Reacting to reports that Russian national Denis Kulanin remains in detention after he was pardoned by the president on 28 August, and amid concerns that he could be deported to Russia, Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director, said:
“Denis Kulanin has publicly opposed Russia’s war against Ukraine and expressed support for Aleksei Navalny – both of which are regarded as crimes and punishable by prison in Russia. The Georgian authorities must ensure that he is not deported to Russia, where in the current climate of severe repression of anti-war dissent, he could face a real risk of arbitrary prosecution and imprisonment, torture or other ill-treatment.”
“Georgia is bound by the principle of non-refoulement, which prohibits the transfer of any person to a country where they would face a genuine risk of serious human rights violations. The Georgian authorities must also ensure that Denis Kulanin can effectively seek international protection, including to leave voluntarily for a safe third country.”
The Georgian authorities must also ensure that Denis Kulanin can effectively seek international protection, including to leave voluntarily for a safe third country
Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty International’s Eastern Europe and Central Asia Deputy Director
Background
On 1 September, Denis Kulanin was due to leave Georgia voluntarily for Armenia, after his lawyers submitted his flight ticket, passport and boarding pass to the court and the Temporary Accommodation Centre where he is held, following his pardon by the president on 28 August. He was one of nine people pardoned in connection with protest-related convictions. He had been serving a two-year prison sentence imposed on 4 June 2025 for damaging a police vehicle during a protest in Tbilisi on 28 March 2025.
Following his pardon, Tbilisi City Court placed him in the Temporary Accommodation Centre of the Migration Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs pending a further court hearing on his deportation from Georgia. This has deprived him of an opportunity to leave Georgia for Armenia voluntarily and raised concerns that the authorities are planning to hand him over to Russia instead.
The Republic of South Africa’s submission of evidence to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) documenting Israel’s non-compliance with legally binding provisional orders issued by the court in the case concerning allegations of genocide against Palestinians in the occupied Gaza Strip, must spur other states to pressure Israel to comply, Amnesty International said today.
In its submission to the ICJ, South Africa argues that Israel has failed to comply with the measures ordered by the court. This is consistent with Amnesty International’s findings that Israeli authorities have failed to implement the measures by continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, even after the so-called ceasefire of October 2025.
“Since the ICJ issued its first set of provisional measures in January 2024, Israeli authorities have continued to inflict irreparable damage to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza protected under the Genocide Convention, in utter disregard of the court’s orders and its legal obligations under international law. Rather than complying with the court’s mandatory measures, Israel is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa
The South African submission is an outlier in a crowded field of states who have failed to take action to prevent Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and in some cases enabled it.
Heba Morayef, Amnesty International
“The South African submission is an outlier in a crowded field of states who have failed to take action to prevent Israel’s genocide in Gaza, and in some cases enabled it. Many third states have helped sustain Israel’s impunity, some by failing to take any effective measures to enforce the Court’s binding provisional measures, and others also by actively providing the diplomatic cover, financial resources and material support that have enabled Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. All the while the international community has continued its apathy in the face of Israel’s unlawful occupation and system of apartheid, including its ethnic cleansing campaign against Palestinians in Area C of the occupied West Bank.”
The Israeli authorities continue to deliberately inflict on Palestinians in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction, in whole or in part, by imposing severe restrictions on the entry and distribution of essential supplies, including sufficient medical supplies and equipment, nutritiously diverse food, adequate amounts of fuel, and necessary reconstruction and repair material, all while curtailing the lifesaving work of humanitarian agencies. This violates the court’s January 2024 order to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance,” which was reiterated in March and May 2024.
“By killing Palestinian media workers documenting its violations in Gaza and blocking international media, human rights investigators and UN-mandated bodies from accessing the Gaza Strip as well as denying the International Committee for the Red Cross access to Palestinian detainees – despite a ruling of its own Supreme Court – Israel continues to mask the full horror of its unlawful conduct in Gaza and violates the ICJ’s order to preserve evidence related to allegations of acts of genocide,” said Heba Morayef.
“By failing to investigate, let alone prosecute, any high-ranking politician who issued genocidal statements and emboldening the ongoing spread of dehumanizing rhetoric by senior Israeli politicians, Israel continues to violate the order to prevent and punish public incitement to genocide.”
