20 June 2013, Amman, Jordan — On the occasion of World Refugee Day, UN Women today launched a new programme and released the findings of a new report on gender-based violence among Syrian refugees in Jordan. The report finds that rates of early marriage are strikingly high (one-third are married as children), that restrictions on the mobility of women and girls limit their access to work and aid supplies, and that 83 per cent of Syrian refugees are unaware of services for survivors of violence, which are now limited.

On a recent visit to a camp near Atmeh, just inside Syria near the Turkish border, some 21,000 people were sheltering amid hellish conditions.

Heavy rain leaked into the tents and had turned the clay soil into thick slippery mud, raw sewage flowed between the tents. The food being distributed was insufficient and of very poor quality and large numbers of people complained of medical conditions for which they were receiving no treatment.

By Philippe Guiton, director of the Syria Crisis response for World Vision

Thursday, June 20, 2013 is World Refugee Day and humanitarians will be hard at work in Jordan’s north-eastern desert helping to build what will become the country’s largest refugee camp.

The scale of the Syrian refugee crisis is now so vast that our staff are in a race against the clock to lay 12 kilometres of piping and dig in 2,600 septic tanks, each the size of a small car.

The astonishing sight of school children huddled around street lights on school nights has become a familiar sight in the world’s largest refugee camp, Dadaab. This is where most school assignments get done. Oblivious to the evening rush, the youngsters train their eyes on their ruled notebooks.

‘When we installed the street lamps, it was for the purpose of improving general security, because the camp becomes pitch dark at night,’ says Firas Budeiri of the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) in Dadaab.

06/19/2013 16:49 GMT

PORT-AU-PRINCE, 19 juin 2013 (AFP) - Au moins 1.041 personnes dont 23 policiers ont été tuées en Haïti au cours des 12 derniers mois, un bilan en nette augmentation par rapport à l'année précédente, selon le rapport annuel d'une organisation haïtienne de défense des droits de l'homme.

"En 2012-2013, au moins 1.041 personnes sont mortes par balles, par armes blanches, par lapidation ou par lynchage", selon le Réseau national de défense des droits humains (RNDDH), dont le rapport couvre la période allant de mai 2012 à mai 2013.

Highlights

Chad is currently facing simultaneous, acute emergencies which are stretching capacity and current funding levels. UNICEF and partners have responded well to the most recent refugee and returnee influxes but we remain vigilant given current political turmoil in neighboring countries as well as a high risk for epidemics.

A UNHCR report says that more people are refugees or internally displaced than at any time since 1994, with the crisis in Syria having emerged as a major factor.

David Cameron announces £175 million in humanitarian aid for the Syrian crisis.

Prime Minister David Cameron today set out the largest single funding commitment ever made by the UK in response to a humanitarian disaster, as he announced a £175 million emergency package for the Syrian crisis.

But the Prime Minister warned that the international community as a whole must now follow this lead. He called for:

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