In an exclusive interview with UN News, Louise Arbour, the UN Special Representative for International Migration, said on Tuesday that the stated intention of several countries (including Hungary, Poland, the Czech Republic and Austria) to pull out of the Global Compact for migration reflects poorly on them, and has seriously affected the spirit of multilateralism. Ms. Arbour […]
With more than 7,000 Central-American refugees now on the march through Mexico towards the southern border of the United States in search of safety and work, all countries involved are being urged by the UN to liaise with key agencies on the ground providing support. Answering questions from reporters at the daily press briefing on […]
Separating children from their undocumented parents is a traumatic violation of their rights, UN independent experts said on Friday. The group of experts said in a statement that the treatment of migrants as criminals, provokes intolerance and xenophobia, in addition to posing a danger to their well-being. Criminalizing irregular migrants and addressing irregular migration through […]
UN Refugee Agency chief Filippo Grandi, on Thursday gave a cautious welcome to the decision by several EU countries to take in some 450 migrants who have been stranded at sea for days, warning that a “ship-by-ship” arrangement was not sustainable. The development comes after the Governments of France, Germany, Italy, Malta, Spain and Portugal ended […]
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the understanding reached between UN agencies and Myanmar on creating conditions that would allow hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees to voluntarily and safely return to their homes in the country’s Rakhine province. The Memorandum of Understanding, signed by the Government of Myanmar, the Office of the UN High […]
In 2017, about 58,000 Afghan refugees voluntarily returned to their country after decades aboard only to be met with protection risks and “significant” barriers to long-term reintegration into society, two United Nations agencies working in the Asian country reported on Thursday. The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said […]