Archive
Italy: Ports closed to rescue ships: appeal to the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe
Translation of a letter originally published by Médécins sans Frontieres, Mediterranea Saving Humans, Open Arms and Sea Watch, organisations that have vessels operating in search and rescue activities in the central Mediterranean on 11 April 2020. Read More
Bosnia and Herzegovina: Security Minister Plans to Deport Thousands of People Amid Corona Crisis
"On April 23, the security minister of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) proposed to forcibly deport migrants out of the country in the midst of the Coronavirus outbreak. The initiative follows a decision on April 16 by the Council of Ministers of BiH on the Restriction of Movement and Stay of Foreigners challenged by the Legal Aid Network Vaaa prava BiH." Read More
EU shores up Libyan coast guard amid Covid-19 scare
"The European Union is reshuffling budgets to further shore up Libya's coast guard and the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic. Read More
EU financial complicity in Libyan migrant abuses
"The EU is financially supporting Libyan and Italian authorities, who are responsible for grave violations of migrant rights, with some 90 million euros. In a complaint submitted to the European Court of Auditors, GLAN and our partners at ASGI and ARCI demonstrate that this support enables Libyan authorities to intercept and return migrant boats to Libyan territory, contrary to fundamental rules of refugee law; and that it is often funnelled into one of the world’s most notorious detention systems where migrants are held in deplorable conditions and subjected to extreme violence and in some cases, sold into slavery." Read More
EU: Monitoring being pitched to fight Covid-19 was tested on refugees – The pandemic has given a boost to controversial data-driven initiatives to track population movements
"In Italy, social media monitoring companies have been scouring Instagram to see who's breaking the nationwide lockdown. In Israel, the government has made plans to “sift through geolocation data” collected by the Shin Bet intelligence agency and text people who have been in contact with an infected person. And in the UK, the government has asked mobile operators to share phone users’ aggregate location data to “help to predict broadly how the virus might move”." Read More
Ireland: Special Report: How accommodating asylum seekers turned into a billion-euro industry
"The housing and accommodation of asylum seekers in Ireland has become a billion-euro industry." Read More
Malta asks the EU to recognise Libya as a safe port
"The follow-up and reactions to the massacre of 12 migrants in the waters between Malta and Libya in the days just after Easter continue to offer surprises. In addition to the phantom fleet of Libyan-Maltese fishing boats used by Valletta to illegally repel the shipwrecked migrants to Libyan prison camps, there is a deliberate plan to obtain money from the EU and have Libya declared a "safe port"." Read More
Historic UK-Greece migration action plan signed: The UK and Greece have committed to deepen cooperation on irregular migration in the Eastern Mediterranean
"The joint action plan has been signed by Immigration Minister, Chris Philp, and Greece’s Alternate Migration and Asylum Minister, Giorgos Koumoutsakos, today signalling a firm commitment from both governments to increase cooperation as illegal migration into Europe via Greece remains high." Read More
EU: Seven member states call for mandatory relocation in revamped asylum system
Seven EU member states are in favour of a mandatory relocation procedure as part of a revamped 'Common European Asylum System', according to two recent documents obtained by Statewatch - the first, a letter to the European Commission from the Italian, Spanish, French and German governments and the second, a 'non-paper' drafted by Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Spain and Malta. Read More
EU commission keeps asylum report on Greece secret
"The European Commission is refusing to release a preliminary legal assessment into Greece's decision to temporarily shelve asylum applications." Read More