UN High Commissioner for Refugees praises Canada for “extraordinary generosity”
By Lauren La Rose Among the many refugees Filippo Grandi encountered during his mission to Canada, a hospital worker in Montreal had a particularly profound impact on the head of the UN Refugee Agency. During the first leg of a four-day visit to Canada, Grandi met...
Into the field: A Canadian newcomer to UNHCR reflects on her first international mission
By Lauren La Rose First came the scream. Then the giggles followed. Sadly, I don’t speak Arabic, but the language of pure joy needs no translation. It was etched all over the face of five-year-old Rajaa who stood alongside her two friends, huddled together, doubled...
A Canadian UNHCR staffer responds to the Rohingya crisis
By Louise Aubin, as told to Fiona Irvine-Goulet Louise Aubin is the Deputy Director for International Protection at UNHCR’s headquarters in Geneva. The Quebec native is a lawyer who has been with UNHCR for over 20 years, beginning in 1995 as a legal officer for...
The Unwanted: A portrait of the Rohingya refugee crisis
By Fiona Irvine-Goulet Since August 25, 2017, more than 600,000 Rohingya refugees have fled violence in Myanmar. Most are women and children; many have been beaten, tortured, raped, or have seen their homes and villages burned to the ground. Their loved ones have been...
Winter cash assistance brings life-saving gift of warmth to Syrian family
By Lauren La Rose ZARQA, JORDAN — For Abu and Um Waleed, the gift of winter cash assistance has brought warmth into their home—in more ways than one. “Immense happiness. It’s an unbelievable feeling. It really helped us a lot. We couldn’t sleep from the...
Winter cash assistance offers Syrian refugees comfort from the cold
By Lauren La Rose ZAATARI CAMP, JORDAN—The sight of corpses all around was simply unbearable for Zeenab. “My house was destroyed, the whole country was destroyed and we really didn’t have a safe place to stay at,” said Zeenab, originally from the small town of...
“Canada’s responsibility to refugees globally must not falter”
Note to readers: This opinion piece was originally published in The Hill Times on 20 Dec 2017. Reprinted with permission. By Jean-Nicolas Beuze, UNHCR Canada representative Just a little over two years ago, three-year-old Alan Kurdi’s tragic death on a Turkish beach...