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You are here: Home / Archives for United Nations

UN registered 99 sex abuse claims against staff in 2015

March 4, 2016 by Nasheman

UN report says a majority of the cases involved personnel in 10 peacekeeping missions, including in CAR.

UN

by Al Jazeera

There have been 99 new allegations of sexual exploitation or sexual abuse against United Nations staff members across the UN system last year, a new report has said.

The UN report from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, released to Reuters on Thursday, came in response to a new “name and shame” policy for UN peacekeepers implemented after a series of allegations of rape and sexual abuse by international troops in Central African Republic.

In 2014, there were 80 allegations.

The majority of the allegations in 2015 involved personnel in 10 peacekeeping missions, the report said, listing 69 such cases.

The military and police personnel accused of sexual crimes while serving for the UN involved 21 countries.

Most of the allegations involved peacekeepers from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, seven in all, serving in Central African Republic or CAR. There were also allegations against several European countries and Canada.

There were allegations against troops and police from Burundi, Germany, Ghana, Senegal, Madagascar, Rwanda, Congo Republic, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Tanzania, Slovakia, Niger, Moldova, Togo, South Africa, Morocco, Benin, Nigeria and Gabon.

In addition to CAR, the allegations involved peacekeeping missions in places such as Haiti, Mali, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ivory Coast.

The report includes recommendations for member states to make it easier to identify suspected perpetrators and prosecute them.

It calls for the UN General Assembly and troop-contributing countries to allow prosecutions inside the countries where the alleged crimes took place and creation of a DNA registry of all peacekeepers.

One of the problems, human rights groups say, is that it is currently up to UN troop-contributing countries to prosecute their soldiers accused of abuse. When such prosecutions happen, the groups say, they often take place quietly and it is difficult to follow up on the results and punishments, if any.

In December an independent review panel accused the United Nations and its agencies of grossly mishandling numerous allegations of child sexual abuse by foreign troops in CAR in 2013 and 2014.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Sexual Abuse, United Nations

Thousands may have starved to death in Syria: UN

February 29, 2016 by Nasheman

As UN prepares to roll out aid in besieged areas, official says “thousands” cut off may have already starved to death.

Residents work on fixing a house in the town of Darat Izza, province of Aleppo on Sunday [Reuters]

Residents work on fixing a house in the town of Darat Izza, province of Aleppo on Sunday [Reuters]

by Al Jazeera

The United Nations human rights chief warned on Monday that thousands of people may have died of starvation during sieges affecting nearly half a million people in war-torn Syria.

The comments by Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein came as the first major ceasefire in the five-year conflict entered its third day, and as the UN prepared to deploy trucks loaded with humanitarian aid into the country during the lull in fighting.

“The deliberate starvation of people is unequivocally forbidden as a weapon of warfare. By extension, so are sieges,” said Hussein.

He added: “Thousands of people may have starved to death.”

Al Jazeera’s Jamal Elshayyal, reporting from the Turkish border town of Gaziantep, noted that US Secretary of State John Kerry had accused the Syrian government of using food as “a weapon of war”.

“This war in recent months hasn’t just been fought with weapons – it has also been fought through the use of food,” he said. “The guns here haven’t gone totally silent, so it’s still dangerous for aid workers.”

The UN and its partner organisations were planning to start delivering aid to Syrians in several besieged areas previously cut off by the violence.

A UN spokesman told Al Jazeera that trucks bound for Mouadamiya in the southern outskirts of Damascus were loaded and were planning to move shortly.

Aid deliveries were also planned to arrive in the towns of Zabadani, Kefraya, Fouaa and Madaya by Wednesday.

The deliveries are part of humanitarian aid planned for 1.7 million people in hard-to-reach areas in the first quarter of 2016, Yacoub El Hillo, UN Resident Coordinator in Damascus, said in a statement on Sunday.

The UN estimates there are almost 500,000 people living under siege of a total of 4.6 million who are hard to reach with aid.

“It is the best opportunity that the Syrian people have had over the last five years for lasting peace and stability,” El Hillo said.

“But we all know that without a meaningful political process and a political solution, both cessation of hostilities and entry of humanitarian assistance will not be enough to end the crisis in Syria.”

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and US Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone on Sunday at the initiative of Moscow on the progress of the ceasefire, Russia’s foreign ministry reported on Monday.

