UNHCR welcomes change in Nauru's detention policy
Press Releases, 5 October 2015
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees welcomes Nauru's decision to end the detention of asylum-seekers and to clear pending asylum claims promptly.
On Monday, the Government of Nauru announced that, effective immediately, its Regional Processing Centre hosting asylum-seekers would become an "open centre" 24 hours a day and that all asylum-seekers would be free to move around the island. The Government also committed to processing some 600 pending asylum applications in the next week, and to enhancing support for the local integration of refugees and asylum-seekers in the country
These moves are in line with UNHCR's global strategy to end the detention of asylum-seekers and refugees, which calls on States to pursue workable alternatives to detention.
- Contact: Boipelo Besele +61 2 6281 9108
Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid
With eight relief flights and an earlier truck convoy from nearby Thailand, UNHCR had by June 6, 2008 moved 430 tonnes of shelter and basic household supplies into Myanmar to help as many as 130,000 victims of Cyclone Nargis. The aid includes plastic sheeting, plastic rolls, mosquito nets, blankets and kitchen sets. Once the aid arrives in the country it is quickly distributed.
On the outskirts of the city of Yangon – which was also hit by the cyclone – and in the Irrawady delta, some families have been erecting temporary shelters made out of palm leaf thatching. But they desperately need plastic sheeting to keep out the monsoon rains.
Posted on 12 June 2008
Myanmar Cyclone Victims Still Need Aid
Returnees in Myanmar
During the early 1990s, more than 250,000 Rohingya Muslims fled across the border into Bangladesh, citing human rights abuses by Myanmar's military government. In exile, refugees received shelter and assistance in 20 camps in the Cox's Bazaar region of Bangladesh. More than 230,000 of the Rohingya Muslims have returned since 1992, but about 22,000 still live in camps in Bangladesh. To promote stability in returnee communities in Myanmar and to help this group of re-integrate into their country, UNHCR and its partner agencies provide monitors to insure the protection and safety of the returnees as well as vocational training, income generation schemes, adult literacy programs and primary education.
Returnees in Myanmar
Refugees from Myanmar: Ethnic Karens Seek Shelter
Over 2,000 refugees from Myanmar have crossed the border into Thailand in recent months. Most claim to be fleeing renewed conflict and human rights abuses in Kayin state, Myanmar. The mainly ethnic Karen refugees say their houses and villages have been burned and civilians killed. Many were weak upon arrival, suffering from illnesses such as malaria, after a long, dangerous journey to the camps through heavily mined areas. The refugees have been arriving at government-run camps, mainly in the Mae Hong Son area in northern Thailand.
UNHCR is working with the Thai government and non-governmental organisations to ensure the new arrivals are admitted to the camps and provided with adequate shelter and protection. Shelter has been a major issue as the capacity in many refugee camps has been overwhelmed. In a breakthrough in mid-May, Thai authorities agreed to build proper houses for the new arrivals.
There are currently 140,000 refugees from Myanmar living in nine border camps in Thailand, many of them have been there for up to 20 years.
Refugees from Myanmar: Ethnic Karens Seek Shelter
There are more refugees and displaced people now than at any time since the Second World War
To help them, to know who they are, to give them support now and in the future UNHCR must use the most modern tools available. UNHCR plans to capture refugees' biometrics in up to 10 countries this year, and in all its operations by 2018.
Thailand: Nader, a saxophonist from Syria - World Refugee Day 2015
"Music has helped me in everything - morally, financially, even my manners." Nader is a third-generation refugee.
Displaced women sew up a future in Kachin camp
Conflict in Myanmar's Kachin state has displaced tens of thousands. In the town of Laiza, UNHCR is helping women in Hpun Lum Yang camp to learn tailoring skills as part of a pilot project to foster cohesion among IDP women in the camp and help them find solutions for the practical problems they and their community face.
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