News Highlights: Crimes in Darfur continue, Brussels Demonstration demands protection in Libya, IOM’s return scheme puts refugees at risk

In this week’s news highlights: Hundreds of refugees demonstrate against entrapment and abuse in Libya; Mare Jonio and Sea Watch 3 boats to resume work at the end of May; Conference on democracy in Eritrea hits a nerve; Appointments for asylum in Greece set in 2023 – system is overloaded; Refugees in Europe live longer but are more traumatised, states report; EU planning a conference on Horn of Africa economic development; Religious freedom in Eritrea and Sudan; RSF still perpetrates crimes and violence in Darfur; Corruption in South Sudan; Refugees at risk over ‘voluntary’ return from Libya; Sudanese people refouled to Libya die in Meditteranean sea; One in three died along the central Mediterranean route in 2019.

Interview with Zerai Kiros Abraham, co-organiser of the Ride4Justice campaign

Zerai Kiros, Eritrean human rights activist living in Frankfurt, is one of the organizers of the ‘Ride4Justice’ campaign. In the interview, he explains the underlying reasons of the Ride4Justice project which aimed to bring attention on the situation of migrants in Libyan detention centers where thousands of people are trapped, in a growing climate of political tension and military instability.

#Ride4Justice – a unique demonstration demands EU action on refugees stuck in Libya

From May 1st to 5th, Eritrean refugees cycled from Frankfurt to Brussels, for 452 kilometers. The ‘Ride4Justice’ started from Frankfurt, Koblenz, Köln, Aachen from there to Maastricht and finally to Brussels, to raise awareness about the inhumane conditions that refugees and migrants in Libya are trapped in. Torture, lack of food, water, and other abuse takes place in human trafficking warehouses and official detention centres alike. The cyclists arrived Sunday evening at the Maximilian Park in Brussels after the five-day bike ride. On Monday, hundreds joined them to take part in a demonstration in front of the European Commission buildings at Rond-Point Schuman.