Syria’s main opposition grouping, the High Negotiations Committee (HNC), on Sunday described the ceasefire as “positive”, but lodged a formal complaint with the UN and foreign governments about breaches on the first day.

A HNC letter to Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary-general, accused Bashar al-Assad’s government and its allies of committing “24 violations with artillery shelling and five ground operations … in 26 areas held by the moderate opposition”.

The letter, signed by HNC head Riad Hijab, also criticised Russia for conducting “26 air strikes on areas falling within the ceasefire”.

It said continued breaches of the ceasefire would make peace talks unattainable.

Syria’s ally Russia has said it has only targeted areas under the control of  al-Nusra Front, which is linked to al-Qaeda, and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). Nusra and ISIL are excluded from the terms of the international pact.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Syria, United Nations

More than 11,100 Iraqis killed in 2015: UN

December 25, 2015 by Nasheman

Iraqi mourners carry the body of one of the soldiers who were killed the previous day in a so-called friendly fire from a US-led coalition aircraft west of Baghdad, on December 19, 2015 during a funeral in the Shia holy city of Najaf. (AFP/Haidar Hamdani)

Iraqi mourners carry the body of one of the soldiers who were killed the previous day in a so-called friendly fire from a US-led coalition aircraft west of Baghdad, on December 19, 2015 during a funeral in the Shia holy city of Najaf. (AFP/Haidar Hamdani)

by Andolu Ajansi

At least 11,118 Iraqis, mostly civilians, were killed in violence across the country this year, the UN Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) said.

According to UNAMI, Baghdad saw most of the violence, which included explosions and clashes, while Daesh claimed responsibility for most of the attacks.

Meanwhile, Maitham al-Ghazzi, a member of the Iraqi parliament’s High Commissioner for Human Rights, said the situation calls for more enhanced international cooperation to combat terrorism.

Iraqi security forces, backed by the U.S.-led international coalition and al-Hashd al-Shaabi, as well asKurdish Peshmerga forces and Sunni fighters, have been fighting Daesh for more than a year in northern and western Iraq.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Iraq, United Nations

Half of Yemen ‘one step away’ from famine: UN

December 5, 2015 by Nasheman

Food insecurity at “emergency” levels in 10 of Yemen’s 22 governorates, World Food Programme says.

The UN says 14.4 million people of the country's 23 million are food insecure [EPA]

The UN says 14.4 million people of the country’s 23 million are food insecure [EPA]

by Al Jazeera

The United Nations food agency has warned that food supplies in Yemen are deteriorating quickly and the country is at risk of slipping into famine.

Ten out of Yemen’s 22 governorates were now classified as facing food insecurity at “emergency” levels, which is one step below famine, the World Food Programme (WFP) said on Friday.

“Clearly, Yemen is one of the hardest place in the world today to work – massive security concerns, escalation in the fighting, and the violence across the country,” Matthew Hollingworth, WFP’s deputy regional director, said in the capital, Sanaa.

“We are doing well, we are improving our reach and getting to more people every month, but clearly with half of the country now just one step away from famine, we need the international community to really come behind us and support us, particularly over the next few months,” he added.

According to the UN’s 2016 Humanitarian Needs Overview in November, 14.4 million people of the country’s 23 million are food insecure, struggling to get enough food to live a healthy life.

That includes 7.6 million people in desperate need of food assistance.

“It’s a country that cannot take any further shock,” Abeer Etefa, the WFP’s spokesperson for the Middle East region, told Al Jazeera.

“It’s a very serious situation. We are doing our best so that we don’t see a deterioration of the situation that’s already extremely compromised.”

‘People have nothing’

Since March, an Arab coalition led by Saudi Arabia has conducted air strikes in Yemen in an effort to curb the expansion of the country’s Houthi rebels, who have fought government forces for control of the country.

The conflict has sparked a massive humanitarian crisis. More than 1.5 million people have been displaced, and many more are struggling to access the basic necessities, including food, water and fuel.

Battles have been going on for weeks in and around Taiz as forces loyal to President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi – supported by coalition air strikes – clash with Iran-backed Houthi rebels for control of the strategically located city, seen as a gateway between south Yemen and the capital.

