Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe 18 10.16
Topic
01 October 2016
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EU: European Commission: Report back on so-called "Partnership Frameworks" with African countries - who have agree to the return and readmission of refugees or suffer "the consequences" for aid and trade deals:
- Managing migration effectively: Commission reports on progress in the implementation of the Partnership Framework with third countries (Press release, pdf)
- First Progress Report on the Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration (COM 700-16, pdf)
- Annex 1 (pdf)
- Annex 2 (pdf)
- Annex 3 (pdf)
See original policy decision (7 June 2016): Communication: on establishing a new Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration (COM 385-16, pdf) and related documentation: New proposals on migration: "partnerships" with third countries, Blue Card reform, integration plan (Statewatch News Online, 7 June 2016)
Cities demand access to EU migration funds (euobserver, link):;
"Around 30 Syrians are now at the centre, known as Welcommom, a project largely financed by the EU via the UN refugee agency (UNHCR). Most of them are children. The project is described as a prototype on finding new ways to house refugees unlike the overcrowded and often dangerous facilities on the Greek islands.
"It's a new model for hosting refugees," Chrysogelos told visiting municipal representatives from across Europe, who had gathered in Athens for the launch of a new "Solidarity cities" initiative.
Solidarity cities is a project conceived by Athen's mayor Georgios Kaminis. The aim, he says, is to get cities to work better together in addressing a wide range of practical issues faced by refugees. "
Calais Research Network: 40+ companies profiting from the Jungle eviction and border violence (link):
"The eviction of the Calais jungle is about to begin, but who does this act of brutality serve? On the one hand, cynical politicians looking to the French presidential election next year, desperately trying to cling onto power with a show of toughness. But also, it will boost the profits of a host of private companies who supply the rubber bullets and barbed wire, bulldozers and deportation buses."
60% Hungarian electorate ignores the racist referendum, but situation at the border remains catastrophic (MIGZOL, link):
"The Röszke Trials against people criminalized for having tried to find refuge in a democratic country, accused of terrorism for having protested against police abuse, presently detained without access to proper legal defense and a fair trial, are more than just an accident. The trials are a symptom of a systematic effort to transform dissent into crime. We are asking to start connecting the dots between unfair trials in a court of justice, the closing of dissenting media channels and the diffuse but slowly tightening presence of militarized control of the unwanted.
As Amnesty declares, the rule of law is not simply undermined by acts of random disregard or violence, but by a systematic rule of fear, enforced at times by unchecked vigilante groups, at other times by the abusive power of some state institutions and the destruction of other institutions."
Greece: Tensions flare at camps after migrants hit and killed by car (ekathimerini.com, link):
"Tension among migrants and refugees at accommodation facilities in Thessaloniki was palpable Monday after a woman and her 9-year-old son were killed by a car on Sunday outside a camp in the area of Oraiokastro, northern Greece.
Migrants are demanding the exemplary punishment of the driver and an improvement of their living conditions.
The accident, which also injured a 12-year- old girl, triggered a riot by migrants, who claimed the ambulance was late to arrive on the scene, while their pleas to police for a patrol car to rush the 32-year-old Syrian woman and her son to hospital were refused. According to local reports, the car, driven by a 75-year-old pensioner, rammed into a group of migrants at high speed."
Killing of Migrant Forces France to Confront Treatment of Chinese (New York Times, link):
"AUBERVILLIERS, France — A Chinese tailor, Zhang Chaolin, emigrated to France with his wife and two sons in 2006 in search of a better life. They settled in Aubervilliers, a working-class suburb of Paris, where a decade of striving finally put that life within reach....
Shouting racist slurs, the youths took a small bag from one of the men, and savagely beat them, leaving Mr. Zhang and his friends crumpled and bloodied on the sidewalk. The bag contained only candy and cigarettes. Mr. Zhang died five days later."
Sweden requests EU permission to continue border controls (euobserver, link):
"Sweden's southern borders need continued controls, according to a report from the government seen by Swedish public broadcaster, Ekot. The report will be sent to the European Commission on Tuesday with a request to continue the controls after 11 November, because the EU has not "lived up to commitments,""
UK: First group of refugee children arrives in Britain from Calais (Guardian, link): "Resettlement programme commences as 14 minors from war-torn countries are reunited briefly with UK-based relatives."
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