Archive for category: Refugees

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10 Facts About Yemeni Refugees


Two years ago, the conflict in Yemen broke out and left millions of Yemenis internally and externally displaced. Even before the war, Yemen was one of the poorest countries in the Arab world, so this conflict has had a devastating effect on the people of Yemen. Here are 10 facts to know about Yemeni refugees.

10 Facts About Yemeni Refugees

  1. Eighty percent of the population requires some form of humanitarian protection or assistance. Almost 2.4 million Yemenis have been displaced by the war.
  2. Most refugees fled to Saudi Arabia, which, as of 2016, hosted 39,000 Yemeni refugees.
  3. Yemenis have no easy outlets to flee their country, which is mainly due to its geographical location. Saudi Arabia has set up a blockade that prevents food and supplies from being delivered and makes it difficult for Yemenis to escape.
  4. Yemen takes in many refugees from other countries. They now have around 280,000 refugees, mostly from Africa. However, because of the war in Yemen, those refugees have had to return to their home countries.
  5. Six million Yemeni refugees are severely food insecure, resorting to having to send their children out to the streets to beg for food and scavenge from restaurants.
  6. Yemen is facing a cholera outbreak, and more than 29,000 people are infected as well as malnourished.
  7. Yemen does not have enough donors for relief. Only three million out of seven million starving people were fed by aid in May of 2017.
  8. Among the externally displaced Yemenis, 75 percent stated that lack of food was their top reason for leaving Yemen.
  9. A Yemeni child under five dies every ten minutes, usually due to starvation.
  10. You can help by donating to the World Food Program that is aiming to provide food to seven million starving Yemenis.

For close to two years, Yemenis have been living in fear, insecurity and famine. They are not dangerous people–they simply need a place where they can have food and be safe from war. They need aid that they are not receiving. The plight of Yemeni refugees cannot be ended without increased aid.

– Kelsey Jackson

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Tuvalu Refugees


Tuvalu refugees represent some of the first waves of climate refugees. Huge numbers of Tuvaluans have been displaced after watching their island home between Hawaii and Australia be eroded by rising sea levels, intensifying natural disasters and soil degradation from contaminated groundwater. With no official recognition of climate refugees, Tuvaluans are increasingly threatened by the loss of their homes and hung out to dry by wealthy neighboring countries unwilling to accept their refugee status. Here are ten facts about Tuvalu refugees.

10 Facts About Tuvalu Refugees

  1. The island nation of Tuvalu has its highest elevations at just 15 feet above sea level. Experts predict that if sea levels were to rise by just three feet, many of the most populated areas of Tuvalu would be severely damaged, if not completely destroyed.
  2. Funafuti, the most populous island of Tuvalu, has suffered from severe droughts, water shortages and contaminated groundwater due to rising sea levels in recent years. The effects of these conditions on agriculture have translated to widespread malnourishment and displacement.
  3. Climate change experts predict that Tuvalu might become completely submerged underwater between 30-50 years from now if current trends continue. There is a general consensus that Tuvalu and similar nations will no longer exist by the end of the century.
  4. Already, one-fifth of Tuvalu’s population of 12,000 have left their homes to relocate to larger islands, where croplands are still fertile, or to neighboring New Zealand. As a result, the Tuvaluan community in New Zealand has nearly tripled since 1996.
  5. Life is difficult for Tuvalu refugees who have legally immigrated to New Zealand, with just more than half of Tuvaluan adults employed. Those who have immigrated illegally face even more economic and social hardships. Tuvaluan immigrants also worry about losing their cultural identity, as their children are born in highly developed host countries.
  6. Reports on climate trends have predicted 200 million “environmental refugees” by 2050, essentially one out of every 34 people on earth. Other estimates of future climate change migrants range from tens of thousands to one billion in the next 50 years.
  7. Climate refugees are not yet considered refugees under the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. Consequently, there are “no current provisions for their protection and assistance” according to the U.N. Refugee Agency.
  8. A landmark 2014 ruling by New Zealand’s Refugee Court granted legal residency to Tuvaluan Sigeo Alesana and his family after they appealed for asylum, citing climate change and overpopulation among the reasons that made life “untenable” on their native island. The court acknowledged the presence of climate change as a factor in the case, other factors affecting the family, such as an elderly mother who needed care, would have been enough to grant them asylum regardless. As a result, this case won’t open the doors for other climate change refugees from island nations. New Zealand has allocated Tuvalu only 75 annual slots in its visa program for Pacific workers.
  9. As the intensity of natural disasters and storms in the region increase, experts worry that if a natural disaster similar to Hurricane Katrina were to hit Tuvalu, it would cause irreversible damage. Tuvalu has few exportable natural resources and a GDP that relies heavily on the sale of collectible stamps and its internet domain suffix, .tv, nothing that could help its rebuild after large-scale damage.
  10. The Tuvaluan government has considered using its $100 million in reserves to purchase a new homeland for the small population, but legal and political obstacles threaten this plan. Moving could affect Tuvalu’s right to sovereignty as a nation, its fishing rights and the government’s ability to continue providing public services after financing such a move.

