“To go back is not easy, to go to Europe is not easy, to stay here is not easy,” says ‘Biggy’, a 31-year-old Nigerian migrant who has been in Morocco for four years. Neatly dreadlocked and nearly two metres tall, he carries the scars of the beatings he’s received from Moroccan and Spanish border guards. He has tried and failed umpteen times to scale the fence or cross by rowboat into Spain.
Ukraine's frontline cuts across the country like a jagged scar. Despite a February ceasefire, the fighting hasn't stopped. In March and April, Kristina Jovanovski had rare access to rebel-held areas to investigate the humanitarian disaster that has unfolded on Europe's doorstep. Here is her exclusive report on why aid isn't getting through.
When they fled the town of Tawergha during Libya's revolution, they thought it would be just for a few weeks until the violence died down. Four years later, families remain stuck in limbo, surviving in a under-served makeshift camp, not knowing when or if they may ever be able to return home.
On 5 May, 194 migrants and asylum seekers survived a shipwreck off the coast of Sicily and were brought to the port of Catania by the cargo ship that rescued them. IRIN spoke to some of the survivors.
The number of people affected by severe flooding in southern Africa continues to rise, and more rain is predicted.
Malawi has reported 50 deaths and 153 missing, Mozambique 84 fatalities and Madagascar, which has been battered by Tropical Storm Chedza, 13. The overall number of people affected by in these countries stands at 638,000 in Malawi (of which 121,000 have been displaced from their homes), 90,000 in Mozambique and 100,000 in Madagascar.
