GENEVA: Hard-hit by US aid funding cuts, the UN migration agency’s move to lay off thousands has sparked an internal “rebellion” by dozens of staff, who are demanding its donors take action, AFP has learned.
Like many humanitarian agencies, the International Organization for Migration has been reeling since President Donald Trump returned to the White House in January, pushing an anti-migrant agenda and immediately freezing most US foreign aid funding.
The United Nations agency, tasked with serving many of the world’s some 280 million migrants, has moved swifter than most to lay off staff as it faces dire shortages.
The organization, which at the end of last year employed around 22,000 people, announced Tuesday that it was facing “an unprecedented 30-percent reduction in estimated donor funding” this year alone, forcing it to lay off over 6,000 staff members worldwide.
Accounting for around half of the affected staff were 3,000 people who were laid off last month, after Trump halted the US refugee resettlement program they had been working with.
More than 250 of the over 1,000 staff at IOM’s Geneva headquarters were also informed last week they were being let go.
That announcement appears to have spurred already simmering anger among some staff at changes inside the agency to boil over.
In an email, sent to diplomatic missions in Geneva, an anonymous group of over 30 IOM employees warned of serious concerns at the agency “regarding financial transparency, governance failures, and alarming reports about workplace conditions.”
AFP received copies of the email from three current and former employees, including one person behind the missive, and five diplomatic mission confirmed they had received it.
IOM “categorically rejected” allegations raised in the letter addressed to IOM’s 175 member states, which provide much of the organization’s funding and have significant sway over its structure, budget and management.
The letter warned countries that the alleged issues “threaten the integrity of the organization to which you contribute,” urging them to “collectively request a full and transparent report” from IOM management on a number of “financial decisions.”
The email lobbed a long line of accusations, which AFP could not immediately independently verify.
It among other things questioned the necessity and the cost-saving benefit of the abrupt and large-scale layoffs, pointing to significant payments for notice and severance packages, as well as legal proceedings.
“It remains unclear whether the total expenditure on layoffs has ultimately exceeded what would have been required to allow staff to complete their contracts or receive standard non-renewal notices,” the email said.
“There is no rationale,” one senior staff member who has worked at IOM for over a decade told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The US temporary cuts are just an excuse to sack people.”
Among other accusations in the email was that “the work environment at IOM has deteriorated significantly, with growing reports of harassment, intimidation and retaliation against staff.”
Several IOM staff members told AFP that the working environment in Geneva especially was “toxic,” with employees involved in the email so fearful their communications would be intercepted they carry their computers with them at all times, “even to the gym.”
“We don’t feel safe,” the senior staff member said, adding that the employees had launched their “rebellion to end impunity and a culture of fear.”
Asked about the allegations made in the letter, an IOM spokesperson stressed that the agency was “navigating a challenging moment, making difficult but necessary decisions to ensure IOM’s long-term ability to serve migrants and displaced people worldwide.”
“This process has been conducted with transparency, in consultation with our member states, donors, and staff unions, and with a deep commitment to fairness, empathy, and respect for our staff,” the spokesperson said.
“Any misleading accusations that suggest otherwise are categorically rejected.”
The mass-layoffs came after Trump’s campaign to dismantle US foreign aid contributions has put the entire humanitarian community into a tailspin.
The sudden about-face on aid funding by the country that traditionally has by far given most has dealt a harsh blow to IOM, which had been relying on the United States for 46 percent of its annual budget.
The agency voiced regret Tuesday at “the necessary impact these decisions will have on colleagues who have dedicated years to IOM’s mission, many of whom will lose their jobs,” stressing that its staff “represent the best of public service.”
IOM, which since late 2023 has been headed by Amy Pope, a US lawyer who served in the administrations of former presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden, did not respond to queries about specific allegations.
In an internal memo sent to the agency’s staff on Tuesday, entitled “Update on Structural Adjustment at IOM” and signed by the “Leadership Team,” the agency also criticized the “spreading of misinformation.”
“While we understand that this period of change has been unsettling and has led to anxiety for the future, the deliberate spreading of misinformation is not a legitimate means of raising concerns,” said the memo, seen by AFP.
That only “undermines trust in IOM, damages the organization’s reputation, and harms the staff and beneficiaries it serves,” it warned.
“Using the media to air grievances or reveal unauthorized information contravenes staff rules and regulations,” it said, urging employees instead to go through the “multiple internal channels” available.
