Today marks two years since war began in Sudan, plunging the country into one of the world’s most devastating and overlooked humanitarian crises. What began on April 15, 2023, as clashes between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) has spiraled into an unabating war that has created the largest […]
Category: Headquarters
2025 Country Conditions: Ecuador
Ecuador, wedged between Colombia and Peru, was once known as an island of peace in the Andes. In 2020, its homicide rate was 6.7 per 100,000 inhabitants, one of the lowest in the region. Today, drug trafficking and associated gang violence have fractured this peace. In January 2024, cartel members, armed with explosives, took television […]
From Libya to Syria: Navigating Displacement Crises Post-Regime
Background The First Libyan Civil War and the Syrian Civil War were part of the broader Arab Spring uprisings that began in Tunisia in late 2010 and spread across the Middle East and North Africa. Both civil wars began in 2011 and emerged from a wave of protests demanding economic and social dignity, democracy, and […]
Situation Update: Sudan April 2025
The situation in Sudan continues to deteriorate as the country approaches two years in a civil war that has caused humanitarian catastrophe. War between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) erupted on April 15, 2023. Both sides have committed atrocities. In January 2025, the U.S. Department of State determined that […]
When Accounting for War Crimes, Include Refugee Voices
Lessons from Colombia to Reckon with the Syrian Civil War What Came Before In March of 2011, the Syrian Civil War began. Bashar al-Assad’s government responded to anti-regime protests with a campaign of cruelty, razing the city of Deraa and torturing dissidents. Defectors from Assad’s forces mounted the Free Syrian Army (FSA) while jihadist […]
Timeline: Cameroon & the “Anglophone Crisis”
Cameroon is an independent country of approximately 28.3 million people located on the west coast of Africa. Cameroon borders the Gulf of Guinea, Nigeria, Chad, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Gabon, and Equatorial Guinea. Since 2016, people in Cameroon have suffered through violent clashes between governmental security forces and separatist armed […]
Over 530,000 Cubans, Haitians, Nicaraguans, and Venezuelans are Stripped of Protection
On March 25, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) categorically revoked humanitarian parole protections for individuals covered under the Cuban, Haitian, Nicaraguan, and Venezuelan parole program (CHNV parole). This announcement leaves over 530,000 CHNV humanitarian parolees without status in the United States and at risk of deportation, starting April 24. “Humanitarian parole” allows individuals outside […]
Shifts in Gender-Related Refugee Protection Eligibility Guidelines
Refugee and asylum eligibility is largely determined using the “refugee” definition from the 1951 Refugee Convention and 1967 Protocol (“Refugee Convention”), which defines a refugee as a person who, “owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country […]
A Haunting Reality: My Visit to Kakuma Refugee Camp
I once believed that my work in Osire refugee camp in Namibia had prepared me for anything. But nothing could have readied me for the dark reality I encountered during my visit to Kakuma earlier this year. What I witnessed was not just hardship; it was a haunting reminder of the world’s failure to protect […]
Fairness for Women in Gender-Related Refugee Cases
Of the over 120 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, 43.4 million people are refugees and 6.9 million people are asylum seekers. Women make up around half of each population, yet they face refugee and asylum processes that are not operating with a gender-neutral approach. Refugee and asylum eligibility is largely determined using the “refugee” definition […]
