Displacement Survey Shows 3.5 Million Internally Displaced, Returnees from Abroad in 15 Afghan Provinces
“According to the IOM’s Afghanistan’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (DTM) Baseline Mobility Assessment, the returnees from abroad included 1,355,488 people from Pakistan and over 398,521 from Iran. Another 67,002 Afghans returned from non-neighbouring countries. This includes 38,620 people who returned from Europe and Turkey”.Remittances – an untapped engine for sustainable development

Remittances – an untapped engine for sustainable development
“Migrants are needed in virtually all job markets; they bring skills and they help economies flourish. Although migrants represent just slightly over 3 per cent of the global population, they contributed 9 per cent of global GDP in 2015,” said Louise Arbour, the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on International Migration, in her message to the Global Forum on Remittances, Investment and Development, that kicked off in Kuala Lumpur on 8 May.

UN Migration Agency Calls for Greater Protection of Migrants, Yemenis Following Visit to Yemen
It is estimated that some 7,000 migrants enter Yemen each month with the total number of migrant arrivals in 2017 reaching near 100,000. The vast majority intends to reach the Gulf countries, in particular the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA).

War in Syria putting Lebanon's refugee community under strain
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has repeatedly put forth proposals for the construction of refugee camps for Syrians, but the government in Beirut has opposed them at every turn. Lebanon does not want to establish any more permanent structures to house even more refugees — the country is already overburdened. According to official statistics, 450,000 Palestinians currently live in Lebanon along with more than 1.5 million Syrians. Lebanon has a population of 6 million people.

Refugees Got Talent
Four Syrian friends put on a TV-style talent show to lift spirits at the refugee camp where they are stranded. They got to work on their show Refugees Got Talent. They made buzzers out of camping lights, got a speaker, found a presenter, made a table for the panel of judges and then rounded up their participants and audience to watch the talent. It often felt weird singing and joking when there was so much to be sad and angry about, but the show was also light relief.