Refugee movements project vivid images of people, all their worldly possessions being carried, sad tired faces, swollen feet, dragging themselves along a long road to an uncertain future. Less often seen are the thousands of exhausted older refugees(1) struggling to…
In Africa, it is frequently older people who are left to nurse their own dying children and then to take care of their orphaned grandchildren. In Uganda, the total number of older refugees is 3,536, out of which 1,728 are…
I can confirm this from my own experience living for three years 1994-1996 in two massive Rwandan refugee camps in eastern Zaire. At that time I also worked for UNHCR in humanitarian assistance. Older refugees have special needs but seem…
Viewed as both a way of preserving customs and of passing down tradition and values, interaction between older and younger generations is a vital component of life in Africa. In Angola, traditions which are most commonly handed down range from…
Designed to house 800 people, in mid 2002 it accommodated some 1,300 people with irregular status. Of the 50 or so nationalities represented, the group of Iraqi Kurds is the largest, followed by Afghans and Iranians. The weekly influx of…
I am concerned, however, that having watched this matter languish for 50 years, activists may now feel the need immediately to build on this new commitment by endorsing some kind of a mechanism - even if only a minimally effective…
In 1999, UNHCR appealed for additional assistance for refugees fleeing the political crisis in the Balkans. The Albanian community in New Zealand also asked the government to help with the evacuation of their relatives from war-torn Kosovo. In response, the…
In the course of research in 2000-2001 among refugees from former Yugoslavia in Italy and the Netherlands, I met a Bosnian medical doctor in Amsterdam. This 35-year-old fled to the Netherlands in 1992, became a Dutch citizen and was working…
On 7 November 2001, Somalis around the world were shocked to find that the hawilaad offices they use to send remittances to their relatives were on the list of organisations suspected of links with Osama Bin Laden and al-Qa'ida. Without…
A group at particular risk, especially in largely monocultural areas outside London to which refugees are being dispersed, are girls and women who have undergone, or are at risk of undergoing, female genital mutilation (FGM). FGM is the range of…