Based on these 10 facts about Tuvalu refugees, there are many hurdles for Tuvalu to cross both short term and long term. In the short run, Tuvalu should continue investing their reserves heavily in renewable freshwater storage systems and ongoing soil rehabilitation and protection programs. They should enlist foreign aid to help build one-time purchases, such as stabilizing bulwarks that prevent coastal erosion.

In the long run, Tuvalu should look to neighboring nations such as Kiribati who have established forward-thinking programs, such as their “Migration With Dignity” program, which involves training citizens as highly skilled workers who will then be welcomed into other countries because of their human capital when they are eventually forced to relocate. Tuvalu would do well to begin such programs as soon as possible, as the threats of climate change are more pressing and real for them than foreign leaders care to believe.

– Saru Duckworth

Photo: Flickr

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9 Facts About Refugees in Fiji


All around the world, there are more than 65 million people seeking refuge and relocation. With so much controversy surrounding the acceptance of refugees, the safety of those who are fleeing harm is at stake. Fiji is welcoming of refugees, and the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) works to ensure that refugees in Fiji will be acknowledged and their concerns heard. Here are nine facts about refugees in Fiji.

9 Facts About Refugees in Fiji

  1. As of June 2, 2017, there are 12 confirmed refugees in the country.
  2. These 12 are left from the original group of 40 that arrived in Fiji in 2006.
  3. People seeking refuge come to Fiji from various countries, including Pakistan and Congo.
  4. Fijian refugees are guaranteed confirmation thanks to something called “a claim for asylum,” which is filed when an individual indicates the want to be acknowledged by the country as a refugee.
  5. A lot of people seeking refuge in Fiji are “climate refugees,” meaning that they are experiencing a sudden change in environment and climate in their country of origin and flee to Fiji for refuge.
  6. Fiji has offered to give refuge to its neighboring citizens of Kiribati and Tuvalu in the event of a disaster.
  7. Fiji is at high risk for climate-induced natural disasters as well. So while Fijian refugees may find solace in their new homes, they may still be at risk of being affected by natural disasters.
  8. The UNHCR covers Fijian refugees by ensuring funding to help protect their refugees.
  9. People seeing refuge do not always permanently reside in the country, seeing as Fiji is typically a temporary holding ground for refugees rather than a permanent residence.

These nine facts about people seeking refuge in Fiji suggest that the country has struggled on its own, but its efforts to make refugees feel accepted and taken care of displays its ability to welcome those seeking shelter with open borders.

– Trisha Noel McDavid

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Refugees in Lithuania


Since August 2015, more than one million refugees have entered the EU, many of them fleeing conflicts in Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq. Under block rules, refugees faced relocation to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia. As these countries are among the poorest in the European Union, refugees relocated to Lithuania are fleeing elsewhere out of fear of starvation. Here are ten facts about refugees in Lithuania.

