Judge bars US from enforcing new asylum rule. A federal judge in California on Monday issued a temporary restraining order barring the US administration from refusing asylum to individuals who cross the southern border irregularly. The request for the restraining order was made by the American Civil Liberties Union shortly after President Trump’s proclamation on 9 November requiring asylum-seekers to present themselves at official ports of entry. Lawyers for the ACLU argued that the new rule, put in place for 90 days, violated the Immigration and Nationality Act, which states that an individual present in the US can claim asylum irrespective of how they entered the country. The Department of Homeland Security estimates that 70,000 people a year claim asylum between official ports of entry. Many official border crossings currently have long wait times, with people forced to wait in shelters or outdoor camps on the Mexican side of the border, sometimes for weeks. | | |
| UNESCO calls for more progress on refugee education. A report released today, on World Children’s Day, by the UN agency for culture and education says more needs to be done to include refugee and migrant children in national education systems . Canada and Ireland are among the global leaders in inclusive education policies, with other “champions” including low-income countries such as Chad, Ethiopia and Uganda. Yet many other countries exclude refugees from their national school systems. Refugee learners can often only get an education in separate, community-based or private schools, some of which are not certified. UNESCO is urging donors to triple their funding for refugee education and to ensure long-term support to address shortages of trained teachers. UNHCR estimates that 4 million refugee children were out of school in 2017, an increase of half a million from the year before. | | |
| Italian public prosecutor orders seizure of NGO rescue ship. The Catania Public Prosecutor ordered the seizure of The Aquarius today on charges of illegal waste disposal . The prosecutor’s office alleges that the vessel, chartered by Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée, passed off 24 tonnes of potentially toxic waste as ordinary waste, according to Italian media. Condemning the decision as “a disproportionate and unfounded measure”, MSF said in a statement that "all our port operations, including waste management, have always followed standard procedures ”. The charity said it would appeal the decision in Italian review courts. The Aquarius is currently docked in the French port of Marseille, unable to operate since its registration flag was revoked two months ago. | | |
| Europe extends thin lifeline to refugees abused in Libya. The Christian Science Monitor reports on UNHCR’s Emergency Transit Mechanism , which is evacuating the most vulnerable refugees from Libya and airlifting them to Niger or, in a smaller number of cases, directly to resettlement countries in Europe. Both UNHCR and Niger make the distinction between rescuing a small number of vulnerable refugees, many of whom have experienced torture and other abuses in Libya, and an EU proposal to set up offshore processing of asylum claims in African countries such as Niger. As of 15 November, UNHCR had evacuated 2,344 people from Libya. | | |
| Turkish coastguard rescues 44 people stuck on island. The Turkish coastguard said on Monday it had dispatched two helicopters and a boat to rescue 44 people , including 13 children, who became stranded on the Aegean island of Yumurta while attempting to cross to Greece in stormy weather. According to figures released by the coastguard, more than 23,500 refugees and migrants attempting to reach Greece have been intercepted since the beginning of the year – up from 19,732 over the same period in 2017. | | |
| Venezuelan children vulnerable to assault and exclusion from school in Colombia. More than a million Venezuelans have settled in neighbouring Colombia, but many remain undocumented. Although all migrant children have the legal right to enrol in local schools, obstacles remain – such as parents’ fears of being deported. UNHCR reports that children who are out of school are more vulnerable to assault . A children’s day-care centre in Bogotá is helping families negotiate the local school system and helping newly arrived children process the sudden changes in their lives. The centre also provides free medical check-ups and meals. Staff note that most of the children are several kilos underweight and below average height when they arrive. | | |
| A voluntary relocation programme in Brazil is helping Venezuelans move from congested border areas to cities like São Paulo and Brasilia, where there are more opportunities for them to work and integrate. | | |
UNESCO estimates that to provide quality education to all refugees, Germany would need 42,000 new teachers, Turkey 80,000 and Uganda 7,000.
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