News highlights: Refugees fear UNHCR investigation, EU elaborates on ‘disembarkation centres’, 18-month national service limit may arrive

In this week’s news highlights: news highlights on summer break; Indefinite national service for new Eritrean recruits may be limited, but diaspora remains cautious; Refugees fear lack of protection in UNHCR investigation in Sudan; Eritrean refugees in Sudan are losing faith in UNHCR; Report on Ethiopian man wrongfully deported from UK; New South Sudan peace deal met with scepticism; Somalia to prosecute in case of 10-year-old dying from FGM; European Commission elaborates on ‘controlled centres’ and ‘disembarkation centres’; European Commission defends development-migration fund link; MSF warns EU to stop return of migrants to Libya.  

Press Release: Addressing criminalisation of refugees and impunity of human trafficking

As EU leaders are meeting in Brussels to discuss migration, experts denounced current EU migration policy as ineffective in tackling human trafficking and undermining migrant and refugee rights. A public hearing took place in the European Parliament today on the impact of EU external action in the Horn of Africa and addressing the criminalisation of refugees and impunity of human trafficking.

Vulnerabilities in Sudan: UN Sudan representative speaks in the European Parliament

Recently, Development Committee (DEVE) of the European Parliament (EP) hosted Matthew Hollingworth, acting UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator in Sudan who discussed about the issues at stake in Sudan, and how funding for development goes hand in hand with politics.