New country reports on asylum and integration of refugees in Europe
ECRE’s Asylum Information Database (AIDA) is launching the first of a series of country reports from 20 European countries. The reports provide an updated and thorough overview of statistics, legal and policy frameworks and practices in the areas of asylum...
Trumpian horror stories: part 1
Photo: Catherine Woollard, ECRE Secretary General interviewed on Trump initiative. On International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 27 January, President Trump signed an Executive Order blocking access to the US for citizens of seven countries and for refugees. Each...
Weekly Editorial: Willful denial: ignoring consequences of outsourcing protection
It should not take an intervention from the Ombudsman to convince the European Commission that an assessment of the human rights implications of the EU-Turkey deal is needed. However, the approach from the Commission seems to be one of deliberate blindness. At the...
Summary deportations of Afghans in Germany continue – a question of life and death, OP-ed by Karl Kopp Pro Asyl Director of European Affairs
This week the first summary deportation of rejected asylum seekers from Afghanistan to Kabul took place. According to media 26 men have been deported from Frankfurt to Kabul. This is the second summary deportation to Afghanistan carried out from Germany. The first...
Italian NGOs raise concerns over conditions in Cone reception centre and government reform plans to tackle reception problems
This week a coalition of NGOs has reiterated their concerns over the conditions at the Emergency Reception Centre (CAS) in Cona close to Venice amid controversial government plans aiming to improve the reception conditions in the country. ECRE Member ASGI together...
Poland, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovenia: Pushed back at the door
A new report “Pushed back at the Door” by five human rights NGOs shows that access to protection is increasingly limited in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovenia. The report urges European governments to find the right balance between protecting...
Belgian NGOs release report on state of closed migration detention centres
This week several Belgian human rights organisations released a report on the state of closed migration detention centres in Belgium. The report, the first of its kind in ten years, finds that the administrative detention of hundreds of asylum seekers and other...
UK Detained Fast-Track system denied asylum seekers justice for 10 years
The High Court of England and Wales ruled on 20 January 2017 that asylum seekers have been denied justice for 10 years under the Detained Fast-Track (DFT), used by the Home Office to accelerate the examination of asylum claims. After the Detained Fast-Track appeal...