Italian authorities have been asked by the Netherlands to keep the NGO migrant rescue ship Sea Watch 3 in the port of Catania. The decision followed an inspection by Dutch authorities earlier this week.
The UN Refugee Agency says there has been an increase in the number of people fleeing South Sudan to the Democratic Republic of Congo in recent days, due to violence against civilians.
European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland saw a 10 percent drop in international protection requests in 2018 compared with 2017. The EU border agency, Frontex, also says arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route in January were 73 percent down on the previous month.
A project called "Work at the Bar" in Italy's capital Rome, starting in late February, trains young migrants to work as baristas and waiters. The goal of the initiative is to give foreign minors and young adults the chance to achieve social and work independence.
Municipalities in Italy's Bologna area have signed an agreement that sets up a registry list for asylum seekers. The goal of the 'rescue-migrants' pact is to bypass rules established by the Salvini migrant and security decree.
Authorities in Bosnia said more than a thousand irregular migrants have entered the country since the start of the year. They said arrivals are expected to increase significantly in the spring.
Palermo Mayor Leoluca Orlando said the Sicilian capital is no longer the capital of the mafia and it now seeks to be known as the capital for migrant rights and welcoming. In recent weeks, Orlando has led a revolt of Italian mayors against the Salvini security decree.
The Norwegian Refugee Council is calling on countries of the African Union to fully enact the Kampala Convention to provide protection and assistance to internally displaced persons, following the African Union summit.
Members of the center-right in the region of Umbria are angry that the regional government has decided to allocate approximately 1,000 euros for every migrant excluded from the Salvini security decree.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini announced a new closure of a migrant center in Italy, this time in the province of Sondrio, where a hotel had been turned into a center for hosting foreigners.
The mayors of some Italian and Spanish cities are challenging the politics of national sovereignty and blocked ports, by signing an alliance in support of NGOs working in migrant rescue in the Mediterranean. Just three months ahead of European elections, the signatories said the pact aims to "save Europe from itself.”
The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has expressed concern over the Italian law on immigration and security because contained within the decree is a concept which labels even children as a potential ‘social danger.’