UNHCR: Over five million people flee their homes in first half of 2014

9th January 2015 | News

9 January 2015 An estimated 5.5 million people became newly displaced during the first six months of 2014, according to a new report by UNHCR. 1.4 million of them fled across international borders. UNHCR calculates that there are now 46.3 million persons globally...

ECRE publishes recommendations on how to transpose the EU’s recast Asylum Procedures Directive

9th January 2015 | News

9 January 2015 ECRE has published an Information Note on the EU’s recast Asylum Procedures Directive providing a detailed analysis of the key provisions in the Directive and recommendations on how to transpose and implement those provisions. ECRE strongly encourages...

Returns Directive bans removal of seriously ill people to places where treatment is not provided

8th January 2015 | News

9 January 2015 Two judgments relating to international protection for ill persons confirm that these cases cannot fall under EU asylum law, but their return can be prevented by the Returns Directive. In the first case, which involves a Mauritian national, M’Bodj, who...

European States offer 4,000 extra places for refugees fleeing Syria at Resettlement Conference

12th December 2014 | News

12 December 2014 At a ministerial-level meeting on resettlement and other forms of admission for Syrian refugees this week, European States have offered an additional 4,000 places to refugees who have fled war-torn Syria. Norway and Sweden offered the most places with...

CPT criticizes Cyprus for detaining unaccompanied asylum seeking children

12th December 2014 | News

12 December 2014 Investigating detention conditions in Cyprus, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture (CPT) delegation has found that unaccompanied children are being detained in Cyprus as a punitive measure to force them to “voluntarily” return to their...

ECRE is recruiting a Fundraising Officer

12th December 2014 | News

The Fundraising Officer will lead ECRE’s engagement with its consortium of private and institutional donors, and will implement relevant fundraising activities in order to secure funding for programme work and organisational core costs. Candidates should send a...

Spanish Parliament passes legislation allowing for unlawful summary returns in Ceuta and Melilla

12th December 2014 | News

12 December 2014 The conservative-led lower house of the Spanish parliament approved legislation on Thursday 11 December allowing for the summary expulsion to Morocco of migrants entering the country’s cities of Ceuta and Melilla in North Africa. The amendment...

ECtHR: detention of unaccompanied child in Greece violates right to liberty

12th December 2014 | News

12 December 2014 The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has held that the detention of an unaccompanied child at Feres and Soufli border post for over five months constituted inhumane treatment as well as a violation of the right to liberty and the right to an...

New Ukrainian law protects Ukrainian internally displaced people but excludes stateless & foreigners

5th December 2014 | News

5 December 2014 Ukraine has adopted a new law to protect the rights of the more than 513,000 people displaced within the country. The law, approved by the Ukrainian President on 20 November, had been backed by the Parliament on 20 October. The majority of the...

Khartoum Process: EU and African Union launch initiative against smuggling of migrants

5th December 2014 | News

5 December 2014 Ministers of the 28 EU countries as well as Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, South Sudan, Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya, Egypt and Tunisia, as well as the European and African Union Commissioners in charge of migration and development and the EU High...