When I explain to the parents what has happened, I tell them the world has been so terrible that Sophie has gone into herself and disconnected the conscious part of her brain.
Spanish Activist In Morocco Court Over People Smuggling Charge
Guardian (January 10, 2018 | MADRID) A Spanish journalist and human rights activist who is thought to have saved hundreds of lives by alerting maritime authorities to the plight of vulnerable migrants in the Mediterranean has appeared in court in Morocco over allegations that she has been colluding with people traffickers.
Here Are The 2017 Innovations That Changed The World
Mashable (December 23, 2017 | NEW YORK) 2017 may have been a rough year, but there were plenty of inventions, innovations, and gadgets that made the world just a slightly better place. Read more.
For Refugee Moms, Giving Birth Can Be Fraught With Danger
TIME (December 13, 2017 | NEW YORK) When Souad Iessa showed up at a hospital in Greece in the fall of 2016, the heavily pregnant Syrian refugee thought she was coming in for a routine cesarean section. It turned out to be anything but. Read more.
Refugees Are Not Getting The Mental Health Help They Need
Buzzfeed (December 8, 2017 | CHIOS) Refugees with mental health illnesses are being overprescribed psychotropic drugs with little or no oversight, leading to widespread abuse and the growth of a black market, according to NGO workers and volunteers at a camp in Greece. Read more.
‘They Treated Her Like A Dog’: Tragedy Of The 6-Year-Old Killed At The Croatian Border
Guardian (December 8, 2017 | ŠID) When the train hit six-year-old Madina Hussiny, her family stumbled to the watching Croatian border police begging for help, her body limp in their arms. Read more.
On The Frontline Of Europe’s Forgotten War In Ukraine
Guardian (November 12, 2017 | AVDIIVKA) last June, in the intense heat of a Ukrainian summer, four of Ludmila Brozhyk’s neighbours were sitting chatting in the sunshine. The children had stayed indoors, in the relative cool, to watch cartoons. When the mortar bomb dropped it came out of a clear blue sky. Read more.
Deadly Plague Outbreak In Madagascar Appears To Wane
New York Times (November 2, 2017 | NEW YORK) The large plague outbreak that began in Madagascar in August appears to be waning, according to government case counts and local news reports. The outbreak has infected about 1,800 people so far, killing 127 of them. Read more.
Resignation Syndrome: Sweden’s Mystery Illness
BBC (October 26, 2017 | STOCKHOLM) For nearly two decades Sweden has been battling a mysterious illness. Called Resignation Syndrome, it affects only the children of asylum-seekers, who withdraw completely, ceasing to walk or talk, or open their eyes. Eventually they recover. But why does this only seem to occur in Sweden? Read more.
Trump Guts Critical Health Care For The Poor — And Nobody Noticed
Salon (October 17, 2017 | STOCKHOLM) Jimmy Kimmel’s impassioned plea to save the Affordable Care Act by invoking his personal story about his infant son Billy’s vital heart surgery was an inflection point in the national debate on health care. Read more.
The Mental Health Toll Of The Rohingya Crisis
Al Jazeera (October 10, 2017 | COX’S BAZAAR) Inside a colourful bamboo structure in Balukhali camp, groups of children sit on the floor, engrossed in board games, plastic animals and other activities. Two scamper about in costumes – one dressed as Nemo, the other as a lion. Read more.
Pregnant Refugees Must Have Access To Better Care, Say Doctors
Guardian (October 1, 2017 | LONDON) Pregnant refugees who have fled across the Mediterranean to Greece are at risk of harm to themselves and their babies because they are not routinely given the care they need before, during and after the birth, say doctors. Read more.
Why We Need To Protect Maternal Health During The Refugee Crisis
Time (September 19, 2017 | NEW YORK) It’s estimated that there are 22.5 million refugees today, and many of them are women and children. The ongoing refugee crisis has been a topic of discussion during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) happening this week in New York City. Read more.
Yemen Conflict: Human Rights Groups Urge Inquiry Into Saudi Coalition Abuses
The Guardian (August 30, 2017 | LONDON) Human rights groups have urged the UN to establish an independent inquiry into abuses during the Yemen conflict, which has spiraled into the world’s worst humanitarian crisis. Read more.
Why Grenfell Survivors Can’t Begin To Recover While Painful Limbo Continues
The Guardian (August 21, 2017 | LONDON) Whatever the beliefs of those attending the free Doctors of the World session, entitled “Grief, loss and disaster: how can we help?”, it is a maxim they are steadfastly trying to follow. Read more.
Refugee Aid Dries Up In Greece As Media Interest Wanes
Al Jazeera (August 1, 2017 | CHIOS) It never ceases to amaze me how quickly the media switches off. Only last year, journalists were winning awards for watching refugees drown. Last week, seven people died just off the Turkish coast and it hardly got a mention. Read more.
