Balkan Route: Route Shifts but Pushbacks Continue, Croatian Schengen Accession Approved Amid Mounting Reports of Violations and Confusion over ‘Independent’ Border Monitoring Report

17th December 2021 | News

As controls, fencing and violence increase across the Balkan region – where thousands of pushbacks were recorded between July and November – more people on the move are travelling through Albania and Kosovo. Amid mounting evidence of human rights...

Ireland: NGO Campaigning Pays Off With Regularisation Scheme for Long-term Asylum Seekers

10th December 2021 | News

The Irish government has announced a scheme that will provide a pathway to legal status for people who have been awaiting an asylum decision for at least two years. The news was welcomed by organisations who have long campaigned for the reduction of backlogs in...

Atlantic Route and Spain: Reception Challenges Persist but Calm Management Shows Potential, Canary Route Deadlier Than Ever, Ceuta Accepts Yemeni Asylum Seekers

10th December 2021 | News

Commentators have described a laudable “improvement” in reception management when comparing the response of the Spanish government to arrivals to the Canaries in 2020 and in 2021. Nevertheless, serious issues remain, including long-term stays in police custody, a lack...

Med: Pope Denounces EU Asylum Policies, Pre-removal Detention in Italy Deemed Unjustified, EU and Italy Increase Cooperation with Libya Amid Legal Action by NGOs

10th December 2021 | News

During his recent visit to Cyprus and Greece, Pope Francis harshly criticised failed EU asylum policies and urged solidarity and fair allocation of people in need of protection. An Italian rights monitor deems the deprivation of freedom “unjustified and an end...

EU Eastern Borders: Poland Celebrates its Border Guard and Restricts Border Access Amid Deadly Humanitarian Crisis, EU Condones Restriction of Rights

10th December 2021 | News

On 6 December Poland’s public broadcaster featured a concert in honour of the border guards “defending the border”. The controversial event follows renewed restrictions of access to the border with Belarus where a deadly humanitarian crisis is unfolding. The European...