National healthcare systems rarely prioritize sexual and reproductive health (SRH). This is a challenge for women and girls worldwide, including in Mali. For women and girls who have been forcibly displaced by conflict and instability, the challenges are particularly pressing.

Refugees International outlines critical advice for the incoming Biden administration on how to improve the lives of displaced women and girls while re-establishing desperately needed U.S. leadership and credibility on this critical issue.

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased the risk that displaced women and girls have of experiencing gender-based violence. Devon Cone examines why and describes what must be done to protect vulnerable women amid the pandemic.

As the global COVID-19 pandemic spreads, forcibly displaced women and girls are among the hardest hit. 

In Greece, asylum seekers live in overcrowded centers with minimal access to basic shelter, hygiene facilities, or running water, and extremely limited access to health care. To address these conditions, the Greek Parliament passed a law in November 2019. However, while this law and its amendments have intended to help decongest the islands, several provisions remove or undermine essential protections for asylum seekers.

The world’s more than 70 million forcibly displaced people—including refugees, asylum seekers, IDPs, and other forced migrants—are among the most vulnerable to the novel coronavirus.

In Greece, asylum seekers are languishing in inhumane conditions, women and girls face daily threats of sexual and gender-based violence, and the number of unaccompanied minors has reached emergency levels. It’s time for that to change.

Even though South Sudan’s civil war ended a year ago, women and girls in South Sudan continue to experience some of the highest levels of gender-based violence around the world. With nearly 4 million South Sudanese displaced, women and girls who are on the move are particularly vulnerable to these attacks, as well as other risks to their safety, including intimate partner violence and underage pregnancy.

Cyclones Idai and Kenneth devastated Mozambique and Zimbabwe in March and April 2019. The cyclones demonstrate an ugly truth: climate change will affect Africa more severely than any other continent. That the two cyclones occurred at that time of year, with this severity, and in these locations was remarkable. As humanitarians continue to respond to the needs of storm survivors, including a looming food crisis affecting up to a third of the population in Zimbabwe, the region must also prepare for similar storms in the future.

As more than 4 million Venezuelans flee their country, the risk of trafficking and sexual exploitation of Venezuelan women and girls is becoming more acute and demands urgent attention. Moreover, the number of reported female Venezuelan victims of trafficking is on the rise. In this report, Devon Cone and Melanie Teff examine the crisis of trafficking of Venezuelan women in the contexts of Colombia, Ecuador, Trinidad and Tobago, and Curaçao and recommend a path forward for confronting trafficking and enhancing regional cooperation on this critical issue.

This week, we are celebrating International Women’s Day. We have seen that women and girls demonstrate perseverance and a sense of optimism that not only helps them survive, but also uplifts their families and communities. We highlight the hopes displaced women—especially young women—have shared with us as they aspire for brighter futures.

This week’s 2020 Afghanistan Donor Conference in Geneva is taking place amid a backdrop of surging hostilities and devastating waves of COVID-19 infections. Displacement, violence, and insecurity are spiking throughout the country. Donors must step up to fulfill the country’s humanitarian needs and save prospects for peace.

There are more than 40,000 people living between five islands in Greece waiting for the government to review their requests for asylum. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has ground all processing to a halt. These photos offer a glimpse of daily life for those seeking asylum.

This International Women’s Day, Refugees International is celebrating the strength and leadership of women on the frontlines of displaced communities. Despite the heightened challenges they face on the move, displaced women around the globe are rising up to work toward a better future.

Sprawling camps with donated tents, limited food, minimal medical care, and rampant crime — not the picture of a place that anyone would want to be. Yet these are the conditions that greet asylum seekers and refugees arriving at the southern borders of the United States and the European Union. Devon Cone and Yael Schacher write in The Hill that if there is a crisis, it is not in asylum seekers arriving. It is in how we are treating these men, women, and children.

The conflict in South Sudan has displaced more than 4 million people, a third of the country’s pre-war population, since it started in December 2013. Despite the signing of a peace agreement in September 2018, its lack of implementation has left those displaced wary of returning.  

