Newsroom

With a global staff of more than 1,500 worldwide, the Jesuit Refugee Service is a key source for journalists who seek information on the latest issues on forced displacement in the world. Journalists visiting this site have access to press releases, latest news affecting refugees and other forcibly displaced persons, updates from JRS projects and activities, speeches, special features and more.

JRS programmes are implemented through more than 50 country offices and a large network of partners, and annually benefit more than 500,000 people worldwide.

Our global network of regional communications officers, based throughout Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America, can provide updates in emergencies and access to field staff.

Regional staff can lend insight into JRS programmes and advocacy priorities and provide detailed information on current global crises.

For media inquiries or to arrange an interview, please contact our communications staff.

For all other inquiries, please call +39 06 689 77465

Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): more food aid urgently needed
Goma, 15 May 2012 – When we met 38-year-old Faida Zahir, she was breastfeeding one-month-old Dorica. She was seated on a bench in a small Protestant church in Mugunga, a few kilometres from Goma, the capital of North Kivu. Dorica and her mother were one of the 500 families who have found refuge in the church and the primary school next door.
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Brazil: Haitian migrants in Amazonia, the end of a journey and the beginning of a new life
Bogotá, 7 May 2012 – More than 350 Haitians, stranded for three months in the rural Brazilian border province of Tabatinga, began arriving in Manaus, the capital of Amazonia.
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Democratic Republic of Congo: humanitarian emergency, more than 20,000 flee to Goma
Goma, Rome, Washington DC, 7 May 2012 – "It is nearly impossible to believe that, year after year, the lives of people in eastern Congo continue to be destroyed. The international community must commit to ensuring this region becomes safe and finally free of the armed groups, interested only in its natural resources, who prevent innocent civilians from living in peace", said JRS Great Lakes Regional Director, Tony Calleja SJ.
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USA: President Obama urged to join Mine Ban Treaty
Washington DC, 4 May 2012 — Leaders from 76 nongovernmental organisations including Jesuit Refugee Service USA delivered a letter to President Obama urging the US to relinquish antipersonnel landmines and join the 1997 Mine Ban Treaty without further delay.
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Burundi: new JRS project puts women at the centre
Kibimba, 03 May 2012 – Announcing the opening of its latest food security project in southeast Burundi, JRS staff stressed its innovative approach dedicated to helping women become protagonists in their own communities.
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Australia: JRS expands community reception project
Sydney, 30 April 2012 – In its biggest expansion yet, JRS Australia is increasing its number of staff threefold in response to the number of asylum seekers being released from secure migration detention centres.
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Haiti: three schools rise in rural areas
Thiotte, 19 April 2012 – Students in three communities in and around this small town of Thiotte in the mountains of Haiti have been able to move into new schools because of a partnership between Jesuit Refugee Service USA and the Sacred Heart Parish.
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Italy/Afghanistan: painting for peace
Bolzano, 16 April 2012 – Drawings depicting peace by Italian and Afghan children will feature in an exhibition in Bolzano in Italy’s Alto Adige region from 16 to 24 April 2012.
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Thailand: today is the day to push for mine clearance
Bangkok, 4 April 2012 – In more than 70 countries today, the International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action, thousands of people will roll up their trouser legs and stand side-by-side with survivors and communities affected by landmines.
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International: JRS defines global approach to urban refugees
Bangkok, 30 March 2012 – To Berlin, Bogotá, Bangkok – UN statistics show that most refugees around the world are going to cities. But do they all face similar obstacles in their new host cities? Are there common approaches JRS can take to serve refugees living in urban areas? At a global consultation meeting held in Bangkok between 19 and 23 March, JRS staff from more than 25 countries gave a qualified yes to these questions.
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Europe: JRS welcomes investigation into migrant deaths in the Mediterranean
Brussels, 29 March 2012 – This latest report is yet another sad reminder that seeking protection in Europe is a matter of life and death, according to JRS, commenting on the Council of Europe report, "Lives Lost in the Mediterranean: Who is Responsible?"
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International Women’s Day: five wishes of women in the Middle East
Amman, 13 March 2012 – Welcomed as guests but not allowed to work legally, Iraqi urban refugees in Syria and Jordan dream of stability themselves and their families. Though their children receive an education, many unemployed parents wait up to eight years to be resettled. Five Iraqi women sat down with JRS Middle East to share their hopes for an unknown future.
