Lebanon’s ‘Fun Bus’ offers kids a respite from street work
Joint UNHCR and EU scheme offers Syrian refugees and other children a safe space to learn and play, as part of wider push to get kids out of work and into school. By Dalal Mawad in Beirut, Lebanon On a recent afternoon in a drab neighborhood in the west of Lebanon’s...
Yemenis’ battle to survive deepens as conflict grinds on
Nearly four years of war have left 24.1 million children, women and men in urgent need of food, shelter, medical care and schooling. By Bathoul Ahmed in Aden, Yemen When she wakes up in her family’s fragile shack each morning, Hamamah faces the bitter reality of war...
Beyond Roxham Road: a story on irregular border crossing
18 months after having crossed the U.S.-Canada border irregularly, a Haitian refugee is doing what it takes to succeed in Canada By Gisèle Nyembwe in Montreal, Canada Pierre reaches into his backpack and searches calmly through a bunch of documents. He takes out a...
Opinion: We have a common responsibility to fight anti-refugee rhetoric
You have often heard us at UNHCR raising the alarm about populist rhetoric that demonizes refugees, asylum seekers or migrants. In Canada, like in many Western countries these days, terms such as “illegals” or “refugee crisis” are used to describe those arriving at...
Harry Leslie Smith’s son follows in his footsteps
John Smith is determined to carry on Harry Leslie Smith’s legacy of advocating for refugees In a previous story, UNHCR Canada wrote about Harry Leslie Smith, the 95-year-old social justice activist who was travelling the world advocating for refugees, his every...
From refugee to Rhodes scholar
Drawing on her past, a young Manitoban is changing future conversations about refugees in Canada When Annette Riziki’s mom heard that her daughter had received a Rhodes scholarship late last year, she danced around their Winnipeg living room, telling Annette, “I told...
Venezuelan outflow continues unabated, stands now at 3.4 million
Joint UNHCR-IOM press release Geneva, 19 February, 2019 – The number of refugees and migrants from Venezuela worldwide now stands at 3.4 million, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, announced today. According to...
Helping through hardship: Rebuilding lives in Yemen
How UNHCR is helping thousands struggling to survive in Yemen After intense fighting broke out in her home city of Hodeidah, Rahaf and her family were forced to seek safety in Aden, in southern Yemen. After a difficult two-day journey spent on the road, her family...