As of 10 October 2014 the French Council of State has withdrawn Kosovo from the national list of safe countries of origin. Asylum seekers from ‘safe countries’ have their applications examined in an accelerated procedure on the assumption that persecution is unlikely...
Unaccompanied children seeking asylum in Malta are deprived of their liberty until their age is determined, the age assessment procedure lacks transparency and it is not formalised or regulated by law. In addition, during the age assessment, children often have no...
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has unanimously found Italy to be in violation of the prohibition of collective expulsions of aliens (Article 4 of Protocol 4 European Convention of Human Rights) as well as the prohibition of inhumane and degrading treatment...
In a report on his visit to the Netherlands in May 2014, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, has expressed concern regarding the extensive use of detention of asylum seekers and migrants at the border. Current practice shows that in...
In a jointly published policy paper, ECRE, the Danish Refugee Council (DRC) and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) call on the European Union (EU) to use the momentum in development discourse at the European level to integrate and mainstream protracted...
Italy’s Minister of Interior Angelino Alfano announced yesterday (9 October) that the Italian operation Mare Nostrum that has saved more than 140,000 people since October 2013 will end and be replaced by the Frontex operation Triton. According to the Council...
The Italian Council for Refugees (CIR) and ECRE are organising a conference on access to the European territory and to asylum procedures for people fleeing war and persecution. The conference will take place in Brussels, at the Residence Palace on 28 October. To...
The Danish government announced on Tuesday (7 October) that refugees will only be eligible for family reunification if their initial one-year residence permits are renewed. According to the Danish Ministry of Justice, the proposed rules would take into account that...
In a ruling which falls in line with many of the Court’s previous judgments concerning reception and detention conditions in Greece (notably M.S.S. v. Belgium and Greece and B.M. v. Greece) the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled again that detention...
In its latest report, the Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) Europe explores the experiences of refugees who after having crossed the Mediterranean had their asylum applications processed in Sicily. JRS Europe highlights that Italy’s first-level reception system (CARA...
