Caravan of Central Americans resumes journey north. Thousands of migrants and asylum-seekers, most of them from Honduras, resumed their journey towards the US border in Southern Mexico on Sunday. AP reports that many had given up trying to enter Mexico legally and crossed the river on rafts or by swimming, as authorities admitted small groups for asylum processing and handed out 45-day visitor permits to others. Mexico said it had received 640 asylum requests from Hondurans many of whom cited gang violence back home. While others boarded buses organized by the Guatemalan authorities to return to Honduras voluntarily, another group of around 1,000 mainly Honduran migrants and asylum-seekers reached the southern Guatemalan city of Esquipulas at the weekend. | | |
| Six die in fire at Rohingya camp in Myanmar. One man and five women were killed early Friday when a fire that reportedly started in a kitchen blazed through Ohndaw Chay camp , which houses some 4,000 internally displaced Rohingya near Sittwe in Rakhine province. Local media reported that the fire left 822 people without shelter. Fires in camps housing 129,000 Rohingya displaced by violence in 2012 are common because of “severe” overcrowding, according to the UN. Special Envoy of the Secretary-General Christine Schraner Burgener visited several camps for Rohingya in Rakhine state during a 10-day visit to Myanmar that ended on Saturday. In a statement , she said ensuring the rights of those in the camps, including access to health and education, and freedom of movement, would act as “the most positive incentive” for Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh to return. | | |
| Independent lawmakers push to move child refugees from Nauru. With Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison poised to lose his one-seat parliamentary majority following a by-election in the Sydney suburb of Wentworth on Saturday, Reuters reports he will likely need the support of five independents to prevent a no-confidence motion that could trigger an election. At least two independents, including Kerryn Phelps who is on course to win the Wentworth by-election, said they will demand the immediate resettlement of child refugees held indefinitely on Nauru as part of Australia’s policy of off-shore asylum processing. UNHCR has called for the evacuation of all refugees and asylum-seekers from Nauru and Papua New Guinea. | | |
| Hundreds scale Spanish enclave fence, two die. Some 300 people rushed a border fence between Morocco and Spain’s North African enclave, Melilla, on Sunday. One man died of a suspected heart attack after scaling the fence and another died on the Moroccan side, according to a human rights activist. About 200 people managed to scale the seven-metre high metal barrier topped by razor wire and were taken to a reception centre for asylum-seekers in Melilla. Around 130 of the new arrivals, many of whom are fleeing insecurity in Mali, have applied for asylum. More than 5,000 migrants and refugees have made it to Melilla and Spain’s nearby territory Ceuta so far this year, according to UNHCR. Another 43,000 have arrived by sea to Spain’s southern coast. | | |
| Funding cuts and camp closures threaten displaced Iraqis. AP reports that funding shortfalls have forced the World Food Programme to cut the amount of food it gives to internally displaced Iraqis living in camps. Other aid agencies are struggling to provide shelter, security and sanitation facilities, and vulnerable families are unlikely to receive winter items such as blankets, heating stoves and fuel. Al Jazeera reported on Thursday that the government has started to close camps for the displaced in Anbar province even as aid groups argue that many areas remain unsafe for returns and lack basic services or livelihood opportunities. The UN estimates that about 2 million Iraqis remain displaced, with 1.3 million of them living outside formal camps. | | |
| Two reportedly dead after boat sinks off western Turkey. Media report that two people died after a boat carrying some 30 people sank just 50 metres off Turkey’s western coast near Bodrum early on Monday. Citing the Turkish coast guard, Reuters reports that 17 people were rescued and three made it to shore themselves, but two of those people later died in hospital . The boat was thought to be headed for the Greek island of Kos. Rescue teams are searching the area for more survivors. | | |
| Obada “Ibo” Al-Nassar, a 23-year-old Syrian refugee, trained as a volunteer lifeguard after himself being rescued from a sinking dingy when he crossed to the Greek island of Lesvos more than a year ago. He was among the rescuers who helped hundreds of people fleeing deadly wildfires in the coastal resort of Mati in July. | | |
About 600,000 stateless Rohingya are estimated to remain in Rakhine state in Myanmar following the security crackdown that caused hundreds of thousands of Rohingya to flee to Bangladesh last year.
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