News

New research released by Amnesty International on Friday (3 April 2020) details the widespread abuse and violence subjected to migrants at the Greek-Turkish border. The report – titled Caught in a Political Game – finds that at least two men have been killed and a woman remains missing since Turkish President Erdogan opened up the borders on 27 February 2020. Turkish authorities were found to have “recklessly encouraged” migrants to … Read more →

Last week UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, urged all the warring parties of the world to “lay down their weapons” in the face of the common enemy – COVID-19. On Monday 30 March, 2020, Canada and Italy became the latest in a list of 53 nations supporting the call for a global ceasefire. Mr. Gutterres stressed in his appeal that “the virus does not care about nationality or ethnicity, faction or … Read more →

Polish ruling party’s decision to go ahead with presidential elections scheduled for 10 May, has caused disagreements amongst the opposition. Although the country is in a state of “epidemiological emergency” with Covid-19 cases rising to 1,984, the nationalist Law and Justice (PiS) party insists on keeping to the schedule. Leading opposition candidate Małgorzata Kidawa-Błońska suspended her campaign on Sunday, expressing protest to the government’s decision in an open letter. She … Read more →

Russia has started employing advanced facial-recognition technologies, artificial intelligence and video surveillance in its struggle against the coronavirus pandemic. A new so-called coronavirus information centre is pulling together high-tech resources, including surveillance cameras and artificial intelligence, to monitor social media for disinformation about the spread of the disease, properly enforce quarantines, and identify empty supermarket shelves. “This system is unique in the world,” Russia’s Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin told President … Read more →

Brazil has 2,100 confirmed cases of the coronavirus, the highest in any Latin American country to date. President Jair Bolsanaro has been widely criticised and accused of risking the lives of millions of Brazillians by shirking advice from experts and downplaying the severity of the coronavirus referring to it recently as “a little cold”. In the absence of any domestic actions from their government, one of Rio de Janeiro’s most … Read more →

The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) have been forced to temporarily suspend resettlement travel for refugees as a result of the travel disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Resettlement is the transfer of refugees from a country that has granted them asylum, to another State that has agreed to admit them and ultimately grant them permanent settlement. Both organisations have lauded resettlement as a … Read more →