10 Facts About Refugees in Lithuania

  1. Through the EU relocation plan, refugees from Syria, Afghanistan, and Iraq have been sent to live in Lithuania, a small country on the Baltic Sea, north of Poland.
  2. While Lithuania is home to less than three million people, it has a quota of about 1,100 refugees to take in within two years. So far, there have been around 90 refugees sent there. Lithuania’s interior minister Tomas Zilinskas noted that even the small number of accepted refugees in Lithuania faced opposition by half of the country’s citizens.
  3. As benefits in Lithuania are already extremely limited, a refugee family of four receives €450 a month for half a year, after which the payment halves.
  4. A whopping 72 out of 90 of those granted refugee status in Lithuania have left. Many refugees claim living in a refugee center somewhere else is better than life in the Baltic States. As Mohamed Kamel Haj Ali, a refugee sent to Lithuania said: “The ones who left for Germany said they left Syria out of fear of death from bombs, but here they feared they would die from hunger.”
  5. EU rules dictate that refugees are to be forbidden from work or to claim refuge in other member states. Some destroy their identification documents before leaving Lithuania, hoping to claim asylum in richer countries amidst Western Europe.
  6. Refugees in Lithuania struggle to find work due to an insufficient amount of jobs available. As NPR’s Corey Flintoff states, “Lithuania cannot supply enough jobs for its own citizens. Hundreds of thousands of them have had to find work in other countries. Still, Lithuania’s current government considers it an obligation to do its part to help solve the migrant crisis among its fellow EU members.”
  7. After the discovery of a new route through Lithuania’s eastern border, a gateway into Western Europe allows refugees in to enter the country. Renatas Pozela, acting commander of the Lithuanian State Border Guard Service, states, “We are also seeing constant attempts to open new corridors [to Europe], mostly by Syrian and Iraqi refugees who are trying to reach Scandinavian countries.”
  8. While Lithuania joined the EU in 2004, its population has shrunk 12 percent to 2.9 million people over the past decade, as refugees and citizens alike flee in search of higher wages and better job availability.
  9. As Lithuania continues to depopulate, refugees help to sustain local businesses, such as a barber shop operated by Vilius Leveris.  Leveris finds most new staff for his barber shop in the refugee hostel. Since Leveris opened his business four years ago, he has taken on 12 employees from Turkey, Libya, Syria, Morocco and Colombia. Leveris states, “I couldn’t find anyone here. Even getting a wet shave is a completely new thing… Now, if a refugee who was a barber at home arrives in Lithuania, the refugee center calls me at once.”
  10. Ilmars Latkovskis, head of the Latvian parliament’s Citizenship, Migration, and Social Cohesion Committee, said to make staying in Lithuania feasible for refugees, it was necessary to have benefits increased “to a level which would be very unpleasant for our population, which is not that well-off.”

These were ten facts about refugees in Lithuania. It is evident from the significant number of refugees in Lithuania fleeing the country, as well as the other neighboring Baltic nations, many areas within the European Union need assistance in their efforts to aid refugees worldwide.

– Kendra Richardson

Photo: Flickr

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10 Things You Should Know About Refugees in Estonia

10 Things You Should Know About Estonian Refugees
Tucked away in the far-eastern corner of Europe, bordering Russia, lies the small Baltic State of Estonia. It may not be the most well-known member of the European Union, but nonetheless, Estonia is proving a valuable asset in the EU’s response to the growing refugee crisis.

Here are 10 things you should know about refugees in Estonia:

