Former England footballer Gary Lineker has announced that he is ready to welcome asylum seekers in to his home at the invitation of the scheme "Refugees at Home," a refugee sheltering charity that is trying to find hospitality for 2,250 people in the UK.
Roughly 300 migrants are camping out under the national highway in the Parisian suburb of Saint-Denis. Nearly every morning police officers order them to get out; and food distribution points keep getting pushed farther away from the heart of the French capital.
More than 200 people have pitched tents in central Paris in a protest to demand better care and facilities for migrants. When police tried to evacuate the camp, the Paris City Hall opened a room to accommodate the protesters.
As part of a social program, French pensioner Antoine Boulanger in February opened up his home to Malian teenager Bakary. But after just a month of living together, France went into lockdown because of the coronavirus, and the two started to bond – in part thanks to their common interest in science.
Vulnerable migrants in the Malakasa camp north of Athens are being forced to live in poor conditions unable to register for asylum. One Gambian national who arrived in March has been telling InfoMigrants of frustration among residents.
Nearly 100,000 asylum applications are still pending in Greece with thousands of people stranded in overcrowded camps, according to the latest official data.
After major coronavirus outbreaks at several businesses, German lawmakers are finally considering cracking down on the exploitation of foreign workers.
A rising number of persons with refugee protection in Germany live in private accommodation, with the majority rating their housing situation as satisfactory or better. About three quarters are now housed in urban areas, with more expected to call mid-sized cities their homes in the future.
The local administration in Cassibile, near Siracusa in Sicily, announced that it has evacuated the area that was hosting a shanty town for seasonal migrant workers.
Life for refugees in Greece does not always get easier when their status is officially recognized. On the contrary: Often already traumatized by war, they face the risk of poverty and homelessness.
The IOM is offering an information service for migrants who may be particularly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom. Be that because their jobs have disappeared, they can't pay their rent or they find themselves homeless or ill. The information service is currently available in eight languages with one more coming soon.
IOM and the Church of Greece are working together on a project to provide safer, long-term accommodation for unaccompanied refugee children in Greece. Continued overcrowding and COVID-19 restrictions continue to weigh heavily on problems in camps.