There are currently 118 rescued migrants on board the Ocean Viking ship in the Mediterranean, the majority of them hail from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Eritrea. Some of those on board spoke to AFP, telling them about their experiences of slavery in Libya.
Why do people continue to migrate in an undocumented way via Pakistan and South Asia? This is one of several questions we asked well-known Pakistani human right lawyer Zia Awan when we interviewed him. He says corruption plays a significant role in undocumented migration.
Europe has introduced strict measures to stop illegal migration, yet many Pakistanis are still willing to undertake perilous journeys to migrate. Smugglers have continued exploiting young people in rural Pakistan, leading to tragedies along the route. InfoMigrants' Aasim Saleem covered one such stories of a failed journey.
Unaccompanied minors made up 7% of all asylum applications in 2019, according to the EU's statistics office, Eurostat. The number, however, is about 20% down from applications filed the previous year.
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.
Activists and journalists worldwide have criticized the Swedish government for its failure to find Sajid Baloch. The exiled journalist, who reported on Pakistan's human rights violations, had sought asylum in Sweden.
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.
The number of migrant and refugee arrivals in European states has gone down considerably since 2015. This however does not mean that migration attempts to Europe have gone down at the same time. A Pakistani migrant’s account of his journey sheds light on how irregular migration routes and people smuggling are still very much alive in 2020.
Italian authorities have reported six Pakistani citizens in Italy accused of exploiting at least 70 workers, who were given meager wages and forced to work in unseemly conditions to deliver advertising materials door to door.
The chief of the United Nations has urged the world to "step up" and match Pakistan‘s compassion for Afghan refugees. Pakistan has hosted Afghan refugees for 40 years and is the world‘s second-largest refugee-hosting country.
According to estimates by the Pakistani authorities, some 30,000 to 40,000 people from Pakistan attempt illegal passage to Europe via Iran and Turkey every year. InfoMigrants spoke to an expert to find out which factors lead to this trend.
Seven migrants were killed in eastern Turkey after their boat sank in Lake Van, according to the official Anadolu news agency. Turkish authorities meanwhile said that they rescued 64 people.