Tens of thousands displaced by worsening Boko Haram violence in Nigeria. A recent upsurge of violence in north-east Nigeria has driven more than 80,000 people to seek refuge in already crowded camps and towns in Borno State, while thousands more have fled to neighbouring Cameroon and Chad in recent weeks. UNHCR said some 30,000 people fled the city of Rann across the Cameroonian border this past weekend alone, fearing that Boko Haram would attack again after the Multi-National Joint Task Force withdrew from the town. The refugee agency, together with the UN Development Programme and other aid organizations, today launched a US$135 million appeal to respond to the needs of 250,000 Nigerian refugees and the communities hosting them in Niger, Cameroon and Chad. A separate appeal for $848 million was also launched today to reach 6.2 million vulnerable people in Nigeria with humanitarian assistance. | | |
| Sea Watch lodges complaint against Italy in European rights court. The German NGO Sea Watch, which operates the Sea-Watch 3 vessel currently stranded off the coast of Sicily with 47 rescued refugees and migrants on board, reportedly lodged an urgent complaint against Italy with the European Court of Human Rights on Monday. "We can no longer accept that the European states are jointly breaking the law of the sea and we cannot accept that sea rescue is made conditional on EU negotiations," said a spokesperson with the NGO in a statement sent to the German news agency DPA. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said on Tuesday that he would only allow the Sea-Watch 3 to bring its passengers to shore in Italy if another country agreed to take them immediately afterwards. | | |
| Uganda launches health-care plan for refugees. Uganda’s ministry of health and UNHCR – together with other government departments, UN agencies and NGOs – have launched a five-year plan to provide improved health care for 1.1 million refugees and more than 7 million Ugandans. The plan aims to build and upgrade health centres, train health workers and ensure that facilities are stocked with medicines. At a launch in Kampala on Friday, Prime Minister Ruhakana Rugunda said the plan proves that hosting refugees can promote long-term development in refugee-hosting areas. A joint statement by 11 aid agencies working in Uganda said donor support for the plan would be critical. | | |
| US framework deal with Taliban raises hope of Afghan peace. US and Taliban officials have agreed in principle to the framework of a deal that could pave the way for peace talks in Kabul and the withdrawal of American troops from Afghanistan, raising hopes of a breakthrough in the country’s 17-year conflict. The withdrawal of US troops would be contingent on the Taliban agreeing to a ceasefire and to talking directly with the US-backed Afghan government – two conditions the Taliban have yet to accept. Experts warned that a hasty American withdrawal could raise the risk of the Taliban recapturing control of the country or a descent into civil war. | | |
| The Nauru and Manus refugees starting anew in the US. As assistant secretary of state for population, refugees and migration in the United States, Anne Richardson, signed a deal with Australia in 2016 that committed the US to resettling 1,250 of the refugees held on Nauru and Manus as part of Australia’s offshore asylum policy. So far, the deal has brought about 500 refugees to the US, although several nationalities have been excluded. Richardson writes for the Guardian about meeting some of the recent arrivals and hearing about their new lives as well as their bitter memories of the years they lost on Nauru and Manus. “Australia’s loss is America’s gain,” she writes. | | |
| Violence and displacement marks beginning of 2019 in Colombia. A series of violent attacks since the beginning of the year have displaced 1,300 people across Colombia and left dozens of social leaders and civilians dead, reports the Norwegian Refugee Council. Despite a 2016 peace agreement, more than 145,000 Colombians were forced to flee their homes in 2018, according to the UN. Hundreds of thousands of victims of the violence still depend on humanitarian support, said the NRC’s country director in Colombia, Christian Visnes, who warned that an increase in arrivals from neighbouring Venezuela could put more pressure on Colombia’s already overwhelmed government. | | |
| South African actress and human rights activist Nomzamo Mbatha was appointed a UNHCR Global Goodwill Ambassador on Monday. Here she talks about the life-altering experience of working with refugees since 2017 and what she hopes to achieve as a Goodwill Ambassador. | | |
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