Author: Amnewsworld

Australians around the country have banded together to send gifts and cards to a Tamil asylum seeker family, whose youngest daughter has never spent Christmas outside of immigration detention. A flood of cards and gifts have been sent to remote Christmas Island, as Australians band together to brighten Christmas Day for an asylum-seeker family who are spending their third holiday period in detention. Priya Murugappan, her husband Nades, and their two Australian-born daughters – Kopika, five, and Tharunicaa, three – are the only family detained on the Island, located about 150 kilometres off Indonesia’s coast. They live in a separate…

A new analysis finds denials for H-1B petitions have remained at high levels compared to previous years. However, the denial rate for new H-1B petitions dropped in the third quarter of FY 2020 due to the way U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) decides on petitions selected for the annual H-1B lottery. “The denial rate for new H-1B petitions for initial employment rose from 6% in FY 2015 to 21% through the third quarter of FY 2020,” according to a new analysis from the National Foundation for American Policy. “This is in line with the 21% denial rate for H-1B petitions for…

Good information, but likely to change under a Biden administration. The president’s “Report to Congress on Proposed Refugee Admissions for Fiscal Year 2021”, released this October, provides us with a snapshot of the Trump administration’s refugee and asylum policy in FY 2020 and its projections for FY 2021 (those will likely be short-lived with the new Biden administration). I highlight a number of important points below, followed by more detail and longer excerpts on key matters. All quotes are from the report’s text; emphases are mine. In FY 2020, the United States admitted over 11,000 refugees for resettlement (under a…

White settler returnees to Portugal in 1975, and the history of decolonization, can help us understand the complicated category of refugee. he year is 1975, and the footage comes from the Portuguese Red Cross. The ambivalence is there from the start. Who, or maybe what, are these people? The clip title calls them “returnees from Angola.” At Lisbon airport, they descend the gangway of a US-operated civil airplane called “Freedom.” Clothes, sunglasses, hairstyles, and sideburns: no doubt, these are the 1970s. The plane carries the inscription “holiday liner,” but these people are not on vacation. A man clings tight to his transistor…

Coast guard units rescue migrants abandoned by Greek authorities in Turkish territorial waters The Turkish Coast Guard rescued at least 112 asylum seekers who were pushed into Turkish territorial waters off the Aegean coast by Greek coastal authorities, security sources said Wednesday. The Turkish Coast Guard said in a statement that a team was dispatched to an area off Cesme in western Izmir province after learning of a group of asylum seekers stranded on a dinghy. A total of 26 asylum seekers were taken to the shore, according to the statement. Separately, another Turkish Coast Guard team was dispatched off the coast of Ayvacik in northwestern Canakkale province and rescued at…

Special Representatives welcome the agreement reached between the UN and Government of Ethiopia to facilitate access to humanitarian organizations to help civilians affected by the ongoing situation. The Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Virginia Gamba and the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children, Dr. Najat Maalla Mjid express their deep concern for the safety and protection of children affected by the unfolding situation in the Tigray region of Ethiopia and urge all parties to do everything possible to better protect children and all civilians, uphold human rights and ensure humanitarian access…

International support is critical as the country continues on the path to democratic transition, amid challenges that include the COVID-19 pandemic, UN political affairs chief told the UNSC.

Almost 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in 10 people unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced. Nearly 70 poor countries will only be able to vaccinate one in ten people against COVID-19 next year unless urgent action is taken by governments and the pharmaceutical industry to make sure enough doses are produced, a group of campaigning organizations warned today, as the UK begins to rollout vaccinations. By contrast, wealthier nations have bought up enough doses to vaccinate their entire populations nearly three times over…

“The CERF is first and fastest, and it looks after the forgotten. As the world faces the greatest humanitarian challenges, we have never needed it more,” said UN Emergency Relief Coordinator. At today’s high-level pledging event for the Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF), over 50 donors announced pledges totalling more than US$370 million for 2021 – higher than those made at the pledging event a year ago for 2020. With top-ups for 2020 also announced today, overall funding for this year has reached $620 million. “This year was like no other, with the COVID-19 pandemic adding a layer of suffering…

The Ghana Police Service has confirmed that five people have died from 61 electoral and post electoral incidents nationwide. In a statement, the Police stated that Twenty-one of the incidents are true cases of electoral violence, six of which involve gunshots resulting in the death of five. The cases according to the Police happened in the Awutu Senya East constituency, Odododiodio constituency, Ablekuma Central and other constituencies across the country. Below is the full statement SECURITY OUTLOOK FOR THE 2020 GENERAL ELECTIONS. 1.The National Election Security Taskforce (NESTF) has policed the 2020 Presidential and Parliamentary elections professionally and lauds the…