An estimated 13 million people were affected when Typhoon Haiyan struck the central Philippines on November 8. Thousands were killed and about 3 million are believed to be displaced - some of them living in evacuation sites, others on the ruins of their former homes. Tacloban City in Leyte province was one of the hardest-hit areas. A week after the typhoon made landfall, large parts of its coast remain flattened and piles of debris still line the streets. Working with the Philippines government and UN and NGO partners, UNHCR is airlifting emergency supplies for thousands of survivors. The agency is delivering tents, plastic sheets, mosquito nets and other critical aid. It is also co-leading the protection cluster with the government, working to identify vulnerable people and ensuring that they have access to basic assistance and services. UNHCR has appealed for US$15 million to meet these critical needs. UNHCR is now present in Tacloban and Ormoc in Leyte province, as well as Guiuan in Eastern Samar province.

De Congolese non Angélique Namaika is door VN-Vluchtelingenorganisatie UNHCR uitgeroepen als winnaar van de Nansen Refugee Award 2013. Zuster Angélique heeft honderden vrouwen geholpen die slachtoffer zijn van verkrachting en misbruik door de Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) en andere groeperingen in het noord-oosten van Democratische Republiek Congo (DRC). Zuster Angélique heeft met haar ‘Centrum voor Reïntegratie en Ontwikkeling’ de levens van meer dan 2000 vrouwen en meisjes veranderd die slachtoffer zijn van de LRA. De LRA maakt zich schuldig aan mensenrechtenschendingen zoals ontvoering, dwangarbeid, verminking en verkrachting. Zuster Angélique werkt op een locatie waar elektriciteit, stromend water en verharde wegen schaars zijn. Het gebrek aan goede hulpmiddelen schrikt haar niet af. Het leed van de vrouwen en meisjes verzachten en samen met hun aan een nieuwe toekomst te werken is haar levenswerk geworden. 

With Syria’s civil war well into its third year, the United Nations estimates that there are now more than 1 million Syrian children living outside their country as refugees. They include eight-year-old Aya, who was forced to flee with her family to Lebanon in 2011. They now live in an informal settlement with more than a thousand other refugees, surrounded by tomato, pepper and carrot fields in the fertile Bekaa Valley. The young girl is curious about everything and loves to learn, but she hasn’t been able to go to school for most of the past two years. She dreams of studying and wants to become a paediatrician one day. But her father is sick and unemployed and cannot afford the monthly fee of US$20 for the bus to the nearest school. While her siblings work in the fields to make money, Aya stays behind to care for her sister Labiba, aged 11, who lives with disability. Her family says Aya is tough, but also has a very sunny disposition that rubs off on others.

With Syria’s civil war well into its third year, another depressing marker has been crossed – one million Syrian children now live as refugees. The milestone comes as nearly 2 million Syrians – adults and children – have fled violence into other countries. Below are a series of UNHCR photos, available to media to illustrate this topic.

Some of the most vulnerable Syrian refugees are children who have sought shelter in urban areas with their families. Unlike those in camps, refugees living in towns and cities in countries like Iraq, Turkey and Jordan often find it difficult to gain access to aid and protection. In a refugee camp, it is easier for humanitarian aid organizations such as UNHCR to provide shelter and regular assistance, including food, health care and education. Finding refugees in urban areas, let alone helping them, is no easy task.

In Iraq, about 100,000 of the 143,000 Syrian refugees are believed to be living in urban areas - some 40 per cent of them are children aged under 18 years. The following photographs, taken in the northern city of Erbil by Brian Sokol, give a glimpse into the lives of some of these young urban refugees. They show the harshness of daily life as well as the resilience, adaptability and spirit of young people whose lives have been overturned in the past two years.

Life is difficult in Erbil, capital of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The cost of living is high and it is difficult to find work. The refugees must also spend a large part of their limited resources on rent. UNHCR and its partners, including the Kurdish Regional Government, struggle to help the needy.

What would you bring with you if you had to flee your home and escape to another country? More than 1 million Syrians have been forced to ponder this question before making the dangerous flight to neighbouring Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Iraq or other countries in the region.

