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• 1-14 October 2019

1-14 October 2019

• European States urged to do more to protect and support child refugees and migrants
• New Frontex Regulation: corrected version of the text
• Hungary: Refusing journalist access to a reception centre for asylum-seekers was in breach of the European Convention
• Italy's new migrant decree promises repatriations in 4 months
• Fatal fire inside Moria refugee camp

EU: European States urged to do more to protect and support child refugees and migrants

European States must step up their efforts to protect child refugees and migrants who have endured not only difficult and dangerous journeys but continue to face risks and hardship once in Europe, including unsafe accommodation, being incorrectly registered as adults, and a lack of appropriate care, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has urged.

Migrant deaths: 19,000 in Mediterranean in past 6 years (InfoMigrants, link):

"The Mediterranean crossing continues to be the deadliest migrant route worldwide: 19,000 migrants have been reported dead or missing since October 3, 2013. So far this year, the crossing has claimed over 1,000 victims.

...Here's how many migrants went missing or died in the Mediterranean Sea between 2014 and 2018:

- 3,280 in 2014
- 3,771 in 2015
- 5,143 in 2016
- 3,139 in 2017
- 2,297 in 2018"

UK: Implications of Brexit for asylum policy highlighted in new report (Irish Legal News, link):

"The most significant implication of UK withdrawal from the EU’s Dublin System – which determines responsibility for asylum applications – would be the loss of a safe, legal route for the reunion of separated refugee families in Europe, the House of Lords EU Home Affairs Committee’s report Brexit: refugee protection and asylum policy [pdf] has found.

In a no-deal Brexit scenario, refugees could be left in legal limbo, facing months of delays and additional distress, while a new framework to allow them to reunite with their families is negotiated.

The committee urges the UK and the EU to honour the right of refugees to family reunion by agreeing a temporary extension of current family unification arrangements in the event of no-deal."

See the report: Brexit: refugee protection and asylum policy (pdf)

Greece calls for more NATO ships to patrol Aegean Sea following Turkey’s Syria offensive (euractiv, link):

"Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis called on NATO to increase naval patrols in the Aegean Sea on Thursday (10 October) after a threat by Turkey to open Europe’s doors to more than three million migrants.

“I asked the Secretary General and the Alliance, and member states to strengthen their presence…in the Aegean Sea with more ships,” Mitsotakis said in a press conference after talks with NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg in Athens yesterday.(...)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan earlier threatened that Ankara would allow millions of refugees to head to Europe if the bloc criticised Turkey’s ongoing military offensive in Syria."

Are You Syrious (10.10.19,link): SEARCH AND RESCUE AT SEA

"Salvamento Marítimo Humanitario has finally received permission to proceed into the Mediterranean — without the permission to carry out rescue.

This is contrary to article 98 of the United Nations Convention.

In the past few days, the Spanish have loaded over seven tonnes of aids that they want to bring to the Greek Islands. that they would be bringing to Lesbos next Wednesday, October 16, via Sicily."

Hungary: Commission takes next step in the infringement procedure for nonprovision of food in transit zones (pdf):

"...the European Commission decided to address a reasoned opinion to Hungary concerning the non-provision of food to persons held in the Hungarian transit zones at the border with Serbia. This concerns persons whose applications for international protection have been rejected, and who are waiting to be returned to a third country.

In the Commission's view, compelling returnees to stay in the Hungarian transit zones amounts to de facto detention under the EU's Return Directive. The Commission finds that failure to provide food in these circumstances does not respect obligations under Article 16 of the Return Directive and Article 4 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union."

EU fails to seal migrant redistribution deal (New Europe, link):

"An EU interior minister meeting on migrants in Luxembourg does not appear to have yielded a final deal on migrant redistribution.

Earlier on Tuesday, French EU Minister Amélie de Montchalin said 10 countries were ready to back the Malta accord to redistribute migrants as soon as possible."

Germany warns of a new migration chaos echoing 2015 (euobserver, link):

"Germany has warned of a repeat of the chaotic influx of asylum seekers in 2015 that caught the EU unprepared. Greece and Cyprus have warned of increased migrant arrivals from neighbouring Turkey as the EU interior ministers meet."

