migrants

Djibouti is a favoured destination for migrants and refugees from countries in the region, notably Ethiopia, Eritrea, and Somalia.
OIM/Alexander Bee

Violence against smuggled migrants widespread, but justice is lacking: UN report

28 June 2021
Migrants and Refugees

Migrants smuggled across borders are often subjected to extreme violence, torture, rape and kidnapping, whether in transit or in captivity, but authorities take little action to address these offences, the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said in a report published on Monday. 

Many migrants have lost their lives trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe on board flimsy boats. Pictured here a group of migrants at sea. (file photo)
UNICEF/Alessio Romenzi

Italy failed to rescue over 200 migrants in 2013 Mediterranean disaster, UN rights body finds

27 January 2021
Human Rights

A UN rights committee said on Wednesday that Italy failed in its international obligations to protect the right to life of more than 200 migrants on board a vessel that sank in the Mediterranean Sea, in 2013. 

A 33-year-old man from Afghanistan, pictured with his family on the Greek island of Lesvos, is hoping to be relocated to Germany.
© UNICEF/Canaj Magnum Photos

The virus that shut down the world: The plight of refugees and migrants

29 December 2020
Migrants and Refugees

In part four of our review of the global impact of COVID-19, UN News considers the new challenges faced by refugees and migrants during 2020; from a heightened risk of catching the COVID-19 virus in crowded camps, to being stranded due to travel restrictions, and becoming the targets of criminal gangs.

A migrant at what remains of the Lipa Emergency Tent Camp in northern Bosnia and Herzegovina, after it was destroyed in a fire.
IOM 2020/Ervin Causevic

Bosnia and Herzegovina: Migrant lives at ‘immediate risk’, warn UN agencies

28 December 2020
Migrants and Refugees

United Nations agencies and humanitarian partners have called on authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to act urgently to help hundreds of migrants, stranded and without shelter, amid freezing winter temperatures. 

Women migrant workers at a ceramics factory in northern Thailand. As part of the labour force, migrant workers support local businesses and also communities back home.
UN Women/Pornvit Visitoran

Integral to societies, migrants are central to COVID-19 recovery: Guterres

18 December 2020
Migrants and Refugees

The UN marks International Migrants Day on Friday, highlighting their essential contribution to societies everywhere, and underlining migrants' central role in recovery from the coronavirus pandemic. 

Displacement sites across Yemen continue to see an increased number of people of people seeking refuge from violence.
IOM/Olivia Headon

FROM THE FIELD: Protecting the displaced in the time of COVID-19

7 May 2020
Health

Refugees and displaced people living in camps are amongst the most vulnerable communities across the world and more likely to catch COVID-19 than others, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Two teenage brothers from Gambia who travelled across the Mediterranean Sea without their parents walk along a beach in Italy in 2016.
© UNICEF/Ashley Gilbertson

Monday’s Daily Brief: Online hate, gender equality in Africa, Chile protests, African migrants in Europe, Security Council in South Sudan

21 October 2019
Human Rights

A recap of Monday’s main stories: companies ‘failing’ to address offline harm incited by online hate; gender equality ‘precursor’ to sustaining peace; UN rights chief urges ‘immediate dialogue’ to resolve Chile crisis; African migrants would make perilous Europe journey again; Security Council visits South Sudan. 

Photo: UNHCR/V. Tan
UNHCR/V. Tan

UN rights chief ‘appalled’ by US border detention conditions, says holding migrant children may violate international law

8 July 2019
Migrants and Refugees

Conditions in which migrants and refugees are being held in the United States are appalling, said the UN human rights chief on Monday, underscoring that children should never be held in immigration detention, or separated from their families.

An 11-year-old boy finds relief from the summer heat by playing in a fountain in a historic part of the city of Samarkand, Uzbekistan. (file)
UNICEF/Pirozzi

Friday’s Daily Brief: More climate action says Guterres, migrant children dangers, Ebola fight, record-setting weather

28 June 2019
Climate and Environment

This Friday, we cover: UN chief appeals for stronger climate action commitment; report on migrant children deaths and disappearances; Ebola fight in DR Congo as violence goes on; and global over-heating. 

Children at a school tent in the northern Idlib, Syria. Humanitarian emergencies deprive children of health, nutrition, water and sanitation, education and other basic needs.
© UNICEF/UN0248372/Watad

Thursday’s Daily Brief: dire living conditions in Idlib, migrants at US southern border, end in sight for trachoma, Human Rights Council

27 June 2019
Humanitarian Aid

This Thursday, we cover: the dire humanitarian situation in Syria’s Idlib; living conditions at the US-Mexico border denounced by the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF); trachoma-related blindness on the verge of being eliminated; and updates from the Human Rights Council in Geneva.