Political refugees
Tachlowini Gabriyesos, Eritrean born long distance runner smiles prior the half marathon race in Belgrade, Serbia, Sunday, April 23, 2023. Gabriyesos fled his native Eritrea and walked through the desert to reach Israel when he was just 12 years old. He is now running marathons, sending a message of hope and endurance to all refugees like himself. On Sunday, he ran a half-marathon race at the Belgrade Marathon as part of a U.N. refugee agency team at the event. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic)
Tachlowini Gabriyesos runs for refugees at Belgrade Marathon

By Jovana Gec Apr. 23, 2023 12:59 PM EDT

FILE - Kimia Yousofi, front left, and Farzad Mansouri, of Afghanistan, carry their country's flag during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics on July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. Afghanistan's flag bearer at the Tokyo 2020 Games and other prominent women's sports campaigners have been safely relocated to Australia following a year-long Australian Olympic Committee (AOC) project. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
Afghan Olympians resettle in Australia to start afresh

Aug. 17, 2022 01:11 AM EDT

FILE - Track and field runner Allyson Felix arrives at the ESPY Awards, July 20, 2022, at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles. American sprint great Allyson Felix and a refugee cyclist originally from Afghanistan have joined the International Olympic Committee’s athletes' commission, it was announced Wednesday, July 27, 2022. Felix is a seven-time Olympic champion. (Photo by Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP, file)
US sprint great Allyson Felix joins IOC athletes' commission

Jul. 27, 2022 10:39 AM EDT

FILE - Yusra Mardini and Tachlowini Gabriyesos, of the Refugee Olympic Team, carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Friday, July 23, 2021. The Olympic Refugee Foundation and the refugee Olympics team are the winners of this year’s Princess of Asturias Award for sports, the Spanish foundation that organizes the prizes said Wednesday, May 25, 2022. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)
Refugee Olympic team awarded prestigious Spanish prize

May. 25, 2022 08:21 AM EDT

Boxer Thomas Essomba trains at Steel City Gym in Sheffield, England, Thursday, Aug. 4, 2021. Cameroonian boxer Thomas Essomba, was one of seven people who defected at London 2012. Nine years on, he talks to AP about what it’s been like to live with that decision. (AP Photo/Jon Super)
9 years on, Cameroon Olympic boxer talks of defection to UK

By Sylvia Hui And Tristan Werkmeister Aug. 06, 2021 02:23 AM EDT

FILE In this file pool photo taken on Saturday, April 4, 2020, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko takes part in a hockey match during Republican amateur competitions in Minsk, Belarus. A feud between Belarusian Olympic sprinter Krystsina Tsimanouskaya and team officials that prompted her to seek refuge in Poland has again cast a spotlight on the repressive environment in the ex-Soviet nation, where authorities have unleashed a relentless crackdown on dissent. (Andrei Pokumeiko/BelTA Pool Photo via AP, File)
EXPLAINER: What is behind Belarus athlete's Olympics crisis?

By Yuras Karmanau And Vladimir Isachenkov Aug. 04, 2021 03:47 AM EDT

The refugee team carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Dylan Martinez/Pool Photo via AP)
IOC to adapt refugee athletes program to counter criticism

By Graham Dunbar Jul. 27, 2021 05:38 AM EDT

The refugee team carry the Olympic flag during the opening ceremony in the Olympic Stadium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Friday, July 23, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (Dylan Martinez/Pool Photo via AP)
EXPLAINER: How team of refugee athletes made it to Olympics

By James Ellingworth Jul. 25, 2021 03:17 AM EDT

Kimia Alizadeh Zonoozi, Refugee Olympic Team, right, is attacked by Britain's Jade Jones during the taekwondo women's 57kg match at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo, Japan. (AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)
Iranian taekwondoka barely misses refugee team's 1st medal

By Greg Beacham Jul. 24, 2021 11:57 PM EDT

Simone Biles, of United States, performs her floor exercise routine during the women's artistic gymnastic qualifications at the 2020 Summer Olympics, Sunday, July 25, 2021, in Tokyo. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull)
Olympics Latest: Rashitov wins taekwondo gold at Tokyo Games

Jul. 24, 2021 08:59 PM EDT

FILE - In this Aug. 18, 2016 file photo, Kimia Alizadeh Zenoorin of Iran celebrates after winning the bronze medal in a women's Taekwondo 57-kg competition at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The defector from Iran who left citing institutional sexism will face the Iranian in the opening bout of their taekwondo class at the Tokyo Olympics. The draw Thursday, July 22, 2021, for the women’s 57-kilogram class placed Kimia Alizadeh of the refugee team against Nahid Kiyani Chandeh of Iran. (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini, File)
Refugee defector from Iran to face Iranian at Tokyo Olympics

