Category Archives: Refugees

Ukraine refugees told not to return yet as energy crisis looms

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Government tells citizens to wait until spring, amid warning damaged networks ‘will not cope’ as fighting continues

Ukraine’s government is advising refugees living abroad not to return until the spring amid mounting fears over whether the country’s damaged energy infrastructure can cope with demand this winter.

The energy crisis comes as officials in Kyiv warned that the coming winter may herald the heaviest fighting of the war, around the southern city of Kherson where Russian forces have been digging in.

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‘Nobody forced us’: the Greek builder who saved 80 Afghans from the sea

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On Monday, 66-year-old is to be honoured in Athens for his actions on night both tragic and awe-inspiring

Michalis Protopsaltis does not see himself as a hero. When the news of the shipwreck came through, he did, he says, what any man in his position would do. The construction company owner dispatched a crane to the Kythira clifftop and, one by one, began saving the 80 Afghan immigrants scrambling for dear life in the waters below.

Three hours elapsed before the last refugee – originally bound for Italy on a yacht that had set sail from the Turkish town of İzmir – was winched to the top.

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Airline hired for UK’s Rwanda deportations pulls out of scheme

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Exclusive: Privilege Style causes problem for Home Office as it bows to pressure from campaigners

A charter airline hired to remove people seeking refuge in the UK to Rwanda has pulled out of the scheme after pressure from campaigners.

A plane operated by Privilege Style first attempted to fly asylum seekers to the east African country in June but was grounded by an 11th hour ruling by the European court of human rights.

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UN urges investigation after 92 naked migrants ‘sent’ from Turkey into Greece

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UNHCR says circumstances of ‘shocking’ discovery unclear amid rising tension between two countries

The UN refugee agency is demanding an urgent investigation into the discovery of 92 naked people on Greece’s land border with Turkey, calling the incident shocking and saying it had been “deeply distressed” by images of the group.

The men, mainly from Afghanistan and Syria, were found close to the frontier after crossing the Evros River in rubber dinghies, according to Greek police. Children were among the group, a UNHCR spokesperson told the Guardian.

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Home Office threatens to send heavily pregnant rape survivor to Rwanda

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Eritrean woman, 28, in acute distress having spent most of her life in search of safety

A heavily pregnant rape survivor from Eritrea has been threatened with forced removal to Rwanda by the Home Office.

Human rights campaigners say it is the “most egregious” case they have come across so far in the government’s scheme to outsource the processing of UK asylum claims to the east African country.

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Record numbers of people risking lives to cross Darién Gap to US

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More than 150,000 fleeing poverty have reached Panama so far this year in pursuit of American dream

The humanitarian crisis in Darién Gap has reached new heights as medical NGOs are overwhelmed by the record numbers of people risking their lives to cross the lawless strip of jungle in Latin America en route to the US.

An exodus of Venezuelans fleeing socioeconomic collapse has led to more people embarking on the perilous journey across the only land bridge connecting South and North America so far this year than in the entirety of 2021, Panamanian authorities say.

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Refugee wrongly labelled child murderer says decades of his life wasted

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Mayooran Thangaratnam fled Sri Lanka for the UK in 2003 after brutal murder of his father but was repeatedly refused asylum

A refugee who was wrongly recorded as being a child murderer by the Home Office says delays in his case have led to him wasting almost two decades of his life.

Mayooran Thangaratnam, a 41-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka, fled to the UK in 2003 at the age of 23 and claimed asylum. He provided evidence to the Home Office from media reports that his father, a journalist who passed information to the UN about the Sri Lankan government’s persecution of Tamils, was murdered by Sri Lankan forces and that his life was also in danger.

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Many dead in two separate boat disasters off Greek coast

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At least 22 people dead, with many more missing, in two separate incidents hundreds of miles apart

Search and rescue operations are under way in the west and east of Greece after refugees desperate to reach Europe were involved in two separate maritime disasters in less than a day, the country’s coastguard said.

Almost 12 hours after two vessels sank in the Aegean sea, rescue workers hampered by inclement weather were in a race against the clock on Thursday to find survivors as authorities reported that at least 16 women and a boy had died when an overloaded boat capsized east of the island of Lesbos.

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Young and sick children to be first Australians repatriated from Syrian detention camps

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About 60 wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed IS combatants to be rescued from Roj camp, but some women face arrest upon return to Australia

The youngest, most unwell and most vulnerable of the Australian children currently held in squalid Syrian detention camps will be the first ones repatriated to Australia. But some of their mothers could face arrest – and potential charges – upon return to the country.

The Australian government is currently implementing plans to repatriate about 60 Australian women and children – wives, sons and daughters of slain or jailed Islamic State combatants – who have been held for more than three years in the dangerous detention camps in north-east Syria.

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Australian children rescued from Syrian camps need tailored support to reintegrate into society, expert says

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Shane Healey urges government to establish holistic and ‘individualised’ process for kids who spent formative years in violent conditions

A former ADF Special Operations intelligence analyst who is now an expert on countering violent extremism says Australian children brought out of Syrian refugee camps will require intensive support to successfully integrate into the community.

