Are you living through the COVID-19 pandemic outside your home country? A global team is trying to find out the impact of the virus on migrants and refugees so that decision-makers and NGOs can provide better support to cope with the crisis.
Bosnian authorities on Wednesday said they arrested eight people suspected of migrant trafficking and prevented the smuggling of 45 migrants into the European Union.
France has announced it will take in some 750 asylum seekers, including 350 unaccompanied minors, from Greece. The first transfers are expected to take place in July.
The government in Cyprus has announced it will deport 17 migrants as soon as international flights allow. The migrants, whose nationalities and alleged crimes have not been disclosed, are being held in a detention center on the island.
The Caritas charity in Ventimiglia denounced that the passage of migrants has resumed in the border area between Italy and France, as well as pushbacks of foreigners by French authorities.
The Tunisian coast guard rescued around 80 migrants in two separate operations on Saturday. One body was retrieved, six people are missing. The shipwrecks happened amid a new wave of dangerous attempts to cross the Mediterranean Sea.
The Greek asylum service has resumed receiving asylum applications. Residence permits held by refugees will be extended six months from their date of expiration to prevent the service from becoming overwhelmed by renewal applications.
4,088 people were deported from Germany to their countries of origin or other European states in the first quarter of this year, around 27% fewer than the same period last year. The Left party says deportations should be called off completetely in light of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A court in the French city of Lyon has scrapped all charges against Cedric Herrou, a farmer in southern France who had helped about 250 migrants cross the border to France from Italy in 2015 and 2016. His case became synonymous with the term “crimes of solidarity.”
A report published by the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) says that there could be increases in asylum applications in the EU in the future. The document highlights that the threat of the novel coronavirus spreading in lower income countries could lead to a rise in migration.
Two migrants who arrived on Greece’s eastern island of Lesbos have tested positive for the novel coronavirus. Officials say they have had no contact with migrant camps on the island.
Many African migrants remain undeterred in their endeavor to reach Europe despite the global pandemic situation due to the novel coronavirus and increased security measures. In Niger, it’s business-as-usual for migrants.