Fresh displacement crisis in Iraq as 180,000 flee town of Hit
GENEVA, October 14 (UNHCR) –The UN refugee agency reported on Tuesday that an estimated 180,000 people have fled from the central Iraq town of Hit following its capture by ISIS and affiliated armed groups at the weekend. The town’s mostly Sunni residents, as...
The Nun and the Imam
Sister Maria Concetta walks out of the labour room with a newborn baby in her arms and rushes through the corridors in search of a bed. The child is one of over 20,000 she has helped to deliver since she started working at the Zongo hospital near the Oubangui River,...
Whirlwind of violence surprises some residents in northern Syria
SURUC, Turkey, October 8 (UNHCR) – Faysal thought that the conflict plaguing Syria since March 2011 had bypassed his home in the north, so he was stunned when the whirlwind of violence came recently to Kobane (Ayn al-Arab). The 35-year-old civil servant had long seen...
Cash grants transform life in Congo camp for Central African Republic refugees
MOLE REFUGEE CAMP, Democratic Republic of the Congo, October 3 (UNHCR) – The market in Mole refugee camp was buzzing on a recent Saturday morning, with stalls selling everything from fish, goat meat, cassava and vegetables to clothes, cosmetics, household items...
Asylum claims from Syria, Iraq and other conflict zones rise in first half 2014
GENEVA, September 26 (UNHCR) – A UNHCR report released on Friday shows that the number of people seeking refugee status in industrialized countries continued to climb in the first half of 2014, driven by the wars in Syria and Iraq as well as conflict and instability...
Congolese refugee music-lover charts his way to success
KAMPALA, Uganda, September 25 (UNHCR) – Music has always been part of Jeremiah Mbaha’s life, even when he had almost nothing. “I have been singing since my childhood. I could sing anything and I could see people felt warm and happy,” said the...
Creating a home from home, far from home in Erbil
ERBIL, Iraq, September 24 (UNHCR) – What had been an empty lot in Erbil’s Ainkawa district in early August is now a sea of white. Close to 300 UNHCR tents are laid out geometrically in an area the size of a city block in the capital of northern Iraq’s...
UNHCR steps up response as 130,000 Syrian refugees cross into Turkey
GENEVA, September 22 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency is stepping up its response to help the Turkish government provide assistance to an estimated 130,000 Syrians who have crossed into Turkey since Friday. The Turkish authorities and UNHCR are preparing for the...