The Sahara - EUrope´s new deadly external border

Today Agadez in Niger is considered the virtual externalised border of the European Union. European financial aid, technical devices, military check points and drone surveillance in the desert are the main pillars of an externalised EU border. In preparation of the 2005 EU enlargement, asylum law was harmonised, and Frontex was founded as a European border control agency. The Rabat Process (2006) and the Khartoum Process (2014) gave birth to the new virtual EU borders in North Africa and the Sahara. Third countries became Europe’s door keepers and the border control was externalised. To counter the underreported death toll in the Sahara in consequence of the externalised EU borders, borderline-europe is networking with other activists in Europe and Africa. This documentation aims to inform about current developments and human rights violations along Europe´s externalised border in North African states. It is based on workshops and conferences over the course of the years 2017 and 2018 that were organised in cooperation with Bildungswerk Berlin of Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung.

Language(s): Englisch / English
Publisher: borderline-europe and Bildungswerk Berlin der Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung

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Sudan - The forgotten War

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Language(s): Englisch / English

‘Unwanted’ - extraterritorialisation of border procedures and tightening of deportation regulations in Italy. Is resistance still possible?

On 11 March 2025, the EU Commission presented its new proposal for the Return Regulation. Deportation regulations are set to be significantly tightened, with renewed discussions around the establishment of so-called ‘return hubs’. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the Commission, is proposing that these detention centres for deportees should also be located in non-EU countries – qualified as so-called “safe third countries” (SCO) (art. 38, Asylum Procedure Directive). So is the Italian government's ‘Albania solution’ back on the table? In our previous article, we asked why Italy is putting so much emphasis on this expensive and, as we will see below, ill-conceived agreement between Italy and Albania. Looking again into the Italian situation, including the “current stop” to the implementation of the Italy-Albania protocol, the direct governmental attack to the autonomy of the judicial power, and the main challenges it entails for the rule of law, is essential to understand the recent policy developments at the EU level concerning asylum and returns.
Language(s): Deutsch / German

‘Detention, illegalisation and the so-called CEAS reform in southern Italy - monitoring the situation of refugees in the light of the European migration pact’

Im September 2024 startete unser neues Projekt, durchgeführt von den Organisationen borderline-europe und Maldusa, geleitet von der Forschungsgesellschaft Flucht und Migration, und unterstützt von der Evangelischen Kirche in Hessen und Nassau (EKHN), der Evangelischen Kirche im Rheinland (EKIR), LeaveNoOneBehind und Pro Asyl!
Language(s): Deutsch / German