MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Two members of the Iranian women's soccer team who claimed asylum in Australia have confirmed their pivotal refusal to sing the national anthem during the Women's Asian Cup in March was a protest against Tehran.
The first media interview with Atefeh Ramezanisadeh, 34, and Fatemeh Pasandideh, 22, since they abandoned their team to become refugees was broadcast Sunday on Australia's "60 Minutes" current affairs program.
"We just wanted to stand with our people. I was scared at times, but I just tried to do what was right and say that no one should be killed just for protesting," Ramezanisadeh told Nine Network through an interpreter.
The team was criticized in Iran and branded as traitors in the media there for remaining silent when the Iranian national anthem was played ahead of their opening loss against South Korea on March 2.
Some saw it as an act of resistance, while others interpreted it as a show of mourning following the U.S. and Israeli attacks on their homeland which began on Feb. 28. The team offered no public explanation.

#team #ramezanisadeh

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 1 (Reuters) - The United Nations refugee agency said on Tuesday it was not involved in Malaysia's planned ‌repatriation of Myanmar refugees, and warned that it remains unsafe ‌for them to return to the war-torn country.
Malaysia's Home Ministry said last week it had finalised the first phase of a voluntary repatriation programme that will see 1,476 refugees returned to Myanmar on September 29.
Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim had earlier said Myanmar had agreed to repatriate 5,000 Rohingya, amid rising ‌tensions over the refugees ⁠within local communities in Malaysia.
The UNHCR said an ongoing armed conflict and violence across Myanmar meant there could ⁠not be a safe, dignified and sustainable voluntary return of refugees.
"Under customary international law – a binding obligation on all states – no one should be sent to a country where their rights or freedoms may be at ‌risk. Any refugee return must be voluntary, based on an informed decision, and take place in conditions of safety and dignity," it said in an emailed statement to Reuters.

#myanmar #refugees #refugee #country

The international aid group Doctors Without Borders found a pattern of abuse and ***** ual exploitation by some local and foreign staff working in Chad along the Sudanese border, in some cases targeting underage girls or trading food or jobs for ***** with refugees, according to a confidential internal memo obtained by The ***** ociated Press.
The Doctors Without Borders report — completed in July and first reported Saturday by The ***** ociated Press — found 59 allegations of abuse and said 18 staff members were dismissed and barred from future employment. In some cases, the group told AP, the allegations couldn't be verified or the perpetrators identified. The report also said some of the repeated exploitation suggested potentially organized "sexual trafficking."
The organization said it launched the monthslong investigation in response to AP reporting that women had accused staff of ***** ually exploiting them in displacement sites in Chad, where hundreds of thousands fled from Sudan's devastating civil war, now in its fourth year. The report credited AP as playing "a fundamental role as an external whistleblower."
The findings by Doctors Without Borders — one of the largest employers and biggest aid organizations in the refugee camps in eastern Chad — indicate the abuse was more widespread than previously reported.
Sexual exploitation has repeatedly surfaced during humanitarian crises despite years of efforts by aid organizations to prevent abuse.

White House to review status of all refugees admitted under Biden with no appeals

The Trump administration is ordering the review of all refugees admitted to the U.S. during the Biden administration, according to a memo reviewed by NBC News. It is the latest in a series of actions taken by the administration to dismantle the U.S. immigration system.
The decision would potentially affect more than 200,000 refugees who began the process of legally immigrating to the U.S. over the last four years. In order to receive refugee status, applicants first must go through an extensive vetting proces

WE WELCOME YOU TO AMERICAAfrikaner refugees fleeing persecution from their native South Africa. We stand with these refugees, many of them farmers and former business owners, as they build a better future for themselves and their children here in the United States.

TRUMP

WE WELCOME YOU TO AMERICAAfrikaner refugees fleeing persecution from their native South Africa. We stand with these refugees, many of them farmers and former business owners, as they build a better future for themselves and their children here in the United States.

TRUMP

Breaking news: A group of nearly 50 White South Africans landed as refugees Monday, coming to the U.S. under a humanitarian designation meant for people fleeing war or persecution that the Trump administration has suspended for all other groups worldwide.