Fighting in southern Philippines island displaces more than 120,000
MANILA, Philippines, March 20 (UNHCR) – Fighting between government forces and armed groups in the southern Philippines island of Mindanao has forced more than 120,000 people to flee their homes since late January, when the conflict flared. The UN refugee agency said...
The Inventors of Azraq
The barren, rock-strewn expanse of Jordan’s northern desert looks like it could be the backdrop for a science fiction movie. The only comfort this featureless, Martian landscape offers to the more than 15,000 Syrians who now call this place home is an escape from the...
Pulled in Two Directions
“Our life before the war was very ordinary,” says Wazzam, thinking back to the years his family spent in Raqqa, Syria. “Our doors were open all night. We feared nothing. It was difficult at times to find work, but our minds were at peace because it was safe.” The long...
Statelessness: UNHCR calls for global commitment on women’s nationality rights
NEW YORK, United States, March 10 (UNHCR) – As part of its #IBelong campaign to end statelessness, the UN refugee agency on Tuesday called for a global commitment to ensure all women can pass on their nationality to their children. UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner...
A Double Refugee Spreads Hope
As a decades-long civil war raged in southern Sudan, young Khan Malual took refuge in neighbouring Kenya. Only nine years old, he travelled alone and spent the next six years growing up in Kakuma refugee camp. Khan was finally able to return home and reunite with his...
Some 16,000 refugees seek shelter in Cameroon following clashes in north-east Nigeria
DAKAR, Senegal, March 3 (UNHCR)–The UN refugee agency reported on Tuesday that some 16,000 Nigerian refugees fled to Cameroon’s Far North region over the weekend to escape clashes in north-east Nigeria between regional military forces and insurgents. The...
Stateless in West Africa
Lisette, 20, was born and raised in Côte d’Ivoire. To make a living, she sells grains of millet at the local market in Zuenoula. But without ID documents to prove her birthplace, or her ancestral ties to Burkina Faso, she might as well be invisible. Bereft of a...
Humanity, hope and thoughts of home: Syrian refugees in southern Lebanon
ABBASIEH, Lebanon, February 25 (UNHCR) – Ali* and his family are living through their third winter in Lebanon, but thoughts of their Syrian home in the city of Idlib are never far away. “If we could go home, we would. But as long as the troubles last we...