Returning Home: The Refugee’s Journey Amid Global Conflict June 22, 2025 Deportation of Afghan refugees Al Jazeera "INSIDE STORY" July 06,2025 "For decades, tens of thousands of Afghans who have fled war and poverty and sought a better future have crossed into neighbouring Iran. Tehran has largely been lenient towards the community. But in recent years, Iranians seem to have grown tired of hosting them, and sentiment towards foreign nationals has hardened...." The Hidden Current in a Tidal Wave As of 2024 , more than 123 million people are forcibly displaced worldwide—yet something remarkable is happening. UNHCR reports that nearly 1.1 million refugees voluntarily returned to their home countries last year, reversing a decade-long trend of relentless outflows. From Afghan families leaving Iran to Syrian refugees heading back across once-forbidding borders, “home” is calling once again. History Has Seen This Before After WWII, millions of displaced perso...

Empowering Tamil human rights defenders, civil society, and victims’ groups to engage directly with UN human rights mechanisms The purpose The purpose of this article is to examine the significant barriers Tamil war victims in Sri Lanka faced in communicating with United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk during his June 2025 visit. Despite the historic nature of the visit and the critical opportunity it offered for Tamil survivors to present their long-standing grievances—including enforced disappearances, militarization, and impunity for wartime atrocities—their voices were marginalized due to logistical limitations, surveillance and intimidation, lack of direct engagement, and broader institutional shortcomings. This report aims to highlight those challenges and underscore the urgent need for survivor-centred dialogue and international accountability. Introduction In June 2025, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Volker Türk paid an offici...