Migrants and Refugees

A woman views an exhibition of portraits of domestic workers on their day off on International Domestic Workers Day in Qatar.
ILO/Hisham Ashraf

Pandemic poses fresh challenges for vulnerable migrant workers in Middle East

10 August 2020
Middle East

Amidst reports that many migrant workers in the Middle East are being made destitute, due to an economic crisis exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN is calling on governments and employers to respect their rights, and show solidarity with their plight.

Women migrant workers in a ceramics factory in Chiang Mai, northern Thailand.
UN Women/Pornvit Visitoran

New guidance for protecting migrant workers during the coronavirus pandemic

10 August 2020
Global

As migrant workers continue to be on the front lines of the collective response to COVID-19, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) are releasing new employer guidance for measures to protect them.

The only survivor among passengers on a boat adrift off the West African coast is transported to an ambulance in Nouadhibou, Mauritania.
© UNHCR/Komi Mensah

Countries urged to target smugglers after 27 migrants die at sea

7 August 2020
Africa

Two UN agencies are calling for greater action to dismantle smuggling and trafficking networks following the deaths of 27 migrants off the coast of Mauritania, northwest Africa.

An internally displaced family lives in a damaged school in the town of Binish in Idlib, Syria.
© UNOCHA

‘Heed the calls’ for ceasefire in north-western Syria – UN

4 August 2020

The United Nations expressed concern on Tuesday for the safety and protection of more than four million civilians in north-western Syria, which has been hit with aerial bombardments over the past few days.

Yiech Pur Biel has been named as a UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador.
© UNHCR/Tobin Jones

South Sudan refugee, athlete, Olympian is newest UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador

4 August 2020
Global

A track and field athlete from South Sudan who was forced to flee conflict as a child was on Tuesday named a Goodwill Ambassador for the UN refugee agency, UNHCR.

Conflict over many years has driven hundreds of thousands of people from their homes in north-east Cameroon.
UN Photo/Eskinder Debebe

UN censures ‘heinous attacks’ in Lake Chad Basin

4 August 2020
Africa

The Secretary-General strongly condemned “heinous attacks” against civilians in the Lake Chad Basin, a UN spokesperson said on Monday.

Migrants crossing the Mediterranean Sea are rescued by a Belgian ship (file photo).
Frontex/Francesco Malavolta

Thousands suffer extreme rights abuses journeying to Africa’s Mediterranean coast, say humanitarians

29 July 2020
Africa

Thousands of refugees and migrants in eastern and western Africa, are dying while others face harrowing abuse in their attempts to reach the continent’s Mediterranean coast in search of a better life, a joint UN/Danish Refugee Council report said on Wednesday.

Chechen children play outside at a centre for asylum-seekers in Horbów, eastern Poland.
© UNHCR/Rafal Kostrzynski

Protect people ‘fleeing war, violence’, UN refugee agency urges Poland 

24 July 2020
Europe

The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Friday encouraged Poland to fall in line with its international obligations, and allow asylum seekers access. 

A displaced woman stands in the doorway of her shelter with her young children in Ibb city, Yemen.
IOM/Olivia Headon

COVID-19 scapegoating triggers fresh displacement in Yemen, warns migration agency

21 July 2020

COVID-19 fears have prompted fresh displacement in war-torn Yemen, and forced many of those on the move to sell what little they have to survive, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday.

Two refugee boys in a classroom at a reception centre in Kos, Greece.
© UNHCR/Socrates Baltagiannis

COVID-19: UN and partners work to ensure learning never stops for young refugees

13 July 2020
Global

Global advocates for refugees are pushing to ensure the COVID-19 pandemic does not derail efforts for displaced children and young people to continue learning and eventually return to a real classroom.