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Publicis NY Says Syrian Refugees Are Just Like Us
MediaPost (December 30, 2016 | NEW YORK) Publicis New York is using its talents to raise awareness for Syrian refugees through a passion project with Doctors of the World (DOTW), an international human-rights organization that provides long-term medical assistance to refugees in Europe and the Middle East. Read more.
These Christmas Cards Are A Reminder That We Don’t Have Peace On Earth
Huffington Post (November 30, 2016 | LONDON) A U.K. charity is flipping the script on the traditional nativity scene that graces the covers of many Christmas cards this time of year. Doctors of The World, a charity that works to give marginalized people around the world access to health care, has released a set of holiday cards for 2016 that showcase the modern realities of the region that was the birthplace of Christianity. Read more.
These Alternative Christmas Cards Will Stop You In Your Tracks
Mashable (November 29, 2016 | LONDON) As Christmas draws nearer, Christmas cards are beginning to land on doormats up and down the country. One charity has created a series of alternative Christmas cards to remind people of the 2016 events that forced millions of people from their homes. Read more.
Charity Christmas Cards Combine Nativity Scenes With Images From War Zones
The Telegraph (November 29, 2016 | LONDON) UK charity is selling a series of Christmas cards featuring images that combine traditional Biblical imagery with contemporary pictures from conflict zones across the Middle East. Doctors of the World UK is selling the cards, with names including ‘Not So Silent Night’ and ‘The Star of Bedlam’, to raise funds for its mission to provide medical aid to people who’ve been forced from their homes by war. Read more.
Alternative Charity Christmas Cards Show Nativity In War-Torn Middle East
BBC (November 28, 2016 | LONDON) Charity Doctors of the World UK has launched alternative Christmas cards showing traditional Biblical nativity scenes interrupted with images of modern wars in the Middle East. One of the four designs shows the Three Wise Men pointing to the skies as a drone flies overhead. Read more.
Europe’s Migrant Mothers Struggle To Access Medical Care
Financial Times (November 16, 2016 | CALAIS & DUNKIRK) Last November, Mamit stuffed four changes of clothes into a black leather handbag, grabbed her Bible and left her native Eritrea under cover of night, fearing persecution for her religious beliefs. Ten months later, in mid-September of this year, the 42-year-old mother of two sits on a roadside by the Jungle migrant camp in Calais, northern France. It is just a few weeks before the French authorities will begin to demolish the camp and resettle its inhabitants. Read more.
NGO Warns Of Worrying Healthcare Access For Migrants In Europe
Euronews (November 15, 2016 | BRUSSELS) A report by a leading medical NGO has found that migrants are struggling to access proper healthcare across Europe. More than 30,000 people were surveyed in 12 countries. It found that 67.5 percent of them had no health coverage, while 21.5 percent had given up seeking medical care or treatment. Read more.
Refugees Take To Hiding In Northern France After Calais Camp Demolished
The Guardian (November 5, 2016 | CALAIS) For the past two months, Sattar, 22, has been living in a ditch 30 miles (48km) inland from Calais, attempting to return to Reading, where he spent nine years of his life, studied for his GCSEs and earned distinctions in a college course in business, travel and tourism. Read more.
Refugee Crisis: Calais Jungle Children ‘Have Nowhere To Sleep’
The Week (October 27, 2016 | CALAIS) Aid workers say around 100 children have been left with nowhere to sleep after French authorities closed down the Jungle refugee camp in Calais. According to the BBC, several hundred people remain inside the camp, despite officials claiming it is empty. Read more.
Chaos Of Calais Camp Shutdown Sparks Fears For Dozens Of Children Left To Fend For Themselves
IB Times (October 27, 2016 | CALAIS) Charities have said that about 100 children remain at the Calais refugee camp, despite claims by French authorities that the so-called “Jungle” had been cleared. As some of the former camp was left in flames lit by migrants, dozens of children were left in a queue outside converted shipping containers set up nearby to house them, the charity Save the Children said. Read more.
Calais Jungle Closure: Demolition Begins As Registration Of Refugees Slows
Independent (October 25, 2016 | CALAIS) The demolition of the Calais Jungle camp has begun as a team of workmen and riot police began dismantling empty tents and huts in a small section of the shantytown, amid fears that many of the residents who remain are unwilling to leave the camp. Read more.
Vulnerable Refugees Will Face Inhumane Living Conditions When Calais Camp Closes Say Doctors
IB Times (October 19, 2016 | LONDON) Vulnerable migrants living in Calais’ infamous Jungle refugee camp will face even worse living conditions after the camp’s imminent demolition, as many will be forced into hiding across northern France, a health charity has warned. Read more.
Home Office Rules Out Forcing Dental Checks On Child Refugees To Prove Age”
RT (October 19, 2016 | LONDON) The Home Office has ruled out forcing young refugees arriving in Britain from the Calais ‘Jungle’ camp to have their teeth checked to determine their age, branding the idea “inaccurate, inappropriate and unethical”. Its statement comes after Tory MP David Davies said the child refugees arriving in the UK this week “don’t look like children”. He said they should undertake mandatory dental checks to verify their ages. Read more.
