News Highlights: Amnesty: US should address human rights in Eritrea, Dublin Regulation challenged, Italian law to expel people from centres

In this week’s news highlights: A call to US Secretary of State to address human rights in Eritrea; UN condemns mass rapes in South Sudan; Proposals for Ethiopia’s new law on hate speech; US embassy reopens in Somalia; IFAD President urges to invest in the youth in Africa; Presidents of Egypt and Sudan to cooperate on security; Dead end in Libya leads refugees to Morocco; New Italian law expels migrants from reception centres; Tribunal ruling states that UK cannot send vulnerable migrants to Italy without assurance; Commissioner Avramopoulos suggests asylum procedure will voluntarily fall to EU Member States; and the need to put emphasis on agriculture in the Post-Cotonou agreement.

News Highlights: Eritreans sent back and mistreated in Libya, Resettlement issues Sudan, UNODC meeting on trafficking

In this week’s news highlights: Refugees publish shocking videos, then are violently forced to disembark in Libya; EU push to manage migration in Morocco could come at cost of human rights; reactions to lifting of Eritrea sanctions; US congressmen push for human rights reform in Eritrea; rising number of refugees to Ethiopia; UNHCR resettlement activities remain suspended in Sudan; Eritrean victims of human trafficking freed in Sudan; Ethiopian rebels return from Eritrea; Italian prosecutor orders seizure of Aquarius and NGO asset freezes; UNODC meeting in Vienna on human trafficking; Hungary grants asylum to fugitive ex-PM of Macedonia; and NGOs warn against rising humanitarian cost of immigration barriers.

UN Security Council removes Eritrea sanctions after nine years: responses

The UN Security Council voted on Wednesday 14 November to lift the 9-year-old sanctions against Eritrea following its peace deal with Ethiopia. According to Karen Pierce, UK’s ambassador to the UN, the peace played a significant role in removing sanctions. In July, Ethiopia’s Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Eritrea’s President Isaias Afwerki announced that they would restore diplomatic and trade links and officially end a decades-old war.