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Filippo Grandi visits Syria, seeks help for 13 million displaced people
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi, says the international community must seize the political opportunity created by the collapse of the Assad regime to help rebuild Syria and ensure the 13 million people displaced during the war can return home.
Grandi spoke on Friday 20 June during a visit to the country to mark World Refugee Day.
Grandi met Syrian families re-entering the country after more than a decade as refugees in neighbouring Lebanon, who he said had “voted with their feet and decided to go back and restart their lives” following the fall of the previous government in December. The official Jdeidet Yabous border point is now “a welcoming place”, he said, but added that there were many challenges ahead for returning families.
At the border, trucks laden with people and possessions sounded their horns in celebration as they drove into Syria, and smiling children waved the country’s new three-starred flag as their parents formalized the paperwork for their return.
“It is very significant for me to spend World Refugee Day in a country where refugees can finally stop being refugees and can resume their place in their own communities, their own societies, in their own country,” Grandi said.
“It will be tough, and they will need a lot of help,” he continued. “Everything needs to be reconstructed in Syria. There is no electricity available to most people, the services are very, very fragile, and security continues to be a challenge in many places. Between … the new authorities of Syria and the international community, that’s the big challenge: bring Syria back to its feet and give a future to all these people that are making the decision to go back to their homes.”

More than 2 million Syrians have returned home since December, including nearly 600,000 refugees from neighbouring countries and just under 1.5 million who were displaced in other parts of the country.
More are expected to head home this summer following the end of the school year, but Grandi warned that without more international support to rebuild homes, schools and other vital infrastructure and services, the returns could prove short-lived.
“Then, even the people who have remained in Syria will opt to leave again, and that has to be avoided at all costs,” he said. “So on World Refugee Day, I really appeal to the international community to step up their support to this country and its people.”
Among those crossing the border on Friday was Iman, who was heading back to her home in Aleppo with her three children after 14 years living as a refugee in Lebanon. She described her plans to reestablish her once-thriving tailoring business, enrol her children in school, and rebuild her war-damaged home with the help of her husband, who has remained working in Lebanon for now.
“I am here to go to Aleppo and see how the situation is. If the situation is good … I can settle down again and live the life I used to live,” Iman said.
Asked what it was like to be back in Syria after such a long absence, she replied: “It’s an indescribable feeling of happiness. I cannot explain or describe it. Now we will go home and everything will go back to the way it was before, and even better, God willing.”
UNHCR is supporting returning Syrians with everything from transportation home and house repairs to legal aid for the replacement of lost identity and property documents. Much of its support to returnees and the local communities where they live is coordinated through a network of UNHCR-supported community centres.

But severe cuts to humanitarian aid have forced the agency to reduce its workforce and assistance programmes in Syria, with 17 out of 122 community centres nationwide already shuttered and a further 50 threatened with imminent closure.
Despite these challenges, UNHCR and its partners will continue to support the people of Syria, including those who have returned home and the millions who remain displaced within the country and across the region.
Grandi urged donors – from governments to individuals, companies and foundations – to continue to support this effort and so bring “one of the most long-standing refugee situations to a positive conclusion.”
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Global powers fuel war as civilians die under drones, barrel bombs
The question in Sudan is no longer whether the war has crossed every red line. It crossed them long ago.
The real question now is brutal and urgent: How many more crimes, how many more bodies must the world see before Sudanese blood is worth an independent international investigation?
The Chemical Bombs Dossier That Shook The World
In September 2026, the most damning case yet exploded into the open.
The Washington Post revealed it had reviewed about 150 documents, photographs, videos and audio recordings, plus thousands of messages, detailing alleged chemical weapons use by the Sudanese army.
The newspaper did not act alone. It enlisted more than 20 former intelligence officials and experts in chemical weapons and human rights to assess the material.
According to PMNewsnigeria.com, what they found was chilling: a programme to assemble chlorine-filled bombs, tests conducted in remote desert areas, a stockpile that reportedly reached 290 chemical munitions, messages referring to hundreds of bombs stored at Merowe Air Base and 106 of them already used.
Experts who examined the cache said the indications were strongly consistent with a chemical weapons programme, while stressing that definitive proof requires independent investigators to gain access to sites and witnesses.
