Articles

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the key role that migrant workers play in the global economy, as well as the “terrible risks” that they are forced to take, to find work. The analysis featured on the Global Migration Data Portal, provides snapshots of the latest statistics and trends, including the impacts of COVID-19 on mobility. For example, remittances made up more than 25 per cent of total GDP last year in El Salvador, Lebanon, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Tonga. “The availability...

Today, more people than ever live in a country other than the one where they were born. While many individuals migrate out of choice, many others leave home out of necessity. Approximately 281 million people were international migrants in 2020, representing 3.6 per cent of the global population. In his message, António Guterres said those on the move “continue to face widespread stigmatization, inequalities, xenophobia, and racism.” “Migrant women and girls face heightened risk of...

Fractured along sectarian lines, successive Governments have been unable to put the country on a sustainable path forward. Kicking off a four-day visit, he met with Lebanese President Michel Aoun, saying they had a “fruitful” talk. One simple message Subsequently, at a joint press conference at the Presidential Palace, the UN chief called on the international community to strengthen its support. He told reporters that he was in the country to “discuss the best ways to support the...

Belarus and Poland must resolve the migrant and refugee crisis at their mutual border, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, said on Tuesday, describing the on-going situation as “appalling”. OHCHR again called on the two countries to address the matter in line with their obligations under international law. This follows a visit by a UN human rights team to Poland from 29 November to 3 December. Members were not granted access to the restricted border area, while Belarus denied a request...

Nearly 5,000 refugees who fled violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) four years ago, are opting to head home voluntarily from Zambia over the coming months, with the first 100 people setting out on Tuesday. The UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said that security had improved sufficiently in DR Congo’s Pweto territory, Haut-Katanga province, for them to go home “in safety and dignity”. Inter-ethnic clashes as well as fighting between Congolese security forces and militia groups...

Many migrant domestic workers in Lebanon are denied basic human rights, and suffered abuse at the hands of their employers. Since the worsening economic crisis in the country their plight has, if anything, worsened. “The recruitment agencies and employers treat us as if we are human commodities!”, says Adanesh Worko, an Ethiopian worker who works in a house in Beirut. “Sometimes I am beaten and denied food but, because of my contract, I cannot choose to work somewhere else, or go back...

By November, more than 84 million people had been forced from their homes, according to UNHCR data. This figure is an increase from 2020 and 2019, both of which were record-breaking years in terms of the numbers forcibly displaced around the world. ‘A paradox not seen before in human history’ This rise was coupled with a drop in global mobility overall due to stricter travel rules, prompting the Director General of the UN migration agency (IOM), António Vitorino, to declare that the world...

The UN refugee agency called on Wednesday for the immediate, life-saving disembarkation of a group of Rohingya refugees in distress at sea off the coast of Indonesia. In a statement, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said that it was “deeply concerned for the safety and lives of those onboard”. The boat was first sighted in the waters off Bireuen, a district in Aceh province, on Sunday. Prevent lost lives Based on photos and reports from local fishermen...

“I was trying the reach the Turks and Caicos Islands, but my boat capsized at sea. If there were opportunities to start up my own business, I would stay in Haiti.” The story of Jacques* a 32-year-old father from Limonade on Haiti’s northern coast is perhaps typical of the increasing numbers of people who try to leave the Caribbean country in unofficial ways and without proper documentation. Many travel on overloaded and unseaworthy boats hoping to make it to neighboring countries like the...

The first drive to verify data relating to around 1.4 million Afghan refugees on the move over past decade in Pakistan has been concluded, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) said on Tuesday. The agency commended the Government of Pakistan for its country-wide campaign, the agency’s spokesperson, Babar Baloch, told journalists in Geneva. “Following a short pilot, the campaign, supported by UNHCR, began on 15 April 2021 and ended on 31 December 2021”, he said. Among those included were 200,000...