refugees

World News

As Sweden Absorbs Refugees, Some Warn The Welcome Won't Last

6:36pm April 06, 2016

by Eleanor Beardsley

For decades, Sweden has welcomed the world's refugees. But with the arrival of 160,000 migrants, attitudes are starting to change and polarize. "There are two Swedens right now," says a journalist.

Pakistani refugees go on a hunger strike during a protest against the EU's deportation deal with Turkey at Moria Refugee Camp in Lesbos, Greece, on Wednesday. The pope and the Orthodox Church's ecumenical patriarch may be visiting the island soon.

Pope Francis, Patriarch Bartholomew May Visit Greece This Month

3:59pm April 06, 2016

by Camila Domonoske

The visit by the leaders of the Eastern and Western churches — announced by Greek church and government officials, but not confirmed by the Vatican — would signal support for migrants and refugees.

Dagmar Nordberg, a Swedish museum director, met Waliullah Hafiz, an asylum-seeker from Kabul, on a train platform last November. He'd fled Afghanistan after refusing to transport bottle bombs for the Taliban.

World News

After Fleeing The Taliban, An Afghan Reinvents Himself In Sweden

2:13pm April 05, 2016

by Eleanor Beardsley

An electrician who fled Afghanistan after the Taliban tried to force him to smuggle bombs into a military camp is starting a new life. He has just been approved to start a forestry apprenticeship.

Queue Listen Now

Teacher Mohammad Abdualamir and two students.

World News

A Swedish Town's Newest Residents Settle In And Make A New Start

8:00am April 03, 2016

by Eleanor Beardsley

Despite being overwhelmed by the arrival of tens of thousands of migrants last year, most Swedes still believe if refugees are fully integrated into Swedish life, they will eventually become an asset.

Employees prepare a convoy of four trucks transporting warm clothes and shoes to refugees in Ukraine, at the initiative of the French Red Cross, on Feb. 26 in Saint-Quentin-Fallavier, France.

World News

Ukrainians Who Fled To Russia Find The Welcome Is No Longer Warm

5:25pm April 02, 2016

by Corey Flintoff

Tens of thousands of Ukrainians fled to Russia when fighting began in 2014. The welcome they received has cooled as Russia's economy sags, and very few have been granted formal refugee status.

World News

Refugees Rescue German Politician, But The Rhetoric Stays The Same

9:10am March 26, 2016

by Scott Simon

A local leader of Germany's far-right NPD party, which has campaigned for closed borders, crashed his car. NPR's Scott Simon reflects on the irony of what happened next: refugees stopped and helped.

Queue Listen Now

French President Francois Hollande (center right) shakes hands with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, (center left) before a meeting during an EU summit in Brussels on Friday.

World News

Turkey And The EU Strike Controversial Migration Deal In Brussels

1:42pm March 18, 2016

by Merrit Kennedy

The European Union and Turkey have reached agreement on a plan aimed at stemming the massive flow of people into Europe. It likely will impact the fates of tens of thousands of migrants and refugees.

Asylum seekers from Afghanistan play football Feb. 7 in a resort in Halmstad, Sweden, where they are living temporarily. Sweden took in 163,000 migrants in 2015. Resistance to migrants is beginning to grow among some Swedes.

World News

As Migrants Flow In, Sweden Begins To Rethink Its Open-Door Policy

4:04pm March 07, 2016

by Eleanor Beardsley

Sweden has taken in more asylum seekers per capita than any other European country — including 35,000 unaccompanied minors in 2015. But not everyone in Sweden wants to keep the doors open.

Hans Sick and Freia-Mai Franck have taken in two Afghan teenagers. Franck, who came to Sweden as a German refugee after World War II, says, "I'm remembering what was happening to me when I was a child."

World News

Fleeing Alone, Some Migrant Kids Find Foster Homes In Sweden

12:43pm March 06, 2016

by Eleanor Beardsley

Sweden took in a record number of asylum seekers last year, among them 35,000 children who arrived without their parents. The luckiest are in foster care with Swedish families.

Queue Listen Now

Amran, an unaccompanied minor from Afghanistan, at right, walks in the camp known as the Jungle with 35-year-old Farid Hamdan, a father of four, also from Afghanistan. "My heart is saying help him because he's only a kid," says Hamdan. "He has nobody else

World News

A Young Afghan Migrant Makes His Way In The Calais 'Jungle'

6:13am March 04, 2016

by Eleanor Beardsley

Many asylum-seekers in Europe are unaccompanied minors, traveling alone or separated from families. Amran, a 13-year-old Afghan, is among hundreds of minors left to fend for themselves in France.