UNHCR Urges States to Create Safe Passages – Less than 5 % of Resettlement Needs Met in 2018

22nd February 2019 | News

The United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) has released data showing that only 4.7 percent of people in need of resettlement were actually resettled in 2018. Most resettlement needs arose from Lebanon and Turkey, to where people fled conflict in the Middle East. A...

Editorial: Asylum in 2018: Decision-making Must Improve

15th February 2019 | News

This week EASO, the European Asylum Support Office, published its overview of asylum trends in 2018. The headlines are that the number of applications for international protection in the EU+ countries was 634,700 for the year, close to the 2014 figure, with 34% of...

Spain Proposes Increase in Deportations and Detention

25th January 2019 | News

The Spanish government of Pedro Sanchez has announced plans to expel 9,000 irregular migrants in 2019. They also intend to create new foreigner detention centres (CIEs) in the Peninsula. The country’s budget proposal for 2019, still to be approved in April, was...

Swedish Activist Indicted for Blocking Deportation Flight Amid Wave of Violence in Afghanistan

26th October 2018 | News

The Swedish activist Elin Ersson who in July prevented the deportation by refusing to take her seat in an airplane carrying a rejected Afghan asylum seeker has been indicted for violating the Swedish aviation act. In Afghanistan the already volatile security situation...

Staff Interview: “NGO advocacy is a marathon, not a sprint:” Interview with ECRE Head of International Advocacy Josephine Liebl

19th October 2018 | News

ECRE’s Advocacy team seeks to influence government policy and practice affecting refugee rights in Europe as well as European external action that impacts refugee rights outside Europe. It targets policy-makers in Brussels and in Member State capitals with tailored...