  1. Refugees in Estonia primarily come from Syria, Afghanistan, Ukraine, Russia and Georgia.
  2. Estonia has not received as many applications for asylum as other EU member states, but the number of applicants is steadily growing. As of March 2016, Estonia had accepted 107 quota refugees–87 from Greece and 20 from Turkey. Estonia has also agreed to take in about 500 people over the next two years.
  3. Estonia has one of the best welfare support systems in Europe. Estonia currently offers every refugee free housing and income support for two years. Refugees also receive benefits including language courses, translators and assistance in finding employment. They receive the same unemployment and welfare benefits available to Estonian citizens, as long as they remain in Estonia.
  4. Refugees in Estonia have one of the best advocates in the EU, Riina Kionka, the chief foreign policy advisor to the president of the European Council. She is passionate about the refugee crisis, as her mother was an Estonian refugee that came to the U.S., where Kionka was born. She stated that she believes Estonians should be at the forefront of helping refugees, “given Estonia’s history, with so many of its compatriots having been welcomed by other countries as refugees after the second World War and during the Soviet occupation.”
  5. Refugees come to Estonia mainly through relocation programs, not resettlement. Estonia and Italy are currently negotiating a relocation agreement, in which Estonia will take on some of the influx of refugees surging into Italy. This agreement has been discussed for several months, but predicted to close soon. Estonia is already relocating refugees from Greece and Turkey through a similar agreement.
  6. Estonia’s retention rate of refugees is one of the lowest in all of Europe. As of May 2017, more than 25 percent of the 150 refugees taken in by Estonia had left the country. Most refugees coming in do not choose Estonia; the EU assigned them to the country in an effort to spread the number of refugees across Europe. Many are disappointed with the cold climate and discouraged by the low-paying jobs they secure, which often contrast deeply with what they had in their home countries.
  7. The greatest challenge refugees in Estonia face is their own expectations. Many refugees, especially the ones relocated from other EU countries, find themselves discontent with life in Estonia. Analysts from Estonia’s relocation program trace this dissatisfaction to social media, as most of the refugees “spent the past year stuck in Greece…seeing the successes of refugees who landed in Germany or Sweden through the filters of Facebook and Instagram.”
  8. Refugees living in Estonia are among the most welcomed in all of Europe. Anti-migrant attitudes are growing dangerously fast across the rest of Europe, but there has been little backlash in Estonia. Seeing as how the country was deeply divided over the refugee crisis only a few years ago, this signals a great shift in the country’s mindset. Communities and families alike are coming together to try and make refugees feel welcome, helping the newcomers furnish their apartments and even giving out winter clothes to shield refugees from Estonia’s colder climate.
  9. Refugees living in Estonia have some of the best chances at integrating into the society of their host country. The government has spread its refugees all across the country, especially to sparsely populated rural areas, in order to give refugees a better chance at immersion. Children are immediately enrolled in schools, and adults receive help learning Estonian and English and coaching on finding jobs. The goal of the resettlement process is to empower refugees to support themselves and no longer need government benefits.
  10. If the refugees can’t come to Estonia, Estonians are going to them. The Estonian Refugee Council has substantially increased its efforts to reach refugees, especially in the Luhansk, Donetsk and Zaporizhia oblasts of Ukraine. In April alone, they delivered hundreds of humanitarian aid packages consisting of food, hygiene products and blankets. Estonians also increased support for these efforts, as the ERC gathered 34,876 euros by the end of April 2017 in donations alone.

Though there is still work to do, Estonia is setting a strong example for the world by warmly welcoming refugees. Estonia’s approach to the refugee crisis will contribute significantly to resolving the refugee crisis and will hopefully inspire its EU counterparts to implement similar tactics.

– Sydney Cooney

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Croatian Refugees

10 Facts About Croatia Refugees
Croatia is a top tourist destination with its long, beautiful coastline along the Adriatic Sea, and tourism accounts for 17 percent of country’s annual gross national product. However, over the past 25 years, the country has been in headlines for something quite different. The Balkan Wars of the 1990s saw a large number of Croatian refugees leaving the country. In addition, the Syrian refugee crisis of the last few years has caused an influx of foreign refugees into Croatia. Syrian, Afghan and Iraqi refugees began arriving in Croatia in 2015. Below are 10 facts about Croatian refugees.

  1. Croatia declared its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. This resulted in a war that lasted until 1995. During this time, 900,000 Croats were displaced both inside and outside the country.
  2. It is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 ethnic Serbs left Croatia in August 1995 after a military conflict. In turn, 130,000 ethnic Croats left Bosnia and Herzegovina for Croatia.
  3. War broke out in Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992. During the war, an estimated 403,000 refugees arrived in Croatia as a result of the conflict.
  4. The Croatian refugees who left the country began returning in 1996. By 2012, more than 132,600 of the Croatian refugees of Serbian descent had returned to Croatia. One of the main issues impeding their return was housing. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has worked to help alleviate this problem as well as the legal, social and technical issues that arise for returning refugees.
  5. In 2015, Croatia faced new refugee challenges, when a huge wave of Syrian refugees arrived en route to northern Europe. During this influx, more than 800,000 people passed through Croatia.
  6. During this period, there were two refugee camps set up in Croatia, and the government provided free transport for refugees to Hungary and later to Slovenia.
  7. On September 16, 2015, Croatia became one of the main transit countries when Hungary closed its borders to refugees. Since then, the country sees approximately 12,000 entries each day.
  8. The Balkan refugee route was effectively closed in March of 2016, when Slovenia closed its borders to migrants, and Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia quickly followed suit. The aim was to end the flow of migrants to Europe through the Balkans.
  9. As a member of the European Union, Croatia has an obligation to abide by a plan to relocate refugees from Greece and Italy, countries where the most refugees have arrived.
  10. Croatia has agreed to receive a total of 1,600 asylum-seekers by the end of 2017 as agreed with the EU resettlement scheme.