Despite some improvements in the humanitarian situation and a reduction in the scale and intensity of attacks since the so-called ceasefire, deadly Israeli air strikes, large-scale destruction of civilian objects, mass forced displacement and killings continue. At least 1,303 Palestinians, including over 300 children, have been killed by Israeli attacks since the so-called ceasefire of October 2025.
Tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza are living with life-changing physical injuries and mental harm, requiring long-term treatment and rehabilitation denied to Gaza. With nearly the entirety of Gaza’s population displaced, many on multiple occasions, Israel is exacerbating the shelter crisis it engineered by blocking the reconstruction process and deploying its troops and local militias across nearly 65% of the Gaza Strip, preventing displaced Palestinians from returning to their homes and lands east of the so-called “yellow line,” the ever-shifting, expanding demarcation line splintering Gaza.
“This grim reality underscores the urgent need for protecting Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and ensuring that Israel immediately comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” said Heba Morayef.
“All states must pressure Israel to end violations of international law, push for the implementation of the ICJ’s provisional measures, stop arms transfers and military assistance and end trade or economic relations that contribute to the unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory, in accordance with the ICJ’s July 2024 Advisory Opinion. In particular, Amnesty calls on South Africa to suspend any trade agreements with Israel that may risk contributing so human rights violations, including seaborne thermal coal shipments.”
Women queue at water points in the Al-Safa camps in Abu Jubayhah locality, South Kordofan state, Sudan. Jerrycans surround them, waiting to be filled. Until recently, getting water meant walking at least three kilometres.
This daily scene is part of a wider reality in Abu Jubayhah, which has become one of the main areas hosting displaced people in South Kordofan. Some live in camps such as Al-Safa, while many others have settled within the host community.
According to the International Organization for Migration (IOM), 57,880 displaced people are living across 62 locations in Abu Jubayhah, making it the second-largest hosting locality in South Kordofan, after Kadugli. Local authorities estimate the true number to be higher.
The scale of displacement may not be immediately visible in Abu Jubayhah town, but the conditions in the camps near the town centre tell a different story.
“When you go to the camps, you see the conditions people are living in,” says Ayşe Bilge Öztürk, MSF project coordinator in Abu Jubayhah.
Families live in temporary and semi-permanent shelters, including fabric tents and straw structures covered with plastic, as well as some concrete structures. Some tents are as small as 10 square metres, leaving little space for daily life. Many of the displaced people are women and children.
“The support available has not kept pace with the number of people who have arrived or the length of time they have been displaced,” says Öztürk.
Water: One of the first needs
Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) began our response in Abu Jubayhah in June 2026. Providing water in the three Al-Safa camps were among our first priorities.
At first, water was brought to the camps by truck while teams worked to establish a more sustainable water source. This included drilling a borehole, laying a water network and installing a solar-powered water pump. Teams also repaired latrines and provided cleaning materials.
Since we began this activity, MSF has provided more than one million litres of water to the community. Families in the camps depend on this water.
Aisha Ahmed first stayed in a school after being displaced before moving to Al-Safa camps. She remembers water as one of their most urgent needs at the time.
“Sometimes we would go a whole week without water,” Aisha says. “Now, after MSF drilled the borehole and extended the network, water is available 24 hours a day.”
Smiling, Aisha describes how she feels about the change: “I am happy. Now the water is there whenever we need it.”
For Aisha and other displaced people living in the camps, the change was not only about having water available. It also meant no longer having to go so far to collect it. Previously, people had to walk at least three kilometres each day to reach a water source.
A team does foundation and protection work on a borehole in Al-Safa camps, Abu Jubayhah, to get the water system operational. South Kordofan state, Sudan, August 2026.MSF
Bringing healthcare closer to people
Water is only one of the needs displaced families have.
During one visit to the Al-Safa camps, an MSF team met a mother whose daughter was suffering from severe diarrhoea and needed urgent medical care. The team assessed the child and referred her to Abu Jubayhah hospital. Cases like this show how living conditions and health needs can become closely connected for families in the camps.