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Democratic Republic of Congo: helping neighbours is just a question of love
Mweso, 12 March 2012 – Working for your community should be more about solidarity than earning a living. This is the focus of the latest JRS awareness raising initiative in the camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs).
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USA: Expanding higher education at the margins
Denver, 7 March 2012 – The International Director of Jesuit Refugee Service, Peter Balleis SJ, was one of several presenters offering initial remarks at the opening of the first international Jesuit Commons: Higher Education at the Margins (JC:HEM) conference at Regis University in Denver, Colorado.
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Democratic Republic of Congo: helping women reduce their vulnerability
Masisi, 7 March 2012 – Last month, JRS officially launched the latest in a series of workshops, 'Education for Life', aimed at reducing the vulnerability of adolescent women in eastern Congo. The activities undertaken by course participants encourage discussion on sexual- and gender-based violence (SGBV) and early marriage.
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Asia Pacific: Five wishes on International Women's Day
Bangkok, 7 March 2012 – Women live in vulnerable situations throughout the region from border camps to urban apartment blocks. Over the past year JRS has been collecting testimonies of women in the Asia Pacific. On this International Women’s Day, take a minute to read what they want for their futures and their families.
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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): the displaced in North Kivu a priority for JRS in 2012
Goma, 28 February 2012 – During 2011, Congolese people from North Kivu province were unable to escape the effects of the seemingly never-ending cycle of violence between rebel groups and the national army and continued to suffer the effects of forced displacement. According to UN sources, there were more than 1.5 million internally displaced in the country at the end of 2011, more than 50 percent of whom were from North Kivu.
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Rwanda: igniting the imagination of refugee children
Kibuye, 28 February 2012 – After a really successful experiment in bringing new technology into the classroom, JRS Rwanda is eager to integrate similar experiences into its education projects in the country.
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International: workshop produces new communications plan
Rome, 28 February 2012 – A JRS workshop last week produced a new two-year plan to promote attention on refugee issues. The 2012-2014 communications plan is firmly rooted in the Strategic Framework, a document released in January outlining JRS values and strategies with a particular focus on the needs of refugees on the margins, quality education, interfaith dialogue and organisational unity.
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Europe: Court judgment major step forward in refugee protection
Brussels, 28 February 2012 – The judgment by the European Court of Human Rights will go a long way towards strengthening the protection of persons fleeing persecution and other human rights violations, according to a statement from JRS Europe.
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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): urgent response to forced displacement
Masisi, 08 February 2012 – In response to new massive population displacement in the last few weeks in the eastern Congolese province of North Kivu, the Jesuit Refugee Service has begun providing material assistance and emergency education to thousands of internally displaced persons (IDPs).
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Ethiopia: workshop on gender equality inspires behaviour change
Addis Ababa, 02 February 2012 – An inspirational workshop has provided a group of refugees and asylum seekers in Ethiopia with an appreciation of gender roles and equality as a basis to work towards behavioural change.
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Burundi: cultivating the seed of quality education
Rutana, 02 February 2012 – Quality education for children in primary school in Rutana is now a reality, according to a Jesuit Refugee Service Burundi statement marking the end of a two-year primary education project.
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Ukraine: Iraqi children granted full citizenship
Kiev, 26 January 2012 – Two young Iraqi girls were granted full citizenship status in Ukraine, in what JRS country director David Nazar SJ called a "precedent setting case".
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International: JRS publishes Strategic Framework 2012-2015
Rome, 25 January 2012 – After extensive consultation throughout last year, today the Jesuit Refugee Service published its Strategic Framework for 2012-2015, outlining broad goals, values, strategies and expected outcomes for the next four years. The 24-page booklet seeks to provide an inspirational framework and set overarching strategies for all ten JRS regions to meet the challenges of working with refugees on the edges of humanity.
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