Politics Trumps Health To Confine Asylum Seekers To Greek Islands
News Deeply (July 21, 2017 | CHIOS) The bullet wound on Mohamed’s back is only the most visible sign of the young man’s trauma. The abuse he suffered at the hands of the security services in Syria before the war left other, hidden scars. Read more.
Grenfell Tower Survivors ‘Must Have Total Immigration Amnesty’
The Guardian (July 15, 2017 | LONDON) The government will face calls this week to grant a complete amnesty and a permanent right to remain in the UK to undocumented residents of Grenfell Tower. Read more.
EU/Greece: Asylum Seekers’ Silent Mental Health Crisis
Human Rights Watch (July 12, 2017 | BRUSSELS) The EU-Turkey deal designed to stem migration and refugee flows to Greece has had a devastating impact on the mental well-being of thousands of women, men, and children trapped on Greek islands since March 2016, Human Rights Watch said today. Read more.
Film Gives ‘Human Face’ To Palestinian Bedouins’ Plight
Al Jazeera (July 3, 2017 | PALESTINE) With more than 7,000 Palestinian Bedouins still at risk of forcible transfer from their villages, a newly released documentary sheds light on communities that thrive through resilience and hope. Read more.
Grenfell Tower Survivors ‘Too Scared To Seek Help’ Because Of Immigration Status
Guardian (June 22, 2017 | LONDON) Volunteer doctors and lawyers providing support to survivors of the Grenfell Tower disaster have spoken of residents who escaped from the fire but remain, they believe, too frightened seek to medical and legal help for fear of being reported to the Home Office because of their irregular immigration status. Read more.
Abandoned And Abused: The Forgotten Syrian Refugee Children In A Greek Island Detention Camp
Guardian (June 17, 2017 | CHIOS) Rasha went missing late afternoon last Saturday. Her peers describe hanging out as normal with the 20-year-old Syrian in the Greek refugee detention camp. Then she vanished. Last Tuesday her friend Amira, 15, received a flurry of images on her phone. Read more.
EU/Greece: Pressure to Minimize Numbers of Migrants Identified As ‘Vulnerable’
Human Rights Watch (June 1, 2017 | BRUSSELS) People with disabilities and other at-risk groups go unidentified on the Greek islands as the European Union inappropriately presses Greek authorities and medical aid organizations to reduce the number of asylum seekers identified as “vulnerable,” Human Rights Watch said today. Read more.
This Refugee Aid App Was Built Over A Weekend
Mashable (May 29, 2017 | NEW YORK) Shelley Taylor calls herself a Silicon Valley veteran. Veteran, she tells me, “means old.” Raised in Palo Alto, Taylor has an extensive tech background. She isn’t an engineer, but she wrote the “bible of user interface” back in 1995 at the dawn of website creation, inventing a lot of the language still used to this day to describe websites and ecommerce. Read more.
Britain Is Becoming More Fenced Off, Vindictive and Callous
New York Times (May 28, 2017 | LONDON) In the summer of 2013, Britain’s Home Office unveiled a new campaign to tackle unwanted immigration. For a month, vans toured six London boroughs, bearing a poster that read: “In the U.K. illegally? Go home or face arrest.” Read more.
The Costly, Traumatic Nightmare Of Being Undocumented And Pregnant
Broadly (May 24, 2017 | LONDON) Li fled to the UK in 2012, escaping persecution in China for being a Christian. But her problems got exponentially worse when she found out she was pregnant. Read more.
Thousands Of Refugees On Greek Islands Risk Losing Vital Services As Charities Prepare To Withdraw
The Independent (May 21, 2017 | ATHENS) Thousands of refugees in Greece are at risk of losing vital support as charities prepare to withdraw services from camps on the country’s “hotspot” islands, as changes to EU funding are set to leave them out of contract by the end of July. Read more.
Greece: Between Deterrence and Integration
News Deeply (May 10, 2017 | ATHENS) It has been tempting amid the fallout from Greece’s historic recession to dismiss the mishandling of the other crisis forced upon it – that of hugely increased refugee and migrant flows – as unavoidable or inevitable. Read more.
Public Health Watchdog Warns That Using NHS Data For Immigration Enforcement Could Lead To Epidemics
Buzzfeed (May 2, 2017 | LONDON) The UK’s official public health watchdog has warned MPs that a controversial policy enabling the use of NHS data to track addresses of people suspected of being in the UK illegally could have major consequences for tackling the spread of infectious diseases. Read more.
Doctors Fight Against Becoming ‘Border Guards’ For Home Office Immigration Enforcement
The Independent (April 20, 2017 | LONDON) Doctors have launched a campaign against new government policy that they say requires them to act as “border guards” for the Home Office’s immigration enforcement. Read more.
