Background information
UN strengthens call for ceasefire in Syria
Because of the escalating situation in the Syrian civil war zone Idlib, the United Nations has intensified its calls for an urgent ceasefire. At a special session of the UN Security Council, the UN mediator for Syria, Geir Pedersen, and UN emergency aid, coordinator Mark Lowcock described the current situation in Idlib as bleak. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Naher Osten
Trotz Suizidalität: Knast und Folter zur gewaltvollen Durchsetzung von Abschiebungen
Die skandalöse Abschiebung einer hochgradig suizidalen Person aus der Abschiebehaft in Büren (NRW) nach Marokko schlägt leider keine Aufmerksamkeitswellen. Viel zu sehr hat sich die brutale Abschiebepraxis der BRD schon in der Gesellschaft normalisiert. Herr H. ist schwer suizidal und dementsprechend dringend behandlungsbedürftig. Der Kampf gegen seine Abschiebung endete leider erfolglos: Am 9. Januar 2020 wurde er aus dem Abschiebeknast in Büren nach Marokko abgeschoben. Trotz der Nachweise mehrerer Aufenthalte in psychiatrischen Kliniken sowie mehrfachen Selbstmordversuchen, welche Grund genug sein sollten für eine Bescheinigung und letztendliche Akzeptanz seiner Haft- und Reiseunfähigkeit, wurde er für insgesamt drei Monate in Abschiebehaft in Büren gesperrt. Innerhalb dieser Zeit unternahm Herr H. mindestens einen weiteren Suizidversuch. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Deutschland
Gewalt im Sahel, West- und Zentralafrika eskaliert weiter
Weitgehend unbemerkt von der Weltöffentlichkeit hat sich in der Sahelzone, in West- und Zentralafrika die Sicherheitslage und die humanitäre Situation drastisch verschlechtert. Inzwischen sind 1,2 Millionen Menschen in die Nachbarländer geflüchtet. 5 Millionen Menschen leben derzeit als Binnenvertriebene, als Flüchtlinge im eigenen Land. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Afrika
Caught in Iran crisis, Afghan refugees go to Turkey
Decades ago, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan prompted thousands of people to flee to neighboring Iran. Now, many of these refugees are once again seeking a new home in a new land, Turkey, desperate to escape the dire economic conditions fueled by U.S. sanctions on Tehran.
Tens of thousands made the dangerous, cross-border trek last year into Turkey. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Naher Osten
Reception conditions in Italy
Asylum seekers in Italy threatened with human rights violations
The conditions for asylum seekers in Italy are miserable. The Federal Administrative Court recently called on the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM) to carry out more in-depth investigations into the situation in Italy. A new report by Swiss Refugee Aid (SFH) shows Asylum seekers who are sent back to Italy as part of a Dublin procedure have little access to adequate accommodation. Their basic rights are not guaranteed. The SFH therefore advises against transfers to Italy.
read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Italien / Malta
FRONTEX: THE MAKING OF A ‘SUPER AGENCY’
The document analyzes the transformative process set off by the new Regulation.
