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Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe 11.7.16

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01 July 2016

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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 EU: Legal response to migration continues: safe third country list and visa waivers

 

The European Parliament's civil liberties committee has approved texts on a common European list of "safe third countries" and the possibility of suspending visa-free travel for certain nationalities, with a view to reaching swift agreements with the Council. Plans to establish an EU-wide list of safe countries of origin were included in the May 2015 European Agenda on Migration, which also hinted at changes to visa waiver rules.

 HUNGARY: Latest amendments “legalise” extrajudicial push-back of asylum-seekers, in violation of EU and international law

The amendments to the Asylum Act and the Act on State Border that entered into force today allow the Hungarian police to automatically push back asylum-seekers who are apprehended within 8 km (5 miles) of either the Serbian-Hungarian or the Croatian-Hungarian border to the external side of the border fence. Legalising push-backs from deep within Hungarian territory denies asylum-seekers the right to seek international protection, in breach of relevant obligations emanating from international and EU law.

 GREECE: Asylum policies and practices impairing the access to international protection in Greece (Greek Forum of Refugees, pdf): "As a result of regular interactions with refugee communities, GFR has continuously observed a number of obstacles preventing asylum seekers in the country from accessing the asylum procedures and receiving the international protection they are entitled to, according to international law.

Drawing on the implementation of the law and the practices adopted by the authorities, the present report mainly aims at pointing out the gap between the de jure situation, as it is defined by international law, and the de facto situation in Greece, as up to the EU-Turkey deal of 18 March 2016. In doing so, the privileged point of view and focus of research are represented by the series of testimonies provided by asylum seekers, refugees and communities and collected by GFR over 2015."

 HUNGARY: Border trials: The hearing of Ahmed H (Migszol, link): "We arrive at the Szeged courthouse with cramps in our stomachs – we don’t have much experience in attending trials, plus we’re not even sure we’ll be allowed in, after all as we know today will be the continued hearing of an especially dangerous man, Ahmed H., charged with terrorist activity."

 All the World’s Immigration Visualized in 1 Map (Metrocosm, link): "This map shows the estimated net immigration (inflows minus outflows) by origin and destination country between 2010 and 2015."

 News (11.7.16)

AUSTRIA-HUNGARY: Border controls cause row between Austria and Hungary (New Europe, link): "Security checks have been given a big boost along the border between Austria and Hungary, causing a row between the two countries.

As reported by The Local, Hungarian authorities have come under fire from Austria’s Interior Minister Wolfgang Sobotka after they began checking people crossing the border from Austria into Hungary. But Hungary’s decision is a response to Austria recently strengthening controls on its side of the border."

MEDITERRANEAN: Nato to join EU warships in Libya migrant operation (EUobserver, link): ""

SPAIN-MOROCCO: Denuncian la muerte de un inmigrante tras el intento de entrada del pasado viernes [Denunciations after immigrant died in an attempt to enter Spain last Friday] (El Faro Digital, link): Helena Maleno, an activist from the organisation Ca-minando, has confirmed that a Cameroonian migrant died last Friday as an attempt to enter Ceuta was halted by Moroccan police. The family of the dead man have already identified the body.

Hundreds of sub-Saharan Africans, some of them with injuries, were detained and removed to the south of Morocco after the attempted entry.