UK Dentists: Teeth Checks On Calais Migrants ‘Unethical’
Politico (October 19, 2016 | LONDON) British dentists and doctors are fighting back the idea that they should perform mandatory teeth checks on unaccompanied children arriving in the U.K. from the “Jungle” camp in Calais to verify their age, the BBC reported. The British Dental Association (BDA) has condemned calls for such checks by Tory lawmaker David Davies as “unethical.” Read more.
A Swedish Duo Started A Program That Collects Old Smartphones To Donate To Refugees
Business Insider (October 15, 2016 | CALAIS) Got an old smartphone lying around? It could transform a refugee’s life. Refugee Phones is an initiative that encourages people and organisations to donate their old smartphones to refugees and migrants. Read more.
Calais’ Forgotten Children Ask Europe ‘Where Is Left For Us To Go?’
IB Times (October 12, 2016 | CALAIS) “I have been waiting for help from the British government for 12 months and I am going crazy. I don’t even go to lorry jump now because I have just lost myself.” These are the distressing words of Mamad, 16, one of the 1,022 unaccompanied children living among adults in Calais’ refugee camp, the ‘Jungle’. Read more.
The Latest: Greece Opens Center For Unaccompanied Minors
AP (October 11, 2016 | THESSALONIKI) Greek authorities have opened a new reception center for unaccompanied refugee children near Athens, following extensive criticism of existing facilities. Migration Minister Yiannis Mouzalas said Tuesday that the center at Paiania, just east of the Greek capital, would host up to 100 minors. It is funded by the International Organization for Migration, and run by the Doctors of the World charity. Read more.
Charity scores small win in Hep C drug battle
Yahoo (October 5, 2016 | BERLIN) A medical charity scored a small victory Wednesday in its bid to break a US pharma giant’s hold on an eye-wateringly expensive Hepatitis C drug when a European body partially revoked the firm’s patent. Patient groups around the world have accused Gilead Sciences of charging exorbitant prices for its blockbuster sofosbuvir drug, which is highly effective but can cost up to $1,000 per pill. Read more.
Inside France’s ‘Jungle’: Desperate Migrants Keep Coming to Calais
The New York Times (September 26, 2016 | CALAIS) The migrants from Afghanistan, Sudan, Eritrea and elsewhere keep coming. Almost 100 a day arrive at this dusty, ramshackle camp perched at the edge of the English Channel, just 31 miles from Britain, their ultimate goal. Read more.
France to relocate refugees and migrants ‘within weeks’ in bid to close Calais Jungle camp
The Independent (September 24, 2016 | CALAIS) Thousands of people living in Calais refugee and migrant camps could be relocated to reception centers across France in the coming weeks, President Francois Hollande has announced. The French leader reiterated his pledge to shut down the Calais Jungle during a visit to one of the country’s 164 reception centers on Saturday. Read more.
UK starts building ‘Great Wall of Calais’ to keep Jungle camp refugees out
RT (September 21, 2016 | CALAIS) The construction of a 1-kilometer concrete barrier passing by the infamous “Jungle” refugee camp in Calais, northern France, began Tuesday. Dubbed the “Great Wall of Calais” by the media, it aims to stop asylum seekers from entering the UK. Read more.
Work begins on Calais wall to stop refugees trying to board lorries to UK
The Guardian (September 20, 2016 | CALAIS) Work has begun on a £1.9m wall to block migrants and asylum seekers from attempting to board lorries heading to the Calais port.The structure will stand 4 meters tall and 1km long on both sides of the dual carriageway approaching the port, a few hundred meters from the main refugee camp, where more than 10,000 people live in conditions that charities describe as dangerous and dirty. Read more.
British/American Actress Julianne Moore supports Project Literacy display at TriBeCa
The Hype Magazine (September 13, 2016 | NEW YORK) Celebrated British/American actress Julianne Moore took part in the recent display of Project Literacy’s stunning piece of interactive artwork in TriBeCa that showcases messages of support reproduced into pencils. The “Mighty Pencil” exhibit physically illustrates the power of reading and writing and how it can help change the world for the better. Read more.
How sports and activities in the Calais jungle are improving the lives and mental health of the camp’s residents
The Independent (September 12, 2016 | CALAIS) It is about 30 degrees outside, and we find ourselves in one of the largest wooden shelters in the Calais Jungle. A hand-painted wooden sign is nailed to the far end of the shelter which reads ‘Calais Jungle Boxing Club’ Read more.
There is an antidote to the failed humanity of the Calais wall
The Guardian (September 7, 2016 | LONDON) Build a wall … A great wall. But will it be high enough, big enough, thick enough? Will it be Trump-size, visible from space? Will it keep out the undesirables ? Will it protect the lorry drivers and nervous holidaymakers? Will it look nice if we put a few plants around it? Are the French going to raze the Jungle to the ground just as they did Sangatte? Read more.
