UNHCR declares Libya unsafe for returns, amid increased violence in the capital
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has published its updated Position on Returns to Libya, replacing the position taken in 2015. It urges all States to suspend forcible returns to Libya until the security and human rights situation has improved sufficiently, and determines...Portugal: Persisting detention of children at the airport*
The Portuguese Aliens and Borders Service (SEF) continues to detain groups with special needs, in particular families with children and unaccompanied children, in the Temporary Installation Centre (CIT) of Lisbon Airport. An order by the Ministry of Internal...
Weekly Editorial: Bridges over troubled water? An agreement on disembarkation
The new political season in Brussels has opened with the political crisis on disembarkation rumbling on for the crisis-weary migration and asylum sector. While enjoying Putin-esque bare-chested holidays, Italian Interior Minister, Matteo Salvini maintained his policy...Germany: Measures restricting “church asylum” contradict case law*
The German Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) has introduced new rules of procedure which restrict “church asylum”, the temporary sanctuary offered by religious institutions to people facing deportation to protect them from undue hardship. Church asylum...
UK: Dramatic cuts in integration
A recent study by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) has found that the UK government has made dramatic cuts to the funding of key community cohesion strategies. This is in spite of repeated rhetoric that puts the burden, and time pressure, of integration...
“ECRE seeks to represent a civil society that has something to say over having to say something…” Interview with Senior AIDA Coordinator Minos Mouzourakis
The Asylum Information Database (AIDA) provides detailed comparative analysis of asylum systems in 23 countries. Through AIDA, ECRE provides up-to-date information on (a) asylum procedures, (b) reception conditions, (c) detention and (d) content of international...
Austria plans to scrap asylum seeker apprenticeships
The Austrian government tabled a bill on Monday to remove the possibility for young asylum seekers to take up apprenticeships. Since 2012, persons below the age of 25 who are awaiting a decision on their asylum claim can obtain a work permit for an apprenticeship in...
116 expulsions in 24 hours by the new Spanish Socialist Government
The situation is tightening for persons crossing the Southern border of Spain (Frontera Sur) from Morocco. This week the police have arrested 10 migrants who crossed the Spanish border fence in July while last week the new Spanish Government expelled 116 persons...