No Rohingya refugees found willing to return to Myanmar. Bangladesh said it was prepared to begin repatriating Rohingya refugees to Myanmar today in line with a bilateral plan agreed by the governments of Bangladesh and Myanmar last month, but emphasized that it would not force anyone to go back against their will . Several trucks and buses stood ready this morning to transport refugees from Unchiprang camp in Cox’s Bazar to a transit camp at the border, but no refugee was willing to board them. Earlier, UNHCR advised against “rushed” repatriation plans, stressing that conditions in Myanmar are not yet conducive for returns. Refugees living in camps in Cox’s Bazar told reporters that many Rohingya had gone into hiding since Wednesday evening out of fear that they would be sent back to Myanmar against their will. Meanwhile, AFP reports that hundreds of Rohingya staged a demonstration against the repatriations near the Myanmar border today. | | |
| Thousands flee outbreak of violence in Central African Republic. Fighting between armed groups in Batangafo, the northern of the Central African Republic has driven nearly 25,000 people from their homes, according to the Danish Refugee Council. Most of those affected were already displaced and living in three camps in the city centre. Médecins Sans Frontières reports that some 5,000 people are now sheltering in the MSF-supported Batangafo Hospital in “extremely precarious conditions” having lost everything in fires that destroyed their homes during fighting that started on 31 October. Others are hiding in the bush on the outskirts of the city with little access to food or water, according to the DRC. | | |
| Allegations of Croatian police ‘brutality’ at Bosnian border. The Guardian has shared video footage, filmed by a Syrian asylum-seeker, that allegedly shows other asylum-seekers after they were captured and beaten by the Croatian police as they attempted to cross the border from Bosnia. One man is shown bleeding from the nose and mouth. Charities working with asylum-seekers in Bosnia report that up to a 100 people a week are pushed back across the border, many with wounds allegedly inflicted by Croatian police. | | |
| Long road ahead for child survivors of violence in eastern DR Congo. Teen Vogue reports on the communal violence that has ripped apart communities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s eastern Ituri province from the perspective of 11-year-old Mave Grace , who saved her injured father and younger sister earlier this year despite herself being badly wounded by militiamen with machetes. Mave and her family now live in camp for internally displaced persons in Bunia where they are surviving on one meal a day and struggling to get treatment for their injuries. | | |
| Fear of mines prevents displaced Iraqis from returning home. The Guardian reports from Fallujah, where unexploded landmines are preventing displaced residents from returning to their homes and farms. Hundreds of homemade devices are buried in fields, inside war-damaged houses and under roads impacting where people can live, walk, farm and allow children to play. Fallujah’s southern neighbourhood of Shuhada is the focus of innovative mine clearance efforts using armoured mechanical diggers. | | |
| Rachel Mantell and her partner began opening up their home in London to refugees three years ago and are now getting ready to welcome their eighth guest. “Living with a refugee gives you a real understanding about what is more important than money,” she told the Guardian. “It takes actually having a conversation with someone who has lost everything to really bring that home.” | | |
Nearly 643,000 people remain displaced inside the Central African Republic while over 575,000 are living as refugees in neighbouring countries.
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