Background information
Statement by Médecins Sans Frontières on the outsourcing of asylum procedures
Our experience shows that outsourcing asylum procedures has serious consequences for those affected. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Deutschland
Shipwreck in the Ionian Sea, 17.6.2024. The Silenced Dead and Institutional Silence
On the night of June 16-17, off the Ionian Sea, a boat that departed from the port of Bodrum in Turkey with about 67 people on board (including 26 minors) sank approximately 120 miles off the coast of Calabria. The boat had been adrift for several days, with a semi-submerged hull, likely due to an engine explosion.
According to survivors, several vessels passed by without intervening during that time: the boat was only rescued on June 17 after a French ship intercepted the sunken sailboat and issued a “mayday” call. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Italien / Malta
Egypt: “Handcuffed like dangerous criminals”: Arbitrary detention and forced returns of Sudanese refugees in Egypt
Since September 2023, Egypt’s Border Guard Forces and police have carried out mass arbitrary arrests of Sudanese people who fled the ongoing armed conflict in Sudan for irregularly entering or staying in Egypt. The Egyptian authorities held women, men and children in cruel and inhuman conditions, including in warehouses or horse stables, pending their forced return to Sudan without giving them the opportunity to claim asylum or to challenge their deportation. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika, Europa, Afrika
The Complex Landscape of Asylum Border Procedures in the new Asylum Procedures Regulation
At the heart of the negotiations for the New Pact on Migration and Asylum lies one of its most contentious elements: the regulation of border procedures. During the Council negotiations, the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR) underwent significant modifications, particularly in the provisions that regulate border procedures, to incorporate perspectives from all Member States. Despite expectations for improvements during trialogues with the Parliament, the final outcome in December 2023 witnessed a step back from many of the anticipated safeguards. Border procedures are perceived in the agreed text as an important ‘migration management tool’ and as a responsibility mechanism, mandating the examination of asylum applications at the borders, while asylum seekers will be subject to the ‘non-entry’ fiction. This blogpost aims to examine the complex landscape of border procedures based on the final text of the APR. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union, Europa
Joint Statement: New Schengen border code
Despite repeated warnings from Civil Society Organisations, EU lawmakers have reached an agreement on the Schengen Borders Code reform which will be voted on in the Plenary tomorrow. The legislative file that has emerged from negotiations between the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU, the European Parliament and Commission will have devastating consequences for people in migration and racialised communities.
We, along with 131 other Civil Society Organisations, call on MEPs in the LIBE Committee to reject the Schengen Borders Code reform and give a clear signal against legislation that undermines fundamental rights. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union
Interrupted Sea
On this World Refugee Day, transnational civil society is mobilising to denounce the murderous and racist policies in the Mediterranean!
Based on testimonies gathered by various actors of Tunisian and transnational civil society, this report documents the interception practices of the Tunisian National Guard in the Central Mediterranean. The data collected, based on 14 in-depth interviews conducted between 2021 and 2023 with exiled people who survived attacks at sea, highlight violent and illegal practices, ranging from non-assistance, to manoeuvres intentionally aimed at capsizing boats in distress, causing shipwrecks and costing the lives of many exiled people.
This brutalisation by the Tunisian border authorities, which has now been documented for several years, is taking place against a backdrop of increasing border outsourcing policies by the European Union and its member states. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika, Europäische Union
Foreign-born people and their descendants - educational attainment level and skills in host country language
Source: Eurostat (lfsa_pganedm)
This article is one of a set of statistical articles concerning foreign-born people and their immediate descendants in the EU. This article forms part of an online publication. It presents statistics on two subjects: educational attainment and skills in relation to their host country’s language. Since 2023 is the European Year of Skills these statistics help to inform how people with various migration status compare in terms of skills that become increasingly important, both in the labour market and for individuals as well as society in general. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union, Europa
The EU countries accused of pushing back migrants
The Greek coastguard is the latest European border agency accused of forcibly returning migrants. Here's an overview of the EU countries facing such claims read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union, Europa
Fortress Europe: Migrants Abandoned on the Edge of the Sahara
In Mauritania, Morocco and Tunisia, migrants are brought to remote areas and abandoned without food or water - some of them right in the desert. A team of reporters from DER SPIEGEL and elsewhere found that the EU is not only aware of the practice - but finances the agencies responsible. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika
Crimes of the European Coast Guard Agency Frontex – Second Report. Insights into Frontex’ ongoing and unpunished aerial complicity in human rights violations in the Central Mediterranean Sea – Spring 2024
In its daily work in the Central Mediterranean, Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, primarily aims to hinder people from arriving in Europe, no matter the costs. In order to do so, the agency relies on violent militias like the so-called Libyan Coast Guard to intercept people trying to flee. As a result of the agencies’ way of operating, people are forced back to torture, forced labor and exploitation.
