Renewed Critical Focus on Frontex Internal Reporting
A serious incident reported by independent observers during a Frontex facilitated deportation flight from Germany to Afghanistan in August 2018 was not included in the internal report from the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex). The modest number of incidents...
Spain: Rights of Asylum Seekers Deteriorating at Border with Morocco
As of August 2019, the Spanish government started to apply the “border procedure” for asylum applications in its enclaves at the Spanish-Moroccan border. The new practice can undermine access to asylum procedures and comes amid reports of further push-backs also...
Germany: “Sickening Living Conditions” in AnKER Centres
The German unit of the humanitarian organisation Doctors of the World (MDM) decided to stop providing support in the AnKER centre in Manching/Ingolstadt as of the end of October 2019 because of the poor living and reception conditions in the facility. A lack of...
Greece: Overhaul of Asylum Legislation in the Aftermath of Tragic Incident in Moria
The Ministry of Citizen Protection outlined on 30 September 2019 plans for another reform of asylum legislation, shortly after a fire in Moria, Lesvos killed a mother and her new born child. Moria is hosting at four times its maximum capacity. The upcoming...
UNHCR: Less People Fleeing via more Risky Routes in South East Asia
In its recent report “Refugee Movements in South-East Asia 2018 – June 2019” the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) reveals a drop in refugee movements but increased risks for those fleeing violence and persecution. 18,000 people were registered as new arrivals in Bangladesh...
Thousands Forced to Niger Escaping Violence in Northern Nigeria
According to the UNHCR, brutal violence by organized armed groups in northwest Nigeria forced more than 40,000 people to cross the border into Niger. The brutal attacks, which intensified over the last ten months, are indiscriminately targeting civilian men, women and...
Weekly Editorial: Keeping it Simple in the Med
A mechanism for disembarkation and relocation covering countries in the Mediterranean is crawling along, with further agreements reached this week, following the preliminary agreement reached in July. At the same time, in practice efforts have restarted with ships...
Op-ed: Detention by Default – a Maltese Betrayal
By Dr. Neil Falzon, Director of aditus foundation. “But why is Malta going against its own laws?”, asks a Sudanese asylum-seeker. “Back home, we don’t even treat animals like this,” pleads a Pakistani asylum-seeker. To anyone who has worked in an immigration detention...