Angered by mass-layoffs, UN migration agency staff demand member states step in
https://arab.news/5g3fw
Angered by mass-layoffs, UN migration agency staff demand member states step in
- The United Nations agency has moved swifter than most to lay off staff as it faces dire shortages
- The organization announced Tuesday that it was facing “an unprecedented 30-percent reduction in estimated donor funding” this year alone
Japan, China, and South Korea agree to promote peace
- Seoul and Tokyo typically take a stronger line against North Korea than China, which remains one of Pyongyang’s most important allies and economic benefactors
TOKYO: Japan, South Korea and China agreed Saturday that peace on the Korean Peninsula was a shared responsibility, Seoul’s foreign minister said, in a meeting of the three countries’ top diplomats in which they pledged to promote cooperation.
The talks in Tokyo followed a rare summit in May in Seoul where the three neighbors — riven by historical and territorial disputes — agreed to deepen trade ties and restated their goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula.
But they come as US tariffs loom over the region, and as concerns mount over North Korea’s weapons tests and its deployment of troops to support Russia’s war against Ukraine.
“We reaffirmed that maintaining peace and stability on the Korean peninsula is a shared interest and responsibility of the three countries,” South Korea’s Cho Tae-yul told reporters after the trilateral meeting.
Seoul and Tokyo typically take a stronger line against North Korea than China, which remains one of Pyongyang’s most important allies and economic benefactors.
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya said he, Cho, and China’s Wang Yi “had a frank exchange of views on trilateral cooperation and regional international affairs ... and confirmed that we will promote future-orientated cooperation.”
“The international situation has become increasingly severe, and it is no exaggeration to say that we are at a turning point in history,” Iwaya said at the start of Saturday’s meeting.
This makes it “more important than ever to make efforts to overcome division and confrontation,” he added.
Wang noted this year marks the 80th anniversary of the end of WWII, saying “only by sincerely reflecting on history can we better build the future.”
At two-way talks between Iwaya and Wang on Saturday, the Japanese minister said he had “frankly conveyed our country’s thoughts and concerns” on disputed islands, detained Japanese nationals and the situation in Taiwan and the South China Sea, among other contentious issues.
Ukraine was also on the agenda, with Iwaya warning “any attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force will not be tolerated anywhere in the world.”
Climate change and aging populations were among the broad topics officials had said would be discussed, as well as working together on disaster relief and science and technology.
Iwaya said the trio had “agreed to accelerate coordination for the next summit” between the countries’ leaders.
Russian authorities bring in trains to fight oil depot fire
- Regional officials said four trains were drafted into the site at Kavkazskaya
- 473 firefighters and 189 pieces of equipment were engaged in the operation
MOSCOW: Authorities in southern Russia’s Krasnodar region brought in firefighting trains loaded with water on Saturday to help battle a blaze still raging at an oil depot following a Ukrainian drone attack.
Regional officials, writing on the Telegram messaging app, said four trains were drafted into the site at Kavkazskaya, where the fire first broke out last Tuesday.
Firefighters were tackling a fire still burning at one of the tanks at the site covering 1,250 sq. meters (13,500 square feet) while also trying to cool other equipment at the site.
The statement said 473 firefighters and 189 pieces of equipment were engaged in the operation.
On Friday, depressurization of the burning tank triggered an explosion and the release of burning oil.
Reports on Friday said the fire covered some 10,000 square meters.
Russia’s Foreign Ministry said this week the attack amounted to a violation of a proposed ceasefire on energy sites in the more than three-year-old war, agreed between Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump.
The accord fell short of a wider agreement that the US had sought, and which was accepted by Ukraine, for a blanket 30-day truce.
Migrants deported from Mauritania recount police beatings
- Government spokesperson Houssein Ould Meddou said migrants were returned to the border crossings through which they had entered the country
ROSSO, SENEGAL: Ismaila Bangoura has terrible dreams about the night when he says Mauritanian police burst into the place in Nouakchott he shared with other Guineans, beat them up, and carted them off to a police station.
After three days in detention without food or access to toilets, they were taken to the border with Senegal on March 7, the 25-year-old said.
Since then, the group has wandered the streets of Rosso with nowhere to go and no connections to this remote part of northern Senegal.
“They beat us and stuck us in jail without telling us why,” said Bangoura, a trained carpenter who emigrated to Mauritania in 2024 to earn a living.
“They took everything we had — money, watches, phones. They handcuffed us and crammed us into buses to deport us,” he said.
He was left with only the clothes on his back — a Guinea squad football jersey and a pair of black shorts.
For several weeks now, Mauritania has been throwing out migrants, mostly from neighboring countries in West Africa like Senegal, Mali, Ivory Coast, and Guinea.
The campaign has sparked indignation in the region.
The vast, arid country on the Atlantic seaboard is a departure point for many African migrants seeking to reach Europe by sea.
The authorities say their “routine” deportations target undocumented people.
They have not provided information on the number of people expelled.
None of the migrants said they intended to take to the sea.
Interior Minister Mohammed Ahmed Ould Mohammed Lemine told journalists all the foreigners deported had been in Mauritania illegally.
