As the UK gears up for an election on December 12, all parties are busy launching their manifestoes and making promises. The Conservative Party, currently ruling as a minority government, has just promised a fast track “NHS Visa” to make it easier to attract and retain the hundreds of thousands of non-British health workers on which the country relies. Previously they would impose a 'zero-tolerance' policy on migration.
Pietro Bartolo, known as the "doctor of migrants" for his work on the island of Lampedusa, has been elected to the European Parliament. He has vowed to go "to work, without fear."
In May, Europeans go to the polls to elect a new Parliament. Most people are predicting that the center-right European People's Party will remain the biggest group. But there are strong signs that anti-EU, anti-migrant parties could also win enough seats to steer the bloc in a new direction.
Over 4 million Afghan refugees in Pakistan and Iran are not allowed to cast their votes in the upcoming Afghan parliamentary election. The refugees fear the next legislative body won't protect their interests.
Migrants and refugees are guaranteed certain rights under the Refugee Convention, but do they go far enough? Should they have the right to vote in national as well as local elections in their host countries? InfoMigrants takes a look at political participation of refugees and migrants across the EU.