Italy

This week, world leaders will gather in Geneva to commemorate 60 years of the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. Yet it is an anniversary that the world’s 15.1 million refugees have little reason to celebrate. Today, states are increasingly shutting their borders and restricting the assistance they give to refugees and people seeking asylum. By Christopher Stokes, MSF Belgium General Director Read the briefing paper: The 60th anniversary of the UN Refugee Convention: refugee crises in 2011 and challenges for the future   Refugees from the recent conflict in Libya are assessed by MSF staff in Lampedusa, Italy. Photo: Mattia Insolera We can expect ministers and heads of state to...

Emmanuel and Jacob. Photo: Eric Bouvet/ VII Network  Some 3,000 sub-Saharan Africans are stranded in camps at the Tunisian border with Libya. Most had fled violence or repression in their own countries in search of work in Libya. Due to the war, they had to flee. But due to the situations in their native countries, they cannot be repatriated, and are therefore stuck where they are, their futures uncertain. Many had been detained while they were in Libya. Others have lost relatives—parents, husbands, wives, or children. Some were physically injured. Some have endured severe psychological trauma. And now tensions are building in Shousha, the unsurprising result...

MSF criticises inconsistent European policies claiming to protect civilians by engaging in a war while closing its borders to them Paris – An open letter by MSF addressed to the leaders of the states of the European Union involved in the war in Libya is being published today in 11 newspapers across Europe*. In the letter, the organisation criticises contradictory European policies, which claim to be conducting a war to protect civilians, whilst closing its borders to the victims of that same war, on the pretext of preventing a massive influx of illegal immigrants. “The European states involved in the war in Libya are shirking their obligations, both legal and moral, and are neglecting the victims of the war to...

More than 27,000 migrants, refugees, and asylum seekers have arrived on the Italian island of Lampedusa since fighting began in Tunisia and Libya earlier this year. When they arrive, often after fleeing for their lives, they face appalling conditions. Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) has called once again on the Italian government to provide humane conditions for people escaping violence and abuse.