Thousands forced to flee fighting in northeast Syria. Clashes and airstrikes in the southeast of Syria’s Deir-ez-Zor governorate are leading to civilian casualties and large-scale displacement, according to the UN. More than 8,500 of those displaced from the Hajin area have sought shelter at Al Hol camp in neighbouring Al Hassakeh governorate over the past five weeks, said UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic at a briefing in Geneva today. An estimated 2,000 people remain trapped in ISIS-held areas of Hajin, where conditions are reported to be increasingly desperate. The dangerous and difficult journey to reach Al Hol has contributed to the deaths of six children, said Mahecic. UNHCR and other humanitarian agencies are preparing new tent plots at Al Hol and distributing relief items to the new arrivals. Aid workers are also helping residents at Al-Areesha settlement relocate to higher ground as two thirds of the camp has been submerged by rising flood waters. According to Save the Children, heavy rains and flooding are also affecting camps for displaced people in northern Idlib province. | | |
| Isolated incidents of violence in wake of DR Congo’s surprise election result. Election officials in the Democratic Republic of the Congo announced on Thursday that, according to preliminary results, opposition candidate Felix Tshisekedi had won the 30 December presidential election. Pre-election polls had predicted a landslide win for another opposition leader, Martin Fayulu. His supporters have disputed the election result , as has the Catholic Church, but AP reports that incidents of violence have been isolated. A demonstration by Fayulu’s supporters in the city of Kikwit reportedly left three people dead, but Kinshasa and other parts of the country remained largely calm, reports AP. Candidates now have two days to file challenges and the constitutional court has seven days to consider them before results are final. UN Secretary-General António Guterres appealed for all parties to “refrain from violence ” on Thursday. The DRC is already facing a humanitarian crisis made worse by sporadic fighting that displaced 1.5 million people between May and November last year, according to UN figures. | | |
| Greece to improve conditions at island reception centres. Migration policy minister Dimitris Vitsas told a news conference on Thursday that the government was working to improve conditions and ease overcrowding at refugee reception centres on the Aegean islands. He said two new camps with capacity for 1,500 people would be created in mainland Greece to speed up transfers from the islands. In response to an Oxfam report on Wednesday highlighting the lack of doctors available to conduct vulnerability assessments, Vitsas said more doctors would be sent by the end of January. Some 50,000 refugees and migrants arrived in Greece in 2018, over 32,000 by sea and 18,000 via the land border with Turkey at Evros. | | |
| Refugee residents reviving Australian outback towns. The Economist reports on an Australian scheme to bring refugees to rural Australian towns to offset population decline and ease pressure on big cities, where refugees often struggle to find work. Some remote outback towns desperate to keep businesses afloat and schools open have taken to recruiting migrants and refugees themselves. A group of residents in tiny Walla Wall in New South Wales are reportedly scouting for refugees in Sydney to fill jobs, schools and housing. Some refugees prefer the lower cost of living and quiet life small towns have to offer, but the vast majority of migrants and refugees are still drawn to Melbourne and Sydney. | | |
| 51 people rescued from grounded sailboat off Italy. Italian news agency ANSA reports that 51 Kurdish people, including six women and four children, were rescued by local residents after their sailboat ran aground off the southern Calabrian coast. Locals in the town of Melissa brought them to safety in a dinghy and staff at a nearby hotel provided blankets and a place to warm themselves before they were transferred to a nearby asylum processing centre. Italian media report that one man was missing after jumping into the water shortly before rescuers arrived. | | |
| The Valencia Newcomer School in Phoenix, Arizona, opened last year to help 134 refugee and migrant children from 17 countries learn English as well as navigate a new culture and unfamiliar school system. The aim is to prepare students to transfer to local schools within a year. “Our students need their voice, they need to be heard, and if they don’t have a way of sharing that voice, the talents and the gifts they have will never be shared,” Lynette Faulkner, the school’s principal, told the Arizona Mirror. | | |
In Lebanon, more than 360 sites hosting 11,300 refugees have been affected by several days of heavy rain and flooding this week as a result of Storm Norma.
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