EU: Joint press release of the Palermo Charter Platform Process on the results of the EU Summit of Home Affairs Ministers on 23 September in Malta and the consequent negotiations on 8 October in Luxembourg (pdf):

"The Malta Agreement ("agreement on temporary reception and distribution mechanism") is not a hard-won solution, but nothing more than a partial emergency relief. We, European civil society initiatives and networks, mayors of European cities and search and rescue non-governmental organizations, demand a real solution that is adequate to the scale of the humanitarian crisis in the Mediterranean Sea.

Over 15.000 people have died in the Mediterranean Sea in the last five years. “Every single person is one too many,'' says Alessandra Sciurba from Mediterranea. "When we receive distress calls from people on boats, they fear both to drown and to be returned to Libya. The outsourcing of EU border control to Libyan forces and mass interceptions at sea have to stop,“ demands Maurice Stierl from WatchTheMed Alarm Phone. “ The establishment of an operational and sustainable European rescue mission is absolutely necessary in order to prevent deaths in the Mediterranean Sea. Sadly, it is still missing in the Malta agreement”, adds Sciurba."

See: Outcome of the Council meeting here and: The "temporary solidarity mechanism" on relocation of people rescued at sea - what does it say?

EU: New Frontex Regulation: corrected version of the text

The European Parliament is due to approve a corrected version of the new Frontex Regulation, which was originally agreed between the Council and Parliament but has been undergoing revision by legal and linguistic specialists.

See: REGULATION (EU) 2019/... OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of ... on the European Border and Coast Guard and repealing Regulations (EU) No 1052/2013 and (EU) 2016/1624 (pdf)

How a notorious Libyan trafficker was invited to an official Italian migrant meeting in Sicily (The Globe and Mail, link):

"The United Nations’ migration agency says it unknowingly co-operated with a notorious Libyan human trafficker in 2017, when he was invited by the Italian government to a meeting in Sicily at the height of the Mediterranean migrant crisis.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) on Monday said it regrets dealing with the Libyan criminal, Abd al-Rahman Milad, better known as Bija, but didn’t know at the time that he was serial abuser of migrants."

Navy ship with 389 migrants and refugees reaches Piraeus (ekathimerini, link):

"A navy ship carrying 389 refugees and migrants from the southeast Aegean island of Symi docked at the Greek capital’s Piraeus port on Wednesday morning.

The asylum-seekers, most of them identified as Afghan nationals, were being taken on buses to unspecified facilities on the Greek mainland."

Delivering Refugees and Migrants to a ‘Place of Safety’ Following Rescue by States at Sea (Maritime Safety and Security Law Journal, link):

"Irregular migration by sea leads states such as Italy and Australia to conduct maritime rescue operations involving refugees and other migrants. During these operations, states must deal with the question of where to disembark survivors.

The law of the sea regime obliges states to ensure survivors are delivered to a ‘place of safety’, arguably requiring maritime officers to merely consider the physical safety of survivors immediately on disembarkation. Non-binding International Maritime Organization guidelines state that the need to avoid disembarking refugees and asylum-seekers in the states of departure or origin is also a consideration. The guidelines refer to other ‘relevant’ international law, including treaties dealing with ‘refugee refoulement’ or refoulement in connection with a risk of torture.

Under the international human rights law regime, including international refugee law, states’ obligations in relation to non-refoulement are broader and prohibit the return of refugees and migrants to states where they directly or indirectly face persecution, torture or other serious harm. In interpreting ‘place of safety’, this work argues that there is insufficient consensus to integrate the two legal regimes. Nevertheless, states can be under co-existing human rights obligations that place limits on disembarkation of rescued refugees and migrants."

ECHR: Refusing journalist access to a reception centre for asylum-seekers was in breach of the European Convention (pdf):

"In today’s Chamber judgment1 in the case of Szurovecz v. Hungary (application no. 15428/16) the European Court of Human Rights held, unanimously, that there had been:

- a violation of Article 10 (freedom of expression) of the European Convention on Human Rights. The case concerned media access to reception facilities for asylum-seekers.

The applicant in the case, a journalist for an Internet news portal, complained about the authorities’ refusal of his request to carry out interviews and take photographs at the Debrecen Reception Centre, thus preventing him from reporting on the living conditions there."

See: Judgment (pdf)

Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights (link): Commissioner Mijatovic calls for bolder measures to protect the human rights and dignity of all migrants in the Mediterranean:

"...member states have a chance to prevent further disastrous human rights and humanitarian consequences by suspending any co-operation activities with the Libyan authorities that impact on interceptions at sea and result in returns to Libya, until clear guarantees of full human-rights compliance are in place."

