Country of Origin and Legal News
AFRICA
BURUNDI: State still accused of extrajudicial killings of opposition supporters; Imminent return of more than 35,000 Burundians from Tanzania could degenerate into ‘humanitarian disaster’
DRC: DRC doctor who helps rape victims evacuated after murder bid
ERITREA: Eritrean Air Force pilots defect; Eritrea’s ‘dismal state of affairs’ continues after 30 years of affairs, many refugees stranded as they try to cross borders
KENYA: Top Kenyan university opens campus next to world’s largest refugee camp; Refugee relocation order sparks concern; Three refugees killed in Dadaab shooting
MALI: Mali extremists abusing rights, targeting children and women
RWANDA: Rwandan officials guiding rebels in Congo accused of committing atrocities, Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire found guilty at treason trial and sentenced to eight years in jail
SENEGAL: LGBTI individuals seek protection in Senegal despite intolerance of homosexuality; UNHCR distributes biometric ID cards to refugees in Senegal
SOUTH AFRICA
AMERICAS
CANADA
US
ASIA-PACIFIC
AUSTRALIA
BURMA: Leader admits deadly attacks on Muslims
INDIA: Refugees denied basic facilities
NAURU
EUROPE
BULGARIA: New refugee shelter to be built on border with Turkey in response to an increase in refugees from the Middle East
FINLAND: Two Afghan asylum seekers on hunger strike after refused asylum
GERMANY: Interior Minister calls for suspension of visas for Serbs and Macedonians
GREECE: Greek MEP calls for new approach to asylum issues; Racist attacks in Greece rise to alarming levels; Greece failing asylum seekers
HUNGARY: Hungary continues to remove Dublin II migrants; European Court of Human Rights condemns Hungary for its treatment of asylum seekers
IRELAND: Irish Refugee Council calls for urgent review of asylum process in Ireland; Asylum seekers in Ireland left in limbo for years
ITALY: Asylum conditions in Italy not severe enough to prevent removal of refugees from the UK
UK
KUWAIT: Police clamp down on stateless activists
PAKISTAN: Persecuted Hazaras flee Pakistan
GLOBAL
SYRIA CRISIS
BURUNDI: State still accused of extrajudicial killings of opposition supporters; Imminent return of more than 35,000 Burundians from Tanzania could degenerate into ‘humanitarian disaster’
DRC: DRC doctor who helps rape victims evacuated after murder bid
ERITREA: Eritrean Air Force pilots defect; Eritrea’s ‘dismal state of affairs’ continues after 30 years of affairs, many refugees stranded as they try to cross borders
KENYA: Top Kenyan university opens campus next to world’s largest refugee camp; Refugee relocation order sparks concern; Three refugees killed in Dadaab shooting
MALI: Mali extremists abusing rights, targeting children and women
RWANDA: Rwandan officials guiding rebels in Congo accused of committing atrocities, Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire found guilty at treason trial and sentenced to eight years in jail
SENEGAL: LGBTI individuals seek protection in Senegal despite intolerance of homosexuality; UNHCR distributes biometric ID cards to refugees in Senegal
SOUTH AFRICA
- Department of Home Affairs denies asylum seekers despite High Court ruling
- Somali woman takes Home Affairs minister and refugee officials to High Court in order to secure asylum bid
- Asylum seekers ‘failed by state’
- Foreigners still at risk of xenophobic attacks
TOGO: As elections approach, opposition protests violently quashed by police
ZIMBABWE: Refugee center opens at Nyamapanda
ZIMBABWE: Refugee center opens at Nyamapanda
AMERICAS
CANADA
- Plagiarism alleged in some Canadian refugee board decisions
- Hungarian Roma refugee claimants targeted in CBSA report
- Mailout from MP condemning ‘unfair’ health benefits for refugee claimants angers community
- New Canadian law attempts to block ‘bogus’ refugees
US
- Violence in Central America leads to an upsurge in unaccompanied minors crossing into the US
- Chinese dissident Yu Jie granted asylum in US
- Failed asylum seeker from Azerbaijan stuck in Samoa, barred from re-entering the US
ASIA-PACIFIC
AUSTRALIA
- Guards accused of assaulting disabled asylum seeker
- Asylum seekers not told of their rights
- Refugees considered a ‘national security threat’ will have the right to have their cases reviewed
- Protesters decry Australian government’s asylum seeker policies