An unhappy 10th birthday: Doctors of the World’s London clinic
The BMJ (September 6, 2016 | LONDON) For a decade the humanitarian charity Doctors of the World has been running a clinic in east London to help vulnerable people who are otherwise unable to access healthcare. The patients include refugees and undocumented migrants, some of whom have been trafficked or tortured. Read more.
Calais Jungle closure will make things even worse, warn charities
The Independent (September 6, 2016 | CALAIS) The planned closure of the Calais Jungle refugee camp has been dismissed by a leading medical aid agency as “political posturing” which could worsen the humanitarian crisis in northern France while playing into the hands of people traffickers. Read more.
Thousands of Greek women and newborns to receive free healthcare
Safe Motherhood Week (August 12, 2016 | ATHENS) Doctors of the World (Greek Branch) launched the “Mother & Child” healthcare programme earlier this summer, which will be implemented via the framework of the global initiative MSD for Mothers. A two-year programme that commenced in June 2016 of this year and will run until March 2018, it is focused on the protection and care of pregnant women and infants in Greece, before, during and after childbirth. Read more.
Young, alone, abused
IRIN (August 1, 2016 | ATHENS) Sixteen-year-old Hamza, an Afghan refugee, can’t shake the memory of another teenager’s bloody, dying body on the ground meters from his tent. The victim, also an Afghan refugee aged 16, suffered severe stab wounds and head injuries in a massive brawl. Read more.
Doctors find refugee children in shock after alleged abuse by Greek police
Huffington Post (July 6, 2016 | LESBOS) A refugee camp in Greece came under fire last week after the organization Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) reported that police officers there rounded up a dozen children from the camp and subjected them to harsh treatment. Read more.
Why the refugee crisis is just the beginning
Take Part (June 24, 2016 | LESBOS) Two years after her town fell to the Islamic State, Zozan Qerani visited psychiatrists in Turkey and Greece for help with what she’d seen. Feelings she called depression had started to intensify, causing fainting spells as she moved along the trail to Europe, she said. Last week, at the camp on Lesbos, Greece, where she’s been living since March, a war now 1,000 miles away would once again threaten her life. Read more.
Anger on Greek island as refugee registration stalls
Al Jazeera (June 18, 2016 | CHIOS) Families are made to handwash their clothes in a trough-like fountain behind the long row of tents in the crowded Souda refugee camp, nestled between the coast and historic ruins on this Greek island. Dozens wait in a lengthy queue to obtain special food portions for their sick offspring, while children play along the dirt passage bisecting the camp. Although it is an unrecognised camp, Souda is home to at least 1,000 refugees and migrants. Read more.
Airstrikes kill dozens near a hospital in Syria as violence escalates
The Washington Post (May 31, 2016 | BEIRUT) Intense airstrikes overnight Tuesday in rebel-held areas of northern Syria killed or wounded scores of people, most of them civilians, as an already fraying peace process wobbled on the verge of collapse. Aid agencies and human rights monitors said as many as 50 people died when warplanes repeatedly struck buildings around the National Hospital in the capital of Idlib province. They said Russian warplanes were responsible, although that could not be independently confirmed. Read more.
EU Urged to give safe passage as more refugees die in Mediterranean
Newsweek (May 26, 2016 | LONDON) Aid workers have urged the European Union to provide safe passage for refugees before an expected summer spike in migration, following a shipwreck in the Mediterranean. A boat capsized off the Libyan coast Thursday in an accident that is feared to have left over 30 refugees and migrants dead, while 77 were rescued by EU naval units, the BBC reported. Read more.
Revolutionary hepatitis C drugs leave public health systems reeling
Global Post (May 25, 2016 | PARIS) They’ve brought hope to millions, drugs so revolutionary that they can cure hepatitis C and so expensive that neither patients nor public health services can afford them — an issue to be raised at this week’s G7. The pills made by US group Gilead Sciences are just one example of efficient yet costly treatments that have put the delicate question of how much a life is worth on the table of cash-strapped governments which hesitate to fund them. Read more.
Launching a crowdfunding campaign? Ask yourself these five questions first
The Guardian (May 24, 2016 | LONDON) Crowdfunding has become a buzzword in the charity and non-profit sector, as more and more organisations think about diversifying their income streams and hitting their fundraising targets in this way. But crowdfunding is more than just filling out a profile on a fundraising platform – it requires a great deal of thought and a robust digital communication strategy. After seeing several organisations try – and fail – at crowdfunding, we at Social Misfits Media spoke to experts in the field to see what successful campaigns have in common. Read more.
Migrant crisis: Sex for just £4 at makeshift brothels at refugee camps on Greek border?
