UNHCR urges CAR combatants to use Pope’s visit to seek peace
GENEVA, Nov 27 (UNHCR)—The UN Refugee Agency has urged Central African Republic’s warring groups to take the opportunity of Pope Francis’s scheduled visit to Bangui this weekend to rebuild the national reconciliation process. Pope Francis is due to arrive...
UNHCR water project aids road safety in Kyrgyzstan
TASHTAK, Kyrgyzstan—For children in this Kyrgyzstan village which was once torn apart by ethnic strife, a daily trek to get buckets of drinking water posed an unexpected danger: traffic. “Whenever my sister and I fetched water, we were afraid to cross the busy...
UNHCR flags problems at crossings from Greece to the Balkans
GENEVA, Nov 24 (UNHCR)—The UN refugee agency has warned that a fresh humanitarian situation is developing at border crossings from Greece into the Balkans, where new and uncoordinated restrictions have led scores of people to protest by going on hunger strike and...IKEA stores around the world to raise funds to brighten lives for refugees
The IKEA Brighter Lives for Refugees campaign returns to over 40 countries to raise millions of euros for refugees. Between November 29 and December 19, for every LED product sold in all IKEA stores and online, the IKEA Foundation will donate Є1 to help UNHCR, the UN...
Young Afghan uses language skills to help medics on Lesvos
LESVOS, Greece, Nov 20 (UNHCR)—Amena Yusufi, a 21-year-old woman from Afghanistan, stepped out of a medical tent on Lesvos’ busy Moria reception and registration centre and called for the next patient. A mother and her baby stepped forward. Amena listened...
Debt a growing burden for Syrian refugees in Lebanon
BEIRUT, Nov 20 (UNHCR)—Syrian father Mohamad believes his life can be summarized by a worn out piece of paper. Carefully folded and tucked under a floor mattress, it details a growing list of debts. Four years in Lebanon as a refugee have sucked his resources dry, and...
New Balkan border restrictions untenable
GENEVA, Nov 20 (UNHCR)—A range of new restrictions against the movement of refugees and migrants from Greece through the Western Balkans and further northwards is increasingly untenable, the UN refugee agency, the International Organisation for Migration and the UN...
Resettlement of Bhutanese refugees surpasses 100,000 mark
KATHMANDU, Nepal, Nov 19 (UNHCR)—The UN refugee agency and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Thursday marked a major milestone: the resettlement of over 100,000 Bhutanese refugees from Nepal to third countries since the launch of the program in...