Migrants and Refugees

Alexis Tsipras, Prime Minister of Greece addresses the general debate of the General Assembly’s seventy-third session.
UN Photo/Kim Haughton

‘Not in my backyard’ attitude will not resolve crises – Greek Prime Minister

28 September 2018
Europe

Recalling the challenges confronting Greece not so long ago, and the calls at the time from various quarters urging unilateral steps and disengagement with the international community, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras underscored at the United Nations on Friday the importance of collective action and wisdom to overcome complex problems.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh addresses the seventy-third session of the United Nations General Assembly.
UN Photo/Cia Pak

Bangladesh ‘disappointed’ at lack of progress in alleviating plight of Rohingya, Prime Minister tells UN Assembly

27 September 2018
Asia Pacific

The world cannot ignore or remain silent over the plight of the Rohingya people – driven from their homes in Myanmar and sheltering in Bangladesh – Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina told the United Nations General Assembly on Thursday, urging world leaders for an early and peaceful solution to the massive refugee crisis.

The Italian Navy rescues migrants in the Mediterranean Sea.
Italian Coastguard/Massimo Sestini

Major increase in Europe’s refugee and migrant death rate: UNHCR

4 September 2018

The number of refugees and migrants reaching the European continent is going down, but the rate of fatalities has gone up dramatically, according to a new report from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR

Students using tablets from the Instant Network Schools (INS) project in Kakuma Refugee Camp in Kenya.
UNHCR/Catherine Wachiaya

Half the world’s refugee children not in school, UN agency finds

29 August 2018
Global

With more and more children forced to leave their homes, over half of the world’s school-aged refugees are now out of education, the United Nations refugee agency said in a new report released on Wednesday.

Miroslav Lajčák, President of the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly (l), stands with ambassadors Juan José Gómez Camacho of Mexico (c) and Jürg Lauber of Switzerland (r), co-facilitators of negotiations on the global compact for safe, orderly and regular migration, at UN Headquarters in New York, 13 July 2018.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

‘Historic moment’ for people on the move, as UN agrees first-ever Global Compact on migration

13 July 2018
Global

For the first time ever, United Nations Member States have agreed an all-encompassing Global Compact to better manage international migration, address its challenges, strengthen migrant rights and contribute to sustainable development. 

Louise Arbour, Special Representative of the Secretary-General for International Migration.
UN Photo/Mark Garten

Safe and orderly migration is ‘in everybody’s interest’, says senior UN official

12 July 2018
Global

International migration “has been with us forever”, and a safe and orderly means of facilitating it is “in everybody’s interest”, said a UN envoy.

Secretary-General António Guterres (2nd right), World Bank Group President Jim Yong Kim (center), UNFPA Executive Director Natalia Kanem (right) and UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi (left) interact with Rohingya refugees in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.
UNFPA Bangladesh/Allison Joyce

UN chief hears ‘heartbreaking accounts’ of suffering from Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh; urges international community to ‘step up support’

2 July 2018
Asia Pacific

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres visited Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh on Monday, declaring that “nothing could have prepared me for the scale of the crisis and extent of suffering” he witnessed there.

Eduardo, 31, with his daughter Sara at his house in Chiapas, Mexico. Eduardo together with his wife and four daughters, escaped increasing gang violence from El Salvador and have been recognized as refugees in Mexico.
UNHCR/Markel Redondo

US migrant children policy reversal, still ‘fails’ thousands of detained youngsters: UN rights experts

22 June 2018
Americas

The United States government decision to end its border policy of forcibly separating migrant children from their parents, does not help thousands of youngsters already in detention, who should be released and reunited with their families, a group of UN rights experts said on Friday.

Women and children wait for aid in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh, where one million Rohingya refugees now live.
Olivia Headon/IOM

UN chief calls for ‘solidarity, compassion and action’ on World Refugee Day

20 June 2018
Global

With more than 68 million people worldwide displaced due to conflict or persecution — roughly equivalent to the population of Thailand— the head of the United Nations has called for unity and solidarity as a first step to support them.

A Rohingya woman crosses the border from Myanmar into Bangladesh near the village of Anzuman Para in Palong Khali.
UNHCR/Roger Arnold

UN mobilizes in Rohingya camps to support babies born of rape; young mothers face stigma

19 June 2018
Asia Pacific

Despite challenges brought on by the arrival of the monsoon season this month, United Nations agencies in Bangladesh continue to support nearly one million Rohingya refugees, including thousands of victims of sexual violence.