GENEVA, Aug 27 (UNHCR) – With almost 60 million people forcibly displaced globally and boat crossings of the Mediterranean in the headlines almost daily, it is becoming increasingly common to see the terms 'refugee' and 'migrant' being used interchangeably in media and public discourse. But is there...

Con quasi 60 milioni di persone costrette a lasciare le proprie case in tutto il mondo e le traversate in barca del Mediterraneo in prima pagina quasi ogni giorno, è sempre più comune vedere i termini “rifugiato” e “migrante” usati in maniera intercambiabile, sia tra i media che nei dibattiti. Ma tr...

It is dusk by the time volunteers arrive at a busy square in central Budapest. With them, they carry hot food and fresh water – nothing short of a lifeline for the tired and hungry refugee families who are there to meet them. Little children are at first shy to accept the plates and spoons. However,...

GENEVA, Sept 15 (UNHCR) – Reiterating its call for a robust and coherent European response to the current refugee crisis, the UN refugee agency today expressed deep disappointment that European Union member states failed to reach agreement over a wider relocation plan of up to 120,000 people. "Ye...

The UN refugee agency today welcomed the European Commission's proposals unveiled on Wednesday to address the current refugee crisis in Europe. "Given the urgency of the situation, these proposals need to be implemented fully and swiftly," UNHCR spokesperson William Spindler told a press briefing in...

This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Melissa Fleming – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at the press briefing, on 8 September 2015, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. Deteriorating conditions inside Syria and neighbouring countries are driving thousands of Syrians to ...

BAPSKA, Croatia-Serbia border, Sept 23 (UNHCR) – More than a thousand refugees and migrants waited under the searing sun all Wednesday at the newly blocked Serbia-Croatia border crossing near Bapska -- hot, distressed and increasingly worried that their trek to safety had been halted in its tracks. ...

OPATOVAC, Croatia, Sept 22 (UNHCR) – In their thousands they streamed across a disused, now re-opened Croatian border post at Bapcek: Afghans, Syrians, Iraqis fleeing war in the Middle East into a country where the memories of its own conflict in the early-90s are still raw and vivid. For hours, ...

GENEVA, Oct 16 (UNHCR) – Authorities in Greece have reported up to seven people were killed – four of them children – in a collision between a smuggling boat and a Greek Coast Guard vessel off the coast of Lesvos, the UN refugee agency said today. It added that UNHCR staff had also had to be evac...

BERLIN, Germany (UNHCR) – Selwa sighed heavily sitting on a mattress with Renham, her energetic seven-year old daughter. The farmer abandoned her treasured land, livestock, fruit trees and two elder children, to make the dangerous journey from the Ghouta suburbs outside the Syrian capital Damascus, ...