Mediterranean Fatalities in 2019 Rise to 1,071 with Latest Shipwreck off Lampedusa (IOM, link):

"Authorities found 22 migrants who survived the disaster, while 13 bodies – all women – were recovered by the Italian Coast Guard and Guardia di Finanza. As of Tuesday morning, 17 migrants remained missing, including more women and at least two children. Among the missing are nationals of the Ivory Coast, Cameroon and Guinea Conakry and four Tunisian nationals including three men and one 17-year-old boy.(...)

This latest tragedy brings to 1,071 the total number of deaths confirmed on the Mediterranean through 6 October, nearly two thirds of those deaths coming in the waters between North Africa and Italy."

Council of the European Union: Border management: EU signs agreement with Montenegro on European Border and Coast Guard cooperation (link);

"Today, the European Union signed an agreement with Montenegro on border management cooperation between Montenegro and the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex).(...)

The objective of this agreement is to allow Frontex to coordinate operational cooperation between EU Member states and Montenegro on the management of the borders that the European Union and Montenegro have in common. The signing of this agreement is yet another demonstration of the deepening and expanding cooperation with Montenegro. It will bring benefits for both parties, in particular in enhancing border management activities."

See: Full-text of agreement (pdf)

Greece: Aegean Boat Weekly Report 30 September to 6 October (pdf): HIghly detailed report:

"A total of 203 boats started their trip towards the Greek Islands, carrying a total of 6,941 people. However, 139 boats were stopped by Turkish Coast Guard/police, and 2,242 people arrived on the Greek Islands.

So far this year 2191 boats have been stopped by The Turkish Coast Guard and Police, 71,808 people. 38,433 people have arrived on the Greek islands on 1,166 boats, so far in 2019."

Migration solutions begin and end with Turkey (New Europe, link):

"Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan threatened several weeks ago that he would “open the gates” for migrants to cross into Europe if the international community did not accept his pledge to create what he termed as “safe-zones” in Kurdish areas on the Turkish and Syrian borders."

The EU’s new migration policy is a gift to the far-right (euractiv, link):

"Far from taking the refugee issue away from the far-right, the EU’s new migration policy plan will simply hand the far-right a grievance it can exploit for years to come, writes Faisal Al Yafai."

Italy's new migrant decree promises repatriations in 4 months (InfoMigrants, link):

"Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maion presented a new asylum decree intended to cut the time it takes for decisions on whether a migrant should be repatriated to four months: "It was a team effort," Di Maio told reporters at a press conference at the foreign ministry last week.

"I thank (Justice) Minister (Alfonso) Bonafede, Premier (Giuseppe) Conte and (Interior) Minister (Luciana) Lamorgese because this morning we signed a ministerial decree that enables us to bring down the measures to establish if a migrant can stay in Italy from two years to four months."

The decree would be the "first step in our plan for safe repatriations," he said, adding that only those who need protection could stay."

UNHCR in Libya Part 1: From standing #WithRefugees to standing #WithStates? (euronews, link):

"October 3rd is a day upon which the UNHCR "remember and commemorate all the victims of immigration and promote awareness-raising and solidarity initiatives."

With that very sentiment in mind, Euronews has undertaken an investigation into the UNHCR's operation in Libya, where tens of thousands of migrants live in detainment camps, hoping to make it to Europe.

We uncover the extent of neglect in terms of care that can be found where migrants wait to be processed. We ask why the UN's humanitarian agency cannot have the required access in Libya when the mother organisation - The United Nations - is working with the Tripoli-based government. We ask why there is a severe lack of transparency surrounding the agency's operation and we talk to some of the migrants involved in the process and allow them to tell their stories."

Plus: Part 2, Part 3, Part 4

EU: JHA Council, 7-8 October: documents on EU-USA e-evidence negotiations; EU accession to the ECHR; right-wing extremism; and problems for plans to interconnect policing and migration databases

The Justice and Home Affairs Council is meeting in Luxembourg on 7 and 8 October. Issues under discussion include e-evidence negotiations between the EU and the USA; EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights; right-wing extremism and terrorism; and the implementation of the EU's plans to interconnect its migration and policing databases. Council documents published here indicate that this latter project is running into trouble.

