Background information
oices from the Camps: Living Conditions and Access to Services in Refugee Camps on the Greek Mainland; Evidence of the failure to provide adequate material reception conditions to asylum seekers in Greece
This report looks at living conditions and access to services for asylum seekers in Greece, drawing on interviews with people living in nine migration camps on the mainland: Corinth, Katsikas, Kavala, Koutsochero, Lagkadikia, Malakasa, Oinofyta, Ritsona and Serres. With attention often directed to the inhumane, EU-funded Closed Controlled Access Centres on the Aegean islands, the findings of this research reveal a troubling picture of neglect and mismanagement on the mainland as well.
The only accommodation that the Greek state provides asylum seekers is in camps. Many of these facilities are located on former military bases in industrial or agricultural areas, far from cities and with limited or non-existent public transport connections. The isolated locations of most camps and the lack of services provided inside them, has resulted in severe limitations on asylum seekers’ access to social services, legal support, and healthcare. Gaps in the provision of interpretation and transportation are fundamental and create additional barriers to accessing essential services.
Meanwhile, daily lives in the camps are characterised by constant surveillance, restricted movement and a fundamental lack of opportunities for learning, community-building and joy. Many people wait months or years in these conditions, struggling to meet their basic human needs, move on with their lives or integrate into society. This report provides strong evidence that conditions in the mainland camps fall far short of Greece’s legal obligation to provide reception conditions which protect the physical and mental health of people seeking international protection. Based on the findings of this report, we call on the Greek State to reintroduce housing programmes which accommodate applicants in apartments and houses in cities. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Griechenland / Türkei
How the New EU Facilitation Directive Furthers the Criminalisation of Migrants and Human Rights Defenders
PICUM’s new briefing includes a comprehensive analysis of how and why the EU commission facilitation directive has failed and how the new proposal means that people on the move will still risk years of prison for steering boats or having to undertake perilous journeys with their children. Human rights defenders will continue facing harassment and persecution and new provisions will have a significant effect on the provision of information and services to people on the move, and facilitate censorship. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union
Outsourcing of borders. Observation of EU externalisation policy. Bulletin 02
The project, carried out by Statewatch and migration-control.info and funded by Bread for the World, Misereor, medico international and Pro Asyl, aims to publicise the EU's externalisation policies, plans and practices. In this way, the impact on the rights of refugees as well as on democratic standards, transparency and accountability will be highlighted. It addresses the lack of public information by publishing relevant EU documents, at this stage mainly those produced or discussed by the Council of the EU. In addition, the information overload resulting from a multitude of EU institutions, working groups and national governments involved in the externalisation agenda is addressed through a summary of thematic and regional developments and an in-depth analysis of key issues. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Europäische Union
On this Journey no one care if you live or die: Abuse, Protection and Justice along Routes between East and West Africa and Africa’s Mediterranean Coast
The UNHCR, IOM, and MMC's report highlights the extreme violence and human rights violations faced by people on the move on land routes across the African continent, particularly towards the Mediterranean coast. The report reveals that more people cross the Sahara Desert than the Mediterranean Sea, with deaths in the desert estimated to be twice those at sea. Over three years of data collection, the report emphasizes the rising number of individuals attempting these hazardous land crossings, driven by deteriorating conditions in their home and host countries, such as new conflicts in the Sahel and Sudan, climate change, and widespread racism and xenophobia.
The report details the severe risks and abuses people endure, including torture, physical violence, arbitrary detention, death, kidnapping for ransom, sexual violence, enslavement, human trafficking, and forced labor. These abuses are primarily perpetrated by criminal gangs, armed groups, and even security forces and border guards. Despite international commitments to protect and assist these individuals, significant gaps in protection and assistance persist along the Central Mediterranean route, exacerbated by inadequate funding and restrictions on humanitarian access. This situation forces people on the move to undertake even more perilous journeys.
The report calls for comprehensive, route-based protection strategies to save lives and alleviate suffering, addressing the root causes of displacement and irregular movements through measures like peacebuilding, human rights protection, improved governance, and climate change mitigation. The organizations urge for the creation of safe pathways for migrants across all stages of their journeys, hoping the findings will spur increased action to fill the existing gaps in the international response to this crisis. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika, Afrika
Italy: Abuse of migration-related detention in punitive conditions deprives people of liberty and dignity
In Italy, migrants and people seeking asylum are being unlawfully deprived of their liberty in detention centres that fall below international standards, Amnesty International said today in its new public statement, “Liberty and Dignity: Amnesty International’s observations on the administrative detention of migrant and asylum-seeking people in Italy.’
“Detention should be exceptional and a measure of last resort. However, in the centres we visited we encountered racialized people who should never have been detained." read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Italien / Malta
FACTSHEET. Development of migration routes to Europe
The routes that migrants and asylum seekers take to reach Europe are constantly changing. What do migration movements currently look like? What data do we have? An overview. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Europa, Weltweit
Deciphering the European Pact on Migration and Asylum
The European Pact on Migration and Asylum is a set of legislative and operational measures designed to bring about a comprehensive reform of European policy in this area. Adopted by the European Parliament on 10 April 2024 and then by the Council of the European Union (EU) on 14 May 2024, it is presented as "a set of rules which will contribute to managing arrivals in an orderly manner, creating efficient and uniform procedures and sharing the burden fairly between Member States". read more
Language(s): Französisch / Français
Region(s): Europäische Union
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