Freed from Boko Haram, Nigerians still need help
MONGUNO, Nigeria – Tens of thousands of Nigerians liberated from Boko Haram face a desperate lack of food that has left some children severely malnourished and families struggling to make ends meet, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency warned today. Children are being sent on...
Somali refugee student proves it’s never too late to learn
For most of her life, Nawa watched as other children went to school. As a refugee, and a girl at that, she was told there was no place for her to learn in the classroom. That looked set to continue when she arrived in Malaysia, where refugees do not have access to...
Mother inspires daughter to academic success
Aisha Slaybi was determined that nothing, not bullets, bombs or war, would force her to take her family away from their home in Aleppo until her teenage daughter had graduated from high school. It was May 30, 2014, and in 10 days’ time her daughter, Fatima Alzahraa...UNHCR welcomes recommendation of Guterres as Secretary-General
UNHCR warmly welcomes the recommendation by the UN Security Council of its former High Commissioner, António Guterres, as the next United Nations Secretary-General. “During his ten years at UNHCR, Mr. Guterres managed some of the biggest refugee crises of our times,”...
Solidarity “essential” to refugee protection
GENEVA – With wars and violence uprooting record numbers of people worldwide, UNHCR’s international protection chief today called for a renewed spirit of multilateralism and solidarity to provide effective refugee protection and curb xenophobia. In a speech to the...
Struggle to resume life after Ukraine conflict
Andrei Lubyanoy is raising his three young daughters alone, a noble task that is difficult under any circumstances. In the Luhansk region of eastern Ukraine, it is even more daunting. During the 2014 hostilities, which cost thousands of lives and uprooted hundreds of...
Greater solidarity needed with displaced
GENEVA – In an age of soaring global displacement, countries must transcend their national interests and come together to curb large-scale suffering, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and the head of the UN Refugee Agency, Filippo Grandi, declared today. In keynote...
Fights for lifejackets as boat capsized off Egypt
ALEXANDRIA, Egypt – As a fishing trawler packed with hundreds of people flipped and sank off the coast of Egypt last week, Somali Abshiro* suddenly found herself in the water as those drowning clawed at her life jacket. “I have been fighting for my life in the water,...