With more than 500,000 people in Europe estimated to be unrecognized as a citizen of any country, the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) underscored that children without a nationality have limited access to basic rights and services, like education or healthcare, and can face life-long discrimination.  “Life is stacked against a stateless child right from… Read More

The Secretary-General’s Personal Envoy for the naming dispute between Greece and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Matthew Nimetz, has welcomed the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia parliament’s decision to ratify an agreement on a new name for the latter country, following a dispute that has lasted some 28 years. Read More

In a statement released by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the experts expressed alarm at information indicating a worsening situation for LGBT people in Chechnya: “Abuse inflicted on victims has allegedly become more cruel and violent compared with reports from 2017. It is no longer only gay men in Chechnya who are being targeted but… Read More

 “More than 3,300 civilians have been killed, and up to 9,000 injured since the conflict began in 2014,” Ursula Mueller, Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, told Council Members, adding that 1.5 million have been internally displaced. In 2019, she said, 3.5 million people will need humanitarian assistance and protection services, “many of whom are elderly, women and children”. The impact… Read More

Six people died every day last year trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea to Europe – “the world’s deadliest sea crossing” – the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Wednesday, citing ongoing political deadlock over sea rescue and disembarkation. Read More

In 2018, measles killed 72 children and adults in the European Region, which consists of 53 countries, including Azerbaijan, Israel, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. Close to 82,600 people in 47 of those 53 countries contracted the virus, representing the highest number of annual cases in the past decade: three times the total reported in 2017, and 15… Read More