That is precisely where international action should have started, not where the debate ended.
Sudan has been a party to the Chemical Weapons Convention since 1999. Developing, stockpiling or using such weapons is not a footnote in a civil war. It is a violation of one of the clearest prohibitions in international law.
If the allegations are false, an investigation will expose that. If they are true, the Sudanese people and the world have the right to know who ordered, who manufactured, who stockpiled and who dropped these bombs.
Why has evidence of this scale not immediately triggered an independent international investigation under the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and other relevant institutions?
Why the silence?
El Fasher Is Not Beyond Justice
But chemical weapons are not the only horror demanding answers reports PMNewsnigeria.com.
El Fasher and Darfur have become the graveyard of civilian protection.
The region is under sustained, indiscriminate aerial bombardment involving advanced Turkish drones and barrel bombs dropped by Sudanese army transport aircraft on civilians without distinction.
These crimes cannot be mitigated or justified under any circumstances or by any party to the conflict.
The Sudanese Armed Forces themselves have used aircraft, aerial bombardment and drones in civilian areas, while human rights organisations have documented the bombing of residential and commercial areas in Darfur with unguided aerial bombs.
Sudan has witnessed a massive escalation in drone warfare. According to the United Nations, more than 1,000 civilians were killed by drone strikes between January and May 2026 alone, making such strikes one of the largest sources of civilian deaths in the war.
In Darfur, Antonov aircraft have been used in aerial bombardment operations, while UN and human rights documents reveal widespread use of weapons and barrel bombs in populated areas.
Drones have fundamentally altered the nature of the war. Research reports indicate that the Sudanese army possesses Iranian and Turkish systems, including the Iranian Mohajer-6 and Ababil, as well as Turkish Bayraktar systems, in addition to Turkish-Pakistani types, allowing air operations to extend over greater distances.
The problem is not the nationality of the weapon alone, but how it is used and who bears the cost of its continued flow.
A bomb is still a war crime when it falls on a market, whether it was built in Ankara or Tehran.
Who Is Arming This War?
Here, international silence becomes even more perplexing, even criminal.
The Sudanese war is no longer a purely Sudanese war. It has become an arena where regional and international networks of support and arms supplies intersect, fueling the slaughter.
International reports indicate that the army has received military and technical support from countries including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Türkiye and Iran.
This is not a call to hold one side accountable while exempting the other. Quite the opposite.
If foreign weapons reaching parties to the conflict and being used against civilians warrant investigation and accountability, then the weapons reaching the army must be subject to the same standard, added PMNewsnigeria.com.
There is no morally acceptable bomb because it was dropped by a side we favour, nor is there a legitimate drone because it came from an allied country.
When markets, hospitals and residential neighbourhoods are struck, the legal question is who targeted civilians and who provided them with the capacity to do so, not which political camp they belong to. Justice that pursues one crime while ignoring another is not justice.
A law that criminalises an adversary’s weapon while turning a blind eye to an ally’s weapon loses its meaning.
What Do Cairo, Ankara And Riyadh Know?
This is where the responsibility of countries with close ties to the Sudanese army comes into sharp focus.
Egypt has deep military and security cooperation with the army. Türkiye is linked by reports to the provision of technology and drone systems to it, while Saudi Arabia maintains close ties with the army leadership, although it took a notable position in April 2026 when it asked Pakistan to halt a $1.5 billion arms deal with Sudan and refused to finance it, following what was said to be US advice and warnings to Riyadh.
Does this mean that these countries are legally responsible for the army’s crimes? No.
But it imposes a question that cannot be evaded: What are these governments doing now that allegations of chemical weapons use have become public, and violations resulting from airstrikes and drone attacks have been internationally documented?
Moral and political responsibility does not begin only when a state’s involvement in a particular crime is proven. It also begins when an ally knows that weapons flowing into a war zone could be used amid civilians, yet support continues without guarantees, oversight or accountability.
If you know your drones may be used to bomb a hospital in Nyala and you keep supplying them, at what point do you share the guilt?
Why Is The World Silent?
This is the real question that haunts every Sudanese today.
How can the world speak of protecting civilians and then allow Sudan to become a laboratory for weapons and drones?
