Today's date:
Press releases 2008
19 December 2008
GENEVA -- UNHCR is seeking $92 million to ease the plight of nearly 250,000 Somalis in one of the world’s oldest, largest and most congested refugee sites amid growing fears of even more arrivals as the situation in Somalia deteriorates.
2008-12-18
Actor-director Ben Affleck and Sir Mick Jagger have released a short film to help raise support for the UN refugee agency (UNHCR).
2008-12-12
We remain extremely concerned for the safety of the displaced Congolese population in Kibati as the civilian character of these two UNHCR-run camps north of Goma is continually violated.
Thursday, 11 December 2008
Appeal for refugee funds elicits promising response from Nordic donors
Stockholm -- As the number of refugees and displaced people around the world continues to rise, donors pledged some US$463 million towards UNHCR's 2009 programmes, at UNHCR's annual pledging conference in Geneva earlier this week. This amounts to about a quarter of the UN Refugee Agency's total needs for the year ahead, amounting to some US$1.86 billion.
Wednesday, 10 December 2008
GENEVA -- UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres today opened a two-day international dialogue aimed at seeking solutions for millions of people caught up in the limbo of so-called “protracted refugee situations” in which they spend years in exile with no end in sight.
2008-12-02
Some 65,000 Congolese civilians sheltered in the two Kibati camps are in a precarious situation as the warring parties remain in close proximity. We fear that the civilian population could be caught in the crossfire should the fighting resume in this area.
2008-11-28
UNHCR welcomes the willingness expressed by European Union Justice and Home Affairs Ministers to resettle more refugees from Iraq in EU Member States. UNHCR has called for resettlement particularly of vulnerable refugees from Iraq such as victims of trauma or torture, women at risk, unaccompanied children or elderly without support.
2008-11-21
In an alarming incident in the early hours of this
morning (Friday), a 20-year old woman was shot and killed at the Kibati
camp and a number of families were forced to leave their huts, which were
then looted by armed men.
2008-11-19
Joint Press Release: Ministry of Foreign Affairs Afghanistan and UNHCR
KABUL, Afghanistan, November 19 - The Afghan government and the UN refugee agency today pledged to strengthen efforts for returnees and displaced people within the Afghanistan National Development Strategy.
2008-11-18
Background information, videos and photographs
On Wednesday 19 November 2008, the Afghan Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refuges (UNHCR) are hosting
a conference in Kabul, Afghanistan, to solicit support from
key donor countries to invest in long-term Afghan development programmes
to support refugees returning to Afghanistan.
Friday 14 November 2008
Over the past few weeks, we have repeatedly voiced UNHCR’s concern
for the safety of tens of thousands of internally displaced Congolese in
two camps on the northern outskirts of Goma that are in very close proximity
to the frontlines. Given the continuing security threat, provincial authorities,
UNHCR and its partners have decided to transfer the more than 60,000 people
in the two Kibati camps to a new, 26-hectare Mugunga III site, west of
Goma.
Thursday 13 November 2008
The Office of the United Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is receiving backing from the Government of Sweden in funding and constructing UNHCR’s new offices in Baghdad, Iraq. This project will be implemented under the framework of the UNHCR-Swedish Rescue Services Agency MoU, established in 1992 to assure support to UNHCR’s emergency preparedness and response mechanisms.
2008-11-07
UNHCR has received reports from our Goma office that shooting erupted this morning in the vicinity of Kibati camps, interrupting the ongoing distribution of aid and causing panic among the camp population. The shooting stopped after about 30 minutes, UNHCR staff reported. However, they said internally displaced people from the camp continued to move toward Goma, to the south.
2008-11-06
GOMA, Democratic Republic of the Congo, November 5 (UNHCR) – As a massive food distribution got under way Wednesday in six UNHCR-run camps for tens of thousands of internally displaced Congolese in North Kivu, the UN refugee agency prepared to hand out tonnes of shelter and household items.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
Three sites for Internally Displaced Persons run by UNHCR near the town of Rutshuru in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) - Dumez, Nyongera and Kasasa - have been destroyed and emptied. UNHCR and partners are now trying to determine the whereabouts of tens of thousands of internally displaced people (IDP:s) from the camps in the Rutshuru area.
