ACNUR, la Agencia de la ONU para los Refugiados, y la Organización Internacional para las Migraciones (OIM) se encuentran profundamente consternados por la muerte o desaparición en alta mar de hasta 25 personas refugiadas y migrantes de Venezuela, incluyendo niños y niñas, después de que su embarcación volcara camino a Trinidad y Tobago. Según informes, entre 14 y 21 cuerpos fueron encontrados durante el fin de semana flotando en aguas cercanas al pueblo costeño de Güiria en Venezuela. Esfuerzos de búsqueda y rescate continúan ya que podría haber otras personas desparecidas en el mar.

In a joint press release, IOM and UNHCR chiefs stressed that COVID-19 underlines the urgent need for universal health coverage that includes migrants, refugees and internally displaced and stateless people.

UNHCR and IOM jointly launched a USD 1.44 billion regional plan to respond to the growing needs of refugees and migrants from Venezuela and the communities hosting them. The onset of COVID-19 has dangerously strained national and local capacities across the region. Many refugees and migrants and their host communities now face a myriad of new challenges that worsen their already precarious conditions.

UNHCR warns that child trafficking, forced labour and forced recruitment by armed groups are increasing in Mali due to conflict, insecurity, COVID-19 and deteriorating economic conditions.

UNHCR welcomes the Government of Iran’s move to give nationality to thousands of children born to Iranian mothers and non-Iranian fathers. According to the Government, nearly 75,000 children are eligible for Iranian citizenship under a new nationality law, which was amended in 2019 to allow children under 18 years to apply for the identity documents. By allowing Iranian mothers to pass their nationality to their children, the law also marks a ground-breaking step towards reducing the gender gap in Iran. Although Iran is not party to the UN Conventions on Statelessness, the Government is taking steps towards the prevention and reduction of statelessness in the country.

A new report released by the Norwegian Refugee Council and UNHCR-led Global Protection Cluster (GPC) finds that nearly 40 million people are at heightened risk of violence, discrimination and rights abuses as COVID-19 spawns a ‘coping crisis’.

From 27 to 30 November 2020, UNHCR organized its first multi-donor mission since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in DRC’s Ituri Province. Representatives of donor countries joined a three-day mission to see first-hand the situation in the displacement sites and to assess the overall conditions of the displaced and host community members. The delegation of ambassadors and diplomats from more than 11 countries, including Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the European Union met with beneficiaries, local authorities and humanitarian partners.

In November, UNHCR stepped-up its cash assistance in the Great Kasai Region. Over 43,000 forcibly displaced, returnees and host community members in vulnerable conditions received cash to buy food and meet their most urgent needs.

In a press release UNHCR warns that the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic is driving further violence against refugee, displaced and stateless women and girls. The UNHCR-led Global Protection Cluster reported increases in gender-based violence in at least 27 countries. UNHCR is also alarmed by increased risks of child and forced marriages being resorted to as a coping strategy by displaced families buckling under socio-economic pressures.

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), UNHCR has helped hundreds of refugees from the Central African Republic (CAR) to return home in recent days – the first such move since the COVID-19 pandemic forced border closures.