Search-and-rescue teams have retrieved two more bodies from a boat that sank last month on Lake Van in eastern Turkey, according to Turkish media reports. The boat is believed to have been carrying up to 60 migrants when it sank.
Up to 60 migrants remain missing after a boat capsized on Lake Van in south-eastern Turkey over the weekend. So far, only six bodies have been recovered from the site.
Journalist Zahra Nader recounts her experience as an Afghan refugee in Tehran. She told DW that the bias and prejudice she faced in the 1990s still exists today.
A law in Iran came into effect that allows children born to foreign fathers to apply for citizenship in the country. The legislation follows years of what many Iranian women who married Afghan nationals saw as discrimination. InfoMigrants spoke to some couples about why they welcome the decision.
Two Afghan members of Parliament investigating the alleged abuse and drowning of Afghan migrants by Iranian guards say 45 people died in the incident. 17 bodies have so far been recovered from the Harirud River, which forms part of Afghanistan’s northern border with Iran.
Iran is denying its border guards beat, tortured and forced Afghan migrants into a river where some drowned. The Afghan government has launched an investigation and promised "necessary" action.
On Thursday, a top official at the European Court of Justice (ECJ) branded the accommodation housing asylum seekers on the Hungarian-Serbian border ‘detention.’ The statement by the advocate general is non-binding and a decision will be reached by the court at a later date.
UNHCR launched an appeal to the international community not to abandon Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran during the COVID-19 emergency. It highlighted the difficulties refugees in the countries are facing, and said thousands of Afghans are repatriating despite the insecurity due to the pandemic.
In Iran, refugee Moheyman Alkhatavi, 24, is working relentlessly to assist Iranians and fellow refugees in the current coronavirus emergency. Iran has been one of the countries worst-hit by COVID-19.
The impact the coronavirus disease is having on migrants is of “huge concern”, according to a spokesperson from the UN migration agency, IOM. He also warned that border closures could lead to increased health risks.
Mass returns of Afghan migrants from Iran have led to concerns about increased transmission rates of the coronavirus disease in Afghanistan. On Wednesday, Iran reported 17,361 confirmed cases of the virus. At the same time, Afghans have continued to flee back to their home country in record numbers.
Fears about coronavirus are now also beginning to affect migrants and refugees: the German interior ministry is taking measures to contain the virus — including a suspension of all returns to and from Italy under the Dublin regulation.