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January 10th, 2024
2023 Highlights
The Global Refugee Forum 2023 took place from 13 to 15 December in Geneva, Switzerland, with linked events held in other locations from 11 December. Held every four years, the Forum is the world’s largest international gathering on refugees, designed to support the practical implementation of the objectives set out in the Global Compact on Refugees: Ease pressures on host countries, enhance refugee self-reliance, increase access to third-country solutions and improve conditions in countries of origin. Over 4,200 participants from 168 countries attended the Forum in 2023, including over 300 refugee delegates. A further 10,000 people followed the proceedings online.
In 2022, we exceeded 30 million refugees around the world. In 2023, conditions have not improved. Based on UNHCR data, here are the 10 largest refugee crises and situations to follow in 2024.
In the past decade, the global refugee crisis has more than doubled in scope. In 2022, the UNHCR announced that we had surpassed the 100 million mark for total displacement, meaning that over 1.2% of the global population have been forced to leave their homes. As of mid-2023, that also includes 30.51 million refugees. Over half of those refugees come from just three countries. These numbers are high — almost beyond comprehension — but each one represents a person who has been forced to leave everything behind due to circumstances beyond their control.
Lebanon
The Christmas Eve airstrike on Maghazi refugee camp in Gaza killed scores of Palestinian civilians. Israeli authorities called the bombing a “regrettable mistake” due to the use of “an incorrect munition”
Just hours before midnight on Christmas Eve, an Israeli airstrike on Maghazi refugee camp, east of Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, killed more than 70 people, including 12 women and seven children, according to figures from the nearby Al-Aqsa Hospital.
The UN estimates the strike killed at least 86, making it one of the single most deadly strikes of the entire war, devastating an overcrowded residential area and burying whole families under tons of rubble.
Palestinians desperate to leave Gaza are paying bribes to brokers of up to $10,000 (£7,850) to help them exit the territory through Egypt, according to a Guardian investigation. Very few Palestinians have been able to leave Gaza through the Rafah border crossing but those trying to get their names on the list of people permitted to exit daily say they are being asked to pay large “coordination fees” by a network of brokers and couriers with alleged links to the Egyptian intelligence services. One Palestinian man in the US said he paid $9,000 three weeks ago to get his wife and children on the list. The family have been sheltering in schools since the 7 October attacks. On the day of travel, he was told his children’s names were not listed and he would have to pay an extra $3,000. He said the brokers were “trying to trade in the blood of Gazans”.
South Africa
According to a video that has gone viral on social media, CoCT workers can be seen painting over the mural, with law enforcement officers nearby. The person who originally posted the video, social and financial commentator Moeshfieka Botha said in her post: “They can send law enforcement to protect CoCT workers who paint over a Palestinian Flag on one of the Flats.
“But they cannot send them to ORDINARILY paint the Flats to keep them CLEAN or send law enforcement to PROTECT the people. They will leave the gangster's graffiti! But they want the Palestine flag down.” Many echoed her sentiments, with several bringing up freedom of expression.
With a R716,4 million budget cut and schools at full capacity, the Western Cape Education Department is “exploring all available options” to find placement for thousands of learners yet to find placement for the 2024 academic year. As of Monday 11 December last year, a total of 120 778 or 99,43% of learners for Grade 1 and 8 had received placement for the new school year. In a statement Western Cape Minister of Education David Maynier said late applications continued to arrive. “As a department, we ask parents to work with us as we try to accommodate their children as soon as possible.” To accommodate all learners who apply for the 2024 academic year, the WCED plans to build nine new schools as well as 496 classrooms in areas of high demand.
Malawi
The Catholic University says it will not be able to release end-of-semester exam results tomorrow due to a countrywide blackout that hit Malawi today.
The university was supposed to release the results on Wednesday, January 10 but the release date has been postponed to Friday, January 12. “The postponement has been caused by intermittent power supply and internet interruptions,” the university says in its statement.
Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB) has said it will not extend the period for registration and payment for the 2024 Primary School Leaving Certificate of Education (PSLCE), Junior Certificate of Education (JCE) and Malawi School Certificate of Education (MSCE) exams. MANEB Executive Director Professor Dorothy Nampota has said this in an interview.
The examination board set the date of 31st December as the last day for the process but thousands of students across Malawi failed to register due to lack of fees.It adds that dates for administration of deferred and supplementary examinations at the university remain unchanged. unchanged.
Kenya
For two months now, Tophister, her daughter Rachael and a son have been in India to seek medical attention at the Sanar International Hospital.
On the other side of the phone, she is distracted by people with a heavy Indian accent. They are shouting at her, but she is focused on our telephone interview.
“I am sorry. They are asking me to move my luggage elsewhere. I don’t have a place to sleep for the night. My mind is full and I don’t know where to go. At the top of my mind is a place I’d get to prepare porridge for myself, my ailing daughter and my son who is by my daughter’s bedside,” narrates Tophister.
The students who took their displeasure the Migori County Director of Education Office said that they were shocked as only two students scored a mean grade of C minus, with the rest scoring Ds and Es. According to the students, they have never scored such results during their entire study years and the results are a shock. Their attempts to reach the school principal, deputy principal and even the exam master were thwarted as they were unavailable physically and over the phone.
“I brought him in last night as he had a fever. Initially we go to the nurse who takes height, weight and other vital signs, and then we were given an appointment with the doctor. A couple of weeks ago he prescribed some medicine, but it doesn’t seem to have worked, so we are here for another check-up.”
The same source indicated that negotiations are underway with Mossad and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. “We must move forward with this solution while paying close attention to international reactions that could interpret it as a forced transfer and not a voluntary migration,” he added. “This is why we work closely with legal advisors,” he said.
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