News highlights: Eritrean road project scrutinised in EU meetings, UN warns of locust catastrophe in East Africa, Libya arms embargo main objective in Operation Sophia
21 Feb 2020

News highlights: Eritrean road project scrutinised in EU meetings, UN warns of locust catastrophe in East Africa, Libya arms embargo main objective in Operation Sophia

by | posted in: Eritrea, EU funding, European Commission, Greece, Migration, Refugee Camps, UNHCR, United Nations | 0

In this week’s news highlights: European Parliament Development Committee discusses road project in Eritrea; Statement proposes EU benchmarks for progress in Eritrea, Spain returns did not break European law according to ECHR; Attacker of Eritrean journalist in London found guilty; Greece’s plans for new refugee detention centres delayed after protests; Two refugee boats missing in the Mediterranean; Pregnant African women disappear from Dutch asylum seeker centres; UN urges international community to take action against the locust plagues in East Africa; Ethiopia adopts tool for protecting Internally Displaced Persons; UN reviews Eritrean women’s rights; Bribes at refugee camp Sudan; Operation Sophia to enforce weapon embargo Libya as primary aim; Migrants and refugees in Tripoli increasingly vulnerable; and Tunisian refugee camp build for deported refugees from the EU, says journalist.

Pushbacks at European Union’s external border – the new normal?
20 Feb 2020

Pushbacks at European Union’s external border – the new normal?

by | posted in: European Parliament, European Union, Frontex, Hungary, Migration | 0

Lack of evidence is not the problem. In the last years, different civil society and research organizations have collected numerous testimonies of migrants and refugees that have been violently sent back by authorities after they crossed the border of the Westens Balkans, Morocco, Sebia, Turkey or Belarus into the European Union (EU). In many cases, these people – looking for dignity and international protection – reported abuse, humiliation and beatings. In the so called ‘pushbacks’, access to the asylum procedure is denied; asylum seekers are not registered but immediately returned to the other side of the border. Member of the European Parliament Tineke Strik is worried this inhumane and unlawful way of pushing people out of the EU is becoming a normality. On February 18, during the breakfast briefing organized by the Greens/EFA and the Open Society European Policy Institute; ‘Strengthening borders, weakening the rule of law?’ Strik, together with experts in the field, brought the attention to the pushbacks that take place at EU’s external borders. It was concluded that the approach for EU border control needs to be reconsidered and an independent border control mechanism should be implemented to stop the unlawful pushbacks from happening.

News highlights: Libyan coast guard refuses rescue, citing full detention centres, AU Summit aims to end conflicts, Eritrean children malnourished
14 Feb 2020

News highlights: Libyan coast guard refuses rescue, citing full detention centres, AU Summit aims to end conflicts, Eritrean children malnourished

by | posted in: Africa, African Union, Asylum Seekers, Coast guards, Eritrea, Eritrean Women, European Politics, European Union, Horn of Africa region, Human Rights abuses, Libya, Malnutrition, Mediterranean Sea, Migration, Niger, Refugee Camps, Refugees in the EU, Search and Rescue Operations, South Sudan, Sudan | 0

In this week’s news highlights: Discrimanation against Eritrean Women examined; UNICEF discovers Eritrean kids most malnourished; AU summit aims to end conflict on the continent; Eritrean man killed by police; Eritrean president criticizes TPLF in an interview; President of South Sudan accused of being unwilling to form coalition while human rights violations continue; Former Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir may be handed over to International Criminal Court; Germany did not hold to its promise to accept boat refugees after Malta agreement; Salvini sent to Italian court over refused disembarkation; Partnership between Spain and Italy on new migration policy; Crew of German rescue ship awarded by Amnesty International; Libyan coast guard fails to save 91 people, now feared missing; and UNHCR is struggling in Niger.