At the camp in Grande-Synthe, it can always get worse

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 Early this year, the humanitarian organisation Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) was granted permission to build a camp near the makeshift settlement of Grande-Synthe, where thousands of people were living in appalling conditions. The camp, which has the...

Deportations to Afghanistan from the UK can resume, despite worsening security situation

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 Last week, the UK Court of Appeal lifted the suspension on the deportation of asylum seekers whose claims were not accepted to certain provinces of Afghanistan, which had been in place since August last year. The case related to asylum seekers who sought...

ECRE calls on the European Council to show political and moral leadership in response to refugee issues facing Europe

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 ECRE is extremely alarmed by the proliferation of restrictive national and EU-wide measures aimed at containing asylum seekers and refugees in Greece and countries neighbouring the EU, such as Turkey. ECRE fears that the current “crisis” situation is...

ECRE Memorandum: ECRE letter to EU Heads of State or Government

11th March 2016 | News

Donald Tusk, President European CouncilJean Claude Juncker, President European CommissionEU Heads of State or Government   Brussels, 11 March 2016 Dear President Tusk, Dear President Juncker,   On 17 and 18 March 2016 the European Council will meet once again to...

Time to Save the Right to Asylum – ECRE Memorandum to the European Council Meeting 17 – 18 March 2016

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 On 17 and 18 March 2016 the European Council will meet once again to discuss the implementation of measures taken to address the current refugee and migration flows and the follow-up of the meeting on 7 March 2016 between EU Heads of State or Government...

EU-Turkey plan endangers refugees’ safety and dignity

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 A one-for-one plan to resettle one Syrian refugee from Turkey to Europe for every Syrian refugee readmitted from Greece to Turkey was decided last Monday, 7 March at a meeting between the EU head of states and Turkey’s Prime Minister Davutoglu and...

UNHCR proposes a 6 point plan towards solving refugee situation in Europe

11th March 2016 | News

11 March 2016 Ahead of the meeting on 7 March between EU Heads of State or Government and Turkey, UNHCR proposed a six-point plan for EU Member States to solve the refugee situation in Europe. It calls for better implementation of the ‘hotspot’ approach and relocation...

EU-Turkey deal: trading in people and outsourcing the EU’s responsibilities

8th March 2016 | News

Brussels, 8 March 2016. The EU-Turkey Summit of 7 March 2016 demonstrated a continued lack of moral leadership in Europe’s response to the ongoing humanitarian crisis for refugees in Europe. Focusing yet again on reducing the number of people arriving is a shameful...

Drastic change of policy on the “Balkan route” hinders access to protection

8th March 2016 | Uncategorized

4 March 2016 Newly introduced measures introduced by Western Balkans governments and Austria will create an even more dangerous environment for people on the move, warned a coalition of 26 NGOs, including ECRE. On 18 February, the Austrian, Slovenian, Croatian,...

EU Court of Justice ruling on freedom of movement for beneficiaries of international protection

8th March 2016 | Uncategorized

4 March 2016 The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that a requirement that beneficiaries of subsidiary protection who are receiving welfare benefits must live in a certain part of Germany amounts to a restriction on the right to freedom of movement. The...