Life-saving evacuations from Libya to Rwanda resume after nearly a year
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. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has evacuated yesterday evening (Thursday 19 Nov) a group...
Asylum seekers tell of relief as they leave Libya for Rwanda
As life-saving evacuation flights to Rwanda resume after nearly a year-long hiatus due to COVID-19, vulnerable asylum seekers put their ordeals in Libya behind them. By Caroline Gluck in Tripoli, Libya Wrapped in a white headscarf and keeping her six-year-old son...
‘Leave no one behind’ in national health plans – UNHCR Assistant High Commissioner for Operations
Addressing this year’s High Commissioner’s Dialogue on Protection, Raouf Mazou, shines a spotlight on the need for inclusion when it comes to health policies. By UNHCR staff The COVID-19 pandemic highlights the need to include refugees and displaced people in...
UNHCR warns 2020 risks lowest resettlement levels in recent history
2020 will be a record low for refugee resettlement, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns today. “We are dealing with a disappointingly low resettlement ceiling to begin with – a quota of less than 50,000 for the entire year – and this was further impacted...
‘It was a very emotional moment … I felt that now I definitely exist’
After a lifetime of statelessness, Linda finally gained Russian citizenship in 2018. But hundreds of thousands of others across Europe still struggle to attain that basic right. By Dinara Galakhova in Moscow Linda’s life in Russia shows what it means to overcome...
Pace of Ethiopian refugee arrivals in Sudan unseen in the last two decades
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. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is warning that a full-scale humanitarian crisis is...
Aid urgently needed for Ethiopians streaming into Sudan
Over 27,000 Ethiopians have fled ongoing fighting in the Tigray region for safety in Sudan. Food, shelter and medicine are among urgent requirements. By UNHCR staff in Hamdayet, Sudan When gunfire erupted, Gannite tried to make sense of the scene unfolding in her...
Proud camels and peaceful doves: gifts with meaning
UNHCR’s online marketplace, MADE51, offers ornaments handmade by refugee artisans By Sarah Schafer As a child, Kapya Kitungwa’s father would return home from the Congolese forest lugging pieces of wood. He would chop and carve until the pieces transformed into masks...