of at 19 outbreak in host nation china, the games was scheduled to be held in september as than 200 kilometers away from shanghai. opal organizers say they were ready to host thousands of athletes. but the olympic council of asia decided it was best to delay it by a year because of the way this outbreak is playing out. ah, look at the main stories this our now in the united nation to saying it's scrambling to rescue more people from the tunnels of maria pulse besieged as off stealth steel plant. hundreds of civilians are still trapped in the industrial facilities bank as along with ukrainian fighters while as well. 3 buses carrying civilians evacuated from the plant on friday and arrived at a camp in the russian controlled town of busy men. ukrainian officials, again accused russia of violating a ceasefire. meanwhile, ukraine essays had

a russian warship which has burst into flames. the mackerel frigate is said to have been sailing close to snake island in the black sea south of odessa. if confirmed it would be the 2nd major naval loss in the russian offensive. cranium force has struck and sank, rushes black sea flagship, the moskva in april. well, pentagon spokesman john kirby couldn't confirm the strike on the ship, but nor did he clarify whether the action was a result of us applied intelligence. we provide them what we believe to be relevant and timely information about russian units that call allow them to adjust and execute their, their self defense to the best of their ability, the kind of intelligence that we provide them. it's legitimate, it's lawful and it's limited. and i would also add, and this is not an unimportant point, we are not the only sole source of intelligence and information to the ukrainians. they get intelligence from other nations as well. we don't get heads up about their

day to day operations, nor, nor do we expect to mean that they're, they're in an active fight. a new state of emergency has come into effect. and shanker, giving security forces greater powers to crack down on anti government, protested earlier police fire war to canon and tear gas at crowds outside parliament. demonstrations are parts of a nationwide strike on friday, or august stems from countries worst economic crisis in decades. and the government's mismanagement, all that and at least 8 people have died in an explosion of 5 star hotel. it was being renovated in the center of the cuban capital havana. several people were injured in the blast, which took a hole through several floors in the side of the historic building. oh, the deadlines upfront is coming up next. me

. ah ah, i am martha line hill and welcome to this special edition of upfront. when we take a closer look at the plate of migrants and refugees around the world, coming up is the us remain in mexico, policies sending some migrants back to their debt. and while the word refugee may evoke images of people fleeing war torn nations, many of force from their homes because of the increasing impact of climate change. the just months ago, poland was refusing to allow refugees from the middle east, asia, and africa into the country. instead, they were met with tear gas barbed wire and were stranded in freezing conditions on the border with bella roofs. last december, i challenge pollings deputy minister of foreign affairs on his country's refugee

policies. we are protecting the border of the european union. of course, those migrants who are invited by the lucas em can resume to come to by the way they do have an option of course to cross the border to do that through the crossing points with the legal documents without the visa or without any emission to get to the european union, it shouldn't be they shouldn't be allowed to cross illegally. they do submit border . so those tool really wants to go to the you. what they need to do is to get the document that get the visa, or if there are seekers to apply and the special net procedure to meant to get that . so they're, they're all legal way to get to that, that you, these people are coming to the border. they are asylum seekers and they are literally being turned back. they are being denied access to pay even to the proper paperwork for asylum seeking according to reports on the ground. how is this not

a contravention of international law? well, maybe 1st, we need to understand the nature of this. the old peroration, bella, russian. both of those migrants invited by the regime by, by, by the leader of the russian state. the fact though invited those people promising them that they will be smuggled to the european union and using them as the instrument and his political operation against the u. e. with sanctioned mister august central does not acknowledge him as the leader of the, of the country. so this is a kind of revenge where the people are fully instrumental life and use of the somehow bones or bullets in the hybrid operation. so we should not accept the fact that there are some good black mailing us with that kind of situation. but we want

to help of course, those who are already in this diary situation. that's why we try to send several human dive in convoys. we try to get in the engage the international organizations in order to have that iowa you say that you're trying to help people right now at least 15 people have died. many people say that they've come to the border and been turned away. for example, a 35 year old man from the democratic republic of congo travel with his wife and 3 children. all of them were under 7 years old. and he said that defend was pushed back twice my polish border guards. the 2nd time he pleaded for asylum and they wouldn't listen. he said they told him there's no asylum, there's nothing. go back where you came from. it's hard to hear those type of stories. how do you respond? i do respond in such a manner, accepting those those thousands or hundreds of people. unfortunately, we could encourage older to be in this difficult situation because it is