This is the second part of a project that asks refugees from different parts of the world, “What is the most important thing you brought from home?” The first instalment focused on refugees fleeing from Sudan to South Sudan, who openly carried pots, water containers and other objects to sustain them along the road.

By contrast, people seeking sanctuary from the conflict in Syria must typically conceal their intentions by appearing as though they are out for a family stroll or a Sunday drive as they make their way towards a border. Thus they carry little more than keys, pieces of paper, phones and bracelets – things that can be worn or concealed in pockets. Some Syrians bring a symbol of their religious faith, others clutch a reminder of home or of happier times.

Hassan is a qualified surgeon, but by a twist of fate he now finds himself specializing in the treatment of refugees. In 2006, as conflict raged in Iraq, he spent 10 weeks treating hundreds of ill and injured Iraqis at a refugee camp in eastern Syria.

Six years later his own world turned upside down. Fleeing the bloodshed in his native Syria, Doctor Hassan escaped to neighbouring Iraq in May 2012 and sought refuge in the homeland of his former patients. “I never imagined that I would one day be a refugee myself,” he says. “It’s like a nightmare.”

Like many refugees, Hassan looked for ways to put his skills to use and support his family. At Domiz Refugee Camp in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, he found work in a clinic run by Médecins Sans Frontières. He works long hours, mainly treating diarrhoea and other preventable illnesses. More than half of his patients are Syrian refugee children – not unlike his own two boys.

During the two days that a UNHCR photographer followed Hassan, he rarely stood still for more than a few minutes. His day was a blur of clinical visits punctuated by quick meals and hurried hellos. When not working in the clinic, he was making house calls to refugees’ tents late into the night.

Since the conflict in Syria erupted in April 2011, the government of neighbouring Turkey has established 17 camps in eight provinces to provide safety and shelter to tens of thousands of refugees – three-quarters of them women and children. The camps, including Adiyaman depicted here, provide a place to live and address the basic physical needs of the residents, but they also provide access to health care, education, vocational training and other forms of psychosocial support.

UNHCR teams are present on a regular basis in all the refugee camps and provide technical assistance to the Turkish authorities on all protection-related concerns, including registration, camp management, specific needs and vulnerabilities, and voluntary repatriation. UNHCR has contributed tents, cooking facilities and other relief items. The refugee agency is also working with the government to help an estimated 100,000 Syrian urban refugees. It will continue its material and technical support to help the authorities cope with an increase in arrivals. The following images of camp life were taken by American photographer, Brian Sokol, in Adiyaman camp, located in Turkey’s Gaziantep province. At the start of February 2013, nearly 10,000 Syrian refugees were living in the camp.

While the situation in the north of Mali remains volatile, some displaced families have decided to return to their homes. After using public transportation to reach Mopti, they set off by boat on a two-day journey in order to reach Timbuktu. The majority of those displaced say they will wait to see how the security and humanitarian situation evolves before returning to their homes. The conflict in northern Mali has forced 241,000 people to flee their homes for safer locations elsewhere in the country.

The UN refugee agency at the end of January completed a first delivery of winter emergency relief to the Azzas area of northern Syria, where thousands of internally displaced people are living in makeshift camps, as well as to the Kerama camp. An eight-truck convoy transported 2,000 tents and 15,000 blankets from Latakia on the Syrian coast to an area between Aleppo and the Syrian-Turkish border. The recipients were delighted with the aid after months of suffering.

The operation was possible thanks to the logistics support of the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, the agreement and cooperation of the Syrian government and facilitation by the Syrian National Coalition. This allowed the convoy to safely reach people in need, in a strictly humanitarian and non-political operation.

In early February, almost 790,000 Syrians in neighbouring countries were either registered as refugees or awaiting registration. A further 4 million people inside Syria were affected by the crisis, including an estimated 2.5 million internally displaced people.

Life in Jordan’s Za’atri refugee camp is hard. Scorching hot in the summer and freezing cold in the winter, this flat, arid patch of land near the border with Syria was almost empty when the camp opened in July. Today, it hosts more than 31,000 Syrians who have fled the conflict in their country.

