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...
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...
The humanitarian suffering continues in Ukraine, despite a ceasefire
KHARKIV, Ukraine, September 19 (UNHCR) – Under the imposing dome of the Stalin-era train station of Kharkiv, with its paintings of triumphant peasants and workers, dozens of exhausted travellers lie sprawled and sleeping on benches in a corner of the lobby. They are...
Angola Repatriation: Antonio returns home after 40 years in DR Congo
KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, August 28 (UNHCR) – When Antonio last stood in his home village of Kwilu, Angola was a colony of Portugal on the verge of becoming independent. A last flourish of fighting in the final weeks of colonialism, forced him to...
Needs soar as number of Syrian refugees tops 3 million
GENEVA, August 29 (UNHCR) -The UN refugee agency reports that Syria’s intensifying refugee crisis will today pass a record 3 million people, amid reports of horrifying conditions inside the country. These include cities where populations are surrounded, people...
Number of displaced inside Ukraine more than doubles since early August to 260,000
GENEVA, September 2 (UNHCR) – The UN Refugee Agency said on Tuesday that fighting in eastern Ukraine, in particular around Donetsk, Luhansk and neighbouring towns, is driving more people from their homes and increasing the need for humanitarian aid. Vincent Cochetel,...
Statelessness: Hoping to acquire a nationality and put down roots
BRUSSELS, Belgium, September 1 (UNHCR) – Three years ago, Railya Abulkhanova told a UNHCR film crew that she felt like a tumbleweed. “It rolls . . . with the breeze it rolls away. That is what it is. That is statelessness,” she said in the story-telling...