News Highlights: Italian MP visits Ethiopia and Eritrea, Amnesty to challenge Hungarian law in court; UNHCR evacuates refugees from Libya

In this week’s news highlights: Italian PM visits Ethiopia and Eritrea; nearly 10,000 newly registered refugees in Ethiopia last month; Eritrea elected to the UN Human Rights Council; IOM report on reducing vulnerabilities of migrants; new “peace ministry” in Ethiopia; almost half of South Sudanese face starvation says Save the Children; Eritrean, Ethiopian and Somali politicians meet; migrants in Italian model town to be transferred away; Amnesty International challenges new Hungarian law in court; EU leaders want to cooperate with Egypt on migration; aid organisations warn against scapegoating migrants and not saving lives; UN human rights expert criticizes Algeria and Niger for alleged migrants’ rights abuses; and the UNHCR evacuates refugees from Libya.

News Highlights: Calls for protest in Belgium after refugee suicide, Documentary on corruption in South Sudan war, MEPS vote for humanitarian visas

In this week’s news highlights: Indefinite national service in Eritrea still in place; indigenous Afar group from Eritrea calls for rights to be restored; further opposition to Eritrea’s desire to join UN Human Rights Council; eyewitness report about torture in Eritrean prisons; UAE reportedly violating Somali arms embargo; neighbouring countries allegedly financing South Sudanese civil war, states new documentary; millions of Ethiopians require international assistance, states OCHA; NGOs call for protests after Eritrean commits suicide in Belgian detention centre; European Parliament demands European humanitarian visas, Italy’s PM Conte visiting Ethiopia and Eritrea; Climate Change will cause large migratory flows; and Italian minister Salvini claims growing support for closing ports for migrants.

UN: ‘Member States should fulfill their obligations to save lives and stop criminalizing humanitarian aid actors’

The United Nations published a report by Agnes Callamard, the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions. The report, entitled “Saving lives is not a crime”, describes that the States’ actions to fight terrorism and deter migration, and the subsequent criminalization of humanitarian services, constitute a violation of their obligations. The report urges States to cease the criminalisation of those trying to assist and/or save migrants and refugees.