Migration & Refugees

TOKYO

Tug-of-War Over Nuclear Future

Pushed and pulled in opposite directions, the future of Japan’s energy plans in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant two years ago is emerging as a fight between national economic advancement and what anti-nuke activists call “the lives of the people”.

Electricity for All but Those the Kariba Dam Displaced

By Baboki Kayawe

Indigenous people who were displaced from the Zambezi Valley almost six decades ago for the construction of the Kariba Dam say they have not benefited from the development they made way for.

Climate Change Now Seen as Security Threat Worldwide

By Jim Lobe

Defence establishments around the world increasingly see climate change as posing potentially serious threats to national and international security, according to a review of high-level statements by the world’s governments released here Thursday.

U.S. Looks to Overhaul Massive Immigration Detention System

By Carey L. Biron

Rights groups and government officials here have been testifying in a string of hearings, before both bodies of the U.S. Congress, on how to overhaul the United States’ huge immigration detention system, the scope of which has expanded massively in recent years in ways that some suggest impinge on civil and human rights.

Filipino Workers Urge Overhaul of U.S. Guest Worker Policies

By George Gao and Joe Hitchon

A spate of legal battles in the southern state of Louisiana has shed new light on the unfair recruitment and employment practices of Filipino guest workers at several companies in the United States.

‘Born in War, Grown up in War, Now Time for Rehabilitation’

By Raymond Baguma

Sungu Mizele, a Congolese national living in Yambio, in South Sudan’s Western Equatoria state, earns a living selling the fruit and vegetables that she grows in her backyard, at the local town market. On average, she earns nine dollars a day. But on a good day, when she has fresh supplies, she can earn up to 31 dollars.

Foreigners Take Centre Stage in Election Race

By Kalinga Seneviratne

Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard’s comments about foreigners taking Australian jobs in a speech made last week in Rooty Hill, the working-class heartland of Sydney’s western suburbs, has brought issues of immigration, asylum and race back into election campaigning.

European Commission Bankrolls Anti-Immigrant Policies

By Apostolis Fotiadis

As fighting rages on throughout Syria, civilian families desperate to escape are fleeing west to Greece.

Officials Turn Blind Eye to Abuse of Asylum Seekers

By Apostolis Fotiadis

Faraj Alhamauun, a Syrian national now residing in Istanbul, was detained while crossing Greece, in the hopes of heading north, last September.

Young Spaniards Exiled by Unemployment

By Inés Benítez

“They wanted to hire me, and that was something that hadn’t ever happened to me before,” says Marta Seror, a 25-year-old college graduate from Spain who is now working in an outsourcing company in Poland.

At Home, and Not at Home

By Zak Brophy

The influx of hundreds of thousands of war-weary refugees from Syria to Lebanon is putting an almost unbearable strain on many of the communities that have taken them into their homes. A domestic economic crisis compounded by the arrival of such large numbers of refugees is weighing heavily on many impoverished areas.