Human Rights

by Dario Sarmadi (trans. by Samuel Morgan) | ( EurActiv.de) | – – After the attacks carried out on women in Cologne on New Year’s Eve, the German government wants to act quickly and tighten the asylum law. Meanwhile, verbal and physical violence against migrants has escalated. EurActiv Germany reports. The events that unfolded in […]

Displaced and Refugees

Once Auctioned, What to Do with Syrian Refugees?

contributors

By Baher Kamal | (Inter Press Service) | – – MADRID, Jan 12 2016 (IPS) – Few months ago, an unprecedented “humanitarian auction” was opened in Brussels at the European Commission, shortly after watching the image of the three-year old Syrian child that the sea threw up on the Turkish shores. The “auction” was about […]

Displaced and Refugees

Beset by Loneliness and Memories, Syrian Refugees Struggle even in Safe Spaces

contributors

By Silvia Boarini | (Inter Press Service) | – – ZARQa, Jordan (IPS) – Emelline Mahmoud Ilyas is an outgoing 35-year-old mother of three from Syria. Sitting in a community centre in Zarqa, Jordan, where she just held a meeting with Jordanian and Syrian parents on the subject of childcare, she remembers the ‘journey of […]

Displaced and Refugees

Yemen: Coalition Drops Cluster Bombs in Capital: Indiscriminate Weapon Used in Residential Areas

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Saudi Arabia-led coalition forces airdropped cluster bombs on residential neighborhoods in Yemen’s capital, Sanaa, early on January 6, 2016. It is not yet clear whether the attacks caused civilian casualties, but the inherently indiscriminate nature of cluster munitions makes such attacks serious violations of the laws of […]

Featured

Syrian Army lets food Aid into Starving Madaya

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – France24 Arabic reports that the Syrian government agreed Thursday to allow humanitarian aid into Madaya and two other besieged towns near the Lebanese border northwest of Damascus. The step was praised by the United Nations. The siege of Madaya, pop 40,000, has been going on for […]

Human Rights

Saudi Arabia: Prominent Shia Cleric dead in largest mass execution since 1980

contributors

Human Rights Watch | – – (Beirut) – Saudi authorities carried out the largest mass execution in the country since 1980, putting 47 men to death on January 2, 2016. According to the Saudi state news agency, all of the men were convicted on terrorism charges, and most were members of Al Qaeda. The mass […]

Christianity

Would Syrian Refugee Baby Jesus be allowed to immigrate to the US?

Juan Cole

By Juan Cole | (Informed Comment) | – – In this political season in which Syrian refugees have become a political football, it is worthwhile remembering that baby Jesus is depicted by the Bible as being a Syrian political refugee not once but twice. In ancient times, “Syria” referred not to the area of the […]

Displaced and Refugees

Syrian Refugees from Civil War spiraling down into Extreme Poverty

contributors

By Thalif Deen | (Inter Press Service) | – – UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 2015 (IPS) – When German Chancellor Angela Merkel defended her immigration policies early this week — and announced plans to absorb about one million refugees, mostly from Syria — she was apparently greeted with a nine-minute standing ovation by members of […]

Human Rights

If the Dead could Speak: The Real People Syrian Regime Tortured to Death

Juan Cole

By Human Rights Watch | – – "If the Dead Could Speak" reveals some of the human stories behind the more than 28,000 photos of deaths in government custody that were smuggled out of Syria and first came to public attention in January 2014. “Just about every detainee in these photographs was someone’s beloved child, […]