News
Bureaucracy threatens the dream of enterprising refugees in Bulgaria
SOFIA, Bulgaria, January 8 (UNHCR) – Located beside a busy farmers market in the Krasno Selo quarter of Sofia, the “Persia” beauty salon is a cozy and inviting place where customers can be primped, pampered and groomed with Middle Eastern hospitality....
UNHCR report shows world’s poorest countries host most refugees
Wednesday 7, January 2015 GENEVA, January 7 (UNHCR) – Wars in the Middle East, Africa and elsewhere caused 5.5 million people to become refugees or internally displaced in the first half of 2014, says a UNHCR report released today. Global displacement now stands at an...
Displaced families in Ukraine rely on the kindness of strangers
MARIUPOL, Ukraine, January 5 (UNHCR) – Vladimir, 41, casts an eye around the tiny room his family now calls home. Everything he sees – clothes, three beds, dishes, pots and pans, and a television set that entertains his young son – is a donation from fellow...
Human Stories
Bulgaria’s asylum centres bursting at the seams as more Syrian refugees enter Europe
Monday 16, September 2013 SOFIA, Bulgaria, September 17 (UNHCR) – Increasing numbers of Syrians fleeing violence in their homeland are heading for Bulgaria and ending up in overcrowded and “dire” reception centres as the country on the edge of the European...
Giving children a new chance in a new land
Friday 6, September 2013 WARSAW, Poland, 6 September (UNHCR) – As a city of 300,000 people hard on Poland’s border with Belarus, Białystok may be the last place that pre-school teacher Anna Biryło expected to come into contact with curious, vulnerable, and, at times,...
Safety for a family that fled war in Sudan only to end up in Syria
Monday 26, August 2013 TIMISOARA, Romania, 26 August (UNHCR) – After escaping war in Sudan only to get caught up in the Syrian conflict, Mohamed* exudes relief and celebration as he pushes his two children on swings in the playground of their refuge in Romania....