Medecins Sans Frontieres: Cameroon Forcing Refugees Back to Nigeria
Thousands of Nigerian refugees are returning from Cameroon, with some saying they have been forced back over the border by the Cameroonian military, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said.
Refugees in Nigeria told the medical charity that they were rounded up by Cameroonian soldiers and sent back to Nigeria. Others said they left out of fear of being deported.
Cameroon denied that it was forcing people back to Nigeria. The military says it has helped around 7,000 Nigerian refugees return home in the past month under a U.N. voluntary repatriation agreement.
The continuing instability and severe food shortages in northeast Nigeria is causing large-scale ongoing displacement, MSF said.
“Large movements of populations continue almost daily, due to attacks by Boko Haram, military operations and people searching for food and basic services,” Himedan Mohamed, head of mission for MSF in Nigeria, said.
The population of Pulka, a Nigerian town near the Cameroonian border, has grown by one-third since January, with the arrival of 11,300 displaced people, MSF said.
Canada Charges Woman With Smuggling Asylum Seekers Over U.S. Border
Canadian police have charged a 43-year-old woman with human smuggling after she was arrested for driving nine asylum seekers over the border from the U.S.
Michelle Omoruyi was arrested in Saskatchewan with nine people from West Africa in her car last week. Police have not released her nationality or more details about the passengers, all of whom have applied for refugee protection in Canada.
The arrest is part of a four-month joint investigation by Canadian and U.S. authorities into human smuggling on the border. Canadian police said several people had been arrested in the U.S. as part of the probe but provided no further details.
The number of people trying to cross the border to Canada to claim asylum rose in the wake of Donald Trump’s election, and is increasing month by month as the warmer weather makes the crossing less dangerous. Canadian police stopped 887 asylum seekers trying to cross the border in March, and a total of 1,860 this year so .
Due to a Canada-U.S. agreement, asylum seekers cannot ask for refugee protection in Canada at official border crossings, prompting some to enter unofficially and claim asylum once on Canadian soil.
UNESCO Awards Peace Prize to Rescue Group, Lampedusa Mayor
UNESCO awarded its annual peace prize to the mayor of Italian island Lampedusa and the French rescue charity SOS Mediterranee.
The jury of the Felix Houphouet-Boigny Peace Prize applauded Mayor Giuseppina Nicolini for “boundless humanity and unwavering commitment to refugee crisis management and integration.”
The UNESCO panel also honored SOS Mediterranee for saving more than 11,000 lives since launching rescue operations in the Mediterranean Sea in February 2016.
In a statement, the jury “appealed to the international community to ensure that the Mediterranean Sea becomes, once again, a place where solidarity and intercultural dialogue hold sway and that it cease to serve as a watery grave.”
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