| Italy asks for EU mediation on sharing responsibility for rescued migrants. Bloomberg reports that Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte wrote to European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and to EU President Donald Tusk on Tuesday asking them to create a permanent mediation mechanism to ensure other EU countries accept refugees and migrants rescued from the Mediterranean. Conte reportedly told the Italian newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano that offers on Sunday by five countries to accept some of the people rescued and brought to the Sicilian port of Pozzallo “should become the norm”. In a statement on Thursday, UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said he also welcomed the actions of several European countries to end the standoff that had resulted in 450 refugees and migrants being stranded at sea for several days. He added that “solutions are needed that go beyond piecemeal or ‘ship-by-ship’ arrangements”. Grandi reiterated his call for a more collaborative, predictable and sustainable approach to dealing with people rescued at sea. | | |
| Five years of Australia’s damaging off-shore asylum processing policy. On 19 July 2013, Australia announced that all asylum-seekers who attempted to reach the country by boat would be transferred to off-shore processing centres in Papua New Guinea and Nauru. Five years later, AP reports that the boats have virtually stopped but that there is no solution for many of the approximately 1,700 refugees and asylum-seekers who remain in PNG and Nauru. Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald, UNHCR’s spokesperson in Canberra, Catherine Stubberfield, says that many of the men, women and children left in limbo by Australia’s policy have shown incredible strength and resourcefulness as they endure the long wait for safety and a permanent place to rebuild their lives. Despite their resilience, “things cannot remain as they are” writes Stubberfield. “More solutions are desperately needed.” | | |
| Conditions in Greek island reception centre “traumatizing” asylum-seekers, says charity. Insecurity, poor living conditions and long periods of limbo are taking a toll on the mental health of several thousand asylum-seekers staying at Moria reception centre on Lesvos, said Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in a report released Wednesday. The charity, which runs a mental health clinic on the island for the asylum-seekers, said it only accepts the most severe cases and was currently working at full capacity. MSF is calling for vulnerable people to be moved from Moria to secure accommodation and for state authorities to decongest the centre and step up access to health and security for its residents. | | |
| Bombing intensifies in Syria’s southwest. AP reports that the largest opposition holdout in the country’s southwest, the densely populated town of Nawa, came under heavy aerial bombardment on Tuesday night and Wednesday. At least a dozen civilians have been killed and a hundred wounded, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. Syria’s Civil Defense, knowns as White Helmets, said they had recorded multiple deaths, while Nawa’s only hospital was bombed and rendered non-operational late Tuesday. Hundreds of civilians were reportedly seen fleeing the town and taking cover in shelters near the border with Israel. | | |
| Canada appoints border security minister. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Wednesday appointed member of parliament Bill Blair as Minister of Border Security and Organized Crime Reduction. Since January 2017, more than 30,000 people have irregularly crossed the Canada-US border to file asylum claims in Canada. Although the number of crossings dropped in May and June, Reuters reports that Trudeau’s Liberal government has come under fire from its political opponents for not taking more action on the issue. Writing in the Toronto Star this week, UNHCR’s representative in Canada, Jean-Nicolas Beuze, counters the “alarmist and populist rhetoric ” about irregular border-crossers and points out that “the numbers are manageable for a rich and well-governed country like Canada”. | | |
| Social enterprises working with refugees in Germany struggle to get funding. Hundreds of social enterprises have been created in Germany to help asylum-seekers integrate. While some have taken off, Reuters reports that others have struggled to become financially sustainable . Back on Track Syria, for example, gives young Syrians extra coaching to help them adjust to German schools, but it operates on a shoestring budget with scant government funding. The Social Entrepreneurship Network Germany was set up last September to help start ups like Back on Track Syria grow into successful businesses. | | |
| After years covering the pain and violence of war as a television producer in the Middle East, Chloe Krane saw an opportunity to help those affected when she moved to Houston. As a volunteer with Interfaith Ministries Refugee Services she noticed that recently arrived women refugees who had lost their social networks back home were often isolated in their new communities. She established a women’s group to help them make friends, meet native Houstonians and get help navigating the complexities of life in their new country. | | |
Since the introduction of Australia’s current “offshore processing” policy five years ago, 3,172 asylum-seekers have been transferred to Papua New Guinea and Nauru.
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