Migration & Refugees

Freshwater to Sea, the Resilience of Oceans

By Peter Thomson
It is a great pleasure to join you today at World Water Week and to be here in Stockholm. This city has been at the forefront of sustainable development since it hosted the first Earth Summit back in 1972, the same year I started my public service as a rural development officer in Fiji!

20,000 Civilians Trapped in Raqqa City, Deemed “The Worst Place on Earth”

By Roshni Majumdar
The battle to reclaim Raqqa, the de facto capital of the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL/Da’esh), has raised concerns among top UN officials as at least 20,000 civilians remain trapped under heavy fire in the city. Last week Monday, 42 civilians, including 12 women and 19 children, were killed in an air attack, according to the AP.

Global Warming Puts Asia’s Vital Yields at High Risk

By IPS World Desk
While mainstream media have been widely reporting on the dramatic consequences of tropical storm Harvey in the United States, which has been characterised as the fiercest hurricane to hit this country in over a decade, global warming is expected to have a significant impact on “future yields of everything from rice to fish, particularly in countries situated closer to the equator,” the United Nations warned.

Climate Migrants Might Reach One Billion by 2050

By Baher Kamal
Imagine a world with as many as one billion people facing harsh climate change impacts resulting in devastating droughts and/or floods, extreme weather, destruction of natural resources, in particular lands, soils and water, and the consequence of severe livelihoods conditions, famine and starvation.

South Asia Faces Fury of Floods

By Farid Ahmed
Aid agencies warn of a serious unfolding humanitarian crisis as floodwaters continue to inundate new areas of three South Asian countries, forcing millions of people to flee their homes for shelters.

Resettling Congolese Refugees in Angola, a New Shot at a Normal Life

By Roshni Majumdar
The UN’s refugee agency is relocating more than 33,000 Congolese refugees from overcrowded temporary shelters in northern Angola to a more permanent establishment in Lóvua.

The Perils of Irregular Migration: From Migrant to Migrants

By International Organization for Migration
Migrants are increasingly becoming communication agents, revealing their own stories, fears, hopes and dreams. The testimonies below are part of the Aware Migrants information campaign, implemented by IOM, the UN Migration Agency and funded by the Italian Ministry of Interior with the aim of helping potential migrants in making informed decisions by warning them about the real dangers of the journey along the main routes from East and West Africa across the desert and the Mediterranean. 

Yemen: African Migrants Beaten, Starved, Sexually Violated by Criminal Groups

By Baher Kamal
African migrants who arrive on Yemen’s shores --that’s if they are not forced into the sea to drown—risk to fall in the hands of criminal networks who hold them captive for several days to extort money in exchange for their “freedom,” according to UN sources.

One in 10 Displaced Syrians Returned Home

By IPS World Desk
This year alone, between January and July, 602,759 displaced Syrians returned home, according to reports from the UN Migration Agency and implementing partners on the ground. Around 6 million Syrians currently remain displaced within their own country.

Promise or Peril? Africa’s 830 Million Young People by 2050

By John Dramani Mahama and Siddharth Chatterjee
Last month, Spanish charity workers rescued 167 migrants arriving from Africa aboard a small boat.

Smugglers Throw Hundreds of African Migrants Off Boats Headed to Yemen

By IPS World Desk
A total of 300 migrants have reportedly been forced from boats over the past two days by smugglers off the coast of Yemen – many feared dead or missing, the United Nations migration agency has reported.

Migrants Crossing US-Mexico Border Dying at Faster Rate. More Deaths in Mediterranean

By IPS World Desk
While the number of migrants deaths in the Mediterranean Sea has so far in 2017 exceeded 2,350 victims for the fourth consecutive year, migrants crossing the United States-Mexico border are dying at a faster rate in 2017 than in past years, the UN migration agency reports.

Zaatari Camp Marks Fifth Year With 80,000 Refugees

By Roshni Majumdar
Jordan’s Zaatari camp, which opened in 2012 as a makeshift camp to house Syrian refugees fleeing the war, marked its fifth year on June 28.

It’s World Day Against Trafficking in Persons. What Do We Need to Do Now?

By William Lacy Swing
It is believed that millions are currently victims of trafficking in persons around the world. It is almost impossible to think about each one of those numbers as individual human beings and it can feel like an insurmountable problem. But it isn’t. And on this World Day Against Trafficking in Persons we must believe that not only can we make a dent but that we can make significant inroads into eliminating it.

African Migrant Women Face “Shocking Sexual Abuse” on Journey to Europe

By IPS World Desk
Up to 80 per cent of Nigerian migrant women and girls arriving on Europe's shores in Italy could potentially be sex trafficking victims, spotlighting the horrific levels of abuse and violence migrants face along their arduous journeys for a better future, according to a UN study.

No Access to Justice for Migrant Workers in South-East Asia

By IPS World Desk
Access to justice is often out of reach for migrant workers in South-east Asia, the United Nations labour agency reported in a study that shows that non-governmental organisations are assisting more often than government officials or trade unions.

Millions of Women and Children for Sale for Sex, Slavery, Organs…

By Baher Kamal
It is happening now. Millions of humans are forced to flee armed conflicts, climate change, inequalities, and extreme poverty. They fall easy prey to traffickers lurking anyone who can be subjected to sexual exploitation, forced labour and even sell their skin and organs.

Migrants – The Increasingly Expensive Deadly Voyages

By IPS World Desk
They borrow huge amounts of money. They sell all their modest properties. They suffer brutalities on the hands of their own countries “security” forces to prevent them from fleeing wars, droughts, floods, lack of food, extreme poverty.

UN Appoints Experts to DRC’s Kasai to Probe Harrowing Rights Abuses

By Roshni Majumdar
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, appointed a team of three international experts yesterday to collect information and raise awareness about grave atrocities in the ongoing conflict in the remote Kasai region of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Migrant Contributions to Development: Creating a “New Positive Narrative”

By Tharanga Yakupitiyage
Despite the “undeniable” benefits of migration, barriers including public misconceptions continue to hinder positive development outcomes, participants said during a series of thematic consultations here on safe, orderly, and regular migration.

Parliamentarians Study Nexus of Youth, Refugees and Development

By Safa Khasawneh
Held for the first time in the Arab world, an annual meeting of Asian and Arab Parliamentarians examined how regional conflicts hinder the development of effective policies to achieve sustainable development, particularly as they generate large numbers of refugees, internally displaced persons and migrants.
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