EU: MED-CRISIS (31.8.15)
31 August 2015
Dutch plan tougher asylum policy as migrants flock to Europe (Reuters, link):
"Failed asylum seekers would be limited to "a few weeks'" shelter after being turned down, if they do not agree to return home. They would then either be deported or sent away to fend for themselves. From November, the centre-right coalition of Prime Minister Mark Rutte, which competes for votes with the popular, anti-immigration party of Geert Wilders, wants to close 30 regional "bed, bath and bread" shelters where asylum seekers have been able till now to get help on the basis of need. Under the plan, six national centres applying the stricter guidelines would provide only to people who agree to leave."
Train with migrants allowed into Austria after lengthy border checks (Rueters, link) with video
HUNGARY:
Crunch time as migrant crisis worsens (Budapoest Times, link)
'Why did you annoy them?' Coastguard officials acquitted of torture convictions - Moroccan says he was subjected to waterboarding in 2007 (enetenglish.gr, link)
Germans unite against xenophobia (euractiv, link):
"After the recent spate of violence against asylum seekers, a wave of solidarity with refugees has swept through Germany. In many cities around the country, people have taken part in demonstrations and protests against hate speech."
The
Migrants Files (link): including "Counting the Dead":
"Over 30,000 refugees and migrants have died attempting to reach /stay in Europe since 2000 - and that was 18 mths ago" and:
"The Migrants’ Files is a project by data journalism agencies Journalism++ SAS, Journalism++ Stockholm and Dataninja; media outlets Neue Zürcher Zeitung, El Confidencial, Sydsvenskan and Radiobubble as well as freelance journalists Alice Kohli, Jean-Marc Manach and Jacopo Ottaviani. The project is partially financed by Journalismfund.eu."
France:
Hungary refugee fence not even fit for animals (aljazeera.com, link):
"Paris slams Hungary, gateway to EU from Eastern Europe, for erecting 175km fence to stop refugees as new talks called."
GREECE:
Frontex requests more information on Symi incident (Frontex, link):
"On early Saturday afternoon, a Latvian patrol vessel deployed in operation Poseidon Sea detected a yacht with more than 90 migrants aboard in Symi Island’s Marathounta Bay. None of the officers from the Latvian vessel involved in the incident used any weapons."
Greek coast guard picks up nearly 2,500 migrants in 3 days (ekathimerini.com, link):
"The coast guard said Monday it had rescued 2,492 people in 70 operations off the eastern islands of Lesvos, Chios, Samos, Agathonissi, Farmakonissi, Kos and Symi from Friday morning until Monday morning." And:
Ferry carrying 2,500 refugees and migrants docks at Piraeus (link):
"A ferry carrying about 2,500 migrants and refugees who had arrived on Samos and Lesvos from the nearby Turkish coast docked early Monday in Greece's main port of Piraeus near Athens.The Eleftherios Venizelos left Samos Sunday with 988 migrants and picked up 1,512 from Lesvos. On Sunday the Cypriot-flagged Tera Jet catamaran arrived in Piraeus carrying 1,745 migrants from Lesvos. Authorities said about 11,000 migrants and refugees are currently on the island."
AUSTRIA:
Dubious headlline: Migrant roundup intercepts 200 suspected refugees (The Local.at, link):
"Huge traffic jams stretching back 50 kilometres (30 miles) built up along the Austro-Hungarian border on Monday as Austrian police stepped up security checks in the hunt for people smugglers. The measure was put in place on Sunday, three days after an abandoned lorry containing 71 dead migrants, four of them children, was discovered on a motorway near the Hungarian border. Since the operation began at 1830 GMT, more than 200 migrants have been picked up, and another five people have detained on suspicion of smuggling, officials said." And:
Austria steps up police checks for refugees (link)
DENMARK:
Hundreds support vandalized asylum centre (The Local.dk, link): "
As many as 2,000 people turned out on Sunday to create a human 'joy ring' around an eastern Jutland asylum centre that was vandalized earlier in the week." And:
Man jailed for Danish asylum centre arson (link):
"East Jutland Police said on Friday that a 26-year-old local man has been arrested and will be held on remand for allegedly setting fire to an asylum centre minibus and vandalizing its garage with a swastika and a message telling the centre that this was its “first warning”."
France to build new camp for 1,500 migrants (The Local.fr,link):
"France is to build a new humanitarian camp in Calais for 1,500 migrants with construction to begin in 2016, Prime Minister Manuel Valls announced on Monday. The EU will stump up the money for the new camp."
GERMANY:
'No limit to refugees Germany can take in' (The Local.de, link)
Zeman: Refugees should be promptly returned, not accommodated (Prague Daily Monitor, link).
"Most immigrants are in Czech Republic illegally, and as they violated law, they should be promptly returned, not placed into various accommodation facilities, President Milos Zeman said in an interview for Radio Frekvence 1 yesterday. Zeman said there were three risks concerning Muslim immigrants. First, it is the creation of socially excluded zones, ghettos, as these people would not be able to assimilate due to their cultural differences, he said. He said there is the risk of spreading infectious diseases, though he would not overestimate it. The third risk are sleeper cells sent by Islamic State that would develop into terrorist organisations, Zeman said."
Eastern Germany 'more susceptible' to 'xenophobic radicalization' (DW, link):
"Recent violent protests against a refugees' shelter have sparked a debate about right-wing extremism in Germany. A prominent politician from the west of the country has said the problem is worse in the east." And:
"We are all Germany" - celebrities support refugees How can you promote tolerance and diversity in Germany? DW talked to celebrities at the German government's annual open house weekend." (link)
Eritrean translators 'intimidating refugees' in Germany (DW, link):
"Eritrean translators are deliberately mistranslating the testimonies of refugees during their hearings, according to dissidents' groups in Germany. Some are even intimidating them into hiding human rights abuses."
Refugees are human. This simple fact seems to have been forgotten (Guardian, link):
"It is horrific that people are drowning and suffocating to reach safety. These stories should be a reminder that migrants are not just statistics"
Fabius calls Eastern Europe's reluctance to receive migrants ‘scandalous’ (euractiv, link):
"French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius on Sunday said it was "scandalous" some Eastern European countries were refusing to accept more migrants and said Hungary's construction of a barrier to stop new arrivals "did not respect Europe's common values" -- drawing an angry response from Budapest."
The missing women of the Mediterranean refugee crisis (Women Under Siege, link):
"Dirty white gates fronted the detention center on the Italian island of Lampedusa, a tiny speck between Sicily and Tunisia, where 71 women were being held. Beyond the bars, I could just make out laundry hanging from the building in which they were housed—maybe 100 yards away—a yellow scarf, a hot-pink piece of cloth. Sometimes I could even see the women walking in or out of the house, some with hijabs, others with brightly patterned African skirts. But beyond that, the women were invisible, locked illegally for weeks inside a “first reception” center meant for 300 but now housing 771 refugees and migrants from all over sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East."
The battle over the words used to describe migrants (BBC News, link)
Storming the castle: Calais, or the failure of the EU’s migration policies (CER, link)
European Commission looks at possible reforms and future of the Dublin rules. (New Europe, link)