Category Archives: Refugees

Sudan’s neighbours have little to offer refugees, warns UN

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Thousands of Sudanese are crossing borders into countries already severely stressed by drought, conflicts and food insecurity, say UN officials

The UN is in a race against time to get food supplies to Sudanese refugees crossing the border into Chad before the rainy season begins, as neighbouring countries struggle to cope with the numbers of people fleeing the civil war.

More than 110,000 people are now estimated to have crossed into other countries as patchy ceasefires fail to stop deadly clashes between Sudanese army troops and a paramilitary rival that have killed hundreds and forced more than 330,000 from their homes.

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‘Not safe for us’: Sudanese in north Africa warn fleeing relatives of danger

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People who sought route to Europe before fighting erupted in Khartoum speak of police brutality, torture and homelessness

Ever since fighting erupted in his home town of Nyala, the state capital of South Darfur in Sudan, in mid-April, Khaled’s mobile phone has not stopped ringing. Family members, friends and acquaintances want to know how to reach north Africa and which country is best for departing for Europe.

The 17-year-old, currently living in the Tunisian capital, Tunis, wishes he could tell them that the journey is simple and that countries like Tunisia and Libya are welcoming and safe.

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Stricken dinghy was not rescued after it entered UK waters, maritime logs reveal

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Boat with 38 people onboard got into difficulty in Channel and left to drift back towards France, FOI request shows

A boat carrying 38 people, including children, that got into difficulty crossing the Channel was not rescued when it reached UK waters but was instead allowed to drift back towards France, according to internal maritime logs.

Ministry of Defence officials, who were managing small boats in the Channel at the time, told the Guardian in January that they disputed that the stricken dinghy had entered UK waters.

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Tunisian cemeteries fill up as hundreds of dead refugees wash up on coast

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Hospitals, morgues and burial grounds under pressure, with more than 300 bodies found this year in just one region

Authorities in Tunisia are considering building new cemeteries, as the country runs out of space to bury the dozens of refugees washing up every day on its shores.

The first three months of 2023 were the deadliest for people attempting to cross the central Mediterranean since 2017, according to the UN, with an increasing number of boats carrying asylum seekers wrecked at sea.

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Sudanese army blocks Britons from boarding last rescue flights

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Nearly 1,900 have been evacuated, says UK government, but final flight has yet to leave Khartoum

Britons are feared to have been stranded in Sudan following reports that the country’s armed forces had prevented a number of people from reaching the last rescue flights out of the war-torn country on Saturday.

On Saturday night, it was announced that 1,888 people on 21 flights have been evacuated from Sudan – the vast majority of them British nationals and their dependents – but the last flight was yet to leave despite being scheduled to depart at 6pm.

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UK coastguard ‘left Channel migrants adrift’ in lead-up to mass drowning

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Investigation reveals that at least 440 people appear to have been abandoned in the weeks before the worst Channel disaster in 30 years

• Read more: ‘Horror beyond words’: how Channel distress calls were ‘ignored’

Hundreds of vulnerable migrants were abandoned to their fates after the UK coastguard “effectively ignored” reports of small boats in distress during the days leading up to the worst Channel disaster in 30 years when at least 27 people died, an Observer investigation suggests.
Around 440 people appear to have been left adrift after the coastguard sent no rescue vessels to 19 reported boats carrying migrants in UK waters, according to an analysis of internal records and marine data seen by the Observer and Liberty Investigates.

Experts said the failure to act appears to breach international law.

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‘A deadly trip’: Sudanese refugees find little welcome at Egyptian border

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People fleeing fighting in Khartoum left waiting for days at sparsely staffed crossing after costly and dangerous journeys

Thousands of people have fled fierce street battles in central Khartoum for Sudan’s borders, waiting for days in the open air to enter Egypt or walking hundreds of miles to cross into South Sudan.

Rana Ameen, a 23-year-old engineering student, said she and five members of her family had paid the equivalent of £475 per person to travel to the border crossing with Egypt, almost 600 miles (1,000km) away.

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Sudan street battles threaten fragile ceasefire as Turkish plane shot

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Concerns truce agreement may not hold despite three-day extension as unrest continues

Street battles and gunfire threaten what remains of a fragile ceasefire in Sudan, now hanging by a thread despite a three-day extension of the truce agreement, as a Turkish evacuation plane was shot at as it attempted to land.

The Sudanese Armed Forces, loyal to Gen Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and its rival, the Rapid Support Forces paramilitary group, traded blame for the incident at the Wadi Seidna airbase, 12.5 miles (20km) north of Khartoum on the western bank of the Nile

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Pregnant woman and child stranded in Sudan due to Home Office delays, says husband

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Family have been waiting more than 12 months for documents and are now trapped amid violence in Khartoum

The Home Office has been accused of putting the lives of a heavily pregnant woman and her three-year-old daughter at risk as they remain stranded in Sudan while waiting for a UK visa.

The family have been waiting more than a year for their documents to be issued, with the mother, who is almost nine months pregnant, trying to shield her daughter from the violence on the streets of Khartoum, the capital.

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MPs back illegal migration bill by 289 votes to 230

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Controversial asylum law will now go to Lords despite criticism from leading Conservatives

The government’s flagship asylum bill passed its third reading in the Commons on Wednesday night and will now go to the Lords despite criticism from several leading Conservatives including Theresa May.

