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

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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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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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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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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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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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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South Sudan: last group of JRS-supported teachers graduate
Nimule, 18 January 2012 – The last group of teachers officially graduated from their training programme in December as the Jesuit Refugee Service prepares to wind down activities in South Sudan.
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Ethiopia: activities underway in Dollo Ado, more to start soon
Dollo Ado, 18 January 2012 – Towards the end of 2011, JRS officially opened the first phase of its latest project, offering long-term assistance to Somali refugees in Melkadida camp, Dollo Ado, through education services, psychosocial counselling, and sports and recreational activities for young people. JRS seeks to provide tangible skills to Somali refugees in Melkadida camp ensuring their time spent in exile is not wasted.
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Philippines: urgent appeal for emergency assistance to the displaced in Mindanao
Mindanao, 16 January 2012 – Just days before Christmas, more than 100,000 families' holiday season and hopes for the new year were washed away with the flash flood that struck the northern coast of Mindanao, Philippines.
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Ethiopia: educational and recreational visit renews hope
Addis Ababa, 16 December 2011 – With information and care, there is every reason to believe the number of women with fistula could be drastically reduced. This is what the more than 100 students from the JRS Refugee Community Centre (RCC) in Addis Ababa heard on a recent visit to a rehabilitation centre for women on the outskirts of the Ethiopian capital.
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Rwanda: refugee students on a space mission
Kibuye, 15 December 2011 – For just one day, 18 students at the JRS school in western Rwanda were given an opportunity to forget they were living in a refugee camp and were transformed into astronauts on an exciting simulated mission through the Solar System, using the technologies that their western counterparts often take for granted.
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Asia Pacific: partnership with Erasmus Mundus kicks off refugee higher level education project
Bangkok, 19 November 2011 – Refugees and asylum seekers in Asia Pacific will have the opportunity to start a third-level education course certified by European universities in 2012, with support from the Academic Relations between Asia and Europe (AREaS) scholarship.
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International: JRS launches new website section, looking for deeper meaning
Rome, 14 November 2011 – JRS International announces the launch of the new section of its website: Theology, spirituality and ethics, a basis of the JRS mission.
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Thailand: JRS response to the flood
Bangkok, 8 November 2011 – As rising floodwaters threaten the only remaining road into Bangkok, displaced persons and refugees in the surrounding communities struggle to find food and supplies for the days ahead.
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Central African Republic: six schools built in Haute Kotto despite outbreak of conflict
Bria, 26 October 2011 – Despite a sharp increase in violence in the northeastern province of Haute Kotto, in the Central African Republic (CAR), claiming the living of more than 30 people and displacing thousands more, JRS has completed construction of six schools.
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Uganda: taking care of more than the educational needs of refugees
Kampala, 21 October 2011 – In late September what at first glance seemed like a routine trip to the zoo, went a long way to bringing normality and as such important psychosocial benefits to refugee students in the JRS English class in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.
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Jordan: breaking down cultural stereotypes with technology
Amman, 20 October 2011 – The Jesuit Refugee Service took advantage of its contacts in the USA and of technology to bring students of different backgrounds together.
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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): JRS withdraws from Rutshuru after four years
Bujumbura, 20 October 2011 – After four years of engagement with internally displaced persons (IDPs) and local communities in Rutshuru, in the North Kivu province in eastern Congo, JRS has officially phased down its education and emergency-assistance projects in late September.
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South Sudan: teachers empowered to help other teachers
Lobone, 15 September 2011 – Following a three-day workshop on classroom management training, seven teachers in the South Sudanese Lobone district have begun assisting their fellow colleagues.
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Syria: JRS photo promotes religious understanding in the Middle East, says NGO
Amman, 14 September 2011 – JRS Middle East was awarded 750 US dollars last month by the NGO, Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in its photography competition to promote positive images of the Arab world in the media.
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Afghanistan: global ban on cluster bombs ratified
Beirut, 13 September 2011 – Afghanistan should be commended for its ratification of the international convention banning cluster bombs in defiance of pressure from the United States, according to the Jesuit Refugee Service, a member of the Cluster Bomb Coalition.
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Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC): new projects get under way in North Kivu
Bujumbura, 31 August 2011 – Despite the substantial obstacles of working in a worn torn region – poor infrastructure, lack of human resources and insecurity – after six months of preparation work with local communities, the latest JRS projects in eastern DRC are beginning to show fruit.
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