Revision of EU Visa Code offers opportunity to promote use of humanitarian visas for refugees, study says

12th September 2014 | News

12 September 2014 A new study commissioned by the European Parliament identifies inconsistencies and shortcomings in the existing Visa Code that undermines one of the aims of the instrument, i.e. ensuring that Member States meet their humanitarian and fundamental...

European Network on Statelessness event in the European Parliament

12th September 2014 | News

On 14 October 2014, the European Network on Statelessness (ENS), in conjunction with MEP Jean Lambert, will hold an event as part of ENS’ campaign to protect stateless persons in Europe. The campaign is calling on all European states to accede to the 1954...

Asylum Aid: vulnerable people put at risk by inappropriate use of the Internal Protection Alternative by the UK

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 A new report by Asylum Aid, member of ECRE, shows that UK asylum decision makers regularly apply the Internal Protection Alternative (IPA) concept in a way which could be exposing vulnerable people to risk. The concept of Internal Protection Alternative...

UNHCR calls for European States to increase safe access to protection for Syria’s refugees

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 A UNHCR report published today explores Europe’s response to the plight of Syria’s refugees. While welcoming the expressions of solidarity beyond legal obligations by some European countries, UNHCR expresses concern about troubling border practices,...

Bordermonitoring: returns to Bulgaria should be halted until dignified treatment of asylum seekers and refugees can be ensured

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 In its report Trapped in Europe’s Quagmire: The situation of asylum seekers and refugees in Bulgaria, Bordermonitoring advises against sending asylum seekers to Bulgaria under the Dublin Regulation until the country can ensure dignified treatment of...

ECtHR: French family reunification procedure violates right to family life

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 In three separate judgments, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has unanimously declared the French family reunification procedure to be incompatible with the right to family life under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR)....

UK’s Detained Fast Track procedure for asylum seekers is unlawful because of unacceptable delay in provision of lawyer, rules High Court

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 The UK’s ‘Detained Fast Track’ has been declared unlawful by the England and Wales High Court because asylum seekers detained under this procedure are not provided with legal assistance quickly enough, leaving insufficient time, often less than 24 hours,...

Interview with Father Mussie Zerai, Habeshia Agency by Dawit Friew

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 “If Europeans are serious about preventing tragedies at sea, they should admit that the lack of legal ways is what is forcing people to travel illegally and lose their lives.” As the news of refugees fleeing war and oppression and arriving at European...

“I’m all alone! If something happens to me, what will happen to my children?” – New UNHCR report on the daily struggles of Syria’s refugee women

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 A report published this week by UNHCR sheds light on the struggles of Syria’s refugee women who are taking care of their families alone, as their husbands were killed, captured or are still in Syria. According to the UN Agency, 145,000 Syrian refugee...

UNHCR launches its first online course on statelessness

10th July 2014 | News

11 July 2014 What is statelessness? What are its causes and consequences? What is the legal framework and what can be done to address it? To answer these questions, UNHCR has just launched its first public online course on statelessness. At the end of the course,...