BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN – On 28 August, the UN Refugee Agency in cooperation with Counterpart Sheriktesh distributes school supplies and child benefits to up to 150 children at the Asylum-seeker Reception Centre of the State Committee for Migration and Employment. Education costs can be substantial for asylum-seekers who are not allowed to work and often have big families.  

“It a pleasure to see how excited the kids are about preparing to go to school and receiving their first school bags, notebooks, pencil and crayons,” says the manager of the reception centre, Salima Ismailova, while trying to line up the children who wait to receive a colorful school bag. “Most of the children had to interrupt their education when they escaped from their country, but with the help of UNHCR’s acceleration classes they were able to catch up with their local classmates and continue their studies.”

BISHKEK, KYRGYZSTAN – On July 2, the UNHCR office in Bishkek in cooperation with colleagues in Dushanbe and Kabul helped 23 Afghan asylum seekers return to their home country. Four families were brought to Manas Airport by a UNHCR bus in the early morning and will be received by UNHCR staff on arrival in Dushanbe.

From there, they will continue their onward journey to Kabul by plane on Saturday. The costs of the repatriation are borne by the UNHCR office in Kabul, whose staff will also receive the returnees in Afghanistan and provide them with further assistance.

On 18 June, refugees, representatives of the Government, parliament, authorities, courts, civil society, the media, diplomatic missions, the international community and the United Nations gathered at the Refugee Reception Centre in Bishkek and the Youth Square in Osh to start celebrating World Refugee Day.

On 20 June, World Refugee Day is commemorated around the globe to pay tribute to the millions of people who are being forcibly uprooted worldwide, to their courage, hopes and dreams.

In the run-up to World Refugee Day, Angelina Jolie, the Goodwill Ambassador of the UN refugee agency, released a new video. In this video, which is being broadcast also on TV in Kyrgyzstan, Mrs. Jolie stresses that “Refugees are the most vulnerable people on earth. Every day they are fighting to survive. They deserve our respect.” She calls on the public to “remember them on this day.”

BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, April 22 (UNHCR) – Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers in Kyrgyzstan have thanked UNHCR for providing them with winter aid, saying it had helped them survive at a time of economic hardship. Their expressions of gratitude came as the refugee agency said it was extending the special winterization programme until the end of May.

Abdullah,* who has lived with his family in Bishkek for the past 10 years, said the aid, including blankets, had "saved lives and brought hope to refugees in very difficult times." The Afghan refugee added that "a steep increase in food prices made our live in Kyrgyzstan very difficult" as winter approached, but the UN assistance ensured that he, his wife and their seven children made it through the cold months.

GENEVA – Asylum applications by Iraqis in industrialized countries rose 45 percent in the first half of 2007 compared to the previous six months, according to provisional statistics compiled by the UN refugee agency based on information provided by governments.

NEW YORK – UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres welcomed the adoption today of a UN Security Council resolution establishing a multi-dimensional UN mission in Chad and Central African Republic (MINURCAT) that will help strengthen security in the region.

UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador witnesses humanitarian crisis.

DAMASCUS – UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador Angelina Jolie has visited Iraq and Syria to see first-hand the plight of hundreds of thousands of families uprooted by the ongoing conflict in Iraq.

A campaign to raise US$ 220 million to help children of conflict was launched Wednesday by the UN refugee agency at the annual Clinton Global Initiative in New York.

Speaking at a press conference, UN High Commissioner for Refugees, António Guterres, called the ninemillion initiative "a means of ensuring that vulnerable children are fully able to realize their right to an education."