Group of Manus Island refugees opt to move to Nauru. The Guardian reports that at least eight men were due to depart the immigration facility on the Papua New Guinea island for its equivalent in Nauru this morning. The transfers are voluntary. One man reportedly said that he didn't know if Nauru would be any better but after more than five years on Manus he needed a change. Their move comes as Dr Kerryn Phelps, the new independent MP for Wentworth in Australia, prepared to introduce a private members bill that would allow critically ill refugees and asylum-seekers in Nauru and PNG to be urgently transferred to Australia. UNHCR said today that it supports the draft bill , noting that Australia’s off-shore processing policy “continues to exacerbate the dire health condition of vulnerable men, women and children alike”. The agency is appealing to all of Australia’s parliamentarians to support the bill. | | |
| Italy adopts immigration and security decree amid criticism. The bill, which ends two-year residency permits on humanitarian grounds and allows for the withdrawal of international protection for those considered “socially dangerous” or convicted of serious crimes, was passed in Italy’s lower house of parliament by a vote of confidence. The Senate had already given its green light to the bill’s measures earlier this month. UNHCR has said that the new law could negatively impact asylum-seekers’ and refugees’ access to protection and rights in Italy. The agency expressed particular concern about new measures for administrative detention and fast-track expulsions, as well as changes to the reception system. | | |
| Asylum-seekers in UK ‘too afraid’ to seek care, report finds. A report by the Equality and Human Rights Commission has found that asylum-seekers have been going without medical care since the government introduced upfront charges for migrants and refused asylum-seekers. According to the Guardian, the report found that even those asylum-seekers who were eligible for free care, were sometimes too scared to seek it due to fears their data would be shared with the UK Home Office. Asylum-seekers’ minimal state support also meant they often could not afford travel to healthcare appointments or the cost of prescriptions. The report comes amid mounting calls for asylum-seekers to be given earlier access to the right to work. | | |
| Sick Venezuelans and Colombians get treatment aboard US ship. Reuters reports from the USNS Comfort, a US naval hospital ship currently docked in Colombia’s Caribbean port city of Riohacha. Although most of the ship’s patients are Colombians, some are Venezuelans who were unable to access treatment and medicines back home, where the health-care system is in a state of collapse. More than three million people have left Venezuela since 2015, with about one million settling in Colombia. Speaking at a conference on Tuesday, Colombian Vice President Marta Lucía Ramírez said her country could not manage another million new arrivals alone. “We need more and more timely international help,” she said. | | |
| The perils of being pregnant in war-torn Yemen. Um Walid lost her unborn child after fleeing her home town of Al-Hudaydah and making a difficult journey to the capital, Sana’a, in search of medical help for her severely malnourished son. Walid told Elle she can’t afford an operation recommended by her doctor to remove leftover pregnancy tissue. According to the UN sexual and reproductive health agency, UNFPA, Walid’s predicament is far from unique . Fighting has destroyed nearly half of all health facilities in Yemen, cutting pregnant women off from emergency obstetric care. In Al-Hudaydah, the situation is particularly critical, with the main hospital directly impacted by ongoing fighting. | | |
| EU’s refugee resettlement plan failing to meet goals. Deutsche Welle reports that EU Member States are not on track to meet a goal set by the European Commission last year of resettling 50,000 refugees to Europe by October 2019. The plan had indicated a deadline of October 2018 to meet 50 per cent of the target but, according to figures supplied by the European Commission, as of mid-October, only 15,900 people had been resettled. DW reports that only a handful of countries have reached the 50 per cent mark. The European Commission’s resettlement programme calls for a particular focus on resettlement from North Africa and the Horn of Africa in support of UNHCR’s emergency evacuations from Libya. | | |
| World War II veteran, author and activist Harry Leslie Smith died yesterday at the age of 95. UNHCR’s Lorey Campese was one of the many people who learned about Harry’s inspiring life and his last stand with refugees through his active presence on social media. “Harry’s last stand may have come to an end,” writes Campese. “But the things he stood for are timeless.” | | |
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