Refugees

The Controversial Cambodian-Australian Refugee Deal Hits Snags

• April 21, 2015

PHNOM PENH — A controversial $40 million deal signed between the Australian and Cambodian governments last September to resettle about 1,000 refugees from detention centers on the South Pacific island nation of Nauru to Cambodia was the first time two ratifying states of the 1951 United Nations Convention on Refugees agreed to transfer their …

Asia, Human Rights, Myanmar, Refugees, UN Agencies

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Mostly, Sahrawi Women Just Want to Go Home

Johanna Higgs

• March 5, 2015

NEAR TINDOUF, Algeria — Our goal was to understand the dynamics of women who live in the refugee camps here in the Sahara Desert, where tens of thousands of Sahrawi people reside in tents and mud-brick buildings, having fled their homeland up to decades ago. The camps originated in 1975-1976, when the Sahrawis first …

Africa, Refugees, Security Council, UN Peacekeeping, Women

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Asylum Seekers Knocking at Sweden’s Door Test Its History of Warm Welcome

Alexander Brotman

• October 10, 2014

Far from the first point of entry into Europe for asylum seekers, Sweden has emerged as one of the most generous nations in the European Union, offering to take in high numbers of migrants when other nations have been reluctant to do so. Sweden, with a population of just under 10 million, received 54,300 …

Migration, Refugees

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Women Refugees in Germany Demand Better Conditions, and the Government Responds

Yermi Brenner

• October 2, 2014

BERLIN, Germany — António Guterres, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, recently praised Germany’s asylum policy, calling it a “positive example for other European states to follow.” In the streets of Berlin, however, the situation appears to be far from positive. In the last few months, the German capital has experienced several high-profile demonstrations …

Migration, Refugees, Women

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As Africa’s Population Growth Explodes, Its Children Lose Out

Barbara Crossette

• September 9, 2014

Among a clutch of new studies surveying the fate of children globally in 2014, a year that may be remembered as the most violent and catastrophic in more than half a century, Unicef has looked into the future of Africa and found that an unexpectedly persistent population boom is not only robbing children of …

Governance, Health and Population, Refugees

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The Syrian Refugee Crisis Poses Ethical Questions for the UN and Others

Alexander Brotman

• July 28, 2014

Since the outbreak of the Syrian civil war in 2011, 2.9 million people have fled the country to refugee camps in Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and beyond. This has not only destabilized many Middle Eastern countries, but it has also caused continuous public debates inside nongovernmental organizations and the United Nations over what the …

Middle East, Refugees

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What Good Can a Film Do?

Maria Luisa Gambale

• June 30, 2014

ISTANBUL — In 2013, Daniela Kon founded the Social Impact Media Awards to give a boost to a certain kind of documentary film. Documentaries don’t usually make a lot of money. Except for a few lucky theatrical or television releases each year that manage to do more than break even, most documentary films are …

Asia, Human Rights, Poverty, Refugees

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Children Trapped in Syria Suffering From the War

Lorraine Boissoneault

• May 8, 2013

As the Syrian government increasingly resorts to using heavy armaments and long-distance aircraft — and possibly chemical weapons — to attack the opposition movement and other enemies, the risk of children being killed or maimed in the fighting has risen sharply, says the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for …

Human Rights, Middle East, Refugees, Security Council

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Western Sahara: A Chance for Change or to Stay Stuck in Time

Dulcie Leimbach

• April 10, 2013

The saga of Western Sahara, a disputed territory that has been stuck in limbo in North Africa for decades, will receive its annual nod this month by the United Nations Security Council, but this time actual changes may be afoot if the council acts more decisively, particularly on human-rights matters. Christopher Ross, the UN …

Africa, Human Rights, Peace and Security, Refugees, Security Council

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Malian Refugees Want to Return Home, but Conditions May Be Unsafe

Lorraine Boissoneault

• January 31, 2013

The United Nations is expecting a fresh humanitarian upheaval in Mali as people who have been living since last spring in refugee camps in neighboring nations in West Africa or who relocated to the capital, Bamako, start streaming back to their homes in the north of the country. Nearly 380,000 Malians fled to camps …

Africa, Refugees

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Nursing Fellow Burmese in Thailand Against Many Odds

Tala Dowlatshahi

• June 21, 2012

GENEVA — Dr. Cynthia Maung doesn’t care that much about the high-level Rio+20 United Nations conference on sustainability this week. And it doesn’t matter to her that the country she lives in, Thailand, is advancing a green agenda. Dr. Maung, a general practitioner, prefers to see action on the ground to help the refugee …

Asia, Human Rights, Refugees

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A Tenuous Life for Malian Refugees in the Desert

Joe Penney

• June 11, 2012

MBERA REFUGEE CAMP, Mauritania — One major fallout from the eruptions that began between Tuareg rebels in northern Mali and government troops last winter— spurred by NATO’s war in Libya, which sent thousands of Tuaregs back home to Mali with Libyan military weapons — was not only a coup d’état but also an influx …

Africa, Refugees

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A Transition in Sight for Mali

Joe Penney

• April 9, 2012

BAMAKO, Mali — The junta that upended the country here on March 22 has agreed to hand over power to Dioncounda Traore, the president of the National Assembly, in the next few days. Mali was set to hold a presidential election on April 29 before a junior military officer and his entourage ousted the …

Africa, Refugees

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Refugees Settling in the US Reaches 3 Million Mark

Barbara Crossette

• February 27, 2012

Since 1975, three million refugees have settled in the United States, the world’s largest recipient of distressed or endangered people seeking permanent new homes. The US is also the largest financial contributor to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, say new figures from the State Department and the UN refugee agency. Canada and the …

Refugees, US-UN Relations

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More Refugees Flee the Horn of Africa for Yemen

Barbara Crossette

• November 21, 2011

In the Horn of Africa, where drought and political violence have already cost thousands of lives this year, desperate people are turning to the sea to escape intolerable conditions all around them. They are landing by the thousands in the dangerous chaos of Yemen. In October alone, more than 12,000 people, mostly from Somalia …