The journey to Jordan is perilous. Refugees cross the Syrian-Jordan border at night in temperatures that now hover close to freezing. Mothers try to keep their children quiet during the journey. It is a harrowing experience and not everyone makes it across.

In Za’atri, refugees are allocated a tent and given sleeping mats, blankets and food on arrival. But as winter approaches, UNHCR is working with partners to ensure that all refugees will be protected from the elements. This includes upgrading tents and moving the most vulnerable to prefabricated homes, now being installed.

Through the Norwegian Refugee Council, UNHCR has also distributed thousands of winter kits that include thermal liners, insulated ground pads and metal sheeting to build sheltered kitchen areas outside tents. Warmer clothes and more blankets will also be distributed where needed.

By mid-September, more than 200,000 Syrian refugees had crossed the border into Turkey. UNHCR estimates that half of them are children, and many have seen their homes destroyed in the conflict before fleeing to the border and safety.

The Turkish authorities have responded by building well-organized refugee camps along southern Turkey’s border with Syria. These have assisted 120,000 refugees since the conflict erupted in Syria. There are currently 12 camps hosting 90,000 refugees, while four more are under construction. The government has spent approximately US$300 million to date, and it continues to manage the camps and provide food and medical services.

The UN refugee agency has provided the Turkish government with tents, blankets and kitchen sets for distribution to the refugees. UNHCR also provides advice and guidelines, while staff from the organization monitor voluntary repatriation of refugees.

Most of the refugees crossing into Turkey come from areas of northern Syria, including the city of Aleppo. Some initially stayed in schools or other public buildings, but they have since been moved into the camps, where families live in tents or container homes and all basic services are available.

Ter afsluiting van de Kinderboekenweek werd er een markt georganiseerd in het atrium van het stadhuis van Den Haag. UNHCR was ook vertegenwoordigd met een kraampje voor het project 'Ook naar school in Dadaad'! Alle kindjes konden daar direct hun persoonlijke boodschap naar de vluchtelingkinderen in Kenia sturen. Onder diegene die dat deden werden bovendien een heleboel leuke prijzen verloot! Hierbij een impressie van de dag.

Op 23 september was het zover: alle Haagse burgers kregen de mogelijkheid om een kijkje in de keuken te nemen van de internationale organisaties en ambassades die in de hofstad zetelen. Op deze zondag werd namelijk voor de vijfde keer de zogenaamde HID gehouden, de Haagse Internationale Dag. De grootste trekpleister was het ‘World Forum’, waar duizenden bezoekers de markt bezochten waar een recordaantal van zestig stands van internationale organisaties en ambassades was opgezet en waar ook UNHCR een stand had.

UNHCR verwelkomde alle bezoekers voor het gebouw, waar een vluchtelingentent was opgezet. Iedereen kon binnen in de tent kijken en zo zelf te ervaren hoe vluchtelingen wereldwijd dagelijks leven. De dag was een groot succes, met zo'n drieduizend bezoekers. Deze liepen bij aan- en terugkomst over de ‘ Haagse Brug’, die symbolisch was opgesteld als verbinding tussen de internationale gemeenschap en de Hagenaar. Met een ‘patatje vrede’ in de hand konden alle bezoekers ter afsluiting buiten weer even opladen en terugkijken op een leuke dag.

In her new role as UNHCR Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie has made five trips to visit refugees so far this year. She travelled to Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey in September 2012 to meet some of the tens of thousands of Syrians who have fled conflict in their homeland and sought shelter in neighbouring countries. Jolie wrapped up her Middle East visit in Iraq, where she met Syrian refugees in the north as well as internally displaced Iraqis and refugee returnees to Baghdad.

As world concern grows over the plight of hundreds of thousands of displaced Syrians, including more than 200,000 refugees, UNHCR staff are working around the clock to provide vital assistance in neighbouring countries. At the political level, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres was due on Thursday (August 30, 2012) to address a closed UN Security Council session on Syria.

Large numbers have crossed into Lebanon to escape the violence in Syria. By the end of August, more than 53,000 Syrians across Lebanon had registered or received appointments to be registered. UNHCR’s operations for Syrian refugees in Tripoli and the Bekaa Valley resumed on August 28 after being briefly suspended due to insecurity.

