WORLD - The African Mirror

Oct

17

2024

UNHCR: Lebanon crisis deepens as Israeli airstrikes intensify

WORLD

THE escalating conflict and intensified Israeli airstrikes on Lebanon are taking an increasingly devastating toll on civilians in the country, pushing more people to flee to Syria. More people are being displaced in Lebanon every day. On Monday, 20 villages in south Lebanon were ordered to evacuate; a quarter of Lebanon is now under Israeli military evacuation orders. Heeding the orders, many families are fleeing to open public spaces, desperate to escape the bombs but struggling to find shelter. The Government of Lebanon estimates that 1.2 million people have been displaced. The crisis continues to spill into Syria. Syrian refugees,…

Oct

17

2024

By The African Mirror

Texas man drops lawsuit against women who allegedly helped his ex-wife get an abortion

WORLD

ALMOST two years ago, a Galveston man sued his ex-wife’s friends for the wrongful death of a fetus for allegedly helping her obtain pills to terminate her pregnancy. The first-of-its-kind lawsuit set off a panic about a potential new avenue of abortion criminalization in post-Roe v. Wade America. On Thursday, the claims were dropped with nothing to show for them. This shocking test case was filed by Jonathan Mitchell, an anti-abortion legal crusader responsible for Texas’ novel ban on abortions through private lawsuits. That gambit, commonly known as SB 8, survived a court challenge. This wrongful death suit, which demanded…

Oct

17

2024

By BRAM FROUWS and AYLA BONFIGLIO

Humanitarians: Stop using fear of migration to drive fundraising and advocacy

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Bram Frouws and Ayla Bonfiglio RHETORIC from politicians framing migration as a threat and refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants as dangerous has become troublingly commonplace in recent years around the world. What is less talked about is the fact that humanitarian organisations are all too frequently guilty of using similar tropes in their public communications, even if their intentions are not malicious. These narratives are often employed with the aim of raising funds and political visibility for the ostensibly good cause of providing humanitarian support to people on the move. The…

Oct

16

2024

By TAMARA SAADE

Under Israeli bombs, civil society fills the void left by the Lebanese state

WORLD

This story was originally published by The New Humanitarian.By Tamara Saade “WE are in need of two mattresses.” “Does anyone have an apartment for two families that left the south?” “Can someone provide baby clothes and milk? Urgent.” Lebanese social media has been flooded in recent weeks by posts like these from people trying to crowd-source resources, relay urgent needs, organise fundraisers, and provide aid to the over one million people forced to flee their homes by the massive Israeli bombing campaign and attempted invasion of southern Lebanon. With the weak and fractious Lebanese state doing little to mount a…

Oct

16

2024

By UNHCR staff

Brazilian pioneer of refugee protection honoured at 2024 Nansen Awards

WORLD

SISTER Rosita Milesi, a Catholic Sister, social worker, activist and lawyer who for decades has led efforts to include and support refugees and migrants in her native Brazil, received the 2024 UNHCR Nansen Refugee Award at a ceremony in Geneva on Monday night. Sister Rosita, 79, played a pivotal role in the adoption of Brazil’s 1997 Refugee Law, extending its protections to more people seeking safety in the country by expanding the definition of who is a refugee. She is a key national authority and advisor on refugee issues who, for the past 25 years, has led the Migration and Human…

Oct

15

2024

By LEYLAND CECCO and ANNIE SAKKAB

How a Canadian community helped to heal the wounds of war

WORLD

HUSAM and Noura Eshadi grew up as neighbours and fell in love as teenagers in Aleppo, Syria. Married, with a baby daughter and a bright future ahead of them, they never imagined that they would one day be on the run as refugees. But soon after little Bayan’s first birthday, fighting spilled onto the streets and their neighbourhood became a war zone. Rocket attacks and explosions became a part of everyday life. “Every time my phone rang, I worried something had happened to my daughter,” recalls Husam. Today, one local community in Canada is coming together to offer this family…

Oct

15

2024

By AMANDA BECKER

The Supreme Court just signaled how next president could impact abortion access — no legislation needed

WORLD

THE Supreme Court’s rejection this week of the Biden administration’s appeal to weigh in on a dispute over emergency abortion care in Texas foreshadows how the next president could protect or restrict abortion access without signing — or vetoing — federal legislation. The court’s decision came Monday as early voting was already underway in some states in the first presidential election since the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, ending federal abortion protections and sending the issue back to the states. Texas is one of 13 states that currently have total abortion bans in place and another four states cap the procedure…

Oct

15

2024

By UNHCR STAFF

New Global Alliance launched for joint action to end statelessness

WORLD

A new Global Alliance to End Statelessness was launched in Geneva on Monday with UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi urging States, UN agencies, civil society, stateless-led organizations, academia, the private sector and others to, “Join the alliance, join this historic effort.” The Global Alliance was launched on the first day of the annual Executive Committee meeting of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, in Geneva. It will build on the successes of the decade-long #IBelong campaign, which has made important progress towards ending statelessness since 2014, including more than half a million people worldwide acquiring citizenship. While the #IBelong campaign was a UNHCR-led effort…

Oct

13

2024

By ERRIN HAINES

Trump dodged a bullet and looked inevitable. That was then

WORLD

TWELVE weeks to the day that Donald Trump turned his head at exactly the right moment during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, dodging a bullet from a would-be assassin’s bullet, he returned to those same fairgrounds on Saturday. The former president was looking to galvanize his voters as he did when he stood to his feet moments after the attempt on his life, raised his fist and told them: “Fight! Fight! Fight!” It was a moment that cemented his folk hero status to supporters in the crowd and around the country, just days before he would accept the Republican nomination…

Oct

12

2024

By The African Mirror

Middle East crisis: UN human rights office condemns spiralling violence

WORLD

AMID reports of intensifying Israeli bombing in Lebanon and Gaza overnight and continuing Hezbollah rocket fire into Israel, the UN human rights office, OHCHR, called on Friday for an end to the “killing, destruction [and] bellicose posturing” by those in power. “The situation for civilians on the ground in Lebanon, Gaza, Israel and Syria is getting worse by the day,” said Ravina Shamdasani, OHCHR spokesperson. Speaking in Geneva, she described how the densely populated capital of Beirut “is increasingly being hit by Israeli airstrikes”. Hundreds have been killed and more than one million people have now fled their homes throughout…