UNHCR congratulates the Tokyo 2020 Refugee Olympic Team
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, celebrates today’s announcement by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) of the Tokyo 2020 Refugee Olympic Team. After years of training, 29 refugee athletes will head to Tokyo in July to participate at this summer’s games. They will...
‘I felt like I was being reborn’
After growing up stateless, Yutthachai Jaju is now helping to end statelessness in northern Thailand’s Chiang Rai province. By Yutthachai Jaju in Chiang Rai, Thailand As of December 2020, there were over 480,000 stateless people registered with the Thai government....
More concerted action needed to better protect LGBTIQ+ people forced from home
A landmark international conference opened today to address the urgent need to better protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) people around the world who have fled violence or persecution and are seeking refuge inside their own...
Venezuelan boxer sees Olympic hopes rekindled
The IOC Refugee Athlete Scholarship has given a young boxer the support he needs to train in hopes of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics – something that just months ago looked all but impossible. By Carla Bridglal in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago Eldric Sella...
Nearly 6,000 people flee brutal attacks on displacement sites in eastern DR Congo
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Babar Baloch – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Deadly attacks by the armed group Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) have forced some 5,800...
UNHCR and IPU welcome Council of Europe parliamentary resolution in support of refugees
The Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and UNHCR, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, welcome the adoption of a resolution and publication of a report in support of refugees by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). The PACE...
Hope and opportunity for refugee students in Botswana
As universities begin to offer scholarships, refugee students look forward to a more secure future in the country they now call home. By Kate Pond in Gaborone, Botswana Under the shade of nodding acacia trees outside the University of Botswana’s School of Medicine,...
Solar cooperatives give refugees and locals in Ethiopia clean energy and livelihoods
Refugees and locals are coming together to provide affordable, green energy to their communities in Ethiopia’s Somali region. By Giulia Naboni and Elisabeth Haslund, Ethiopia In south-eastern Ethiopia’s arid and remote Somali region, energy is not something that can...