International Business Times (May 19, 2016 | LONDON) Following media reports that some criminal gangs run by Iraqi and Moroccan migrants at a refugee camp on the Greek border are running a prostitution ring, Greek police have launched an investigation into the claims. The gangs are said to be operating in an abandoned train wagon and adjacent warehouse close to the Idomeni refugee camp on the Greek border and are forcing vulnerable women into the flesh trade. They are reported to be charging around €5 (£4, $5.6) from each asylum seeker visiting the makeshift brothels. Read more.
Greece: Refugee “Hotspots” Unsafe, Unsanitary
Human Rights Watch (May 19, 2016 | ATHENS) Police are failing to protect people during frequent incidents of violence in closed centers on the Greek islands known as “hotspots,” Human Rights Watch said today. The centers were established for the reception, identification, and processing of asylum seekers and migrants. None of the three centers Human Rights Watch visited on Samos, Lesbos, and Chios in mid-May 2016, separate single women from unrelated adult men, and all three are unsanitary and severely overcrowded. Read more.
The Best Bet For Stopping Outbreaks Isn’t Just A Vaccine
GOOD (May 17, 2016 | LOS ANGELES) In a series of events and missteps that are starkly reminiscent of the beginnings of the ebola virus outbreak in West Africa, Angola is now grappling with a worrying outbreak of yellow yever, the worst in three decades, which is spreading like wildfire throughout the region and has already claimed nearly 300 lives since December of last year, with another 2,900 people reportedly infected. Read more.
Is the System Broke or Broken?
Inter Press Service (May 4, 2016 | UNITED NATIONS) Though the upcoming World Humanitarian Summit may seem timely, a debate ensues on an important question: is the world humanitarian system broke or broken? The first-ever World Humanitarian Summit, which takes place in Istanbul on May 23-24, was convened by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to address the pressing needs of today’s humanitarian problems. Read more.
Nearly 40% of patients turned away from registering with GP
National Health Executive (May 3, 2016 | LONDON) Nearly 40% of patients are being turned away from registering with a GP, with vulnerable groups such as immigrants and asylum seekers the most likely to be affected, according to a new report. Read more.
Vulnerable people regularly refused access to GPs, says charity
The Guardian (April 30, 2016 | LONDON) Some of the most vulnerable people in the UK are regularly refused access to a doctor, according to a report. Pregnant women, children and homeless people are among those who have been wrongly turned away from practices. Medical care is also refused to sex workers, domestic workers and people who have suffered torture, trafficking, domestic and sexual violence, research has found. Read more.
GPs Are Turning Away Vulnerable People Despite Their Right To Register
Buzzfeed (April 30, 2016 | LONDON) In a report by Doctors of the World (DOTW), shared with BuzzFeed News and Sky News, the charity found that vulnerable people attempting to sign up with their local GP face multiple barriers, despite being legally entitled to register. In some cases, this has resulted in patients being turned away and potentially becoming even more ill, DOTW found. Read more.
Health concerns as GP surgeries refuse to register asylum seekers and refugees
The Independent (April 30, 2016 | LONDON) GP surgeries are turning away asylum seekers when they attempt to register as patients to practices, despite migrants being eligible for treatment under NHS guidelines, according to the charity Doctors of the World. The group, which finds and allocates healthcare services for asylum seekers and migrants, found that two-fifths of the patients they attempted to register were refused by GP surgeries in England. Read more.
Health Fears As GP Surgeries Refuse Refugees
Sky News (April 30, 2016 | LONDON) Some GP surgeries are refusing to register asylum seekers and refugees – even though they are eligible for treatment under NHS guidelines, according to a charity. Two-fifths of patients that Doctors of the World attempted to register were refused at GP surgeries in England. Read more.
The long fight for the recognition of sex work
Equal Times (April 27, 2016 | PARIS) Sex workers had been expecting it for a long time, but for those opposed to it, the announcement had no less of a sting: on 6 April, the French National Assembly, not without difficulty, adopted the Scandinavian model of penalising the customers of prostitution, after two and a half years of heated debate. Read more.
13 Stunning Photos That Capture The Spirit Of The Women Of Haiti
Huffington Post (April 26, 2016 | PORT AU PRINCE) From April 13 to 20, Carron and fellow photographer Mikaël Theimer traveled around Haiti as part of their Portraits of Montreal project (a nod to Humans of New York). Carron, who is from France but has lived in Montreal for nearly 10 years, told The Huffington Post they decided to head to Haiti since many people in Montreal have roots there. While in cities like Port-au-Prince, they documented the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) including Handicap International Canada, Médecins du Monde, KANPE and Anseye Pou Ayiti. Read more.
Now that France has opened a better camp, these migrants face more existential issues
PRI (April 22, 2016 | GRANDE SYNTHE) Last January, the mayor of a northern French town took a bold step and announced he was going to open a new camp for the 2,500 migrants who had taken refuge in a wooded area in town. At its most crowded, the improvised camp in Grande-Synthe had 2,500 people, most of them Kurds, living in filthy conditions — mud, trash — and sleeping in small tents. Read more.