a way of doing money for us and causewell encourage and inviting people, then to encourage them to grow, to cross the legal, you double the border without securing protecting the board. it would be even more thousands or, or tens of thousands of possible possible migrant. but we cannot, we cannot accept all the people who just want to cross the border with an excuse us as seekers because in, in the vast majority. unfortunately, those are, those people are not as island secrets, just a regular migrants who was great to go to control. what basis do you say that they're not really asylum seekers? because the vast majority of those who are already crow successfully devoted, refused to fill any documents planing that they want to get to germany, to get them in other countries. germany or, or the netherlands, not in poland, poland, for them, it's just the turn of the country,

according to the international law. the 1st country, the 1st safe country, should be the place where they apply for a dialogue. and in this case, basically, it should be bellows because bella routes for them. is the country where, where, where they decide to go, you mention international law, which is, which is interesting because the 1951 convention on that. as a refugee says that the contracting states, those who are signatories to this, shall not expel a refugee lawfully in their territory sable grounds of national security or public order. the expulsion of such a refugee shall be only in pursuance of indecision reach, in accordance with due process of law. what's happening at the border is not due process of law. these people are being pushed away without due process. they're not being taken to an asylum process and often things not even access to paperwork to engage in the process. so even if you're correct that they will ultimately don't want of asylum in poland. who are we to know without going through the process? this is clearly against international law. what, how do you,

how do you reconcile your position with pulling commitment to honoring international law extensively. 30. first this going to gun benson was signing the 951. i think that's a nominal of a weapon is ation of migration is relatively new to and this is the case which was not foreseen and said the convention, the 1st thing. the 2nd argument is that, of course, the net boost parts are not allowed when they're, when, when you are pushing back someone to the territory. and then she or his playing problem. i mean, and in this case, those people are by their decision going to nobody force them to get them boards to go to meant to better for them. i can imagine. and then it's not that then jewish country, of course, by the russian regime is very dangerous. for the but are us an opposition or the political activists, but not for those people. it's up to them whether they want to decide to go to this

country or not. that was published, deputy minister of foreign affairs mar, changed dutch justifying his country's decision not to allow asylum seekers from middle east asia and african countries to cross the border from bella roofs. but a few months later, poland doors were thrown wide open to more than 2000000 people. seeing ukraine, creating a railway link to make it easier for you. cranium. asylum seekers to reach poland. so will russia's war and ukraine changed the way europe treats all refugees from now on. and what's behind this sudden shift to open borders? recently, i put those questions to officials from the united nations high commissioner for refugees and doctors without borders. and the one thing that is critical here, and there is, there is nothing positive that is coming out of this for. but i think one thing that we are focusing on is that this is an opportunity to shift this narrative to say that that is shared the responsibility of

welcoming and supporting refugees is manageable. we are able to do this. european countries and international community overall is able to do this. the other thing that i've seen here and i was at the airway station today, here in budapest, and i saw 2 trains arrive filled with refugees from ukraine. and many of them were actually 3rd country nationals. so a lot of students from africa spoke to several from tons, from congo and from ethiopia. they also were saying, look right now ukraine is our home. we were, you know, one of them was just about 6 months away from graduating. so they're, they're really unsure whether or not they want to try to wait and see if they can go back and finish their studies. and i think what we've seen and hungry is that they're saying, any one coming from ukraine right now, we consider fiji and they're being treated exactly the same. which as you say is,

is something that we welcome china. there are many africans in south asians, currently living in ukraine who have faced significant delays or even been completely blocked from leaving the country. for example. and during national father of 3 said he and his family were asked to give up their seats on a cross border bus, out of ukraine with ukrainian military officer saying, no blacks allowed. can you speak about what black and brown residents are facing when they try to flee this war? i think in terms of you and hcr position, we've made it very clear. there can be no discrimination based on nationality of messages or race. people that are fleeing from ukraine, regardless of their nationality or background, are fleeing the same conflict. and they deserve the same right to access asylum and to have have safety. that said,

in terms of what's happening inside ukraine, it's very difficult for us to assess. we have, like you heard these incidents, seen these reports, and we followed up both inside ukraine and in the neighboring countries to, to work with the government to make sure that these are not policies. and that they are not going to be replicated. and so far we do have assurances on both sides that, that anyone who is trying to escape the war in ukraine will be allowed to do so. and will have saved an asylum on the other side in doctors without borders, doing anything to help these racialized refugees. so for us, we treat people regardless of race, ethnicity, or background. but what we're seeing more broadly in ukraine itself is difficult to pay for the population as a whole, to flee,

particularly for areas in the east where cities are becoming age and populations are struggling to move out and off in terms of the services that are being provided in the country around the ukraine, the population can be some of the most vulnerable. and we're trying as hard as we can to follow. and to look into this because it's is dreamily difficult at the moment door to track what happens to people once they cross the border. se, sending 12 days and reception centers the whole moving on site. this is early dice with kate. is there any need for a more targeted response? it seems that the, you and hcr doctors without borders has effectively taken a colorblind approach. saying, whoever you are, if you're need, we're going to help. but if there is a, a disproportionate number of racialized people being mistreated,

