Cyclone Displaces Rohingya Refugees in Bangladesh
Thousands of Rohingya refugees were evacuated and their houses damaged or leveled when Cyclone Mora hit the coastal areas of Cox’s Bazar and Chittagong in Bangladesh.
Some 450,000 Bangladeshi people living in the two districts were moved to safety before the storm hit, but authorities are unsure exactly how many of the estimated 300,000 refugees evacuated.
The storm leveled over 17,000 houses and damaged more than 35,000 homes in Cox’s Bazar, where most of the Rohingya are concentrated in official and makeshift camps, Mohammad Ali Hossain, the deputy commissioner for the district, told the New York Times.
The U.N. refugee agency is “very under-resourced” in Cox’s Bazar, warned UNHCR official John McKissick. “We have supplies to repair 3,000 homes now, and we’re working out how to distribute them without causing tensions and having a crowd start to fight over who gets the supplies.”
Hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees have sought refuge in Bangladesh over the past several years. The recent influx of some 75,000 Rohingya since October 2016 followed a military crackdown in Rakhine state by Myanmar’s security forces.
Leak Shows Germany, Greece Agreed to Delay Family Reunifications
Germany and Greece agreed to slow down the reunification process for refugee families, according to a letter leaked to the Greek press.
In a letter to his German counterpart, Greek migration minister Yiannis Mouzalas wrote, “family reunification transfer to Germany will slow down as agreed,” and acknowledged the delays would affect more than 2,000 people.
He suggested a “common line” from Greece and Germany to deal with “increasingly desperate and critical comments” caused by the delays, blaming them on the volume of asylum requests.
The Greek migration ministry did not respond to the leaked letter, which was published by Efimerida ton Syntakton newspaper.
Under E.U. law, asylum seekers are eligible to reunite with family living in other E.U. member states within six months of their application approval.
A German lawmaker said Berlin had placed a limit of 70 refugees per month for family reunification in April. According to the U.N. children’s fund, around 1,100 of the nearly 5,000 people, including 700 lone children, who made family reunification requests in Greece in 2016 had joined their families by the end of the year.
Australian Businesses Support Job Integration Program for Refugees
Several Australian businesses agreed to support a $27 million state government program that plans to train 6,000 refugees and 1,000 asylum seekers for the skilled labor market.
The Refugee Employment Support Program includes internships, grants, training and pilot mentorship programs for refugees.
The government will also offer free vocational training for refugees, deputy premier of New South Wales John Barilaro told the Sydney Morning Herald. He said the program will help “asylum seekers develop career plans to find a meaningful job, which is a vital step in helping to grow their local communities.”
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