Migrants and Refugees

UNICEF/Arcos

Record number of Venezuelans arrive in Peru: UN steps up response

16 June 2019
Americas

The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has sent extra teams this week to the border between Peru and Ecuador to support the authorities, as an unprecedent number of Venezuelan refugees and migrants – over 15,000 – have entered Peru this week.

IFAD/Christine Nesbitt

Remittances matter: 8 facts you don’t know about the money migrants send back home

15 June 2019
Global

This Sunday marks the second International Day of Family Remittances, observed every year on 16 June, in recognition of the fundamental contribution of migrant workers to their families and communities back home.

© UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jarami

Thursday’s Daily Brief: Albinism, displacement in Central America, family-friendly nations, updates on the Gulf and Darfur

13 June 2019
Global

This Thursday, top stories includes: International Albinism Awareness Day; the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, appealing for regional talks on Central America forced displacement; updates on the latest attack on oil tankers in the Gulf and on recent clashes in Darfur; and a new report by UNICEF on the best and worst "family-friendly" nations.

IOM/Amanda Nero

Tragedy of Mediterranean deaths continues, as seven drown, 57 rescued: UN migration agency

11 June 2019
Europe

A rescue operation on the Mediterranean concluded on Tuesday with confirmation that seven people drowned and 57 were rescued, following a shipwreck off the Greek island of Lesvos, the UN migration agency, IOM, said.

© UNICEF/UN052682/Romenzi

Libya’s migrants and refugees with tuberculosis ‘left to die’ in detention centres

7 June 2019
Africa

Migrants and refugees suffering from tuberculosis are being left “effectively to die” in a Libyan detention centre south of Tripoli, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Friday, citing reports that those returned to shore by the coastguard have been disappeared or sold to traffickers.

© UNHCR/Santiago Escobar-Jarami

Four million have now fled Venezuela, UN ramps up aid to children who remain

7 June 2019
Americas

The number of people who have left Venezuela to escape the country’s ongoing political and economic crisis, has reached some four million, the UN announced on Friday.

UNICEF/Watad

Vital food crops destroyed in Syria amid upsurge in fighting across Idlib, Hama

4 June 2019
Middle East

Thousands of acres of crops have been destroyed in Syria’s Idlib and north Hama provinces amid ongoing deadly violence, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Tuesday, in a call to the warring parties to stop using food security to hold people “hostage”.

UN Sri Lanka

Asylum seekers in Sri Lanka fear for their safety, in wake of Easter Sunday terror attacks

31 May 2019
Asia Pacific

Since the suicide bombings in Sri Lanka on April 21, there have been concerns for the safety of refugees and asylum seekers living in the country: in the immediate aftermath, there were reports of refugees being targeted and forced from their homes by angry mobs threatening reprisals for the Easter Sunday attacks which targeted Christian churches, as well as upscale hotels.

© UNHCR/Hélène Caux

Tuesday’s Daily Brief: violence surges in Nigeria, anti-Semitism on the march, taxing pollution to tackle climate crisis, and more

28 May 2019
Global

Tuesday’s main stories include: thousands fleeing into Niger as violence surges in Nigeria; UN rights office condemns rise in anti-Semitic incidents; UN chief says tax pollution, not people for climate’s sake; North Koreans trapped in vicious cycle of corruption and bribery; Ebola latest from DR Congo.

UN Vienna/Nikoleta Haffar

Social, cultural diversity ‘an enormous richness, not a threat’ Guterres declares calling on investment for a harmonious future

27 May 2019

Like a well-tuned orchestra, successful modern societies have a balance of diversity and culture, that is a source of “enormous richness, not a threat” said the UN chief on Monday, speaking alongside UN Messenger of Peace, acclaimed cellist Yo-Yo Ma in the Austrian capital, Vienna.