European authorities are “struggling” to meet the needs of irregular migrants and refugees who are wrongly accused of spreading sickness among host communities, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday, at the launch of its first report on the subject.
The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR), on the last day of 2018, called on UN Member States to urgently offer safe ports of disembarkation for 49 refugees and migrants, including young children, aboard rescue vessels in the Mediterranean Sea.
The terms ‘refugee’ and ‘migrant’ have been used interchangeably to describe the millions of people worldwide that are either fleeing conflict or seeking better living conditions. As the United Nations sets out to secure global compacts to better protect them, it’s critical to understand the differences between the two.
If countries help educate incoming migrants and refugees, they will no longer be viewed as a problem, but a valuable resource, said a 20-year-old from Côte d’Ivoire, speaking on behalf of young people, ahead of the adoption of the new UN Global Compact for Migration in Marrakech, Morocco. Kader Diabate made the voyage alone to Italy on one of the world’s most dangerous routes – through Niger and Libya, and across the Mediterranean Sea. He spoke to UN News’s Mustafa Al Gamal about his extraordinary journey.
Denouncing the dangers faced by migrants and asylum seekers in Libya, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) called on Friday for an end to their detention and advised those intercepting or rescuing them at sea against returning them to a country where they face “squalid conditions”.
Responding to United States President Donald Trump’s proclamation which would deny political asylum to migrants crossing illegally into the country, the UN refugee agency UNHCR, released a statement on Friday saying that the US must abide by international refugee protection accords.
Mental health, “is not about how the brain works, it’s about relationships.” That’s one observation from UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Dainius Pūras, detailing the psychological effects of lacking family unity for children separated from their migrant parents. Mr. Pūras spoke with UN News's Natalie Hutchison.
A “pervasive sense of helplessness and hopelessness” exists among those held in Australia’s offshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guinea, which has worsened in recent months, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) warned on Friday. In an appeal to the Australian Government to evacuate the more than 1,400 asylum-seekers and migrants there, UNHCR spokesperson Catherine Stubberfield told UN News that some children have become “semi-catatonic” and need urgent help.