| NGOs decry worsening conditions at Greek island reception centres. In a joint statement on Thursday, 19 NGOs said conditions at reception centres for asylum-seekers and migrants on the Aegean islands were “worse than ever ”, with over 17,000 people crammed into facilities with a total capacity of only 6,000. The statement points out that Greece’s migration ministry had promised to decongest the islands by September through transfers of eligible asylum-seekers to the mainland. The NGOs highlight the non-functioning sewage system at Moria, on the island of Lesvos, and the chronic shortage of health professionals at all the island sites. UNHCR has also urged the Greek government to address severe overcrowding and worsening conditions at the reception centres. The FT reports today that EU officials are in discussions with Greek officials over helping to accelerate the transfer of an initial 3,000 vulnerable asylum-seekers to the mainland. | | |
| Lives “hang in the balance” in Yemen’s Al Hudaydah. Lise Grande, the UN’s humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said on Thursday that the situation in Al Hudaydah had “deteriorated dramatically ” in recent days, with families living in terror of bombardment, shelling and air strikes. She pointed out that Al Hudaydah is a lifeline for millions of people who depend on assistance that comes through its port and mills. She expressed particular concern about the Red Sea Mill, which currently has 45,000 metric tonnes of food inside, enough to feed 3.5 million people for a month. “If the mills are damaged or disrupted, the human cost will be incalculable,” she said. | | |
| French restaurants look to asylum-seekers to fill jobs. Restaurateurs in France want the government to make it easier to hire asylum-seekers to fill jobs they say are increasingly passed over by French workers. Reuters reports that the hotel, café and restaurant union GNI-Synhorcat is holding consultations with lawmakers on how asylum processes can be made more efficient and wants to work with refugee charities to identify potential workers earlier in the process. Under current French immigration law, asylum-seekers have to wait six months from when they lodge their asylum claim before they can work. | | |
| Refugee scholars find academic havens at US universities. NPR reports on a recently created consortium of US universities that aims to build intellectual links among refugee scholars and their host institutions. The New University in Exile Consortium will bring exiled academics together over the next two years for seminars and conferences. The initiative comes at a time of increasing attacks on scholars, particularly in the Middle East. The Scholar Rescue Fund, started in 2002, has helped more than 700 scholars find academic placements in 43 countries. About 40 per cent of them have been placed with US universities. | | |
| Eritrean refugees take “wait and see” approach after peace deal with Ethiopia. The restoring of diplomatic relations between Eritrean and Ethiopia in July has been welcomed by citizens of both countries as the first step in a new era of peace and harmony, but PRI reports that many Eritreans who fled their country are not yet ready to return home. Some who left to escape mandatory and indefinite military conscription say they are waiting for a pardon from the Eritrean government for leaving the country illegally. They also want to see improvements in human rights and more opportunities for young people outside of national service. Others have grasped the opportunity to reunite with family members in Eritrea who they haven’t seen in decades. | | |
| Samira Harnish has supported more 1,000 refugee women in Salt Lake City since she started her non-profit organization, Women of the World. An Iraqi immigrant herself, she understands the difficulties refugee women face when they arrive in the United States not knowing the language or where to go for help. She takes them to doctor’s appointments, shows them how to do banking and prepares them for job interviews. “I see myself in them,” she says. | | |
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