The UN says more than 5,700 people have been killed in the country since then, nearly half of them civilians.
“I appeal to all people of good will. Look at these displaced people. They are your brothers from Yemen. You must look at them and consider them. Help them with anything, food, clothes, mattresses,” a displaced Yemeni, Mohamed Ahmed Hassan, told the Reuters news agency.

“People here have nothing. They don’t even have anything to sleep on. They sleep on the ground,” Hassan said.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Famine, United Nations, Yemen

Palestinian flag raised at UN for first time

October 1, 2015 by Nasheman

Flag hoisted in New York in a historic step, despite prior condemnation from Israel and the US.

The flag was raised in the rose garden after President Abbas delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly [Brian Chacon/Al Jazeera]

The flag was raised in the rose garden after President Abbas delivered a speech to the UN General Assembly [Brian Chacon/Al Jazeera]

by Al Jazeera

The Palestinian flag has for the first time been raised at the United Nations following an address delivered by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to the UN General Assembly.

The flag was raised in the rose garden at 1:00pm local time (6:00pm GMT) on Wednesday as a large crowd of diplomats and reporters watched on.

Speaking to the crowd, Abbas dedicated the ceremony to “the martyrs, the prisoners and the wounded, and to those who gave their lives while trying to raise this flag”.

Hundreds of Palestinians assembled in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, where they watched the flag-raising on a large screen set up in Yasser Arafat Square.

“The mood is festive,” reported Al Jazeera’s Imtiaz Tyab, adding that “families sang along to nationalistic songs and waved the Palestinian flag”.

Having been strongly criticised by Israel, the move was also opposed by the United States.

Palestinians celebrated in the West Bank city of Ramallah as the Palestinian flag was raised at the United Nations for the first time in history [EPA]

In an op-ed published at the Huffington Post, Abbas called the flag-raising a “moment of hope” and called on the international community to recognise “the independence of the state of Palestine, peacefully resolving the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Palestine Liberation Organisation Central Council member Mustafa Barghouti described the move as “an important symbolic step”.

“In essence, it will honour the many Palestinians who were killed by Israel while trying to raise that flag in the occupied Palestinian territories,” he said earlier in the day.

The General Assembly approved the resolution to raise the flag with an overwhelming majority voting in favour of it on September 10.

The motion passed with 119 votes in favour, while 45 countries abstained and eight voted against, among them Israel, the US and Australia.

But Barghouti also called on the Palestinian leadership to take several steps in order to end the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.

Barghouti said the PA should “declare the end of negotiations with Israel because the negotiations have dragged on forever”, arguing that Israel has used the peace process as a smokescreen to expand its settlements in the occupied territory in order to “end the idea of a Palestinian state”.

After cancelling the Oslo Accords and terminating security cooperation with the Israeli military, the PLO member said that the Palestinian leadership should “support popular resistance” and “encourage a world embargo against Israel”.

In 2012, the UNGA recognised Palestine as a “non-member observer state”, a position also held by the Vatican. That followed a failed push for full member state status a year earlier.

Tholfikar Swairjo, the Gaza-based spokesman of the leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said that “anything that shows the world that we exist and that we’re present” is a “positive development”.

But focusing solely on using only diplomatic tools to achieve statehood “will result only in more ink on paper”, Swairjo told Al Jazeera. “The struggle for a democratic, independent and secular Palestine will continue on the ground against the Zionist project”.

Palestinians watch PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ speech to the UNGA on a large screen in East Jerusalem, the site of several clashes between Palestinians and Israeli forces in recent weeks [EPA]

Senior Hamas leader Ghazi al-Hamad said the flag-raising is “a positive step”, but added that “it’s not enough”.

The Palestinian leadership in the West Bank has focused too much on “symbolic acts”, Hamad told Al Jazeera, adding that only with unity between the West Bank and Gaza can Palestinians “confront the Israeli occupation and establish an independent Palestinian state”.

Hamas also called for Abbas to call off all agreements with Israel during his UNGA speech on Wednesday.

Hamad said that Palestinians were in a “dire situation” as Israeli settlements continue to rapidly expand and tensions soar at the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East Jerusalem, where clashes between Palestinian worshippers and Israeli forces have occurred on a near-daily basis in recent weeks.