These 10 facts about Croatian refugees demonstrate that the refugees that left Croatia in the 1990s as well as those that have entered the country since 2015 have brought Croatia into world headlines for the last quarter of a century.

– Jene Cates

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Refugees in Malawi


Situated in southeastern Africa, Malawi is landlocked between Mozambique, Tanzania and Zambia. Over the last few decades, this largely agrarian nation experienced turbulent times. Despite inflation, corruption, HIV/AIDS and underdevelopment, Malawians are tenacious and remain incredibly friendly people. Here are 10 facts about refugees in Malawi:

  1. There are two camps for refugees in Malawi: Luwani (in the south) and Dzaleka (to the north). Luwani was reopened by the Malawian government in March 2016 to cope with refugees from Mozambique in the wake of conflicts between the government and opposition groups.
  2. At the end of March of this year, 3,073 Mozambican nationals who fled the Tete Province resided in the southern Luwani camp, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). This was a reduction of 382 refugees in Malawi from the end of February.
  3. The Dzaleka encampment, near Malawi’s capital Lilongwe, houses refugees and asylum-seekers from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Rwanda and Somalia. Most stay a few weeks before heading to South Africa.
  4. In a March 2017 press release, the UNHCR officially claimed the “Dzaleka refugee camp, originally built for a population of some 9,000 people now has more than tripled in size to nearly 28,000 people.”
  5. According to Monique Ekoko, UNHCR’s Representative to Malawi, “The new arrivals of refugees in Malawi has been at a steady rate of between 400 to 700 people per month over the past two years.”
  6. More than one million Mozambican refugees fled to the Luwani Camp during the nation’s civil war from 1977 to 1992.
  7. Due to weather-related events, the Malawi Vulnerability Assessment Committee (MVAC) suggests that 39 percent of the population (6,491,847 people out of a total population of 16,832,910) will not receive the minimum food requirement for 2016 and 2017. This is an increase of 129 percent since the previous year, a fact which makes it difficult to feed increasing numbers of refugees in Malawi.
  8. Mozambican officials pressure the Malawian government to refrain from recognizing every individual who crosses the nation’s borders as a refugee.
  9. Malaria, water shortages, dwindling food rations and respiratory infections are rampant in the encampments. Without proper funding, these and many other problems will persist.
  10. The Dzaleka camp’s health center serves a combination of 65,000 refugees and Malawians. Nearly 60 percent of the individuals cared for are Malawians.

The pressing problem of food insecurity – due to unpredictable weather and rising food prices – will be a major hurdle in the region’s recovery. Among its key planning figures for 2017, the U.N. expects to distribute an average of 2,100 calories to each refugee in Malawi and construct 920 latrines in the Dzaleka camp to meet sanitation standards. To reach long-term goals of peace and security, the UNHCR cites a 30 percent primary school enrollment figure for refugee children. With help of the international community, these activities should improve the lives of individuals in Malawi and promote regional prosperity.

— JG Federman

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Senegalese Refugees


Located on the northwestern coast of Africa, Senegal is lauded as one of the most stable democracies in Africa. It is the only country in post-colonial Africa that has avoided a military coup against its democratic government. However, the democracy of Senegal still experiences lapses in its democratic process, a common ailment of African nations establishing independence post-colonization.

