| World leaders must avoid humanitarian catastrophe in Syria’s Idlib, say aid agencies. As the presidents of Iran, Russia and Turkey meet in Tehran on Friday to discuss the situation in Syria’s Idlib and the UN Security Council prepares to discuss the same topic later today, eight international aid agencies have issued a statement urging world powers to work together to avoid a major military escalation in the rebel-held province. Idlib is home to about 3 million people, half of whom have already been displaced by conflict. The aid agencies warned that health-care facilities, schools, water sources and other vital infrastructure in Idlib had already sustained heavy damage and that additional airstrikes and bombings would push already stretched resources “to the brink”. The Guardian published a plea from an Islamic Relief worker in Idlib, who urged the international community to “ step up” and stop “one of the worst humanitarian crises in living memory” from going unchallenged. | | |
| UN calls for urgent increase in international support to Afghanistan. At the end of a two-day joint visit to Afghanistan, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, and the UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, Mark Lowcock, called on donors to urgently increase and sustain support for the response to Afghanistan’s humanitarian and displacement crises. Grandi said a combination of conflict, natural disasters and lack of access to basic services and jobs was causing waves of internal displacement. “The country, now more than ever, needs the support of the international community,” he said, adding that “without a solution to displacement, there will be no lasting peace”. | | |
| International Criminal Court opens door to Rohingya inquiry. The ICC ruled on Thursday that it has jurisdiction to investigate the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya people from Myanmar to Bangladesh as a possible crime against humanity. The New York Times reports that the decision opens a path toward possible accountability for attacks by security forces on the Rohingya that began a year ago. The ruling came in response to a request by the ICC prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, who argued that although Myanmar was not a member of the court, the crime continued into Bangladesh, which is a member. | | |
| Displaced and returning Ethiopians in dire need of assistance. Nearly one million people displaced by recent violence in South Western Ethiopia urgently need more support, according to UNHCR. The government estimates that over 200,000 people have returned to their home areas since the conflict in the border areas of Southern Nations, Nationalities, and Peoples’ Region and the Oromia Region broke out in April, but people continue to flee and UNHCR’s monitoring found that many displaced people are reluctant to return for fear that the violence could restart. Returnees often find nothing left of their plots of land while many schools, coffee factories and health centres have been destroyed. | | |
| Latin American nations relax passport rules for Venezuelans. Eleven Latin American countries signed a joint-agreement at a two-day summit in Ecuador’s capital, Quito, this week to accept Venezuelans arriving at their borders with expired travel documents . The decision comes after some nations had briefly shut their borders to Venezuelans attempting to enter without passports. Many Venezuelans have complained that it has become increasingly difficult to obtain passports and other official documents in their country. A special meeting of the Organization of American States on Wednesday urged countries in the region to “share the burden” posed by the recent unprecedented exodus from Venezuela. | | |
| Qatar passes Gulf region’s first asylum law. The Qatari government on Tuesday passed a law that will allow asylum to be granted to those fleeing persecution – a first for the Gulf region. The government also amended its residency legislation to allow most migrant workers to leave the country without having to obtain exit permits from their employers. The asylum law was welcomed by human rights groups as a potential model for other Gulf states. | | |
| Shukufa Tahiri, a 24-year-old Afghan refugee, has been named one of Australia’s 100 most influential women for her refugee advocacy work. Shukufa was resettled to Sydney at the age of 12, after her family fled the Taliban to Pakistan. While working as a policy assistant at the Refugee Council of Australia and studying law, she has started a number of social enterprises for refugee women, including a free driving-mentorship programme. | | |
Nearly 4.2 million people in Afghanistan are in acute need of humanitarian assistance, including 1.9 million internally displaced people and more than 60,000 refugees who returned home and need help to restart their lives.
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