Europe is increasing pressure on African countries to take back migrants in exchange for development aid. But the EU should instead be focusing on creating safe routes to seek protection, analysts have warned.
On the Canary Islands, the new wave of migrant arrivals is becoming a real challenge for the archipelago's long-standing culture of hospitality. The islands have been hit hard by the economic crisis that followed the COVID-19 pandemic, and is now facing the biggest migrant influx since 2006.
Protestors on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria have rallied in support of better living conditions for the thousands of migrants who have reached the Canary Islands from Africa in recent weeks and months. The Spanish archipelago saw almost 1,300 migrants arrive from Africa on 42 wooden boats during the weekend alone.
The appeal of a woman from Mauritania against her denied asylum request in Germany should not have been rejected, Germany's highest court said on Wednesday. The woman claimed to be born into a rigid caste system.
A boat carrying around 40 migrants and refugees sunk off the coast, killing almost everyone on board. A UNHCR spokesman said the shipwreck was the fault of 'immoral and unscrupulous smugglers' arranging such journeys.
On Monday, a Frontex operated repatriation flight took off from Spain’s Canary Islands for Mauritania. 51 African migrants were on board. This is the third such flight this year, says the Spanish Ombudsman. The repatriations are a result of a 2003 agreement signed between Spain and Mauritania.
The number of migrants arriving in the Spanish Canary Islands increased last month to 18 times the number in January 2019, the AFP news agency reports. However, fewer migrants are trying to reach mainland Spain by boat.
A boat carrying around 190 migrants was intercepted by the Mauritanian coast guard on Friday, the UN migration agency said. This comes less than two days after 63 migrants drowned when their vessel sank in the same waters en route from The Gambia. The country's president has vowed to crack down on people traffickers.
A coastal town in Gambia is in mourning after at least 63 people died in a shipwreck off the coast of Mauritania on December 4.
At least 150 people were on board the migrant vessel that departed from Gambia at the end of November. 83 who were on board swam to shore.
A thirteen-month-old baby recently drowned while crossing with her mother from Morocco to the Canary Islands in a wooden boat. The Spanish territories continue to draw migrants from Western Africa, costing thousands of lives.
The UN Refugee Agency UNHCR has launched a series of consultations to better protect lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees. Consultations will take place over the next few months in different parts of the world.