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EU: Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe: 14-18-4-17

18 April 2017

EU  
Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe
18.4.17
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Keep in touch: Statewatch Observatory: Refugee crisis in the Med and inside the EU: Daily news (updated through the day), commentaries and official documents

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Migreurop Brief - April 2017 (link):

"Externalisation across the board: from the EU-Turkey arrangement to Migration Compacts in Africa."

Italy: 8,500 migrant arrivals in 3 days,13 dead (ANSA, link):

"Thirteen migrants died as some 8,500 asylum seekers washed up on Italy's shores over the Easter weekend, leaving the interior ministry grappling with thousands of resettlements..."

Fire at the Grand Synthe Camp : minors have been abandoned (passeursdhospitalites, link);

"The Grande-Synthe refugee camp near Dunkirk was a place of contradictions. It had been created by the municipality and Médecins Sans Frontières to respond to a disastrous material situation on the site where an Exile camp was once and for several years. A disastrous situation due to the very rapid increase in the number of Exiles, from less than one hundred people in the Spring of 2015 to nearly three thousand in November of the same year."

Offenses against asylum homes in Germany remain high in number (Daily Sabah, link):

"German authorities say there were 169 violent offenses against homes for asylum-seekers last year, almost as many as in 2015, though the figures sank as the year progressed.

The Federal Criminal Police Office said Tuesday that the number of violent offenses compared with 177 the previous years.

In all, authorities counted 994 offenses against asylum shelters in 2016, a little below the previous year's 1,031. The police office said that most of them had a far-right motive."

Judges proposing tribunals for migrant cases (Prague Daily Monitor, link):

"Czech courts are so overburdened with the cases relating to refugees that some judges have proposed the establishment of special tribunals to only deal with the asylum agenda, daily Mlada fronta Dnes (MfD) wrote on Saturday.

There is the threat that if the measures are not taken, the verdicts on refugees, which have a priority under law, may paralyse courts if there is a large migrant wave, MfD writes.

In 2015, when the migrant wave came to a head, regional courts had to deal with some 586 new cases associated with "international protection," it adds.

However, the figure soared to almost 800 last year."

Are You Syrious (17.4.17, link)

GREECE: In case of rejected asylum request

"News That Moves issued new Rumors on what can be done if your application gets rejected. As confirmed by IOM, people hosted on Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Leros and Kos, who have entered Greece after March 20th, 2016 and whose asylum request has been rejected, have five days to either appeal against the rejection decision or ask for assistance from IOM for voluntary return to their home country if eligible, writes NTM. Find more information here."

ITALY

"This morning, ship Chimera arrived in Porto Empedocle with 447 migrants (352 men, 83 women and 13 minors). The people rescued from three boats totaled 451 (145, 157 and 149 migrants respectively). Four migrants were taken to Lampedusa. In the last two days, a total amount of 4,500 people have been rescued, including children."

Around 13,000 still on the islands (News That Moves, link):

"Despite arrivals dramatically dropping since the EU-Turkey deal was signed in 2016, the situation on the Greek islands remain difficult, with thousands of migrants and refugees stuck in substandards camps for many months, unable to leave for the Greek mainland.

Greek government data show that currently around 13,000 people are still hosted on the islands, with more than half in official sites and the remaining in other hosting facilities (UNHCR and other state run facilities)."

EU 'leaving migrants to drown' say rescuers who saved 2,000 from Mediterranean in single day (Independent, link) '

"We are where we’re needed, what’s the EU doing?'

Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), a medical charity which has carried out hundreds of rescue operations in the Mediterranean since the beginning of the migrant crisis, has criticised Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard agency, who operate official EU patrols on migration routes.

MSF said in a series of tweets that NGOs were being forced to fill gaps in service provision left by the EU coastguard.

“Frontex Director says it’s a paradox that a third of rescues are done by NGOs. We agree. Where are Frontex boats in a day like this?” MSF tweeted.

“Many more people could have died in a day like this if we arrived a few hours later. We are where we’re needed, what’s the EU doing meanwhile?"#

Are You Syrious (16.4.17, link)

Minors put into detention centres

"Passeurs d’hospitalités reports that five young refugees will appear in court on Thursday in Calais, to decide whether their detention is legal and whether to extend their detention. The refugees claim to be minors but were declared as “adults”, with the police report saying all five were born on 1.1.1999, allowing them to be put in a detention centre and later deported from the country. On Friday, a camp close to Calais was destroyed, including the tents and personal belongings of around 20 people. There was no legal decision for the eviction and the destruction of personal belongings is illegal anyways. Three NGOs, Cabane juridique, le Réveil Voyageur and Utopia 56 have published a press release protesting against police violence in Calais, the lack of access to shelter, especially for minors, and the acceleration of placements into detention centres."

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