Tuesday 4 November 2008
The number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean and the Gulf of Aden by sea in the first 10 months of 2008 is already higher than the total for the whole of last year is several areas, according to UNHCR estimates based on various official and unofficial sources.
3 November 2008
Stockholm - On 5 November the 1961 UN Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness will come into force in Finland. On 1 December Finland also joins the European Convention on Nationality from 1997. The objectives of the Conventions are to reduce and prevent statelessness.
Friday, 31 October 2008
UNHCR has received disturbing reports that several camps for internally
displaced people near the North Kivu town of Rutshuru, about 90 kms north
of Goma, have been forcibly emptied, looted and burned.
29 October 2008
UNHCR is deeply concerned by the plight of more than 10,000 Yemeni citizens displaced by severe flooding following torrential rain in the provinces of Hadramout, Al Mahra and other areas.
29 October 2008
UNHCR staff in Goma, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), are struggling to prepare for the arrival of an estimated 30,000 displaced people forced to flee camps and villages to the north of city amid fighting between rebel and government forces.
20 October 2008
Despite a drop in their numbers, Iraqis remained by far the top nationality seeking asylum in industrialized countries in the first half of 2008, according to UNHCR’s latest asylum report released 17 October 2008.
Thursday, 9 October 2008
GENEVA - A comprehensive assessment of the needs of refugees and other people cared for by the UN refugee agency in eight pilot countries has revealed some substantial and disturbing gaps that must be addressed, Deputy High Commissioner L. Craig Johnstone said today.
Wednesday, 8 October 2008
GENEVA - Despite some gains over the past year, far too many refugees and asylum seekers still face intolerance and denial of their rights in many parts of the world, UNHCR's top protection official said Wednesday.
Monday, 6 October 2008
GENEVA - The welfare of the world’s poor and uprooted people is increasingly at risk as the international community struggles with a combination of adverse economic, social and political trends that threaten to trigger even more displacement in the years to come, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres warned Monday.
28 September 2008
At least 52 Somalis died when the boat smuggling them across the Gulf of Aden to Yemen broke down and they were left adrift with no food or water for 18 days, the UN refugee agency reported Sunday.
24 September 2008
KHARTOUM -- Twenty-one refugees are feared to have drowned last night when their overloaded boat capsized in the Atbara River, near the Shagarab refugee camp in eastern Sudan. The bodies have yet to be recovered.
Wednesday, 24 September 2008
KATHMANDU, Nepal, September 23 (UNHCR) – More than 5,000 refugees from Bhutan have left their camps in Nepal for resettlement countries so far this year. The United States has accepted the largest numbers, followed by Australia, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Norway, Canada and Denmark.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
The UN refugee agency is appealing for more than US$17 million to help tens of thousands of people displaced by the conflict and floods in north-western Pakistan. We have urgently distributed supplies to some 84,000 affected people, and are supporting the authorities in the areas of emergency shelter, registration and camp management.
Tuesday, 23 September 2008
UNHCR urges the European Union Ministers of Justice and Home Affairs, at their meeting in Brussels on 25 September, to reaffirm their commitment to the protection of Iraqi refugees and to agree on the establishment of an EU resettlement programme.
UNHCR/WFP News Release
16 September 2008
Milan - A year after his death, Luciano Pavarotti’s legacy of generosity lives on in a tribute charity concert and memorial ceremony to be held in Petra, Jordan on 11 and 12 October. Sponsored by HRH Princess Haya Bint al Hussein of Jordan, a UN Messenger of Peace, the concert at the renowned archeological site at Petra will generate funds for projects in Afghanistan by the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN World Food Programme (WFP).
