Fleeing gangs, Salvadoran tailors make new life in Mexico
TAPACHULA, Mexico, Oct 23 (UNHCR)—Alfonso*, his wife and their three children live in just one sweltering room in southern Mexico, the large sewing machine in the middle of the floor a reminder of the livelihood they left behind when they fled gang violence in El...
UNHCR backs increased protection for people fleeing disasters and climate change
GENEVA, Oct 14, (UNHCR)—The UN refugee agency has joined 110 nations in pledging to strengthen steps to protect people displaced across borders by disasters and climate change and launched an overview highlighting its work in the area. Delegates endorsed the...
First group of asylum seekers relocated from Italy to Sweden
ROME, Italy, Oct 9 (UNHCR)—A first group of 19 asylum seekers was relocated from Italy to Sweden today under an EU relocation scheme. The asylum seekers who arrived in Sicily by boat over the last few weeks were registered in Lampedusa and accepted to take part in the...
UN High Commissioner calls for renewed international focus on Afghanistan
GENEVA, Oct 6 (UNHCR)—UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres today appealed to the international community to refocus its attention on Afghanistan, warning that it would be dangerous to ignore the country, and praised Iran and Pakistan for hosting so many...
Guterres says UNHCR and partners struggle to meet humanitarian needs
GENEVA, Oct 5 (UNHCR)—The global refugee crisis is so great that the UN refugee agency and other agencies are struggling to respond to and meet all the humanitarian needs they face. That was the bleak message of UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres,...
Young Afghans Weigh Their Future
Sonita has only seen Afghanistan through the eyes of others: on her relatives’ mobile phones, in films and in Internet videos. Zia has been there just once, to apply for a passport. But these two young Afghan refugees living in Iran are not giving up on their country,...
The challenge of life in their Afghan homeland for children born in exile
KABUL, Afghanistan, November 20, 2014—The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child was adopted 25 years ago today to protect children like Hasanat and Aisha. The two have returned to a homeland, Afghanistan, that they had heard much about but never...
Home Alone: South Sudan teen leads her young siblings to safety in Uganda
BOROLI REFUGEE SETTLEMENT, Uganda, September 4, 2014—When 13-year-old Yayo Tangko turned up at the Boroli refugee settlement in Uganda earlier in 2014 with her four younger siblings, she feared the worst for her missing parents. “They are dead, because otherwise...