A sixteen-year-old’s flight from the IS group to Norway

In 2013, then 16-year-old Mosab fled from Islamic State group in Syria. He travelled alone to Norway. Today, he lives in Oslo. He speaks Norwegian, goes to school, has two jobs – one paid and one as a volunteer – and he has learned to play the piano. But at night, he dreams that he is visited by the dead from the war.

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10 things to know about the crisis in Yemen

Yemen is described as the world's worst crisis. After four years of catastrophic conflict, millions of Yemenis are just one step away from famine. Without life-saving aid in the coming months, thousands of lives are at risk due to ongoing violence and lack of access to food and medicine.

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Ashamed to say she lives in a tent

AFGHANISTAN: "When my classmates ask me about my home and my parents, I don’t tell them that I’m living in a tent. They wouldn’t understand. They would mock me instead," says 13-year-old Salima.

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Rape as a weapon of war

Quiet, cheap and scarily efficient.

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The Norwegian Refugee Council is an independent humanitarian organisation helping people forced to flee. We work in crises across 32 countries, where we help save lives and rebuild futures.

Latest news

Africa|Uganda | 25. Mar 2019

Rich nations must renew support for refugees in Uganda

Living conditions in some of Uganda's largest refugee settlements are deteriorating due to a lack of funding and are resulting in refugees taking drastic measures to survive. The Norwegian Refugee Council calls on donor countries to take more responsibility for the 1.2 million refugees living in the poverty-stricken nation.

Palestine | 25. Mar 2019

Gaza children’s mental health rapidly deteriorating

More than two-thirds of children surveyed experiencing psychosocial distress

NRC’s Education Assistant in Aden, Malka Mohammed (26), remembers March, 2015 as a time that turned from being a joyful month of celebrations and weddings into a living nightmare. She was working as an English teacher in her home city of Aden when a colleague ran to her classroom, knocked madly on the door and shouted: “They’re attacking the city!”

“We evacuated the school. There was a lot of confusion. There was shooting everywhere,” she recounts. Over the next few weeks, it got worse and the fighting drew closer to Malka’s home.

“Every day, I heard stories of how people had been killed, and I saw the remains of destroyed buildings. It scared me to death. I was particularly afraid during those early morning hours when the airstrikes would begin.” She remembers one day waking up to the screams of the little girl next door. “I ran out to the street without wearing my abaya or even a scarf on my head. I was running like mad and the street was full of people. It felt like the end of the world, the sky was covered in red lightening.”

Malka and her mother ran as fast as they could. They eventually reached a house at which they felt safe and were welcomed in by the people living there. They stayed until the next morning.

A stranger helped Malka that day. Now, she is helping others.

As an EducationAssistant in southern Yemen, her job is to make sure children living in conflict can still access school. Through our education work, we rehabilitate and rebuild schools destroyed by shelling and other attacks, we distribute school materials, teach teachers and organise school meals.

“We cannot lose education in Yemen. If we lose education, we can lose a whole generation,” she says, and continues: “Education is so important, and that’s why we try to support young Yemenis to create a better life for themselves, and a future.”

Photo:

Yemen | 22. Mar 2019

Rebuilding bombed schools in Yemen

Millions have fled their homes. Landmines and airstrikes, combined with a lack of food and medical help, are putting 24 million lives at risk. Amid conflict, hunger and cholera, we delivered aid to over 800,000 Yemenis last year.

More news

Longreads

A sixteen-year-old’s flight from IS-group to Norway

In 2013, then 16-year-old Mosab fled from Islamic State group in Syria. He travelled alone to Norway. Today, he lives in Oslo.

Rape as a weapon of war

Quiet, cheap and scarily efficient:

Reaching more communities in crisis

Our annual report for 2017 shows how we expanded our work and were able to help more people than ever before.

Perspective

When refugees arrive:

What about the people already living there?

Nyandwi Paulina, 51 Refugee from Burundi
“I fled for two reasons. Firstly, because of the war, and secondly, because of the death of my husband. When I lost him, I had no hope to stay.”

Paulina fled Burundi in 2015. A widow, she has scars from being cut with a bush knife during the flight, causing her to need surgery twice.

“No, I do not want to return. I have no relatives, no land, nothing in Burundi. I can’t go home. I have no hope for Burundi, that’s why we see people arriving from there right now. There’s no hope for change.”
Photo: Guri Romtveit/NRC

Perspective

6 things to know about refugees in Tanzania

Perspective

THE WAR IN YEMEN:

10 things to know about the crisis in Yemen

Opinions

Global | 22. Jan 2019

Do not criminalise aid work

Global | 10. Jan 2019

Three crises we cannot ignore in 2019

Syria | 04. Oct 2018

World powers must choose peaceful negotiations to avoid an unprecedented disaster in Idlib

More opinions

Global displacement overview

Africa

Conflict, violence and drought forces millions to flee.

The global displacement figures

Yet again, the scope of displacement and subsequent humanitarian crises is at an all-time high.

Asia

Hundreds of thousands have fled from violence in Myanmar and Afghanistan

America

Trump turns the screws on refugees.

The Middle East

Civilians bear the brunt of international power play

Europe

Refugees are meeting closed doors

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NRC_Norway · 11h

#YEMEN: Schools are being destroyed, occupied by armed groups and used as shelters by #displaced people. Since 18 D… https://t.co/8DgwdiyvLJ

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NRC_Norway · 12h

#Uganda: Rich nations must renew their support for the 1.2 million refugees living in the poverty-stricken nation. https://t.co/iaEQZXvOgQ

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PRESS RELEASE: 68 % of schoolchildren in areas close to the Israeli perimeter fence have clear indications of psych… https://t.co/9p7Us4HyKJ

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Our backgrounds vary greatly, but we all share the same drive: to get the job done. With operations in 32 countries, NRC employs a wide range of professionals. Our impact is profound.

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The Norwegian Refugee Council’s (NRC) talent development programme is designed to attract newcomers to the humanitarian sector in order to invest for the future and respond professionally and responsibly to humanitarian needs.

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NORCAP: Global provider of expertise

Midwife Kristin Næss Andresen and health expert Nada Hamza working together to build capacity on women's and children's health in the Rohingya refugee camps in Bangladesh. (Photo: Ingrid Prestetun/NRC)

About NORCAP

NORCAP is a global provider of expertise to the humanitarian, development and peacebuilding sectors. We build partnerships with international organisations and national actors to protect lives, rights and livelihoods.

Partners and donors

NORCAP works with partners on national, regional and international levels in order to contribute effectively to humanitarian operations. We provide expertise in various fields to support to a wide range of organisations and countries through the deployment of expert personnel.