News Highlights: Closure of migrant reception centre, Refugees released from Tajoura detention centre, Letter on the special rapporteur mandate

In this week’s news highlights: Matteo Salvini shuts one of the largest migrant reception centre in Sicily; Sea Watch 3 captain Carola Rackete sues Matteo Salvini for defamation; Madrid plans to tax Open Arms NGO with fines for rescuing migrants; Sea Eye NGO boat allows to disembark 65 migrants in Malta; EU Commissioner Dimitri Avramopoulos urges the EU to reform migrants’ arrival process; Sudanese citizens slowly access internet on mobile phone after one-month-shutdown; No progress detected one year after peace deal between Eritrea and Ethiopia; Organizations call for support of the mandate renewal of the Special Rapporteur on Eritrea; Eritrea: Former Sawa students of Eritrean military high school describe practices of Eritrean authorities; Refugees detained in Libyan detention centre share horrific experiences of the military strike; UN arrays emergency assistance for refugees in Tajoura; Migrants in Tajoura centre start hunger strike to be evacuated.

News Highlights: Arrests after Ethiopia coup attempt, UN Special Rapporteur says Eritrea abuses continue, EU proposes voluntary disembarkation guidelines amid standoff

In this week’s news highlights: Deaths of Ethiopian officials in apparent coup attempt, 250 people reported arrested; UN urge Eritrea to respect the right of freedom of religion; UN Special Rapporteur Eritrea releases report; Young Eritreans continue to flee to Ethiopia; Libyan Coast Guard leader pictured looting migrant boat; Activists condemn EU “criminalisation of solidarity”; Sea Watch 3 states migrants are in danger, as docking is refused; European Union proposal on voluntary relocation after disembarkation; and German Church meeting discusses EU migration policy and far-right extremism.

Refoulement: France returns an Eritrean woman to Eritrea

The prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales (South-West of France) deported an Eritrean national to her country of origin on 6 June 2019. According to RFI Africa, the French prefecture arrested the young woman on 8 May at the Spanish border with a “counterfeit” residence permit. The French newspaper Le Figaro explains that the young Eritrean woman filed an asylum application with the administrative court and appealed to the jurisdiction, unsuccessfully, after being placed in a detention centre in Toulouse by the French authorities. It is the first return from France to Eritrea and can be considered refoulement, due to the fact that the woman is likely to face persecution and human rights abuses in Eritrea.