Many of the refugees are staying with host families in some of the poorest areas of Lebanon or in public buildings, including schools. This is a concern as the school year starts soon. UNHCR is urgently looking for alternative shelter. The majority of the people looking for safety in Lebanon are from Homs, Aleppo and Daraa and more than half are aged under 18. As the conflict in Syria continues, the situation of the displaced Syrians in Lebanon remains precarious.

Some 3,900 Malian refugees are living in Damba camp in northern Burkina Faso. They left their homes in Gossi and Gao in northern Mali to escape fighting between rebel Tuareg movement and the Malian army as well as threats posed by criminal gangs and Islamist groups. Several families have recently arrived in the camp, worried that an attack on Gao in June will spill over to other towns. Life is harsh in the camp and UNHCR urgently needs fresh funds to ensure life-saving assistance for this silent humanitarian crisis.

More than 380,000 Malians have been forced to flee their homes this year. Over 65,000 of them have found refuge in Burkina Faso. And this comes at a time when the countries in the Sahel region are suffering from drought and food shortfalls.

Een groot aantal mensenrechten- en vluchtelingenorganisaties hield op woensdag 20 juni 2012, Wereldvluchtelingendag,een manifestatie voor kinderrechten op het Spuiplein in Den Haag.

Tijdens deze manifestatie voor kinderrechten legden asielzoekerskinderen hun zaken voor aan een 'rechtscollege' dat, aan de hand van een Verklaring voor Kinderrecht, beoordeelde of het Nederlandse beleid voldoet aan de normen van het Kinderrechtenverdrag van de Verenigde Naties.

De verklaring voor kinderrechten werd aan de vaste Kamercommissie voor Immigratie en Asiel overhandigd.

Op 21 mei is de campagne ‘Ook naar school in Dadaab’ gestart, waarin aandacht wordt gevraagd voor het belang van onderwijs en een dagelijkse schoolmaaltijd voor kinderen in vluchtelingenkamp Dadaab in Kenia. Lauren Verster, special volunteer voor de VN-vluchtelingenorganisatie UNHCR, gaf samen met leerlingen uit Den Haag het startsein in het Haagse stadhuis. ‘Ook naar school in Dadaab’ is een gezamenlijk project van UNHCR en het United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) en wordt mogelijk gemaakt door de Nationale Postcode Loterij. Het project heeft tot doel jonge Somalische vluchtelingen tussen 3 en 24 jaar een beter toekomstperspectief te bieden met goed onderwijs en schoolmaaltijdprogramma’s.

Programmamaakster en presentatrice Lauren Verster is op 10 mei 2012 teruggekomen van een bezoek aan Dadaab in Kenia; het grootste vluchtelingenkamp ter wereld. Lauren is Special Volunteer voor de VN Vluchtelingenorganisatie UNHCR. Dit bezoek werd gebracht in het kader van het gemeenschappelijk project van UNHCR en WFP, ‘Ook naar School in Dadaab’, mogelijk gemaakt door de Nederlandse Postcode Loterij.

Voor Lauren was dit haar eerste bezoek aan een vluchtelingenkamp als Special Volunteer voor UNHCR. Ze vertrok naar Dadaab op de dag na Bevrijdingsdag: “De ene dag vier je de vrijheid in Nederland, om een dag later aan te komen bij mensen die voor oorlog moesten vluchten en alles achter moesten laten. Dat is heftig”.

Ook afgelopen jaar was UNHCR aanwezig op het Bevrijdingsfestival in Den Haag, op het Spuiplein. De grote UNHCR vluchtelingentent trok veel belangstelling, het "wie is vluchteling" spel werd vaak gespeeld en vele mensen hebben hun boodschap op het bord geschreven. Onder andere Nick en Simon, en Ali B, zorgden voor de muziek bij het festival.

