refugees

Oxfam is gravely concerned for the lives of around 500,000 Palestinians, alongside any of the more than 200 Israeli and other national hostages, currently trapped in a “siege within a siege” in northern Gaza.  

Today, the Development Assistance Committee of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD DAC) published its preliminary figures on the amount of development aid provided in 2021. 

Since 2017, there has been an increase in reported pushbacks ranging in the hundreds to the thousands. Despite increased international pressure and outrage, alleged pushbacks continue to persist. They are systematic, and those who speak out against them are criminalised. The latest issue of the Lesbos Bulletin by the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam looks at this practice and includes a pushback testimony.  

New research sounds the alarm on the risks facing young refugees in Europe on their eighteenth birthday. The report looks at how young refugees across Europe are falling through the gaps and into homelessness, exploitation and danger. Looking at the practices of five European countries, it finds that all of them have failed to protect and support this age group. As a result, they struggle to integrate into their new societies.

Greece’s decision to close a good-practice refugee camp must be questioned. The shutting down of Kare Tepe, which functions as an alternative living space, is disappointing especially when the alternative is the unsafe and unsanitary living conditions in Mavrovouni (Moria 2.0).  

Five years ago, today, European leaders announced the EU-Turkey deal. Every single day since then, families have been trapped in ‘hotspots’ on the Greek islands, their lives put on hold.  

The EU and Greece created these ‘hotspots’ following the EU-Turkey deal. The EU’s aim to keep asylum-seekers on the Greek islands was to speed up their return to Turkey has resulted in appalling living conditions, violent border control practices and immense delays in asylum procedures. Despite overwhelming evidence of these failed policies, the EU migration pact seeks to copy this approach. 

Since January 2015 more than 1 million women, men and children fleeing war, persecution, natural disaster and poverty entered or passed through Greece in search of safety and a better life in Europe. We are working in Lesbos island, one of the main entry points to Europe, responding to the urgent needs of people arriving. 

Thousands of South Sudanese communities are opening their own doors and offering their meagre resources to refugees fleeing the conflict in neighbouring Sudan. Oxfam is calling for donor countries to step up to avoid a disaster.

The global repercussions of the Ukraine crisis ―already being felt in fast-rising food, commodity and energy prices― could undermine official aid efforts to help people in other humanitarian hot-spots. 

Today, EU migration ministers meet to discuss the Commission’s proposal to activate the temporary protection directive for people fleeing the crisis in Ukraine. If activated, the directive would allow those fleeing from Ukraine, access to a residence permit for up to three years along with access to education and employment in any EU country.