GREEK ISLANDS: Over 100 migrants rescued overnight, as more transfers in the works (ekathimerini.com, link):

"Greek coast guards rescued 104 refugees and migrants in three separate operations in the eastern and southeastern Aegean in the early hours of Sunday, just as authorities are planning to transfer 570 asylum seekers from the island of Lesvos to the mainland. (...)

Official figures showed that there were around 13,300 people registered at the Moria camp on Sunday, among which some 1,000 are minors without a parent or chaperone."

Aegean Boat Report: (link):

Today Aegean Boat Report past another milestone, 25000 followers on Facebook, and counting.

It started out as a small community on Facebook, with one single purposes, to provide information. This community has grown beyond my wildest expectations. It has been a long journey from December 2017 until today, and I’m exited to see what the future will bring.

To everyone who has supported me on this journey, THANK YOU."

See also: Moria Refugee Hotspot Camp, Lesvos Oct 2019 (You Tube, link)

Central Mediterranean Regional Analysis (Alarmphone, link):

"Over the past three months, the period of time covered by this regional analysis of developments in the central Mediterranean, the Alarm Phone was alerted to 39 distress situations in that region, involving over 2,337 people. Never before has the Alarm Phone been alerted to so many boats crossing this area of the Mediterranean Sea in such short period of time. 14 of these boats were intercepted and returned to Libya. 17 boats were rescued and brought to a European harbour, including eight by NGO vessels. The fate of six boats remains unknown. Two boats capsized, and about 140 people lost their lives."

Behind the razor wire of Greece’s notorious refugee camp (Observer, link):

"Moria camp mourns a woman’s death, after reports wrongly blamed residents for the fire that killed her.

Last week Moria was in mourning. A deadly fire last Sunday (29 September) killed a woman called Faride Tajik, described by UN officials as a widow with a teenage daughter who has now been taken into care outside the camp. Initial reports suggested a baby had been killed in the blaze that may have been started by refugees protesting over conditions.(...)

However, this account has been shown to be false. There were clashes between residents and the police and fire service but they came after the blaze when people were angry at a perceived failure to help. The Observer has seen and verified a number of time-stamped videos from the fire showing that the first responders were camp residents who brought an emergency firehose to combat the flames engulfing a cluster of stacked containers."

Message from Lesvos (link):

Torrential rain has hit Lesvos overnight!
10.000 people are sleeping in tents!
45% are children!
The situation is heartbreaking!

“It is not enough for your country to be at war, you should be more vulnerable!” (Lesvos Legal Centre, link):

"I write to you who know my passion for sharing, learning and listening. With many of you, I’ve had conversations about how war and peace are part of the history of all peoples. What I can tell you now, because of what I am experiencing and learning here on Lesvos, is that there are different forms and consequences of what we know as war. The first consequence is death and destruction. After comes the reconstruction phase which is almost impossible. War brings unimaginable destruction, displaces millions of people, and destroys families. Refugees have lived through all of this."

Greece desperately seeking to halt refugees and migrants flows (Keep Talking Greece, link):

"Greece is desperately seeking to halt the refugees and migrants flows and intensifies its contacts with Turkey and the European Union. Migration Policy Minister, Giorgos Koumoutsakos, is meeting with the Turkish Interior Minister and high ranking officials of the Foreign Ministry in Ankara on Thursday.

(...)

boats with refugees and migrants keep arriving in Greece. Between Wednesday and Thursday morning, ten boats with a total of 463 people arrived alone on Lesvos; 700 people from Tuesday to Thursday."

AYS Daily Digest 3/10/19: Stranded in misery, from the Aegean sea to the Strait of Dover (Medium, link):

"Stranded in misery, from the Aegean sea to the Strait of Dover - 300 people arrive in a single day to the overcrowded island camps in Greece, the situation on verge of cracking - Turkey-EU grey area spreading to the fourth year / about 400 people stranded in the woods of Grande Synthe

During the day of October 3, at least eight boats arrived on the Greek Aegean Islands, with 299 people on board, Aegean Boat Report states. More than 35,800 people had arrived this way since the begining of this year, accordinng to the UN’s statistics. In spite all the tragedies and harsh conditions people face (for a long time) once they reach the Aegean islands, there is a rise in the number of those who make an attempt and reach Greece by boat from Turkey."

