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The European Union says it is ready to accept up to 10,000 Iraqi refugees, many of whom are living in extreme hardship in Jordan and Syria. The agreement came at an EU meeting in Brussels on Thursday, where interior ministers received a new report on conditions at refugee camps. Germany said it would take in about 2,500 of the refugees. Priority will be given to those with medical needs, torture victims, single mothers and religious minorities. The UN refugee agency, the UNHCR, welcomed the EU pledge as a "positive step", saying it had been pressing the EU for 18 months...

GENEVA (Reuters) - The U.N. refugee agency urged South Africa on Friday to stop mass deportations of Zimbabwean migrants, since some of those deported may be asylum seekers who have fled violence and political persecution at home. South Africa has deported some 17,000 Zimbabweans in the last 40 days alone through the main border crossing at Beit Bridge, despite the UNHCR's appeal in late May, the agency said. "Our concern is that with these refugees who are fleeing political violence and upheaval in Zimbabwe, they could be at risk of being sent back to danger if they are caught up...

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- More than 1,000 refugees from Iraq arrived in the United States in May, the most in recent months, bringing the fiscal-year total to 4,742 so far, the State Department reported June 3. But with just four months left in the fiscal year, the administration's objective of resettling 12,000 Iraqis in the U.S. by October is far from being reached, said Anastasia Brown, director of refugee programs for Migration and Refugee Services of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. She added that even that goal is an inadequate fraction of the estimated 4.9 million Iraqis who have been...

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, September 7 (UNHCR) – More than 3,000 people have fled their homes in north-west Sri Lanka's disputed Mannar district to escape fresh fighting between government troops and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) over the past week. The Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services, citing local government officials in Mannar, said 3,109 people had moved from southern parts of Mannar to Nanattan division in the north of the district. Slightly more than half were staying with friends or family. The rest – 435 families – are being accommodated in two schools and a damaged...

ROME, Italy, September 7 (UNHCR) – The UN refugee agency has issued a statement mourning the death of Luciano Pavarotti, a staunch supporter of the refugee cause and of UNHCR's work around the world. In a statement, UNHCR said it was "deeply saddened" by the death early Thursday of the celebrated Italian tenor, who was 71. Tributes have been pouring in from around the world. "Nature equipped him with one of the most individual, unmistakable and beautiful voices there has been," noted Britain's The Guardian newspaper. Pavarotti also used his immense talent to help others. "A United Nations Messenger of...

KAMPALA, Uganda, September 7 (UNHCR) – Some 25,000 to 35,000 Congolese refugees have been sheltering at night in the Ugandan border town of Bunagana to escape fighting in North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). During the day, most of the men have been crossing back into the DRC to check on their properties, leaving behind 12,000-15,000 women and children. Nearly all of them are staying with Congolese relatives and friends living in Bunagana, located in western Uganda's Kisoro province. According to Ugandan authorities, most of the Congolese said they preferred to stay close to the border and...

"Angelina Jolie talks to a wheelchair-bound woman, one of some 1,300 trapped at the makeshift Al Waleed refugee camp inside Iraq, unable to leave the country for neighboring Syria August 28, 2007 in this photo supplied by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.""UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador U.S. actress Angelina Jolie (C) talks with Red Crescent volunteers taking care of refugee children while their parents wait to register as refugees at a UNHCR registration center in Damascus, Syria in this picture taken August 27, 2007 and released by the UNHCR on August 28. Jolie is on a two-day visit to Iraq...

Angelina Jolie is in Iraq to witness firsthand the humanitarian crisis there, the United Nations Refugee Agency UNHCR has announced. The actress and UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, 32, flew from New York to Syria on Monday. In Damascus, she visited a UNHCR registration center and spend hours talking to Iraqi refugees in their homes. Tuesday's journey took her to Iraq to meet with 1,200 refugees camped out in a makeshift outpost at the border, because they are unable to leave the country. She also witnessed dozens of Iraqis crossing into Syria. "I have come to Syria and Iraq to help draw...

It seems sometimes that there is violence between Christians and Muslims in almost every corner of the world. Sadly, Civil Wars, tribal feuding and other strife creates migrations and refugees seeking safety and freedom. In Israel, ninety refugees from war torn Liberia that have been living in safety there for seventeen years are being told by the United nations that they must return to their African home. These people truly stand out in Israel: they are Muslims, refugees, Liberians and Black Africans of the Mandingo tribe. War torn Liberia has suffered through more than 15 years of Civil War since...

UN Commissioner refuses to meet captives' families UN high commissioner on human rights announces she will not meet with families of three kidnapped soldiers during Israel visit. Eldad Regev's brother: 'Decision not to meet families should set off red lights of UN stance behind resolution', Ahiya Raved Published: 11.21.06, 23:22 Arbour in Sderot Photo: ReutersThe UN High Commissioner on Human Rights Louise Arbour has decided not to meet with the families of the kidnapped soldiers during her visit to Israel . The families of Ehud Goldwasser, Eldad Regev and Gilad Shalit have approached the commissioner two weeks ago already, but...