being pushed off of buses being denied access to refuge. might there be a need for these organizations to actually over correct for that by targeting these racialized groups nor indeed. so when we look at populations in a context, what we are looking at is what services are provided and who are the most vulnerable and we are in a similar position to, to china and you and hcr in a way that was we hear many of the reports and we hear it in the news in terms of what our teams are able to see right now. we're not actually able to say a systematic case of discrimination. however, given that it is so widely recorded, it is one of the things that we're looking at doing in terms of supporting because then that becomes an extremely marginalized population without the same access to

the system that others have. china. we've also seen the media, including al jazeera presenter come under fire for the way that they have described, ukrainian refugees compared to other asylum seekers. some of the worst examples include reporters and commentators saying things like ukraine, unlike iraq and afghanistan is civilized and that ukrainians have blue eyes and blonde hair. how do these dehumanizing descriptions affect how people not just you, but ultimately treat asylum seekers? absolutely, i'm actually glad you brought that up mark, because i think the way that we talk about refugees in general across the media has it's become such a negative thing. refugee has become such a negative word, and yet i think maybe the one thing that we're learning in this crisis is that absolutely anybody can become a refugee. and,

and i have to say one of the journalists that i spoke to recently shed a similar thing. and i, i did ask him, so are you saying that if a refugee who looks like me or who looks like somebody from africa, are you saying that this is different? and, and i did, i think it's important that all of us actually face this. that was a conversation with china. williams and kate white on the double standards we're seeing play out in europe, the treatment of migrants in refugees across the atlantic. another migrant crisis is unfolding one mexican northern border under former president. donald trump. the u. s. instituted a so called remain in mexico policy forcing those seeking asylum to wait in mexico while their claims were processed in the us. despite protest from human rights organizations, a court decision forced the by the administration to reinstate the policy while it seeks an appeal to end at once. and for all on a recent episode of upfront, i asked our guest whether resuming the remain in mexico policy would lead to abuses

including killings, torture and rape. as predicted by some organizations, we've already seen it marco's, interviewed people on the border in when it was implemented during the trumpet ministration. i've been up there and talked to people in the one i, and much more to and see it out. what is we know this happens, there's over 600 documented cases, the people who came back who were assaulted or raped in mexico. there are people who have gone back to their home countries and been assassinated because that's why they left in the 1st place. they knew they were going to be assassinated and nobody seems to want to take responsibility for what happens to those people. mexico never had to set that, that program. it's a violation of sovereignty because they're sending people who have legal processes in the united states. back to mexico, which mexico has no responsibility whatsoever to accept these people. you know, they're shuttling them all over the country with no real plan of what they can do

to have a livelihood, to survive, to have a future. because these policies are completely shutting them out. marco, the majority of asylum seekers crossing the u. s. southern border coming from honduras. and salvador, guatemala. you were just in honduras in fact, but what's your take on why people risk their lives to make this incredibly dangerous journey from to the us from places like han doors, nobody migrates because they want to be, you know, for pleasure. i mean, central american countries like what the lines have on our plan with you, which comes with organized crime would corruption and not only god but what their minor child rather are. for example, among the 15 countries in the world most exposed to the pastors in november 2020. in what the modern on do have that i we're, we're among the countries to be most severely impacted by the hurricanes it that

new york that in what am i alone at 40 percent of assistance. subsistence agriculture was affected in 80 percent of basic samples, like mays or beans were devastated. so these are countries that are under, under the terrible food insecurity and already high for years before so much are fleeing, you know, like almost circumstances that are impossible to bear, like people cannot survive in their own countries. and that's why people embark in this, you know, almost impossible journey laura, earlier this year, the, by that ministration proposed a strategy to address the root causes of migration from guatemala, honduras in el salvador. that included $4000000000.00 in aid. us aid to these countries. is this any different from the progress we've heard in the past in the past? that's exactly the central point of follow up on what marco is saying, because unfortunately, it's not. and nobody like joe biden should know better than the fact that those

kinds of proposals have failed in the past. because he was in charge of this really in charge of central american development and stabilization, during the obama administration. and what he didn't impose the war on drugs model of putting the armed forces in the streets for public security tasks. impose kinda be ican nomic model based on for an investment and the construction of these big mega projects that actually does place indigenous especially indigenous and rural communities. and these are the be in the people who migrate. and so to have a new 4 year for $1000000000.00 program, that repeats the same, the same error is somewhat inconceivable. marco, how does security factor into dealing with the root causes of migration? the u. s. has spent $3300000000.00 since 2007, assisting security forces with fighting criminal organizations and drug cartels in

