DISPLACEMENT AND ASYLUM

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 …

GENEVA (SoOHA) –  The number of people fleeing war, persecution and conflict exceeded 70 million in 2018. This is the highest level that UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has seen in its almost 70 years. Data from UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, released today, shows that almost 70.8 million people are …

GAROWE (SoOHA) – As part of our IDP camp series, Radio Ergo visited one of the IDP camps outside Garowe in Puntland. In this report, we profile the challenges and achievements of a mother from an ethnic minority group, the Somali Bantu, who overcame the odds to ensure her son …

GENEVA (SoOHA) – The United Nations refugee agency on Tuesday warned of a growing climate-related displacement in Somalia where more than 2 million people are in need of food aid. In a statement issued ahead of the World Environment Day on Wednesday, the UNHCR called for urgent additional support to …

SANA’A (SoOHA) – A total of almost 4,300 Somali refugees have returned home from Yemen since the roll-out in 2017 of an Assisted Spontaneous Return programme facilitated by the UN refugee agency UNHCR in cooperation with humanitarian partners and authorities in Yemen and Somalia. The UNHCR said Friday here that …

BAIDOA (SoOHA) – Thousands of displaced families in the southern Somali city of Baidoa have received plots of land on which to build their own homes, ending years of poor living and anxiety over possible eviction. Baidoa District Commissioner, Abdillahi Ali Watin, said 7,000 families from 54 camps in the …

BAIDOA (SoOHA) – In our continuing series on life in IDP camps across Somalia, Radio Ergo visited a displaced people’s camp in Baidoa. Hanano One camp is one of the oldest camps in the region and has become home to many who have raised their families there and do not …

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 …

LONDON (SoOHA) – A record 41.3 million people were uprooted within their own countries last year due to conflicts and violence, data showed on Friday, with two-thirds displaced in just 10 countries including Syria, Colombia and Somalia. The increase in internally displaced people (IDPs) – which was 1 million higher …

MOGADISHU (SoOHA) – The UN migration agency said Friday it plans to relocate some 24,000 internally displaced persons (IDPs) at risk of eviction to public sites in Baidoa, southwestern Somalia. International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the regional South-West State has provided public land to humanitarian partners for development and …