Jul. 22, 2021 08:14 AM EDT

Syrian refugee Ibrahim al-Hussein, an amputee swimmer who lost his leg during the war in Syria, prepares to dive during a training at the Olympic Aquatic Centre, in Athens, on Wednesday , June 30, 2021. Ibrahim al-Hussein will be part of a Refugee Paralympic Team for the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games as the International Paralympic Committee announce Wednesday. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Syrian refugee swimmer makes his mark at the Paralympics

By Theodora Tongas And James Ellingworth Jul. 14, 2021 07:12 AM EDT

A group of migrants mainly from Venezuela wade through the Rio Grande as they cross the U.S.-Mexico border, Wednesday, June 16, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. Record numbers of Venezuelans are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as overall migration swells. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Driven by pandemic, Venezuelans uproot again to come to US

By Joshua Goodman Jun. 28, 2021 01:02 AM EDT

A young migrant girl from Venezuela stands with her mother as they wait with Border Patrol after turning themselves in after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, Tuesday, June 15, 2021, in Del Rio, Texas. Record numbers of Venezuelans are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border as overall migration swells. They're fleeing turmoil in the country with the world's largest oil reserves and pandemic-induced pain across South America. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)
Driven by pandemic, Venezuelans uproot again to come to US

By Joshua Goodman Jun. 28, 2021 01:01 AM EDT

Georgia State looks to boost vaccine rate among refugees

Jun. 26, 2021 11:09 AM EDT
CLARKSTON, Ga. (AP) — Researchers at Georgia State University will use a $500,000 grant to try to increase COVID-19 vaccination rates among refugees and other...

FILE - In this May 11, 2021, file photo, migrant women carry children in the rain at an intake area after turning themselves in upon crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in La Joya, Texas. The U.S. Homeland Security Department says thousands of asylum-seekers whose claims were dismissed or denied under a Trump administration policy that forced them to wait in Mexico for their court hearings will be allowed to return for another chance at humanitarian protection. The Associated Press has learned that registration begins Wednesday, June 23, 2021 for asylum-seekers who were subject to the “Remain in Mexico” policy and either had their cases dismissed or denied for failing to appear in court. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, File)
US gives more asylum-seekers waiting in Mexico another shot

By Maria Verza And Elliot Spagat Jun. 22, 2021 05:23 PM EDT

FILE - In this Friday, March 22, 2019 file photo, children scrape through for remaining rice inside a pot at a center for those displaced after Cyclone Idai hit coastal Mozambique, in Beira, Mozambique. The U.N. high commissioner for refugees, Filippo Grandi said Friday June 17, 2021, that conflicts and the impact of climate change in places like Mozambique were among the leading sources of new flows of refugees and internally displaced people in 2020.(AP Photo/Themba Hadebe, File)
UN: Millions driven from homes in 2020 despite COVID crisis

By Jamey Keaten And Edith M. Lederer Jun. 18, 2021 07:19 AM EDT

Alvaro Enciso, part of the Tucson Samaritans volunteer group, pauses as he and a group of other volunteers place a new cross at the site of the migrant who died in the desert some time ago, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in the desert near Three Points, Ariz. Enciso says he plants three or four crosses each week. “Can you imagine what their families go through, not knowing what happened to them?” (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Spirituality underpins migrant activism in US borderlands

By Anita Snow Jun. 08, 2021 11:01 AM EDT

Alvaro Enciso, part of the Tucson Samaritans volunteer group, pauses as he and a group of other volunteers place a new cross at the site of the migrant who died in the desert some time ago, on Tuesday, May 18, 2021, in the desert near Three Points, Ariz. Enciso says he plants three or four crosses each week. “Can you imagine what their families go through, not knowing what happened to them?” (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin)
Spirituality underpins migrant activism in US borderlands

By Anita Snow Jun. 08, 2021 10:02 AM EDT

FILE - Migrants mainly from Honduras and Nicaragua sit in line after turning themselves in upon crossing the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, May 17, 2021, in La Joya, Texas. The Biden administration has quietly tasked six humanitarian groups with recommending which migrants should be allowed to stay in the U.S. instead of being rapidly expelled from the country under federal pandemic-related powers that prevent many from seeking asylum. (AP Photo/Gregory Bull, file)
Biden taps groups to help pick asylum-seekers to come to US

By Elliot Spagat And Julie Watson Jun. 04, 2021 02:50 AM EDT