Tag: Refugees

2017 Myanmar refugee suicide study

January 12, 2017 Myanmar Karen, Myanmar, Refugees, Trauma, Women

A new study has found a high incidence of suicide among women in camps housing long-term refugees fleeing Myanmar’s ethnic conflict, reports the BBC News Magazine. In a study of refugees in Thailand’s Mae La camp, where 90% are ethnically Karen – a group that mainly identifies as Christian – . . . Read More

Sudanese pastors pressured to ‘inform’ or stand trial

December 16, 2016 Sudan Abdulmonem Abdumawla, Apostasy, Blue Nile, Darfur, Hassan Taour, Islamic extremism, Khartoum, Kuwa Shamal, Nuba Mountains, Omar al-Bashir, Petr Jašek, Refugees, Sharia

Forty-eight-year-old father of three Rev. Yamane Abraha received an ultimatum in Khartoum following a trip to Ethiopia in the autumn of 2015. “[Sudanese government] security threatened me, saying I would have to appear in court either as a witness, or an accused,” the Evangelical Baptist Church of Khartoum pastor told . . . Read More

Devastation of liberated Iraqi Christian towns makes return home seem further away than ever

December 15, 2016 Iraq Bartella, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Karamles, Kurds, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees

Now the smoke has gone from the Nineveh Plain, it is clear that Islamic State fighters dealt one final, vicious blow to the Christian population before surrendering its occupied towns: by systematically setting fire to their homes, thousands have become practically uninhabitable. Suddenly, for many Christians, the prospect of returning . . . Read More

Donors pledge $2.2bn to help Central African Republic recover

November 30, 2016 Central African Republic African Union, Anti-balaka, Bangui, Bria, Catherine Samba-Panza, Dieudonné Nzapalainga, IDPs, Kaga Bandoro, Nicolas Guérékoyamé-Gbangou, Oumar Kobine Layama, Refugees, Seleka

Oxfam says half the 4.8 million population of the Central African Republic needs humanitarian assistance. Open Doors International The President of the Evangelical Alliance in the Central African Republic has praised the international community’s pledge of US$2.2 billion to help reconstruct a county ravaged by three years of civil war. Around . . . Read More

NE Nigeria has ‘more refugees than all of Europe’

November 29, 2016 Nigeria Boko Haram, Borno, Nigeria, Refugees

“North-east Nigeria has been hit by a displacement crisis that dwarfs any migration flows seen in Europe in recent years,” reports . The small town of Monguno in Borno state, which has a population of 60,000, is sheltering 140,000 Nigerians who have fled their homes – comparable to the number . . . Read More

Israel resettling Eritrean refugees in 3rd country

November 29, 2016 East Africa, Eritrea, Israel, Migrants, Refugees, Rwanda, Uganda

Eritreans seeking asylum in Israel are being given the option of resettling in a third country, often Uganda and Rwanda, . But Israel’s ‘policy’ of transferring arrivals from Africa has been criticised. Andie Lambe, executive director of the International Refugee Rights Initiative, an NGO that has conducted extensive research into . . . Read More

‘We must distinguish between Islam and terrorism’

November 28, 2016 Global News -- No Particular Country Amman, Boko Haram, Europe, Fulani herdsmen, Hungary, IDPs, Iraq, Islamic extremism, Islamic State, Jacques Hamel, Jan Figel, Middle East, Nigeria, Nineveh Plains, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Religious freedom

Keeping the distinction between Islam and terrorism clear could prevent an ultimate ‘Clash of Civilisations’, an EU diplomat says. “All this hatred and bloodshed is a misuse of religion,” said Ján Figeľ, the European Commission’s first Special Envoy for the promotion of Freedom of Religion or Belief outside the EU. . . . Read More

Victims of Boko Haram, Fulani violence to receive trauma counselling

November 25, 2016 Nigeria Adamawa, Boko Haram, Chibok girls, Fulani herdsmen, IDPs, Plateau, Refugees, Trauma, Yola

A trauma care centre is being constructed in Nigeria to support Christians who have suffered religiously motivated violence or abuse at the hands of Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen. The centre is being built by Open Doors International, a charity which supports Christians under pressure for their faith. In April, . . . Read More

Celebration for thousands of displaced Iraqis ahead of bittersweet homecoming

November 24, 2016 Iraq Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Jordan, Mosul, Peshmerga, Refugees, Trauma

The event opened with around 100 young people forming the shape of a cross.Babylon Ministries Thousands of displaced Iraqi Christians celebrated a “Return Festival” as the military advance against Islamic State (IS) in and around the city of Mosul raised their hopes of returning home after two years in . . . Read More

Iraqi Christians ask: Where were our Kurdish protectors when IS came?

November 22, 2016 Iraq Assyrians, Baghdad, Erbil, IDPs, Islamic State, Jordan, Mosul, Nineveh Plains, Peshmerga, Qaraqosh, Refugees, Tel Kaif

A young girl in a camp in Levo, northern Iraq, holds up a picture of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. One question that still angers many of the Christians who fled northern Iraq as jihadists from Islamic State (IS) advanced on their towns and villages is, “Where were the Kurdish . . . Read More

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