Africa’s treatment of refugees “an example for the world”, says UN chief. African nations are setting an example for richer countries when it comes to the treatment of refugees, said UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Saturday in Addis Ababa. He was in the Ethiopian capital for the annual African Union Summit, which is focusing this year on the issue of refugees and internally displaced people. The AU has declared 2019 the year of "Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons", with the goal of finding "durable" solutions to the issue. Guterres suggested that migration in Africa had been managed more humanely than elsewhere and appealed for the recently adopted global compacts on refugees and migration to be fully implemented. About 300 representatives from across Africa took part in a roundtable discussion on Saturday that focused on the need to tackle the root causes of forced displacement on the continent. | | |
| Myanmar army shelling villages in Rakhine, says rights group. Myanmar security forces have shelled villages, detained civilians and blocked access to food and humanitarian assistance as part of a new crackdown in Rakhine State, Amnesty International said today. The intensified military action follows several attacks on police posts in early January by an armed ethnic Rakhine group called the Arakan Army. On Friday, UNHCR expressed concern about the humanitarian impact of the violence in Rakhine State as well as southern Chin State and the potential for further internal displacement and outflow of refugees. Villagers and local activists told Amnesty that mortar shells were being fired in the vicinity of townships and that soldiers were restricting the amount of food they could bring into villages. | | |
| Australian government seeks to block bill on transfers of sick asylum-seekers. Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison campaigned over the weekend to block an amendment bill that would allow sick asylum-seekers in off-shore centres on the Pacific islands of Nauru and Manus to come to Australia for medical treatment. Australia’s parliament is expected to vote on the bill when it resumes on Tuesday. Thousands of doctors have signed a petition calling for the bill to be passed. UNHCR has also expressed support for the measure and called for Australia to address the “continuing medical crisis” affecting refugees and asylum-seekers on Nauru and Manus. | | |
| Organ traffickers in Egypt targeting refugees and migrants. In response to a government crackdown, smugglers operating out of Egypt have raised their fees for transporting refugees and migrants to Europe. The Guardian reports that those unable to pay are being referred to organ brokers in Cairo to raise the money . Several people told The Guardian they had undergone surgery to have kidneys or other organs removed, only for the broker to vanish without paying them. A law banning organ sales was introduced in 2010 but has reportedly pushed the trade further underground. Undocumented refugees and migrants who report the crime risk being deported. | | |
| Germany speeds up asylum process. Deutsche Welle reports that German authorities took an average of six months to process asylum claims in the third quarter of 2018, three months less than in the first quarter of the year, but still way below the three-month target set by Chancellor Angela Merkel. According to figures from the Interior Ministry, wait times varied according to nationality, with Syrians having their claims processed in about four months compared to an average of nine months for asylum-seekers from Pakistan. Unaccompanied minors had particularly long waits, with young Afghan asylum-seekers having to wait more than a year to know the outcome of their applications. At the end of September 2018, more than 4,000 asylum-seekers had been waiting over 18 months for a decision. | | |
| Rescue ship named for drowned Syrian refugee child. A rescue ship operated by the German charity Sea-Watch was renamed after Alan Kurdi on Sunday at a ceremony on the Spanish island of Mallorca. Three-year-old Kurdi drowned, along with his mother and brother, when their boat capsized soon after setting off from the Turkish coast in 2015. The image of his lifeless body on a Turkish shore sparked global outrage. The naming ceremony was attended by his father, Abdullah Kurdi, and aunt, Tima Kurdi. | | |
| Artmongers, a London-based organization, recently made their sixth visit to Azraq refugee camp in Jordan to help residents transform a large open space in the centre of the camp into a mosaic park using painted and natural stones. Artmonger runs regular art workshops in the camp. | | |
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