UNHCR troubled by latest U.S. refugee resettlement cut
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is troubled by the U.S. decision announced today to reduce, substantially and for the third consecutive year, the number of refugees it will admit for resettlement in the United States over the coming year. The admissions ceiling of...
UNHCR statement on the death of former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata
Former UN High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata, who led UNHCR from 1991 to 2000, passed away in Tokyo, Japan, her family has announced. “Mrs. Ogata was a visionary leader who steered UNHCR through one of the most momentous decades in its history, transforming...
Training refugees and Ethiopians for the job market
A vocational programme funded by the German government teaches skills such as cooking, woodworking and mechanics to refugees and their hosts. By Katie Nguyen in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia All morning, Hanan Seif Hassan, a 32-year-old refugee from Yemen, and her friends...
Somali refugees return home from Yemen in latest UNHCR-facilitated departure
More than 4,800 Somali refugees have now returned home from Yemen since UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, commenced an Assisted Spontaneous Return (ASR) programme in 2017. In the latest departure, a boat carrying 114 Somali refugees left the Port of Aden on Monday and...
EU, IOM and UNHCR express solidarity with Venezuelan refugees and migrants
Joint communique by co-chairs of the International Solidarity Conference on the Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant crisis, Brussels, 28-29 October 2019. The International Solidarity Conference on the Venezuelan Refugee and Migrant Crisis held in Brussels on 28-29 October...
UNHCR expanding response in northern Iraq amid continuing Syrian refugee influx
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Andrej Mahecic – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. More than 12,000 Syrian refugees have sought shelter in neighbouring Iraq since the...
Refugee returns to Burundi must be voluntary and not under pressure
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is repeating its call to ensure that refugee returns from Tanzania to Burundi remain voluntary and not under pressure, following a bilateral agreement between the two governments in August this year to increase return rates. Recently, we...
Good Samaritan opens her home to Venezuelan women and children in need
Two years ago, a Colombian housewife decided to turn her home into a makeshift shelter for refugees and migrants on a grueling trek to safety. By Jenny Barchfield in Pamplona, Colombia In the mid-1970s, Marta Duque’s father sent her from her home in the Colombian city...