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...
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...
Children in Calais in a world away from home
A centre for young refugees in Saint-Omer offers shelter and protection, as well as the chance to enjoy being children again. On a cloudy day in the northern French town of Saint-Omer, Ibrahim, from Darfur in Sudan, is tending to a crop of vegetables with eight other...
UNHCR saddened by loss of life in boat capsize off Egypt
Egyptian authorities rescue 150 people including Sudanese, Eritreans and Somalis after boat capsizes off Rosetta. At least 42 bodies have reportedly been recovered. GENEVA – UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is deeply saddened by the loss of life after yet another boat...