mexico, under what's known as the mitty, the initiative. but since that time, 150000 people have been killed due to organized criminal, violet. the big number more when you factor in disappearances in depth of migrants . where's the money actually going? well, these programs, i committed initiative and all the same programs at the house shined with with mexican central america proving to fail because minutes arising country where there is no justice or access to justice or, or the rule of law it's, it's just creating much more inadequate conditions for the grow of violence. and so what we need to see, it's an agreement that not only includes the ground investment, but true commitment from the us to control the flow of us guns. we need the us more invested in respecting, but people will when it comes to democratic elections and when it comes to,

you know, freedoms and rights for the termination. so there is no investment in, you know, in the economy or insecurity that it's going to be for the whole b as long as the u. s. is not supporting and respecting what communities, what families and communities of origin are the siding for their own future. and as long as us guns continue to flow and traffic, get it into their countries. lar carlson, director of the american program, think tank and mark castillo codes negative director of international human rights organization. global exchange. we've talked about those who flee their homes to escape violence, but what happens when the threat is due to climate change? last november, we interviewed the united nations high commissioner for refugees, philipo bronte to discuss how the world will respond to the growing number of people who are being forced from their homes due to extreme heat. wildfires, drought floods, and other climate disasters. the clyde climate change,

the climate emergency forces people to move. so there's an element of displacement or force displacement that is linked in many, sometimes complex ways to the big climate change process that we are witnessing a thin cover. it big flood or a big drought even are those phenomena which are increasing with climate change. they've always existed, but they're increasing. they're becoming more serious, more impactful with climate change. they force people to move sometimes suddenly, but it's really the combination of factors that makes this phenomenon complex and of great relevance to my organization. look in many places. climate change is depleting. resources is taking resources away from very poor communities and communities with less resources start fighting. this generates conflicts which

generate displacement of a, of a type that is very, very germane to the work of my organization. these are fundamentally refugees, that flee also because of climate change. but not only because of that. one of the challenges is that there are no legal protections currently in place for people who are forced to leave their countries for climate change. that's because they don't fall under the definition of a refugee based on the u. n's. 1951 conventional refugees. ah. yet estimate state that there could be between 25000000 to 1000000000 environmental refugees by the year 2050. what is you and hcr doing to ensure that these people get rights and protections or well, you know the, the issue of definitions is very complicated and we have to be careful in this world in which i am very offend. refugees are stigmatized,

saw i as the, the head of an organization that is the custodian of the basic refugee protection principle. have to be careful. we wouldn't see, you know, we don't use this definition that is sometimes used these days, climate refugees. but this is not to say that people that are moving because of climatic reasons do not have what we would call protection meets very similar to refugees. and sometimes actually they are refugees. as i said, because mixed with the causes of displacement is conflict. this discrimination is persecution and so forth. would they, nat, experience greater protection, know if they were considered to be climate refugees. could you explain sort of why they're not, and why they don't satisfy the conditions for being refugees simply based on being pushed out via the climate and look it's, it's also good when we talk about this to do a bit of a reality check. most people displaced for claim matic reasons are displaced

actually within their countries. they're what we would call internally displaced people. and now like i said, also most of the people that feet across borders. this other reasons that get in the mix. for example, war conflict into community clashes. so we can consider that breakthrough cheese in those cases and all de protection applying to refugees apply in that sense. that was phillip oh randy of the you and hcr experts predict that by 2050 hundreds of millions of people will be forced to migrate due to the effects of climate change. so is the world ready to cope with this challenge? that will be one of the many questions and issues up for discussion on our next season of up front. but for now that's our show up front. we'll be back later. ah

ah ah ah ah, wherever you go in the world, one airline goes to make it for you. exceptional katara always going places to go from ah, to politics. national pride to early advertising. al jazeera well tells the story

behind for songs from kuwait, oman, hatta and era meeting song writers, performance and musicians celebrating the social and cultural importance of songs of the gulf on al jazeera, short films of hope and inspiration. ah ha, no stories of 3 young women challenging the world around them. al jazeera, select palm counting the cost. the ear raises the stakes of the battle of a russian energy boss of warped cost. the world war hits a 2 year high,

but it's prudent war against sanctions really watching netflix subscribers dip for the 1st time at a decade. a view of still watching, counting the cost on al jazeera ah . ready ready ready hello mary, i'm no my z and london l main story. now the u. n is saying it's scrambling to rescue more people from the tunnels of mario poles besieged as of style steel plants. hundreds of civilians, along with ukrainian fighters is still trapped and the industrial facilities bunker's, 3 bosses carrying civilians evacuated from the pond on friday and arrived at a camp in the russian control. town of busy men, equating officials have again accused for sure of violating a sci fi though. brianca group has more now.