There is so much happening and so little time to comment, so to be sure you aren’t missing refugee and immigrant news from around the world, here are a few nuggets:
Italy declared emergency over illegal immigrants arriving in boats and a few days later 800 more came ashore from Africa.
Some 800 immigrants arrived in Southern Italy on Thursday (31 July), just a few days after the country declared a national state of emergency over what it describes as the “exceptional and persistent influx” of irregular immigrants.
Rohingya Muslim refugees go to New Zealand. To see why this could be a problem for New Zealand, see our category Rohingya Reports here.
New Zealand has already welcomed the Rohingya Refugees from Bangladesh. The first batch of 23 Refugee were resettled on 28th June 2008 that included the members of the Rohingya Youth Development Forum (RYDF), Arakan-Burma.
Japan may soon take refugees. Heretofore Japan has avoided taking refugees but now is working with the UN to start opening its doors.
Critics say Japan is a generous supporter of refugee programs overseas but shuts the door when people seek asylum in its own shores.
North Korean refugee coming to US from Russia.
He is the first North Korean defector to find asylum in the U.S. from Russia, which has refused to recognize North Korean defectors as refugees and approve their seeking of asylum to the U.S. for fear of harming diplomatic ties with the North.
South Africa, the rainbow nation, has a large and growing group of impoverished people—white people! Will South African whites be considered for refugee resettlement some day?
It is not politically correct to talk about white, poor people,” said Dirk Hermann, a senior Solidarity official. “They are the nation’s forgotten people. Zuma’s been surprised by the level of poverty among the white population which is not talked about. They have been poorly served by the government.