Migrants and Refugees

A 21-year old mother travels alone with her three-month-old son from Venezuela. (File)
© UNICEF/UN0247683/Arcos

Tuesday’s Daily Brief: Venezuela-Colombia baby breakthrough, Italy piles on rescue boat pressure, States must combat hate, Kashmir rights latest and a musical plea to combat CAR hunger

6 August 2019

Tuesday’s main stories: Colombia offers nationality to born of Venezuelan parents; ‘€1 million’ fines for rescue boats; States must do more to stop hate attacks;  Egypt terror attack condemned by Security Council, UN chief; Kashmir developments risk people’s rights; and striking a chord for 1.8 million hungry Central Africans.

Each morning, around 5 am, hundreds of boys and girls cross the border from Venezuela to head to the buses that will take them to school in Cucuta, Colombia. (April 2019)
UNICEF/Arcos

Colombia offers nationality rights to Venezuelan children born there: UN hails ‘very important step’

6 August 2019
Americas

The UN migration agency, IOM, has welcomed Colombia’s decision on Monday to grant nationality status to more than 24,000 Venezuelan babies born inside the country after their parents fled across the border.

Rescued refugees and migrants disembark from a ship commissioned by a German non-governmental organization in the Sicilian port of Catania in January 2019.
© UNHCR/Alessio Mamo

‘€1 million’ fines for rescue boats prompts UN concern for future sea operations

6 August 2019
Europe

A move by Italian lawmakers to impose fines of up to €1 million on vessels and organizations carrying out search and rescue operations off the country’s coastline, sparked a new warning on Tuesday from the UN that the measure risks deterring future lifesaving efforts in the Mediterranean.