Trump’s new travel ban will worsen refugees’ woes: UN

President Donald Trump’s revised travel ban on refugee resettlement will worsen the agonies of refugees, a spokesperson for UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Tuesday. Speaking at a press briefing at the UN headquarters, Farhan Haq, the deputy spokesperson for Guterres, said refugees are ordinary people forced to flee war, violence and persecution in their […]

Refugees brave snow, sub-zero temperatures in Greek camps

Refugees stranded in Greece suffered sub-zero temperatures and heavy snowfall on Tuesday at camps not designed for winter weather and the government promised those on one island temporary warm accommodations aboard a navy ship. A mid-winter icy spell and snowstorms have gripped central and southeastern Europe for days, and parts of Greece have been covered […]

France starts clearing ‘jungle’ migrant camp in Calais

France began clearing the sprawling “Jungle” migrant camp in Calais on Monday, with hundreds carrying suitcases queuing outside a hangar to be resettled in reception centres across the country. The first buses departed less than an hour after immigration workers started the operation and officials predicted some 2,500 would leave on the first day. Armed […]

Migrants rescued off Libyan coast

Dozens of migrants bound for Italy are rescued off the Libyan coast by a Spanish volunteer rescue ship, including one boat that is in the middle of sinking. A dramatic rescue at sea. Migrants bound for Italy plucked out of the sea after their dingy sank off the Libyan coast. Later they sit safely aboard […]

Turkey says to back away from EU migrant deal if no visa-free travel

Turkey would have to back out of its agreement with the European Union to stem the flow of migrants into the bloc if the EU does not deliver visa-free travel for Turks, Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu has said. Visa-free access to the EU – the main reward for Ankara’s collaboration in choking off an influx […]

Suicide attacker kills six Jordanian troops at Syria border

Jordanian Border Guards Killed By Suicide Bomber Six Jordanian border guards were killed by a suicide bomber who drove a car at speed across the border from Syria and rammed it into a military post on Tuesday, security officials said. The explosives-laden vehicle blew up a few hundred metres from a camp for Syrian refugees […]

At Ramadan, migrants in Europe dream of family and comfort food

As Ramadan began in Germany on Monday, Syrian asylum seeker Khairallah Swaid said he would pray for a reunion with his wife, who is stranded at a camp in Greece, and crave his mother’s makloubeh, a meat and rice dish served during the fasting month. The Muslim holy month that began this year on June […]

Pope returns with 12 refugees after visit to Greek island

Pope Francis took three families of Syrian refugees back to Rome on Saturday after visiting the frontline of Europe’s migrant crisis at a camp in Greece where migrants wept at his feet, kissed his hand and begged for help. At a sprawling fenced complex on the Aegean island of Lesbos, adults and children broke down […]

UN Secretary-General condemns rising anti-Muslim and anti-refugee bigotry

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon condemned the divisive myth-making of the far-right and the growing hostility towards Muslims,refugees, Jewish communities and other minorities. His remarks at a General Assembly meeting marked the International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21. This growing hostility and violence is ‘manifested most directly in anti-refugee, anti-migrant and, in particular, anti-Muslim bigotry, attacks and violence’. As moderate parties harden their positions and far-right parties sow division. The Secretary-General’s grave tone bore the weight of Europe’s violent history. As the anti-refugee rhetoric mirrored ‘the darkest chapters of the last century’. Ban Ki-moon spoke a universal and pluralistic truth: that ‘an assault on one minority community is an attack on all’. And that requires us to speak out against antisemitism, anti-Muslim bigotry and other forms of hate. This year’s International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination also focuses on the challenges and achievements of the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The Durban Declaration and Programme of Action promised a robust response to racism. Ratified in 2001, the framework raised concerns about growing antisemitism and Islamophobia. Point 150 “Calls upon States, in opposing all forms of racism, to recognize the need to counter anti-Semitism, [...]

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Slovakia election: neo-Nazi party gains fourteen seats

Slovakia’s ruling party lost its parliamentary majority, and neo-Nazis gained 8 per cent of the vote in Saturday’s election. More than 200,000 Slovakians voted for the neo-Nazi People’s Party Our Slovakia (L’SNS). That figure includes 23 per cent of first-time voters. Some of the fourteen elected L’SNS MPs were once monitored by the state. But they are now free to express their views in the National Council. Marian Kotleba, who leads the L’SNS, gained a parliamentary seat. He was elected governor of the Banská Bystrica Region (BBSK) in 2013. Kotleba’s brother, Martin, also gained a seat in parliament. Natália Grausová, another L’SNS MP has defended the Slovak regime which acted as a Nazi satellite in World War II. The Nazis murdered 75,000 Slovak Jews (around 83 per cent of the pre-war total). Deportations stopped after a Vatican representative intervened. But after the Slovak National Uprising in 1944, the SS took control of the fascist Hlinka Guard militia. Before taking office, Marian Kotleba fashioned himself in the image of the Hlinka Guard. Mr Kotleba established his first political party Slovenska Pospolitost (Slovak Brotherhood) in 2003. The interior ministry banned it in 2006 for its incitement to racial, national and religious hatred. [...]

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