Refugee crisis: Unconfirmed reports claiming 400 migrants drowned in the Med prompt mixed response
IB Times (April 18, 2016 | LONDON) Unconfirmed reports that 400 migrants have drowned crossing the Mediterranean from Egypt have prompted contradictory responses from authorities in Africa and Europe. Meanwhile, dozens more were feared dead in a separate incident en route from Libya. The BBC Arabic service claimed four boats, each carrying 100 people, sank on their way to Italy, killing all those on board. The report was based on interviews with Kenya-based relatives of three Somali nationals who were said to be on one of the vessels. It also quoted the Somali ambassador to Cairo as saying they were working to verify the information. Read more.
How technology could help millions of female refugees
WIRED (April 13, 2016 | LONDON) About 41 per cent of the world’s refugees are children, and about half of all refugees are women. Isolated from essential advice and information, they are often unable to get the help they need. But technology could help. A group of coders, designers, NGOs and academics are working to develop technology that can inform and educate female refugees of all ages. Read more.
Fates Diverging, Afghan and Syrian Migrants Clash in Greece
The New York Times (April 8, 2016 | CHIOS) Hani Alkhalaf had just fallen asleep at an overcrowded detention camp for migrants on this Greek island when angry shouts jolted him awake. As he rose from the dingy floor, a barrage of stones rained down on the flimsy plastic container where he and 14 other asylum seekers, mostly Syrians like him, were sheltered. Panicked, the women and children ran into a corner and tried to shield themselves as a mob of Afghan migrants beat on the barricaded door, he recalled later. Tensions had been simmering for days between Afghans and Syrians in the camp, but by midnight last Friday, they had exploded into a riot. Read more.
Prostitutes divided as France bans paying for sex
France 24 (April 7, 2016 | PARIS) The French union of sex workers (Strass, its acronym in France) called on members and supporters to protest the “repressive” bill outside the National Assembly, where lawmakers adopted the reform into law. The legislation outlaws paying for sex, imposes fines for clients and overturns the existing ban on solicitation. In an unprecedented move, the bill also makes available €4.8 million per year to help sex workers quit the trade. The comprehensive approach, which envisions an eventual eradication of prostitution, has earned support among other French organisations that assist and defend sex workers. Read more.
Germany to take Syrians under EU-Turkey pact as clashes flare
Business Insider (April 1, 2016 | BERLIN) Germany said Friday it will take in the first Syrian refugees under an EU-Turkey pact drawing fire from rights groups, as violence broke out in a Greek camp on the front line of the crisis. German interior ministry spokesman Tobias Plate said that most of the arrivals expected Monday would be families with children, putting the number in the “double-digit range”. Under the scheme agreed with the EU last month, one Syrian refugee will be settled in Europe legally in return for every migrant taken back by Turkey from EU member Greece. Read more.
New clashes in Greek island hotspot ahead of planned migrant returns
Yahoo (April 1, 2016 | ATHENS) Three migrants were hospitalised Friday after a brawl in a camp on the Greek island of Chios, aid groups and media said, as the country prepared to begin returning migrants to Turkey under an EU deal. The agency said police used stun grenades to restore calm during the late-night fight — the second such incident within two days in Greece — which caused serious damage to the island’s Vial camp, including the medical dispensary, state ANA news agency said. Read more.
Doctors of the World Leave Chios Hotspot After Refugee Fight
The Greek Reporter (April 1, 2016 | CHIOS) Two refugees were stabbed and three more suffered serious injuries after a violent fight broke out on Thursday night at the Chios refugee registration center, forcing the Doctors of the World to leave the island. This was the third serious violent brawl between migrants that broke out within 48 hours, after the incidents at Idomeni and Piraeus Port that left several people injured. Read more.
Sudan: Darfur’s East Jebel Marra – Surviving Under Siege
All Africa (March 28, 2016 | EAST JEBEL MARRA) The continuous attacks and air raids on East Jebel Marra in South Darfur have put most of the population to flight. Some have reached camps for the displaced in the region, while others shelter in the caves and valleys of the Jebel Marra massif. An almost complete lack of heath care makes their plight even worse. “There is not a single health centre throughout East Jebel Marra; there are no drugs and no health workers,” a doctor laments. He’s sitting under a rakuba sun shade. There is a small table and a rickety chair. He’s examining a small child while the mother looks on. Read more.
Greece starts emptying border camp as new arrivals slow
Daily Herald (March 27, 2016 | IDOMENI) Greece said on Saturday (Mar 26) it has begun emptying the main migrant camp on its border with Macedonia, as the huge tide of refugees flooding into the country slows to a trickle following the EU-Turkey deal. Eight buses transported around 400 refugees from the Idomeni camp Friday, while another three buses left on Saturday, taking them to other camps set up in northern Greece, local police said. Read more.
