Author: shoefner

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS: humanitarian visas, human trafficking business, testimonies of Eritrean refugees

In this week’s news highlights we would like to inform you about the upcoming side-event on the UN Commission of Inquiry on Eritrea (COI) follow-up at the UN Human Rights Council, the European Court of Justice decision on humanitarian visas and Hungary’s new measures against refugees. News highlights at the Horn of Africa are: new testimonies from Eritrean refugees, peace efforts in Sudan and war crimes South Sudan.

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European Court of Justice decision: no humanitarian visas – a loss for refugees, a win for traffickers

Yesterday, 07 March 2017, the European Court of Justice ruled its decision on humanitarian visas in the European Union and came to the conclusion that member states cannot be obliged to admit asylum seekers on humanitarian grounds, even if they are at risk of torture or inhuman treatment. The court ruled on a on the case of a Syrian family of five from Aleppo. The family initially applied for a visa to Belgium at the Belgian Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon but the Belgian Immigration Office refused the visa because it was clear that the family intended to overstay it.

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Upcoming: side event at the UNHRC – follow up process on the COI report on Eritrea

Next week, on the 13 March 2017, the UN Human Rights Council is holding a side event on the topic The Post-COI Follow-Up Process. The event, which is co-organised by EEPA, will take place at the Palais des Nations, Room XXVII at 10:00 to 11:30 and will reflect on the human rights situation Eritrea and the accountability process since the publication of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in Eritrea (COI) report in July 2016.

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