Syrian Nurse Attempts Solo Voyage From Libya
An NGO rescue ship discovered a 30-year-old Syrian man alone off the coast of Libya after he tried to make a solo voyage from Libya in a small dinghy.
The Proactiva Open Arms rescue ship brought the man, identified as Sami, to safety on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
Riccardo Gatti of Proactiva Open Arms said Sami fled Syria and worked as a nurse in Libya hoping to find a way to take a boat to Europe and join his girlfriend in Sweden.
“He rarely left the hospital. He said there was a hunt on for Syrians, since they are believed to have more money [than other migrants] or do better paid work,” Gatti said.
In desperation, he bought the 3m (10ft) rubber dinghy and spent a week trying to find a place to set sail without being stopped by Libyan militias.
More than 2,800 people have died on that stretch of ocean this year. The number of crossings declined this summer after European deals with Libyan forces controlling the coastline.
U.S. Supreme Court Allows Travel Ban Enforcement Without Exceptions
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration’s travel ban can go into effect, effectively overturning a compromise that exempted people with a “bona fide” relationship to the U.S. from the ban.
The Supreme Court introduced the exemption to an earlier version of the travel ban in June. The court established that a “bona fide” relationship to a U.S. person or institution includes a university place or job offer, as well as relatives in the U.S., but not a refugee’s relationship with a U.S. resettlement agency.
The latest version of the travel ban, introduced in September, bars most people from Chad, Iran, Libya, North Korea, Somalia, Syria, Venezuela and Yemen from traveling to the U.S.
The Supreme Court said the ban could go into force while legal challenges against it proceed in lower courts. The court did not issue the reasoning behind the decision.
Teenage Refugee Who Founded School in Lebanon Wins Peace Prize
A 16-year-old Syrian refugee who set up a school in Lebanon has won the annual International Children’s Peace Prize.
Mohamad Al Jounde persuaded his relatives and volunteers to help set up the school three years ago in the Bekaa Valley. The school now teaches more than 200 students, according to Reuters.
Despite an international push to make sure Syrians can attend school in neighboring countries to which most fled the war, including Lebanon, around half of Syrian children in the region are not in education. “It is very important to give these children an education, otherwise they could become a lost generation,” Al Jounde said.
The award, launched in 2005 by the Dutch KidsRights Foundation, was presented to Al Jounde in the Hague by Nobel Peace Prize winner and education activist Malala Yousafzai.