Renewed attacks this year by the rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in north-east Democratic Republic of the Congo have led to the forced displacement of thousands of civilians. At least 33 villages have been attacked since January by the Ugandan rebel group, including 13 in March alone. More than 4,230 people have been displaced, some of them for the second or third time. These internally displaced people (IDP) are living with host families or in IDP settlements in and around the town of Dungu in Orientale province. They rely on the hospitality of the local population as well as humanitarian assistance from organizations such as UNHCR. The dearest hope of everyone in the region is to live in safety and peace. Some 335,000 people have been displaced in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as a result of LRA violence since 2008.

All photos: UNHCR/M. Hofer

Malian refugees continue to arrive in Niger, fleeing fighting and general insecurity and political instability in their country. At the Mangaizé refugee site in northern Niger, some 3,000 refugees live in difficult conditions, bearing soaring temperatures during the day and wondering when they will be able to return home. The scarce water and food resources in the arid Sahel country also present a huge challenge for the refugees and local communities. More than 40,000 Malians have found refuge in Niger since January, when fighting erupted between a rebel Tuareg movement and Malian government forces. More than 160,000 Malians have arrived in Niger, Burkina Faso and Mauritania, while 133,000 are displaced within their country. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres visited Niger, including Mangaizé, in early May with World Food Programme Executive Director Ertharin Cousin to help focus world attention on the crisis and to seek help for the displaced.

All photos UNHCR / H. Caux

In the first ten days of May 2012, more than 6,500 refugees from the Democratic Republic of the Congo crossed into Rwanda, fleeing fighting between the Congolese army and renegade soldiers. UNHCR and its UN partners worked with the Rwandan government to provide the refugees with humanitarian assistance in the early stages of the crisis, and to find solutions until it is safe for them to return.

Some of the refugees walked for days before reaching the Goma-Gisenyi border crossing between Democratic Republic of the Congo and Rwanda. They came with their belongings, including mattresses, clothing, perhaps a few toys for the children. The images are from the border and from the Nkamira Transit Centre, located 22 kilometres inside Rwanda. Accommodation at Nkamira is poor: the centre can only host up to 5,400 individuals. It is only temporary shelter, but numbers continue to swell as hundreds cross the border every day.

Nationality might seem like a universal birthright, but it is estimated that up to 12 million people around the world are struggling to get along without it. They do not possess a nationality nor enjoy its legal benefits. They fall into a legal limbo; they are stateless. This often leaves them unable to do the basic things most people take for granted such as registering the birth of a child, travelling, going to school, opening a bank account or owning property.

Statelessness has a variety of causes. Some populations were excluded from citizenship at the time of independence from colonial rule. Others fall victim to mass denationalization. In some countries, women cannot confer nationality on their children. Sometimes, because of discrimination, legislation fails to guarantee citizenship for certain ethnic groups.

The problem is global. Under its statelessness mandate, UNHCR is advising stateless people on their rights and assisting them in acquiring citizenship. At the government level, it is supporting legal reform to prevent people from becoming stateless. With partners it undertakes citizenship campaigns to help stateless people to acquire nationality and documentation.

Photos by G. Constantine.

Two decades after the disintegration of the Soviet Union, thousands of people in former Soviet republics are still facing problems with citizenship.

UNHCR has identified more than 20,000 stateless people in the Central Asian nation. These people are not considered as nationals under the laws of any country. While many in principle fall under the Kyrgyz citizenship law, they have not been confirmed as nationals under the existing procedures.

Most of the stateless people in Kyrgyzstan have lived there for many years, have close family links in the country and are culturally and socially well-integrated. But because they lack citizenship documents, these folk are often unable to do the things that most people take for granted, including registering a marriage or the birth of a child, travelling within Kyrgyzstan and overseas, receiving pensions or social allowances or owning property. The stateless are more vulnerable to economic hardship, prone to higher unemployment and do not enjoy full access to education and medical services.

Since independence in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has taken many positive steps to reduce and prevent statelessness. And UNHCR, under its statelessness mandate, has been assisting the country by providing advice on legislation and practices as well as giving technical assistance to those charged with solving citizenship problems. The refugee agency’s NGO partners provide legal counselling to stateless people and assist them in their applications for citizenship.

