By Kristy Siegfried | 6 March, 2019

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW

Dozens injured during refugee protests in Libyan detention centre. A protest by asylum-seekers at Sikka detention centre in Tripoli ended in violence last week when police moved in to end the demonstration, reports UNHCR. Around 50 people were injured, two of them seriously. UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo said the protests were driven by frustration and anxiety among asylum-seekers who have been detained for months in extremely dire conditions. Some 120 people were later transferred from Sikka to two other detention centres. UNHCR opened a Gathering and Departure Facility in Tripoli in December aimed at providing an alternative to detention, but Mantoo said a lack of resettlement slots meant many refugees were lingering in detention indefinitely.

UN expert on Myanmar decries “pervasive hate speech and shrinking freedom”. In a report published on Tuesday, the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee, expressed alarm over the “pervasive nature of hate speech” in the country and the continued instability in border areas preventing hundreds of thousands of displaced people and refugees from returning home. She said conditions for voluntary, safe, dignified and sustainable returns of Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh did not exist, noting that Rohingya continued to leave Rakhine state for Bangladesh. She met with newly arrived refugees who reported recent acts of violence against them that forced them to flee. Lee urged the international community to take “concrete action” to advance human rights in the country.

WHAT’S ON OUR RADAR

Burundian refugees in Tanzania under pressure to return home. Both Tanzania and Burundi have confirmed plans to return 116,000 Burundian refugees by the end of 2019, but for the returns to be truly voluntary, the international community must offer returnees more reintegration support, write Lucy Hovil and Thijs Van Laer of the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI). A new report by the IRRI, based on interviews with returnees, found the decision to return was often largely driven by dire conditions in Tanzanian camps rather than confidence that Burundi is truly peaceful and stable.

Australia prepares to send refugees to island detention centre for treatment. Prime Minister Scott Morrison toured a reopened detention centre on Christmas Island today. He confirmed that all asylum-seekers and refugees held on Manus Island and Nauru who qualify for medical transfer under a new medical evacuation bill passed last month, will be sent to Christmas Island, rather than mainland Australia. Doctors have yet to submit an applications for transfer since the bill became law on Friday. UNHCR spokesperson Catherine Stubberfield said sick asylum-seekers were “unlikely to recover in a remote, formal detention environment such as Christmas Island” and that the long-term, arbitrary detention of any refugee or asylum-seeker was “inappropriate”.

Colombian border hospitals struggle to treat surge in Venezuelan patients. Al Jazeera reports that among the thousands of Venezuelans crossing the Colombian border every day, many arrive with serious health conditions that are putting local hospitals under intense pressure. With basic foods and medicine hard to obtain in Venezuela and the health system in a state of collapse, people often arrive with complicated, untreated illnesses that require a lot of care, said Deiner Arevalo, manager of the paediatric ward at Cucuta’s Erazmo Meoz hospital. The hospital has received little additional financial help from the government to deal with the surge in Venezuelan patients.

GET INSPIRED

Ireland launched a community sponsorship programme today, with support from UNHCR. The programme aims to resettle a minimum of 50 refugees by September, with the help of groups of private citizens. During the piloting of the programme, a group from the small town of Dunshaughlin, north of Dublin, sponsored a Syrian refugee family for resettlement last December.

DID YOU KNOW?

Currently, some 5,700 refugees and migrants are being held in Libyan detention centres, of whom 4,100 may have international protection needs.

By Kristy Siegfried | 5 March, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW UK urged to double refugee resettlement. A report released today by the cross-party international development committee (IDC) has urged the UK government to double the number of vulnerable refugees offered...

By Kristy Siegfried | 4 March, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Thousands of Syrians continue to flee last ISIL stronghold. Some 13,000 people have arrived at Al-Hol camp in eastern Syria’s Al Hassakeh governorate in just the last week, after fleeing fighting in ISIL’s last...

By Tim Gaynor | 1 March, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW UNHCR urges critical support for refugees in Egypt. Support for refugees in Egypt is under severe pressure due to increased arrivals and inadequate resources, UNHCR has warned . Ongoing conflicts in Yemen and in...

By Tim Gaynor | 28 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Last four refugee children leave Nauru for resettlement in US. The last four remaining child refugees held in Australia’s remote Pacific asylum facilities have been resettled to the United States, Reuters...

By Tim Gaynor | 27 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Donors pledge US$2.6 billion to aid Yemenis ‘one step away from famine’. International donors have pledged $2.6 billion to provide urgently needed support to millions of Yemeni civilians facing an “overwhelming...

By Kate Bond | 26 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW UN seeks funds to save millions in Yemen from “horrific” plight. At a conference in Geneva, Switzerland, UN agencies are appealing for $US4.2billion to scale up the relief effort in Yemen, where years of war have...

By Kate Bond | 25 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Summit told countries must unite to fight people smugglers. The president of the European Council has told the first EU-League of Arab States summit that countries must work together to “break the business model”...

By Kate Bond | 22 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Venezuelan outflow continues unabated at 3.4 million. New figures released by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration show that the number of refugees and migrants from...

By Kate Bond | 21 February, 2019 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW Venezuelans fleeing crisis face desperate hike to 12,000 feet. Thousands of Venezuelans continue to leave their country amid shortages of food, water, electricity and medicine, as well as political tensions. Many...