NGO rescue ship Aquarius ends operations. Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and its partner SOS MEDITERRANEE announced on Thursday that they had been forced to terminate search and rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean. Their ship, the Aquarius, has been stuck at the French port of Marseille since early October when it lost its Panamanian registration. Since February 2016, the Aquarius had rescued nearly 30,000 people from international waters between Libya, Malta and Italy. It was the last NGO rescue ship operating in the area. In a statement, MSF accused European governments of sabotaging its efforts to save lives at sea . “The end of the Aquarius means more deaths at sea, and more needless deaths that will go unwitnessed,” said MSF’s general director, Nelke Manders. | | |
| Yemen conflict claims 1,500 civilian casualties in three months. Nearly 1,500 civilian casualties were reported in Yemen in the period between August to October this year, according to UNHCR, which today called on parties to the conflict to improve protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure. A third of the casualties were women and children, of which 217 were killed, mainly in Sa'ada and Al-Hudaydah governorates. Drawing on data from the latest Civilian Impact Monitoring Report, UNHCR told reporters in Geneva that homes and hospitals continued to be sites of violence with nearly a quarter of all deaths and injuries during the three-month period reported in houses. "Only a peaceful resolution of the conflict can halt further suffering and stem humanitarian needs," said UNHCR spokesperson, Shabia Mantoo. Peace talks between Yemen’s warring sides started in Sweden on Thursday. | | |
| New “safe” centre for vulnerable refugees opens in Tripoli. A facility that offers shelter and safety to up to 1,000 vulnerable refugees until they can be evacuated from Libya opened in the capital, Tripoli, on Tuesday. UNHCR, which will manage the centre together with Libya’s interior ministry and NGO partner LibAid, said the Gathering and Departure Facility was the first of its kind in the country and aimed to bring refugees to a safe environment until solutions including resettlement and family reunification can be found. With an estimated 4,900 refugees and migrants held in dire conditions in detention centres across Libya, UNHCR has repeatedly called for alternatives. The agency evacuated a group of 133 refugees to Niger on Thursday after hosting them at the new facility. | | |
| Niger adopts law to protect internally displaced people. In a first for Africa, Niger has adopted a law to protect and assist people displaced within the country by violence and natural disasters. The new law – approved unanimously by the national assembly on Monday – is based on the Kampala Convention, adopted by the African Union in 2009, which established guidelines for the protection of internally displaced people (IDPs). More than 170,000 people are currently internally displaced in Niger, mostly in border regions where violence has spilled over from Mali and Nigeria. The new law will establish a legal framework for protecting and assisting IDPs and promote measures to prevent displacement. In a statement on Thursday, UNHCR and the UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons welcomed the adoption of the new law. | | |
| Fewer than 10 children left on Nauru, says Australia’s president. Voting on a bill that would have allowed for medical transfers of refugees and asylum-seekers from Nauru and Manus Island has been postponed until February next year after a Senate filibuster on the final parliamentary sitting day for 2018. The Senate passed provisions from the bill, introduced by independent MP Kerry Phelps, before the filibuster prevented it from returning to the lower house for a vote. Prime Minister Scott Morrison said “about six ” children would be left on Nauru in coming weeks and that people have been transferred to Taiwan or Port Moresby for medical treatment when needed. The bill, if passed, would allow critically ill refugees to be flown to Australia for treatment. UNHCR has called on Australia’s parliament to pass the bill and end its policy of off-shore processing. | | |
| How a refugee turned US mayor is seeking to transcend politics of divisiveness. This long read by the Christian Science Monitor tells the extraordinary story of how former refugee Wilmot Collins and his wife, Maddie Saab, escaped the war in Liberia and started new lives in Helena, Montana. Twenty-four years later, Collins is the city’s first black mayor and has helped reopen the state to refugee resettlement, but Collins’ high profile has made him a target for critics even as he is an inspiration to many refugees. | | |
| Syrian refugee Maya Ghazal and statelessness activist Maha Mamo were among 11 speakers at a TEDx event focused on women’s empowerment and gender equality in Geneva last night. An aspiring pilot, 19-year-old Ghazal talked about how she overcame language difficulties and a spate of college rejections to win a place at Brunel University in London to study aviation engineering. Mamo talked about recently gaining Brazilian nationality after a lifetime of living in the shadows as a stateless person. | | |
An average of 123 civilian deaths and injuries were recorded every week in Yemen between August and October.
| | |
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment