| Three teens charged in Malta for taking control of ship. Three teenagers were charged in a Maltese court on Saturday with taking control of a small commercial tanker that had rescued them and 105 other refugees and migrants off the coast of Libya last week. They were accused of using force and intimidation against the crew to change the ship’s course to Europe. Under Maltese law, unlawfully taking control of a ship is punishable with prison terms of between seven and 30 years . The suspects pleaded not guilty and were placed in detention pending trial. The accused are 15, 16 and 19 years old – one of them from Ivory Coast and the other two from Guinea. A spokesperson from the International Chamber of Shipping told AP that the episode had brought into sharp focus the need for high-level action to ensure commercial ships that rescue refugees and migrants receive immediate assistance from the coast guards of nearby countries. | |
| Humanitarian emergency unfolding at Syria’s Al-Hol camp. AFP reports from Al-Hol camp for displaced people in north-eastern Syria, where the population has swelled from 35,000 to more than 73,000 since February as the final territories under ISIL’s control in the region have fallen. Some 19,000 people are sheltering in large tents and communal areas while they wait for the camp to be expanded. The World Food Programme’s Syria spokesperson told AFP there was a lack of space and proper medical facilities to treat injuries and diseases, while aid agencies say that some 30 per cent of children under the age of five at the camp are suffering from acute malnutrition. The UN announced on Sunday that it has allocated US$4.3 million from the Syria Humanitarian Fund to ramp up aid delivery at Al-Hol. | | |
| Fresh wave of xenophobic attacks in South Africa. Following a spate of attacks on migrants and refugees in Durban over the last week that has left three people dead , South Africa’s foreign minister, Lindiwe Sisulu, said she had organized a meeting with African ambassadors for today. The attacks have mainly targeted foreign-owned businesses. Many small shops have been looted and burned, and foreign nationals have reportedly been sheltering at local mosques and police stations. Politicians, including President Cyril Ramaphosa, condemned the violence over the weekend, but some commentators have said a speech Ramaphosa made in January, in which he promised a crackdown on illegally operated businesses, may have played a role in inciting the attacks on foreign shopkeepers. | | |
| Aid agencies express concern about continued violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine State. In a joint statement today, 15 international NGOs expressed their deep concern about continued fighting between Myanmar’s security forces and the Arakan Army. The statement notes that “the conflict is causing civilian casualties, displacing communities, and worsening the already precarious humanitarian situation in central and northern Rakhine State”. The NGOs said the impact of the conflict had been compounded by the Myanmar government’s restrictions on humanitarian access to several conflict-affected areas. According to the statement, at least 95,000 people living in those areas are no longer accessing a number of basic and essential services. | | |
| How a school poetry club helped refugee children to find their voice. Many of the pupils where Kate Clancy teaches at a multicultural school in Oxford are refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, Somalia and elsewhere who have experienced loss and trauma. In this moving extract from her new book, Clancy recounts how joining her poetry club has helped some of them to process their loss and listen to their inner voices. | | |
| After moving to the United States from China when he was five years old, Tony Xu watched as his mother ran a Chinese restaurant while saving up for medical school. Xu went on to start the food delivery app, DoorDash, and he’s now helping other newcomers to the US through an initiative called Kitchens Without Borders . This video mini-series highlights 10 refugee- and migrant-owned restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area that are getting premium placement in the DoorDash app. | | |
A survey of attitudes in 14 European Union countries found that people in southern and eastern countries were more concerned about emigration than immigration.
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