However, statelessness in Kyrgyzstan is complex and thousands of people, mainly women and children, still face legal, administrative and financial hurdles when seeking to confirm or acquire citizenship. In 2009, with the encouragement of UNHCR, the government adopted a national action plan to prevent and reduce statelessness. In 2011, the refugee agency will help revise the plan and take concrete steps to implement it. A concerted effort by all stakeholders is needed so that statelessness does not become a lingering problem for future generations.

Photos by A. Zhorobaev

The UN refugee agency has moved 4,700 Somali refugees from the outskirts of Kenya’s Dadaab refugee complex into the Ifo Extension site since 25 July 2011. The ongoing relocation movement is transferring 1,500 people a day and the pace will soon increase to 2,500 to 3,000 people per day.

The refugees had arrived in recent weeks and months after fleeing drought and conflict in Somalia. They settled spontaneously on the edge of Ifo camp, one of three existing camps in the Dadaab complex, that has been overwhelmed by the steadily growing influx of refugees.

The new Ifo Extension site will provide tented accommodation to 90,000 refugees in the coming months. Latrines and water reservoirs have been constructed and are already in use by the families that have moved to this site.

Photos by B. Bannon

Galkayo, located in Somalia’s Puntland region, is home to more than 60,000 displaced people who fled war-torn south-central Somalia and harsh drought conditions in many parts of the country.

The displaced people are scattered around 21 makeshift settlements in Galkayo. Multiple families often share small, rudimentary shelters made of cardboard and plastic sheets. Despite overcrowding and extreme poverty, it is not uncommon for families to take in abandoned children and elderly people who are on their own.

Squalid conditions and lack of proper health care mean that simple ailments can easily develop into complications. There is little employment in Galkayo and most displaced people find informal day labour, such as collecting garbage or washing clothes for the locals.

UNHCR provides basic assistance to Galkayo’s displaced people through vocational training and income generation programs meant to improve their livelihoods. The refugee agency also provides temporary shelter and emergency relief items for vulnerable families.

Photos by R. Gangale

Thousands of people still remain displaced in eastern Libya as a result of the conflict that erupted in mid-February between government and opposition forces. Most are staying with host families, in empty buildings or schools. Other people of concern to UNHCR, such as refugees and asylum-seekers, have fled conflict areas such as Misrata by boat to safer locations. They are now hoping to return to their homes in Libya, be resettled to a third country, or to return to their countries of origin. UNHCR’s Helene Caux has photographed the plight of internally displaced people (IDPs), refugees and migrants in Misrata, Benghazi and Tobruk.

Photos by Helene Caux

Op Wereldvluchtelingendag 2011, maandag 20 juni, kwam UNHCR samen met drie andere vluchtelingenorganisaties bijeen om aandacht te vragen voor de bescherming van vluchtelingen. Wij deden dit door het overhandigen van een open brief aan minister Leers van Immigratie en Asiel.

Na afloop van de overhandiging opende de minister de tentoonstelling De Vluchtelingenjackpot, die tot en met 12 juli 2011 gratis op het Spuiplein in Den Haag te bewonderen is. Tijdens de feestelijke opening sprak Tahmina Akefi, vluchteling uit Afghanistan en schrijfster van het boek Geen van ons keek om, over haar ervaring als vluchteling. Ook Fasil Agegnehu, gevlucht journalist uit Ethiopië, vertelde zijn verhaal. De bijeenkomst werd gepresenteerd door Desanne van Brederode en muzikaal begeleid door Armeense accordeonist Raphaël Martirossian.

Hierbij een foto-impressie van deze dag.

Fotografie door Yasmin Shamaily

Thousands of people, mainly sub-Saharan Africans, are taking to the sea in ancient, leaky and overcrowded boats to escape war in their adopted homeland. Libya. The destination of choice is the Italian resort island of Lampedusa, some 600 kilometres north of Libya in the Mediterranean. Many of the passengers arrive traumatized and exhausted from the high seas journey. Others perish en route.

One Ivorian migrant describes life in Tripoli before leaving: “There was no peace. There was rifle fire everywhere. Then NATO started to bomb. We had nothing to eat. Some Libyans started to attack strangers at night, to steal your money, your mobile, whatever you have ... No way to stay there with them. Better to flee.”

