News Tagged with “Refugee crisis”

Abrahim, Hanyie and their friend Guðmundur Karl were all smiles yesterday afternoon.

Twelve-year-old Afghan refugee in Iceland: "I feel so safe"

13 Apr 2018 Afghan father and daughter Abrahim and Hanyie Maleki officially received a status as refugees in Iceland yesterday at the Directorate of Immigration. Twelve-year-old Hanyie made world headlines when 300 Icelanders threw a birthday party for her to defy plans to deport her.

Interview with Iraqi refugees who moved to the remote town of Ísafjörður

24 Mar 2018 Anwar Alsadon from Iraq came as a refugee to Ísafjörður, in the West Fjords of Iceland recently with her son, Sultan. Their new home is very different to their former home but they are thankful and happy.

Eliza Reid meets women at the Zataari refugee camp in Jordan.

Iceland's First Lady visits refugee camp in Jordan

9 Nov 2017 First Lady Eliza Reid travelled to the Zaatari refugee camp as part of a UN Women fundraising effort.

Sigríður Á. Andersen, Minister of Justice.

Hanyie's deportation postponed

12 Sep 2017 The deportation of Hanyie Maleki and her father Abrahim will be postponed until the end of the month. Their lawyers have utilised a last option in the legal system to postpone the deportation which was due to take place this week.

Bill put forward so that Hanyie and Mary can stay in Iceland

11 Sep 2017 The Alliance Party announced yesterday that they will be putting forward a government bill to allow asylum seekers Haniye, 11, and Mary, 8, and their families to stay in Iceland. Following a protest on Saturday at Austurvöllur square, Minister of Justice Sigríður Á.Andersen said that she would not be interfering in the matter.

Mary, eight, and Hanyie, eleven, will be deported within the next few days.

"We won't give up"

8 Sep 2017 "Their only hope is for someone to intervene in the matter right now and stop these deportations," says Sema Erla Sedar speaking on behalf of the two girls about to be deported from Iceland. One is the eleven-year-old Haniye Maleki and the other, the 8-year-old Mary from Nigeria.

Hanyie Maleki turns twelve in October. She is not allowed to stay in Iceland.

Eleven-year-old Afghan girl who made headlines to be deported from Iceland

5 Sep 2017 Refugee girl Hanyie and her father Abrahim Maleki received news yesterday morning that they were to be deported after all from Iceland. Earlier this summer, over 300 Icelanders organised a birthday party for Hanyie as a show of support for her remaining in Iceland.

Þorsteinn Víglundsson, Minister for Social affairs in Iceland.

55 refugees to be invited to Iceland in 2018

1 Sep 2017 The Icelandic government accepted yesterday to invite 55 refugees to Iceland next year. Within a few years the government will be accepting 100 refugees per year.

Public outrage as Nigerian asylum seekers are to be deported

26 Jul 2017 "Im a dead man if I go back to Nigeria, but this isn't about me, it's about my daughter. I want her to have a chance of a better life," says Sunday Iserian, a Nigerian asylum seeker speaking to mbl.is. After nearly two years of waiting in Iceland, their application has been rejected by the Icelandic Directorate of Immigration.

Þorsteinn Víglundsson with Filippo Grandi in Geneva.

Icelandic government to receive more refugees in coming years

13 Jun 2017 Minister for Social Affairs and Equality in Iceland, Þorsteinn Víglundsson reaffirmed the plans of the Icelandic government on the annual reception of quota refugees and the government's policy to receive a greater number of refugees in coming years.

Video:AFP visits Syrian refugees settling in Iceland

2 Feb 2017 The AFP media service came to Iceland this week to interview Syrian families who fled a country of war and horror for the peace and safety of Iceland.

President Jóhannesson offered a heartfelt welcome to Syrian families who are about to settle in Reykjavik and Akureyri. His wife, First Lady Eliza Reid is on his left hand side.

Icelandic President invites Syrian refugees to his official residence

30 Jan 2017 Five Syrian families, part of a new group of Syrian refugees invited by the Icelandic Government to settle in Iceland were received by President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson this afternoon. The President told them that Iceland wanted to show compassion, tolerance and an open mind.

People arrived with torches at Lækjartorg yesterday afternoon in a meeting of solidarity with the people of Aleppo. These signs bear the words Velkomin - welcome.

A thousand people attend solidarity meeting in Reykjavik for Aleppo

18 Dec 2016 Around one thousand people attended a solidarity meeting for the people of Aleppo yesterday afternoon in Lækjartorg in the city centre. The point of the event was to show that the people of Iceland have not turned a blind eye to the atrocities happening there.

Author Lára Garðarsdóttir with her book, titled Bear with me in English, about a couple of polar bears forced to flee their home.

Icelandic children's book touching on refugee crisis published in the US

22 Nov 2016 A beautiful children's book by Icelandic author Lára Garðarsdóttir on a couple of polar bears forced to flee their home will be published in the US this coming spring.