Crackdown On Migrants Forces NHS Doctors To ‘Act As Border Guards’
The Guardian (April 20, 2017 | LONDON) A medical charity has launched a campaign against government guidance that “makes border guards of doctors” by allowing the Home Office to access details of undocumented migrants who seek NHS treatment. Read more.
A Nonprofit Trolled Breitbart And InfoWars With A Stealth Pro-Refugee Ad Campaign
Buzzfeed (April 13, 2017 | NEW YORK) The alarming ads, from the humanitarian medical group Doctors of the World, click through to a site that seeks to humanize Syrian refugees. Read more.
The Trauma Of Facing Deportation
The New Yorker (April 3, 2017 | NEW YORK) In Sweden, hundreds of refugee children have fallen unconscious after being informed that their families will be expelled from the country. Read more.
Refugees Start To Gather In Calais Again, Months After Camp Was Closed
The Guardian (April 2, 2017 | CALAIS) The number of refugees in and around Calais is beginning to build up again, five months after the “Jungle” camp was demolished. Aid groups report several hundred new arrivals in recent weeks, around half of them unaccompanied minors. Read more.
Heavily Pregnant Immigrant Women ‘Too Terrified To Seek NHS Treatment’ Over Deportation Fears
The Evening Standard (March 20, 2017 | LONDON) Pregnant women without legal status are avoiding NHS antenatal care in fear of being reported to the Home Office or facing high medical bills, a charity has claimed. Read more.
Pregnant Women Without Legal Status ‘Too Afraid To Seek NHS Care’
The Guardian (March 20, 2017 | LONDON) Hundreds of pregnant women without legal status are avoiding seeking NHS antenatal care because of growing fears that they will be reported to the Home Office or face high medical bills, according to charities that work with vulnerable migrant women. Read more.
Médecins du Monde Exhibition Fights For The Invisible And Punches Through The Viewer
Frame Publishers (March 11, 2017 | PARIS) To commemorate 30 years of Médecins du Monde (Doctors of the World) fighting against the exclusion of vulnerable peoples from medical care, the Mise au Poing exhibition with scenography by Bonsoir Paris helps the humanitarian organization confront society by placing viewers in the middle of the issue. Read more.
Myanmar Has A Drug Problem
Asia Times (March 9, 2017 | CHIANG MAI) There is little disagreement that Myanmar, despite a recent shift from military to semi-democratic rule, remains one of the world’s largest producers of illicit drugs, including opium, heroin, methamphetamine and other synthetic narcotics. Read more.
In Burkina Faso, The Shame Of Unwed Motherhood Never Leaves
PassBlue (March 6, 2017 | ATHENS) A white van roams the streets of the capital here every Wednesday morning to help young women and girls who may be homeless or destitute to take them to a health clinic on the outskirts of the city. Read more.
The Refugee Archipelago: The Inside Story of What Went Wrong in Greece
Refugees Deeply (March 6, 2017 | ATHENS) Widad Madrati remembers the first snowfall at Oreokastro like most children would, as a thing of wonder. It threw a brilliant white cover over the squalor of a refugee camp pitched in the grounds of a disused warehouse in the hills above Greece’s second city, Thessaloniki. The 17-year-old Syrian did not mind that the water pipe to the outdoor sinks had frozen. Read more.
How You Can Help Refugees And Asylum Seekers In Britain
The Guardian (March 3, 2017 | LONDON) This week The Guardian launched a new project along with three European newspapers to investigate the ups and downs of refugees’ lives after they arrive in Europe. Scores of readers have been in touch asking how they can help, either through donations, volunteering or applying their skills. Read more.
Hepatitis C Charity Took Drug Industry Funding
BBC (March 1, 2017 | LONDON) A charity that tried to force the NHS to buy more of an expensive hepatitis C treatment received large amounts of money from the drug’s manufacturer, the Victoria Derbyshire show has found. The Hepatitis C Trust has taken £200,000 in grant funding from US drugs giant Gilead since 2014. Read more.
Europe’s Child-Refugee Crisis
The New Yorker (February 27, 2017 | CALAIS) Wasil awoke to the sound of a knife ripping through nylon. Although he was only twelve years old, he was living alone in a small tent at a refugee camp in Calais, France, known as the Jungle. Men entered his tent; he couldn’t tell how many. A pair of hands gripped his throat. Read more.
6 Weeks With the Pregnant Refugees of Piraeus, Greece
Jezebel (February 21, 2017 | ATHENS) The conditions at the makeshift refugee camp at Piraeus Port in Athens were bad in any weather. Torn, battered camping tents arranged under highway flyovers, on a stretch of concrete and in a massive, abandoned stone warehouse. Three rows of port-a-potties available for more than 2,000 people. Read more.
