Dunja Mijatovic, the human rights commissioner of the Council of Europe, has asked member states to release as many people as possible from detention centers for migrants amid the coronavirus emergency. She says that these facilities "provide poor opportunities for social distancing and other measures to protect against Covid-19 infection."
Dozens of Italian associations have published a joint statement urging the government to adopt measures to protect migrants, asylum seekers, and the homeless during the Covid-19 emergency.
Several unions and NGOs have called on the Italian government to "act immediately to protect the health of migrants" amid the coronavirus emergency. Migrants who live in shantytowns often can't take the necessary precautions against Covid-19.
The UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi has urged countries not to "close avenues to asylum" as part of measures to contain the spread of the coronavirus. He is worried that some countries could completely block the right to seek asylum.
An aid worker with a Turkish humanitarian organization says violent push-backs by authorities on the border between Greece and Turkey are putting migrants’ lives in danger. Volkan Pirincci has described the situation as “the worst he has ever seen.”
Marco Sandrone, the Lesbos field coordinator for Doctors Without Borders (MSF), has denounced the dire situation on the island, likening it to a war zone. He also stressed that Moria was "too much" for children living there and called on the EU to evacuate people.
In a letter sent to Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio, the EU's human rights watchdog has once again asked Italy to suspend its collaboration activities with Libya's controversial coast guard.
Lots of you have been asking us questions related to family status and migration. So we decided to gather up the most frequently asked questions and put them to a legal expert in the field of migration. Lawyers at the firm Schlun and Elseven which has offices in Aachen, Düsseldorf and Cologne responded to us. Here is what they said:
Greece's government has hardened its position after protests by migrants at the Moria camp on Lesbos demanding "freedom and asylum". On Monday, a group of around 300 migrants marched to the village of Moria clashing with police who used tear gas to try to disperse the crowds.
Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio announced that Italy will soon present the Libyan Government of National Accord (GNA) a series of amendments to improve the contents of the bilateral memorandum on migration; "with particular regard to respecting the rights of migrants and asylum seekers."
Olympian Taekwondo athlete Kimia Alizadeh defected from her home country because of its treatment of women. With her visa renewed, she is hoping to go to the 2020 Tokyo Olympics under the German flag.
When 16-year-old Parwana Amiri arrived in Greece from Afghanistan in September, 2019, she and her family spent several months living in the notorious Moria migrant camp, on the Greek island of Lesbos. Parwana was shocked by the "inhuman" conditions in which people were forced to live and soon started to write "letters to the world" about what she witnessed. A collection of the letters have been published on the internet and are due to appear in a book later this year.