| Refugees evacuated as landslides and flooding hit Rohingya settlements. Reuters reports that heavy monsoon rains on Wednesday triggered landslides that killed five children in areas near the Rohingya refugee settlements in south-eastern Bangladesh. UNHCR helped families living in hilly areas of Chakmarkul settlement to evacuate to safer areas. “There is insufficient flat land to permanently relocate all refugees at risk. Temporary evacuations will be required,” said Kevin Allen, the agency’s head of operations for the Rohingya emergency, in a tweet. As of 18 July, about 21,000 refugees had been relocated because of the threat of landslides, according to UNHCR. More than 41,000 are estimated to be at high risk from landslides. | | |
| EU approves €400 million for Syrian refugee education in Turkey. In a statement on Wednesday, the European Commission said the funds would be given in the form of a direct grant to the Turkish Ministry of National Education. It forms part of the second €3 billion tranche of EU funding promised to Turkey under the March 2016 EU-Turkish joint statement. The grant will allow the current education project for Syrian refugees in Turkey to continue for three academic years and will also provide for a broader approach that includes outreach, Turkish language training for adults and social cohesion activities. A report released by Kids Rights in March found that, at the end of 2017, 47 per cent of school-age refugee children in Turkey were out of school. | | |
| Cameroon violence needs urgent investigation, says UN rights chief. Reports of grave human rights abuses have emerged against a backdrop of protests in the English-speaking north-west and south-west regions of the West African country, which escalated in late 2017 into clashes between State military forces and armed groups. UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein on Wednesday condemned an ambush on a government convoy that took place earlier this month as well as the government's "heavy-handed response ". To date, the violence has forced more than 21,000 people to flee to neighbouring countries, mainly Nigeria, where UNHCR has warned that conditions for refugees are increasingly desperate. Another 160,000 people have been internally displaced. Zeid urged the government to launch independent investigations into alleged violations by State security forces and abuses by armed groups. | | |
| No correlation between refugee flows and European attitudes towards migrants. The Economist reports on opinion polls showing that since 2014, the overall share of Europeans who view arrivals from outside the bloc positively has risen from 35 per cent to 41 per cent . Different regions of the EU have been pulling in opposite directions though, with western and southern European countries generally becoming friendlier to foreigners and northern and eastern ones becoming more hostile. Numbers of asylum applications appear to have little to do with these differences, while the Economist reports that there does seem to be a link between changes in a country’s anti-immigrant sentiment and its racial diversity. | | |
| New cholera outbreak in Yemen. Save the Children warned today that Yemen could be on the brink of a new cholera epidemic, with almost 3,000 suspected cases across the country reported in the first week of July – the highest number since the start of the year. The charity expressed particular concern about a surge in cholera cases in the port city of Hudaydah, where clean drinking water was already scarce before an offensive by the Saudi-led coalition began in June. The fighting has damaged water and sewerage pipes as well as water treatment plants and health facilities. Hudaydah was a hotspot of last year’s cholera outbreak, which resulted in 2,300 deaths. Displaced people living in makeshift camps with no sanitation or running water are particularly vulnerable to cholera. | | |
| Just six months after arriving in Australia, Syrian refugee Sophie Bejek is training to be a lifeguard at Sydney’s beaches and pools. The idea took root after she joined a swimming programme run by the Refugee Welcome Centre. “I’d love to learn to swim professionally and to become a lifeguard, so I can get work in something I love,” she told ABC Radio. | | |
Only 61 per cent of refugee children around the world attend primary school, while just 23 per cent of refugee adolescents are enrolled in secondary school.
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