Crises

Syria

UN refugee agency says it has not received funds pledged for Syrian refugees< (The Washington Post, 17 February 2013)

The U.N. refugee agency says it has not yet received the funds recently pledged for Syrian refugees and is struggling to help rising numbers fleeing the country’s nearly 2-year-old civil war.

As war in Syria continues, refugees in Turkey open a high school <(The Washington Post, 14 February 2013)

When this middle and high school opened late last year, many of its students had not attended classes in more than a year, as their families hid within Syria or fled to Turkey, where schools that teach in Arabic are scarce. They were behind in their studies and starved for friendship and the normalities of teenage life that the war had taken away.

Armenia struggles to absorb Christian refugees from Syria< (The Washington Post, 20 February 2013)

The Christian-Armenian community in Syria is relatively small — between 60,000 and 100,000 people, according to estimates — but its history has added to its unease. Armenians in Syria are descendants of people who fled to Syria after escaping a genocide against Armenians in Ottoman Turkey during World War I.

Many worry the same can happen in Syria, where the Christian Armenians are again at the mercy of Muslim factions at war, and they are desperate to get out.

The death of a country <(The Economist, 23 February 2013)

AFTER the first world war Syria was hacked from the carcass of the Ottoman empire. After the second, it won its independence. After the fighting that is raging today it could cease to function as a state.

Diseases spreading in Syria as WASH systems collapse <(Irin, 21 February 2013)

According to WHO’s Hoff, leishmaniasis has been spreading as displaced people brought it to cities where the diseases had not occurred before. Moreover, she warned, the health risks might increase even more as soon as the weather gets warmer.

WFP And Sandbox Global Join Forces To Fight Hunger Online< (World Food Program, 21 February 2013)

Online gamers and followers of fashion today have a new way to support the United Nations World Food Programme’s (WFP) emergency food assistance operation in Syria thanks to a ground-breaking initiative with Facebook game Stylista (https://apps.facebook.com/stylista<). Stylista is the brainchild of Sandbox Global, a digital gaming company based in Bangkok, Thailand.

Syria crisis: Mortars hit Damascus stadium <(The Guardian, 20 February 2013)

The battle continues to rage in the Damascus suburbs. Yesterday, two mortars fired by rebels exploded close to one of Bashar al-Assad's presidential palaces in Damascus.

Time to refer Syrian war crimes to ICC: U.N. inquiry <(Reuters, 18 February 2013)

United Nations investigators said on Monday that Syrian leaders they had identified as suspected war criminals should face the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The investigators urged the U.N. Security Council to "act urgently to ensure accountability" for violations, including murder and torture, committed by both sides in an uprising and civil war that has killed about 70,000 people since March 2011.

As conflict affects Syria's health sector, many sick and injured seek treatment outside< (UNHCR, 21 February 2013)

Staff at the Moroccan hospital in Za'atri have seen more than 93,000 cases since the camp was opened in July last year. And while the hospital is fully equipped with everything from a dental clinic to two surgical theatres and an x-ray room, the increased number of refugees fleeing the border has meant that the facility is working overtime.

Jordan says it has received more than 320,000 Syrians since the conflict erupted in March 2011. They arrive in numbers approaching anywhere between 1,700 to as many as 4,000 each night. Many of are in need of medical treatment.

Syrian Kurds who fled to Iraq have mixed feelings about Syria, in no rush to go home <(The Washington Post, 18 February 2013)

Syrian Kurds who fled their country’s civil war have mixed feelings about a future without Bashar Assad: They hope to win a measure of autonomy after the fall of the regime, but fear chaos and the rise of Islamists could instead make their lives worse.

South Sudan

Sold, Abused - The Plight of South Sudan’s Forgotten Women< (ReliefWeb, 21 February 2013)

South Sudan has struggled for decades to liberate itself from a hardline north. South Sudanese women are waging a similar struggle for the basic rights over their bodies and minds in a new nation where civil war has ended, but violence and sexual abuse still thrive.

Hepatitis E affects thousands, kills 111 in South Sudan refugee camps< (UNHCR, 15 February 2013)

The UN refugee agency on Friday said that an outbreak of hepatitis E has affected more than 6,000 people in South Sudan refugee camps since July and added that 111 of them had died.

Democratic Republic of the Congo

Finding a Lasting Solution to Instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo< (U.S. Department of State Official Blog, 21 February 2013)

As I noted in my recent remarks at the Brookings Institution, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, or the DRC, deserves a much higher place on the world's foreign policy priorities list. Conflict in the DRC has resulted in more than five million deaths since 1998. No other conflict or act of violence since World War II has come anywhere close to taking so many lives. Eastern DRC's chronic instability also negatively impacts the security, political, economic, and development goals of the country's nine neighbors. This is one of the reasons why it is imperative for the United States and the international community to work with the DRC and other regional partners to break this cycle of death and suffering and address the consequences of this violence.