Correction: Europe-Migrants story
Daily Herald (March 23, 2016 | ATHENS) In a story March 22 about migrants in Greece, The Associated Press reported erroneously that Doctors of the World, or Medecins du Monde, was withdrawing from the Idomeni migrant camp, and quoted Antonis Rigas as a spokesman. Doctors of the World is not withdrawing. Rigas is a field coordinator for Doctors Without Borders, which scaled back its operations in Idomeni. Read more.
Greek Minister Compares Refugee Camp To Nazi Concentration Camp
Buzzfeed (March 19, 2016 | LONDON) A Greek minister has compared a refugee camp in Macedonia to the notorious Nazi concentration camp Dachau – hours before EU leaders struck a deal with Turkey to return thousands of refugees in Europe. Panagiotis Kouroublis, Greece’s interior minister, told a Greek television station Idomeni camp was a “modern Dachau”. His remarks came just before as EU leaders struck a deal with Turkish representatives to move thousands of migrants from Greece and transport them back to Turkey. Read more.
‘A space to cry’ for Colombia’s rape survivors as war trauma takes decades to heal
Business Insider (March 18, 2016 | BOGOTA) Her voice cracking and hands trembling, Adriana holds up a silhouette she has drawn of her body in front of 33 other rape survivors sitting in a circle at a therapy session in Bogota.”I feel desolation and sadness in my soul. We need to repair our hearts,” she said, pointing to her heart on the drawing. The others nod in agreement. “Every day I remember what happened. I spent five days in hospital after I attempted suicide. I still carry the pain,” said Adriana, as she recalled being raped by a rebel fighter in her home 15 years ago. Read more.
Inside Idomeni refugee camp, nothing left but hope
Al Jazeera (March 17, 2016 | IDOMENI) If refugees encamped at Idomeni are hoping for the current European summit to resolve their plight, they are likely to be disappointed. The summit is focused on stopping new arrivals in Turkey, rather than in the relocation of those already in Europe. Yet it is on this summit that many here are pinning their last hopes. “If they don’t open the border after the [summit] meeting I will return to Syria. I will pay smugglers to take me back,” says Mohammed Hasan, a 26-year-old business graduate from Aleppo. Read more.
Refugee Charities Sign Open Letter To EU Condemning Plan To Return People To Turkey
Buzzfeed (March 16, 2016 | LONDON) A group of major international charities have warned European Union leaders that a plan to return refugees in Greece to Turkey would worsen the humanitarian crisis and called instead for “humane” solutions. EU leaders and Turkey met a week ago to discuss a possible solution to the crisis, including sending all migrants and refugees in Greece back to Turkey. They will reconvene Thursday and Friday to agree to a final proposal. Read more.
Refugee Conditions In Greece Are About To Get Much, Much Worse
Huffington Post (March 10, 2016 | PIRAEUS) Piraeus, the port near Athens well known to tourists for its ferries to Greece’s picturesque islands in the Aegean Sea, has in the past month turned into one of the country’s largest makeshift shelters for different kinds of travelers: migrants and refugees. In the past weeks, they have taken over four passenger waiting areas at the port as temporary accommodation. In just a few days, 5,000 people were taking shelter there. Read more.
The Latest: More work needed on EU migrant deal with Turkey
CBS 8 (March 8, 2016 | BRUSSELS) Luxembourg’s prime minister says that European Union and Turkish leaders have ended talks aimed at tackling the refugee emergency but that more work is needed to finalize an agreement. Prime Minister Xavier Bettel said in a tweet early Tuesday that EU Council President Donald Tusk “will take forward the proposals and work out the details with the Turkish side” before the next EU summit on March 17. Read more.
As ‘Jungle’ camp is razed, refugees fan out along French coast
Gulf News (March 8, 2016 | DIEPPE) “It’s my last hope,” sighs an Albanian refugee, watching a ferry leave for England from behind a high fence reinforced by barbed wire in Dieppe, one of many ferry ports on France’s northern coast. Since January, but especially after authorities began dismantling the sprawling “Jungle” camp in Calais over a week ago, more and more refugees have been trying their luck at Normandy ports. Read more.
Migrants on the NHS: ‘You’re targeted because you have an accent’
The Guardian (March 6, 2016 | LONDON) When Mary’s 17-year-old son, the oldest of her five children, began complaining of pain and taking medication early last year, she put it down to stress. Though her family had a GP, it was some months before she took the teenager to the surgery to find out exactly what was wrong. Mary – not her real name – is an African woman in her 40s who has lived in London since 2007. She and her children are “undocumented” so have no official status. Read more.
UN: Europe Facing ‘Self-Induced Humanitarian Crisis’
Voice of America (March 1, 2016 | GREECE) The United Nations warned Tuesday that Europe is near a “self-induced humanitarian crisis” because governments are imposing border restrictions and failing to work together as migrants continue to reach the continent. Adrian Edwards, a spokesman for the U.N. refugee agency, said more than 130,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean this year, most of them reaching Greece. The two-month total is near the figure for the first six months of last year. Read more.
