| Civilians fleeing Yemen’s Al-Hudaydah need protection, says UNHCR. Over 450 civilians in the strategic port city lost their lives in the first nine days of August alone, reports UNHCR, which is ramping up its efforts to help more than 50,000 families displaced by fighting in Al-Hudaydah since an offensive to capture the city began in June. Another 26 children and four women were reportedly killed in two air strikes on Thursday as they tried to flee fighting in Al Durayhimi District. At a briefing in Geneva on Tuesday, UNHCR called on all parties to ensure the safety of civilians and safe routes to leave conflict areas. The agency also highlighted the situation of refugees and asylum-seekers in Al-Hudaydah, most them from Eritrea, who are particularly vulnerable amid the shifting frontlines. In a report released today, UN human rights experts said that all sides of the conflict in Yemen may be responsible for war crimes. | | |
| Refugees and asylum-seekers abandoned in Libyan detention centre. The Irish Times reports that hundreds of refugees and migrants at Ain Zara detention centre in southern Tripoli have been abandoned by their guards since Monday amid fighting in the capital. A young Eritrean man, who spoke to the Times on a smuggled cell phone, said food and water had already run out and that pregnant women and children are among the detainees. He said that even before the fighting, conditions were terrible. “We eat one time a day, we drink dirty water and there is no kind of hospital. There are many sick people.” On Friday, UNHCR reported a “critical worsening ” of conditions at Libya’s detention centres in recent weeks as overcrowding has increased. UNHCR estimates that more than 8,000 refugees and migrants are detained in the country, many of them after being intercepted by the Libyan coast guard as they attempted to cross the Mediterranean to Europe. Detainees have been staging riots and hunger strikes to protest their situation. UNHCR is calling on states to offer more resettlement spots for refugees detained in Libya. | | |
| Austria to bar asylum-seekers from apprenticeships. The Government announced on Sunday that asylum-seekers in Austria will no longer be eligible to apply for apprenticeship schemes while their claims are being assessed. Austria’s current ruling coalition has reduced funding for several integration initiatives, including German lessons. Deutsche Welle reports that approximately 1,000 asylum-seekers already enrolled in apprenticeships will be allowed to complete them, but newcomers will no longer be eligible . UNHCR has appealed to the government to rethink the proposed amendment, describing it as “a step in the wrong direction”. | | |
| Thousands of Venezuelans trek across South America on foot. Reuters reports that the poorest among the more than 1.6 million Venezuelans who have left their country since 2015 are travelling on foot , hoping to find better lives elsewhere in South America. Peru this month tightened entry rules for most Venezuelans, requiring passports instead of just identity cards. A judge in Ecuador postponed implementation of a similar rule for six weeks. Officials from Colombia, Peru and Ecuador are meeting in Bogota this week to seek a regional solution to the large-scale arrivals of Venezuelans. | | |
| Facebook cancels accounts of Myanmar military officials. Facebook said on Monday it was removing dozens of accounts linked to Myanmar, including those of several high-profile army figures , to prevent the spread of “hate and misinformation”. Facebook’s action came hours after a UN report calling for several leaders to be investigated and prosecuted for genocide over their role in violence against the Rohingya in Rakhine State. The report said that Facebook had become a “useful instrument for those seeking to spread hate” in Myanmar. Reuters reports that Facebook’s action means an essential blackout of the military’s main channel of public communication. | | |
| First asylum-seeker boat in four years reaches Australia. All 17 asylum-seekers from a Vietnamese fishing boat that ran aground off the coast of Queensland on Sunday have been found by the State Emergency Service and taken to Christmas Island for processing, reports ABC. It was the first such vessel to reach Australia in more than four years, according to the Department of Home Affairs. The boat had begun sinking near the Daintree River north of Cairns when those on board fled into dense mangrove rainforest. | | |
| This series of portraits and profiles for UNHCR and Humanity Magazine by photographer Giles Duley focuses on the stories of women forced to flee brutal violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Kasai region. Now living in Lóvua settlement in Angola, the women talked to Duley about drawing on their inner strength to try to rebuild their shattered lives and support what is left of their families. | | |
Nearly 6,600 civilians have been killed in Yemen and 10,470 injured since the start of the conflict in March 2015.
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