Mediterranean Migrant Arrivals Reach 1072 in first week of 2018; Deaths Reach 81

IOM, the UN Migration Agency, reports that 1,072 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea during the first week of 2018, with around 450 each landing in Italy and Greece and the remainder in Spain. This compares with almost an identical number – 1,159 – coming ashore during a similar period in 2017.

“The smuggler destroyed our passports and dropped us in the mountains”

While the world’s attention is drawn to the plight of migrants and refugees and Asia and Africa, a small but significant number of irregular migrants continue to arrive in central European counties like Bosnia and Herzegovina, placing huge strains on local authorities.

2018 Brings No End to Violence Against Rohingya as Refugees Continue to Flee to Bangladesh

This week, Rohingya refugees were still arriving in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh – the New Year bringing no end to the reports of violence and fears, which forced them to flee their homes in Myanmar.

Authenticity, Fighting Back and the Fall of Social Media False Idols

Too much of anything can be harmful, and something good that happens too soon may be short-lived. There is a term for this. It is called hubris.

Liberal and Female

If Gen Ziaul Haq hijacked Islam to justify his military rule, then Gen Musharraf did the worst injustice to liberalism by using it as camouflage for his praetorian rule. Both generals benefited personally but have confounded Pakistanis about religion and liberties alike, pitting citizens into an unresolved search for a core national identity and a stable political model of governance.

On a Self-Destructive Path

Three pictures in this paper yesterday depict the utter callousness with which we have degraded our natural resources because of greed and indifference. The front page shows a horrific pile of rubbish in an area in Keraniganj—an earlier picture of the same area juxtaposed with it makes us realise with disbelief, that this garbage dump was actually a canal only a year and a half ago. It is hard to believe that once this pit of rubbish was a pristine waterbody running between rows of buildings, providing relief to the concrete jungle. Obviously, over this short period of time, there has been absolutely no oversight regarding illegal dumping of waste.

Voluntary Humanitarian Return Flights Resume January 1 as Un Migration Agency Continues Efforts to Assist Migrants in Libya

On Monday, 1 January, the UN Migration Agency’s Libya mission chartered its first flight of 2018 under the Voluntary Humanitarian return (VHR) programme, assisting 142 returnees departing from Libya to Gambia.

Desperate, Destitute, Damaged: The Plight of Myanmar’s Persecuted Rohingya Muslim Refugees

When a major upsurge in violence broke out in Myanmar’s northern Rakhine state on August 25, it started an exodus that sent almost half a million of the mainly stateless Rohingya Muslim minority fleeing over the border into Bangladesh in just two months. As the year comes to an end, the number of new arrivals is now more than 655,000.

Hatta goes solar

The Hatta solar project has enabled building owners to install solar panels on their rooftops to generate electricity from solar power as part of the Shams Dubai initiative. Implemented by Etihad ESCO, it is the largest residential rooftop solar PV project in the region.

UN human rights chief urges Iranian authorities to defuse tensions, investigate protest deaths

The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein on Wednesday urged the Iranian authorities "to handle the wave of protests that have taken place around the country with great care so as not to further inflame violence and unrest," and to investigate all deaths and serious injuries that have occurred so far.

Arab Parliament affirms rights of Palestinians to establish independent country

Dr. Meshaal Al Salmi, Chairman of the Arab Parliament, has renewed the Arab Parliament's firm commitment to supporting the rights of the Palestinian people to establishing their independent sovereign country, with Jerusalem as its capital, in line with international laws and resolutions.

Rohingya Arrivals in Bangladesh Hit 655,000 as Winter Weather Brings New Shelter, Health Challenges

Cox’s Bazar - On Christmas day it will be four months since the start of the influx of Rohingya refugees into Bangladesh. Latest figures show 655,000 people have arrived in that period, bringing the estimated total number of Rohingya in Cox’s Bazaar to 867,500.

Big Little Lies

Pakistan has had plenty of genuine conspiracies. The assassinations of Liaquat Ali Khan, Gen Zia and Benazir Bhutto were all planned and plotted — and yet no one was brought to justice. Hidden hands have influenced elections and jihadis have been given secret funds. In such cases conspiracy theories seem entirely appropriate. Even so, there is a national tendency to explain just about any event by way of a conspiracy theory. With the dreary, and more often than not, unenlightening phrase ‘who benefits?’, people claim to be able to see the schemes behind the most mundane happenings.

Question Paper Leaks

It's that time of the year again, the season traditionally known for weddings and pitthas. But seasons undergo changes, and the winter can barely live up to its name anymore. And with that we should reconsider what things we associate with this time—a phenomenon that truly characterises this winter. I propose that the winter of 2017 be remembered as the season of question paper leaks, given the almost daily reports this month, sparing no grade, starting from class I.

One year of EU partnership with IOM: migrants protection and reintegration in Africa

The EU and the UN Migration Agency, the International Organisation for Migration (IOM), launched one year ago a joint initiative for migrant protection and reintegration.