HARGEISA, 1 February 2012 (IRIN) - Cases of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), as well as domestic violence, are increasing in camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Hargeisa, capital of the self-declared independent Republic of Somaliland, with social workers attributing the trend to hard economic times made worse by recent drought in the region.

MAN, 1 février 2012 (IRIN) - Des centaines d'enfants ivoiriens ont été séparés de leurs parents quand les gens ont fui leur village au milieu des violences post-électorales de 2011. Selon le Fonds des Nations Unies pour l'enfance (UNICEF), neuf mois après la fin officielle du conflit, seul un quart de ces enfants ont retrouvé leur famille.

La plupart d'entre eux vivent chez des étrangers qui ont proposé de les accueillir. « J'ai du mal à les entretenir, mais Dieu est grand, » a dit Brigitte Lahou, une agricultrice de subsistance.

NAIROBI, 31 January 2012 (IRIN) - The UN has expressed concern over a ban by Somalia's Al-Shabab insurgents on aid distributions by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), with the UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Somalia saying the move would reverse gains made in the country's food security.

JOHANNESBURG, 31 January 2012 (IRIN) - In the inner-city Johannesburg neighbourhood of Berea, where a large proportion of residents are refugees and asylum-seekers, it is not uncommon to see children playing football in the street or killing time at one of the local parks on a weekday. Judith Manjoro, an out-of-work teacher from Zimbabwe, teamed up with some other community workers two years ago to quiz the children about why they were not in school.

DUBAI, 31 January 2012 (IRIN) - Among the migrants who found themselves caught up in Libya during last year's war was a group of people whom one University of Oxford researcher calls "invisible": refugees who travel to third countries for work or better education.

Wedged between violence, politics, overlapping identities and restrictive definitions, these "refugee-migrants" or "refugee-students" are often overlooked and under-protected, according to Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, a lecturer in forced migration at Oxford's Refugee Studies Centre.

KACHIN STATE, 31 January 2012 (IRIN) - Aid workers in Myanmar's northern Kachin State have expressed concern over the health of thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs) along the border with China.

Preventable illnesses caused by unsanitary conditions and colder weather are taking their toll on the more than 45,000 IDPs in two dozen IDP camps as sporadic fighting between government forces and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) nears almost eight months, they say.

JUBA/KAMPALA, 30 January 2012 (IRIN) - Petty traders from Uganda, South Sudan's largest trading partner, crowd into Konyo Konyo market in Juba selling used clothes, vegetables and household wares. Lacking economic prospects at home, they come in the hope of finding better opportunities in Juba's booming post-war economy.

There are about one million Ugandans living in South Sudan, according to the Kampala City Traders’ Association (KCTA). But life is not easy for the Ugandan traders who supply South Sudan with many essential goods.

MAN, 30 January 2012 (IRIN) - Hundreds of children in Côte d'Ivoire were separated from their parents when people fled their villages during post-election violence in 2011, but nine months after the conflict formally ended only a quarter of those children have been reunified with their families, says the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF).

Most are living with strangers who offered to take in the children. "I have difficulty supporting them but God is great," said Brigitte Lahou, a subsistence farmer.

JOHANNESBOURG, 30 janvier 2012 (IRIN) - Au cours des cinq dernières années, le terme « résilience » (c'est-à-dire la capacité d'absorber les chocs et de récupérer) est devenu très en vogue dans le milieu humanitaire. Dans les discussions sur l'adaptation au changement climatique, on parle de plus en plus souvent de la « nécessité de renforcer la résilience » des populations, des infrastructures et des gouvernements aux chocs liés à la hausse des températures, à l'élévation du niveau des mers, aux violentes tempêtes et aux inondations.