After five months of food distribution disruption, UNHCR and partners finally provided one month ration to some 2,000 Sudanese refugees living in the Pladama Ouaka camp, Bambari.

The latest Inter-Agency Regional Response update highlights that the refugee population planning figure for June 2013 has already been exceeded by 40 per cent.

ARSAL, Lebanon, May 23 (UNHCR) – It's test day at the Arsal Public Second Shift Middle School and the students in the 8th Grade maths class are engrossed in their exam. They factor numbers, write a series of equations in the form of a single power – all in French, a language they have come to learn only since starting school here in north-east Lebanon two months ago.

"These children come to school with a deep desire for learning," says Ali Hujeiri, 55, the school principal. "They know what they've missed and now they appreciate the value of their education."

Faits marquants de l’UNHCR

• 787 demandeurs d’asile congolais sont arrivés durant le mois d’avril portant à 2327 le nombre de demandeurs d’asile enregistrés durant les quatre premiers mois de cette année.

• 3 convois de 411 réfugiés congolais ont été organisés entre les centres de transit de Cishemere et Kajaga et le nouveau camp de Kavumu.

Highlights

• On 21 May 2013, AFAD - the Disaster and Emergency Management Agency of Government of Turkey announced that the total number of Syrians registered and accommodated in 17 camps in 8 provinces has increased to 194,970 including 336 Syrians receiving medical treatment in hospitals.

• AFAD reported that during the last 24 hrs of 20-21 May, 507 new arrival Syrians were registered and accommodated in the camps while 320 Syrians voluntarily returned to Syria.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Wednesday reiterated its concerns about the treatment of asylum-seekers arriving by sea to Australia.

According to new legislation, all asylum-seekers arriving by boat anywhere in Australia are now subject to transfer to Nauru or Papua New Guinea for processing and will only have their claims for refugee status assessed in Australia if the Minister for Immigration and Citizenship makes a personal decision to allow them to, on the basis of it being in the public interest to do so.