Migration & Refugees

SOUTH SUDAN: Bracing for a Massive Influx of Returnees

By Jared Ferrie
In the wake of border tensions, the United Nations is airlifting 12,000 southerners from a Sudanese frontier town into South Sudan. But they are returning home in the midst of an economic crisis that has the U.N. warning it may appeal for more funding to scale up humanitarian operations.

Protection for Salvadoran Migrants En Route to U.S.

By Edgardo Ayala
A law to protect Salvadoran migrants, who are frequently victims of attacks and abuses on their way to the United States, is nearing entry into force after having been approved over a year ago. All that remains is for a body made up of civil society organisations to be created to implement it.

Manila and Moscow Inch Closer to Labour Agreement

By Kester Kenn Klomegah
As the number of migrant Filipino workers in Russia inches closer to 5000, Moscow and Manila are busy negotiating a bilateral labour agreement that could allow thousands more overseas workers into various sectors of the Russian economy.
The remains of what was once a home in Lifta. Credit: Pierre Klochendler/IPS

Remembering Is Now 64 Years Old

By Pierre Klochendler
"There is the beginning of my life. My father would call for prayer, ‘Allahu Akbar’," says 72-year old Yacoub Odeh, pointing to a collapsed house perched high on the hill. "The whole village would hear him." Odeh was then eight years old: "I’m the son of yesterday."

Deserting Refugees in the Sahara

By Rebecca Murray
As dusk settles over the isolated Saharan town Kufra, young guards order a few hundred migrants lined up at a detention centre to chant "Libya free, Chadians out", before they kneel down for evening prayers.
Former Libyan rebel fighter Faraj Fakhri is being treated in Amman’s Chmeisani hospital. Credit: Mona Alami/IPS

Recovering From the Spring, at a Price

By Mona Alami
The Arab Spring sent scores of sick and injured Libyans, fleeing their war- torn country, straight to Jordan, where the influx of patients is putting a lot of pressure on Jordanian hospitals and disrupting the lives of Libyan and Jordanian patients alike.
Across the U.S., ethnic minority youth are at the forefront of struggles over immigrant rights and Palestine solidarity. Credit: Courtesy of UNIDOS

U.S.: Ethnic Minority Youth Lead New Wave of Student Activism

By Gabriel Schivone
In December 1985, The New York Times reported on what was believed to be the first anti-apartheid conference of U.S. high schools discussing divestment from corporations operating in South Africa.

U.S. Should Double Aid to Curb Violence in Central America: Report

By Jim Lobe
The United States should double aid to Central America and focus it more on programmes designed to strengthen the region's criminal justice institutions to help curb the skyrocketing violence in the region, according to a new report published by an influential foreign policy group.

Refugees Dream of Return, Come Home to Nightmare

By Amantha Perera
Krishnaveni Nakkeeran has fled the country of her birth twice and returned twice in the last two decades. The 36-year-old mother of four from the northern Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka first fled the bloody civil war to India when she was just 16 years old in 1990.

France Caught Between Right and Left

By A. D. McKenzie
French workers turned out in droves on May 1, International Workers’ Day, to back their political candidates ahead of the second round of the French presidential elections next Sunday. But France’s "working class" has largely turned to the Far Right, after a long tradition of voting Left.
Several of the children in Abala camp are visibly malnourished, and NGO workers are concerned about potential epidemics. Credit: William Lloyd-George/IPS

Mali – Barely Surviving As One Country, Let Alone Two

By William Lloyd-George
It was the middle of the day when Tabisou, 72, suddenly saw people from her town of Amderamboukane in Mali fleeing for their lives. Her family had no time to pack their things; the fighting had already begun.

European Refugees Meet Austerity-Era Hostility

By Claudia Ciobanu
As the economic slump drags on in Europe, refugees and immigrants are keeping a wary eye on state budgets, as governments in the throes of austerity slash the social protections and public services that minorities rely on.
Like other children at Pakistan

Taking Refuge in Hell Camp

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
"We have been spending sleepless nights without electricity and clean water. This place is not worth living in but we have no option and will remain here as long as the military operation continues in our area," said Gul Rahim, a former resident of Bara tehsil in Khyber Agency, currently languishing in the Jallozai refugee camp in the Nowshera district of Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

U.S.-Mexico Border Build-Up Found Excessive

By Jim Lobe
While Republican politicians and other "border hawks" call for ever-tougher measures to secure the U.S.-Mexican border against drug trafficking and illegal immigration, a one-year bi-national study released here Thursday suggests that current efforts may be excessive.

Filipino Workers Caught in Syrian Crossfire

By Simba Shani Kamaria Russeau
As pressure mounts on the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad to keep up an uncertain truce, human rights advocates are demanding reforms to a sponsorship system that has left many migrant domestic workers in Syria with no place to run.

When Immigrants Become the Football

By A. D. McKenzie
Candidates in the French presidential election are coming to use the word ‘immigrant’ like a ball to be kicked around from one side to another, analysts say. "Boot all the immigrants out, and everything will be fine. That’s the seductive and deceptive message from some candidates," says French professor Nonna Mayer.

War on Terror Traumatises Pakistani Women

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
Collateral damage caused by the ‘war on terror’, prosecuted by the United States and its allies in Afghanistan since 2001, may well extend to psychological trauma sustained by thousands of women in the bordering areas of northwestern Pakistan.

Syrian Strife Hits Lebanese Villages

By Mona Alami
A few kilometres separate the two Lebanese villages of Ersal and Qaa from the Syrian border, both of which have been unwillingly drawn into the violence of the Syrian uprising. Unrest has been brewing in the region for weeks and recently it was on the receiving end of intermittent gunfire from the Syrian army. The situation remains tense despite the fragile new ceasefire.

Spain Slashes Funds for Integration of Immigrants

By Inés Benítez
The Support Fund for the Integration of Immigrants in Spain has been drained of resources, and as a result there is no funding for social insertion, employment and education programmes for the immigrant community.
Former Cuban political prisoners gathered outside the governing party headquarters in Málaga to demand an extension of the aid they were receiving. Credit: Inés Benítez/IPS

Cuban Dissidents in Spain Complain about Cut-off in Aid

By Inés Benítez
A group of former political prisoners from Cuba and their family members gathered in Madrid's Puerta del Sol square and in front of the foreign ministry Tuesday to protest the unexpected cut-off in aid from the government.

Immigrants in Chile File Complaint against Mass Expulsions

By Marianela Jarroud
The Committee of Peruvian Refugees in Chile has filed a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that this country carries out mass expulsions of immigrants.
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