Gender-Based Violence

Talk point: ending gender violence. What works? <(The Guardian, 12 February 2013)

Widespread protests in India followed the gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus, putting the country's record on tackling gender violence in the spotlight and giving global prominence to an often sidelined "women's" issue.

USA: UN rights experts call on Congress to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act< (OHCHR, 19 February 2013)

The United Nations Special Rapporteurs on violence against women, Rashida Manjoo, and on the rights of indigenous peoples, James Anaya, urged the United States Government to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Their call follows the recent approval by the US Senate of a bipartisan bill to reauthorize and strengthen VAWA.

V-Day’s ONE BILLION RISING is Biggest Global Action Ever To End Violence Against Women and Girls< (One Billion Rising, 20 February 2013)

14 February 2013 marked the largest global action in history to end violence against women and girls. V-Day’s ONE BILLION RISING campaign leveraged the strength of V-Day’s 15-year activist network to mobilize over a billion people worldwide, inspiring women and men in 207 countries to come together and express their outrage, and to strike, dance and RISE against violence.

Philippines passes historic bill to protect internally displaced <(UNHCR, 8 February 2013)

The UN refugee agency on Friday lauded the Philippines' Congress for passing a bill that seeks to protect the rights of more than 1 million internally displaced people (IDP) in the country.

Integration success stories

Refugee student from Afghanistan wins Eton scholarship< (BBC, 20 February 2013)

A student from Hull who came to the city after escaping Taliban rule in Afghanistan has secured a place at Eton College.

Rohid Zamani, who is a student at Hull's Sirius Academy, won a £30,000-a-year scholarship after beating off competition from hundreds of other applicants.

He fled Afghanistan with his family in 2000 when he was aged three. The 16-year-old said he hoped to pursue a career in medicine. Rohid said that the stories told to him by his parents of life under the Taliban in the war-torn country had motivated him in his studies.

A classic tale of a life made good in America< (BBC, 17 February 2013)

A journalist's New York reunion with a refugee from Kosovo brings back memories of time spent together in the former war zone in the late 90s.

Gusts of icy wind hustled Fifth Avenue. The outdoor rink in Bryant Park, built over the underground stacks of the grand New York Public Library, was packed with skaters - around and around they went, the artful pirouetting, the amateur clowning.

And headgear of every design - mufflers, beanies, furs, ear-protectors - bobbed along sidewalks as New Yorkers took on the first full-blown blast of winter.

'Serious human rights abuses continue' in Burma, the UN says (video)< (BBC, 17 February 2013)

Serious human rights abuses are continuing in Burma despite progress towards democracy under the reform-minded government, the UN says.

Following a five-day visit to the country, senior UN official Tomas Ojea Quintana said the Burmese military was still using arbitrary arrests and torture in its conflict with Kachin rebels.

European immigration

Clegg warns against EU migration 'guesstimate <(BBC, 20 February 2013)

Nick Clegg has refused to reveal estimates of the number of Romanians and Bulgarians expected to come to the UK when restrictions on their right to work are lifted next year.

The deputy PM said the figures were not "precise", more like "guesstimates".

Making them public would not help "public confidence in the immigration system", he told LBC Radio.

What can Cameron really do about Bulgarian and Romanian immigration? <(The Guardian, 19 February 2013)

The temperature of the debate over immigration from Bulgaria and Romania in 2014 continues to rise. Even its starting point divides opinion: how large will the inflow be? It is said that migrants from these countries have no desire to come to the UK, but for cultural reasons prefer Latin destinations. Indeed, the bulk of migration from Bulgaria and Romania in recent years has been to Italy and Spain.

Communicating for development

15 ways to improve your communications strategy <(Guardian Professional, 15 February 2013)

A roundup of advice from our panel of experts, including ICMC, on the importance of communication in aid work and how to get it right

Photos

The Garden: Alessandro Imbriaco photographs one family's exile to Eden< (The Guardian, 15 February 2013)

Captivated by the plight of Piero and his family living in a swamp outside Rome, the Italian photographer created a book of images that enshrines them in an eerily beautiful light

The Guardian’s Picture desk live: the best news pictures of the day< (The Guardian, 21 February 2013)

Our photo coverage of the day's events in the UK and around the world

Photocredit © UNHCR/ F.Noy / November 2012