The Council of Europe, Europe’s human rights watchdog, has expressed concern over the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Cyprus. The Mediterranean island has faced a sharp rise in irregular migrant arrivals in recent years.
Portugal has started talks with other EU member states about the bloc's proposed asylum and migration pact. The aim is to find common ground and overcome differences, a statement from the Portuguese interior ministry said.
The European Commission has unveiled a new reform plan on how to manage migration in the European Union. The proposed measures include border screenings, accelerated asylum procedures and new regulations for the distribution of asylum seekers. Here is a breakdown of the suggested changes.
COVID-19 presents a serious risk to refugee education worldwide, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR. It warns that the virus threatens to cause a ‘pandemic of poverty’, which could reverse hard-won progress made in refugee school enrolment.
27 migrants who were rescued at sea in the Mediterranean have been stuck on a cargo ship off Malta for more than three weeks. Meanwhile, the private rescue ship Sea-Watch 4 is seeking a port for 201 migrants.
Migrants who travel through Africa in the hope of reaching Europe are often subjected to "extreme abuse", the UN Refugee Agency and the Mixed Migration Centre said in a report published on Wednesday. The report says thousands have died on land routes in Africa in the past two years.
Sea-Watch has published a photo of the body of a dead migrant that reportedly has been floating in the Mediterranean for two weeks. The private rescue organization says that even though authorities in Libya, Malta and Italy had been informed, they did not retrieve the body.
Bavaria, North-Rhine Westphalia and other states in Germany have announced they will take in several families with sick children currently living in squalid conditions in Greek refugee hotspots.
Hungary is depriving migrants of their right to ask for asylum, an advisor at the European Court of Justice said Thursday. He argued that significant parts of Hungary’s migration and asylum policies violate EU law.
Asylum applications in Europe increased by 11% in 2019 compared with the previous year. The European asylum support office expects the overall rise to continue, despite the current pandemic-related slump. Asylum applications in the EU account for one-third of the global total.
Two centers for asylum seekers in Mainz and Regensburg have reported scores of new COVID-19 cases -- even though the number of new infections in Germany overall has decreased. Researchers warn that the virus can spread rapidly in asylum centers.
British authorities say they have recorded a surge in attempted boat crossings in the English Channel this year - a trend that appears to be reinforced by coronavirus travel restrictions forcing migrants on boats rather than trucks. On Wednesday, a Sky News reporter witnessed the rescue of around 65 migrants traveling to UK shores on tiny dinghies. Meanwhile, human rights lawyers are concerned that migrants are being returned from the UK to France illegally.