“I am extremely worried that large numbers of Nigerian refugees hosted in Cameroon are again returning to northeast Nigeria – into a situation dangerously unprepared to receive them” says United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi. Three weeks ago UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency warned about the situation in the Nigerian border town of …
More than 120 migrants feared drowned in Mediterranean after smugglers steal outboard motor
Up to 126 refugees and migrants are feared to have drowned in the Mediterranean after Libyan smugglers stole the outboard engine of their dinghy. The dinghy, which left from a beach on the Libyan coast, was heading north towards Italy when a boatload of traffickers turned up and removed the motor. Without an engine, waves …
Forced displacement worldwide at its highest in decades
The UN Refugee Agency’s annual Global Trends study found that 65.6 million people were forcibly displaced worldwide at the end of 2016 – a total bigger than the population of the United Kingdom and about 300,000 more than last year. It noted that the pace at which people are becoming displaced remains very high. On …
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Man in car emblazoned with Nazi symbol plows into refugee demo in Sweden
A man suspected of having neo-Nazi links has confessed to driving his car into a crowd of rejected Iraqi asylum seekers who were protesting against their deportation in the Swedish city of Malmo. Police have opened a hate crime investigation. The man, 22, whose identity has not been revealed, admitted that he had driven his …
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EU opens legal case against three countries over migration quotas
The EU has launched a legal case against Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland over their tough stance on taking in asylum seekers. The Hungarian and Polish governments have long refused to take in migrants under a 2015 relocation plan, which was agreed by qualified majority. The Czechs have taken in twelve. “It is binding …
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Greece orders financial probe of refugee NGO
Greek judicial authorities have ordered an investigation into allegations that staff at a European Union-funded NGO sexually exploited refugees and misused money intended for their welfare. Immigration Minister Ioannis Mouzalas on Monday handed Supreme Court prosecutor Xeni Dimitriou a letter from the EU’s top humanitarian aid official outlining the allegations. The NGO allegedly involved was …
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French police face claims of abusing migrants
A human rights group on Wednesday slammed French police in the northern port of Calais for “routinely” using pepper spray on both underage and adult migrants. The report from Human Rights Watch (HRW) also accused the French authorities of turning “a blind eye to the widespread reports of the abuse”. Calais was the main transit …
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Internally displaced, returnees from abroad soar to over 2.4 million in nine Afghan provinces: IOM survey
One in six people is either a returnee or an internally displaced person (IDP) in the nine Afghan provinces of Baghlan, Balkh, Kabul, Kunar, Kunduz, Laghman, Nangarhar, Paktia, and Takhar, according to the second round of IOM’s Afghan Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) published today (7/7). In the nine provinces, which are believed to have the …
Asylum seekers forced into homelessness by paperwork delays, study finds
The government has been accused of routinely denying support to asylum seekers, leaving them homeless and unable to feed their families, following analysis of more than 300 recent cases. Research conducted by Refugee Action found that the Home Office was missing its own deadlines for finding emergency accommodation for homeless and destitute asylum seekers, and …
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Italy may grant temporary EU visas to 200,000 migrants
More than 200,000 migrants in Italy may be granted temporary EU visas, enabling them to travel anywhere in Europe. The move, which has been described as a ‘nuclear option’, has been threatened in a bid to deal with the country’s migrant and refugee crisis. It means that new arrivals to Italy would be able to …
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