News Highlights: Refugees returned to Libya are vanishing, Starvation deaths reported in Tigray, Deaths at Polish borders

In this week’s news highlights: Starvation reported in 20 Tigrayan districts; OCHA says it suspended food delivery due to shortages; Fighting in Amhara and Afar complicates humanitarian assistance; GCR2P warns about rising hate speech in Ethiopia; Reports of Eritrean troops relocating to Amhara; Turkish and Iranian weapons appearing in conflict; Twenty years since the crackdown on independent press and opposition in Eritrea; First Djibouti National Strategy for Migration launched; Heavy rains displace thousands in Sudan and South Sudan; Thousands of Europe-bound migrants and refugees disappearing in Libya; Poland increases border control after four found dead at Belarus border; Almost 190 people rescued in the Mediterranean; Fire breaks out in Greek refugee camp few days before transfer to “prison-like” Samos camp; Rights agencies call for independent monitoring at Greece borders; NGOs accuse Spain of asylum seekers pushback to Morocco; COVID-19 underfunding alarmingly affects refugees in poorest host countries.

Read More

“A powerful tool of mass surveillance”: NGOs warn that proposed Eurodac reforms will fundamentally undermine the rights of migrants and refugees

33 NGOs, including EEPA, addressed an open letter to the Members of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament, expressing concern regarding the amended proposal to revise the Eurodac Regulation. Eurodac is a database that records fingerprints of asylum seekers entering the European Union (EU). The amendment, formulated by the European Commission and published in September 2020, extends the database to include more biometric data, including of minors. The NGOs warn about the risk of erosion of the fundamental rights of migrants and asylum seekers that could result from this extension.

Read More

News Highlights: US announces Ethiopia sanctions, Joint Tigray probe completed but incomplete, Children at risk in Greek camps

In this week’s news highlights: Joint UN-EHRC investigation completed but incomplete; HRW publishes report on atrocities against Eritrean refugees; 31 Eritrean refugees sentenced to be returned to Eritrea; Humanitarian updates from Tigray look bleak against food shortage and locust reports; Tigray businesses see suspension of licenses; Tigray Atlas updated; UN calls for GERD dam tensions resolution; South Sudan food assistance suspended for many amidst shortages; Drought in Kenya; 20-year anniversary of mass arrests in Eritrea; Two human traffickers arrested in Libya; Hundreds of Moroccan refugees illegally detained in Libya; 125 refugees rescued by Italian coast guards; Five alleged members of Libyan trafficking ring arrested in Italy; Children’s health at risk in Lesbos refugees camps; Refugees face 4 year prison sentence in the UK; Refugees treated like “prisoners” in UK quarantine hotels; MPI released report on resettlement and complementary pathways.

Read More