A Tibetan nun in her mid twenties was shot dead by Chinese border patrols and at least one other Tibetan may have been killed while on their way into exile in Nepal on the Nangpa pass five days ago, according to eyewitness reports. Tibetans traveling with the nun were unable to bring her body, with evident wounds from several rounds of bullets, with them because they feared arrest before entering Nepalese territory. There are reports that up to seven more Tibetans may have been killed after the group was fired upon by Chinese armed personnel, but these could not be...

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police said on Tuesday they had detained 169 North Koreans in a raid on a house in a Bangkok suburb after neighbors became suspicious of the number of people in it. "This is the biggest single arrest of North Koreans" in Thailand, Police Major General Pramoj Pathumwong told Reuters. The North Koreans, mostly women and children, had entered Thailand illegally and were staying in the house with 16 compatriots who had travel documents from the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, police said. The 16 had been due to leave on Tuesday night for South Korea,...

GENEVA -- The U.N. Human Rights Council on Friday condemned Israel for "massive bombardment of Lebanese civilian populations" and other "systematic" human rights violations, and decided to send a commission to investigate. European countries, Japan and Canada voted against the resolution, primarily because it lacked balance in failing to name the Hezbollah militia. The United States, which is an observer, has no vote on the 47-member council. Israeli Ambassador Itzhak Levanon said the discussions were one-sided, referring only to civilian losses in Lebanon while ignoring the deadly Hezbollah missile attacks on northern Israel. "It is painful and regrettable that the...

* Says intolerance, terrorism fears and tighter asylum controls undermining international safeguards for refugees LONDON: Intolerance, terrorism fears and tighter asylum controls are undermining the international system for dealing with refugees, the UN refugee agency said on Wednesday. There was widespread confusion over migrants and refugees and the world was falling short of meeting the needs of millions of internally displaced people, said the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The refugee system has reached a critical juncture, the UNHCR said as it launched its new assessment, “The State of the World’s Refugees: Human Displacement in the...

ISLAMABAD, March 10: The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has assured OIC ambassadors in Geneva that her Office was taking necessary steps to combat defamation of religions, create a culture of tolerance, explore and elaborate legal framework for respect of religions as well as freedom of expression to address the situation created by the publication of blasphemous cartoons. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louis Arbour held out the assurance to a delegation of 14 Muslim envoys who met her this week to express Islamic world’s deep concerns on publication of defamatory caricatures in Danish newspaper Jyllands Posten...

As a moderate-right conservative, it distresses me to reach this conclusion, because I have always thought that having a place where the peoples of the world could meet and talk would always be a good idea, no matter what. However, the obstructionism, the inefficiency, the anti-Semitism, the arrogance and the incredible waste of resources are one thing, but the scandals involving rape and child molestation and oil-for-food bribes are quite another. As more and more information dribbles out, it has become clearer and clearer that these scandals involve the highest levels of UN leadership, and are widespread and so deeply...

UN 'shocked' by violence in Cairo Police surrounded the migrants, who included women and children The UN refugee agency has expressed "shock" after up to 20 Sudanese migrants died during an operation by Egyptian police to break up their camp. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Antonio Guterres, said there was no justification for the violence. Thousands of police stormed the camp - which was set up near UN offices in September - wielding truncheons and firing water cannon at the protesters. Several children were reported to be among the dead. The migrants had been demanding that the UNHCR move...

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) -- Egyptian police turned water cannons on Sudanese war refugees and beat them with sticks Friday, brutally clearing out a squatters camp in a city park. At least 10 people were killed, the government said. Hundreds of Sudanese have been living in the park since September to protest the U.N. refugee agency's refusal to consider them for refugee status. They want to be resettled in a third country, such as the United States or Britain, rather than go home after a peace deal ended the 21-year-long civil war in Sudan. In Geneva, Switzerland, the United Nations High...

TEHRAN, IRAN -- Western diplomats in the Iranian capital Tehran expressed concern Tuesday, December 6, about reports of growing persecution of Christians in Iran, including the murder of a Protestant house church pastor. "There is consternation," after 50-year old Pastor Ghorban Tori was reportedly stabbed to death November 22, a diplomatic source linked to the Dutch embassy in Tehran told BosNewsLife. It came as new details emerged Tuesday, December 6, surrounding the circumstances of the murder of Tori, a former Muslim whose bleeding body was dropped in front of his home a few hours after the knife attack, BosNewsLife monitored....

GENEVA, Switzerland, Dec. 2 (UPI) -- The U.N. refugee agency says a new European Union policy on asylum could lead to violations of international law. The 25 EU member countries adopted the directive this week without discussion. The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights is especially concerned about a change that allows EU countries to turn asylum seekers back to "safe third countries" without any hearing. "This could have wider implications, eroding international standards of refugee protection far beyond the EU," UNHCR spokesman Ron Redmond said in Geneva. The directive was aimed at harmonizing laws between the member nations....