| Europe-bound refugees and migrants taken to Malta and Libya. Libya’s coast guard said on Wednesday it had intercepted 124 people in two rubber boats off the city of Zuwara and returned them to Tripoli, the capital, where clashes continue. UNHCR reported on Tuesday that some 300 refugees and migrants were disembarked at Tripoli’s naval base after being intercepted at sea. Meanwhile, Malta’s Armed Forces said they had rescued a group of 75 refugees and migrants found clinging to a tuna pen late on Wednesday and were bringing them to Malta. However, the charity Alarm Phone said last night that it had been contacted by a boat in distress off Libya thought to be carrying 90 people, including 15 children. Alarm Phone informed the relevant authorities and a military helicopter and a military vessel were spotted nearby but no rescue was carried out last night. A five-year-old girl reportedly died on board the boat this morning before the Italian navy launched a rescue operation. UNHCR has urgently called for increased search-and-rescue capacity in the Central Mediterranean, both by State and NGO vessels. | |
| Australia returns Sri Lankan asylum-seekers after boat intercepted. Twenty Sri Lankan asylum-seekers have been returned to their home country after their boat was intercepted last week en route to Australia. The vessel was reportedly spotted in the Indian Ocean heading for Australia’s north-west coast. The asylum-seekers were detained for a few days on Christmas Island – the first time in five years that asylum-seekers attempting reach Australia by sea have been taken there. They were flown back to Colombo on a government charter jet on Wednesday after their asylum claims were rejected. The boat had left Sri Lanka in the first week of May, not long after the deadly bombing attacks on 21 April. The Department of Home Affairs did not provide details about the basis of their asylum claims. | | |
| UK authorities’ labelling of child asylum-seekers as adults leads to abuse. The Guardian reports that child asylum-seekers in the UK are suffering abuse after being wrongly classified as adults by the Home Office and local authorities. They reported being bullied by adults they were accommodated with, being denied an education, and being unable to manage things such as shopping and cooking by themselves. A court of appeal ruling last week found that the Home Office’s assessment policy for determining the age of young asylum-seekers was unlawful. Lawyers and refugee rights groups say that many children are wrongly classified by Home Office officials based on brief assessments of their appearance. Child asylum-seekers receive more support than adults and cannot be forcibly removed from the UK until they turn 18. | | |
| UN rights probe records audio version of findings in Rohingya language. A UN rights probe which earlier this month called on the international community to cut ties to Myanmar’s military released an audio version of its statement recorded in the Rohingya language . Previous findings from the fact-finding mission have only been published in English or Burmese, which the majority of Rohingya cannot read. The New Humanitarian reports that numerous reports from rights groups go largely unread by many Rohingya, simply because they aren’t available in a language – or format – they can understand. With no universally accepted Rohingya script, language specialists say that verbal communication is essential for reaching out to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. | | |
| Children in Syria’s Idlib show signs of severe distress after displacement. The International Rescue Committee conducted a rapid assessment of 3,500 people forced to flee Idlib province in north-western Syria as aerial attacks escalate. Over half of parents and guardians reported that children were showing signs of severe distress , such as unusual crying and screaming. More than a third said their children were having nightmares or were unable to sleep. On average, the families interviewed said they had been displaced five times since the start of the conflict, with some families reporting that they had fled more than 10 times. Over 160 civilians have been killed by heavy shelling and aerial bombardment of the opposition-held enclave since 28 April. | | |
| This poem by Sudanese-American slam poet and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Emi Mahmoud is a powerful reminder of what many refugees are missing this Ramadan. | | |
Since the beginning of this year, some 9,300 refugees and migrants have reached Greece by sea, while just 1,500 have arrived by sea in Italy.
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