Following the UNGA’s resolution to raise the flag earlier this month, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, Ron Prosor, condemned the move as “a blatant attempt to hijack the UN”, calling for the resumption of direct negotiations between the PA and Israel.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Israel, Palestine, United Nations

Sikhs, Patels protest against Modi at UN headquarters

September 26, 2015 by Nasheman

modi

United Nations: A group of Sikhs and the Patidar community supporters have demonstrated outside the UN headquarters here, coinciding with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech on Sustainable Development at a special UN summit.

Under the banner of Sikhs for Justice, over 200 Sikhs, alleging human rights violations in Punjab, demanded referendum in 2020 for a separate Khalistan. The protesters, raising anti-India and anti-Modi slogans, urged the world body to take steps to meet their demand. “There is massive violations against minorities, in particular against Christians, Sikhs and Muslims,” SFJ leader Bakhshish Singh Sandhu claimed yesterday.

Side by side in a separate enclosure were a few dozen members of the Patidar community from Gujarat who are living in different parts of the country. “We want justice from police brutalities. As many as 4,000 youths are still in police custody. There has been police brutality against innocent people. So far no action has been taken against the police officials responsible for this,” one Anil Patel claimed.

The protesters were sporting caps of Sardar Patel Group from Gujarat, which is leading the movement for reservations for the Patel community in the State. Meanwhile, a few enclosures later at the UN headquarters, another group of Patels under the banner of Indian Diamond and Gemstone Industry of New York held a welcome rally for Modi.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Gujarat, Hardik Patel, Narendra Modi, Patels, Sikhs, United Nations, United States, USA

UN ‘shocked’ over Hungary action against refugees

September 17, 2015 by Nasheman

Ban says police’s use of tear gas and water cannon at crowds desperate to cross the border from Serbia “not acceptable”.

hungarian-riot-police

by Al Jazeera

The UN chief has said he was “shocked” after Hungarian riot police fired tear gas and water cannon at crowds of refugees desperate to cross the border from Serbia.

When asked about the border clashes on Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon said the treatment of the refugees by the Hungarian police was “not acceptable”.

Tensions boiled over at the Horgos-Roszke crossing where hundreds of furious people tore down the wire meshing separating them from Hungarian territory, and police clashed for hours with refugees, some of whom threw stones, sticks and plastic bottles.

The unrest left 14 Hungarian police officers injured, the authorities said.

Serbia lodged a formal protest with Hungary over the use of tear gas on its territory, and Nebojsa Stefanovic, interior minister, said police reinforcements were being sent to the Serbian side of the border to help calm tensions.

“We want to leave! We want to leave to Germany!” cried one French-speaking man at a protest at the border through a megaphone.

“Open the door!” he added in English, with hundreds echoing his call.

Children separated

In the chaos, at least four children were separated from their families and apparently taken by police to a nearby border control building, according to Amnesty International, the human rights organisation, said.

“The families are desperate to be reunited with their children,” Tirana Hassan, the crisis response director, said.

“Not only have they experienced the traumatic journey to the border and the use of force by the police – they have now lost the security of being with their parents.”

Large numbers of refugees camped out by the side of the road in the Serbian village of Horgos, close to the Hungarian border overnight into Thursday.

Some have tents while others lie under blankets to keep warm. Small groups gathered around makeshift fires after a night exposed to the elements.

The road leading to the closed border, that is protected by gates and barbed wire, bore the scars of Wednesday’s clashes. Scarred clothing and plastics could be seen stuck to the tarmac close to the border.

Under its new rules, Hungary said it had determined Serbia was “safe”, and therefore it could automatically deny asylum claims at the border.

Meanwhile, the Red Cross said on Thursday that several thousand people had entered Croatia in the last 24 hours, as refugees shifted their route through the Balkans after the Hungarian border closure.

“I cannot assess the exact figure, but it is surely several thousand people that entered the country,” said the local Red Cross spokesperson.

The last official police figure from Wednesday evening was around 1,500 people.

“We witnessed more inflow of people overnight,” she said.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Hungary, Refugees, United Nations

As refugee aid falters, European leaders pursue military action at sea

September 11, 2015 by Nasheman

Led by Britain, European leaders ask United Nations Security Council to approve military targeting of ‘human smugglers’ along route from Libya

 Refugees and migrants on a fishing boat pictured before making contact with the Italian navy. (Photo: Italian Coastguard/Massimo Sestini)

Refugees and migrants on a fishing boat pictured before making contact with the Italian navy. (Photo: Italian Coastguard/Massimo Sestini)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

As their humanitarian response to the ongoing refugee crisis falters, European leaders are pressing the United Nations Security Council to authorized an escalated military force to pursue so-called “human smugglers” in the Mediterranean Sea’s international waters.

