GENEVA: The United Nations’ refugees chief denounced Monday the politicization of migration in European elections, warning that demonizing refugees would only make the issue more difficult to deal with.
Filippo Grandi told AFP that his main concern after the weekend’s European Parliament elections, which handed significant gains to far-right parties across much of the continent, was that “the refugee-migration theme has become so politicized in these elections.”
That, he said, was “partly because some politicians have manipulated it, have portrayed it as a threat, as a risk.”
Many European countries have for years focused on tightening migration policies, and a heftier far-right representation is expected to make itself felt on the EU’s migration and asylum agenda.
Grandi acknowledged that swelling numbers of refugees and migrants could pose significant challenges, “first and foremost for the people that are on the move, but also for the people hosting and receiving them, for the countries, governments receiving them.”
“But to simply say: this is an invasion... (of) ill-intentioned people that come here to steal your jobs, threaten your values, your security, and therefore they have to go away, we have to build barriers... does not solve the problem,” he said.
“It’s not just wrong, because... these people have rights, whoever they are, but also because these positions do not solve the problem — they make it worse,” Grandi said.
“To build barriers actually increases irregularity of movements which are more difficult to manage,” he said.
Instead of demonizing refugees and migrants, he said countries would be far wiser to work together on addressing the root causes pushing people to leave their homes.
Such an approach would be in Europe’s “self-interest,” he said.
He pointed to the largely neglected conflict raging in Sudan that in recent months has spurred a “steep rise in the arrival of Sudanese refugees... into North Africa, Libya, Tunisia and then across to Italy.”
“There’s no point in screaming and anguishing about these flows when... not enough is done to stop the reasons why they’re coming,” he said.
Focusing on addressing root causes and dismal conditions along migration routes that spur people to keep moving may be “less sexy in terms of political attraction, but that’s the right way to go,” he said.
“Unless we do that, this problem will become bigger, and then there will be no slogans to counter it, because we will all be in deep trouble.”
Speaking to journalists, Grandi voiced hope that the anti-migrant rhetoric in Europe would die down now that the EU Parliament voting was over, and politicians would focus on getting “to work.”
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, “will work with whoever will be part of the European institutions,” he said.
But he warned the results could impact attitudes far beyond the continent.
“Everybody looks at Europe in terms of how they deal with these matters,” he told AFP.
Grandi noted that the majority of people on the move globally were not heading for Europe.
“The number of people who have crossed the Mediterranean in the first few months of this year is about 60-70,000, that we know about,” he said.
Chad meanwhile “has received 600,000 Sudanese (refugees) in a year: 10 times more.”
If rich countries backtrack on the principles guaranteeing people the right to cross borders to seek protection from violence and oppression, Grandi said he was “very worried that we will start hearing other countries backtracking too.”
UN warns of ‘politicized’ migration after EU’s far-right tilt
https://arab.news/nbywk
UN warns of ‘politicized’ migration after EU’s far-right tilt

- Many European countries have for years focused on tightening migration policies, and a heftier far-right representation is expected to make itself felt on the EU’s migration and asylum agenda
North Korean leader Kim reaffirms support for Russia on Ukraine, KCNA says

SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un reaffirmed Pyongyang’s “unconditional support” for all actions taken by the Russian leadership to fundamentally resolve the Ukraine situation, the North’s state media reported on Sunday.
Kim made the comment during his meeting with visiting Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov on Saturday, state news agency KCNA said.
Unhealthy smoke from Canadian wildfires blankets the Upper Midwest when people want to be outside

BISMARCK, N.D.: Much of the Upper Midwest on Saturday was dealing with swaths of unhealthy air because of drifting smoke from Canadian wildfires, covering the northern region of the US at a time when people want to be enjoying lakes, trails and the great outdoors.
Most of Minnesota and parts of Montana, North Dakota and Wisconsin were ranked “unhealthy” for air quality on a US Environmental Protection Agency map. Part of North Dakota that is home to Theodore Roosevelt National Park and other tourist attractions was ranked “very unhealthy,” some of the worst air quality in the nation.
In Minnesota, “If you have a nice pork loin you can hang from a tree, it’ll turn into ham,” quipped Al Chirpich, owner of the Hideaway Resort near Detroit Lakes, where people come to enjoy tree-lined Island Lake for fishing and other water activities.
Normally there would be boats and jet skis all over, but on Saturday he couldn’t see a boat on the lake, where the smoke impaired visibility and curtailed his camper business. None of his 18 RV sites was occupied. His seven rental cabins drew a handful of customers.
“I suspect when the weather clears, we’ll be swamped again. Fourth of July, I had probably 20 boats here lined up at my docks, and today my boat is the only one,” Chirpich said.
The conditions started Friday, dragging smoke from the Canadian wildfires down to the surface, said National Weather Service Meteorologist Jennifer Ritterling, in Grand Forks. Periods of bad air quality are expected to last through the weekend in the region, she said.
Limiting time outdoors, keeping windows closed and running air purifiers are good ideas for people with lung conditions such as asthma and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and even healthy people, Ritterling said.
“Our summers up here are fairly short and so everyone wants to get out and enjoy them, and it’s a little frustrating when there’s this smoke in the air,” she said.
Fires in Canada prompt state of emergency for some
All of Manitoba is under a state of emergency because of the wildfires, which have led to 12,600 people evacuating their homes in the province. The fires in the central Canadian province have burned over 3,861 square miles , the most land burned in 30 years of electronic record-keeping.
Under 1,000 people have evacuated their homes in Saskatchewan, where wildfires also continue to burn.
North Rim in Grand Canyon still closed
In Arizona, the North Rim in Grand Canyon National Park is still closed because of a 2.3 square-mile wildfire and another fire nearby on Bureau of Land Management land that has burned nearly 17 square miles .
More than 200 firefighters and support personnel worked to halt the uncontained fire Saturday as it burned across a high-altitude plateau between the communities of Lonesome, White Sage and Jacob Lake.
In Colorado, Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park remains closed because of a 4.4-square-mile wildfire burning on the South Rim of the park, known for its dramatic, steep cliffs. A few miles from the fire, an evacuation was ordered for the community of Bostwick Park, and a nearby highway also was shut.
The fires in and near both national parks led to evacuations of hundreds of people.
Chirpich, the Minnesota resort owner, said he has plans to go to Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park on Thursday and is “a bit pensive about how that’s going to be there.”
“I’m going to leave one smokehouse for another, I guess,” he said.
US ends case against doctor over alleged Covid vaccine scheme

WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Pam Bondi said Saturday she had ordered charges to be dropped against a doctor accused of destroying Covid-19 jabs and issuing fake vaccination certificates.
The abrupt halt to proceedings comes just days after the trial commenced, and is the latest boost to the vaccine-skeptic movement from President Donald Trump’s administration.
Michael Kirk Moore, a plastic surgeon in the western state of Utah, was charged by the Department of Justice in 2023 alongside his clinic and three others for “running a scheme” to defraud the government.
He was accused of destroying or disposing of over $28,000 worth of government-provided Covid vaccines and handing out at least 1,937 false vaccine record cards in exchange for payment.
Moore, who faced decades behind bars, was also accused of administering a saline solution to children — at the behest of their parents — so that they would think they had been vaccinated against Covid.
Moore’s trial began this week at a federal court in Salt Lake City.
But on Tuesday, Republican lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Trump’s most vocal hard-right supporters, said she had written to Bondi calling for charges against Moore to be dropped.
“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so. He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today,” Bondi wrote on X.
Bondi’s decision also notably comes as she faces fire from right-wing activists over her handling of a probe into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
She thanked Greene and Utah Senator Mike Lee, another hard-right lawmaker, for their advocacy for dropping charges against Moore.
The Covid-19 pandemic sparked fierce political division in the US between those who supported lockdowns and vaccination drives, and those who considered the measures as restrictions on freedom.
Trump, himself vaccinated against Covid-19, has appointed as his Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has initiated an overhaul of American vaccine policy.
Kennedy said Moore “deserves a medal for his courage and commitment to healing,” in an X post in April.
At the end of May, Kennedy announced that federal authorities would no longer recommend Covid-19 jabs for children and pregnant women, prompting accusations from medical groups that he was taking away parents’ ability to opt for vaccinations.
Kennedy has been accused of spreading vaccine misinformation, including about the measles vaccine, even as the US grapples with its worst measles epidemic in 30 years.
Lawmakers visit ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ after being blocked

