Appeal Court Clears Lifeline Captain of all Charges – NGOs Continue to Rescue
A Maltese Appeal Court cleared Lifeline Captain Claus-Peter Reisch of all charges. The Court found no criminal intent when the Captain entered Maltese waters without licence after saving over 200 people at sea. This week, NGO Sea Watch rescued over 200 people after...
Spain: Summary Expulsion of 42 People to Morocco
On 3 January, the Spanish NGO Caminando Fronteras reported the summary removal by Spanish authorities of 42 people disembarked in the morning at Chafarinas, a Spanish group of small islands situated 3.5 km from the Moroccan Coast. As testified by a recorded message...
Austria: New Coalition Government Continues Hard-line Stance on Migration
The Greens’ participation in Austria’s new coalition government failed to overhaul the restrictive asylum and migration policies of the previous right-wing coalition. Following several months of negotiations, Austria’s Conservative party led by Sebastian Kurz...
Greece: Government Hit with Interim Measures and Introducing New List of Safe Country of Origin
The European Court of Human Rights recently granted interim measures to unaccompanied children living in reception and identification centres (RIC) in the “jungle” of Samos Island. The ruling comes amid a more restrictive approach to asylum seekers from...
Italy: Report on Effects of the “Security Decrees” on Migrants and Refugees in Sicily
Borderline-Europe publishes its 2019 report “The situation of refugees in Sicily”, focusing on the impact of the Decree Law 113/2018, implemented by Law 132/2018 on the asylum system. Despite a change of government in Italy in September 2019, the Law on immigration...
Peaceful Refugee Protest in Agadez Brought to Violent End
Niger’s authorities violently dispersed a sit-in protest of around 1000 refugees outside the office of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Agadez that had lasted 20 days. The group of mostly Sudanese refugees, who escaped Libya, had been protesting peacefully outside of...
ECRE Policy Note: Migration Control Conditionality: A Flawed Model
ECRE has published a Policy Note which discusses proposal to make EU external funding, including development assistance, conditional on third country governments’ willingness to increase cooperation on readmission. The new leadership of the European Commission and the...
Global Refugee Forum: EU MS Pledge 30,000 Resettlement for 2020, MEPs Urges More Ambition
During the Global Refugee Forum taking place in Geneva, December 16-18, EU member states have pledged a total of 30,000 resettlement places for 2020, backed with financial support from the European Commission. A delegation of MEPs called for more ambitious...