China reportedly building refugee camps on North Korean border

2017-12-14T17:29:00-05:00

A Chinese county along the border with North Korea is constructing refugee camps intended to house thousands of migrants fleeing a possible crisis on the Korean Peninsula, according to an internal document that appears to have been leaked from China’s main state-owned telecommunications company.

The Times reports that one of China’s most prominent experts on North Korea called building the refugee camps “absolutely reasonable.”

"Nobody thinks about the safety of these women": the harrowing experiences of female refugees

2016-02-16T17:42:00-05:00

Amnesty International and the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, recently presented reports on the vulnerable position of women refugees and the dangers they face. Europe is failing to provide basic protection for them, the Amnesty report stated. This problem is now all the more critical because the percentage of women among the refugees who travel through Europe has risen dramatically.

"All the women interviewed for the Amnesty report said that they felt unsafe and threatened during the various stages of their journey. Women are at greater risk of becoming victims of violence, robbery and extortion... There is also the threat of rape and sexual assault by smugglers, security guards, policemen and fellow refugees. Some smugglers try to coerce the women into having sex with them in exchange for a shorter waiting time or a lower price for the crossing."

Alongside first-hand accounts by female refugees, the article describes some of the particular struggles women face, in addition to those experienced by their male counterparts. Women are expected to care for their children along the difficult sea and land routes from Syria to Europe.

Many refugee facilities don't have separate bathroom facilities for each gender, and the risk of sexual assault runs high. Some women have taken to sleeping outside of the camps, without any shelter, if its seems safer than risking sleepin...

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China reportedly building refugee camps on North Korean border

"Nobody thinks about the safety of these women": the harrowing experiences of female refugees