Immigration and asylum in Europe

13-26 October 2020

Including:

UK: Channel asylum seekers face "a Dover to Deportation pipeline" with no legal advice or support
EU: Greece draws up requirements for member state militaries' role in border control
EU: Tracking the Pact: Reinforced cooperation against migrant smuggling with Balkan and African "partners"
EU: Frontex on cooperation with Libya: nothing to see here

Including:

Greece: On Lesvos, migrants and their supporters continue to suffer at the hands of the authorities
EU: Deportations to Afghanistan: member states want to simplify expulsion of "vulnerable groups"
UK considers imitating Australia's brutal off-shoring of asylum seekers
EU: Advice of Frontex Consultative Forum on Fundamental Rights still falls on deaf ears
EU: Tracking the Pact: Secret documents on reception conditions and qualification for international protection

Including:

Frontex: No human rights monitoring of 20% of flights; "standing corps" recruitment continues; revamped complaints mechanism shrouded in secrecy
The new "pact" on migration and asylum - documentation, context and reactions
Moria: Lack of support for those left without shelter; call for immediate evacuation
EU: German Presidency: how can Frontex help deport unaccompanied children?

Including:

German naval deployments sit back and watch illegal deportations by the Greek authorities
EU’s planned ‘deportation machine’: expensive, dangerous and lacking in transparency and accountability measures
Spain introduces new Guardia Civil unit, reinforcing the militarisation of the southern border
The legal battle to hold the EU to account for Libya migrant abuses
After six long years, no justice for border deaths and pushbacks to Morocco from Spain

Including:

Court judgment confirms that Slovenia and Croatia committed "chain pushbacks"
Pull-backs by the Libyan Coast Guard: complaint filed with UN Human Rights Committee
Borders, budgets and beyond: LIBE report sheds light on Frontex’s priorities for implementing its new mandate
EU support for "migration management" in the Western Balkans squarely focused on control measures
Greece: New Legal Centre Lesvos report details collective expulsions in the Aegean Sea

Including:

Greece: Criminal charges pressed against the asylum seekers who arrived in Lesvos in March 2020
State of emergency declared on Mediterranean rescue ship
Denmark may return Syria refugees as Damascus area deemed 'safe'

Hundreds of NGOs and individuals call for the revocation of Libya's maritime search and rescue zone
Remote control: the EU-Libya collaboration in mass interceptions of migrants in the Central Mediterranean
Greece: Only 18 of 40 NGOs working in migrant and refugee centres apply for registration
Digital technologies and borders: Joint submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism
EU 'covered up' Croatia's failure to protect migrants from border brutality

EU-Libya collaboration - pull-backs by remote control
Hostility towards migrants and those working to support them continues as state policy on Lesvos
Immediate action needed to disembark migrants held on ships off Malta's coast
Analysis: Partial relief: migrant regularisations during the COVID-10 pandemic

New analysis: reinforcement of Frontex runs into legal problems
Greece: Tents at Sea: How Greek Officials Use Rescue Equipment for Illegal Deportations
EU-Turkey: 369 Syrians deported to Turkey through EU fund for refugees
Hungary: No more transit zones, now asylum seekers will have to apply abroad
Risk of repression: New rules on civil society supporting refugees and migrants in Greece

Council considers action on "non-removable" irregular migrants
Analysis: Rights denied during Greek asylum procedure suspension
Refugees and European human rights law: Expelled from Humanity
Analysis: As the fiction of a Libyan search and rescue zone begins to crumble, EU states use the coronavirus pandemic to declare themselves unsafe
Leaving people behind - Proposals for the reorganisation of the Common European Asylum System

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