More than 700 migrant arrivals in Lesvos in past 36 hours (ekathimerini.com, link):

"A total of 703 refugees and migrants arrived on the island of Lesvos between Tuesday midnight and Thursday noon, authorities announced on Thursday.

Based on the data, 191 people reached the island on Thursday, 177 on Wednesday and 335 on Tuesday.

The number of those hosted in and around the Moria reception centre has jumped 140 percent in the period July-September 2019 from 5,500 to a whopping 13,200, while, in the same period, 4,000 people have been transferred to reception facilities on the mainland."

Third Anniversary of EU-Turkey Statement: A Legal Analysis (Heinrich Böll Stiftung, link):

"During the EU-Turkey Summit held on 29 November 2015, parties agreed to support refugees fleeing civil war in Syria and their host country Turkey, and to implement a Joint Action Plan, adopted on 15 October 2015, which sought cooperation to prevent irregular migration flows to the European Union."

Sea Watch migrant rescue captain Carola Rackete criticizes EU lawmakers (DW, link):

"The Sea Watch 3 captain, who memorably defied Italy's landing ban, chastised EU lawmakers for the situation in the Mediterranean. She said rescuers were legally compelled not to return migrants to Libya as it is unsafe.

"The EU member states have engaged in a policy of externalization of their responsibilities and a practice of pushbacks and omissions of rescue, delegating interventions to a country at war, Libya, in breach of international law," Rackete said Thursday to both applause and jeers."

CoE: Parliamentary Assembly: PACE to Europe’s governments: ‘It is your duty not to let people drown in the Mediterranean’ (link):

"While welcoming the commitment of NGOs to carrying out sea rescues, the Assembly has insisted that “it is the duty of States not to let people drown in the Mediterranean.

States should also allow NGOs to carry out their life-saving missions in the Med, and refrain from “stigmatising” their work. The captains of all such rescue vessels should be able to disembark migrants and refugees in the nearest port of safety, as provided for in international maritime law."

See: Adopted Resolution (pdf)

Greece needs to face reality about asylum seekers (euobserver, link):

"The Greek islands are under the spotlight again, as a new wave of tragic events has hit asylum seekers trapped there.

On 29 September, a big fire broke out in Moria - the notorious camp on the island of Lesbos - killing one woman, and injuring at least nine more people, including a baby, the health ministry reported.

On 24 September, a truck killed a five-year-old Afghan boy who was playing just outside Moria.(...)

Comment: The latest government figures (3.10.19) show that a total of 30,666 refugees are present on the Greek islands. Including 14,930 on Lesvos with places for 3,000 and 6,028 on Samos with places for 648.

Does Frontex arrange illegal push backs? (link):

"The EU Border Agency’s air surveillance could have triggered unlawful deportations at external borders. Such operations took place off Libya and Bosnia-Herzegovina."

New Frontex Regulation: Fortress Europe to be upgraded (link):

"The European Union is setting up a "Standing Corps“ of 10,000 border guards, most of whom will be provided by the German Federal Police. The new President of the Commission wants the unit to be complete by 2024. Frontex will also be given more powers and change its organisational structure."

GREECE-ECHR: The remedies proposed to detained migrants in emergency reception centres in Greece were neither accessible nor sufficient (pdf):

"The case concerned the conditions of detention of Syrian, Afghan and Palestinian nationals in the “hotspots” of Vial and Souda (Greece), and the lawfulness of their detention in those camps.(...)

In contrast, the applicants, who did not have legal assistance, had not been able to understand the content of the information brochure; in particular, they were unable to understand the material relating to the various appeal possibilities available under domestic law. (...)

Even assuming that the remedies were effective, the Court did not see how the applicants could have exercised them. Having regard also to the findings of other international bodies, the Court considered that, in the circumstances of the case, the remedies in question had not been accessible to the applicants.

There had therefore been a violation of Article 5 § 4."

Judgment: Kaak et autres v Grèce (French only, application no. 34215/16, pdf)

Greece rushes to unblock camps after migrant deaths (Politico, link):

"Following a Cabinet meeting, the government said it would try to decongest camps on the Aegean islands, by transferring people to the mainland and setting up closed pre-departure centers for those who are to be deported or sent back to their country of origin. It also said it would create a “safe-country list” for people who have illegally entered Greece, making it easier to send them back if they are not at risk at home.

