Maintain aid levels to save lives and protect the vulnerable, UN refugee chief
During the pandemic, sustaining aid will mitigate marginalization that will be more costly to address later, Filippo Grandi tells high-level meeting. By UNHCR staff GENEVA – Maintaining levels of humanitarian aid is a comparatively inexpensive way to save lives and...
UNHCR launches new portal with verified higher education opportunities for refugees
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has launched a first-of-its kind platform providing verified information on higher education programs available to refugees worldwide. Developed in response to needs expressed by refugee students, the UNHCR Opportunities site intends to...
As COVID-19 pandemic roils Latin America, Venezuelans face wave of evictions
Lockdown job losses make it impossible for many vulnerable Venezuelan refugees and migrants to keep a roof over their heads. By Ángela Méndez Triviño in Riohacha, Colombia, and Ilaria Rápido in Quito, Ecuador In Riohacha, a city on Colombia´s north-eastern coast,...
Conflict in Somalia forced long-lost relatives to flee decades apart
An unexpected connection brought them together in Canada By Lauren La Rose Sharing a birthplace and a mutual Facebook connection made it easy for Ali Wasuge and Iqra Ali Gaal to forge a friendship online. Yet after exchanging details about life in their homeland of...
A Syrian refugee returns to entrepreneurial roots in Canada
Back in business “I know I lost everything back home. But I found here some people to help me” Shortly after arriving in Canada, it didn’t take long for Ahmad Abed to reignite his entrepreneurial spirit. After resettling in Guelph, Ontario, the Syrian...
Colombian child rights defender wins UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award
This year’s laureate of the Nansen Refugee Award – a humanitarian prize given annually by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency – is an educator who has spent more than 20 years rescuing sexually exploited and trafficked children, many of them refugees. Mayerlín...
Hardships multiply for older refugees amid COVID-19 pandemic
SAN JOSE, Costa Rica – Despite suffering knee problems and hypertension, 69-year-old Nicaraguan asylum-seeker Esperanza* used to get up at dawn every day to pick coffee to support her family in Costa Rica. “Being old makes it hard to do the kinds of jobs we have to do...
Colombian woman devotes life to helping sexually exploited children heal
Mayerlín Vergara Pérez wins Nansen Refugee Award for her work helping young survivors of sexual violence, many of them refugees, rebuild their lives. By Jenny Barchfield Mayerlín Vergara Pérez sleeps with her phone on the pillow. As the director of a home for dozens...