The evolution of Frontex into a super-agency is examined through the expansion of
its human resource capacity, an examination of its investment strategy in
infrastructure and services, a description of its emerging role as a key surveillance
data administrator and returns operation manager, and concludes with an analysis
of questions and concerns regarding accountability and legal issues that will
inevitably define the character of the agency in the years to come. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union
NEW REPORT ON CASES OF TORTURE OF ASYLUM SEEKERS BY CROATIAN AUTHORITIES AT EU EXTERNAL BORDERS
Together with a number of NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Are You Syrious / Centre for Peace Studies, and Amnesty International, the Border Violence Monitoring Network has been working to document illegal pushbacks and police violence along the EU’s external borders in the Western Balkans since the formal closure of the route in 2017. While the existence of systematic illegal pushbacks along the Croatian and Hungarian borders with Serbia and Bosnia is evidenced extensively, this report focuses on the increasing violence that is applied to refugees and migrants under the framework of the Croatian case. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Balkanstaaten, Europäische Union
AYS Special 2019/2020: A Year of Violence — Monitoring Pushbacks on the Balkan Route
In 2019, The Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared the voices of thousands of people pushed back from borders on the Balkan Route. Each tells their own tale of illegal, and regularly violent, police actions. Each represents a person denied their fundamental rights, eyewitnesses to EU led reborderization. This article shares just some of the more startling trends which define border management on the eve of 2020, such as the denial of asylum rights, systemic firearms use, water immersion, and dog attacks. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Balkanstaaten
Central Mediterranean Regional Analysis
The Alarm Phone’s Central Mediterranean Regional Analysis is out! It covers the period 1 October to 31 December 2019 and discusses key developments, including:
- Civil Fleet and Alarm Phone rescues
- The “borderisation” of Search and Rescue zones
- Non-assistance, interceptions, refoulements by proxy by Europe and its allies
- “Privatised” push-backs to Libya
- Recent shipwrecks and invisibilised deaths at sea
- Messages from behind bars in Libya read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Italien / Malta, Nordafrika, Europäische Union
Sea- Watch Sonderbeilage 2019: 701 Tonnen Solidarität – Für das Recht zu bleiben, Für das Recht zu gehen
Nach einem Jahr mit viel Aufmerksamkeit für die Seenotretter*innen, beschäftigt sich diese Beilage für die Taz mit den Geschichten derer, die sonst nicht auf der Titelseite landen. Es geht um die Geschichten von Achuil (Anfang 2019 zu Gast auf der Sea-Watch 3) und drei Jugendlichen, die für ihre Courage vor Gericht stehen. Auch die Arbeit an den Grenzen der Festung Europa wird geschildert. read more
Language(s): Deutsch / German
Region(s): Europäische Union
BALKAN REGION – REPORT NOVEMBER 2019
The Border Violence Monitoring Network just published it’s November report, covering pushbacks and police violence from Croatia, Slovenia, Italy and Greece. This report covers several different trends, analysing the illegal and life threatening police practices which govern the external border of the European Union. In focus was the near fatal use of firearms by Croatian authorities, supported by the recent publication of BVMN’s wider statistics on the exercise of guns during collective expulsion. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Balkanstaaten
Frontex: The making of a 'super agency'
On 13 November 2019, the Council of the European Union and the European Parliament adopted the new Regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), three years following the agency’s last reform. The new Regulation will come into force on 4 December 2019 and will make Frontex the strongest and best financed agency in the history of the European Union (EU).
The new Regulation aims to increase the agency’s autonomy and to reduce operational dependency of the agency on EU Member States (MS). For this purpose, the Regulation expands the agency’s capacity and mandate in three main respects as Refugee Support Aegean and ProAsyl report.
read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Europäische Union
Asylum, relocation and return of migrants: Time to step up action to address disparities between objectives and results
In recent years, the EU has seen unprecedented levels of migration and a subsequent increase in asylum applications. The migration crisis peaked in 2015, when over 1 million people embarked upon the treacherous journey to Europe by sea, before returning to pre-crisis levels. This surge in migration has challenged the EU framework on asylum, migration and external borders management. Established arrangements have come under heavy strain, even prompting their temporary suspension in some cases. Located on the frontline, Greece and Italy are disproportionately burdened. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Italien / Malta, Griechenland / Türkei
Deportation to Afghanistan: A Challenge to State Legitimacy and Stability?
