Brazil is facing a range of challenges in protecting and caring for refugees. There are tens of thousands new arrivals from Venezuela. But there are also roughly 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers in major Brazilian cities, including in Rio de Janeiro, many of them from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Many of them are struggling to find work.

Adriana Erthal Abdenur and Maiara Folly

Originally published on PassBlue

As warfare spikes, UN peacekeeping is at a breaking point, unable to keep up with relentless demand.

04/06/2018

by Robert Muggah and Adriana Abdenur

Originally published on The Hill Times

The threat of catastrophic war between great powers is at the highest point since the end of the Cold War. Rising tensions between the United States and its closest rivals—especially Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea—have set the world on edge.

In war-torn Syria, the contents of one’s phone mean the difference between life and death. “My phone is my lifeline,” Umm Hassan told us, one of the more than 150,000 Syrian citizens fleeing the destruction of Eastern Ghouta last month, as regime forces moved in. “But, please help me. How do I delete everything on it?”

Many Latin American countries, states and cities are facing a chronic public security crisis. In spite of more than a decade of modest economic growth, crime and victimization rates are rising, not dropping. Nevertheless, recent information of 2017 show some signs of improvement. Criminal violence is routinely singled out as one of the top concerns of citizens from across Mexico, Central America and South America. And there are warning signs that the region ́s high rates of criminal violence and victimization will continue rising if nothing is done.