Speech by Filippo Grandi, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the European Policy Centre, Brussels Mr Van Rompuy, Ladies and gentlemen, A year has passed since the peak of what has been called – though I am not sure the terminology is correct – the “European refugee crisis”. A...

With the onset of winter, improving living conditions for asylum-seekers and migrants continues to be the number one priority for humanitarian actors in Greece. It is also still a major challenge. People living in tents out in the open have been moved to alternative accommodation and UNHCR’s accommo...

The Republic of Malta and the Republic of Estonia will successively hold the Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) in 2017 in a challenging context. In 2015, over one million refugees and migrants undertook dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea in search of safety. The capa...

Despite a drop in the number of refugees and migrants reaching Europe last year, the dangers many face along the way have in some cases increased, according to a new report by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, setting out changing patterns of movement. The Desperate Journeys report found that sea arr...

GENEVA, Switzerland – The third Refugee Food Festival is coming to 14 cities around the world in June, bringing locals and refugee chefs together to share food and friendship. First launched in Paris in 2016, this year’s festival will see over 100 restaurants in cities including New York, Amsterd...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the Greek Government to urgently improve conditions and expand reception capacity, following a recent rise in arrivals at Evros via the land border with Turkey. Hundreds of people are at present being held in police detention facilities. Some 2,900 peop...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the Government of Hungary to withdraw a package of laws set to be introduced in the Hungarian Parliament that would significantly restrict the ability of NGOs and individuals to support asylum-seekers and refugees. UNHCR is seriously concerned that these p...

VIENNA, Austria - On a Saturday night at the Schwarzberg music pub, the crowd is going wild. Refugees are jamming with music students who have been teaching the newcomers how to play their instruments. Milad Osman, 23, from Afghanistan, is playing a short piano solo on the stage, even though he h...

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the OECD, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, is launching today an innovative action plan to expand employment opportunities for refugees. The document not only identifies the challenges, opportunities and best practices in the integratio...

PYTHIO VILLAGE, Greece – As dawn breaks over Greece’s north-eastern Evros region, a group of three families with adults and children tramp through Pythio and Thourio, small villages on a country backroad. “We’ve been travelling for three days directly from Kobani,” [on the Syrian border with Turk...