Articles

Goris, population 20,000, is a picture-postcard town, sitting in a bowl in the high mountains of southern of Armenia. It’s 25 kilometres to the border with Azerbaijan, to the Lachin corridor. During the last week in September, over 100,000 ethnic Armenians fled the Karabakh region and arrived in Goris, Armenia, necessitating urgent humanitarian action by UN agencies and relief partners in coordination with the Government. Tented halls, mobile kitchens, portable toilets, clothing banks...

“Over 1000 people have died and many more been injured following horrific acts of violence by Hamas on Saturday in Israel, and days of bombing by Israel in Gaza,” the WHO said in a statement on Tuesday. The UN agency has offered assistance to health officials in both Israel and the occupied Palestinian territory. On Monday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, who agreed to its request to facilitate the delivery of health and...

The World Food Programme continues to distribute food in Ethiopia’s Somali Region (file).. 9 October 2023Migrants and Refugees The World Food Programme (WFP) has begun rolling out food distributions to nearly 900,000 refugees in Ethiopia following a full revamp of its refugee operations. Families living in refugee camps, including new arrivals who have fled from Sudan, are receiving food parcels for the first time since WFP paused food distributions in June, following reports...

7 October 2023Migrants and Refugees Following Pakistan’s announcement to repatriate Afghan nationals, the UN’s refugee and migration agencies together appealed to Islamabad on Saturday to continue protecting those who sought safety in the country and could be “at imminent risk if forced to return”. Amid a “severe humanitarian crisis”, Afghanistan currently faces several human rights challenges, particularly for women and girls, according to the UN. Pakistan’s new plans would have...

Speaking to reporters in Geneva on her first official day as head of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), Amy Pope said that migrants were “people first” who should not be seen as a problem. That distinction was more critical than ever today, the IOM Director-General added, noting that it is almost 10 years since a migrant shipwreck off the Italian coastline on 3 October 2013 claimed more than 368 lives. It was the agency’s biggest fear that such tragedies “have been...

“The situation underscores the urgent need for the immediate collective involvement of governments from origin, transit and destination countries to provide humanitarian assistance, especially to vulnerable groups like women and children,” said Michele Klein Solomon, IOM Regional Director for Central America, North America and the Caribbean. Perilous journeys IOM cited statistics that reveal the magnitude of the problem, noting that Panama’s National Migration Service reported a record...

Some 19,000 refugees have reportedly left the Karabakh Economic Region of the Republic of Azerbaijan, including many elderly people, women and children. UNHCR Spokesperson Shabia Mantoo called on all sides to protect civilians and to fully respect international humanitarian refugee law allowing them safe passage. All parties must “refrain from actions that would cause displacement of civilians and ensure their safety, security and human rights and nobody should be forced to flee their...

12 September 2023Migrants and Refugees The United States-Mexico border is the world’s deadliest land route for migrants, with at least 686 deaths and disappearances last year, the UN migration agency (IOM) said on Tuesday. Nearly half of the deaths on the border were linked to the hazardous crossing of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. “These alarming figures are a stark reminder of the need for decisive action by States,” said Michele Klein Solomon, IOM’s Regional Director for...

Children in the region driven from their homes by gang violence, instability, poverty and climate change represent around 25 per cent of migrants said UNICEF – almost double the global average of 13 per cent. “More and more children are on the move, of an increasingly young age, often alone and from diverse countries of origin, including from as far away as Africa and Asia,” said Garry Conille, UNICEF Latin America and the Caribbean Director. “When they cross several countries and...

Hope Away from Home gets underway at a time of unprecedented, forced displacement. There are a staggering 110 million people displaced from their homes, and access to asylum and protection is under threat in various regions due to increasingly harsh policies. “People fleeing war, violence and persecution should be met with compassion and kindness, not barriers, restrictions and discrimination, which should have no place in today’s world,” said Elizabeth Tan, Director of UNHCR’s Division of...