The population of Afghan citizens deported back to Afghanistan from European countries constitutes a significant community, which has the potential of contributing to a further destabilisation of Afghanistan. Deportees make up of a population group extremely traumatized by their long, dangerous and expensive journeys in hopes of better and safe places to begin new chapters in the lives. A real and/or perceived sense of deep insecurity and lack of safety were cited as the major factors causing the original flight of the deportees interviewed. Escape from extreme poverty and lack of hope and prospects for improvement in their living conditions were cited as secondary factors for seeking refuge outside of Afghanistan. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Mittlerer Osten
Illegal pushbacks in Evros: Eveidence of human rights abuses at the Greece/Turkey border
In the last couple of years various refugee and human rights related organizations have reported illegal pushbacks at the Greece-Turkey Border around the Evros river, highlighting the organized and intensified nature of collective migrant expulsions in this region and the serious physical and psychological mistreatment that often accompany them. In August 2018, Mobile Info Team started collecting first-hand testimonies of individuals who crossed the border and were forcibly pushed back to Turkey. The testimonies were collected by trained volunteers and interpreters through our fieldwork and our outreach channels for beneficiaries. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Griechenland / Türkei
Deportation to Afghanistan: A Challenge to State Legitimacy and Stability?
The population of Afghan citizens deported back to Afghanistan from European countries constitutes a significant community, which has the potential of contributing to a further destabilisation of Afghanistan. Deportees make up of a population group extremely traumatized by their long, dangerous and expensive journeys in hopes of better and safe places to begin new chapters in the lives. A real and/or perceived sense of deep insecurity and lack of safety were cited as the major factors causing the original flight of the deportees interviewed. Escape from extreme poverty and lack of hope and prospects for improvement in their living conditions were cited as secondary factors for seeking refuge outside of Afghanistan. Almost all the deportees interviewed during this research reiterated that they had never thought of the government as an effective source of protection and security, nor did they think that the government would be able to protect them from risks and dangers in the foreseeable future. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Naher Osten, Deutschland
After the storm: Organized crime across the Sahel-Sahara following upheaval in Libya and Mali
Organized crime in the Sahel has entered a new phase of consolidation and diversification. During the past decade, criminal activity expanded exponentially, particularly in the wake of the conflicts in Libya (2011) and Mali (2012). Arms stockpiles from the Libyan regime spilled into neighbouring countries at an alarming rate following the revolution, fuelling conflict across the region and bolstering the operational capacity of criminals all the way from Mali to southern Sudan – and beyond. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika
ILLEGAL PUSHBACKS IN EVROS
Since August 2018, Mobile Info Team has been collecting first-hand testimonies of individuals who crossed the border into Greece and were forcibly pushed back to Turkey. Our expertise in asylum law and direct service to impacted communities makes us strategically poised to document and challenge these illegal and systematic expulsions. For this reason, Mobile Info Team is working with partners in Northern Greece to collect, document, and ultimately challenge these actions. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Griechenland / Türkei
Sea rescue NGOs : a pull factor of irregular migration?
The argument that maritime Search and Rescue (SAR) operations act as a ‘pull factor’ of irregular seaborne migration has become com-monplace during the Mediterranean ‘refugee crisis’. This claim has frequently been used to criticize humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) conducting SAR off the coast of Libya, which are considered to provide “an incentive for human smugglers to arrange departures” (Italian Senate 2017: 9). In this policy brief, we scrutinise this argument by examining monthly migratory flows from Libya to Italy between 2014 and October 2019. We find no relation-ship between the presence of NGOs at sea and the number of migrants leaving Libyan shores. read more
Language(s): Englisch / English
Region(s): Nordafrika, Europäische Union, Europa
«L’Union européenne met de plus en plus les migrants en danger»
L'Union européenne est « hypocrite ». « Elle refuse de reconnaître les dégâts occasionnés par sa politique migratoire ». C'est la conviction du chercheur Jérôme Tubiana. Ce spécialiste des questions migratoires a travaillé cette année pour le compte de Médecins sans frontières (MSF) dans les centres de détention en Libye, où sont gardés plusieurs milliers de migrants subsahariens. read more
Language(s): Französisch / Français
Region(s): Nordafrika, Europäische Union