Migrants and Refugees

Two workers on a construction site in Pokhara, Nepal.
ILO/Marcel Crozet

FROM THE FIELD: Supporting Nepal’s migrants, as overseas work dries up

28 June 2020
Asia Pacific

Nepal is one most remittance-dependent countries in the world, with many Nepalese sending home around $8.79 billion from abroad. However, since the economic slowdown resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic, work for many of them has dried up. The UN is supporting efforts to manage the large-scale influx of returnee workers.

In Dera’a camp in Syria, young Palestinian refugees continue to study despite the disruption caused by the COVID-19 pandemic..
© UNRWA

UN agency assisting Palestinians working at ‘full capacity with inadequate resources’

23 June 2020
Middle East

Some 75 countries and non-governmental organizations have  pledged  $130 million in financial commitments to the UN agency that assists Palestinian refugees across the Middle East, UNRWA, following a  virtual conference on Tuesday,

Senegalese artists have painted murals in the capital, Dakar, to raise awareness about COVID-19.
Delphine Buysse

FROM THE FIELD: Painting the post-pandemic world in Senegal

22 June 2020
Africa

A group of mural artists in Senegal is painting its vision of how the world may look after the COVID-19 pandemic subsides, whilst providing important information about how, in the meantime, to stay safe from the deadly virus.

A Pride parade takes place in Marseille, France in 2018.
Unsplash/ Tristan Billet

FROM THE FIELD: The plight of refugees persecuted for their sexual orientation

21 June 2020
Global

Millions of people around the world are at risk because of their sexual orientation or sex characteristics. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, has underlined the fact that, under international law, they must be protected as refugees. 

Refugee athlete Ehsan Naghibzadeh (R) in action during the 2019 Taekwondo G4 Extra European Championship
IOC/ISABELLA BONOTTO

Refugee athletes stay focused on countdown to delayed Olympics

20 June 2020
Global

With the Tokyo Olympics delayed until 2021, UN News has spoken to two recipients of Refugee Athlete Scholarships, an initiative of the International Olympic Committee (IOC), and UN refugee agency (UNHCR), to find out how COVID-19 lockdown measures are affecting their preparations for the games.

Elderly women sit on a wall in Hranitne, eastern Ukraine's frontline community.
© UNICEF/Artem Getman

COVID-19: UN health agency warns of ‘new and dangerous phase’ as cases mount

19 June 2020
Global

The world is entering “a new and dangerous phase” of the COVID-19 pandemic, as infection rates continue to climb, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Friday.

A Rohingya refugee family sit in the doorway of their new monsoon-ready shelter in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh.
© UNHCR/Vincent Tremeau

World Refugee Day: End conflict that drives ‘appalling’ displacement numbers

19 June 2020
Global

UN Secretary-General António Guterres has reminded countries of their fundamental obligation to protect the nearly 80 million people worldwide forced to flee their homes due to conflict, persecution and other crises.

A woman holds her child in Balukhali refugee camp in Cox’s Bazar.
UN Women/Allison Joyce

World expects unity ‘where humanity is most wounded and trampled’, Grandi tells Security Council

18 June 2020

With nearly 80 million people now living in forced exile, the head of the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, urged the Security Council on Thursday to overcome its differences and start resolving conflicts so that refugees and internally displaced persons can finally return home.

A mother takes care of her baby inside a gymnasium that has been turned into a refugee settlement in Pintolandia, Brazil.
© UNHCR/Vincent Tremeau

UN refugee chief laments nearly 80 million people forcibly displaced

18 June 2020
Global

Global displacement reached a staggering 79.5 million people last year - almost double the number of people in crisis registered a decade ago – owing to war, violence, persecution and other emergencies, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Thursday.

A young girl strands in a tent in a settlement for displaced Syrians in the north of Idlib, in Syria.
© UNICEF/Omar Albam

Syrian refugees resort to ever more desperate measures to resist pandemic impact

16 June 2020
Europe
Middle East

The COVID-19 crisis has caused a dramatic spike in the number of Syrian refugees in need of emergency assistance in the last three months, UN humanitarians said on Tuesday, in an appeal for funding to confront new challenges posed by the health emergency.