The illegal migration bill, which is supposed to change the law so that those who arrive in the UK by irregular means can be removed to a third country such as Rwanda, was passed by 289 votes to 230. The bill is expected to face greater opposition in the Lords where it could be amended or delayed.

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MPs vote to support the Illegal Migration Bill by 289 to 230 – as it happened

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Theresa May had warned bill will cause more people to be consigned to modern slavery while Geoffrey Cox also raised concerns. This blog is now closed

Q: [From Matthew Barber, the police and crime commissioner for Thames Valley] What can the Home Office do to cut bureaucracy for the police?

Braverman says, if someone is having a mental health crisis, there should be a healthcare response, not a police response. She says police officers are having to spend too much time in hospital with people.

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‘Hungry, exhausted, traumatised’: Sudanese scramble to flee their homeland

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Thousands of refugees face transport chaos, cash shortages, scammers and visa delays as they race to escape to neighbouring countries

Long queues are building on Sudan’s borders, where people fleeing intense fighting are facing daylong waits and demands for visas in order to cross to safety.

On Tuesday, the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) said it was expecting 270,000 refugees to cross into Chad and South Sudan, including South Sudanese returning home. It did not have projections for Egypt or Ethiopia, where many fleeing from the capital, Khartoum, have headed, or for other neighbouring countries. The UNHCR estimated that, so far, up to 20,000 refugees have crossed into Chad from Darfur, and 4,000 into South Sudan.

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Scandal of Syria’s stolen homes: fraudsters use courts to legitimise thefts from refugees

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Assad forces said to be in partnership with networks stripping exiles of their property and leaving them nothing to return to

It was through an unexpected phone call from a police officer, telling him he was summoned to court in Damascus, that Abdullah*, 31, discovered his house was being stolen.

He had to abandon his home in 2012, when he fled Syria during a security crackdown on anti-government activists. Now, he was being told to explain to the courts that he had not transferred the house to a distant relative.

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UK medical bodies ‘gravely concerned’ over Rwanda deportation scheme

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Hundreds of healthcare professionals fear plan will cause ‘catastrophic mental and physical harm’ to refugees

More than 830 UK health professionals and representatives from leading medical bodies have signed a letter to the prime minister expressing “grave concerns” that the government’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda will cause “catastrophic mental and physical harm” to people seeking safety, in advance of a court of appeal hearing on the policy on Monday.

Signatories to the letter include the BMA and the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecologists.

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UN refugee chief condemns Australia’s offshore detention regime and slogans like ‘stop the boats’

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Exclusive: Filippo Grandi praises Australia’s refugee reset but is ‘very upset’ by UK moves to mimic its offshore detention policy

“Myopic” policies of deterrence, and slogans like “stop the boats” are ineffective in addressing the movement of asylum seekers across the world, the United Nations high commissioner for refugees Filippo Grandi has said, in a major speech urging greater cooperation between nations.

Speaking at the University of Melbourne’s Peter McMullin Centre on Statelessness, Grandi said: “Far too often, rich countries have a myopic approach to global forced displacement and population movements, focusing overwhelmingly on border controls.”

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MEPs approve plans for long-awaited overhaul to EU asylum system

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European lawmakers say that after seven years of deadlock it could be the final chance to resolve the issue

The European parliament has approved a series of proposals to overhaul the EU asylum system in a bid to end a years-long deadlock over the issue.

Voting in Strasbourg, MEPs approved plans on the distribution of refugees and migrants across the bloc, screening of people at the EU’s external borders and giving non-EU nationals long-term residence permits after three years of legal stay in a member state.

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Dominic Raab bullying claims: deputy PM refusing to resign after reading report – as it happened

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Dominic Raab denies wrongdoing after report on his behaviour delivered to Rishi Sunak this morning

Today’s announcement by the Association of School and College Leaders that it is to hold a formal ballot for national strike action for the first time in its history (see 9.49am) marks a significant development in the ongoing dispute between teachers and the government.

Up until now only members of the National Education Union (NEU) have taken strike action in England, with five more days of strikes planned for later this term. In addition a fresh ballot is to be held to provide the NEU with a mandate for further strike action up until Christmas.

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At least 25 dead after boat carrying people to Europe sinks off Tunisia

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Dozens of mostly sub-Saharan Africans have drowned in region in recent weeks trying to reach Europe

At least 25 people have died after a boat carrying people from sub-Saharan Africa towards Europe sank off the coast of Tunisia.

Fifteen bodies were discovered on Thursday, the Tunisian coastguard said, after 10 were recovered on Wednesday following the shipwreck the day before off the coastal city of Sfax.

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Calls for better care for asylum seekers after rise in diphtheria cases in Europe

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Researchers say improved health screening of people arriving in small boats is needed to prevent outbreaks

Health experts are calling for better care for asylum seekers as research reveals small boat crossings have been linked to a sharp increase in diphtheria cases in the UK and across Europe.

Reception centres in the UK have hit by a series of scandals in recent months, including outbreaks of disease and reports that offers of assistance from public health leaders have been declined by the Home Office.

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Threefold increase in Mediterranean crossings this year, says EU agency

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Nearly 28,000 people arrived via sea route in first quarter, Frontex says, as UN decries deadliest period since 2017

Three times as many people sought to reach the EU across the Mediterranean in the first three months of 2023 compared with a year before, the bloc’s border agency has said, as the UN’s migration arm decried the deadliest first quarter since 2017.

Overall, the EU agency, Frontex, reported 54,000 irregular crossings into the bloc via all routes in the first quarter of the year, up a fifth from 2022.

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