As US-Mexico border reopens, uncertainty grips waiting asylum-seekers. A growing number of Central Americans who travelled to the Mexican border city of Tijuana as part of a caravan more than a week ago were reportedly reconsidering their options on Monday after a peaceful march to the border on Sunday devolved into chaos. At the sports complex where more than 5,600 migrants and asylum-seekers are staying, a line formed outside a tent set up by International Office for Migration, which is helping to arrange travel for those wanting to voluntarily return home. Another tent set up by UNHCR was providing legal counselling and assistance to those considering applying for asylum in Mexico . UNHCR spokesperson Francesca Fontanini said a steady number of people were asking how they could get a humanitarian visa that would allow them to work while their asylum claims are processed. Others seemed determined to wait for their chance to claim asylum in the US. | | |
| Ceasefire deal in north-west Syria under threat after alleged chemical attack. A ceasefire deal that had brought relative calm to Syria’s last opposition stronghold in Idlib province is under threat as an alleged chemical attack on government-held territory in Aleppo sparked retaliatory strikes on opposition-held areas in the north-west over the weekend and on Monday. The air strikes were the first since the demilitarized zone went into effect in September. Rebel groups, who have denied carrying out any chemical attacks, accused the government of trying to undermine the ceasefire. The escalation comes as Turkey, Russia and Iran, the main international powers in the Syrian conflict, prepare to meet for talks in Astana, Kazakhstan on Wednesday. | | |
| Myanmar stops third boat carrying fleeing Rohingya. Reuters reports that authorities in Myanmar have intercepted a boat carrying 93 Rohingya who had fled an internal displacement camp in Rakhine State hoping to reach Malaysia. The navy stopped the boat on Sunday and detained the passengers who said they had come from Thae Chaung camp in the state capital of Sittwe. Authorities were preparing to send them back to the camp today. Another boat carrying more than 80 Rohingya was stopped off the coast of southern Rakhine last week, also bound for Malaysia, while a third boat carrying 106 Rohingya was stopped on 16 November. | | |
| Latin American countries agree to coordinate response to Venezuelan exodus. Following a meeting in Quito, Ecuador, last week, representatives from eight Latin American countries have adopted a declaration and a plan of action to coordinate their response to the needs of Venezuelan refugees and migrants. The countries committed to seek mechanisms to regularize the status of Venezuelan migrants, including access to asylum procedures. They also agreed to ensure access to health and education, with a special emphasis on vulnerable groups such as children. The Joint Special Representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants in the region, Eduardo Stein, welcomed the plan , describing it as “part of a long tradition of solidarity of Latin America with people who are forced to leave their countries”. | | |
| UNHCR delivers tents for people affected by drought in Afghanistan. On Saturday, UNHCR began a series of airlifts to bring 15,000 tents to families currently living in makeshift shelters in the western provinces of Herat and Badghis. Drought and conflict have displaced over a quarter a million people in western Afghanistan since April. In a briefing to the media in Geneva today, UNHCR said conditions for the displaced were increasingly desperate as winter approaches, with an increase in child deaths already reported. A two-day conference on Afghanistan, jointly hosted by the Afghan government and the UN, starts in Geneva today. The Afghan delegation is expected to renew its commitment to development and reform. | | |
| New violence eclipses Mali’s plans for peace. IRIN reports from Mali’s central Mopti region, where fighting has displaced tens of thousands of people this year and left hundreds dead in a previously peaceful part of the country. The number of internally displaced people in Mali has doubled since December last year, from about 38,000 to more than 75,000 in August, according to the UN. IRIN reports that militia groups have been attacking villages belonging to central Mali’s Fulani herder communities, destroying houses. Displaced Fulanis are now living in informal camps in Mopti, too afraid to return home. Last week, the Norwegian Refugee Council warned of a lack of funds to provide aid to those recently displaced by violence. | | |
| Nael Najjar grew up working in his family’s Baghdad sweet shop. He and his wife, Manar, later opened their own bakery in the city, but were forced to flee the country after receiving death threats. After being resettled to the San Diego area of the United States, they opened a new bakery but struggled to navigate unfamiliar rules and manage their finances. The New York Times profiles a scheme run by the International Rescue Committee that’s helping refugee business-owners like the Najjars with funding and advice. | | |
More than 300,000 people have been displaced by conflict in Afghanistan since the beginning of this year.
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