Crises

DRC

Newly displaced in eastern Congo need urgent assistance< (UNHCR, 20 March 2013)

Thousands of internally displaced people in the Masisi territory are in urgent need of basic humanitarian assistance following the latest fighting in the troubled region.

The clashes in late February and early March between the Congolese armed forces and other armed groups forced thousands of people – many of them from sites for the displaced – to flee to the UN peace-keepers' base in the town of Kitchanga, which also emptied out, or other areas. The security situation is now relatively stable and most people have returned to their homes, often finding them destroyed.

Boosting support for IDPs outside DRC’s formal camps< (IRIN, 21 March 2013)

Humanitarian agencies in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s (DRC) North Kivu Province are working to increase their support for hundreds of thousands of displaced people living outside formal camps with little humanitarian support, often relying on the kindness of sometimes equally vulnerable host communities.

Mali

Malian armed and security forces gear up to better protect women and children in conflict situations< (UN Women, 19 March 2013)

“I didn’t know that a soldier could or should play a role in protecting and helping the civilian population, especially women and children, who are the most vulnerable and exposed in conflicts,” said a Sergeant in the Mopti area in northern Mali.

He was one of the first 365 soldiers to have taken part in a capacity-building programme for defence and security forces. Covering issues such as the protection of women and children and international humanitarian law, the Ministry of Defence is running the training programme in partnership with UN Women, four other United Nations agencies and the Government of the Netherlands.

Syria

U.N.: Syria’s humanitarian crisis is ‘dramatic beyond description’ <(The Washington Post, 20 March 2013)

The United Nations official responsible for aiding Syrian refugees painted his bleakest picture to date Tuesday, describing a humanitarian crisis that is “dramatic beyond description” and a country and people so destroyed that they could take years to recover under the best of circumstances.

Syria: Almost no place safe for civilians< (UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 15 March 2013)

As the crisis in Syria reaches the end of two years, the suffering of Syrian civilians keeps growing, protection obligations under international humanitarian law continue to be ignored by the parties to the conflict, and the challenges confronting the humanitarian community continue to mount.

Addressing the Syrian Humanitarian Crisis <(U.S. Department of State Official Blog, 19 March 2013)

The two-year anniversary of the Syria uprising coincides with another dark milestone: over one million refugees have fled Syria. More troubling, half of that number arrived in the last two months. The United States is the leading government donor to the crisis, having already provided nearly $385 million in humanitarian assistance. This escalating crisis, however, is challenging all of us to do more. We must ensure more life-saving assistance reaches people who need it.

Syria’s refu¬gee crisis crosses its own ‘red line’< (The Washington Post, 22 March 2013)

IT’S NOT YET clear whether reports of the use of chemical weapons in Syria by the regime of Bashar al-Assad are correct; if they are, a red line drawn by President Obama will have been crossed. What’s certain is that the Syrian crisis has already passed what should be another tipping point for U.S. intervention: what a top U.N. official calls a “staggering acceleration” of refugees that threatens to destabilize much of the Middle East.

Syria's 'huge and urgent unmet needs' push NGOs to launch emergency appeal< (The Guardian, 20 March 2013)

Disasters Emergency Committee appeal follows dramatic deterioration in humanitarian situation in Syria

UK NGOs will launch an emergency appeal for Syria on Thursday as relief groups struggle to keep pace with the scale of emergency after two years of conflict.

UN Refugee Chief warns of dire consequences of lack of funding for Syrian refugees< (UNHCR, 15 March 2013)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, today reiterated his call for governments to create special funds to support Syrian refugees and the countries that host them. He warned that unless funding for Syrian refugees comes rapidly, urgently needed support could be denied to refugees in dire need and the region could become unstable.

Syria conflict contributing to rising asylum claims in industrialized countries< (UNHCR, 21 March 2013)

The UN refugee agency on Thursday announced that new and old conflicts, including those in Syria, Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia, contributed to an eight per cent increase in asylum applications in industrialized countries during 2012, with the sharpest rise seen in asylum requests from Syrians.

