EU: Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe: 6-9-4-17
01 April 2017
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EU
Refugee crisis:
latest news from across Europe
6-9.4.17
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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
1,350
rescued in Mediterranean (News That Moves, link):
"From Reuters: Ships from humanitarian organisations and the Italian Coast Guard rescued 1,350 migrants in 12 separate operations in the Mediterranean Sea on April 6th.
The rescue operations were coordinated by Italian coast guard vessels and included ships from NGOs Proactiva Open Arms and Sea Watch."
EU: Council of the European Union: High Level Working
Group on Asylum and Migration (HLWG) (LIMITE doc no: 7430-17, pdf): With pages 5-32
on:
" GAMM UPDATE:
8 March 2017
This document provides an updated overview of the main external
migration dialogues and processes implemented in the framework
of the EU Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM).
The document is compiled for the information of the EU High Level
Working Group on Asylum and Migration by the responsible European
Commission services, in association with the EEAS."
This covers: Part 1 - The
regional processes; (A) The Prague Process (B) The Eastern Partnership
Panel on Migration and Asylum (C) The Africa-EU Migration and
Mobility Dialogue (D) The Rabat Process (E) The Budapest Process
(F) The Khartoum Process (G) The ACP-EU Migration Dialogue (H)
The EU-CELAC Migration Dialogue (I) The Valletta Summit
Part 2 - The bilateral dialogues (A) Turkey (B) Southern Mediterranean
countries (Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon)
(C) Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia,
Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus) (D) Russia (E) African countries (Cape
Verde, Nigeria, Senegal, Ethiopia, South Africa) (F) Asian countries
(China, India) (G) United States of America (H) Brazil
Part 3 - The global processes: Global Forum for Migration and
Development, United Nations
And see: EU: Beyond the borders: overview of "external migration dialogues and processes" (Statewatch database)
EU Commission: Latest statistics:
Relocations
in the EU (6.4.17,
pdf):
Greece: 11,339 relocations out of 63,336 needed, Italy: 5,001 out of 34,953 needed. Overall 27,393 pledges from Member States out of 160,000 called for.
and "Hotspots" situation in Greece and Italy (3.4.17, pdf)
Are
You Syrious(8.4.17, link)
Denmark: No more transfers of vulnerable
"Denmark stops transferral of vulnerable refugees back to Greece, who already got protection in Greece. They stop the deportation to Greece on the grounds that there is no accommodation, no proper social system and no economic support for them when they have got their protection status in Greece."
Feature: Refugees left unprotected in Turkey
"A mob of about 30 armed people attacked today unprotected refugees in Izmir’s Torbali neighborhood. About 30 people were wounded, and over 500 forced to flee due to this attack.
According to the reports, we received from volunteers in Izmir, the attack that took place in Pamukyazi and was carried out on a rumor that a child was beaten by the Syrians. The attackers used scrubs and sticks. While running aways, some Syrians, including families were children, tried to stop cars to take them away, but nobody stopped to help people. After they left, their tents in a makeshift camp were destroyed...."
Mediterranian: SafePassage
"Since the beginning of this year, according to the IOM, 29,811 people came to Europe by sea. Most of them, over 80 percent, arrived to Italy, while the rest arrived in Greece and Spain.
“According to MOAS figures, the people we rescue come mainly from Sub-Saharan African and both East and West African countries, the 3 most common countries of origin being Nigeria, Eritrea, and Gambia. Many others we rescue come from Iraq, Syria, and Afghanistan. All of these are countries from which people are fleeing war, terrorism, poverty, repression and violence.”
Greece: While more people are coming, need for help is growing
"During Saturday, 38 people arrived at Samos, two from Syria and the rest from Algeria. For those who are already in Greece, and all those who are coming, more help is needed."
Macedonia; Unlawful detentions
"Macedonian Ombudsman on 4th of April visited the Reception Centre for Foreigners - Gazi Baba, only to discover a number of the people who have been kept in an unlawful detention. Those people are not registered and issued with documents for their detention...."
Viewpoint: Hindering humanitarianism: European
Commission will not ensure protection for those supporting sans-papiers
A new European Commission
evaluation of EU laws on migrant smuggling concludes there is
a need to improve the situation around "the perceived risk
of criminalisation of humanitarian assistance" to "irregular"
migrants. The Commission argues that the answer to the problem
is "effective implementation of the existing legal framework"
- but it is the laws currently in place, which let Member States
decide whether or not to punish humanitarian assistance, that
permits the existence in some EU Member States of a very real
risk of criminalisation.
Eight
European countries deport 50 more Nigerians today (Vanguard, link):
"Some 50 Nigerians were on Thursday deported from eight European countries for committing immigration-related offences.
The Nigerians were deported from Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium, Spain and Hungary. Their deportation is coming barely 48 hours after another set of 40 Nigerians were deported by the Italian Government, for similar reasons.
The fresh batch of deportees arrived at the Murtala Muhammed International Airport (MMlA), Lagos at about 7.36 a.m. The deportees, comprising of 48 males and two females, were brought back in a chartered Privileged Time aircraft, with registration number EC-L20. ":
Letting
people drown is not an EU value (euobserver, link):
"595. A nice round number, right? It refers to the dead and missing in the central Mediterranean, mostly between Libya and Italy, in the first three months of 2017. The known dead died from drowning, exposure, hypothermia, and suffocation. Horrible, agonising deaths.
24,474. This is a nicer number. It refers to the women, men, and children who made it safely to Italy this year, all of them plucked from flimsy, overcrowded boats by European vessels. Many were rescued by teams from nongovernmental organisations patrolling international waters just off Libya, where most migrant boats depart."
Stop
feeding the beast! A review of ‘My Country: A work in progress’ (IRR News Service, link) by LIz
Fekete:
"A play built around seventy long interviews with ‘leavers’ and ‘remainers’ about their feelings after the Brexit vote, inadvertently, provides insights into the immigration debate.
The liberal consensus on immigration has broken down. That’s what Brexit has taught us, or at least that’s what the establishment tells us that Brexit has taught us. The Conservative leadership risk no crisis of confidence within its ranks when it comes to pandering to anti-immigration sentiment – the nastier, the more hard-line, the better its coverage in the Daily Mail and the Sun.....
Once again, a door opens to a wider perspective – one in which immigration is merely a sign that stands in for something else, namely the indignities and dislocations that arise with the end of an era that promised full employment. Addressing the loss of meaning that ordinary people have experienced as their workplaces have been destroyed, and the dislocation of neighbourhoods and communities, that have been abandoned by successive governments, now that certainly is ‘a work in progress’."
Over
120 migrant arrivals recorded on Greek islands in 24 hours (.ekathimerini.com, link):
"A total of 124 migrants and refugees have landed on Greek shores in the past 24 hours, with 80 arriving on the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos, 30 on Chios and 14 on Leros."
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