He said the expulsions were “compliant with international conventions.”
Government spokesperson Houssein Ould Meddou said migrants were returned to the border crossings through which they had entered the country.
NGOs, however, have condemned the “inhumane” deportations, and the Senegalese government has voiced outrage at the treatment of its nationals.
A few meters from the Rosso crossing, about 30 migrants — mostly Guinean men, women, and children — squatted in a dilapidated building littered with rubbish, each trying to carve out a space of their own in the narrow edifice.
“You have to get in there quickly if you want to secure a place to sleep at night,” commented a young man named Abibou.
The rest “sleep on the street,” he said.
The most fortunate end up at the nearby Red Cross premises, where they are looked after.
But Mbaye Diop, the head of the Red Cross branch in Rosso, said there had been such a large influx of migrants recently that his organization could no longer accommodate everyone.
“The people who come to us generally arrive exhausted. They’re hungry and need a shower. Some also need psychological support,” he said.
Around him, several migrants tried to get some sleep on old mats despite the constant noise and movement of people around them.
Others remained huddled in their corners, staring blankly.
“We’re hungry. We haven’t eaten anything since this morning,” one said.
Some said they were getting restless and now just wanted to go home.
Amid the hubbub, Ramatoulaye Camara tried to soothe her crying toddler.
She was also deported in early March.
Despite being heavily pregnant with another child, she was — like many others — beaten by Mauritanian guards, imprisoned, and stripped of all her belongings, she recounted.
“We suffered a lot,” she said quietly, trying to comfort the little girl.
Idrissa Camara, 33, has been working as a carpenter in Nouakchott since 2018.
On March 16, he says he was arrested at his workplace and deported. Since then, he has been wandering around Rosso in the same grey and yellow overalls and protective boots, his only remaining possessions.
“They got so dirty and smelly these past few days that I had to go and wash them in the river. I had to hang around nearby in my underwear while they dried,” he said.
The married father of two said he had kept his deportation secret from his family so as not to distress them and planned to return to Nouakchott and his job there.
“All I want is to be able to work and provide for my family. I haven’t harmed anyone,” he said.
Daesh suspect who held journalists gets life sentence in France
- Nemmouche is already in prison after a Belgian court jailed him for life in 2019 for killing four people at a museum in May 2014, after he had returned from Syria
PARIS: A French court sentenced a French extremist to life in prison for holding four journalists captive more than a decade ago in the Syrian Arab Republic.
Mehdi Nemmouche, 39, was convicted of having held the French reporters hostage for Daesh from June 2013 to April 2014.
The sentence carries a minimum term of 22 years before he is eligible for parole.
All four journalists during the trial said they clearly recognized Nemmouche’s voice and manner of speech as belonging to a so-called Abu Omar, who terrorized them and made sadistic jokes while they were in captivity.
Nemmouche denied ever being their jailer, only admitting in court that he was a Daesh fighter in Syria.
From the beginning of the trial last month, he has claimed only to have fought against the forces of former President Bashar Assad.
“Yes, I was a terrorist, and I will never apologize for that.”
Nemmouche has said he joined Al-Qaeda’s Syria affiliate and then Daesh — both listed as “terrorists” in the EU — while in Syria.
Nemmouche is already in prison after a Belgian court jailed him for life in 2019 for killing four people at a museum in May 2014, after he had returned from Syria.
Daesh emerged in 2013 in the chaos that followed the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, slowly gaining ground before declaring a so-called caliphate in large parts of Syria and neighboring Iraq.
A US-backed offensive dealt the final blow to that proto-state in 2019.
Daesh abducted and held hostage 25 Western journalists and aid workers in Syria between 2012 and 2014, publicly executing several of them, according to French prosecutors.
Reporters Didier Francois and Edouard Elias, and then Nicolas Henin and Pierre Torres, were abducted 10 days apart while reporting from northern Syria in June 2013.
They were released in April 2014.
Henin alerted the authorities after he saw a facial composite of the presumed perpetrator of the May 2014 Brussels attack that looked very familiar.
Henin, in a magazine article in September 2014, recounted Nemmouche punching him in the face and terrorizing Syrian detainees.
During the trial, he detailed the repeated torture and mock executions he witnessed while in captivity.
=Nemmouche, whose father is unknown, was brought up in the French foster system and became radicalized in prison before going to Syria, say investigators.
The court also handed life sentences to two other extremists tried in absentia because they are presumed dead.
Belgian extremist Oussama Atar, a senior Daesh commander, had already been sentenced to life for the 2015 terror attacks in Paris claimed by Daesh that killed 130 people and the Brussels bombings by the group that took the lives of 32 others in 2016.
The other defendant was French Daesh member Salim Benghalem, accused of having been the jailer-in-chief of the hostages.
