| Detained refugees in Tripoli injured by fighting. Refugees and migrants held at Qasr Bin Ghasheer detention centre, on the frontlines of the conflict in Libya’s capital, told Al Jazeera they were shot at indiscriminately on Tuesday, leaving some 30 people injured . More than 100 women and nearly 50 children are among the 890 refugees and migrants detained at the facility. UNHCR spokesperson Paula Barrachina said the agency was working to bring them to a safer location. An attempt on 11 April to relocate refugees from Qasr Bin Gasheer to another detention centre away from the clashes failed when the refugees refused to move, asking instead to be evacuated out of Libya. UNHCR has appealed for access to some 3,600 refugees and migrants trapped in detention centres close to the fighting. | |
| Mexico increases arrests and deportations. Mexico’s National Migration Institute said on Tuesday that 11,800 migrants have been returned to their home countries in the first 22 days of April, up from 9,650 for all of April last year. Interior Minister Olga Sánchez said Mexico was not to blame for an “unprecedented” increase in the number of Central Americans entering the country and had an obligation to control its southern border. AP reports that Central American migrants and asylum-seekers travelling through southern Mexico are fearful of arrest after several hundred migrants were detained by police near the town of Pijijiapan in the state of Chiapas on Monday. Sánchez said the migrants had refused to register for a regional visa that would have allowed them to remain in southern Mexico. The government has said it will begin issuing the regional visas, which restrict migrants’ movements to southern states and do not allow them to work. Humanitarian visas, which allow migrants to transit the country, will now only be issued in exceptional cases. UNHCR is advocating for greater freedom of movement so that asylum-seekers can move north to areas with more work opportunities and fewer pressure on public services. | | |
| Increase in sea arrivals key issue ahead of election in Spain. In the run up to a general election on Sunday, some Spanish political parties have been characterizing the spike in refugee and migrant arrivals to Spain as a “crisis”. In fact, reports The New Humanitarian, arrival numbers in the early months of 2019 have dropped significantly from last year and rescue and reception services are not overwhelmed, according to an Interior Ministry spokesperson. The politicization of the issue ahead of Sunday’s election has raised concerns within Spain’s civilian sea rescue service, Salvamento Maritimo, that proposals to curtail their rescue operations could be implemented. | | |
| In Rohingya refugee camps, a political awakening faces a backlash. Reuters reports that the recent emergence of several civil society groups in the refugee settlements in Bangladesh has been accompanied by an increase in violence , as militants and religious conservatives also vie for power. One of the groups, the Arakan Rohingya Society for Peace and Human Rights, is campaigning for the Rohingya to have a voice in international talks about their future, but hardliners in the camps are arguing for a more assertive stance and there have been reports of kidnappings and violence perpetrated by supporters of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army. Police say they have recorded an increase in violence in the camps in recent months but have not found any links to militant groups. Citing police reports, UNHCR said most violence in the settlements was carried out by “criminal elements or related to personal vendettas”. | | |
| Cuts to support for asylum-seekers in Australia creates surge in demand for food and housing. A government decision last June to reduce the number of community-based asylum-seekers eligible to receive income support has led to surge in demand for emergency housing and food banks, according to a new report by the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. The report said the centre had been inundated by requests for help with housing and could not meet the demand. Those who have lost access to income support have been granted work rights, but critics argue that many are not job ready due to language barriers and lack of local work experience. | | |
| 160 UK football clubs to take part in ‘Football Welcomes’ weekend. A record number of football clubs in Britain will take part in Amnesty International UK’s Football Welcomes this weekend to celebrate the contribution refugees make to the game. More than 160 – triple the number that participated last year – have signed up for the initiative, in which refugees and asylum-seekers will receive free match tickets and clubs will help organize tournaments for refugees in their communities. Amnesty said a recent survey revealed that many football fans believe there has been an increase in racism and xenophobia in football and overwhelmingly agreed that football clubs have a responsibility to tackle it. | | |
| Thanks to the generosity of a local farmer in Uganda and training in rice production, South Sudanese refugee Queen Chandia is able to grow enough food to support the 22 refugee children in her care. | | |
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