2004 marked the beginning of the most significant violent conflict in Senegal’s recent history. Located in the southwestern corner of Senegal lies Casamance, a province which has been vying for independence from the Senegalese government since 1982. Civil unrest in Casamance came to a head in 2004, with instances of violent conflict being documented well into 2014. The conflict between the Casamance rebels, known as the Casamance Movement of Democratic Forces (MFDC), and the official Senegalese military has displaced thousands and taken a serious toll on civilian life.

While a ceasefire was signed by both warring factions in 2014, fighting between the Senegalese army and the MFDC continues today, albeit at a much smaller scale. Little has been done to reincorporate internally displaced Senegalese people into the state and remediate the living conditions of those affected by the civil strife of the separatist movement. Below are 10 facts about Senegalese refugees and their status as liminal bodies in a warring state.

  1. Sixty percent of Senegal’s population lives on less $3.10 a day, making it extremely difficult for them to obtain even the most basic human necessities such as food, water, shelter and vaccines.
  2. The richest 20 percent of Senegal hold 46.9 percent of the country’s wealth, illustrating that those displaced by conflict have limited economic resources to rebuild their lives.
  3. The most recent data concerning casualties resulting from the conflict states that approximately 14 civilians, including persons of refugee and internally displaced status, have been killed since February. The continued destruction of human life despite the three-year-old cease-fire illustrates that the conflict still seriously threatens the stability of the nation.
  4. The Senegalese government reports that the MFDC has repeatedly looted local villages to fund its military campaigns. However, the only official report on this comes from a readily biased Senegalese account, illustrating that the control of information is perhaps detrimental to the nation’s democracy.
  5. According to the most recently conducted study, there are an estimated 62,638 internally displaced people (IDP) in and around Senegal as a result of this civil strife.
  6. While physical displacement is the most severe form of displacement, less extreme forms of displacement, including the postponing of infrastructure development, has decreased post-war job opportunities and caused economic stagnation.
  7. Stigmatization of the entire Casamance region has also had impacted civilian life and citizens’ ability to relocate and establish themselves within the larger Senegalese economy.
  8. Humanitarian efforts to aid IDPs have largely focused on conflict resolution and the rebuilding of infrastructure and have not necessarily addressed the most basic and urgent needs of returning IDPs.
  9. The number of non-military landmine deaths was estimated to be around 748 as of December 2008. Efforts to remove landmines exist but are typically run by the Senegalese government, which is more or less unresponsive to the needs of Senegalese refugees and IDPs located in war-torn areas.
  10. Corruption within the MFDC led to a largely war-based economy, which has since devolved into drug trafficking and has initiated a new wave of terror for the people of Casamance. Drug trafficking is especially heavy between Casamance and Guinea-Bissau, and some Senegalese refugees in this area have looked to the notoriously violent narco-trafficking trade for work.

While the recovery statuses of the Casamance region and the Senegalese refugees’ areas are problematic, political and social stability is slowly being reinstated. Approximately one-third of IDPs have returned home in recent years, and the worst of the bloodshed has subsided. Further international intervention seems to be required for complete resolution.

– Spencer Linford

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Refugees in Norway


Due to the increasing urgency of the refugee crisis, many countries are adjusting their immigration policies. Norway has long been hailed as one of the most open countries in terms of accepting refugees and providing aid for war-torn countries such as Syria. However, after a huge influx of immigrants in 2015, Norway has begun tightening its borders. In order better to understand the changes in the country’s policies, here are 10 facts about refugees in Norway:

