unhcr

All countries should join efforts to invest in the education of refugee children to ensure a bright future for them. The call was made yesterday by the Pakistan-born 2014 Nobel laureate, Malala Yousafzai, while visiting Mahama refugee camp in Kirehe District, which is home for over 49,000 Burundian refugees.

UNHCR is calling for urgent action before the end of the monsoon season unleashes a new wave of people leaving on boats from the Bay of Bengal. [...] With the next "sailing season" expected to start in the coming weeks, UNHCR is working with agencies and other partners on an information campaign warning potential travelers of the risks of getting on smugglers' boats.

On Tuesday, Kenya, Somalia and the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) said they had formally nominated four representatives each to a team. Kenya's Foreign Cabinet Secretary Amina Mohamed told reporters in Nairobi that the commission will help the three parties "discuss ideas" that will see a faster return of refugees to Somalia.

A photo of a 4-year-old Syrian refugee in the desert and surrounded by humanitarian workers became a sensation online - as did the media covering it, after many questioned the narrative behind the photo. The picture sparked a storm of articles covering the story of a Syrian child crossing the desert alone.

Australians online have reacted with ire to reports that the visa application fee for journalists visiting the Pacific island of Nauru will skyrocket from $200 to $8,000 AUD ($7,100). Nauru, a country with a population of fewer than 10,000, is home to one of Australia's offshore detention centres, where unauthorised asylum seekers who land in Australia by boat are deported. According to Australia's Department of Immigration and Border Protection, there are 686 people, including 109 children, currently held in immigration detention in Nauru as of November 30.

November 22, 2013

A poster of King Abdullah II hangs, lopsided, on a peeling white wall over 34 Sudanese men crouched on the floor. Their eyes turn to Mohamedain Suliman as he enters, one hand touching his black beret in greeting. Ahlan wa sahlan. One man steps forward to welcome the 55-year-old, Darfur-born Suliman, who commands respect as the unofficial Sudanese liaison for the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the oldest man in the room.

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