News Highlights: UN: Up to 20.000 missing from Tigray refugee camps, Many refugees returned to Libya, Kent barracks housing scrutinised in UK

by L. Storchi
Posted on February 5, 2021February 5, 2021
Africa

In this week’s news highlights: UN states 20.000 refugees in Tigray are missing and needs are high, after UN visit to Tigray refugee camp; People face starvation and epidemics in Tigray; South Sudanese refugees start returning, but conditions not yet safe; Libyan coast guards return more than 493 migrants and refugees to detention centres; Libyan Interim Prime Minister to be chosen; UK Home Affairs accused of giving in to public pressure in case of inadequate housing in Kent; Frontex stops activities in Hungary; MEPs blocked at Croatian borders with Bosnia; UNHCR considers the EU borders as dangerous for migrants and refugees; IOM estimates the need of USD 3$ billions for refugees support in 2021.

For frequent updates about the situation in the Horn, please see the EEPA Horn situation reports.

by A. Coessens
Posted on January 29, 2021January 29, 2021
Africa

In this week’s news highlights: Fear for civilians, refugees and forced conscripts as threats emerge of renewed offensive from Eritrea on Tigray; Allegations of mass sexual violence in Tigray; Tigray’s population in severe humanitarian crisis; Renewed violence in Darfur, Sudan; Ethiopian journalist found dead in Tigray; UNHCR warns of acute risks for refugees and migrants on Mediterranean routes; Departures from Tunisia overtake departures from Libya in 2020; 80 migrants and refugees returned to Libya, 300 returned so far this year; Frontex fails to provide information in internal pushback investigation; More than 370 rescued refugees land in Sicily; EU-Turkey meeting on migration; Two smugglers jailed over the deaths of Vietnamese people locked in a lorry truck; Danish Prime Minister wants zero refugees; Lowest number of refugee resettlement in twenty years.

News highlights: 85% of arrivals from Libya report subjection to torture, Concerns about refugee camp closure amid COVID-19, Commercial ships used in Libya returns

In this week’s news highlights: Human rights group urge Ethiopia not to close Hitsats refugee camp; COVID-19 reaches Eritrea; Ethiopia takes measures against COVID-19; 64 Ethiopian migrants found dead in a container in Mozambique; African flower sector looses jobs; African nations prepare for their battle against COVID-19; African experts team up to research the novel Coronavirus; 85% of refugees crossing the Mediterranean from Libya to Italy report they were tortured in Libya; Commercial ships increasingly used in Libya returns; HRW reports Egyptian security forces torture children; UNHCR temporarily closes two facilities in Libya; UN High Commissioner for Refugees urges countries keep asylum procedures open; UN Special Rapporteur wants Greece to stop rights violations; Unaccompanied minors often disappear from Dutch asylum seeker centers; and Ireland calls upon medically trained refugees and migrants.