As teams identified more health needs, they began testing for and treating malaria in Al-Safa camp. Soon, however, patients were arriving with other health conditions, leading us to broaden our medical activities.
At the reception area for newly displaced people in Abu Jubayhah, MSF teams established a clinic. They screen new arrivals for malaria, malnutrition, and maternal health and general health conditions, and refer those who need immediate medical attention.
MSF also provided logistical support to a multi-antigen catch-up vaccination campaign led by the Ministry of Health, which included measles, rubella, polio, and yellow fever vaccines, alongside other routine vaccinations. Many displaced people also live within the host community and rely on the same basic services.
At Abu Jubayhah General hospital, MSF is strengthening the emergency department through rehabilitation, equipment, medicines, and other essential supplies, while access to more specialised care remains limited.
Rainy season
The rainy season brings further challenges, as unpaved roads make it harder for people to move around and for teams and supplies to reach some locations.
Despite these challenges, something fundamental has changed in daily life in the Al-Safa camps — water is now closer and more reliably available.
Jakarta / Kuala Lumpur, 24 August 2026 – Greenpeace Indonesia and Greenpeace Malaysia are calling for stronger, more transparent and coordinated emergency action to stop the forest and land fires that have once again triggered transboundary haze between Indonesia and Malaysia.
This year’s crisis once again shows that haze is not simply a matter of wind direction or weather. The wind may carry smoke across borders, but the root of the problem lies in recurring fires—particularly in vulnerable forests and peatlands—and the failure to ensure effective prevention and law enforcement.
Greenpeace Indonesia’s monitoring from 11–16 August 2026 recorded 592 hotspots across Kalimantan, with 455 of them located on peatlands. The hotspots included 322 in West Kalimantan, 181 in Central Kalimantan, and 86 in South Kalimantan. Based on regional monitoring and cross-checking against meteorological data, smoke from fires in Kalimantan has repeatedly crossed the border into Sarawak and moved towards Kuching from early to mid-August.
The situation is increasingly alarming as communities in both countries are already experiencing the impacts of the haze. In Indonesia, fires and smoke have disrupted people’s lives and worsened air quality in several areas. In Malaysia, deteriorating air quality caused by transboundary haze has forced school closures in Sarawak. Recent reports also show that this year’s fires have spread widely, prompting the Indonesian government to increase the deployment of personnel and firefighting resources in Kalimantan.
Belgis Laela Noor Habiba, Forest Campaigner at Greenpeace Indonesia, said: “People in Indonesia and Malaysia should not be forced to breathe toxic air every time the dry season arrives. We have seen the same cycle far too many times: fires grow, the sky disappears behind a blanket of smoke, schools close, public health is put at risk, and then everyone starts looking for someone to blame. What we need now is not finger-pointing, but to ensure that the fires are stopped, their causes are thoroughly investigated, and those responsible are genuinely held accountable.”
Greenpeace stresses that the wind is not the culprit. The wind simply carries smoke from fires that already exist. For this reason, the response cannot stop at emergency measures such as firefighting operations, water bombing or weather modification once fires have already spread. Governments must strengthen prevention on the ground, protect and rewet peatland ecosystems, ensure companies are accountable for their concessions and supply chains, and enforce the law without favour against individuals and corporations proven to have caused or allowed fires to occur.
This crisis also once again demonstrates that clean air knows no national borders. Communities in Pontianak, Palangkaraya and other affected areas face the same threat as people in Kuching and across Sarawak. They are all being denied their right to clean air because of failures to prevent fires that should have been anticipated.
Heng Kiah Chun, Country Representative of Greenpeace Malaysia, said: “It is unfair that people in Malaysia are being asked to bear the health and social impacts of recurring haze while accountability for the fires remains an issue that has never been properly resolved. Cross-border solidarity means standing with communities in Indonesia, who are also victims, while firmly demanding accountability from all parties, including companies and investors, wherever they may be based , that are linked to forest destruction and fires.”
Greenpeace Indonesia and Greenpeace Malaysia have previously documented the recurring pattern of transboundary haze in their joint report, The ASEAN Haze Trauma, which shows that the impacts of forest and peatland fires have been felt by communities across Southeast Asia, while links between fires and companies from Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore remain a critical issue in the fight for justice and accountability.