Homes In Calais’ Refugee Camp Reveal Stories, Hopes and Dreams
Huffington Post (February 29, 2016 | CALAIS) Photos taken inside the living spaces of migrants and refugees in the Calais “Jungle” show inhabitants’ efforts to make themselves a home away from home. The Jungle is a makeshift camp in northern France, near the tunnel connecting the country with the United Kingdom. The site has existed as a temporary accommodation for migrants and refugees since the early 2000s, but its population has swelled in the last several months as more and more people from around the world have arrived, hoping to settle in Europe. Many of the Jungle’s approximately 4,000 inhabitants eventually want to reach the U.K. to work or join family. Read more.
Refugees try to breach Greece-Macedonia border fence
News 24 (February 29, 2016 | IDOMENI) Hundreds of refugees on Monday tried to break through a border fence into Macedonia from Greece, where more than 7 000 people are stranded, as anger mounted over travel restrictions on migrants. In a sign of widening divisions within the European Union, German Chancellor Angela Merkel meanwhile lashed out at Austria and Balkan states for abandoning debt-laden Athens to refugee chaos. Read more.
Calais ‘Jungle’ demolition: Migrants ‘bewildered and scared’ as authorities move in to dismantle camp
Belfast Telegraph (February 29, 2016 | CALAIS) Demolition teams have moved in to start dismantling makeshift homes at the Calais migrant camp known as the Jungle. Lines of police vans gathered on the perimeter of the slum’s southern section as migrants and refugees were told their only option now was to move. It has been reported that tear gas was used against stone-throwers while work on bringing the camp down was underway. A spokeswoman for the Help Refugees charity said police had blocked entrances to the sprawling camp, which is home to around 4,000 people. Read more.
Double crisis deepens despair in Greece’s ‘warehouse of souls’
The Guardian (February 27, 2016 | ATHENS & DELPHI) In Victoria Square, Athens, home to an ever-growing number of migrants, a dubious night-time economy has emerged. On Saturday, as a large, middle-aged man walked his small dog, an Afghan boy pointed him out to his new friend, Abdul Waris. “He is one of them who comes here at night,” said the boy. Abdul’s eyes widened. “It’s OK. They don’t want underage – they take the young men who will go willingly to their homes and give them a shower and €10 or €15 for sex. Some go, the ones who have no money left.” Read more.
As Calais ‘Jungle’ is dismantled, concerns mount for refugee children
DW (February 26, 2016 | CALAIS) More than 300 lone children are stranded in Calais as the “Jungle” is demolished around them. Yet a French court ruling may offer some of them a lifeline after all. Some 326 lone children – minors from Afghanistan, Syria, Egypt and Eritrea – are living in the “Jungle” of Calais, according to the refugee body France Terre d’Asile. Of that total, 57 are younger than 15, while the youngest child travelling alone is just 7 years old, according to Medecins du Monde. Read more.
France issues eviction order for Calais refugees
Al Jazeera (February 21, 2016 | CALAIS)
France has given refugees living in part of a Calais refugee camp until Tuesday evening to leave or face forcible removal. Residents of the southern part of the camp, known as “The Jungle”, were told to take their possessions and leave the area on Saturday evening, so that authorities can demolish the tented settlement that has formed in the area. Read more.
Refugee crisis: Plans to clear part of Calais Jungle prompt outcry from charities
Yahoo (February 21, 2016 | ATHENS) In its new mission in the Aegean to help Europe tackle its worst migration crisis in 60 years, NATO is wading into one of the world’s most contested seas.The Aegean has claimed the lives of hundreds of migrants in the past year, including scores of children. It has also been a habitual source of tension between NATO members Greece and Turkey for decades. Read more.
Refugee crisis: Plans to clear part of Calais Jungle prompt outcry from charities
The Independent (February 20, 2016 | CALAIS) Hundreds of migrants could be forcibly removed from a camp in the French port of Calais known as the Jungle, unless they voluntarily leave by Tuesday night, prompting an outcry from charities and activists. The local authority has issued a decree ordering the southern part of the camp to be cleared by 8pm. “After this deadline, if they have not left the area, the evacuation of the occupants of this area will take place, if necessary by force,” it said. Read more.
French authorities order expulsion of hundreds of Calais migrants from ‘Jungle’
France 24 (February 20, 2016 | CALAIS) Authorities issued an expulsion order Friday for hundreds of migrants living in a huge swath of the Calais camp in northern France, demanding that they remove their makeshift homes and possessions within four days. Residents of the southern sector of the camp, known locally as “The Jungle,” must clear out by 8 p.m. Tuesday so it can be razed, according to the order by the state authority for Calais. Police will remove those who refuse to clear out, the order said. Read more.
