Since May 6, migrants and asylum seekers in the camp on Samos, which was presented as a model example when it opened in September 2021, have been living without running water, advocacy groups say. Migrants in the camp reportedly receive 4.5 liters of water per person per day to cover all their water needs, from washing to drinking.
Among the Ukrainian refugees arriving in Belgium are 600 unaccompanied minors. In order to register them administratively they need to be assigned legal guardians, according to Belgian law. But the numbers of those qualified to do this are insufficient. Almost 900 unaccompanied minors are still waiting to be assigned a guardian in Belgium.
Les Républicains' candidate Valérie Pécresse is proposing to take a hard line on immigration if she is elected in the French presidential election in April. In particular, this right-wing politician wants asylum applications to be reviewed outside France and to pass a law on immigrant quotas. Up for re-election, center-right Emmanuel Macron, candidate for La République En Marche, wants to reform the Schengen Area. InfoMigrants examines their key immigration policies.
After Poland, Hungary has taken in the largest number of people fleeing Ukraine. Most of the refugees are being cared for, not by the government, but by citizens and volunteers.
On the border between Ukraine and Hungary, the town of Zahony has welcomed many Ukrainians and foreign students from the neighboring country fleeing the Russian attack. For more than a week, the train station of this small border town has been crowded with packed trains bringing war refugees from Ukraine and those that transport them on to Budapest.
On the day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, many foreigners living in Ukraine contacted InfoMigrants. Like the Ukrainian population, they now fear for their lives. One of them is Zhiar, a medical student from Iraqi Kurdistan, who was injured in a bombardment in Kharkiv and is now trying to flee westward.
The UK Home Office has revealed that many of the boats being used by migrants to cross the English Channel are now being purchased in China to then be imported to Eastern Europe and later be used by smugglers.
After they arrive in France, most asylum seekers are accompanied by interpreters. These women and men, who are essential to the asylum process, have often experienced exile themselves. Many feel that they are poorly trained and are not properly recognized.
In the summer of 2021, thousands of migrants entered Lithuania irregularly from Belarus. They found themselves blocked at the border of the European Union and taken to closed camps. InfoMigrants met several of these migrants, from the Middle East and Africa, who dreamed of reaching Western Europe. Six months later, what has happened to them?
18-year-old Abdullah from Darfur was held south of Tripoli by a smuggler who tortured him to try to get a ransom. When the money did not arrive, the smuggler covered the Sudanese teenager with gasoline and set him on fire, InfoMigrants was told. Abdullah is now in hospital in Tripoli in a serious condition.
Cedric dreamed of reaching Germany to escape poverty in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo. The young man contacted a travel agency to obtain a student visa for Ukraine and, from there, hoped to get to Germany. But nothing went as planned. Stranded in Ukraine, he has lost everything.
In its offices in northern Paris, the French Office of Immigration and Integration (Ofii) is offering COVID-19 vaccinations to everyone who comes to file their asylum applications. For this population on the move, it is also an opportunity to take stock of their health in general.