Dozens killed in attacks in Yemen At least 21 civilians were killed on Wednesday when airstrikes hit a vegetable packaging facility near Yemen’s Red Sea port of Al-Hudaydah, the UN humanitarian agency reported yesterday. Three more people were killed and six injured on the same day when strikes hit three vehicles in Al Hali District in Al-Hudaydah governorate. More than 170 people have been killed and 570,000 forced to flee their homes since fighting in Al-Hudaydah escalated in June. The military offensive in Al-Hudaydah combined with rising food and fuel prices have further contributed to what the UN was already describing as the worst humanitarian crisis in the world. Meanwhile, UNHCR has stepped up its critical cash assistance programme to reach some 150,000 displaced Yemenis across 14 of the worst-affected governorates this month alone. Vulnerable families, identified through in-depth household assessments, receive cash to cover their immediate needs for shelter or life-saving medical treatment. So far in 2018, UNHCR has distributed almost US$33 million cash assistance and aiming to release more than $41 million before the end of the year. In total, 700,000 Yemenis and another 130,000 refugees and asylum seekers across the country will benefit from this assistance in 2018. | | |
| Three days of violence that emptied Angolan town of Congolese. Reuters reports on the three days of violence and looting that emptied a Congolese neighbourhood in the Angolan town of Lucapa. Some 330,000 Congolese have returned from north-eastern Angola to the Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo in recent weeks following an expulsion order by Angolan authorities targeting irregular migrants and the violence in Lucapa. Last week, UNHCR warned of a fast-developing humanitarian crisis at the border as thousands of returnees arrived looking for safety and aid. Today, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet warned that the mass deportation of Congolese nationals from Angola has resulted in serious human rights violations by security forces on both sides of the border. She said her office had verified six deaths, reportedly at the hands of security forces. | | |
| Humanitarian workers help dwindling caravan of Central Americans. The Washington Post reports on humanitarian workers offering help to the caravan of Central American refugees and migrants inching north through Mexico. The International Committee of the Red Cross is offering water, phone calls and medical care for battered feet. Churches and recreation centres are providing a place to sleep and UNHCR is helping people fill out asylum applications. Although still more than 1,000 miles from the border, US shelters are starting to prepare extra beds. It’s unclear how many will make it that far with Mexican authorities reporting that the size of the caravan has already fallen from 7,000 on Monday to 3,630 on Wednesday. Maria Rubi, a UNHCR official, said the long walk in harsh conditions was causing some people to ask how they can return home. | | |
| University in Hungary forced to close its doors to refugee students. The Central European University in Budapest has been forced to suspend a programme that was giving refugees and asylum-seekers a rare opportunity to access higher education. UNHCR reports that the closure at the start of the autumn semester was a direct result of new Hungarian laws imposing extra taxes on organizations that help refugees and migrants. The Open Learning Initiative started in 2015 and has seen some 50 students graduate. The BBC reports that the CEU, which was founded by billionaire philanthropist George Soros, said on Thursday that it would move most of its teaching to Vienna if Hungary’s government fails to remove legal obstacles to its academic freedom. | | |
| Search-and-rescue plane scans Mediterranean for the living and the dead. Deutsche Welle reports on the Moonbird search-and-rescue aircraft , a joint project of the German NGO Sea-Watch and the Swiss Humanitarian Pilots Initiative. It monitors the stretch of the Mediterranean south of Malta and Lampedusa, which is now deserted of NGO search-and-rescue vessels. Commercial ships are also reportedly using different routes to avoid the possibility of being stranded at sea for days with rescued refugees and migrants. The Moonbird is one of the few eyes left on this stretch of sea. UNHCR has pointed to reduced search-and-rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean as one of the key factors behind this year’s record rate of drownings. | | |
| France launches community-service programme to aid refugee integration. France will today officially inaugurate the Volont’r programme – a new branch of the French government’s broader civil service programme which encourages young French and EU citizens to volunteer for community service projects in return for a monthly stipend and the chance to gain professional skills while giving back to their community. Volont’r will operate on a similar model but will recruit 500 young refugees by June 2019 as well as 1,500 French citizens to work on projects focused on supporting refugees. Quartz reports from the town of Nancy where 40 refugees are already taking part in a Volont’r programme at a local youth centre. | | |
| Sudanese refugee, Abdul Aziz Muhamat, was one of three people nominated this week for the annual Martin Ennals Award which recognizes the work of human rights defenders at risk of persecution. Muhamat has been held at Australia’s remote off-shore asylum facilities on Manus Island for the past five years. He has documented human rights violations and become a public voice for the men held on Manus. | | |
Between July and October 2018, the value of the Yemeni Rial dropped by half, while staple food prices increased by 35 per cent in some areas.
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