2008-09-15
BEIRUT - The British head of the UN Mine Action Programme in southern Lebanon and his 990-member team of mine clearers will receive the 2008 Nansen Refugee Award for their courageous work in removing tonnes of deadly munitions that had prevented the safe return of hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
Wednesday, 10 Sept. 2008
AHWAR, Yemen -- At least 26 people died when smugglers transporting them across the Gulf of Aden from the Horn of Africa forced them overboard off the coast of Yemen, UNHCR staff in the region reported today. Several other people are missing.
Monday, 8 Sept. 2008
PARIS -- UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on Monday appealed to Member States of the European Union (EU) to continue their efforts to build a coherent and effective common asylum system.
Friday, 5 September 2008
A total of 29 vulnerable Palestinian refugees stranded for the last two years in a makeshift camp in the desert on the Iraq-Syria border are set to leave Monday to begin a new life in Iceland. The group includes some of the most vulnerable refugee women, several of whom lost their husbands during the conflict in Iraq - and their children. Given their vulnerability, UNHCR considers resettlement their only option.
Friday, 29 August 2008
Stockholm - Yesterday (Thursday), High Commissioner António Guterres completed a three-day visit to Pakistan during which the government agreed to review its Afghan repatriation strategy beyond 2009. Both parties agreed that it will take more time for Afghan refugees to be able to repatriate in a dignified and sustainable way. Both parties also agreed to appeal for funds for projects to develop refugee-hosting areas in Pakistan - such as in selected districts in Balochistan and in the North West Frontier Province.
Thursday, 28 August 2008
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency urges the Maltese authorities to provide medical care to eight African migrants rescued this week after their boat capsized in the Mediterranean Sea off Malta. UNHCR also asks the Maltese to broaden the search for at least 70 people missing and feared dead.
Tuesday 26 August 2008
The UN refugee agency has called on all parties to the conflict over South Ossetia to make their best efforts to contain further outbreaks of lawlessness which could contribute to additional displacement.
Friday 22 August 2008
TSKHINVALI, SOUTH OSSETIA - Concluding a four-day mission to Georgia and the Russian Federation in the aftermath of the South Ossetia conflict, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres met Friday with several affected families in the South Ossetia city of Tskhinvali and witnessed the massive relief operation being carried out by Russia’s emergency relief organization EMERCOM.
Friday, 22 August 2008
VLADIKAVKAZ, Russian Federation -- UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres today concludes a four-day mission to Georgia and the Russian Federation that included visits with people uprooted by the crisis in the breakaway Georgian region of South Ossetia.
Tuesday, 19 August 2008
GENEVA - UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres arrived earlier today in the Georgian capital Tbilisi at the start of a four-day mission to Georgia and the Russian Federation. He will assess UNHCR’s humanitarian operations in both countries and will meet people displaced by last week’s conflict in and around the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia. Mr. Guterres will meet with Georgian and Russian authorities and discuss any further aid they may require.
2008-08-14
GENEVA - UNHCR flew its second humanitarian flight to the Georgian capital this morning, bringing in 32 metric tonnes of vital aid supplies for distribution to thousands of people displaced by the crisis in the breakaway region of South Ossetia.
2008-08-14
The UN refugee agency is mounting a third emergency airlift of relief supplies to bolster its humanitarian aid in the Caucasus region to assist civilians caught up in the South Ossetia conflict.
Wednesday, 13 August 2008
GENEVA – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres today expressed shock and sadness over the killing in Afghanistan of four aid workers from the International Rescue Committee.
2008-08-11
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency is mounting an emergency airlift of relief supplies to bolster its stockpiles of humanitarian aid in the Caucasus region amid continuing concerns over the plight of civilians caught up in the South Ossetia conflict.
2008-08-10
GENEVA -- UN High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres today welcomed reports that two humanitarian corridors will be established for civilians caught up in the conflict in and around the Georgian breakaway region of South Ossetia.
Monday, 23 June 2008
NAIROBI -- The UN refugee agency today called for the immediate and unconditional release of a UNHCR staff member who was abducted by unknown armed men on Saturday night from his home outside Mogadishu.
