Tunisian authorities intercepted various boats heading towards Europe on Tuesday, blocking hundreds of migrants from travelling towards Italy. However, Tunisians meanwhile continued to arrive on the Italian island of Lampedusa.
On Tuesday, July 7, a Hungarian court sentenced four migrants to one year in jail each. The court judged they entered the country illegally by tearing down a fence at the border.
Austria has declared that it supports hardline changes to European asylum laws proposed by Germany. The two countries want migrants stopped at Europe’s external borders and turned away if they do not have a strong claim for asylum.
Around 1,000 additional police officers were dispatched to Slovenia's border with Croatia on Tuesday in a bid to prevent illegal border crossings. Officals said they have detected an increase of migrants on the Balkan route in the past weeks.
Two migrant-aid organizations are accusing authorities in northeastern Italy of illegally returning asylum seekers to Slovenia. They also claim that readmission procedures between Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia prevent people from asking for asylum in the EU.
New findings suggest Greek authorities are illegally deporting refugees across the Turkish border. As part of an international research team, DW identified and met some of the victims who were forced back.
While migrant disembarkations continue in southern Italy, authorities are concerned over an increase in the arrival of foreigners using the Balkan route, passing through Slovenia to arrive in Friuli Venezia Giulia.
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.
Hundreds of Tunisians, stuck in Libya, have started to legally cross a Tunisian frontier post, according to Tunisia's interior ministry. The border between the two north African nations had been closed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
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.
On Wednesday, the Danish government announced it would relax some of its restrictions on foreigners traveling into the country. The restrictions, in place since mid-March, had affected foreign spouses and life partners, as well as the children and parents of Danes born outside the country.
The Italian interior ministry has said that pushbacks of migrants at the French border have been "in sharp decline in recent days." This comes after the mayor of an Italian border town claimed that French officers were bringing migrants back to the Italian border, despite the coronavirus emergency.