UNHCR estimates that one in 10 people die during the sea journey from Libya. Those bodies which wash ashore get a simple burial in Lampedusa’s cemetery.

Photos by Frederic Noy

Op 5 mei vieren we de vrijheid. Ter gelegenheid hiervan worden in heel Nederland bevrijdingsfestivals gehouden. Hierbij een impressie van UNHCR op het festival in Den Haag.

Fotografie door F. Joordens en H. van Nistelrooij

Some three weeks after the Libyan displacement crisis erupted in mid-February, thousands of people were still stuck at the border between Libya and Egypt waiting for onward travel to their home countries. Many have arrived exhausted at the Sallum crossing after travelling for days without adequate food or water. Some told harrowing tales of armed men going door to door at night, forcing people from sub-Saharan Africa to leave after destroying their identity papers and taking their money.

More long-haul flights to Bangladesh and other Asian destinations are needed to decongest the border, although people from countries like Eritrea and Somalia cannot go home. As a result, many people have been stuck at the border for days, sleeping outside in the cold. UNHCR has provided blankets, plastic mats, food and water for those waiting to be repatriated.

More than 100,000 people have arrived at the Sallum border since the start of the Libyan uprising. The majority have been migrant workers from Egypt who were allowed through immigration and customs quickly, but many nationalities have also turned up at the border and having to wait.

Photos by Frederic Noy

At the Tunisia-Libya border, a heaving crush of thousands of people anxious to leave the insecurity of Libya gathered in no-man’s land and on the Libyan side of the border on 2 March, 2011. Most were young men, principally migrant workers from Tunisia and Egypt. They were desperate to go home or find shelter and safety in Tunisia. After several nights sleeping out in the open, many were exhausted and hungry. As the crowd surged towards the border gate, several people were injured. The Tunisian Red Crescent is on hand to provide medical support for all those in need. UNHCR officials were also waiting on the Tunisian side of the border, supporting the Tunisian authorities and aid organizations.

Photos by Alexis Duclos

UNHCR is working with the Tunisian and Egyptian authorities and aid groups to manage the dramatic influx of tens of thousands of people fleeing Libya. By the beginning of March, two weeks after the violence erupted in Libya, more than 140,000 people had fled to the neighbouring countries, while thousands more were waiting to cross. Most are Egyptian and Tunisian nationals, though small numbers of Libyans and other nationalities are managing to escape. UNHCR is particularly concerned about thousands of refugees and other foreigners trapped inside Libya, especially people from sub-Saharan Africa. The following photo essay gives a glimpse into what is happening at the borders.

Photos by Alexis Duclos and Phil Moore

In 2010, the Turkish border with Greece became the main entry point for people attempting by irregular methods to reach member states of the European Union, with some 128,000 arrivals. While some entered as migrants with the simple wish of finding a better life, a significant number fled violence or persecution in countries such as Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq and Somalia. The journey is perilous, with many reports of drowning when people board flimsy vessels and try to cross the Mediterranean Sea or the River Eros on the border between Greece and Turkey. The many deficiencies in the Greek asylum system are exacerbated by the pressure of tens of thousands of people awaiting asylum hearings. Reception facilities for new arrivals, including asylum-seekers, are woefully inadequate. Last year, UNHCR visited a number of overcrowded facilities where children, men and women were detained in cramped rooms with insufficient facilities. UNHCR is working with the Greek government to improve its asylum system and has called upon other European states to offer support.

Photos by Mathias Depardon

Ahead of South Sudan's landmark January 9, 2010 referendum on independence, tens of thousands of southern Sudanese in the North packed their belongings and made the long trek south. UNHCR set up way stations at key points along the route to provide food and shelter to the travellers during their arduous journey. Several reports of rapes and attacks on travellers reinforced the need for these reception centres, where women, children and people living with disabilities can spend the night. UNHCR has made contingency plans in the event of mass displacement after the vote, including the stockpiling of shelter and basic provisions for up to 50,000 people.

Photos by Arsenie Coseac