Countries review progress on global migration compact
19/5/2022: The UN is reviewing progress towards implementing the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration, adopted by governments in 2018 to establish rights-based legal pathways for migration. At least 8,436 migrant deaths were recorded globally between 1 January 2019 and 24 November 2021, the result of unregulated migration by human traffickers.
Source: UN News
UN funding appeal for mass displacement from Ukraine
26/4/2022: The UN Refugee Agency has launched an appeal for $1.85 billion to support a projected 8.3 million refugees in countries neighbouring Ukraine. The war has uprooted more than 12.7 million people in the past two months alone – of whom 7.7 million remain displaced inside the country.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
UN calls for urgent action amid soaring deaths at sea
29/4/2022: More than 3,000 people died or went missing in 2021 while attempting to cross the Central and Western Mediterranean and Atlantic to Europe. This is almost double the comparable figure for 2020.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
UN fears UK legislation will undermine refugee protection
27/4/2022: The Nationality and Borders Bill approved by the UK Parliament will relegate the status of refugees, according to the head of the UN Refugee Agency. Filippo Grandi warns that the potential to deny refugees their right to seek asylum in the UK is potentially at variance with the Refugee Convention.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
UN Refugee Agency opposes UK-Rwanda plan to export asylum
14/4/2022: The UN Refugee Agency opposes the UK-Rwanda plan as shifting asylum responsibilities and evading international obligations of the Refugee Convention. The Agency maintains that developed countries host only a fraction of the world’s refugees and have the capacity to manage asylum claims themselves.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
Poland has worked a refugee miracle
6/4/2022: About one in 10 people in Poland is now Ukrainian. In six weeks, 2.5 million Ukrainians (along with thousands of pets) have arrived in the country. As war grinds on, some fear the ‘full’ sign must go up soon.
Source: The Guardian
UN Refugee Agency calls for sustained funding for Rohingya refugees
29/3/2022: As global displacement continues to rise, the UN Refugee Agency and partners are emphasizing the need to ensure that the Rohingya situation does not become a forgotten crisis. The 2022 appeal for the Rohingya Humanitarian Crisis seeks more than US$881 million to support approximately 1.4 million people.
Source: UN Refugee Agency
Refugees deserve language of humanity, not crisis
29/3/2022: The current outpouring of support for Ukrainian refugees may be jeopardised by the many human rights groups, aid organisations, and media outlets that are using inappropriate crisis headlines. The language of fear leaves the door open to divisive politicians who scapegoat refugees.
Source: The New Humanitarian
Lessons to learn from EU’s generous response to Ukraine refugees
9/3/2022: The European Union as a bloc moved quickly to grant temporary protection to all Ukrainians without the delays and bureaucracy of the normal asylum procedure. Geopolitical considerations and proximity do not fully explain the contrast with Europe's harsh response to people fleeing other wars and crises.
Source: Human Rights Watch
UNHCR calls on UK to amend Nationality and Borders Bill
2/3/2022: The UN Refugee Agency calls on the UK government to back amendments made to the Nationality and Borders Bill which have been passed in the House of Lords. The Bill threatened to remove the rights of refugees claiming asylum in direct breach of the Refugee Convention.
Source: UN Refugee Agency