The goal is for some 20,000 people to leave the squalid conditions in the islands' reception centers, Greek officials said. The center-right government also aims to deport some 10,000 people in 2020, compared with the approximately 1,800 people deported in total during the past four and a half years under the previous left-wing Syriza government."

GREECE: Aegean Boat Report (2.10.19):

"At least 9 boats have arrived on the Greek Aegean Islands since yesterday, 392 people. (...)

"Today (1.10.19) at least 12 boats have arrived on the Greek Aegean Islands, 459 people. Seven of the boats arrived on Lesvos."

See also: Third group of refugees, migrants transferred from Moria (ekathimerini.com, link):

215 men, women and children were tranfered to the mainland on Tuesday 1 October folowing the death of a woman in Moria detention centre on Sunday. 350 were transfered the previous Friday.

Lesvos Legal Centre: Press release: Fatal fire inside Moria refugee camp (link):

"In what comes as no surprise to anyone paying attention to the hotspots on the Greek islands, yesterday a fire broke out inside Moria Refugee Camp, which currently houses approximately 13,000 people in unlivable, cramped ‘housing’. The fire apparently started after an electric short-circuit in one container and killed at least one woman and resulted in the severe injury of many others

After the fire was finally put out, with the assistance of many residents of the camp, and the bodies of several carried to ambulances, protests over the conditions inside the camp were met with excessive use of tear gas by the police."

GREECE-TURKEY: Koumoutsakos visiting Ankara amid spike in migrant arrivals (ekathimerini.com, link):

"speaking to members of the Parliament’s foreign affairs and defence committee on Wednesday, Koumoutsakos said there was a 200 percent jump in the number of migrant arrivals in the last five months, and that the EU-Turkey statement worked until 2017, but as of 2018, there had been an “impressive increase.”

Can Schinas put EU values back into migration brief? (euobserver, link):

"The migration issue continues to dominate the EU corridors of power and its agenda.

The new EU leaders and member states will no doubt be reviewing the union's migration policies."

Greece must act to end dangerous overcrowding in island reception centres, EU support crucial (UNHCR, link):

"UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is today calling on Greece to urgently move thousands of asylum-seekers out of dangerously overcrowded reception centres on the Greek Aegean islands. Sea arrivals in September, mostly of Afghan and Syrian families, increased to 10,258 - the highest monthly level since 2016 – worsening conditions on the islands which now host 30,000 asylum-seekers.

The situation on Lesvos, Samos and Kos is critical. The Moria centre on Lesvos is already at five times its capacity with 12,600 people. At a nearby informal settlement, 100 people share a single toilet. Tensions remain high at Moria where a fire on Sunday in a container used to house people killed one woman. An ensuing riot by frustrated asylum-seekers led to clashes with police.

On Samos, the Vathy reception centre houses 5,500 people – eight times its capacity. Most sleep in tents with little access to latrines, clean water, or medical care. Conditions have also deteriorated sharply on Kos, where 3,000 people are staying in a space for 700.

Keeping people on the islands in these inadequate and insecure conditions is inhumane and must come to an end."

EU: 'Moria is hell': asylum seekers protest conditions at Greek camp (Reuters, link):

"Hundreds of asylum seekers protested conditions at Greece’s biggest migrant camp on Lesbos on Tuesday after a woman was killed in a fire there, marching towards the island’s capital before being halted by police.

More than 12,000 people - mainly from Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq - live in Moria camp, which has grown to become the island’s second largest town in just three years.

The woman’s death on Sunday was the third there in two months. An Afghan teenager was killed in a fight in August and a five-year-old Afghan boy was accidentally run over by a truck while playing in a cardboard box outside the camp in September."

Letter from civil society organisations to Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations: Protecting the rights of migrant children (pdf):

"Migrant children are being denied their right to survival and development, to education and family unity, to their cultural identity and to participation in our society by discriminatory and arbitrary migration policies and practices, are denied access to psychological recovery from those harms and to psycho-social, health and welfare resources, detained and separated from their families deliberately and without access to justice and protection measures. Those civil society members who provide assistance and who defend the rights of young migrants must also be free from the fear of prosecution and persecution for so doing, including punitive measures against their families.

There are no justifiable reasons for this systemic harm and abuse of children. States must find new solutions to their legitimate concerns to manage immigration. These measures MUST comply with all existing universally adopted children's rights standards, not be set against them."