The Refugee Brief, 24 October 2019
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Truck deaths highlight acute dangers for people making irregular crossings to UK. The discovery on Wednesday of the bodies of 39 people in a refrigerated truck container on an industrial estate in Essex has renewed focus on the risks taken by people trying to reach safety in the UK and elsewhere in Europe. Refugee rights and support groups argue that the lack of safe and legal routes into the UK for asylum-seekers has driven a dependence on dangerous alternative routes, often facilitated by people smugglers. The National Crime Agency last year warned of an increase in the use of refrigerated containers by smugglers. Meanwhile, about 200 people each month attempt to cross the English Channel in small boats. Police this morning said those found dead in the truck – which reportedly picked up a container arriving in Britain by ferry from Zeebrugge, Belgium – were Chinese nationals. Several refugees in UK media reports today described reaching the UK by similarly dangerous means. Charities have organized a vigil outside the UK Home Office in London this evening in memory of the 39 dead. |
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Venezuela exodus set to top 5 million as long-term needs grow. With roughly 5,000 people leaving the country each day, the exodus from Venezuela is expected to reach 5 million in the coming months, UN and EU officials said on Wednesday. Addressing a news conference in Geneva, Eduardo Stein, UNHCR and IOM's Joint Special Representative for Venezuelan refugees and migrants, said that even if the crisis in Venezuela were solved today, it would likely be at least two years before some 4.5 million people who have already fled the country would be ready to return. He added that a regional humanitarian response plan of US$739 million for this year is expected to nearly double for 2020. EFE reports from the border towns of La Parada and Villa del Rosario in Colombia, which has received the largest number of Venezuelans. Villa del Rosario's mayor said that the town's population had risen by 23 per cent in three months and that authorities were struggling to cope. He said those arriving in the town from Venezuela were increasingly poor and unable to move on to other parts of the country. |
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Worsening violence in Burkina Faso puts children's education on hold. Earlier this month, UNHCR warned that escalating armed violence in Burkina Faso had displaced nearly half a million people, including 267,000 since July. The New Humanitarian reports on the severe impact the crisis is having on the country's already weak education system, with more than 2,000 schools forced to close by the end of the last academic year and 330,000 children out of class, according to UNICEF. Some schools have been attacked or set alight by militants, while others are being used to shelter displaced families. The government and aid agencies are trying to reconstruct damaged schools and provide displaced children with learning materials and radio schooling, but their efforts are struggling to keep up with the need. |
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New high-level panel to focus on millions of internally displaced people. UN Secretary-General António Guterres on Wednesday announced the establishment of a high-level panel on internal displacement. He said it will focus on finding lasting solutions to the issue and increasing global awareness and support to more than 41 million people displaced by conflict and violence within their own countries by the end of 2018. The announcement coincided with the 10th anniversary of the adoption of the African Union Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons in Africa. Better known as the Kampala Convention, it is the first and only continent-wide, legally binding treaty to protect and assist internally displaced people. |
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A Paris colony for exiled artists needs a new home. L'Atelier des Artistes en Exile in Paris offers support and work spaces to 200 artists from around the world who have fled war, poverty and oppression. Volunteer French professors offer the artists free French lessons and lawyers give them free legal advice on obtaining asylum in France, while other volunteers teach acting and writing skills. But L'Atelier is being forced to vacate the government-owned building where it currently operates and has no idea where it will go next. The New York Times profiles some of the artists L'Atelier has helped. |
Syrian swimmer and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Yusra Mardini was one of 10 athletes who competed at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro as part of the first Refugee Olympic Team. Reflecting on the experience in this film, Yusra said it was "a great opportunity to represent millions around the world, to represent that those people are normal, and they have dreams". |
Some 415 people have died while making their way across Europe since early 2014. |
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