In March 2019, Cyclone Idai hit the east coast of Africa. It was an unprecedented storm that devastated parts of southern Africa. Photos from Refugees International Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone show the region recovering.

When Cyclone Idai roared across Mozambique in March, the storm’s severity surprised everyone. Amid the destruction, Senior Advocate Devon Cone met one woman who lost everything—but was given a new home.

As sexual assault awareness month draws to a close, we sat down with Refugees International Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone to discuss the issue of sexual assault and how it affects the displaced communities we work with.

Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone participated in a panel event hosted by the Schar School of Policy and Government on displaced women and migration.

At the 2020 Physicians for Human Rights National Student Conference, Refugees International Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone presented on “COVID-19 and Global Refugee Populations.”

The Women’s Foreign Policy Group hosted an event entitled, “Protecting Displaced Women and Girls Amidst a Pandemic,” featuring Refugees International Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone as moderator.

SAIS Global Women in Leadership (GWL) hosted Refugees International Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone, Refugees International Senior Advocate and Program Manager Kayly Ober, and Founder and Executive Director of Climate Refugees Amali Tower for a conversation on migration and the impact of climate change.

Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone participated in an event hosted by the Middle East Institute on gender and displacement in the Middle East amid the COVID-19 crisis.

As Venezuela’s political and economic crisis deepens, the risks facing Venezuelans who are fleeing the country are getting significantly worse as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This event hosted by Devex and Facebook discusses the impact of COVID-19 on displaced women and girls, exploring how data can help ensure responses to the pandemic take into account their specific problems and needs.

With the added threat of the coronavirus pandemic, ongoing global humanitarian situations are becoming increasingly unstable, and aid organizations are having to adapt. Devon Cone discusses findings from her recent trip to refugee camps in Greece, which are bracing for an outbreak.

Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone speaks on a panel at American University’s Annual Latino Public Affairs Forum 2020 on the treatment of immigrant children.

It is no secret that climate change is among the most urgent challenges that every living being faces today. Developing countries are particularly vulnerable to the ramifications of environmental pressures — issues of food security and forced migration have become even more pertinent in the face of changing ecosystems.

Kenya ordered the closure of the Dadaab and Kakuma camps. It also gave UNHCR two weeks to figure out how to responsibly shut down two of the world’s largest refugee camps. The Kenyan government has threatened to forcibly return refugees to unsafe countries if UNHCR fails to meet its demands. These orders are reckless and cruel.

President Biden’s presidential campaign committed to a wide range of actions that if taken, would help protect, empower, and assist marginalized women and girls around the globe. As we celebrate International Women’s Day this Monday, the Biden administration has an opportunity to make good on some of these commitments.

Refugees International applauds the introduction of the bipartisan Safe from the Start Act into the U.S. Congress today, which shows that women and girls’ protection in humanitarian emergencies is non-negotiable.

Refugees International criticizes Acting USAID Administrator John Barsa’s October 30th letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres, which demonstrates a continued hostility toward access to sexual and reproductive health services.

Acting USAID Administrator John Barsa’s letter to UN Secretary General António Guterres demanding that the UN remove references to “sexual and reproductive health services” from the Global Humanitarian Response Plan (GHRP) is reckless and irresponsible, and, if implemented, would put at greater risk the health and well-being of millions of people who are already experiencing enormous challenges.

The Greek government must immediately halt its use of violence to prevent asylum seekers from entering its country. The government must also immediately reverse its illegal decision to halt all asylum applications for those seeking safety at its border.

Statement from Refugees International Senior Advocate for Women and Girls Devon Cone on the announcement that European Asylum Support Office is doubling its staff in order to speed up processing of asylum claims on the Greek islands.

Of the more than 5,000 unaccompanied minors who have recently arrived in Greece, more than 1,600 of these children are stuck in miserable conditions on the islands and the majority of them are living in tents outside of formal shelters. The conditions in which they are living are deplorable and put them at risk of exploitation, illness, and violence.