sign up
16 Days: A Dangerous Climate for Women
Fri, 12/02/2011 - 15:21This week, events are taking place across the globe to mark the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, a campaign to end violence against women, which, according to the UN, 70 percent of women will experience in their lifetime.
Pakistan: New Floods Mean Higher Stakes
Wed, 09/21/2011 - 12:54
It’s flooding again in Pakistan. While not as severe as last year’s unprecedented deluge – which affected 20 million people – this year’s floods are nonetheless severe, and likely to grow worse. Since the onset of the monsoons in August, 5.4 million people have been affected and more than 800,000 displaced to shelters and informal camps.
RI's Web Roundup
Tue, 08/02/2011 - 15:25
In Washington and much of the U.S., all eyes have been on the debate over the debt limit. While our elected officials squabbled away, here are some stories you may have missed:
Pakistan: One year after the floods
Tue, 07/26/2011 - 00:00This post originally appeared on The Hill's Congress blog.
RI's Web Roundup
Tue, 07/12/2011 - 15:17The Horn of Africa – Somalia, Kenya, Ethiopia, Djibouti and Uganda – is experiencing the worst drought in 60 years, leaving millions of people to face starvation and overflowing refugee camps.
World Refugee Day: Spotlight on needs
Mon, 06/20/2011 - 16:06
Today is World Refugee Day -- a day for people to spend a little more time recognizing and honoring the world’s most vulnerable people. At a time when only a few of the world’s refugees and displaced people make the news headlines, I welcome any day that reminds people to stop and pay attention to all 43.7 million people who are struggling to rebuild their lives and communities.
U.S. must deal with humanitarian crisis in Pakistan
Thu, 01/13/2011 - 12:01
Note: This blog post originally appeared on The Hill's Congress Blog.
As Friday’s memorial service for Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke approaches and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari travels to Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should put critical humanitarian and human rights issues front and center in her discussions with President Zardari.
As Friday’s memorial service for Ambassador Richard C. Holbrooke approaches and Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari travels to Washington, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton should put critical humanitarian and human rights issues front and center in her discussions with President Zardari.
Pakistan, Meet Climate Displacement
Wed, 11/17/2010 - 17:53
When my father was dying in July 2009 and decided to set up the Bacon Center for the Study of Climate Displacement at Refugees International (RI), my sister, Katie, and I sat down with him to talk about what he wanted the center to be and do. The first thing he said was, "I have always tried to be fair in all that I do."
This is the philosophy of Refugees International, too. Whether uprooted by war, ethnic cleansing, political persecution, or natural resource scarcity, RI fights to help get the displaced and vulnerable home or to a safer place.
Azakhel Afghans Wait to Rebuild their Lives
Mon, 11/15/2010 - 10:38
Nasmeen is old, but she doesn’t know how old exactly. She fled the Russian invasion in Afghanistan and came to Pakistan with her family over 20 years ago. Along with thousands of Afghans, she settled in the Azakhel refugee village in the Nowshera District of Pakistan. Azakhel eventually became home to 23,000 Afghans fleeing violence in their home country. But that was before the epic floods that began with the July monsoon and destroyed their village.
Devastation Times Three: Man-Made and Natural Disasters Compound in Pakistan
Wed, 10/06/2010 - 15:44
“This is where the Taliban used to hang bodies,” the local officer from the U.N Refugee Agency, UNHCR, told us as we drove past a store front. “They would attach a note to the bodies alerting family members not to move them before noon so the entire community would see them.” We were not in an isolated, rural part of northwest Pakistan. We were on a busy street in a bustling town in the Swat district; whose lush green mountains and hotel-lined rivers tucked away in a deep valley attracted both Pakistani and international tourists until a few years ago.
Refugees International (RI) advocates for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and promotes solutions to displacement crises.
We are an independent organization, and do not accept any government or UN funding.
We are an independent organization, and do not accept any government or UN funding.