News Highlights: Eritrean government-linked interpreters in Europe, UN identifies possible war criminals in South Sudan, French asylum law criticized

In this week’s news highlights: Eritrean government-linked individuals in Europe acting as interpreters for Eritrean asylum seekers; Eritrean meeting in London cancelled after diaspora protests; UN urges Sudan to end impunity for rape crimes; South Sudan on the brink of famine; South Sudanese military officially accused by UN for perpetrating war crimes; Number of unaccompanied children refugees in South Sudan worrying; French draft law on asylum criticized as unbalanced; Frontex would not mind becoming the new European law enforcement agency; UNDP discusses the shortcomings of the Sustainable Development Goals in the European Parliament.

News Highlights: hunger strike in Israel as asylum seekers are jailed, Eritrea denies border talks with Ethiopia

In this week’s news highlights: Israel:First Eritreans in jail triggers hunger strike; Canada concerned with the situation in Israel; The story of an Eritrean who is now granted asylum in Italy; Sudan’s progress in women’s status; Eritrea denies talks with Ethiopia for border; Somalia’s Al-Shahaab in crisis; Ethiopian ruling party powerless, US Congressman says; Massive protests in Ethiopia; US urges Ethiopia to reconsider martial law; Frontex and the African asylum seekers; Soros as the ideal enemy for Hungary.

SAR operations by NGOs: new report inverts the relation of causality and clarifies role of NGOs

During the last months the NGOs that conduct the Search and Rescue (SAR) operations in the Mediterranean have been at the centre of a political and media storm.The report by Forensic Oceanography assesses that a toxic rhetoric has been created where the only victims are the NGOs, and most importantly no concrete evidence has been found in this “criminalization campaign”.The report goes beyond, and addresses not only the accusation of collusion in smuggling per se, but rather it challenges the assumptions reinforcing this accusation.