  1. After World War II, an independent Norwegian organization called the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) became one of the greatest advocates for displaced people and working with national governments. In 2015 alone, the NRC assisted more than 5.4 million displaced people.
  2. In 2016, Norway contributed one of the largest pledges of humanitarian aid aimed at helping Syrian refugees. The small country pledged $1.2 billion dollars ($240 per person) toward four years of funding.
  3. Norway has a history of emphasizing humanitarian efforts regarding both donations and admitting refugees from foreign countries. Since 2013, Norway has granted citizenship to over 260 percent of its “fair share” of Syrian refugees based on an estimation by Red Cross and Red Crescent groups.
  4. Norway has been increasing its focus on ensuring that refugees integrate into society smoothly by assessing their access to education and the workforce. A large component of this assessment includes observing and treating the mental health of immigrants, many of whom suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder, major depressive disorder and other mental illnesses.
  5. Norway has recently tightened restrictions on refugee immigration. In 2015, these restrictions resulted in a sharp decline in the number of refugees entering the country.
  6. Recently, asylum centers have been facing closures since the number of immigrants has dropped steadily since its peak in 2015.
  7. In 2017 thus far, Norway has experienced the lowest number of refugees seeking asylum since 1997. Many Norwegians believe this can be attributed to the recent increase in immigration restrictions.
  8. As of 2015, 3.6 percent of Norway’s population was comprised of refugees living legally. These refugees come from over 169 countries. A large majority of these refugees are from Bosnia and Herzegovina and were granted protection in the early 1990s.
  9. The Norwegian government has made headlines for its criticism of U.S. President Trump’s policies on the refugee crisis. Foreign Minister Brende tweeted: “Norway strongly believes that refugees should receive equal treatment regardless of religion, nationality or race. Hence, concerned [about] U.S. policy.”
  10. Like an increasing number of U.S. colleges and universities, the University of Oslo (UIO) has made its stance on the refugee crisis clear. The UIO website states its academic policies as well as their newly implemented efforts to welcome student refugees and asylum seekers.

Essentially, these 10 facts about refugees in Norway highlight that, despite the country’s massive funding of foreign aid, there are currently 65 million displaced refugees with nowhere to go. Additionally, many refugees in Norway are not yet capable of entering the workforce or educational system. This means that Norway faces the challenge of finding a solution for integrating refugees into its society while maintaining its reputation as an asylum.

– Julia Morrison

Photo: Flickr

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10 Facts About Refugees in Cameroon


With increasing conflict in neighboring countries, Cameroon must find a way to safely house its refugees and find a solution to the increasing food shortage. Here are 10 facts about refugees in Cameroon.

10 Facts About Refugees in Cameroon

  1. In July 2005, a law was created to reflect the Cameroonian tradition of taking in foreigners. This justified the migration of thousands of refugees into Cameroon, fleeing abuse and violence in their own countries. There are three categories for these: Central African refugees, Nigerian refugees, and internally displaced persons.
  2. Increasing violence in Nigeria and the Central African Republic by the insurgency Boko Haram threatens the refugees finding solace in Cameroon.
  3. Boko Haram started out as a Nigerian armed group but now operates to carry out attacks and kidnappings on refugees.
  4. In January, Cameroon faced a “refugee crisis.” They needed to continue helping refugees escape the terror of Boko Haram while protecting their own citizens. The terror has resulted in nearly 1.6 million displaced people in Cameroon, which could potentially increase to 2.7 million in the coming year.
  5. The U.N. estimated that Cameroon already has approximately half a million registered refugees, not including the 200,000 registered internally.
  6. With the huge influx of refugees in the past few months, the U.N. and the Cameroonian government are worried about an impending food shortage. To support everyone, refugees in Cameroon will need $310 million over the next three years.
  7. Cameroon’s refugee camp, Minawao, currently hosts 32,621 Nigerian refugees. This is an increase of 16,000 following recent clashes between the North Eastern Nigerian military and Boko Haram.
  8. As tensions increased on the border, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) discussed setting up a second refugee camp. Once the screening is complete, the camp will house nearly 66,000 refugees, of which 41,571 were verified by the UNHCR.
  9. Faced with a food shortage and increasing danger from Boko Haram, Cameroon began forcibly moving Nigerian refugees back home, around 2,600 people in total. Most of these refugees end up in camps for security reasons.
  10. To aid new refugees in Cameroon, UNICEF and its partners plan to help 58,000 children between five and six years old severely affected by acute malnutrition and 2,800 unaccompanied children. They also plan to provide approximately 145,000 children between ages 3-17 with quality formal or informal basic education in 2017.

Cameroon became a beacon of hope to neighboring countries. A beacon which now must rely on foreign aid to continue helping refugees and prevent a nationwide food shortage, while keeping its own citizens safe from the wrath of Boko Haram.

– Amira Wynn

Photo: Flickr