical treatment, had been taken ashore. By this morning, all 450 passengers had reportedly disembarked, and authorities were working to organize travel for those accepted by the other five countries. | | |
| Offensive in south-west Syria widens. Days after a ceasefire and evacuation agreement was reached with rebels in southern Daraa province, an opposition-held village in neighbouring Quneitra province came under heavy shelling and air strikes on Sunday, according to Reuters. Last Wednesday, the UN estimated that 160,000 people displaced by the offensive on Daraa province had sought refuge in Quneitra, many of them near the Golan Heights. Earlier on Sunday, around 500 rebel fighters and family members began evacuating southern Daraa on buses that will take them to opposition-held Idlib province in northern Syria. | | |
| Civilian deaths in Afghanistan hit record high. According to figures released on Sunday by the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA), 5,122 civilians were killed or injured by conflict-related violence in the first half of 2018. The figure represents a slight decrease in overall casualties compared to last year, but the 1,692 recorded deaths was the highest number since UNAMA started tracking civilian casualties in 2009. The leading cause of death was improvised explosive devices. Afghans living in the provinces of Kabul, Nangarhar, Faryab, Helmand and Kandahar were most impacted by the conflict. On Sunday, at least seven people were killed and more than 15 wounded by a suicide attack on a government ministry. | | |
| Aid groups call for “humanitarian pause” in South Sudan’s Unity state. Escalating violence in Unity has forced tens of thousands of people to flee their homes in recent weeks, and thousands are now trapped in conflict areas, unable to leave or access medical help or lifesaving assistance, according to the UN. Aid groups in South Sudan are now calling for 21-day pause in fighting to allow the delivery of essential aid to areas in Leer, Mayendit and Koch counties, where hunger and malnutrition are expected to be particularly severe in the coming months. | | |
| This app created by UNHCR’s Canada office takes you through some of the real-life scenarios children experience when fleeing gang violence in North of Central America. You’ll follow in the footsteps of Luis and his sister Clara as they search for safety and be asked to make some of the same tough decisions that refugee children are forced to make: should you use all your money on a bus ticket, or risk your lives sneaking onto the roof of a train? Do you pay a smuggler, or take your chances travelling alone? | | |
Up to 2.4 million children in South Sudan are out of school – the highest proportion of out-of-school children in the world.
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