Greenpeace Indonesia and Greenpeace Malaysia therefore call for:
The Indonesian government to immediately prioritise stopping the fires and protecting affected communities, including by ensuring that all necessary resources are available for firefighting and prevention efforts.
Transparent and impartial law enforcement against all parties proven to be involved in forest and land burning, including corporations and those who profit from clearing land through the use of fire.
Comprehensive audits and investigations into concessions and companies in fire-affected areas, as well as full public disclosure of information on fire hotspots, concession ownership, law enforcement processes and sanctions imposed.
The Malaysian government to strengthen measures to protect public health while ensuring that Malaysian companies and business interests operating in, or linked to, fire-prone areas are not exempt from accountability.
The governments of Indonesia and Malaysia, together with ASEAN member states, to strengthen cooperation on fire prevention and cross-border accountability. The haze crisis cannot be resolved through diplomacy only after the smoke has arrived; the region needs stronger mechanisms to prevent, investigate and hold those responsible for transboundary pollution to account.
“It is time we stop treating haze as a seasonal disaster that people simply have to accept. Every year, we know the dry season is coming. We know that peatlands are highly vulnerable to fire. We know that smoke will endanger millions of people and can cross national borders. If we already know all of this, then the failure to prevent it is no longer merely a technical problem, it is a failure of political will and accountability,” concludes Belgis.
Greenpeace Indonesia and Greenpeace Malaysia stress that people in both countries do not need cross-border disputes. They need clean air, protected forests and peatlands, and the assurance that those responsible for causing this crisis cannot continue to escape accountability.
Haze does not carry a passport. Its impacts do not stop at national borders. Neither should the responsibility to stop it.
KOROR, PALAU, Monday 31 August 2026 — As Pacific leaders gather for the55th Pacific Islands ForumLeaders Meeting in Palau from today, Greenpeace Australia Pacific is urging Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to stand with Pacific family by keeping Pacific needs at the heart of negotiations, backing longstanding Pacific leadership, supporting Pacific energy sovereignty and ocean custodianship, and holding the line on 1.5°C.
Against the backdrop of tense geopolitical turmoil, increasingly frequent and lethal extreme weather disasters, the threat of deep sea mining and an energy crisis driven by fossil fuel dependence, the Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting (PIFLM) is a critical moment for Pacific nations to unite with Pacific needs central to regional dialogue.
The climate crisis, security, the opportunities of renewable energy in the Pacific, ocean protection, and the shifting political landscape will be the focus of the Forum’s discussions.
Speaking from Palau, Shiva Gounden, Head of Pacific at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “The Pacific Islands Forum is the most important multilateral forum in our region, unifying the Pacific under increasingly turbulent global circumstances. We are urging Forum members, including Australia, to not lose focus of Pacific priorities of climate and oceans amid noise and external pressures at this year’s meeting.
“It is very clear that the greatest security threat to our region is climate change and the only way we can address that is through a just transition away from fossil fuels. Regional cooperation is an antidote to climate chaos and geopolitical tension – together, our region can be guided by Pacific nations’ legacy of leadership from the frontlines of the climate crisis, as we build a more peaceful and secure world.
“This year’s Forum will set the stage as we build momentum toward COP31 and a Fossil Fuel Free Pacific. Australia must back Pacific energy sovereignty as a solution to the compounding threats facing our region, including soaring costs of living and increasingly lethal extreme weather disasters, and resist the militarisation of our oceans, deep sea mining, and power politics.
“We must not lose sight of what is needed. The regional adoption of Pacific-led solutions, a Pacific pre-COP with focus on advancing the just transition away from fossil fuels and community-targeted finance for strong and resilient futures beyond fossil fuels must be the foundations of this year’s Forum discussion. What we need now is stronger political will.”
Also in Palau, Dr Simon Bradshaw, COP31 Lead and climate expert at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “Prime Minister Albanese faces a major test of Australia’s climate credibility and Pacific partnership this week. We cannot be a friend to the Pacific and continue to expand fossil fuel production. The best way for Australia to remain the Pacific’s security partner of choice is to act faster on the Pacific’s number one security concern — climate change.