How can evidence on this scale emerge concerning the possible manufacture and use of a chemical weapon, while a comprehensive international investigation remains a demand rather than a reality?
And how can bombs fall on markets, hospitals and residential areas while arms and financing channels and political relationships continue as though nothing has happened?
Sudan does not need another local committee through which the authorities investigate themselves. It has had enough of that theatre.
Nor does it need more statements of concern from Geneva and New York. It needs action.
The Price Of Selective Justice
It needs an independent international investigation into the chemical weapons file, transparent investigations into air attacks, drone strikes and violations against civilians, and accountability for every party proven to be involved, regardless of its name, allies or supporters.
Scrutiny must also extend to the states, companies and intermediary networks supplying the parties to the war with weapons when there is evidence that they may be used in grave violations of international law.
The civilian killed in El Fasher, Nyala or Khartoum does not care whether the drone that killed him was Turkish or Iranian, nor whether the bomb was dropped by an Antonov or launched by another force.
What matters to him is that someone killed him, that someone armed the killer, and that there was a world watching the war expand and knowing the scale of the violations, yet failing to do enough to stop it.
That is justice at a price in Sudan: the problem is not merely the absence of evidence, but that the value of the evidence itself sometimes appears to be tied to the name of the accused, the identity of his allies, and the political cost of holding him accountable.
That is why the investigation must begin now, not against one side, nor in the service of one camp against another, but because the Sudanese person killed by chemical weapons, aerial bombardment or drones deserves the same standard of justice, regardless of the name of the person who pulled the trigger and regardless of the capital from which the aircraft, bomb or money came.
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Les autorités italiennes immobilisent un navire de sauvetage après avoir secouru 20 personnes
Les autorités italiennes ont immobilisé pendant 15 jours le navire de recherche et de sauvetage Sea Punk I et lui ont infligé une amende de 7 500 euros après le sauvetage de 20 personnes dans les eaux internationales.
L’opération de sauvetage a eu lieu le jeudi 10 septembre 2026, près de la plateforme pétrolière de Bouri. L’équipage du navire a déclaré que l’opération avait été menée en coordination avec les autorités italiennes et conformément aux conventions applicables et aux réglementations internationales.
Les autorités ont invoqué le décret dit Piantedosi et accusé le capitaine de ne pas avoir suivi les instructions des garde-côtes libyens dits « garde-côtes libyens ». Le Sea Punk I est partenaire de l’alliance Justice Fleet, une coalition d’organisations civiles de recherche et de sauvetage et de leurs soutiens.
Selon Justice Fleet, cette immobilisation porte à plus de 310 le nombre total de jours pendant lesquels les autorités italiennes ont bloqué ses navires depuis la création de l’alliance, en novembre 2025. Le Sea Punk I est le 11e navire de Justice Fleet à être immobilisé.
Selon Justice Fleet, les organisations civiles de recherche et de sauvetage ont recensé près de 80 incidents de violences extrêmes commises par des milices libyennes depuis 2016, dont la plupart seraient attribués aux garde-côtes libyens dits « garde-côtes libyens ». Le groupe affirme également que plus de 27 000 personnes ayant fui la Libye y ont été renvoyées de force l’an dernier, en violation du droit international. Il indique que les réfugiés et les migrants présents dans le pays sont confrontés à une recrudescence des violences et à des menaces de mort.
« Alors que des violences extrêmes contre les personnes en déplacement sont actuellement en cours en Libye, les autorités italiennes veulent nous contraindre à coopérer avec les garde-côtes libyens dits “garde-côtes libyens”. Pas question ! », a déclaré Giulia Messmer, porte-parole de Justice Fleet, appelant à mettre fin à la coopération européenne avec cette force.
Justice Fleet a été fondée en novembre 2025 par 13 organisations de recherche et de sauvetage, avec le soutien de groupes de la société civile. L’alliance indique notamment vouloir contester l’immobilisation des navires de sauvetage en Italie et s’opposer à la sous-traitance du contrôle migratoire à des acteurs libyens.
