refugees and migrants

Ethiopia: Asylum seekers trapped in appalling conditions in Gambella region

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Thousands of asylum seekers from South Sudan have been stuck for months in appalling conditions in a reception centre in Gambella region, western Ethiopia. People are without meaningful access to essential services, especially food. Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is worried that conditions will deteriorate even further in the upcoming rainy season. Nyaluak Tang*, her husband and … Read more

Italy: Abandoned at the borders: stories of people on the move during winter

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Recent months have seen a sharp increase in the number of migrants and refugees at Italy’s northern borders. Even in winter, people head westwards across the snow-capped mountains towards France; many tell stories of being repeatedly turned back by the French police. On Italy’s eastern border, people who arrive on foot after travelling the ‘Balkan route’, making their … Read more

Bangladesh: Relocations, reduced services leave Rohingya communities at breaking point in Bangladesh

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Faruk* is a Rohingya refugee – one of nearly a million – living in a camp in Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh. “No one wants to be a refugee; the life we have here is not easy. We live in an open prison,” Faruk says. “Life for a refugee is hellish and every day is the same. I can’t … Read more

Fear of violence and poor living conditions: Life inside South Sudan’s largest displacement camp

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In a shelter made of elephant grass and plastic sheets in the Protection of Civilians site (PoC) in Bentiu, northern South Sudan, a widow cooks for her children. Nyamal*, 43 years old, is preparing the traditional dish wualwual, a kind of porridge. Wearing a vibrant yellow dress, she sits on a short stool close to the entrance. … Read more

Mediterranean migration: Carnage in the Mediterranean is the direct result of European state policies

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AMSTERDAM/ PARIS – The last few days have produced one of the most lethal episodes in the central Mediterranean Sea so far this year, with more than 100 people dying at sea in four separate shipwrecks within less than 72 hours. Six NGO rescue ships remain blocked in port by Italian and European authorities, as MSF teams in Libya … Read more

Greece: Negligent and dangerous COVID-19 response in Vathy camp, Samos

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Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is urging the Greek authorities to immediately scale up their response to COVID-19 in Vathy camp on Samos island and transfer people at high risk to safe accommodation on Greece’s mainland or in other EU states. Vathy camp, which hosts 4,300 people, has registered more than 100 positive cases … Read more

Mediterranean migration: “Enough is enough”: Time to stop the cycle of suffering for refugees on Greek islands

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Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is calling on the Greek and the EU authorities to stop their efforts to rebuild a new system of containment for refugees and asylum seekers on the island of Lesbos, Greece, and to break once and for all the cycle of suffering for people trapped on the Greek islands. European states … Read more

Greece: MSF forced to close COVID-19 centre on Lesbos

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ATHENS – A COVID-19 isolation centre set up on the island of Lesbos, Greece, by Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) has been forced to close, after local authorities imposed fines with potential criminal charges, related to urban planning regulations. MSF strongly condemns the authorities’ failure to identify a solution to keep the isolation centre open when there is … Read more

Five things we can do to protect people on the move during COVID-19

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The COVID-19 pandemic is disproportionately impacting the world’s most vulnerable. Among them are more than 70 million forcibly displaced people worldwide – refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced people (IDPs) – as well as migrant workers, including undocumented migrants. Many of these men, women and children live in formal and informal camps, reception centres, or in detention centres. … Read more

COVID-19: Vulnerable communities are bracing for impact of COVID-19

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Op-ed by Jonathan Whittall, Head of humanitarian analysis How are you supposed to wash your hands regularly if you have no running water or soap? How can you implement ‘social distancing’ if you live in a slum or a refugee camp? How are you supposed to stop crossing borders if you are fleeing from war? … Read more