“The Albanese Government has approved at least five new coal and gas projects since the last Pacific Islands Forum Leaders Meeting, and 36 since being elected, every one of which increases the threats to life, security and sovereignty facing Pacific communities.
“Nowhere in the world are the dangers of fossil fuels or the benefits of renewable energy clearer than in the Pacific, which faces the double blow of climate disasters and expensive fuel imports.
“Australia, as incoming President of Negotiations for COP31, has a responsibility to follow the Pacific’s lead, embrace the vision of a resilient Fossil Fuel Free Pacific, and do everything possible to keep 1.5°C alive. Doing so would establish Australia as a highly effective middle power, a force for good in troubled times, and a true ally and partner to the Pacific.”
—ENDS—
Greenpeace Australia Pacific has delegates from the Pacific and Australia at the PIFLM in Palau available for interview
Speaking ahead of the informal meeting of EU foreign ministers in Wicklow, Ireland today and tomorrow, September 1-2, Jim Clarken, Oxfam Ireland CEO said:
“Compliance with international law cannot depend on Israel’s electoral calendar. EU governments cannot keep on finding new reasons to delay while these illegal settlements continue to expand, amid escalating violence against Palestinians in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.
“EU countries already acknowledged in July that Israeli settlements are illegal under international law. The law is clear on that. Which begs thequestion – why then is the EU still not prepared to act?
“No decision can be taken when the informal meeting of foreign ministers takes place in Wicklow, but they can put the wheels in motion. Otherwise, this risks becoming another lap around the EU’s roundabout of indecision.
“Action must not be deferred until peace talks conclude or election results emerge. Peace talks and elections do not change the law, or the violent, oppressive conditions Palestinians in the occupied Palestinian territory face daily under Israel’s illegal occupation. The EU knows its legal obligations; what is missing is the political will to act on them.
“The EU has already acknowledged that current measures do not stop goods from illegal settlements from entering the European market. Anything short of a ban allows settlement trade to continue through the back door and onto European shelves.
“There is a technical point with major political consequences: how the measure is brought forward. A settlement trade ban should be brought forward as a trade measure under Article 207, where qualified majority voting is the general rule. Requiring unanimity risks handing every government a veto and producing yet another EU deadlock.
“The EU should stop contradicting itself, and end trade in goods, services and investments with illegal Israeli settlements. Anything less is failing to address longstanding international legal obligations.
“Banning trade with illegal settlements is the bare minimum requirement, and the suspension of the EU-Israel Association Agreement should be the next step in halting the continued injustices.”
Reacting to a growing number of reports that Belarusian authorities are persecuting, intimidating and targeting students and others connected to the European Humanities University (EHU) in Vilnius, Lithuania, as part of their efforts to repress dissent beyond Belarus’ borders, Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia, said:
“As the new academic year begins, the Belarusian authorities’ relentless campaign against the exiled European Humanities University has taken a disturbing new turn, intensifying its assault on the rights to education, freedom of expression and academic freedom. This campaign of intimidation is no longer confined to students and others connected to the independent Belarusian university in Lithuania. They now extend to relatives and associates in Belarus, illustrating how the authorities’ brazen repressive tactics reach far beyond the country’s borders.”
“Mounting reports show that dozens of people in Belarus are subjected to searches, interrogations, detention and threats, and forced to pressure their loved ones to quit the university and return to Belarus.
“The authorities have already designated the EHU as an ‘extremist organization’ and are increasingly targeting those associated with it. The expanding scope of these measures raises concerns that the authorities may seek to pursue further action, including through a demonstrative ‘anti-extremism’ trial involving students, graduates, staff and their relatives.
The expanding scope of these measures raises concerns that the authorities may seek to pursue further action, including through a demonstrative ‘anti-extremism’ trial involving students, graduates, staff and their relatives
Marie Struthers, Amnesty International’s Director for Eastern Europe and Central Asia
“The Belarusian authorities must stop this campaign of persecution and remove the absurd and detrimental label of ‘extremist organizations’ from the EHU and other civil society groups. Meanwhile, the international community must make every effort to put pressure on the Belarusian government to stop its crackdown on human rights. Lithuanian authorities must also promptly and effectively investigate all allegations of human rights abuses against EHU students.”
