OP-ED: Neglect needs, manufacture crisis, rinse, repeat: The new Greek asylum ban and a textbook breach of international law
By Minos Mouzourakis The Greek government flouts basic asylum rules – again – by banning people irregularly arriving by boat from North Africa from claiming asylum. An amendment voted on 11 July has imposed a three-month ban on such people from applying for asylum and...
ECRE Policy Paper: Creating more “safe” countries and frontloading the Pact
ECRE has published a policy paper on the various amendments to the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR) that have been put forward by the European Commission in 2025. The proposed reforms relate to the creation of an EU-wide list of safe countries of origin (SCO), the...
Appointment of new ECRE Director
Julie Lejeune has been appointed as ECRE Director. She will replace Catherine Woollard who stepped down on 30 June. Julie has been involved in ECRE for some time, most recently as director of ECRE member organisation director of NANSEN – the Belgian Refugee Council....
AIDA Country Report on Poland – Update on 2024
The updated AIDA Country Report on Poland provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2024. It is accompanied by...
CENTRAL EUROPE: Austria’s first deportation to Syria prompts Germany to follow ― Afghan family wins visa battle against German government ― Germany planning migration summit ― Polish farmers join ‘citizen patrols’ ― Czech MPs adopt draft asylum and migration law ― Hungary’s EU funds remain frozen
Austria has deported a Syrian national to Syria for the first time since the start of the civil war in 2011. Germany has announced that it will also begin deporting Syrians with criminal records. A court in Berlin has ruled that the German government must issue visas...
AIDA Country Report on Austria – Update on 2024
The updated AIDA Country Report on Austria provides a detailed overview on legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum applicants and content of international protection in 2024. It is accompanied by...
NETHERLANDS: MPs approve two controversial asylum laws ― Reports reveal border police’s use of force against children during forced deportations ― IND calls for end of time delay penalties ― Organiser of vigilante border controls arrested
The lower house of parliament has approved two draft laws that will significantly tighten asylum rules in the Netherlands. An investigative platform has revealed that border police officers used force against children ten times during forced deportations in 2024. The...
MEDITERRANEAN: More deaths and rescues ― German government to stop funding ‘civil fleet’ ― Spanish police investigating murders of people on the move near Balearic Islands ― NGO report reveals use of torture against people on the move ― Greece deploys warships to prevent boat departures from Libya ― ‘Biggest legal challenge yet’ to Italy-Albania Protocol
There have been more deaths and NGO-led rescues along the Mediterranean migration routes. The German government has announced that it is cancelling the funding that it has been providing to search and rescue NGOs since 2022. Spanish police have launched a murder...