2008-06-19
(på dansk)
Du arresteres, får tæsk og tvinges til at skriver under på en tilståelse på noget, du aldrig har gjort. Du kan mærke jorden brænde under dig, men du slipper fri, får hurtigt pakket en rygsæk med de allermest nødvendige ting og flygter mod en ukendt destination.
19 June 2008
GENEVA – Marking World Refugee Day, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
António Guterres said Friday that providing protection for refugees today is vastly
more challenging than when his office began work in 1951 trying to find solutions
for Europeans uprooted in the aftermath of World War II.
2008-06-19
(på svenska)
I morgon, 20 juni, firas den internationella flyktingdagen där flyktingars situation och mod uppmärksammas världen över. Samtidigt kan flyktingkvinnor i Darfur se fram mot en tryggare och grönare vardag, som resultat av Svenska PostkodLotteriets stöd till ett nyskapande miljöprojekt.
17 June 2008
A new global survey says there were 11.4 million refugees outside their countries and 26
million others displaced internally by conflict or persecution at the end of 2007, contributing
to an unprecedented number of uprooted people under the care of the UN refugee agency.
Monday, 16 June 2008
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency is concerned for the security of tens of thousands of refugees and displaced people in Chad as the security situation rapidly deteriorates following clashes in the east of the country between the Chadian army and rebel groups over the weekend.
Friday, 30 May 2008
Today, UNHCR is releasing 2,000 tents to the South African government to help provide much-needed shelter to thousands of people made homeless in the recent xenophobic attacks against foreigners, including refugees and asylum seekers. We are also making available to the government an expert site planner who will help the authorities in identifying suitable locations for temporary shelter. In addition, we have provided 7,000 blankets and 2,000 sleeping mats to the victims.
Thursday, 22 May 2008
(Stockholm) World renowned soprano and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Barbara Hendricks will perform in support of refugees at this week-end’s World Village Festival in Helsinki.
Wednesday, 21 May 2008
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency is providing 11,000 urgently needed tents to China to help provide emergency shelter for some of the 5 million people left homeless after last week’s devastating earthquake in Sichuan province.
Saturday 10 May, 2008
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency on Saturday sent the first UN land convoy of emergency aid into Myanmar from neighbouring Thailand, while its airlift of around 100 tonnes of urgently needed shelter supplies started from Dubai.
9 May 2008
GENEVA -- Faced with a looming funding shortfall, the UN refugee agency warned
today, Friday 9 May, that it could soon be forced to reduce and in some
cases to halt a number of assistance programs for hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi refugees unless donor governments provide additional support.
Thursday, May 8, 2008
Refugees from some of the world’s biggest and most remote displacement crises will be telling their own stories this weekend through video they shot using mobile phone technology as part of the inaugural Pangea Day global film event.
2008-05-06
UNHCR has responded immediately to the desperate needs of cyclone victims in Myanmar. Today in Thailand, we are emptying our emergency shelter material stockpiles of plastic sheeting and tents for some 10,000 people, for urgent dispatch to Yangon by the fastest available means as a first response to aid the thousands of people who have lost their homes. The supplies will be distributed through a Disaster Management Committee that has been established by the Myanmar Government.
29 April 2008
A UNHCR-commissioned survey of nearly 1,000 Iraqis currently staying in Syria has shown that 95 percent had fled their homeland because of direct threats or general insecurity and that only 4 percent currently had plans to return to Iraq.
Friday, 25 April 2008
GENEVA - Four men, including an Iranian refugee, drowned after a group of 18 people were forced to cross a fast-flowing river by the Turkish police at Turkey’s southeastern border with Iraq, witnesses have told the UN refugee agency.
Friday, 11 April 2008
ABECHE, Chad - A fire swept through part of the remote Goz Amer refugee camp in eastern Chad on Friday, leaving some 3,000 Darfurian refugees homeless. UNHCR staff reported that 10 people were slightly injured, and many refugees lost all their food rations and meagre belongings.