Background
Founded in Minsk in 1992 as an independent private university, the EHU was stripped of its license by the Belarusian authorities in 2004 and forced to relocate to Vilnius, Lithuania, in 2005. On 14 April 2026, the Supreme Court of Belarus banned the EHU, designating it an “extremist organization” for allegedly “encroaching on the sovereignty of Belarus, the foundations of the constitutional order and public security.”
Between 2 and 4 June 2026, Belarusian security forces conducted coordinated searches and interrogations across the country targeting EHU affiliates and their families. Belarusian Human Rights Centre Viasna documented over 60 searches, noting that investigators were threatening individuals with “extremism”-related charges, including retrospectively, in relation to payments to the EHU dating back to 2016. Several people, including relatives of EHU students, have reportedly been briefly detained in connection with the crackdown. By 17 August, Viasna had identified at least 175 people affected by this campaign.
Former and current EHU students interviewed by the BBC described how, while in Belarus, they were threatened by State Security Committee (KGB) officers, pressured to become secret informants, detained incommunicado and interrogated. They also reported that relatives in Belarus had been threatened with criminal prosecution unless students abroad withdrew from the EHU or returned to Belarus.
The Belarusian authorities began expansively designating civil society groups as “extremist” in mid-2022. Their list includes now 376 “extremist formations and organizations,” 19 of which are groups operating abroad, including the Union of Belarusians in Britain, the Association of Belarusian Businesses Abroad, the Belarusian PEN Centre and the network of “People’s Embassies” run by exiled Belarusian political activists.
Placing communities in Cameroon at the heart of cholera prevention efforts is the basis of a new initiative between Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and Cameroon’s Ministry of Health (MoH). The project – launched in November 2024 in Djoungolo, a neighbourhood of the country’s capital, Yaoundé, that has been regularly affected by cholera – addresses factors that contribute to the resurgence and transmission of the disease to strengthen prevention capacities often already in place.
“We had already introduced community cleaning days in each neighbourhood to clear drainage channels, clean the areas in front of homes and public spaces,” says Simon Ahanda, neighbourhood chief in Djoungolo. “Residents were already mobilised to fight diseases linked to poor sanitation.”
A woman sources clean water from a borehole in Djoungolo. Yaoundé, Cameroon, July 2026.Vanessa Fodjo/MSF
Listening to communities before taking action
Since October 2021, Cameroon has experienced recurring cholera outbreaks. While emergency responses treat patients and reduce the risk of death, additional measures are needed to prevent the disease from returning. Underlying causes include limited access to safe drinking water; inadequate sanitation infrastructure; poor waste management; and inadequate hygiene practices. It is in this context that MSF chose to develop a different approach, based on community involvement.
Our teams held consultations with residents, community leaders, health authorities, and other local stakeholders. The discussions identified community priorities, the challenges communities face, and existing measures. The consultations showed that communities had already identified several challenges and developed local initiatives that needed strengthening. This approach is part of the Patients and Populations as Partners (PPP) approach and made it possible to adapt project activities to the realities on the ground.
“We could not come in with ready-made solutions,” says Frida Tebere, MSF’s PPP manager. “Patients and communities know their realities, their challenges and the problems they face every day better than anyone.”
“Our role is to listen, create dialogue and build solutions together with them,” says Tebere.
Frida Tebere, MSF PPP manager“We could not come in with ready-made solutions. Patients and communities know their realities, their challenges and the problems they face every day better than anyone. Our role is to listen, create dialogue and build solutions together with them.”
Community consultations helped guide project activities towards concrete priorities including improving access to safe drinking water, strengthening hygiene and sanitation practices, supporting the early detection of suspected cases, and promoting better understanding and adoption of prevention measures.
MSF is supporting the promotion of good hygiene practices, the rehabilitation of seven water points, and the establishment of a chlorine production unit to improve access to safe drinking water. The use of chlorine caused concern among communities. Discussions showed that the concern was based on the practicality of chlorine use – the correct dosage and how to store treated water – and not on treating water itself.
