As well as from Blue Nile State in Sudan, hundreds have been displaced from the South Sudanese border ©Amnesty International
By Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Crisis Researcher & Khairunissa Dhala, Amnesty International’s Campaigner for Sudan & South Sudan
The Sudanese government is keeping Blue Nile State closed off to human rights NGOs and aid agencies, including the UN.
The closest we could get to Blue Nile State was New Guffa, a village in South Sudan, near the Sudanese border. Air strikes by the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) around the village have displaced hundreds of residents.
On the outskirts of New Guffa, we found the small hamlet of Yafta completely deserted. Sudan People’s Liberation Army (SPLA) soldiers reportedly lived in Yafta with their families, and fighters and refugees from across the border had stopped in the village after crossing over into South Sudan.
Continue reading ‘Refugees tell of bombing in Sudan’s Blue Nile State: Part 2′
Refugees from Sudan have walked for days to find refuge in South Sudan ©Amnesty International
By Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International’s Crisis Researcher & Khairunissa Dhala, Amnesty International’s Campaigner for Sudan & South Sudan
“Because of the bombing” is what every single one of the refugees told us when we asked why they had fled their homes. In the past few days we have been meeting the refugees displaced by repeated Sudanese army airstrikes on their towns and villages in Sudan’s Blue Nile State. They are now sheltering in South Sudan’s Upper Nile State.
More than 20,000 have fled their homes since the conflict broke out between the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army – North (SPLM/A-N) on 1 September this year.
Continue reading ‘Refugees tell of bombing in Sudan’s Blue Nile State: Part 1′
"Why are we locked up for so long? We have done nothing wrong," say detainees. ©UNHCR
By Kondylia Gogou and Giorgos Kosmopoulos, researcher and campaigner in Amnesty International’s EU Team
After a three-day visit to the detention facilities of Fylakio, Ferres, Soufli and Tyhero on Greece’s border with Turkey, we left with knots in our stomachs having witnessed the appalling conditions endured by hundreds of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers, including unaccompanied children.
Cells were dirty. Toilets were overflowing. In Fylakio, both the toilets and the area where children are held were flooded. Children told us the situation had been going on for few weeks. Such conditions are degrading and if ignored could expose those detained to serious health risks.
Many of those we spoke to told of dirty blankets or a lack of them, a lack of soap and clean clothes, insufficient food and little information about how long they were going to be held. Some detainees also said they had been ill-treated. Continue reading ‘Enough is enough: End appalling migrant detention conditions in Greece’
Most Choucha residents are from from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea and the Ivory Coast © Amnesty International
By Charlotte Phillips, Amnesty International researcher on refugees’ and migrants’ rights.
Life in Choucha camp is hard. Located in the Tunisian desert, not far from the border with Libya, the scorching midday sun beats down on row upon row of tiny tents, where thousands of refugees take shelter from the heat, swirling sands and scorpions.
Men, women and children, the sick and elderly among them, cluster together in small groups among the tents, attempting to create a sense of normality and community in an unforgiving environment; eating together, running little shops, giving birth, bringing up children and even getting married. But nothing about life in this place is normal.
Continue reading ‘Time to help the ‘double’ refugees in Choucha, Tunisia’
أبو طه أصيب في ظهره بعيار ناري أثناء قيامه بإسعاف مصاب وسط البلدة © منظمة العفو الدولية
ببقلم نيل ساموندز، الباحث المختص بسوريا في منظمة العفو الدولية، من الحدود التركية السورية
لا يكاد يُعرَف شيء عن ظروف الحياة التي يعيشها الآلاف من السوريين ممن اضطروا مؤخراً للفرار إلى تركيا، واستقر بهم المقام الآن في مخيمات ببلدتي يايلاداغي وألتن أوزو جنوب شرقي البلاد.
وعلى حد علمنا، لم يُسمح لأي ناشط من نشطاء المجتمع المدني ولا أي صحفي بدخول المخيمات؛ وإدراكاً مني لذلك، ولأن تركيا باتت شبه معطلة اليوم بسبب الانتخابات الوطنية، فقد قررت التوجه إلى أحد مستشفيات مدينة هاتاي، عاصمة محافظة هاتاي، لعلي أتمكن من التسلل إلى الداخل والتحدث إلى السوريين المصابين.
Continue reading ‘
لماذا يلتزم العالم الصمت؟ – اللاجئون السوريون يتحدثون
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