Europe

Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples Victoria Tauli-Corpuz.
UN Photo/JC McIlwaine

Land, resource rights key to Sami people’s self-determination, says UN expert

31 August 2015
Securing rights over their land and natural resources is fundamental to the Sami people’s self-determination and a prerequisite for them to be able to continue to exist as a distinct people, an independent United Nations human rights expert said after a visit to the Nordic region.
A girl waits with her mother to get hygienic supplies after leaving their home near Donetsk airport, Ukraine, to escape shelling.
UNICEF Ukraine/Pavel Zmey

UN relief wing cites major access challenges in eastern Ukraine, where millions need supplies ahead of winter

30 August 2015
Sounding the alarm on behalf of relief agencies working to meet ongoing needs and jump-start critical preparations for winter in strife-riven eastern Ukraine, the United Nations humanitarian wing has reported that aid organizations are facing major challenges in getting access to the most vulnerable of an estimated 5 million people affected by the conflict that began in the region in April 2014.
Razor wire surrounds Debrecen centre for asylum-seekers in eastern Hungary. Parts of the centre are “open” but the facility also contains a unit for detaining asylum-seekers considered at risk of absconding. (file)
<a href="http://bit.ly/1CpfNiv">IRIN</a>

After bodies found in truck near Austrian border, Ban urges expansion of safe, legal channels of migration

28 August 2015
In the wake of the grim discovery of the bodies of more than 70 people inside a truck abandoned near Austria’s border with Hungary, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today urged the world to come together to provide comprehensive responses to migration issues, including tackling smugglers and resolving ongoing conflicts, among other root causes.
A group of Afghans arrive on the island of Lesbos after travelling in an inflatable raft from Turkey to Greece. Hundreds of thousands of refugees and migrants used the dangerous sea route across the Mediterranean in 2015.
UNHCR/A. McConnell

More than 300,000 make perilous Mediterranean crossing in 2015 – UN refugee agency

28 August 2015
The United Nations refugee agency said today that the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Europe has surpassed 300,000 this year, up from 219,000 during the whole of 2014.
High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres.
UN Photo/Jean-Marc Ferré

UN refugee agency chief urges Europe to formulate collective response to migrant crisis

26 August 2015
With the number of migrants fleeing to Europe the violence in their countries of origin continuing to increase, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, today urged the European Union to speed up the formulation of an adequate collective response to this unprecedented crisis.
Influx of refugees from FYR Macedonia to Serbia includes exhausted mothers with children resting in any kind of shade they can spot.
UNHCR/I.Szabó

UN sets up ‘child-friendly’ space at migrant rest area near former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia border

26 August 2015
Near Gevgelija, a southeast town bordering Greece, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has established a child-friendly space with a mobile team to support women and children fleeing violence in their home countries and moving through the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (right) meets with President François Hollande of France.
UN Photo/Evan Schneider

In France, Ban and President Hollande discuss global issues including upcoming Paris climate talks

25 August 2015
In Paris today, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon met with the President of France, François Hollande, with whom he discussed a range of issues, including the climate change conference, which is due to start in December (COP-21) in the French capital, as well as the next steps to be taken to ensure an ambitious outcome.
Dozens of refugees arrived in Greece by sea in July 2015, mainly from countries experiencing war and conflict.
UNHCR/J. Akkash

Europe’s response to migrant crisis is not working, warns UN rights expert

25 August 2015
The European Union should establish a human rights-based, coherent and comprehensive migration policy which makes mobility its central asset, a United Nations expert today advocated, assuring is the only way in which the EU can reclaim its border, effectively combat smuggling and empower migrants.
A young Syrian refugee carries his brother across the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), near Eidomeni, Greece, in June 2015.
UNHCR/A. McConnell

After weekend ‘chaos,’ UN assists refugees at former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece border

24 August 2015
The United Nations refugee agency is assisting refugees and migrants amid chaotic scenes over the weekend as thousands of people tried to cross into the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) from the Greek border.
A young Syrian refugee carries his brother across the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), near Eidomeni, Greece, in June 2015.
UNHCR/A. McConnell

UN refugee agency concerned by violence at border of former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Greece

21 August 2015
The United Nations refugee agency is concerned about the increasingly precarious situation at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), where force was used earlier today to prevent people from crossing.