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News on Countries of Asylum

Published: 1 Jun 2016

Global

• UN launches global campaign aimed at raising funds from private and philanthropic sectors to provide shelter for two million refugee by 2018
• Former UK foreign secretary calls for an end to the refugee camp system, following the announcement that Kenya plans to close world’s largest refugee camp

Africa

Cameroon

Since July 2014 more than 56,000 Nigerians have taken refuge in Cameroon due to the activities of Boko Haram

Chad

Severe shortage of humanitarian aid, health services, and food for 35,000 Sudanese refugees in eastern Chad

Djibouti

Nearly 35,000 refugees have arrived in Djibouti since start of the conflict in Yemen in March 2015

Ethiopia

UNHCR calls for calm after violence in Gambella, and appeals for additional international support for refugees and host communities

Kenya

• Dadaab refugee camp has become Kenya’s third largest city and an economic hub
• Kenyan President tells UN that the decision to close Dadaab refugee camp was driven by national security interests
• Refugees face police persecution and death after Kenyan government disbands Department of Refugee Affairs
• Closing Dadaab camp will not make Kenya safer
• Government announces task force responsible for repatriation of refugees living in Dadaab
• UNHCR says returning refugees to Somalia by force will breach international law, and reports just 13,440 Dadaab camp refugees have voluntarily returned to Somalia in the past 18 months
• Gay Ugandans seeking refuge in Kenya receive poor treatment, and UNHCR halts streamlined resettlement process for Ugandan LGBTI refugee in Kenya

Rwanda

• Over 19,000 Burundian refugee school students enrolled in Rwandan education system following induction programme, as report shows total number of Burundian refugees in Rwanda has increased
• Rwanda expels more than 1,300 Burundians who refused to move to refugee camps, according to Burundian reports, as relations between the countries continue to worsen

South Africa

Refugees receiving social grants for their children have payments suspended, as South African Social Security Agency offices cease accepting refugee identity documents

Sudan

More than 69,000 South Sudanese have arrived in Sudan since January 2016 as a result of ongoing conflict and deteriorating food security

Uganda

Plans underway to relocate 31 South Sudanese refugees who crossed into Uganda due to food shortages

Zimbabwe

UN asks Zimbabwean government to reconsider rejections of asylum claims, as number of refugees in Zimbabwe expected to rise as war in Democratic Republic of Congo intensifies

Americas

Canada

Canadian government opens talks with military on assisting the arrival of 10,000 privately sponsored Syrian refugees to Canada

United States

• New report finds US asylum and immigration court systems are failing refugees, with many asylum seekers waiting three to six years for resolution
• US State Department announces no changes to Cubans’ favourable immigration status despite recent moves to normalise US-Cuba relations
• Classmate of 43 missing students who disappeared in Mexico seeks asylum in US fearing retribution for his activism
• US approves 1,100 of the 7,000 applications to the Central American Minors Program so far, and continues to deport 3,100 Central Americans a month
• US grants asylum to Iranian family with Dutch citizenship, whose son was murdered in the Netherlands after being bullied for his ethnicity and religion
• Asylum seekers in US face homelessness and destitution whilst waiting months or years for applications to be processed
• Freedom of Information Act request results in publication of interview questions asked by US asylum officers during 2011-15

Asia

China:Prominent Chinese writer living under police surveillance is missing after being taken away by police

Asia-Pacific

Australia

• An Australian federal court finds immigration minister breached his duty of care to an asylum seeker who became pregnant after being raped in detention on Nauru
• Somali refugee on Nauru sets herself on fire after being forcibly removed from Brisbane Immigration Transit Accommodation and returned to the offshore detention centre, days after a man on Nauru dies of injuries sustained from self-immolation
• Australian immigration minister defends health services for refugees detained on Nauru after detainee and her newborn baby are flown to Brisbane following an emergency caesarean section operation
• 26 year-old Bangladeshi refugee detained on Nauru dies of suspected heart failure
• New documentary calls attention to the human cost of Australia’s offshore detention system
• Human rights and refugee lawyer accuses Australia of breaching international obligations in returning 12 Sri Lankan asylum seekers from Cocos Keeling islands

Nauru

Medical and mental health professionals condemn conviction of refugee detained on Nauru and Nauruan government’s statement that it will help to “deter” further attempts

Papua New Guinea

Papua New Guinea (PNG) immigration department announces asylum seekers held in Manus Island centre are free to leave it, in a move designed to get around an April 2016 PNG supreme court ruling that found the detention of 900 men to be illegal and unconstitutional

Thailand

Possibility of return on the horizon for refugees from Myanmar in Thailand, following democratic changes in Myanmar and October 2015 ceasefire

Europe

• Syrian refugee wins appeal against forced return to Turkey from Greece, throwing EU-Turkey migration deal into chaos
• Delegation finds refugees deported from Europe to Turkey under migration deal have had no opportunity to apply for asylum and that many, including children, are held in detention
• Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) publish policy analysis of EU-Turkey deal that identifies serious human rights concerns
• European Parliament lawyer says EU-Turkey deal is not legally binding
• EU member states criticise Turkey for sending “unwell” and “less educated” Syrians to Europe as part of deal to exchange asylum seekers
• European Commission proposes reform to Dublin Regulation to include a “fairness mechanism” to distribute asylum seekers across EU member states
• Large numbers of Gambians seeking asylum in Europe are turned away as “economic migrants”, highlighting the inadequacies of refugee status determination in the EU

Bulgaria

Bulgaria becomes first EU member state to sign protocol with Turkey to return migrants who have illegally crossed the Bulgarian-Turkish border

Finland

>New Finnish Immigration Service guidelines permit returns to Afghanistan, Iraq and Somalia and stop grants of residence permits on the basis of humanitarian protection

Germany

Germany’s Federal Office of Migration and Refugees develops new digital management system to handle a more than 20-fold increase in annual asylum applications

Greece

European Stability Initiative calls on European institutions to improve reporting on events in the Greek island in the context of the EU-Turkey deal

Hungary

Humanitarian disaster in Hungary’s transit zones as cash allowances removed from refugees living in camps and removal of integration provisions for recognised refugees in Hungary

United Kingdom

UK government proposes substantial increase in legal fees to challenge initial asylum decisions

Middle East

Turkey

• Human Rights Watch reports Turkish border guards killing and injuring Syrian asylum seekers trying to reach Turkey
• Syrians returned to Turkey under EU-Turkey deal being detained with no access to lawyers

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