Bullying video prompts outrage and refugee support in UK. A video showing the bullying of a 15-year-old Syrian refugee on a school playing field in Huddersfield, England, has sparked outrage and an outpouring of support for the boy and his family this week, reports the New York Times. Widely shared on social media, the 25-second video shows the boy being tackled to the ground by a taller boy who then douses his face with water while other students stand by. A GoFundMe campaign posted on Tuesday to support the victim and his family had nearly reached its goal of £150,000 by this morning. UNHCR’s UK office said it was deeply saddened to hear about the incident but heartened to see the outpouring of public support for the family. | | |
| Congo’s Ebola outbreak second largest and deadliest in history. According to figures released by the Ministry of Health on Thursday, 426 cases of Ebola have been detected in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and 245 deaths reported, making the epidemic the second largest and the second deadliest in history. North Kivu province remains the epicentre of the epidemic, an area where fighting between rival militia groups has worsened recently, causing further displacement in an area that already has the DRC’s highest concentration of internally displaced people, and complicating efforts by health workers to contain the epidemic. Reuters reports on efforts to deliver treatment and vaccinations amid gunfire , death threats and curfews. | | |
| Air raids in Syria’s Idlib could ignite ‘giant powder key’, warns Egeland. On his last day as head of the UN Humanitarian Taskforce for Syria, Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva on Thursday that he was very worried by recent developments in Aleppo and Idlib. A 10-week-old ceasefire in Idlib hangs in the balance after an alleged chemical attack in the government-held city of Aleppo on Saturday triggered retaliatory air raids on Idlib. Further incursions in both directions have taken place in recent days, said Egeland who described the escalation as “playing with a gigantic powder keg in the middle of three million civilians”. Both Turkey and Russia insisted at Thursday’s taskforce meeting that they remained committed to maintaining the buffer zone they helped create in Idlib. | | |
| Displaced children hit by malnutrition crisis in Central African Republic. A new report released by UNICEF on Thursday details the impact of an upsurge in fighting and displacement on children in CAR. One in four children are displaced or refugees and practically every child needs protection from armed groups, who now control four-fifths of the country, according to the report. Forced displacement has translated into a malnutrition crisis for children, with conditions particularly dire for children forced into the bush. UNICEF said only 44 per cent of its US$57 million appeal for CAR for 2018 had been met as of the end of October. | | |
| Refugees and migrants brave cold and snow to try to reach Croatia. This photo essay by AP shows dozens of refugees and migrants wrapped in blankets and gathered around fires as they try to stay warm in a makeshift camp in the Bosnian town of Bihac, near the Croatian border. With the weather worsening, tents offer little protection from snow and freezing temperatures. Over 22,000 refugees, asylum-seekers and migrants have arrived in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2018. Many of them hope to cross into Croatia, which is part of the EU, but are often turned back by border police. The European Commission announced yesterday that it has allocated an additional €500,000 to provide humanitarian assistance to the most vulnerable refugees and migrants in Bosnia and Herzegovina. | | |
| At an event last night, social artist and designer Professor Helen Storey was announced as the first Artist in Residence at Za’atari refugee camp in Jordan. Over the course of 2019, she’ll be working with women and girls in the camp to nurture their entrepreneurship, creativity and financial independence through fashion. | | |
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