- Asylum seeker processing facilities may reach capacity within months
- Australian government opts for ambiguous language about possible five-year wait in offshore detention facilities, which amounts to a prison term for asylum seekers
- Australia pledges to resettle 1,000 Syrian refugees
- Australia ‘exports’ its punitive policies for asylum seekers to New Zealand
- Despite warnings from UNHCR, Australian federal government defends plans to send asylum seeker boats to Papua New Guinea
- Australia uses video-conferencing for resettlement interviews
BURMA: Leader admits deadly attacks on Muslims
INDIA: Refugees denied basic facilities
NAURU
- Nauru amending laws for refugee determinations
- Asylum seekers self-harm at Nauru processing centre
- Asylum seeker on Nauru in 12th day of hunger strike
- Witnesses describe asylum seeker suicide attempt
NEW ZEALAND: Immigration Minister struggles to find support for bill to jail people arriving on boats
TAJIKISTAN: Court rules to close leading human rights organisation
TAJIKISTAN: Court rules to close leading human rights organisation
EUROPE
BULGARIA: New refugee shelter to be built on border with Turkey in response to an increase in refugees from the Middle East
FINLAND: Two Afghan asylum seekers on hunger strike after refused asylum
GERMANY: Interior Minister calls for suspension of visas for Serbs and Macedonians
GREECE: Greek MEP calls for new approach to asylum issues; Racist attacks in Greece rise to alarming levels; Greece failing asylum seekers
HUNGARY: Hungary continues to remove Dublin II migrants; European Court of Human Rights condemns Hungary for its treatment of asylum seekers
IRELAND: Irish Refugee Council calls for urgent review of asylum process in Ireland; Asylum seekers in Ireland left in limbo for years
ITALY: Asylum conditions in Italy not severe enough to prevent removal of refugees from the UK
UK
- Man who worked as an interpreter for the British forces in Afghanistan has asylum bid rejected
- G4S reopens initial accommodation centre for asylum seeker which was previously shut down due to fire safety failings and shocking living standards
- UK court allows accused Sudanese war criminal to remain in country
- Failed asylum seekers denied right to work, left ‘trapped in poverty’
- High Court rules that failure to consider mental health of asylum seeker renders detention partially unlawful
- Court proceedings in Glasgow monitored in solidarity with asylum seekers
- Home Office failing most vulnerable migrants
- Foreign nationals in prison will lose access to free legal advice in 2013
UKRAINE: Ukraine Parliament takes steps to make ‘promotion of homosexuality’ a criminal offence; Russian asylum seeker disappears mid-consultation with UNHCR, reportedly returned to Russia
MIDDLE EAST
ISRAEL
ISRAEL
- Interior Minister orders mass roundup of Sudanese migrants, including Darfur genocide survivors
- Sudanese refugees in Israel protest plans to jail them
- Court prohibits detention of Sudanese refugees days before mass arrests begin
- Asylum seekers blocked at border
KUWAIT: Police clamp down on stateless activists
PAKISTAN: Persecuted Hazaras flee Pakistan
GLOBAL
- World Disaster Report 2012 focuses on forced migration and displacement
- Senior UNHCR official criticizes not-on-my-doorstep attitudes towards refugees, displaced
- Ecuador, Honduras and Portugal accede to Statelessness Conventions
- UNHCR urges European Union states to honour their asylum system principles
- European Court of Human Rights rules it is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights to dismiss an asylum case without even attempting to verify documents presented by the asylum seeker which are central to the case
SYRIA CRISIS
- 150,000 Syrian refugees have fled to Egypt
- Jordan plans second camp to house Syrian refugees as numbers climb;
- Over 100,000 Syrian refugees now in Lebanon
- Number of Syrian refugees in camps in Southern Turkey exceeds 100,000
- Amnesty International and others urge the EU to meet its responsibilities to refugees fleeing conflict in Syria
- Civil war prompts tenfold rise in Syrians claiming asylum in UK
- UK Minister for Immigration introduces concessions to immigration rules for Syrians
- HRW calls on Iraqi and Turkish authorities to open borders for Syrian refugees
- Save the Children denounces ‘horrific acts of violence’ being committed against children in Syria
