In The News

Desperate Millions Flee Poverty, Persecution and Inequality

Joergen Oerstroem Moeller June 11, 2015
The world confronts an immigration challenge as vast numbers flee conflict and religious persecution in the Middle East and South Asia along with stark poverty in Africa and South America. The world has 50 million forcibly displaced people, and millions more leave their homelands in search of opportunity. Widening inequality and demographics, with low fertility rates in wealthy nations and high...

What It’s Like to Be a Somali Refugee in Kenya

Samira Shackle May 29, 2015
Extremist groups in Africa like Al Shabab terrorize entire communities who refuse to cooperate with their rigid rules. Journalist Samira Shackle profiles a man who had a close encounter with the group working at a television station in Mogadishu. Al Shabab extremists “confiscated equipment and gave staff a stark choice: join us, or die.” He eventually fled to Kenya where he works as a journalist...

Displaced Again and Again, Some African Migrants Had No Plan to Land in Italy

Jim Yardley May 5, 2015
Despite the Mediterranean journey’s many dangers and a hostile welcome on arrival, Italy remains a destination of hope for refugees. Warm weather and expanding conflict in North Africa is increasing the numbers attempting the crossing of the Mediterranean to land on Italian shores. Laborers who worked in Libya and had no plans of heading to Europe suggest their only option is fleeing expanding...

An Unending Refugee Tragedy: Europe's Path to Deadly Partition

Matthias Gebauer, Horand Knaup, Peter Müller, Maximilian Popp, Jörg Schindler and Christoph Schult April 28, 2015
European leaders were ashamed after the 2013 sinking of a rickety boat with more than 500 refugees near the Italian island of Lampedusa. The EU promised measures to avoid such tragedies, but thousands still use life savings to attempt the treacherous crossing, fleeing poverty and conflict in Africa, Syria and beyond. Many refugees do not survive. The article in Spiegel Online reviews the array of...

Netanyahu’s Win Is Good for Palestine

Yousef Munayyer March 19, 2015
Benjamin Netanyahu handily won re-election in Israel, in part perhaps to a last-minute declaration that he would not support a Palestinian state. “Netanyahu’s victory is actually the best plausible outcome for those seeking to end Israel’s occupation,” writes Yousef Munayyer in an opinion essay for the New York Times, adding that “political dynamics in Israel and internationally mean that another...

Shadow Aid to Syrian Refugees

Elizabeth Dickinson January 5, 2015
The challenges of delivering aid to war zones and makeshift refugee camps are immense. Elizabeth Dickinson describes an unofficial shadow aid system for Syrian refugees in Jordan for the Middle East Research and Information Project: “Across the Middle East, the United Nations is coordinating the largest operation in its history to help nearly 3 million Syrian refugees at a cost of $4.2 billion in...

Clouds Over Charities for Refugees in Islamic Countries

Susan Froetschel December 18, 2014
The world has 50 million displaced people, and refugees have little choice but to depend on other countries and their citizens for generosity. Faith-based charities are often among the first to respond to humanitarian crises, notes the UN Refugee Agency, and Islamic faith-based charities are active in Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan and Turkey – lead host nations for refugees. Fundraising by...