The project developed a strategy centred on model households. These are volunteer families who are trained in chlorine use and, having gained practical experience, then share their knowledge with neighbours.
“At first, we had concerns about using chlorine,” says a member of a model household. “After the explanations and demonstrations, we understood how to use it correctly. Today, we also show other families how to treat their water.”
The MSF team and community members visit water points MSF rehabilitated in Djoungolo. Yaoundé, Cameroon, July 2026.Fabienne Toumba/MSF
Continuously strengthening community capacities
More than 1.2 million people have been reached through awareness-raising activities since 2025. Approximately 5,000 households are targeted each month in the Djoungolo health district.
Community engagement is a key component of the project. Participation goes beyond awareness-raising. At some sites, communities also help secure worksites and equipment during the rehabilitation of water points. This involvement strengthens local ownership of the infrastructure and aims to create the conditions necessary for its continued use and sustainability.
The project also supports health facilities and communities through a chlorine production unit intended to supply health facilities and households for water treatment. MSF remains ready to support the response to future cholera outbreaks, including through free patient care, strengthening the capacities of healthcare workers, supporting peripheral health facilities when needed, and contributing to preventive or reactive vaccination campaigns.
The objective is therefore to create a continuum between prevention, preparedness and response: strengthening community involvement and health facilities, while maintaining the capacity to respond rapidly as soon as a cholera case is confirmed.
Collective responsibility for sustainable prevention
In a context where humanitarian needs are increasing while available funding is declining, cholera prevention cannot rely on a single organisation. The experience in Djoungolo shows that communities never start from scratch. They already have knowledge, initiatives, and solidarity mechanisms that can contribute to preventing the disease. The role of health organisations is therefore not only to provide expertise, but also to identify, strengthen, and support solutions that already exist locally.
In Djoungolo, preventing cholera is not simply about providing safe water, chlorine, or awareness messages. It is about enabling people to understand the risks, participate in decision-making, and have the means to take action. Prevention becomes more sustainable when communities are not simply recipients of a response, but full partners in shaping it.
After six years of operation, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is gradually withdrawing from Marseille, France. We will strengthen our work on the northern French coast, where the situation continues to deteriorate for migrants seeking to reach the United Kingdom. Camille Niel, head of mission for France, reflects on a collective project that has helped hundreds of young people rebuild their lives.
What was the situation like for unaccompanied minors in France, and particularly in Marseille, when our project was launched in 2020?
In 2020, hundreds of young people were sleeping on the streets of Marseille in the middle of winter, due to a lack of support from public institutions. It was at this point that MSF decided to fund 100 emergency shelter beds, in collaboration with associations and collectives based in Marseille. This failure of the state prompted us to intervene more broadly and sustainably with unaccompanied minors in the city, by launching a shelter and care programme.
Unaccompanied minors are young people who arrive in France without their legal guardians. If they are officially recognised as minors by the State, they will be taken into care under child protection services, with access to education and healthcare, and cannot be detained or removed from French territory. If they are not recognised as minors, they will not receive any specific support.
Assessing their age is therefore essential. Each department in France is responsible for this and conducts an assessment through interviews with child welfare professionals. However, the results vary considerably depending on the location of these young people, with some départements (departments – administrative regions in France) having a low recognition rate. This is the case in the Bouches-du-Rhône department where Marseille is situated, even though it was for a long time the city with the second highest number of unaccompanied minors arrivals in France.
View of Notre-Dame de la Garde from the Vieux-Port of Marseilles.Benoît Guillaume/MSF
When their minority status is not recognised, these teenagers have the option of appealing this decision by petitioning a juvenile court judge. They are then referred to as “unaccompanied minors”; there were 300 such cases in Marseille in 2025. This is a lengthy process, sometimes lasting a year, during which, neither considered adults nor recognised as minors, unaccompanied minors receive no institutional support, and are left to fend for themselves, without access to housing, schooling, or medical care.
This extreme vulnerability has serious consequences for their physical and mental health. Many of the young people we encountered over these six years presented symptoms and disorders requiring long-term care, and for whom referral to appropriate psychological treatment facilities was essential.
