| Kenya once again considers closing Dadaab camp. According to media reports, the Kenyan government is again considering closing the Dadaab refugee camp due to security concerns . Two years ago, Kenya’s high court blocked plans to close Dadaab, ruling that they were unconstitutional. Rights groups have pointed out that the ruling still stands and have urged the government to shelve the plans, pointing out that forcing the more than 200,000 mainly Somali refugees living in the camp to return to Somalia would threaten their rights and safety. Responding to questions from Bloomberg on Thursday, UNHCR spokesperson Dana Hughes said that any refugee returns must be done “on a voluntary and fully informed basis, in conditions of safety and dignity”. Since 2014, some 81,000 refugees have returned to Somalia from Dadaab, but many parts of the country remain unstable and unprepared for large-scale returns. | |
| Humanitarian needs soaring in Niger as militancy spreads. The New Humanitarian (formerly known as IRIN) reports from Niger’s western Tillabéri region where intercommunal violence and jihadism have spilled over from neighbouring Mali and Burkina Faso, displacing tens of thousands of people in an area already host to nearly 52,000 Malian refugees. The unrest in Tillabéri represents a second border crisis for a country already tackling militancy in Diffa, far to the southeast on the Nigerian border. Aid agencies on Thursday noted an increase in attacks on civilians in the Diffa region since the beginning of the year. An attack on Tuesday caused a dozen civilian casualties and several attacks at the weekend displaced about 10,000 people, according to UNHCR. With refugees living alongside displaced people in both regions, the humanitarian needs are enormous with 10 per cent of the country’s population of 2.3 million people expected to need assistance this year, according to the UN. | | |
| Turkey quietly works to integrate Syrian refugees. Reuters reports that, with the support of international donors, Turkey is quietly paving the way to integrate many of the nearly four million Syrians who have crossed into the country during eight years of civil war. Political rhetoric ahead of Sunday’s local elections has focused on refugee returns, but many Syrians are putting down roots in Turkey and have no plans to go back. Meanwhile, programmes to assist the refugees, many of them funded by the European Union, are gradually shifting from basic humanitarian assistance to longer-term support focused on helping them access the labour market and send their children to Turkish schools. | | |
| The desperate families fleeing gang violence in Honduras. The Times meets some of the families who fled for their lives to escape Honduras’ endemic drug-linked violence . Moving to another neighbourhood in Honduras is seldom an option as the influence of the gangs is spread across the country. Instead, increasing numbers are fleeing north, joining thousands of El Salvadorans and Guatemalans hoping to reach the US border and claim asylum. The United States said on Wednesday it had reached an agreement with the governments of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala to carry out a series of measures to curb “irregular migration”. They include joint police operations aimed at countering gangs and organized crime in the three countries as well as strengthening border security. | | |
| Japan sees sharp decrease in asylum applications. The number of applications for asylum lodged in Japan last year fell by about 47 per cent compared to the previous year, according to data released by the Justice Ministry on Wednesday. Japan had seen a steady rise in asylum claims in recent years. The Ministry attributed the drop from nearly 20,000 applications in 2017 to about 10,500 last year, to the introduction of stricter rules for issuing work permits to asylum-seekers. Japan granted asylum to 42 people last year and residency permits on humanitarian grounds to another 40. Refugee advocates and human rights organizations are reportedly sceptical of the Ministry’s new approach and say they have received complaints from asylum-seekers who were unable to file applications. | | |
| World War II veteran, author and social justice activist Harry Leslie Smith died in November 2018 after devoting the last of his 95 years to travelling around the world advocating for refugees. His son, John Smith, is determined to continue his father’s legacy. He plans to finish the book that Harry began about his experiences with refugees and is organising a trip to meet asylum-seekers in Tijuana, on Mexico’s border with the United States. | | |
Since 2014, 124,300 Somali refugees have returned home from 12 countries. Over 880,000 Somalis continue to live as refugees, mainly in neighbouring countries.
| | |
| |
No comments:
Post a Comment