The effort to advance the draft resolution is, according to Foreign Policy, being led by Britain, whose government has come under fire for “turning its back” on people seeking refuge from war and poverty.

Specifically, the plan would approve military action in international waters along a route from the coast of Libya to Italy, according to reports from the New York Times on the proposal, which will soon be circulated within the UNSC.

The route is commonly used to transport people fleeing West Africa, Eritrea, and Afghanistan, while Syrians are increasingly using a pathway that passes through Turkey.According to an unnamed Security Council diplomat quoted by The New York Times, the proposal stipulates for seized boats to be taken to Italy, where the refugees aboard would then be considered for asylum.

The plan is less severe than a previous proposal, circulated by Britain last spring, that would have allowed European military forces to pursue “human smugglers” in Libyan waters and even on the country’s soil. Britain eventually abandoned the measure after failing to secure Libyan approval.

However, many have argued that military targeting of “smuggling” networks would neither deter nor help refugees, who undergo tremendous hardship and risk their lives in a bid to escape war and poverty. The UN refugee agency recently declared they do not expect the influx of refugees to Europe to slow.

Going further, many observers argue a military response is the polar opposite of the humanitarian response wealthy nations owe refugees. “A whole generation of people are putting themselves in debt to be smuggled into Europe, only to be thrown out,” UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of Migrants Francois Crepeau told Al Jazeera last month. “That is a really ridiculous transfer of wealth… We can help people by giving them better options.”

The Britain-led resolution is not the only effort underway to ramp up Europe’s military response to the humanitarian crisis. The European Council agreed in May to another plan to escalate military targeting of so-called smugglers, by giving a European maritime force the power to seize vessels. The Council is continuing to press Libya to approve pursuit on their soil.

The proposed military campaigns at sea have been accompanied by parallel efforts on land, with some EU leaders already tightening borders, and Hungary moving forward with a 110-mile razor wire fence to bar refugees from entry—while also bolstering its military at the border.

What’s more, elected leaders across Europe and the world are using the humanitarian crisis to justify military escalation towards Syria, despite warnings that there is no military solution to the hardships refugees endure.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Aylan Kurdi, Children, European Union, Human rights, Refugees, Syria, Syrian refugees, United Nations

UN approves resolution to fly Palestinian flag at headquarters

September 11, 2015 by Nasheman

The US dismissed the move by the UN, calling it "counterproductive". (AFP/File)

The US dismissed the move by the UN, calling it “counterproductive”. (AFP/File)

by Press TV

The United Nations has approved a resolution calling for the hoisting of the Palestinian flag at the world body’s headquarters in New York.

On Thursday, the UN General Assembly decided that the flags of the non-member observer states of Palestine and the Holy See “shall be raised at (UN) Headquarters and United Nations Offices following the flags of the member states.”

As many as 119 countries voted in favor of the resolution, eight voted against, and 45 abstained.

The draft resolution of the Palestinian proposal was submitted to the General Assembly on August 27.

The resolution requested UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to take “the measures necessary” for the implementation of the decision. The UN has 20 days to carry out the decision.

Based on the Thursday decision, delegations of the two nations can participate in the UN sessions.

Before the voting session, Palestinian Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour touched upon the significance of the resolution, saying although symbolic, the measure gives “our people some hope that the international community is still supporting the independence of the state of Palestine.”

The United States and Israel had expressed their opposition to the measure, with US State Department Deputy Spokesman Mark Toner describing it as “counterproductive” and Israel’s envoy to the UN, Ron Prosor, dismissing it as “a blatant attempt to hijack the UN.”

Palestinians are seeking to create an independent state on the territories of the West Bank, including East al-Quds (Jerusalem) and the besieged Gaza Strip, and are demanding that Israel withdraw from the occupied Palestinian territories. Israel, however, has refused to return to the 1967 borders and is unwilling to discuss the issue of al-Quds.