In six years of operation, approximately 150 young people were accommodated by our teams, and nearly 1,500 consultations were carried out in the “MSF house”, a building that belonged to the Marseille city hall, where our teams took care of often very complex cases.
Can you tell us about this house?
It was at the heart of the MSF project in Marseille. Its unique feature was that, beyond providing shelter, it offered comprehensive multidisciplinary support to the young people it housed: access to state medical aid (AME in France), education, transportation, a registered address, and basic necessities (clothing, hygiene products, food etc.). Furthermore, all the young people received support in their academic and professional development, and the majority of them were able to access apprenticeships.
On the legal front, our team assisted them with appeals related to their minor status, helping them obtain civil status documents and navigating the procedures for those who reached adulthood (residence permits and Youth Protection Certificates). It was also crucial that these young people become independent.
The organisation of the house and communal living, to which they contributed significantly, played a particularly important role. When we made the decision to withdraw from Marseille, the reorganisation was very gradual, and the teams took the time to support the young people until the very end of the project. They have all now left home with an alternative accommodation solution, social support, and stabilised health pathways.
Two unaccompanied minors, cutting their hair and having some respite at the day center called Le GR1, located in Marseille.Meryl Sotty/MSF
What is their profile?
Many were in difficult family situations before embarking on their journey or had fled armed conflicts. They took different routes, some passing through Libya against their will, sold by smugglers to human traffickers, or through Tunisia, managing to board a makeshift boat to cross the Mediterranean Sea. Most arrived via Italy, while others entered Europe through Spain via Morocco and Algeria.
Each journey carried its share of risk, violence, and suffering – right up to their arrival in France, and even once they arrived in the country. They have experienced traumatic events; for example, in Libyan detention centres, where torture is commonplace, or while crossing the Mediterranean. Some have lost one or more of the people they were travelling with, whether a friend or a family member. They have faced death and must live with that.
All have experienced the rejection of their minor status by the departmental authorities, following an assessment considered biased, even prejudiced, by organisations that support unaccompanied minors, including MSF. The assessment itself and its outcome are experienced as yet another act of violence, with this institutional violence all the more difficult for these young people to endure, because they were convinced they would finally be safe in France after months of travel. They were able to find respite within the “GR1”, a collective project created in 2024 by organisations based in Marseille.
What role does this structure play?
The needs of unaccompanied minors far exceed our capacity, particularly given the Bouches-du-Rhône department’s refusal to assume its responsibilities regarding child protection and shelter. With several partner organisations – Yes We Camp, Just, Secours Catholique, Ligue de l’enseignement, and the Salvation Army Foundation – we mobilised by creating a place called “GR1”, a name that refers to the gathering of young people in the Sahel region to chat over a cup of tea. It is the only day centre for unaccompanied minors in Marseille.
It is designed to be a true haven and provide respite for these young people. They can rest, wash, eat and cook, take French classes, receive support with legal procedures and access medical care. Up to 80 young people have been welcomed there daily. For two years, the MSF medical team provided medical consultations twice a week and offered individual sessions with a psychologist once a week.
For these teenagers, each day spent at the GR1 is one less day spent on the street, and an additional chance to rebuild their lives. The programme is now well established after several years of collaborative work and consultation. It is a model worth defending, a shared space that continues to thrive beyond its founding organisations, even if its foundations still need strengthening in the future.
You mentioned the needs of unaccompanied minors, which far exceed the capacities of associations – could you explain?
The GR1 is attempting to provide a response, notably with the support of the City of Marseille, and the Marseille community is mobilising extensively. However, these organisations are facing the underfunding of public services that affects all associations in France. Despite this, they are being called upon to address a reality that exceeds their capacity.
The situation of unaccompanied minors in Marseille remains problematic. They continue to be among the most excluded and invisible communities. This neglect exposes them to abuse, criminal networks, the dangers of life on the streets, and extremely strong stigmatisation, which is politically exploited.
We are faced with a policy implemented by the department that creates a largely avoidable situation and forces associations to step in where the state is failing. It is essential that public authorities abandon their logic of exclusion and invisibility of unaccompanied minors, and work with local stakeholders to build dignified, legal, and sustainable reception conditions.
