Jason Bell helps children build new futures in third countries

ETHIOPIA, 26 February 2014 (ICMC) - Although I have been working at the Mai Aini camp in Ethiopia for the past year, I never ceased to be amazed by the sight of hundreds of children running around, playing games, washing clothes and cooking meals with hardly any adults in sight.

Placed within the hot and dusty hills of Ethopia’s northern Tigray region, The Mai Aini camp offers quite a contrast of the Iowa farmland of my youth. Despite a devastating border conflict with Eritrea from 1998-2000, Ethiopia now hosts tens of thousands of persons fleeing the very country it once fought against; approximately 1,000 of them are unaccompanied children.Read more<

Global Forum Migration and Development: continuing the road to new responsibilities

Key decisions-makers gather at the Sixth Global Forum on Migration and Development (GFMD) in Mauritius this week. For the second year in a row, ICMC has taken up a leading role in the coordination of the GFMD Civil Society Days. During these days organisations intend to share their expertise and develop concrete models to the better implementation of human rights for all migrants.Read more<

Resettlement of unaccompanied children from Tunisia to Norway

GENEVA, 17 January 2012—On Sunday, 33 unaccompanied children departed from Tunisia's Shousha refugee camp to Norway as part of their resettlement process.The children were among 90 who arrived unaccompanied from Libya during 2011. Some were already without parents when they first arrived in Libya; others lost their parents or became separated from them subsequently. Most are from Somalia, Sudan, Ethiopia, or Eritrea.Read more<

Among the Asylum Seekers

Refugees arrive at our offices early. Often a line starts forming by 5:30 a.m. There are Sudanese men with the parallel scars of manhood etched on their foreheads, Ethiopian women draped in white scarves, and Somalis floating by in their red and black hijabs trailing the scent of eucalyptus in their wake. They tote their food for the day in plastic containers and thermoses, knowing the wait may be long. Here is the story.Read more<

Eritrean family leaves Tunisia border camp for new life in Belgium

CHOUCHA CAMP, Tunisia, 20 July 2011 (UNHCR<)—Filmon was born in Eritrea and says his heart is there, that he never dreamed nor wished to be far removed from his country. Yet this week he and his family boarded a plane and headed for a new life over 5,000 kilometres away.Read more<

Disturbances at Kenya’s Dadaab complex as Somali influx grows

GENEVA, 1 July 2011 (UNHCR<)—Yesterday saw serious disturbances in the Dagahley section of the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya. Rioting broke out when police sought to disperse a crowd that was protesting an attempt to demolish illegal structures around a food distribution point. Teargas was used, and later live gunshot. Our information is that two refugees were killed and around a dozen injured.Read more<