10 April 2015 626,000 people applied for asylum in the European Union in 2014, according to the latest Eurostat report. 122,790 were Syrians, accounting for 20% of the total number of asylum applicants in the EU. They are followed by Afghans (41,300 asylum seekers),...
9 April 2015 The High Administrative Court of Austria has ruled that the detention of asylum seekers in Austria pending removal to another EU Member State under the Dublin framework is currently illegal. Therefore, for the time being, no one in a procedure under the...
13 March 2015 Statewatch revealed this week that the European Commission and Member States are discussing “best practices” to ensure that the fingerprints of asylum seekers and irregular migrants are taken and recorded in the Eurodac database. This database enables...
6 March 2015 The International Chamber of Shipping (ICS) has called on EU Member States to engage more on search and rescue in the Mediterranean and to provide legal and safe channels for migrants and refugees to reach Europe. Ahead of an inter-agency high-level...
6 March 2015 On 4 March, the European Commission announced plans for a new ‘European Agenda on Migration’. The College of Commissioners identified four main priority areas: “fighting irregular migration and human trafficking more robustly”; “securing Europe’s external...