Mother inspires daughter to academic success
Aisha Slaybi was determined that nothing, not bullets, bombs or war, would force her to take her family away from their home in Aleppo until her teenage daughter had graduated from high school. It was May 30, 2014, and in 10 days’ time her daughter, Fatima Alzahraa...UNHCR welcomes recommendation of Guterres as Secretary-General
UNHCR warmly welcomes the recommendation by the UN Security Council of its former High Commissioner, António Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General. “During his ten years at UNHCR, Mr. Guterres managed some of the biggest refugee crises of our times,”...
Solidarity “essential” to refugee protection
GENEVA – With wars and violence uprooting record numbers of people worldwide, UNHCR’s international protection chief today called for a renewed spirit of multilateralism and solidarity to provide effective refugee protection and curb xenophobia. In a speech to the...
Struggle to resume life after Ukraine conflict
Andrei Lubyanoy is raising his three young daughters alone, a noble task that is difficult under any circumstances. In the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, it is even more daunting. During the 2014 hostilities, which cost thousands of lives and uprooted hundreds of...
Greater solidarity needed with displaced
GENEVA – In an age of soaring global displacement, countries must transcend their national interests and come together to curb large-scale suffering, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the UN Refugee Agency, Filippo Grandi, declared today. In keynote...
Fights for lifejackets as boat capsized off Egypt
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – As a fishing trawler packed with hundreds of people flipped and sank off the coast of Egypt last week, Somali Abshiro* suddenly found herself in the water as those drowning clawed at her life jacket. “I have been fighting for my life in the water,...
Mosul offensive increases UNHCR planning
GENEVA – The anticipated Iraqi military offensive to retake Mosul threatens to produce one of the largest man-made displacement crises of recent times, UNHCR’s representative in Iraq has warned. As the clock ticks, the UN Refugee Agency is working intensively with...
UNHCR Nansen Refugee Awarded
GENEVA – Greek volunteers Efi Latsoudi and Konstantinos Mitragas on behalf of the Hellenic Rescue Team(HRT) tonight became the latest in a long line of distinguished everyday heroes to receive UNHCR’s prestigious annual Nansen Refugee Award. Both winners of the UN...