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20 000 enfants arrivent en Europe sans parent ni tuteur
De nouvelles données de l’ONU révèlent que, sur les 31 100 enfants qui ont atteint l’Europe l’an dernier en empruntant des routes migratoires mixtes, plus de 20 000 sont arrivés sans parent ni tuteur.
La Directrice générale de l’Organisation internationale pour les migrations (OIM), Amy Pope, a appelé à une coopération plus étroite entre les États européens et les pays situés le long des routes migratoires afin de protéger les enfants qui voyagent seuls et de lutter contre les réseaux de passeurs et les réseaux criminels qui s’en prennent à eux.
Les conclusions indiquent que la réduction des possibilités de déplacement sûr et tenant compte des besoins de protection le long de ces routes pourrait pousser les jeunes à entreprendre des voyages plus risqués, à dépendre davantage des passeurs et à être davantage exposés à la violence, à l’exploitation et aux mauvais traitements.
« Des enfants entreprennent des voyages difficiles et dangereux sans parent ni tuteur à leurs côtés, a déclaré Amy Pope, Directrice générale de l’OIM. Ce rapport montre à quel point ils sont exposés à la violence et à l’exploitation lorsque les voies sûres sont limitées et qu’ils doivent compter sur des passeurs. Aucun enfant ne devrait avoir à affronter ces risques seul. Nous avons la responsabilité commune d’agir par-delà les frontières pour les protéger, défendre leurs droits et leur apporter les soins et le soutien dont ils ont besoin. »
Le nombre total d’enfants arrivés par voie maritime ou terrestre en Bulgarie, à Chypre, en Grèce, en Italie, à Malte et en Espagne a diminué de 25 % par rapport à 2024. Parmi les enfants arrivés, 78 % étaient des garçons et 22 % des filles. Toutefois, la proportion d’enfants recensés comme non accompagnés est passée à 67 %, contre 51 % l’année précédente. Les proportions les plus élevées ont été enregistrées en Italie et en Espagne, où 86 % des enfants sont arrivés seuls.
L’Italie a fait exception à la tendance à la baisse. Le nombre total d’arrivées y est resté stable, mais celui des enfants a augmenté de 12 %, pour atteindre près de 14 100. La plupart venaient d’Égypte, d’Érythrée, de Somalie, du Bangladesh et d’Éthiopie.
Ces voyages sont dangereux. L’OIM a interrogé plus de 4 600 adolescents et jeunes adultes âgés de 15 à 24 ans le long des routes de la Méditerranée, de l’Atlantique ouest-africain et des Balkans occidentaux. Près de la moitié des personnes interrogées au sujet de leur expérience ont déclaré avoir subi des violences physiques. Sur la route de la Méditerranée centrale, 28 % ont indiqué avoir été retenues contre leur gré et 17 % avoir été contraintes de travailler. La Libye est restée le pays le plus souvent cité comme lieu de ces mauvais traitements.
Dans le même temps, les solutions de remplacement sûres se sont raréfiées. Les enfants représentaient la moitié des 6 800 personnes engagées dans des procédures de réinstallation de réfugiés vers l’Europe en 2025 : 3 400 enfants, contre 8 900 un an plus tôt. Par ailleurs, seuls 199 enfants ont été relocalisés entre États européens dans le cadre du mécanisme de solidarité volontaire, soit une baisse de 67 %, et aucun n’était non accompagné.
Au total, 214 600 enfants ont demandé une protection internationale en Europe en 2025, dont 79 % étaient des primo-demandeurs. Environ 71 % des premières demandes ont été déposées dans seulement quatre pays : l’Allemagne (30 %), la France (19 %), l’Espagne (15 %) et la Grèce (7 %). Sur les 210 900 décisions rendues en première instance concernant des demandes d’enfants, 56 % étaient positives, tandis que les rejets ont augmenté de 25 %.
L’OIM exhorte les États membres de l’Union européenne à placer l’intérêt supérieur de l’enfant au cœur de chaque décision, à garantir un accès rapide aux services et à ne jamais placer des enfants en détention pour des motifs liés à l’immigration. Les enfants non accompagnés et séparés de leur famille devraient avoir immédiatement accès à une représentation juridique. Les évaluations de l’âge devraient rester rares, être adaptées aux enfants et pouvoir faire l’objet d’un recours.
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