Worsening conditions inside Syria and the region fuel despair, driving thousands towards Europe
GENEVA, Sept 8 (UNHCR) –Deteriorating conditions in Syria and neighbouring countries are driving thousands of Syrians to risk everything on perilous journeys to Europe, the UN refugee agency cautioned on Tuesday. As the crisis digs deeper into its fifth year with no...
An Education, Multiplied
Aqeela Asifi, a schoolteacher who has helped more than 1,000 refugee girls complete their primary education since she fled Afghanistan two decades ago, was today named the winner of the 2015 Nansen Refugee Award. UNHCR, which presents the award annually, cited her...UNHCR praises the Government of Nova Scotia for its exemplary generous contribution to the Syrian refugee crisis
OTTAWA, Canada, September 8 (UNHCR) – The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Canada thanks the People and the Government of Nova Scotia for their inspiring generous contribution of 50,000 Canadian dollars toward UNHCR’s...
Iris scan system provides cash lifeline to Syrian refugees in Jordan
AMMAN, Jordan, March 23 (UNHCR)– Sitting in the cold, windowless basement of an apartment block that he shares with his wife and two young children in Amman, Abu Ahmad describes himself as “one of the lucky ones.” The small damp room that serves as the...
UNHCR chief issues key guidelines for dealing with Europe’s refugee crisis
GENEVA, Sept 4, (UNHCR)—The head of the UN refugee agency António Guterres, emphasizing the European Union faced a “defining moment”, has laid out a set of key guidelines which he says should underpin all efforts to resolve the current refugee and...
Crossings of Mediterranean Sea exceed 300,000, including 200,000 to Greece
GENEVA, Aug 28 (UNHCR) – More than 300,000 refugees and migrants have used the dangerous sea route across the Mediterranean so far this year with almost 200,000 of them landing in Greece and a further 110,000 in Italy. The UN refugee agency, revealing the latest...
Abandoned at Sea
In May of this year, at least 5,000 refugees and migrants from Myanmar and Bangladesh found themselves stranded at sea when the people smugglers and ship crews who had promised to take them to Malaysia abandoned them en masse in the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea....
UNHCR assists refugees at Greece-FYR Macedonia border, where calm is returning
GENEVA, Aug 24 (UNHCR) – The UN Refugee Agency has been helping refugees and migrants amid chaotic scenes in the past few days at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia as thousands of people tried to cross into FYR Macedonia. The...