Expressing deep concerns about the European Commission’s Smart Borders proposals for being neither proportionate, nor suitable to achieve the stated aims, taking into account the costs incurred to implement these systems and the limited degree of efficiency and...
The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has advised governments not to forcibly return people to the Central African Republic (CAR). The return advisory, issued on 25 April, stresses that given the current circumstances, many people fleeing CAR are likely to meet the 1951...
This week, the EU Border Agency Frontex released a report showing a 50% decrease in the number of people detected entering the EU irregularly in 2012, compared with the previous year. Only 73,000 persons were detected crossing irregularly into the EU, a record low...
In a resolution 1932 (2013) adopted this week, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has warned against “a dangerous mindset [that] still exists which views Frontex’ activities as being no more than those of member States, with responsibilities...
Applications are now open for the International Summer School in Forced Migration at the Refugee Studies Centre, University of Oxford. The Summer School fosters dialogue between academics, practitioners and policy makers working to improve the situation of refugees,...
Amnesty International presented this week a petition signed by 70,141 European citizens to the chair of the Civil Liberties Committee, Juan Fernando López Aguilar, who accepted it on behalf of the European Parliament. The petition calls on the European Parliament to...
Bail for Immigration Detainees (BID) has published a report, examining cases of parents who were separated from their children due to immigration detention in the UK. The study reveals that, during their parents’ detention, some children were placed in unstable...
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has found that Russia violated Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) – which prohibits torture and inhuman and degrading treatment – by illegally and secretly taking part in the kidnapping...
ECRE’s Russian Member, Memorial Centre for Human Rights, along with its sister organisation, the Committee for Civic Assistance, have come under increased pressure this week from government authorities following the draconian legislation on NGOs adopted last year. The...
26 April 2013 Five years of EU negotiations to try to improve and harmonise the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers across the EU are drawing to an end this week, as the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) has endorsed the text of the recast...
