| Aquarius ship’s registration revoked. Panama’s maritime authority announced at the weekend that it was beginning procedures to revoke registration of the Aquarius 2, the sole NGO vessel still conducting search-and-rescue operations in the central Mediterranean Sea, reportedly because the ship had failed to comply with “international legal procedures”. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and SOS Mediterranée, the two charities that operate the ship, said the announcement was the result of political pressure and insisted that it met all maritime standards . The Aquarius, which recently acquired Panamanian registration after Gibraltar revoked its flag last month, has carried out two rescues in recent days and currently has 58 survivors on board. It’s unclear where they will disembark. Meanwhile, Spain’s maritime rescue service said on Sunday that it had rescued more than 400 people from 15 small boats, most of them off the country’s southern coast. | | |
| Nicaraguan influx tests Costa Rica’s asylum system. Since the start of Nicaragua’s political crisis in mid-April, thousands of Nicaraguans have headed south to Costa Rica, straining that country’s asylum system and posing a challenge to the administration, which is also wrestling with a gathering economic crisis. The New York Times reports that the government is preparing for the political situation to worsen in Nicaragua, possibly pushing many more people to cross the porous border . While most of the new arrivals have moved in with relatives or friends, others are staying in cheap hotels paid for by religious and other community-based groups and some are sleeping in parks and on the street. UNHCR has stepped up its presence in Costa Rica’s northern border region and has called for international support for Costa Rica and other countries hosting Nicaraguan asylum-seekers. Reuters reports that fresh protests in the Nicaraguan capital on Sunday left at least one person dead. | | |
| Yemen approaching famine “tipping point” as fighting continues. UN humanitarian chief Mark Lowcock warned the UN Security Council on Friday that, amid intensified fighting and attacks that are cutting off vital food and trade routes, Yemen was “approaching a tipping point beyond which it will be impossible to prevent massive loss of life as a result of widespread famine”. Food prices are soaring, pushing more people into hunger just as aid operations are threatened by fighting around the key port of Al Hudaydah. Lowcock noted that fighting has blocked access to World Food Programme supplies and that armed groups have occupied humanitarian facilities. A UN General Assembly meeting today will discuss the Yemen crisis. | | |
| Child drowns as boat carrying Syrian refugees sinks off Lebanon. The boat was carrying dozens of people, including some 39 Syrian refugees, bound for Cyprus when it sank off the coast of Lebanon. The Lebanese army rescued most of the passengers, but a five-year-old boy drowned and at least three others are in a serious condition in hospital. According to Reuters, it is the first time in almost a year that a group of refugees have tried to reach Europe by boat from Lebanon. Cyprus recently requested EU assistance to manage an increase in refugees arriving by boat since late August. | | |
| Calls for Australia to reform its community refugee sponsorship scheme. Australia’s Community Support Program, which started in 2017 after a four-year trial, sets aside 1,000 places a year for refugees to come to the country with the help of community groups, but refugee advocates and lawyers say the scheme is flawed and are calling for reform . They point out that any refugees sponsored by the community are not additional to the government’s resettlement commitment but subtract from it. They also argue that the cost to community groups seeking to sponsor refugee families is more than three times higher than in other countries with similar schemes. A Department of Home Affairs spokesperson told the Guardian that the government will assess demand for the programme “as it matures”. | | |
| Venezuelans cross Colombia on foot. This short BBC film follows a small group of Venezuelans as they cross the freezing Paramo de Berlin mountain pass in Colombia on foot. “It’s either walk or starve,” says one of the group, a mother of two with high blood pressure. After the mountains, they reach the city of Bucaramanga hoping to find work, but the city’s mayor tells the BBC there is no work for locals, let alone “the massive influx of Venezuelans”. | | |
| Thirteen-year-old Syrian refugee Zain Al Rafeea was spotted in the streets of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, by Lebanese film director Nadine Labaki. She cast him as the lead role in her film, “Capharnaüm”, which claimed the prestigious Cannes Jury Prize in May. The glitzy award ceremony was a far cry from Zain’s normal life in Beirut, where his family could not afford to send him to school. UNHCR met Zain and his family as they prepared to start a new life in Norway. | | |
So far this year, more than 24,000 Nicaraguans have expressed a desire to apply for asylum in Costa Rica. Last year, Costa Rica received a total of about 6,300 asylum claims from all nationalities.
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