This factsheet outlines the way in which Frontex operates in the Central Mediterranean Sea. It provides a selection of representative situations with boats in distress where Frontex was involved in 2022, 2023 and early 2024. The factsheet is based on data collected by the Airborne department of Sea-Watch, which carries out monitoring flights in the Central Mediterranean and documents human rights violations. The collected data allows us to draw conclusions about the role of Frontex in pullbacks to Libya. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Malta: Authorities must not make El Hiblu 3 ‘scapegoats for Europe’s search and rescue failures’
Vor der Anhörung der 'El Hiblu 3' am 30. Mai fordert Amnesty International Malta und Deutschland auf, die Anklagen gegen drei junge westafrikanische Männer fallen zu lassen, die wegen der Verhinderung ihrer illegalen Rückführung nach Libyen zu lebenslanger Haft verurteilt werden könnten. Die Männer, damals noch Teenager, fungierten als Vermittler und beruhigten über 100 gerettete Personen. Amnesty betont, dass Libyen für Migranten unsicher ist. Der Fall ist von erheblichen Menschenrechtsverletzungen geprägt. Ein fairer Prozess ist unerlässlich. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Italien / Malta, Europäische Union, Europa
UNHCR Europe situations: Data and trends - Arrivals and displaced populations (April 2024)
UNHCR, WHO, UNICEF, UNWOMEN and IOM recently published a report titled “NAVIGATING HEALTH AND WELL-BEING CHALLENGES FOR REFUGEES FROM UKRAINE”, an Inter-Agency analysis based on the Multi-Sector Needs Assessments (MSNA) conducted in Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Republic of Moldova, Romania, and Slovakia. The report revealed that while healthcare is a top priority for refugees, most Ukrainian refugees report being able to access health services, marking a significant achievement. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union, Europa
Death, despair and misery - the health consequences of EU migration policy
Asylum seekers from Africa, the Middle East, and Asia face severe human rights violations and health issues due to outsourced border protection to Serbia, Niger, Tunisia, and Libya. They often suffer from violence and repression and lack access to medical care. Many are injured or die trying to cross EU borders. Upon reaching the EU, they live in poor conditions that endanger their health. The situation urgently requires humanitarian and political action. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Europa, Afrika, Asien, Weltweit
The new EU Asylum and Migration Pact - questions answered
The new EU Asylum and Migration Pact, aimed at managing migration across the bloc, was approved by the Parliament at the end of April. InfoMigrants has asked the European Commission to provide more detailed information about the deal. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union
Lebanon as another gatekeeper for the terrified EU?
Since 2017, there have been protocols for humanitarian corridors that bring vulnerable Syrian refugees from Lebanon to Italy on official flights. Under these protocols, the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of the Interior, and a coalition of churches (comprising the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy, the Tavola Valdese, and the Community of Sant’Egidio) agreed to accept 1,000 people over two-year periods. The costs are borne entirely by the churches (!). According to our records, between 2023 and May 2024, 326 people have arrived in Italy through the humanitarian corridor, which is significantly less than the promised capacity. This is particularly dramatic considering the current situation of Syrian refugees in Lebanon, as reported by Anja Pilchowski and Ahmad Ibrahim in their article.
You can find an english version of this report on our website unter > Projects > The Mediterranean: monitoring, research, identification > Refugees in Lebanon read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Naher Osten
Wüsten-"Deponien"
Europe supports, finances and is directly involved in clandestine operations in North African countries to dump tens of thousands of Black people in the desert or remote areas each year to prevent them from coming to the EU. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika, Europäische Union, Europa
European elections and refugee protection
The election posters are hanging in the streets, and the first election are already being sent out: On 9 June, the election to the
election to the European Parliament takes place on 9 June. For many citizens, however
citizens, however, this parliament is something very distant and
of which they have no clear idea. The temptation is therefore
temptation to not vote or to cast a vote just to spite the federal government.
to get one over on the federal government. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Europäische Union, Europa
The European Asylum Pact and its consequences
The agreement between the EU Council and the EU Parliament on the European asylum pact (Common European Asylum System/GEAS) clearly shows that Europe has bowed to pressure from right-wing populists. The new asylum law, which will apply in Europe from mid-2026, contains a wide range of provisions that make it more difficult and in some cases impossible for people to obtain asylum in the European Union. There is a risk of blatant violations of individual asylum rights, obligations under international law and international human rights standards. In this brochure, we have provided some examples of how and where the rights of refugees can be restricted or nullified by the new asylum law. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Europäische Union
Immigration: a world of illusions, confrontation and instrumentalisation
‘Immigrant invasion’, the ‘rush to Europe’, the ‘great replacement’ — a spectre is haunting the West, the spectre of people seeking social housing and benefits. But who are these immigrants? Where are they going, and what are they escaping? Why do they take such great risks? Political leaders in the UK, France, Italy, the US and Australia dodge these questions, not to mention their own responsibility for the deterioration of public debate and living conditions around the world. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union, Europa, Weltweit
From migration to criminalization - growing oppressive treatment against people on the move in Serbia
Klikaktiv annual report for the year 2023
read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Balkanstaaten, Europäische Union, Europa