| Fleeing residents of besieged Afghan city share stories of hardship. After five days of intense fighting, Afghan officials declared on Wednesday that they had retaken control of Ghazni city from Taliban fighters. Unverified reports put the number of civilian casualties at 150, but the UN said the number could be higher as the provincial hospital has been overwhelmed by admissions and reportedly stopped counting dead bodies. The New York Times reports that aid – including body bags, medical supplies and food and water – has started to trickle into the city , but access for aid workers remains challenging and many residents are in dire need of assistance. On Tuesday, the Taliban withdrew a security guarantee with the International Committee of the Red Cross. Some of those who managed to flee Ghazni, told the New York Times their stories of being trapped in their homes without food and water and seeing bodies on the streets. Meanwhile, a suicide blast at a private education centre in Kabul on Wednesday killed at least 34 people, most of them teenagers studying for university entrance exams. | | |
| US and Mexico child deportations drive violence and trauma, says UNICEF. A new report from the UN Children’s Fund highlights the dangers faced by Central American children who are deported from the United States and Mexico. The study, Uprooted in Central America and Mexico , identifies poverty and extreme violence as the two main reasons why children leave their homes in Central America and attempt to reach Mexico and the US. The report finds that these threats only increase when the children are returned. For those who fled to escape gang violence, return can mean a heightened risk of attack. As a result, many avoid their home towns or villages and end up internally displaced. The report also finds that detention and family separations carried out by immigration authorities are deeply traumatizing experiences for children that can affect their long-term development. Both UNICEF and UNHCR recommend keeping families together and finding alternatives to detention for migrant and refugee children. | | |
| Facebook accused of failing to stem hate speech against Rohingya. In the wake of violence that drove some 700,000 Rohingya to flee Myanmar into Bangladesh last year, UN investigators found that Facebook was used to incite hatred and violence against the Muslim minority group. The company has pledged to hire more Burmese speakers to take down hate speech posted on the social media site, but this Reuters article finds that such posts are still appearing . While Facebook is used by 18 million people in Myanmar, the company reportedly only employed two Burmese speakers to review problematic posts in early 2015, despite warnings by researchers and human rights activists that it was being used to promote hatred of the Rohingya. Facebook’s director of Asia-Pacific policy, Mia Garlick, acknowledged that the company was too slow to respond to the concerns raised by civil society, academics and other groups in Myanmar, adding “We don’t want Facebook to be used to spread hatred and incite violence." | | |
| Asylum-seekers help German companies fill apprenticeship vacancies. Data released by the Federal Statistics Office on Wednesday showed that German companies attracted more people to on-the-job training schemes last year due to a surge in applications from asylum-seekers from Afghanistan and Syria. A lack of young people willing to sign up for apprenticeships has become a concern in Germany. Reuters reports that the number of non-German trainees rose by 10,500 in 2017. Since August 2016, asylum-seekers can continue on-the-job training over three years and work for another two years under certain conditions, even if their asylum claim is rejected. | | |
| Refugee boy on hunger strike on Nauru at risk of dying. The Guardian reports that a 12-year-old boy who has been on hunger strike for two weeks is at imminent risk of dying , according to medical staff on the island. Efforts to move him to Australia for hospital care have foundered. The boy is reportedly one of several critical children’s health cases on the island. He has been held on Nauru with his parents and sister for five years. The family, from Iran, have been recognized as refugees but were recently refused for resettlement to the United States. | | |
| US elected officials call for more refugees. A letter addressed to President Donald Trump asking him to admit at least 75,000 refugees for resettlement to the United States in the coming fiscal year has been signed by 270 local and state politicians , reports Voice of America. The letter notes the “immense value” that refugees have brought to American communities and cites the negative impacts of the significant decline in refugee arrivals this year, particularly for employers that have come to rely on refugee workers. The ceiling for refugee admissions was set at 45,000 for this fiscal year, but with a month and a half remaining until the end of the fiscal year on 1 October, only 18,738 refugees have entered the country. | | |
| In this recording of her recent talk at TEDxKakumaCamp, South Sudanese refugee and teacher Mary Maker tells her personal story and explains why she is an advocate for the education of refugee girls. "For the child of war, an education can turn their tears of loss into a passion for peace," Maker says. | | |
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