Posts Tagged “UNHCR”

UNHCR’s priorities for the next UK Government #GE2017

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UNHCR’s priorities for the next UK Government #GE2017

Ahead of the 8 June UK general election, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has outlined six priorities that it is asking whoever forms the next UK government to take forward for asylum and refugee reform. Increase the number of refugees resettled in the UK to at least 10,000 a year. This represents a meaningful but…

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UNHCR report on Desperate Journeys

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UNHCR report on Desperate Journeys

Movement has continued but taken more diversified and dangerous journeys after increased border restrictions were introduced in 2016 aimed at restricting refugee and migrant movements towards and inside Europe. This is the conclusion of the Desperate Journeys report (full PDF) published by the UN’s Refugee Agency, UNHRCR. “The lack of accessible and safe pathways leads…

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Refugees stranded in Greece increase by a third in last five months

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Refugees stranded in Greece increase by a third in last five months

Refugee flows into Greece are rising following the failed coup attempt in Turkey. The numbers of refugees arriving in Greece dipped significantly – close to zero some days in April – after the EU/Turkey deal came into operation. Instead, routes into Italy became busier. Figures from the Institute of Migration (IOM) show that since the mid-July…

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1 in 113 people globally (65.3m) displaced from home

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1 in 113 people globally (65.3m) displaced from home

Today is World Refugee Day. UNHCR’s annual Global Trends Report (video) has been published. It contains some startling statistics. “On average 24 people were forced to flee each minute in 2015, four times more than a decade earlier, when six people fled every 60 seconds.” Combining data from its own field staff as well as…

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Disproving the oft-repeated statistic that the average stay in a refugee camp is 17 years?

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Disproving the oft-repeated statistic that the average stay in a refugee camp is 17 years?

Is it really true that the average stay in a refugee camp is now 17 years? That was a question asked on a recent episode of BBC World Service’s More or Less programme that examines the facts behind quoted statistics. The statistic seems to originate in a nine year old UNHCR publication and whilst referring…

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Angelina Jolie Pitt: displacement affects 1 in every 122 people #worldonthemove

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Angelina Jolie Pitt: displacement affects 1 in every 122 people #worldonthemove

A day-long programming strand across the BBC on Monday examined the big picture of migration and compared today’s movements of people with historic displacement. UNHCR special envoy Angelina Jolie Pitt was interviewed by journalist Mishal Husain. “Over sixty million people are displaced today, more than at any time in the last 70 years – that…

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Tracking migration by data across Mediterranean routes into Europe

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Tracking migration by data across Mediterranean routes into Europe

The International Organization for Migration develop the Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM), a system to track and monitor the location, displacement, vulnerabilities and needs of affected populations throughout crises. Their published European Migration Flows diagram visually explains the patterns and trends of arrivals to Europe during this year. They usefully report on the main nationalities arriving in European…

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Talk: The Syria Refugee Situation – sign of a new world disorder? (17 May in Glasgow)

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Talk: The Syria Refugee Situation – sign of a new world disorder? (17 May in Glasgow)

On Tuesday 17 May, the UNHCR’s head of policy development and evaluation services Ewen Macleod is speaking at the University of Glasgow in the Sir Charles Wilson Building (1 University Avenue, Glasgow, G12 8QQ). The Syria Refugee Situation – sign of a new world disorder? Ewen has been employed by the United Nations and the…

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City of Coventry supporting refugees (UNHCR)

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City of Coventry supporting refugees (UNHCR)

The UNHCR website has reported on support being offered refugees in Coventry. Coventry was among the first three local councils in the UK to participate in the Vulnerable Persons Relocations Scheme for Syrian refugees, so far welcoming 166 people into the city. You can read about the Ejrf family (from Quneitra on Syria’s Golan Heights),…

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Aid organisations scale back work in Greece as they react to EU-Turkey deal

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Aid organisations scale back work in Greece as they react to EU-Turkey deal

The UNHRC, the United Nations’ refugee agency, is scaling back its assistance to refugees landing on Greek shores. A UNHRC spokesperson explained: “UNHCR has till now been supporting the authorities in the so-called hotspots on the Greek islands, where refugees and migrants were received, assisted, and registered. “Under the new provisions, these sites have now…

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