COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh — The head of Bangladesh's refugee commission said plans to begin the repatriation of 700,000 Rohingya Muslims to Myanmar on Thursday were scrapped after officials were unable to find anyone who wanted to return. The refugees "are not willing to go back now," Refugee Commissioner Abul Kalam...
US Slashes Number of Refugees to 30,000 Next Year
WASHINGTON — The U.S. will slash the number of refugees it will accept for a second straight year, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Monday, insisting amid criticism from human rights groups that the country is still committed to providing sanctuary to people fleeing the world's danger zones. Up to...
Fresno Pastor, a Cambodian Refugee, Pardoned for 1990s Gang Killing
California Gov. Jerry Brown has pardoned three former prisoners facing the threat of deportation to Cambodia, including a Fresno man, Vanna In, who became a youth pastor after serving six years in the 1990s for murdering a rival gang member. "I feel like these things don't happen to guys like...
Is Kushner Trying to Strip 2 Million Palestinians of Refugee Status?
According to an Aug. 6 article by the Israeli newspaper Haaretz, Jared Kushner — President Donald Trump's senior adviser and son-in-law — has reportedly pressured Jordan to strip the refugee status of more than 2 million registered Palestinians living in the country. A report in Foreign Policy stated that Kushner raised the issue...
Assad Government Raises Flag Over Cradle of Syrian Revolt
BEIRUT — For the first time in more than seven years, the Syrian government raised its flag Thursday over Daraa, the first city to revolt against President Bashar Assad in 2011 and plunge the country into its calamitous civil war. The display is laden with symbolism as the government moves...
The Syrian War as Told Through the Photographer's Eyes
Seven years ago, during the Arab spring, the people of Syria peacefully protested the government of President Bashar al-Assad and asked for democratic reforms. Assad responded to the protests with violence, triggering a brutal civil war that continues today. The Washington Post published June 29 an emotionally moving photographic essay,...
I Visited the Rohingya Camps in Myanmar. This Is What I Saw.
Myanmar recently claimed to have repatriated its first Rohingya refugee family. But, as an official from the United Nations noted, the country is still not safe for the return of its estimated 700,000 Rohingya Muslim refugees, who fled to Bangladesh in 2017 to escape an ongoing state-sponsored military campaign and...
Buddhist Villagers Confirm Role in Rohingya Killings
In a remote village in Myanmar, local Buddhists and government troops killed 10 Rohingya Muslims and buried them in a shallow grave. The murders at Inn Din in September marked yet another chapter in a continuing series of atrocities carried out against the Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state. But the...
Buddhist Villagers Confirm Role in Rohingya Killings
In a remote village in Myanmar, local Buddhists and government troops killed 10 Rohingya Muslims and buried them in a shallow grave. The murders at Inn Din in September marked yet another chapter in a continuing series of atrocities carried out against the Rohingya in Myanmar's Rakhine state. But the...
I Visited the Rohingya Refugee Camps. This Is What Bangladesh Does Right
Nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees have entered Bangladesh from Myanmar since September 2017. The Bangladeshi government’s plan to start repatriating them beginning this Tuesday, Jan. 22, has been postponed due to concerns about their safety. That the Bangladesh government agreed to the delay, speaks to its benevolent attitude toward the...