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
GENEVA - Representatives of Google and the UN refugee agency on Tuesday unveiled a powerful new online mapping programme that provides an up-close and multifaceted view of some of the world’s major displacement crises and the humanitarian efforts aimed at helping the victims. www.unhcr.org/googleearth
18 March 2008
GENEVA - A 5-year downward trend in asylum applications in industrialised countries was reversed in 2007, largely because of an increase in the number of Iraqi asylum seekers, according to provisional statistics compiled by the UN refugee agency based on information provided by governments.
2 March 2008
GENEVA - Thousands of refugees from Bhutan in eastern Nepal are homeless after a devastating fire swept through Goldhap refugee camp Saturday night, burning 80 percent of the camp to the ground and injuring seven refugees.
28 February 2008
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency is appealing for $18.6 million to provide assistance to an estimated half a million internally displaced persons in Sri Lanka.
21 February 2008
GENEVA (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency is seeking $34 million to realize comprehensive solutions for some 218,000 Burundian refugees who fled to Tanzania in 1972. The two-year programme aims to end one of the world’s most protracted refugee situations.
12 February, 2008
GENEVA (UNHCR) - The UN refugee agency today launched an appeal for US$63 million to fund its 2008 operations in Southern Sudan, including organising the voluntary return and reintegration of 80,000 Sudanese refugees now in neighbouring countries.
10 February 2008
Thousands of refugees from Darfur have fled across the border into eastern
Chad since Friday to escape deadly militia attacks supported by Sudanese
forces on villages in West Darfur, as the security situation in the region
markedly deteriorates.
4 February 2008
GENEVA -- A UNHCR team was rushing Monday to the Cameroon border opposite the strife-torn Chadian capital of N'Djamena amid reports that thousands of residents were fleeing fighting in the city.
1 February 2008
ABECHE, Chad - A series of armed attacks on the UN refugee agency and other
aid organisations has forced UNHCR to evacuate most of its staff from its
office in Guereda in eastern Chad.
29 January 2008
GENEVA (UNHCR) -- The UN refugee agency today asked donors to support more than $90 million in UNHCR programmes aimed at assisting millions of internally displaced people during 2008.
Torstai, 24. tammikuuta 2008
YK:n pakolaisjärjestö julkistaa Kovat kertoimet – nettipelin EDUCA 2008 – messuilla 25. – 26. tammikuuta. Peli pureutuu paon syihin ja pakomatkan vaaroihin, ja nostaa pöydälle uudessa asuinmaassa odotettavissa olevia ennakkoluuloja. Peliin voi kirjautua osoitteessa www.kovatkertoimet.org.
Tuesday 22 January 2008
The results of a trauma survey carried out among Iraqi refugees in Syria have been issued today. A total of 754 people were interviewed, who provided information about themselves and their families (a total of 3,553 people).
Tuesday 22 January 2008
UNHCR is finalizing plans today to transfer to refugee camps more than 300 refugees who have been forced from their homes in the Kenyan capital Nairobi by post-election violence. The refugees -- mainly from Ethiopia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi -- have joined some 1,200 internally displaced persons (IDPs) still sheltering at Jamhuri Park, a fairground in Nairobi.
Tuesday 22 January 2008
The deadly traffic in the Gulf of Aden continues unabated, with 132 people dying last weekend and a total of 157 people dead or missing during the first 19 days of 2008. A total of 2,452 boat people were recorded arriving in Yemen during the same period. Most of them were from Somalia.
10 January 2008
CAIRO - The League of Arab States, in partnership with the UN refugee agency and other international organisations, is launching on Friday a major fund-raising and public awareness campaign called 'Arabs Hand-in-Hand with Iraqis' aimed at helping displaced Iraqis in neighboring countries.
Tuesday 8 January 2008
GENEVA - The UN refugee agency is seeking $261 million this year for its operations on behalf of some of the 4 million people uprooted by the conflict in Iraq.
Monday 7 January 2008
The UN refugee agency said Saturday it is making available relief supplies for up to 100,000 Kenyans displaced by recent turmoil in the East African country, where UNHCR already cares for more than 270,000 refugees from elsewhere in Africa.
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