Norwegian Refugee Council [to 23 April 2016]
http://www.nrc.no/

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(22.04.2016)
Norway
Seeking solutions to displacement
“If you invest in the lives of refugees, you invest in the future of the countries they go back to, even if the war is still going on,” says Filippo Grandi, the newly appointed UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Yesterday, the new UN refugee chief discussed the different solutions to the global refugee crisis with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) Secretary General, Jan Egeland, and several NRC Country Directors, at the Conference on Solutions to Displacement in Oslo.

Increasing restrictions to humanitarian access in many warzones make it more and more difficult for international NGOs to reach communities in need, and has led to the death of many humanitarian workers along the way. Carsten Hansen, NRC’s Regional Director for the Middle East, recounted the biggest challenges of humanitarian workers in Syria:

“Because of the ongoing and shrinking space for humanitarian access, operating in Syria has never been more difficult, complicated and dangerous. We are working in a warzone where conflict lines are shifting. We see borders rising and Syrian colleagues who don’t have access any longer,” says Hansen…

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(20.04.2016)
Youth
Urgent action needed to address challenges faced by refugee youth in Lebanon
An entire generation of young people in the Middle East faces unprecedented challenges in an environment of insecurity and poverty, risking losing their untapped potential to hopelessness.
The Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) has published a regional research carried out among refugee and local youth across the Middle East showing how complex legal and economic barriers across the region stunt their development. The research is accompanied by a short Lebanon-focused report, highlighting the key challenges faced by refugee youth in the country: access to legal stay, limited access to work and education, as well as pervasive undercurrent of violence affecting their lives in both public and personal spheres.

The research, A Future in the Balance: How Conflict in Syria is Impacting on the Needs, Concerns and Aspirations of Young People Across the Middle East and the accompanying A Future in the Balance: Lebanon, were conducted throughout the final quarter of 2015…