Venezuela’s exodus divides families across borders. Some 2.3 million Venezuelans have left their country since 2015. AP reports on how the exodus is reconfiguring families , often in devastating ways. One survey of 250,000 Venezuelan families by Colombian officials found that 73 per cent had left relatives behind. The International Rescue Committee described the rate of parent and child separation as “staggering”. Mothers often travel ahead without their children believing that the separation will be temporary. “Families are being broken apart,” said Felipe Munoz, Colombia’s director for Venezuela border issues. “But they are also being reunited.” As relatives join their families in Colombia and elsewhere in the region, the outflow from Venezuela is expected to continue. At the launch of a US$738 million appeal last week to help neighbouring countries cope with the movement, UNHCR and the International Organization for Migration said they estimated that a further 2 million Venezuelans may leave their country and need aid in the next 14 months. | | |
| UK Home Office failing to address “degrading” asylum-seeker housing, say MPs. A report released today by the Home Affairs Select Committee says the government has failed to act on previous warnings that asylum-seekers are being housed in “degrading conditions ”, including in housing that is “badly maintained, damp and vermin infected”. The report also warns of “significant risks” to the provision of asylum housing if the government doesn’t urgently engage with local authorities considering withdrawing from a government scheme that disperses asylum-seekers around the country. With some local authorities complaining that they are caring for a disproportionate share of people seeking asylum, the report calls for fairer distribution among a larger number of areas. | | |
| UN General Assembly expected to affirm Global Compact on Refugees. A new international agreement aimed at forging a stronger, fairer response to large refugee movements is expected to be affirmed by members of the UN General Assembly today. This explainer by the UN News service describes the two-year process that has led to this moment, the four main objectives of the refugee compact, and how it differs from the global migration compact adopted in Marrakech last Monday. Although not legally binding, the refugee compact will guide the international community in providing greater support to refugees and the countries that host them, which are often among the poorest in the world. | | |
| Mauritania asks for more support to keep refugee camp running. Al Jazeera reports from Mbera refugee camp on Mauritania’s border with Mali. Home to 57,000 Malian refugees, Mbera has become the fourth-largest town in Mauritania. With violence persisting in northern Mali, large-scale refugee returns are not expected anytime soon. UNHCR is calling for more international support for developing countries like Mauritania (where most people live on less than US$2 a day) that have opened their borders and welcomed refugees, but are receiving only a fraction of the money they need to support them. | | |
| EU leaders fail again to agree on asylum policy. EU leaders attending their last summit of 2018 on Friday failed to reach agreement on a comprehensive overhaul of asylum and migration policy, reports Politico. The European Commission had proposed seven initiatives, five of which were close to agreement. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said none of the proposals had been adopted because of disagreement on “the two missing elements”. He expressed frustration that EU leaders had not even agreed to move forward with an initiative to add 10,000 border protection agents despite calling for the EU’s external borders to be strengthened. | | |
| Thousands march for refugee rights in Italy. Several thousand people marched through the streets of Rome on Saturday to protest Italy’s new restrictive immigration legislation that abolishes two-year humanitarian protection residency permits for asylum-seekers not eligible for international protection. Hundreds of asylum-seekers have been evicted from state-run reception centres since the legislation was approved by parliament earlier this month. Project Rights, a collective bringing together various human rights groups, said in a statement that the legislation would create “an endless stream of people forced into hiding”. | | |
| Lesvos fisherman Nikos Katsouris began cooking food for refugees arriving on the Greek island in 2014 and hasn’t stopped since. Twice a day he sends a minibus to Moria reception centre to collect 60 refugees for lunch and dinner at the restaurant he and his wife run. Afterwards there is music, dancing and games for the children. “We know Moria is hell so we try to give them escape for a day,” he told the Times. | | |
During 2018, an average of 5,500 Venezuelans have left their country every day.
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