12 May 2016 (UN) – Disasters associated with slow processes of environmental change – drought, sea level rise, and desertification – demonstrate again the growing importance of climate change as a driver of disaster risk, as senior United Nations official said today on the heels of the release of a global report which revealed that […]
26 May 2016 (UN) – At a meeting today in the United Nations Security Council on the situation in the Sahel region of sub-Saharan Africa, senior UN officials stressed that climate change plays a direct role in the region’s security, development and stability by increasing drought and fuelling conflict. Speaking via videoconference from Niger, the […]
7 May 2016 (AFP) – Five islands have disappeared in the Pacific’s Solomon Islands due to rising sea levels and coastal erosion, according to an Australian study that could provide valuable insights for future research. A further six reef islands have been severely eroded in the remote area of the Solomons, the study said, with […]
18 April 2016 (BBC News) – Hundreds of migrants drowned when their boat capsized in the Mediterranean, survivors have told the BBC – although there is no official confirmation. The 41 survivors say they were transferred to another vessel when it sank in the middle of the night. They said that up to 500 people […]
15 April 2016 (UN) – As the world faces the biggest refugee and displacement crisis of our time, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today reiterated a call to leaders across Europe and throughout the world to show greater solidarity as they strive to combat the deeper roots of conflict and continue to work towards securing […]
11 April 2016 (UN) – The United Nations refugee agency today expressed concern about yesterday’s violence at the border between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia near Eidomeni and the extensive scenes of teargas in use. Spokesperson Adrian Edwards of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) described the development […]
By Costas Kantouris and Nick Dumitrache10 April 2016 IDOMENI, Greece (Associated Press) – Migrants waged running battles with Macedonian police Sunday after they were stopped from scaling the border fence with Greece near the border town of Idomeni, and aid agencies reported that hundreds of stranded travelers were injured. Macedonian police used tear gas, stun […]
5 April 2016 (UN) – The number of people fleeing violence in Central America has surged to levels not seen since the region was wracked by armed conflicts in the 1980s, the UN refugee agency warned today, urging action to ensure that unaccompanied children and others receive the protection which they are entitled to. Last […]
ATHENS, Greece, 4 April 2016 (Associated Press) – Under heavy security, authorities on the Greek islands of Lesbos and Chios deported 202 migrants and refugees on boats bound for Turkey — the first to be sent back as part of a controversial European Union plan to limit the amount of migration to Europe. The operation […]
By Andrew Higgins2 April 2016 KANDALAKSHA, Russia (The New York Times) – So many decrepit Soviet-era cars carried migrants into Europe from this frozen Russian town in recent months that border officials in Finland, who confiscate the rust-bucket vehicles as soon as they cross the frontier, watched in dismay as their parking lot turned into […]