Rescued migrants and refugees brought to Malta after long standoff. Eleven people who were stranded on a Spanish fishing boat for nine days after being rescued off the coast of Libya were finally allowed to disembark in Malta on Sunday evening. The Maltese government agreed to take them in amid worsening sea conditions but, in a statement, said they would be transferred to Spain after medical checks had been carried out. A young man among the group was flown to Malta by helicopter on Friday after he became seriously ill from dehydration. After Italy and Malta initially refused to let the vessel dock, Madrid had asked Libya to take charge of the migrants and refugees. UNHCR reiterated on Sunday evening that it does not consider Libya a safe place for disembarkation and welcomed the Maltese government’s decision. | | |
| ‘Extreme’ mental health suffering on Nauru, says MSF. A new report by Médecins Sans Frontières draws on medical data collected during the 11 months the medical charity was providing mental healthcare to refugees and locals on Nauru. Among the refugee and asylum-seeker patients MSF treated, 60 per cent had suicidal thoughts and 30 per cent had attempted suicide, including children as young as nine. Almost two thirds were diagnosed with moderate or severe depression. Today, independent MP Kerryn Phelps introduced a bill to the Australian parliament that, if passed, would allow for the medical evacuation of refugees and asylum-seekers from Nauru and Manus Island. Writing for the Sydney Morning Herald in support of the bill, UNHCR’s Catherine Stubberfield described the health crisis for refugees and asylum-seekers affected by Australia’s off-shore processing policy as “not a matter of politics, but of basic human treatment and decency.” | | |
| Sharp drop in commercial food imports reaching Yemen via Al-Hudaydah. The World Food Programme has warned that operations at the vital Red Sea port have dropped by nearly half over the past two weeks because of an escalation in fighting in the city that has deterred shipping companies. With 70 per cent of the country’s imports coming through Al-Hudaydah Port, the decrease in operations is expected to impact food stocks country-wide. “If this situation persists or further deteriorates, it will have a drastic impact on food availability and prices in the markets and make it increasingly difficult for Yemeni families to cover their basic needs,” said WFP’s Hervé Verhoosel. Reuters reports that UN-sponsored peace talks aimed at ending the nearly four-year-old conflict are expected to take place in Sweden this week. | | |
| Police in Calais step up refugee and migrant evictions, say charities. French police have stepped up efforts to clear makeshift camps around the French port, according a new report by the Calais-based Human Rights Observers and French group L’Auberge des Migrants. More than 393 camp evictions were carried out between November 2017 and November 2018, with the number steadily increasing over the year, finds the report. The repeated destruction of the camps has forced many of the refugees – mainly Afghan, Eritrean and Sudanese men – to sleep without shelter in woods or underneath bridges on the outskirts of Calais. The report also documents alleged violence and intimidation of refugees by French police. | | |
| Mexican city relocates migrants and asylum-seekers to new shelter. Following a week of torrential rains that flooded the sports complex where more than 6,000 Central Americans were sheltering, authorities in Tijuana relocated the migrants and asylum-seekers to a new shelter at a former concert venue over the weekend. Experts had expressed concerns about the unsanitary and over-crowded conditions at the sports complex. The Guardian reports that around 350 of the Central Americans have opted for voluntary return to their home. On Saturday, in one of his first acts in office, Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador signed an agreement with his counterparts in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, to establish a development plan aimed at stemming migration north. | | |
| Determined to get an education, Syrian refugee Alaa and his younger brother Ahmad, who were both born blind, have developed their own ways of overcoming obstacles to learning. With braille learning unavailable in the rural area of Lebanon where they live, Alaa used an old mobile phone handset to learn to write, while Alaa relies on his impressive memory to learn by heart. | | |
Violence in and around Yemen’s port city of Al-Hudaydah has forced over a third of schools to close. In the worst affected areas, only one in three students are able to continue their education.
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