Ministers Accused Of “Out-Trumping Trump” Over Use Of Health Data To Track Alleged Illegal Immigrants
Buzzfeed (February 10, 2017 | LONDON) The NHS is now required to hand the Home Office the addresses of people it suspects of being in the country illegally, BuzzFeed News can reveal, under a new policy that has led to the government being accused of “out-Trumping Donald Trump”. Read more.
Patients From Abroad To Be Charged Upfront For NHS Treatment
Sky News (February 6, 2017 | LONDON) Patients from abroad are to be charged upfront for any non-urgent treatment on the NHS. The new rules will apply from April this year and all hospitals will be told to check if patients are eligible for free NHS treatment before they receive any treatment. Read more.
NHS Charges For Overseas Patients Are A “Sledgehammer” To The Very Vulnerable, Doctors Say
Buzzfeed (February 6, 2017 | LONDON) New proposals to charge overseas patients upfront for non-urgent NHS treatment could have grave consequences for the most vulnerable people, both British and non-British, doctors have told BuzzFeed News. Read more.
NHS Hospitals To Charge Overseas Patients For Non-Urgent Care
Guardian (February 5, 2017 | LONDON) Hospitals will be required by law to check whether patients are eligible for free care on the NHS from April onwards, the health secretary has announced. The rule raises the prospect of patients having to produce their passports and other identity documents before receiving most kinds of treatment as the government aims to claw back £500m a year. Read more.
How To Help Refugees In Greece
TIME (February 3, 2017 | NEW YORK) TIME is currently following three babies born to Syrian refugees in Europe over their first year of life, for our Finding Home project. Many people have written in to ask how they can help Rahaf, Heln and Faraj as their families struggle through the process of seeking asylum. Here are some humanitarian organizations, many of which are directly involved in making their lives better. Read more.
May Pressured NHS To Release Data To Track Immigration Offenders
The Guardian (February 1, 2017 | LONDON) The former head of NHS Digital repeatedly clashed with Theresa May’s Home Office over requests to hand over confidential patient data to help trace immigration offenders, he has revealed. Kingsley Manning has said that the Home Office “put him under immense pressure” to share patient data despite concerns about the legal basis and fears it would undermine claims that NHS Digital was “a safe haven” for personal data. Read more.
Migrant Crisis: Alarm Over Recent Deaths At Lesbos Camp
BBC News (January 31, 2017 | LONDON) Aid groups have raised alarm over the deaths of three migrants on Greece’s Lesbos island inside a week. They said that poor conditions at an overcrowded camp in Moria presented a “serious risk” to at least 3,000 migrants living there. A man in his 20s said to be a Pakistani was found dead in his tent on Monday. Read more.
The NHS Should Protect Patient Confidentiality
The Guardian (January 27, 2017 | LONDON) The agreement of the NHS to hand over patient information to the Home Office immigration authorities (Report, 25 January) fills us with anger and dismay. Patient confidentiality is one of the cornerstones of an ethical and effective healthcare system. That is why, in the absence of a court order, the NHS does not share even the address of a patient with the police or any other public body, except in the most serious cases of harm to the person, involving murder, rape or manslaughter. Read more.
Greece: Refugees with Disabilities Overlooked, Underserved
Human Rights Watch (January 18, 2017 | BRUSSELS) Refugees, asylum seekers, and other migrants with disabilities are not properly identified and do not enjoy equal access to services in reception centers in Greece, Human Rights Watch said today. Together with thousands of other migrants and asylum seekers, they remain unprotected from freezing temperatures. Read more.
Patients At 20 NHS Hospitals Forced To Show Passports And ID In ‘Health Tourism’ Crackdown
The Independent (January 17, 2017 | LONDON) Hospitals are refusing free treatment to patients who cannot show a utility bill and passport under a new scheme designed to crack down on so-called “health tourism”. Read more.
They Didn’t Choose To Be Refugees. But We Have A Choice Of How We Respond To Their Plight.
A Plus (January 13, 2017 | LOS ANGELES) A teacher, a psychologist, a school principal, a pharmacist. These are just some of the people featured in the Doctors of the World USA video “Not Like Us.” They sound like everyday people, right? Right. But because they’re Syrian, some may see them differently. The video aims to dispel the myth that Syrians are “all terrorists” by showing their human side — and reminding viewers they, too, deserve to live happy and productive lives. Read more.
Refugees freezing in snow-hit Greece ‘because of lack of EU solidarity
Euro News (January 10, 2017 | LONDON) Refugees are being forced to live in freezing, snow-covered camps in Greece because EU states have failed to take in their share of asylum seekers, it’s been claimed. Arctic weather swept into the Greek islands over recent days, leaving thousands to brave the conditions with a just flimsy tent canvas over their heads. Read more.
This Video Shows What’s So Scary About Syrian Refugees
PopSugar (January 2, 2017 | NEW YORK) A new video by Doctors of the World aims to show what’s so frightening about refugees from Syria. Spoiler alert: nothing. Read more.