ARTICLES

On the eve of World Refugee Day, the acting head of US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), Ken Cuccinelli, emailed asylum officers lamenting the country’s “abused” asylum system and calling on them to help “stem the crisis and better secure the homeland.” The message to get in line and deny more asylum …

A recent report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) indicated that at least 4.2 million people in Somalia need urgent life-saving humanitarian support. By July, the number may rise to a staggering 5.4 million people – including 1 million children. We need action now. The …

Water they say is life, free of cost like breathing air, but when the commodity becomes all you need to survive, rarely will the thoughts of even good food cross your mind. Not to mention any other basic human needs. Such is the agony of millions of children, women and …

Somalia’s aid community has been caught off guard by severe drought conditions and growing food insecurity, and now says time is ticking to raise awareness of a looming crisis. “This is a little bit of an unanticipated shock,” said Justin Brady, head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination …

Ever since President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s first visit to Somalia in 2011, when he was Turkey’s prime minister, the relations between Somalia and Turkey has blossomed and strengthened. The two countries started regular high-level discussions, exchange of delegations and cooperation in international forums, including the United Nations. Turkey, no doubt, …

The decision to close Kenya’s largest refugee camp – home to almost a quarter of a million people – is raising difficult questions, says Mollie Gerver. Dadaab refugee camp, in eastern Kenya, was established almost 30 years ago. It currently hosts around half of the country’s refugees – 230,000 of …

The Kenyan government has ordered the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) to close the Dadaab refugee camp. It has not stated its reasons for this, but in the past it ordered similar closures on security grounds, claiming Dadaab could host terrorists from the Somali militant group Al-Shabaab. The camp, established almost 30 years …

“Development efforts are increasingly at risk. A faltering global economy, food and energy insecurity, conflict, global climate change, declining ecosystems, extreme poverty, and the threat of epidemics seriously challenge progress towards improving social welfare and economic growth in many developing countries.” That was the opening paragraph of the very first …

Meeting the children at a primary school in Baidoa town, in the southwestern Bay region of Somalia, my heart swelled with joy. As they showed me how they could say the days of the week in English, the teacher beamed, I felt so proud that the world’s humanitarian response was enabling these children …

Hundreds dead, more than 140,000 people displaced, and the rapid spread of waterborne diseases across Mozambique and neighbouring Malawi and Zimbabwe – the devastation caused by Cyclone Idai provides a stark warning of the dangers posed to poor communities living in the path of these grave hazards. The extent of avoidable harm has …