“It’s a long, intensive and individualised process but, done holistically, will have excellent results,” Shane Healey said. “Australia has the capability and the expertise to support these children.”

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Home Office U-turn over deportation of Albanian asylum seekers

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Letter undermines Priti Patel’s claim that Albanians arriving with ‘spurious’ claims could be removed quickly

The Home Office has conceded that it does not have the right to fast-track the deportation of Albanian asylum seekers after their arrival in the UK, in an abrupt policy U-turn.

Priti Patel, the former home secretary, signed a deal with the Albanian government in August to return those who arrive illegally. She claimed it meant the UK could quickly return asylum seekers who arrived in the UK and made “spurious” claims.

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Pope urges Italians to help migrants as far right tipped to win election

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Francis said migrants and refugees should be able to ‘live in peace and with dignity’ at open-air mass in Matera

Pope Francis has urged Italians to help migrants as voting proceeded in a general election widely expected to bring an anti-immigration rightwing coalition into power.

Speaking at the end of an open-air mass in the southern Italian city of Matera, the pope recalled that Sunday coincided with the Catholic church’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees. “Migrants are to be welcomed, accompanied, promoted and integrated,” he told the assembled faithful.

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Scores dead in worst sinking of migrant boat from Lebanon in recent years

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At least 77 people drowned and many still missing after shipwreck off coast of Syria

At least 77 people have drowned after the migrant boat they boarded in Lebanon sank off Syria’s coast, the deadliest such shipwreck from Lebanon in recent years, amid fears the death toll could be far higher.

The country, which has been mired since 2019 in a financial crisis the World Bank has described as one of the worst in modern times, has become a launchpad for migration, with its own citizens joining Syrian and Palestinian refugees clamouring to leave the country.

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Syrian refugees mass in convoy on Turkish border to walk into Greece

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Tens of thousands of people are planning to enter EU country together, after alleged racist attacks and rising tensions

Thousands of Syrian refugees are assembling in Turkey in a convoy, which organisers have dubbed the Caravan of Light, in an audacious and desperate attempt to enter the EU en masse.

Since early September, Syrians have been drawing up plans for the journey via a Telegram channel, which now has more than 85,000 members.

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Moscow’s local allies were told ‘Russia is here for ever’. Now they flee Ukraine

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Supporters in shock as Kremlin reneges on vow that helped project power into captured towns and villages

Just weeks ago, Irina was working in the Russian occupation administration in Kupiansk, a large town in northern Ukraine that had been captured days after Vladimir Putin launched his war against the country.

But then, as Russian troops fled the city and the Ukrainian army retook occupied territories in the country’s north, she and her family fled what they expected would be swift punishment for collaborating with the Russian invasion force.

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Revealed: Suella Braverman sets Home Office ‘No boats crossing the Channel’ target

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UK’s new home secretary upsets civil servants with speech on migrants, trashy TV and back-to-office call

The new home secretary has already prompted consternation among Home Office officials after telling them she wants to ban all small boats crossing the Channel, the Observer has learned.

During her inaugural address to departmental staff last Wednesday, Suella Braverman said a top priority would be stopping all Channel crossings. She has also asked all staff to watch “trashy TV” to help their “mental wellbeing”, a source said, specifically citing Channel 4’s Married at First Sight and First Dates as well as Love Island.

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Tajikistan ‘rounding up and deporting Afghan refugees’

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UN refugee agency urges authorities to end forced deportations as families say they are too scared to leave their homes

The Tajikistan authorities are rounding up Afghan refugees and forcing them to cross the border back into Afghanistan, despite some having been granted asylum in other countries.

According to reports from Tajikistan’s 10,000-strong Afghan refugee community, people are being picked up off the street and houses raided in a spate of recent round-ups of Afghan families, who have been sheltering in the country since the Taliban seized power in August 2021.

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Refugees minister who refused to endorse Rwanda policy quits

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Richard Harrington declares his job ‘essentially complete’ day before Liz Truss expected to be named new PM

Richard Harrington, who distanced himself from the government’s policy of sending migrants to Rwanda, has quit as refugees minister a day before Liz Truss is expected to be confirmed as the next prime minister.

He claimed he was stepping down because his job was essentially complete, but the timing of his departure suggests he expected his role was not likely to be renewed by the incoming administration.

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Labor urged to improve work rights for people on bridging visas amid skilled migration push

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Call comes as one government MP says jobs summit focus must not detract from dealing with massive backlog of humanitarian visas

The government is being urged to look at improving work rights for people on bridging visas already in Australia, and not to neglect the backlog of humanitarian visas amid calls for an increase to the skilled migration intake.

There is widespread expectation the government will boost Australia’s skilled migration intake from around 160,000 people a year to 200,000 people, with consensus among unions and industry that the cap needs to be lifted.

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Home Office planning new deportation flight to Rwanda

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Some asylum seekers have received letters saying government intends to remove them, the Guardian has learned

The Home Office is planning a new deportation flight to Rwanda, the Guardian has learned.

Some newly arrived asylum seekers in hotels have received letters from the department telling them their asylum claims are deemed inadmissible for consideration in the UK.

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