By Tim Gaynor | 31 July, 2019
To our readers: The Refugee Brief will not be published 1 and 2 August, but will resume publication on 5 August.
| | 115 people remain onboard Italian coast guard vessel. Some 115 shipwreck survivors remained aboard an Italian coastguard vessel in a Sicilian port on Wednesday as a standoff between the Italian government and the EU over who should take them in continues. The people on board, who had set off from Libya in two rickety boats, were picked up by Italian patrols on 25 July and transferred to the coastguard ship Bruno Gregoretti. Interior Minister Matteo Salvini ordered that the ship should not enter an Italian port until other EU countries agree to take in all the passengers on board. Italian news agency ANSA reports that 10 people requiring medical care and 16 unaccompanied minors have been allowed to disembark, while others must remain until other EU states agree to take them in. So far only Germany has said it would be willing to take some passengers. ANSA said that having so many crowded into a small space on a military ship has created difficulties for both the crew and the passengers. Red Cross volunteers distributed hygiene kits, clothes and shoes on Monday aboard the vessel, which is docked in Augusta, on the east coast of Sicily. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has repeatedly called for a collaborative approach among EU countries to make the disembarkation of people rescued at sea more predictable and manageable. | |
| Record number of children killed and maimed in armed conflicts during 2018 – UN. More than 12,000 children were killed or maimed in armed conflicts last year, the highest number since the United Nations started monitoring and reporting such violations in 2005. According to the Annual Report of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict , the children were casualties of cross-fire incidents, leftover munitions, improvised explosive devices, landmines and active combat by non-state actors, state and multinational forces. The report, released on Tuesday, found that 3,062 children were killed in Afghanistan last year, accounting for 28 per cent of all civilian casualties there. In Syria, air strikes, barrel bombs and cluster munitions resulted in 1,854 child casualties, and in Yemen, 1,689 children bore the brunt of ground fighting and other offensives. “It is immensely sad that children continue to be disproportionately affected by armed conflict, and it is horrific to see them killed and maimed as a result of hostilities,” said Virginia Gamba, the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict. “It is imperative that all parties to conflicts prioritize the protection of children. This cannot wait: parties to conflict must take their responsibility to protect children and put in place tangible measures to end and prevent these violations.” | | |
| UK urged to provide more support to trafficking survivors. Anti-trafficking organizations said survivors should be given at least 12 months of specialist support to prevent them from falling back into a cycle of exploitation, as well as 30 months' leave to remain in the United Kingdom if they are not UK citizens or EU nationals. A report by the British Red Cross, London-based charity Hestia, and Sheffield-based Ashiana found that those most at risk are survivors with an uncertain immigration status, Al Jazeera reports. The call comes a month after the Home Office, the UK government's department responsible for migration and security, was forced to recognize that its policy of giving only 45 days of support to survivors once they are identified as victims was leaving them vulnerable to homelessness and re- trafficking. | | |
| Ethnic networks help refugees integrate into the host country's economy. A new study from the Stanford Immigration Policy Lab found that asylum-seekers in Switzerland were more likely to find work within five years if officials assigned them to an area with a larger community of people who share their nationality, ethnicity or language. The findings, published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, suggest that ethnic communities are not necessarily the barrier to integration that many believe them to be. They also offer new insights into an underappreciated support system that refugees rely on as they rebuild their lives in a new country. | | |
| Emergency monsoon training saves Rohingya refugee lives. Just three days after receiving lifeguard instruction, Rohingya volunteers in Bangladesh rescued a drowning teenager from a reservoir . The settlements in south-east Bangladesh, which are home to nearly one million refugees, are studded with reservoirs and ponds that quickly fill up during monsoons. More than 230 refugees have so far received lifeguard training at the world's largest refugee settlement, as well as rescue equipment including flotation devices and "throw bags" to help save those who get into difficulties during the wet season, which continues through October. | | |
| Swiss start-up incubator bets on migrants and refugees - A Zurich-based association, Capacity, is helping migrants and refugees who would like to launch a business or sociocultural initiative in Switzerland. Co-founder Ana Maria Angarita, a former refugee who fled Colombia in 2001, told the news website swissinfo.ch that "people are gradually opening up to understanding who refugees and migrants are. They are even becoming curious about it: what is it that they can offer?" Angarita said there are a few companies that give apprenticeships to refugees, but "when it comes to the start-up world, there is still a long way to go… There is still a stigma from some segments of the society.” The organization offers training, workshops and coaching from corporate volunteers to get them started. | | |
| Syrian refugee Mohamad Karkoubi lives in Aberystwyth, Wales, where he works in a welding shop. He learned Welsh to better communicate with friends and co-workers and won a Nation of Sanctuary award for his language skills. | | |
Some 820 refugees and migrants have died or been reported missing attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea so far this year, according to estimates.
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