UN Refugee Agency

Never Underestimate the Grit of Malawians to Survive the Coronavirus

May 25, 2020

LILONGWE, Malawi — Ever since an expatriate tourism adviser labeled Malawi the “warm heart of Africa” in the 1970s, Malawians have worn the title proudly, sparing no effort to welcome visitors with open arms. My family and I felt immediately at home here in Lilongwe, the capital. We arrived in April 2018, as part …

Africa, Covid-19

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COVID-19

Quarantined and Stalked by Covid-19, UN Field Staff Live With Fear and Anxiety

May 11, 2020

by Barbara Crossette

Far from United Nations headquarters in New York and its offices in other cities around the world, many thousands of UN staff members are adjusting to new, more disturbing and dangerous realities in the era of Covid-19. Daily life is taking a psychological toll in both humanitarian and peacekeeping operations, prompting more focus on …

Africa, Covid-19

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With Trump’s Human-Rights Policies, Religious ‘Values’ Take Priority

June 7, 2018

by Barbara Crossette

For almost three centuries, through street protests, court battles and a civil war, the United States has sporadically but steadily advanced and expanded human-rights protections and commitments in domestic and foreign policies. Now Donald Trump and the most conservative, ideologically driven officials on his team want to turn back this record in fundamental ways, …

Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Human Rights, US Foreign Relations, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

Brazil Can Lead the Way on Managing the World’s Refugee Crisis

June 5, 2018

by Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Maiara Folly

RIO DE JANEIRO — Only weeks from the start of the 2018 World Cup, soccer teams of refugees from Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria, Angola, Burkina Faso and Gambia who had migrated to Brazil became the protagonists in a recent soccer competition: the Multicultural Cup, organized by Instituto Adus, a nongovernmental …

Migration, Refugees, US-UN Relations, WORLDVIEWS

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Master of Science in Humanitarian Studies at Fordham University

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Refugee Health: A Defining Issue of the Century

May 11, 2017

by Barbara Crossette

In mid-2016, the United Nations refugee agency and Ugandan officials made a horrific discovery. Cholera was being introduced in a migrant settlement by refugees from South Sudan who were fleeing the extreme violence in their imploding country. In barely six weeks, beginning last July, 80,000 South Sudanese had arrived in Uganda when the outbreak …

Health and Population, Migration, Myanmar, Refugees, Take a Look, US-UN Relations

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WORLDVIEWS

The UN Should Just Say No to Returning Refugees to Danger

February 27, 2017

by Bill Frelick

Pressure is building on Afghan and Somali refugees to go home, even if they no longer have homes to return to. It is not surprising that this pressure is coming from governments that have been hosting huge numbers of refugees and want to end what seems to them like a never-ending burden. What is …

Human Rights, Migration, Refugees, WORLDVIEWS

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Fleeing Violence, Syrian Women Try to Cope in Turkey and Lebanon

April 6, 2016

by Johanna Higgs and Liga Rudzite

GAZIANTEP, Turkey — Amima and Fatima Jebari are Syrian sisters who fled last year to the southern Turkish city of Gaziantep, near the Syrian border, after the Free Syrian Army entered their village in the north, they said, and violence ensued between the rebel group and the government forces of Bashar al-Assad in the …

Gender-Based Violence, Human Rights, Middle East, Refugees, Syria, Women

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In UN Refugee Camps, Sports Soothe Trauma for Children

January 27, 2016

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

“Sport is the only area of human existence that has achieved universal law,” said Thomas Bach, the president of the International Olympic Committee when he announced that elite athletes who were refugees could compete in the 2016 Olympics under that flag. “Regardless of where in the world we practice sport, the rules are the …

Education, Gender-Based Violence, Health and Population, Refugees

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GOINGS-ON

Filippo Grandi of Italy to Lead the UN Refugee Agency Amid Continued Crisis

November 11, 2015

by Dulcie Leimbach

Filippo Grandi of Italy has been selected by Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary-general, to become the 11th UN High Commissioner for Refugees, a post based in Geneva. Grandi will be officially voted into office by the UN General Assembly next week. Grandi replaces António Guterres of Portugal, 66, who has been high commissioner …

GOINGS-ON

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In New York State, a City Willing to Settle Refugees the Right Way

October 20, 2015

by Laura E. Kirkpatrick

BUFFALO — Inside this city’s West Side Bazaar, a business development incubator set up to assist refugees and immigrants here, colors dazzle and appetizing aromas waft around every corner. The bazaar is a packed mashup of a Middle Eastern souk with an outdoor market of Southern Asia. Vendors and aspiring restaurateurs from some of …

Migration, Refugees, Women

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In Italy, a Patchwork of Services for Migrants Arriving at Its Shores [Video]

August 5, 2015

by Maria Luisa Gambale

ROME — Italy is a slender peninsula ringed by 4,722 miles of coastline, a blessing that brings thousands of Italians to the sea each August for Ferragosto, the country’s summer vacation period. The coastline — one of the longest in the world — has also been attracting boats full of refugees and migrants, in …

Africa, Libya, Migration, Refugees

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

October 2, 2014

by Yermi Brenner

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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A Tenuous Life for Malian Refugees in the Desert

June 11, 2012

by Joe Penney

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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Refugees Settling in the US Reaches 3 Million Mark

February 27, 2012

by Barbara Crossette

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

November 21, 2011

by Barbara Crossette

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 …

Africa, Refugees

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UN Refugee Agency

Never Underestimate the Grit of Malawians to Survive the Coronavirus

Quarantined and Stalked by Covid-19, UN Field Staff Live With Fear and Anxiety

With Trump’s Human-Rights Policies, Religious ‘Values’ Take Priority

Brazil Can Lead the Way on Managing the World’s Refugee Crisis

Refugee Health: A Defining Issue of the Century

The UN Should Just Say No to Returning Refugees to Danger

Fleeing Violence, Syrian Women Try to Cope in Turkey and Lebanon

In UN Refugee Camps, Sports Soothe Trauma for Children

Filippo Grandi of Italy to Lead the UN Refugee Agency Amid Continued Crisis

In New York State, a City Willing to Settle Refugees the Right Way

In Italy, a Patchwork of Services for Migrants Arriving at Its Shores [Video]

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

A Tenuous Life for Malian Refugees in the Desert

Refugees Settling in the US Reaches 3 Million Mark

More Refugees Flee the Horn of Africa for Yemen

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