- At the Foreign Policy blog, Sophie Cousins discusses the impending monsoon in Bangladesh, pointing out that the Rohingya have fled one crisis for another. The monsoon is predicted to bring disease, landslides, and flash flooding to the refugee camps in Cox’s Bazar.
- At UNHCR, Yvonne Ndege looks at opportunities for entrepreneurship in Kenya’s Kakuma refugee camp.
- Contrary to previous reports, Opposition leader Bill Shorten has confirmed that Labor will not impose time limits on offshore immigration detention if the ALP wins the next election. Labor appears split on the issue, however, with new Labor MP Ged Kearney calling for an end to the “shameful” policy of indefinite detention in offshore centres during her first speech to Parliament on Monday.
- Amnesty International has released a report condemning Australia’s decision to wind back health care services on Manus Island, despite the fact that the island still has a refugee population of more than 700 people. The report claims that refugees are being “left to suffer”, and describes how some have waited months for treatment for serious health conditions and had their transfers to Australia for treatment delayed or denied. The report also criticises cuts to counselling services, given high levels of mental illness among the asylum seeker and refugee population. An asylum seeker reported to have a long history of physical and mental illness died on Manus on Tuesday.
- At Inside Story, Margaret Simons challenges recent media and political rhetoric declaring that the outer suburbs of Melbourne have an “African gang” crisis.
- A new policy brief from the University of Nottingham Human Rights Law Centre asks if the European Union is moving towards offshore asylum policies.
- Al Jazeera has used an interesting approach to highlight different sides of the asylum debate in Australia. Through simulated text exchanges, users can “chat” with the Home Affairs Minister, as well as lawyers, advocates, and refugees, to view the debate about Australia’s offshore processing policies from several viewpoints. All text responses are taken from interviews and public statements made by the “interviewees”.
- Income and housing support is being taken away from up to 100 asylum seekers from Manus Island and Nauru currently receiving medical treatment in Australia. The Federal Governmemt will move the group to six-month bridging visas which include the right to work, and remove income support of approximately $200 a fortnight. Humanitarian groups have blasted the decision, saying it will leave group members destitute.
- The Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre has released the beautifully designed and data-rich 2018 Global Report on Internal Displacement.