Calais ‘Jungle’ migrants receive eviction order
ITV News (February 20, 2016 | CALAIS) Hundreds of refugees and migrants living in a makeshift camp in Calais have received expulsion orders from French authorities. The inhabitants of the camp, known locally as “the Jungle”, have been ordered to remove their possessions by 8pm on Tuesday so it can be demolished. Read more.
Migrants told to quit Calais camp by Tuesday
The Telegraph (February 20, 2016 | CALAIS) Hundreds of migrants have been ordered to leave a huge section of the sprawling “Jungle” camp in Calais by Tuesday or face eviction. Residents of the southern part of the camp are to clear out by 8pm. Anyone remaining will be forcibly removed to allow the authorities to bulldoze makeshift huts and other structures, including shops, a school, churches and mosques. The authorities said the eviction order concerned up to 1,000 people but volunteer aid workers said at least twice that number were living in the part of the area to be cleared. Read more.
Calais orders up to 1,000 residents of Jungle camp to leave by Tuesday
The Guardian (February 20, 2016 | CALAIS) Up to a thousand migrants and refugees living in part of a camp on the outskirts of of Calais known as the Jungle have been told they must leave in the next three days or face eviction. Under an expulsion order issued by the state authority in the French port, 800-1,000 people have been told to remove their makeshift homes and possessions by 8pm local time on Tuesday or be forcibly removed by police. Local aid workers say this figure could be considerably higher. Read more.
Calais Jungle refugees targeted by armed far-right militia in brutal campaign of violence
The Independent (February 12, 2016 | CALAIS) Members of an armed far-right militia are attacking Calais migrants in an unprecedented, brutal campaign of violence, according to evidence seen by this newspaper. In a series of incidents in recent weeks, refugees living at the Jungle camp claim to have been targeted by organised thugs – sometimes in uniforms. Read more.
Unwelcome refugees
Take Part (February 4, 2016 | CALAIS) What is probably the best tandoori chicken in France is sold in a refugee encampment in Calais, at a restaurant made of scrap wood and plastic tarps called the Three Idiots. A man from Peshawar, Pakistan, named Osam opened the restaurant last fall with two friends. “My intention was to go to England. But when I had some problems with my documentation I came here,” he said, standing beside the rug that passes for the restaurant’s front door. Read more.
Migrant women face £6,000 birth bill under ‘health tourism’ laws
The Guardian (February 4, 2016 | LONDON) Pregnant women living in the UK without documents are having to make difficult decisions about accessing maternity services, potentially risking their own lives and those of their unborn children, because of crippling fees imposed by the NHS, say charities. Campaigners say vulnerable women already struggling to support themselves are being charged up to £6,000 for a normal birth, with emergency procedures such as caesareans adding around £3,000, because of the 150% tariff introduced to prevent “health tourism” from outside the EU. Read more.
Hundreds of Roma Face Eviction from the Biggest Shantytown in Paris
Vice News (February 2, 2016 | PARIS) You wouldn’t know there was a shanty town on Boulevard Ney, were it not for the plumes of thick smoke rising up from the disused rail tracks down below. Invisible from the road, the slum is built along a stretch of the “Petite Ceinture” rail track (French for “Little Belt”) — a historic circular railway built in the mid-1800s to connect train stations in Paris. The track, which has remained more or less abandoned since 1934, is today the site of the largest shantytown in the French capital. Read more.
Zika Virus a Global Health Emergency, W.H.O. Says
New York Times (February 1, 2016 | NEW YORK) The World Health Organization declared the Zika virus and its suspected link to birth defects an international public health emergency on Monday, a rare move that signals the seriousness of the outbreak and gives countries new tools to fight it. An outbreak of the Zika virus, which is transmitted by mosquitoes, was detected in Brazil in May and has since moved into more than 20 countries in Latin America, including two new ones announced Monday: Costa Rica and Jamaica. Read more.
Changing the lives of child refugees on the island of Lesbos
UNHCR (January 11, 2016 | LESBOS) Whenever Huda Al-Shabsogh, a UNHCR field officer on the Greek island of Lesvos, entered the closed facility for unaccompanied minors at the Moria reception and registration centre for refugees, scores of children erupted in excitement. “Auntie! Auntie!” they shouted happily in Arabic. “How are you today?” Although Huda cared for dozens of new children each month, she knew all of them by name. Most were young boys aged 14-17, though she saw girls, too. The majority stayed on the island for a few days to a few weeks, until UNHCR – along with partner NGOs and the Greek authorities – could help them find individual solutions. “All of them needed advice, but sometimes they just wanted to chat,” said Huda. “They are very, very scared when they reach here.” Read more.
The Pill That Cures Hepatitis Costs $4, But if You Live in the US It’s $1000
US Uncut (January 10, 2016 | USA) If you live in India and suffer from Hepatitis C, a new breakthrough treatment to cure the disease is available for $4 a pill. But if you live in America, the treatment is $1,000 a pill, or $84,000 to $94,000 for the entire 12-week treatment. Read more.