ECRE has published a Policy Note that demonstrates that linking asylum and return procedures generates serious human rights concerns while failing to meet the objectives stated by the European Commission. It draws on experience from national practice in Member States...
This week, the Pact moved forward a step with the presentation of the first of the draft reports prepared by the European Parliament’s rapporteurs. The shadow rapporteurs from the other political groups will now prepare their amendments to the reports and the final...
Another reception crisis has emerged in Belgium, with hundreds of asylum seekers denied access to the registration procedure between 19 and 22 October and subsequently left without access to reception. Vluchtelingenwerk Vlaanderen, a Belgian NGO, active near...
While three rescuers face trial on Lesvos, deaths at sea continue and vigilantes are found to have operated with impunity in the Evros region for years. Despite significant deficiencies in the Greek reception system and the risk of refoulement, European states...
Around 370 people from seven rescues carried out by Médecins sans frontières (MSF) were disembarked on 27 October in Palermo. After ten boat landings took place in 24 hours, Italian media claim Calabria is the “new Lampedusa”. The pope has denounced returns of people...
A humanitarian catastrophe unfolding at the EU’s eastern border for almost three months now has provoked more protests. Poland is raising the number of troops deployed at the border to 10,000 while Lithuania continues to deny people asylum. The European Commission has...
The European Parliament voted by an overwhelming majority to freeze part of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) 2022 budget until it makes key improvements. NGOs have filed a complaint with the European Ombudsman over Frontex and other EU...
France’s interior minister has publicly rebuffed a recent NGO report documenting “degrading treatment” of people on the move around Calais. Civil society groups are concerned about Dublin transfers of Afghans to other European countries, which they say may result in...
The Greek government is considering tasking a transparency body with pushback investigations without including representatives of independent bodies or organisations. Systematic pushbacks from Greece continue as do reports of refoulement from Turkey. 26 NGOs urge...
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatović strongly urges Maltese authorities to take immediate action to improve detention conditions and avoid endangering people in distress at sea. 32 asylum seekers who were detained at sea off Malta in 2020...