As Syrian refugees pour in, sectarian tensions strain Lebanon's brittle peace< (The Guardian, 16 March 2013)

Beirut faces a crisis, struggling to shelter a vast influx of displaced people

On the edge of Beirut's rebuilt inner core, a Damascus businessman, Abu Ziad, eased himself into his new BMW in the car park of the biggest Sunni mosque in town. His black 7-series saloon was the fanciest car in the lot and was attracting attention from a line of compatriots who waited impatiently to beg for money. All of them had seen Abu Ziad's licence plate and they pressed their case in a dialect distinct to the Syrian rural poor.

Syrian Opposition: A leader of sorts< (The Economist, 20 March 2013)

IT took many attempts, but in Istanbul on March 19th Syria's main political opposition group elected a prime minister to lead an interim government. Ghassan Hitto, a 50-year-old Syrian computer executive who has lived in America since the 1980s, will try to form a cabinet to run the rebel-held territories in the north and east where locals have struggled to keep services running. His priorities will include distributing aid and trying to unite Syria's disparate rebel groups under the umbrella Syrian National Coalition and its military wing, the Supreme Military Council.

Germany offers to take in 5,000 more Syrian refugees <(Agence France-Presse, 20 March 2013)

Germany said Wednesday it was prepared to take in another 5,000 Syrian refugees in the coming months in response to deteriorating conditions in the war-ravaged country.

Interior Minister Hans-Peter Friedrich said Germany would grant asylum to 3,000 Syrians from June at the latest, followed by another 2,000 later this year in response to an "increasingly difficult" situation, bringing to about 13,000 the number of Syrian refugees taken in since the start of 2012.

South Sudan

Pace of Progress in South Sudan Uneven, as Deeply Rooted Divisions Open Old Wounds, Top Envoy Tells Security Council <(South Sudan, 21 March 2013)

Despite some progress achieved in South Sudan’s transition towards a stable, viable State, internal security challenges and political fault-lines — exacerbated by a recent spate of inter-communal violence — continued to render the new country fragile and threaten peace and security throughout the region, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative warned the Security Council this afternoon.

Human Trafficking

'Shameful' failure to tackle slavery and human trafficking in the UK< (The Guardian, 9 March 2013)

Ministers, the police and social workers have been accused of a "shocking" failure to prevent the spread of modern slavery in the UK, leading to sexual exploitation, forced labour and the domestic servitude of adults and children from across the world.

Nigeria finds 29 survivors from trafficked immigrant boat <(Reuters, 21 March 2013)

Nigerian authorities have so far rescued 29 survivors from a boat carrying scores of trafficked immigrants that sank on its way to Gabon, the National Emergency Management Agency said on Thursday.

Immigration

New network monitors deportee abuses< (IRIN, 13 March 2013)

The principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the return of asylum seekers and refugees to a country where their lives or freedom would be threatened, is often referred to as the cornerstone of the 1951 Refugee Convention.

Even individuals whose bids for asylum have been rejected are protected by the Convention Against Torture and the European Convention of Human Rights, which forbid the extradition of people to areas where their freedom or safety are at risk.

Continued Focus on the Horn of Africa in Sweden's Quota Selections for 2013< (Migrationsverket, 21 February 2013)

In 2013, as in previous years, the Swedish resettlement efforts will be concentrated on the refugee situation in and around the Horn of Africa, as well as in the areas around Afghanistan. New destinations in this year´s programme for the selection of quota refugees are Uganda and Egypt, where two smaller selections are planned.

Gender-based violence

Global development podcast: ending violence against women< (The Guardian, 20 February 2013)

Condemnation of violence against women is widespread. But how do communities actually eliminate attacks? What works?

In March, the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) will discuss the elimination and prevention of all forms of violence against women and girls. The issue is a priority under the UK's leadership of the G8 this year

Video

Syria Deeply Google Hangout with António Guterres and Anne C. Richard< (Syria Deeply, 19 March 2013)

Photocredit © UNHCR/ B.Sokol / March 2013