The court also handed a 22-year sentence to Frenchman Abdelmalek Tanem, 35, accused of being one of the jailers.
None of the journalists had recognized Tanem, who said he was a bodyguard for several IS leaders and slept in the basement of an eye hospital where they were held hostage, but claimed to have never seen them.
But prosecutors argued he was one of around 10 French-speaking Daesh jailers.
The court also handed a 20-year sentence to Kais Al Abdallah, a 41-year-old Syrian extremist accused of having helped abduct the journalists and of having been deputy in command in the Syrian city of Raqqa, all of which he denies.
From sahoor drums to online apps: Ramadan through the eyes of 3 generations of a Pakistani family
- Digital age has significantly altered how holy month is observed, offering spiritual engagement through apps, social media, and online platforms
- Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for Muslims worldwide during Ramadan, whether to check prayer timings or order food
ISLAMABAD: The clatter of plates, spoons, and forks filled the air as Mahmood Ahmed Hashmi, 67, broke his fast earlier this week at his home in Islamabad, seated with his three sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren around a large, colorful tablecloth spread on the floor.
Ramadan traditions and practices evolve across generations, influenced by changing demographics, lifestyles, media and digital apps, while retaining the core spiritual elements of fasting, prayer, and charity.
As in other parts of the world, the digital age has also significantly altered how Ramadan is observed by Pakistani families, offering new avenues for spiritual engagement, community connection, and resource access through apps, social media, and online platforms.
FASTFACT
Digital age has significantly altered how holy month is observed, offering spiritual engagement through apps, social media, and online platforms.
Hashmi, a retired civil servant, detailed how Ramadan has changed through the generations of his family, beginning with the tradition of Ramadan drummers walking through the streets, beating drums to wake people for the pre-dawn meal (sahoor) before fasting began for the day. Once a typical feature of the holy month, the tradition’s usefulness has been eclipsed by TV, mobile phones, and alarm clocks.
“In those days, the elders used to come out in the neighborhood to wake up people for sahoor,” Hashmi told Arab News at iftar. “They used to do some drumming and other things so that people could get up, but now you have everything in your cell phone.”
Mobile apps have become indispensable tools for Muslims around the world during Ramadan, offering features such as prayer time reminders, Qur’anic recitations, and fasting trackers, ensuring accurate timing and accessibility.
While many people used to visit neighborhood or community religious gatherings earlier, now platforms such as YouTube and TikTok host Islamic scholars and influencers who share daily Ramadan reflections, Qur’anic tafseer (exegesis), and tips for spiritual growth, making Islamic education more accessible, especially for younger Muslims.
Social media platforms have also become main avenues for sharing Ramadan greetings, exchanging recipes, and discussing spiritual reflections.
Handwritten Eid cards, once widely exchanged among friends and relatives ahead of the post-Ramadan Eid Al-Fitr festival, are now a rarity in the age of digital greeting cards shared on Whatsapp and other messaging platforms, Hashmi lamented.
“How good the feeling used to be to get Eid cards from your loved ones,” he said. “Your near and loved ones used to wait for them. People used to display them in their drawing rooms or bedrooms. Now a picture (card) will come (on mobile phone).”
Iftar and sahoor meals would also be made entirely at home, or with snacks and food bought from neighborhood eateries, and would be consumed as a family, while food was now increasingly ordered from online apps as per individual choices, Hashmi added.
While the retired official regrets the decline in many of the Ramadan customs of his youth, his son Miraj Mustafa Hashmi, a professor at the National University of Sciences and Technology, said digital innovations such as mobile apps have streamlined everyday rituals, while still nurturing cherished Ramadan traditions.
“Apps like FoodPanda have replaced traditional market trips for iftar (items),” Miraj said, explaining that this was beneficial for people who did not have the luxury of time due to jobs and other responsibilities.
“It is a digital era, things are going on like that and people are comfortable in it. I think it is a very positive change … because people like us have to stay in the office all day and work … Obviously, we want to go to the market but the pressure of work and the load is there.”
Digital platforms and apps have also made it easier for people to donate to charity and support those in need, a core aspect of the holy month, Miraj said.
For his 10-year-old son Ibrahim, a student who began fasting at the age of 7, Ramadan is about being able to order his favorite dishes online and checking the internet for iftar and sahoor timings.
“I love having noodles, pizza, macaroni, samosas, pakoras, and jalebis for iftar,” Ibrahim said.
But was there anything Miraj missed about the way Ramadan used to be observed?
Relatives and friends used to meet each other more often at Ramadan events when they did not have the luxury to connect through video calls, he said.
“When I think of my childhood, we used to go to social events, we used to go shopping with our grandparents, we used to do all these activities.
“If we see, our parents spent a very tough life due to limited facilities, but they made it a little easier (for us) and our children are living a much easier life and technology is helpful.”
