UN affirms global compact to support refugees. The UN General Assembly on Monday voted overwhelmingly in favour of a new international framework for responding to refugee crises. After two years of UNHCR-led consultations with member states, civil society, refugees and the private sector, 181 States voted in favour of the Global Compact on Refugees. UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi called the pact “historic” and, in a tweet , described it as “the biggest effort to broadly share refugee responsibilities that I have witnessed in 34 years of work with refugees”. At a time when nine out of 10 refugees are living in developing countries, the compact pledges more investment – from both governments and the private sector – to boost services like health and education for both refugees and the communities hosting them. The agreement is separate from another non-binding compact to support safe, orderly and regular migration that was adopted earlier this month at an intergovernmental conference in Marrakech and will be presented to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday. | | |
| UNHCR launches $2.7 billion appeal for South Sudanese refugees. The appeal, launched today by UNHCR and its NGO partners, aims to address the needs of over 2.2 million South Sudanese refugees sheltering in six neighbouring countries over the next two years. At a briefing in Geneva this morning, UNHCR spokesperson Charlie Yaxley said rising needs had far outpaced current levels of funding to support host countries and that “hugely more international support and solidarity is needed”. Although parts of South Sudan have seen a reduction in violence since the signing of a revitalized peace agreement in September, Yaxley said “UNHCR does not yet view the current environment in South Sudan as conducive to safe returns of refugees”. With several previous attempts to secure peace having collapsed over the past five years, refugees told Al Jazeera that they were sceptical of the latest peace deal. | | |
| NGOs call for immediate action to deliver on goals of global compact. In a statement on Monday, five international NGOS – the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, Oxfam, the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Danish Refugee Council – welcomed UN Member States’ affirmation of the Global Compact on Refugees as a “positive step toward a better refugee response” and called for “immediate action to deliver on the promised changes”. The statement lists five key areas of focus for achieving the compact’s objectives, including equitable responsibility-sharing, strengthening coping strategies for people of concern and delivering solutions to end their displacement. | | |
| Unaccompanied children vulnerable to new risks at the Mexican border. This year, more than 49,000 unaccompanied children have been apprehended at the US border, according to the Department of Homeland Security. Many are trying to escape violence and gang recruitment in Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala, but the journey north exposes them to new risks and the Guardian reports that those who reach the border are not out of danger . While bureaucratic hurdles delay them from applying for asylum in the US, they are forced to wait in border cities that have become battlefields in Mexico’s drug war. Unaccompanied children are often wary of identifying themselves out of fear of being put into foster care or deported. | | |
| DR Congo refugees put little faith in coming elections. Whether they crossed the border a few weeks ago or 20 years ago, AFP reports that few among the 284,000 Congolese refugees living in Uganda believe upcoming elections in their home country will end the violence that forced them to flee. While the refugees are following developments back home, they will not be allowed to participate in the 23 December vote to elect a successor to President Joseph Kabila. “If there is still war, the elections won’t make a difference,” said Immaculate Nyakato, who fled eastern DRC’s Ituri province and crossed Lake Albert to reach Kyangwali refugee camp in Uganda just a few weeks ago. | | |
| The New Tanzanians. In 2014, Tanzania decided to grant citizenship to more than 160,000 people who fled violence in neighbouring Burundi and to their children – the biggest mass naturalization of refugees in history. The Christian Science Monitor reports on “the New Tanzanians”, as the former refugees are called, and what can happen when the international community fails to give adequate support to the developing countries that have taken in the vast majority of people fleeing conflict and persecution. The newly adopted Global Compact on Refugees aims to address the need for greater responsibility sharing among states. | | |
| Among the highlights from yesterday’s event in New York to mark the affirmation of the Global Compact on Refugees were the Pihcintu choir, made up of young refugees and migrants from 19 countries, and a speech by Bertine Bahige, a former refugee from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who is now an elementary school teacher in Wyoming. “[Refugees] bring a lot to the table, if we can give them that opportunity, that chance, and that hope, and that’s what this is all about,” he told attendees. | | |
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