European Union

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.

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“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.

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News Highlights: Record 23,000 refugees returned to Libya in 2021, NGOs warn of mass surveillance of refugees, Tigray facing famine

In this week’s highlights: The Elders address UNSC on Tigray; Refugees in Ethiopia approved for resettlement refused departure in Addis, say witnesses; UN urges opening of Tigray for aid; 29 Tigrayan bodies found in the river between Sudan and Ethiopia; 5,000 Ethiopian migrants blocked in Yemen; Ethiopia’s competing alliances; Over 23,000 refugees returned to Libya this year; More than 10,000 refugees attempted to cross from Tunisia to Italy; NGOs warn that extension of fingerprint database is a threat to refugee privacy; UK may push back refugees crossing the Channel; Migrants stuck at the EU-Belarus border facing dire conditions; Migrants and refugees arrested on unlawful reentry charges in Italy; Asylum seekers in Lesbos living in precarious temporary camp; and Education of refugee children “now under threat”.

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