OCHOPEE, Florida: Democratic lawmakers condemned Florida’s new Everglades immigration detention center after a state-arranged visit Saturday, describing a crowded, unsanitary and bug-infested facility that officials have dubbed ” Alligator Alcatraz.” A Republican on the same tour said he saw nothing of the sort.
The tour came after some Democrats were blocked earlier from viewing the 3,000-bed detention center that the state rapidly built on an isolated airstrip surrounded by swampland. So many state legislators and members of Congress turned up Saturday that they were split into multiple groups to view the facility.
“There are really disturbing, vile conditions and this place needs to be shut the hell down,” Rep. US Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat from Florida, told reporters after visiting. “This place is a stunt, and they’re abusing human beings here.”
Cage-style units of 32 men share three combination toilet-sink devices, the visitors measured the temperature at 83 degrees in one area that was billed as air-conditioned and grasshoppers and other insects abound, she and other Democrats said.
Although the visitors said they weren’t able to speak with the detainees, Rep. Maxwell Alejandro Frost, a Democrat from Florida, said one called out “I’m an American!” and others chanting, “Libertad!,” a Spanish word for “freedom.”
State Sen. Blaise Ingoglia, a Republican from Florida, countered that he had seen a well-run, safe facility where the living quarters were clean and the air conditioning worked well. He recalled that a handful of detainees became “a little raucous” when the visitors appeared but said he didn’t make out what they were saying.
“The rhetoric coming out of the Democrats does not match the reality,” he said by phone. “It’s a detention center, not the Four Seasons.”
Journalists weren’t allowed on the tour, and lawmakers were instructed not to bring phones or cameras inside.
Messages seeking comment were sent to the state Division of Emergency Management, which built the facility, and to representatives for Gov. Ron DeSantis. DeSantis spokesperson Molly Best highlighted one of Ingoglia’s upbeat readouts on social media.
DeSantis and fellow Republicans have touted the makeshift detention center — an agglomeration of tents, trailers and temporary buildings constructed in a matter of days — as an efficient and get-tough response to President Donald Trump’s call for mass deportations. The first detainees arrived July 3, after Trump toured and praised the facility.
Described as temporary, the detention center is meant to help the Republican president’s administration reach its goal of boosting the United States’ migrant detention capacity from 41,000 people to at least 100,000. The Florida facility’s remote location and its name — a nod to the notorious Alcatraz prison that once housed federal inmates in California — are meant to underscore a message of deterring illegal immigration.
Ahead of the facility’s opening, state officials said detainees would have access to medical care, consistent air conditioning, a recreation yard, attorneys and clergy members.
But detainees and their relatives and advocates have told The Associated Press that conditions are awful, with worm-infested food, toilets overflowing onto floors, mosquitoes buzzing around the fenced bunks, and air conditioners that sometimes shut off in the oppressive South Florida summer heat. One man told his wife that detainees go days without getting showers.
Florida Division of Emergency Management spokesperson Stephanie Hartman called those descriptions “completely false,” saying detainees always get three meals a day, unlimited drinking water, showers and other necessities.
“The facility meets all required standards and is in good working order,” she said.
Five Democratic state lawmakers tried to visit the site when it opened July 3 but said they were denied access. The state subsequently arranged Saturday’s tour.
The lawmakers have sued over the denial, saying that DeSantis’ administration is impeding lawmakers’ oversight authority. A DeSantis spokesperson has called the lawsuit “dumb.”
As Democratic officials headed into the facility, they said they expected to be given a sanitized and limited view.
Wasserman Schultz told reporters the lawmakers came anyway because they wanted to ask questions and get a sense of the structure and conditions.
German backpacker drank from puddles in Australian bush ordeal

- Wilga was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, sunburn, “extensive insect bites,” and an injured foot, police said
SYDNEY: German backpacker Carolina Wilga drank water from puddles and sheltered in a cave before escaping an 11-night ordeal in the Australian bush, police said Saturday.
The 26-year-old walked “confused and disorientated” 24 kilometers away from her van after it got stuck in remote bushland in Western Australia. The backpacker had lost hope of being rescued, police said.
But on Friday, she managed to flag down a woman who drove her to police in the agricultural community of Beacon, northeast of Perth. Wilga was airlifted to a Perth hospital for treatment.
“She spent 11 nights exposed to the elements and survived by consuming the minimal food supplies she had in her possession, and drinking water from rain and puddles,” Western Australia police said in a statement.
“She sought shelter at night where possible, including in a cave.”
Wilga was suffering from exhaustion, dehydration, sunburn, “extensive insect bites,” and an injured foot, police said.
The driver who spotted her, Tania Henley, told public broadcaster ABC that she saw Wilga waving her hands by the side of the road.
She appeared to be in a “fragile state,” bitten by midges and suffering from the cold.
“Everything in this bush is very prickly. I just can’t believe that she survived. She had no shoes on, she’d wrapped her foot up.”
The rescue was down to “sheer luck,” Western Australia police acting inspector Jessica Securo told a news conference in Perth after speaking to Wilga.
“She is still in disbelief that she was able to survive. In her mind, she had convinced herself that she was not going to be located,” said Securo.
“She basically looked at the direction of the sun and tried to head west, thinking that that would be her best bet of coming across someone or a road.”
Wilga told police she was “very confused and disorientated.”
Until her rescue, she had been last seen on June 29 arriving in the van at a general store in Beacon.
A police search spotted the van on Thursday, abandoned in dense bushland north of Beacon with plastic orange traction tracks placed beneath the rear wheels.
“It appears that she has somewhat lost control of the vehicle, and then it’s become mechanically unsound, and bogged,” Securo said.
She stayed with the van for one day before leaving the vehicle through “panic,” hoping to find help.
Wilga was “overwhelmed” to have found someone to help her.
“She had minimal food and minimal water. From speaking to her, she has said she could have planned better.”
The terrain can be “quite dangerous,” Securo added.
Wilga remained in hospital and was not expected to be released on Saturday, still needing “emotional support” and treatment for some injuries.
“She’s had a good night’s sleep. She’s had a shower. We’ve got her some food, which was a massive relief for her. So she’s just taking it one day at a time at the moment.”
The backpacker is now in “frequent communication” with her family who are relieved and thankful the Western Australian community came together to “throw every resource at locating their daughter,” Securo said.
The family had no plans at this stage to travel to Australia.
Police say Wilga had spent two years backpacking around the country, and was working at mine sites in Western Australia while staying mostly at hostels.
“Carolina has told me that she loves Australia. She still has so much travel to do here. She hasn’t made it over to the east coast yet, so that’s still on her bucket list,” said Securo.