Global Refugee News
- More than 7000 flee to Western Chad to escape attacks on Baga, Nigeria. Read further.
- UN envoy calls for emergency education fund and urges the international community to do more to support crisis-hit countries. Read on here.
- Refugees in Kakuma refugee camp in Kenya are concerned about access to food, after the World Food Programme was forced to cut rations by 50% in November 2014. Full rations have since resumed, but new funding is needed to prevent the risk of cuts re-occurring. Read on.
- UNHCR staff have been working around the clock for the last few weeks to help millions of refugees and internally displaced people endure a severe winter storm that has been sweeping across much of the Middle East. Read more.
- Cambodia’s actions in the ongoing case of the Montagnards – a Christian ethnic minority from Vietnam suggests the country’s capacity and willingness to protect asylum seekers remains weak. Read more here.
- International Organisation for Migration staff in Italy report on the new ‘Ghost ship’ trend – a developing trend where smugglers use old, unsafe and large cargo ships which are then abandoned by their crews. Read more.
- South Korea has increased financial support this year for asylum seekers coming to the country. The government has approved a 510 million won (US$461,747) budget in 2015 to assist refugee entrants from overseas, 50 percent higher than the amount given out in 2014. Read more.
- Hundreds of demonstrators gathered in Negev in southern Israel to protest a new law designed to counter the influx of African migrants, which Israel calls ‘infiltrators’. The law allows the government to imprison asylum seekers and refugees for up to 20 months without trial. It is reportedly directed primarily at people fleeing Sudan and Eritrea. Read more.
- New restrictions to Syrian nationals’ access to Lebanon took effect on 5 January, requiring Syrians to obtain a visa in order to enter the country. Read on.
- Upsurge in Libya fighting triggers new displacement. Read further.
At Home
- Arrested protesters from the recent Manus Island hunger-strike face jail conditions until refugee status decided. Read more.
- ASIO recently quietly reversed an adverse security assessment for a group of seven refugees. Two of these men then had their clearances overturned with no reasoning provided. Read more.
- Melbourne baristas use crowd-funding to launch refugee-staffed café. Read more.
- Months after deal, no refugees choose Cambodia as new home. Read on.
- Asylum seeker advocates write to UN over indefinite detention at Darwin’s Wickham Point Centre. Read more.
- Committing a crime does not mean forfeiting all human rights for the future – Gillian Triggs comments on her findings in The Basikbasik case. Read further.
