Indonesian protesters storm refugee shelter calling for deportation of Rohingya
Banda Aceh, IndonesiaReuters A large crowd of Indonesian students stormed a convention centre housing hundreds of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar in the city of Banda Aceh on Wednesday, demanding they be deported, Reuters footage showed. A city police spokesperson in Banda Aceh did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Two suspects, a Bangladesh […]
UN foresees more displacement because of Gaza conflict
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The United Nations refugee chief warned that the Gaza conflict could spur more displacement in the wider region as UN officials, politicians and aid groups gathered in Geneva on Wednesday to seek solutions to a global displacement crisis. A record 114 million people around the world have been driven from their homes, including […]
UN refugee chief urges Western states to deter migrants from dangerous routes
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters Western states should enact policies to prevent asylum seekers embarking on dangerous routes, the UN refugee chief said on Thursday, as the number of migrants through the Darien Gap this year tops half a million people. Conflicts, poverty and climate change have driven a record 114 million people from their homes around the […]
Some migrants are swapping their American dream for a Mexican one
Saltillo, MexicoReuters On a recent factory shift in the northern Mexican city of Saltillo, Honduran refugee Walter Banegas extracted a steaming-hot piece of molded metal destined for a street lamp from a die-casting machine. Banegas, 28, said he first fled to the US as a teenager to avoid being recruited by a powerful drug gang, […]
Forced to start again: Forced out of Pakistan, Afghan waste pickers count their losses
Pakistan’s push to deport undocumented migrants has turned life upside down for thousands of Afghan garbage collectors. ZOFEEN T EBRAHIM, of Thomson Reuters Foundation, reports…
Hundreds of Rohingya come ashore in Indonesia, joining about 1,000 this week
Jakarta, Indonesia Reuters More than 200 ethnic Rohingya came ashore in Indonesia’s Aceh province late on Tuesday, taking total arrivals of members of the Myanmar Muslim minority to more than 1,000 for the week, a leader of the province’s fishing community said. During November to April, when the seas are calmer, many members of the […]
UN agency urges Pakistan to halt expelling Afghans during winter
Islamabad, PakistanReuters The UN refugee agency on Wednesday urged Pakistan to halt deportation of undocumented Afghan refugees during the harsh winter season, as police continued to search homes and expel Afghanis who had not already left. Islamabad last month announced it would expel over a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul […]
Deportation drive sparks “sense of panic” among Afghan refugees in Pakistan: UNHCR
Karachi, PakistanReuters The UN refugee agency on Tuesday expressed concern over widespread distress in large Afghan refugee communities across Pakistan where authorities are conducting searches to round up and expel undocumented foreigners. Islamabad last month announced it would expel over a million undocumented refugees, mostly Afghans, amid a row with Kabul over charges it harbours […]
UN warns of unprecedented refugee challenge as West tightens borders
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The UN refugee agency is facing one of the most difficult moments in its more than 70-year history as record displacements coincide with funding shortfalls and a “short-sighted” focus on border controls, its chief said on Monday. Conflicts from Ukraine to Sudan have contributed to the displacement of some 110 million people around […]
UN refugee agency: wave of migrants must be moved off island of Lampedusa
Geneva, SwitzerlandReuters The United Nations refugee agency on Friday said it was imperative that the thousands of migrants who have arrived in recent days on the Italian island of Lampedusa be relocated because of its limited resources. Around 7,000 migrants arrived on the shore of the small island in a two-day period, prompting pleas for […]