While they leave war-torn Afghanistan in droves, Afghans are also being returned and deported in record numbers.
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AFG
In Iran, many Afghan refugees are forced to exist off the grid and say they lack basic human rights.
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UNRWA remains committed to support Palestine refugees in Syria through one of the gravest crises they have faced in decades. Six years into the crisis, the Agency continues to provide both humanitarian and human development programmes to help support the resilience of Palestine refugees and mitigate their specific vulnerabilities.
Barred from entering Jordan legally since 2013, and Lebanon since May 2014, many Palestine refugees have had no choice but to stay in Syria, sometimes in areas of active conflict, and rely almost exclusively on UNRWA services to survive.
Since its establishment in 1949, UNRWA has been mandated to provide relief and services to Palestine refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Gaza and the West Bank until a just solution is found to their plight. Time and again, Palestine refugees have faced repeated humanitarian, protection and development crises and challenges, testing their resilience to the limit. For the last 65 years, UNRWA has remained steadfast in its commitment to fulfil its mandate and support Palestine refugees in all five fields of operations.
In Syria, over 4,000 UNRWA staff are mobilized to serve the needs of the 450,000 estimated to remain in the country. Against all odds and at great personal risk, they continue to deliver humanitarian assistance, including cash and food assistance, as well as access to basic services such as education, primary health care, social services, and vocational training courses.
In 2016, UNRWA requires US$ 414 million dollars to sustain its humanitarian support to Palestine refugees in Syria and those who fled to Lebanon, Jordan and Gaza.
SYR
The death toll from the 27 April airstrikes on Al Quds hospital in Aleppo, Syria, has climbed to 55, after more bodies were found in the rubble, according to Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), which supports the hospital.
Médicos Sin Fronteras insta a los gobernantes europeos a cancelar el pacto.
Peter Gill is a journalist specializing in developing world affairs and author of four books. His latest, Today We Drop Bombs, Tomorrow We Build Bridges: How foreign aid became a casualty of war published this month, takes a hard look at the politicization of aid. Travelling to some of the most conflict-stricken places on earth to reveal the new relationship between aid agencies and western security, Gill poses the crucial question: Can Western nations go to war in a country and aid it at the same time?
Ahead of the World Humanitarian Summit, we sat down with Gill to discuss this future of aid, humanitarian principles, and the role of the ICRC in a changing world.
Carta abierta de la doctora Joanne Liu, presidenta internacional de MSF a los Gobiernos e instituciones europeas
Refugees on the Move in the so-called crisis in the Mediterranean have not been recognized as an object of scholarly attention. In recent years, with the events of the Arab Spring and its aftermath, refugees have been over-exposed in the media and in the political discourse. In contrast, this conference attempts to develop more nuanced approaches to the phenomenon. The paper contributions from a variety of disciplines demonstrate that the problem of inhospitable politics towards refugees at different levels, as well as humanitarian responses to it are key questions to be solved. Each of the sections of the conference introduces a new type of complexity amb ambiguity to the study of population on the move. In a collection of conference papers from a range of disciplines –history, anthropology, sociology, communication studies, law and politics- we look at the different ways in which “refugees on the move” are understood themselves as part of a larger change regarding mobilities in the Mediterranean region and in other regions in the world that are connected to it. Recognizing that serious gaps exist in our knowledge about such a phenomenon makes us think of an overarching strategy that will bring together a first encounter of the international actors, researchers and civil society actors working on a common field, both, from academia and from outside academia.