On November 29, 2012, the General Assembly voted to upgrade Palestine’s status at the UN from “non-member observer entity” to “non-member observer state” despite strong opposition from Israel and the US.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Ban Ki-moon, Gaza, Israel, Jerusalem, Mark Toner, New York, Palestine, Ron Prosor, United Nations, West Bank

Macedonia mulls border fence to stop flow of refugees

September 11, 2015 by Nasheman

UNICEF says millions more in Syria could become refugees and head to Europe if there is no end to the war.

refugees

by Al Jazeera

Macedonia’s Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki has said that his country might follow Hungary’s example and build a border fence to stem the influx of refugees trekking through the Balkans to reach Western Europe.

The news comes as foreign ministers from four Central European nations are meeting in Prague on Friday, amid a growing rift over the refugee crisis.

The Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia reject quotas proposed by the EU Commission, which proposed 120,000 additional asylum seekers per year to be shared out between 28 member states.

“We too will need some kind of physical defence to reduce illegal border crossing… Either soldiers or a fence or a combination of the two,” Poposki was quoted as saying in an interview with Hungarian business weekly Figyelo on Thursday.

He said his country was currently forced to let the 3,000 to 4,000 migrants who arrive in his country on a daily basis continue their journey to Serbia and Hungary unimpeded.

“There is no European consensus on how we can handle this question,” he said.

As of 0600 GMT on Friday, an estimated 7,600 refugees had already crossed into Macedonia from Greece in a 24-hour period, according to the UN refugee agency.

Peter Salama, UNICEF’s regional director for the Middle East and North Africa, said millions of people in Syria could become refugees and head to Europe if there is no end to the war.

Al Jazeera’s Hoda Abdel Hamid, reporting from the border between Greece and Macedonia on Friday, said the situation has settled down after tensions on Thursday.

At the border crossing station, from where our correspondent was reporting, about 1,500 had crossed on Friday morning. They are reportedly being organised into groups of 50 people.

From there, public transportation will then take them to the border with Serbia, our correspondent said.

But overnight, the situation was tense, with “impatient” refugees facing off with the police.

“Macedonian border police had blocked their path and frustrations grew once more,” she said. “This is not the first time for the Macedonian border guards to use force.”

Syrian refugees Bassem, his wife Marwa, and their child Ali, were among those in the crowd. They left Syria 25 days ago, entering Greece through the island of Rhodes.

Bassem and Marwa told Al Jazeera that they feared Ali would not make the Mediterranean crossing.

“We know it’s going to be difficult here, we know some don’t want us, but it’s still much better than Syria,” Bassem said.

Major transit

Along with neighbouring Serbia, Macedonia has become a major transit country for tens of thousands of refugees who trudge up from Greece, after risking their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea crammed into makeshift boats.

The majority are heading for Germany, which has pledged to welcome hundreds of thousands more refugees having already taken in 450,000 to date since January.

So far, more than 160,000 have already crossed through Macedonia on their way to Serbia and Hungary this year.

Last month, the small Balkan nation declared a state of emergency as it struggled to cope with the relentless stream of people.

Reports overnight said that Hungary’s government is considering declaring a state of emergency within the next week.

Hungary completed a razor-wire barrier along its 175km border with Serbia in late August, but it has failed to stop distraught refugees from scaling the barrier.

The central European nation is building another fence four metres high that it aims to complete by late October or early November, and the government has said it will be manned by the military.

Some 85 percent of those hoping to eventually reach wealthy EU nations such as Germany or Sweden are not merely in search of a better life, but have been forced to leave because of wars in the Middle East, Africa and South Asia, according to the UN’s refugee agency.

On Friday, the wife of an Austrian politician said Hungarian police have been feeding refugees “like animals in a pen” inside a border camp.

Michaela Spritzendorfer filmed the footage of the refugees surging forward against the fences surrounding them as officers toss food packets to them.

It reportedly happened at a makeshift camp in the Hungarian town of Rozke.

The incident was filmed on the same day the UN commissioner on refugees said conditions were getting worse there.

Meanwhile, US President Barack Obama has ordered his administration to increase the number of Syrian refugees allowed into the country.

The United States has taken in just 1,500 Syrians since the civil war began in 2011.

Filed Under: Human Rights Tagged With: Aylan Kurdi, Children, European Union, Human rights, Macedonia, Refugees, Syria, Syrian refugees, United Nations

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