Cyprus has engaged in offshore pushbacks as several boats carrying displaced people have approached in recent weeks. Returning people to countries where they could face persecution is prohibited by international law.
In an unprecedented case, the captain of an Italian commercial vessel is to be taken to court for returning migrants he rescued in the Mediterranean to civil war country Libya. The man is accused of violating international law, under which Libya is not a safe harbor.
According to a British and an Italian daily, Malta's coast guard pushed away and sent to Italy around 100 migrants stranded at sea in Maltese territorial waters. If true, the incident, which allegedly took place in mid-April, is a violation of international law.
Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights Dunja Mijatovic urged the Maltese government to meet its human rights obligations towards migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees, who cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe.
A group of organizations in Italy has lodged a complaint with the EU's financial watchdog, the European Court of Auditors. They say European financing of a program to stop migrants from leaving Libya violates EU and international laws.
Greece has lifted a controversial suspension of asylum applications imposed in response to an influx of refugees crossing the border from Turkey. However, all asylum services will remain frozen for at least a week due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The international newspaper The New York Times published a report on March 10 in which it accused the Greek government of detaining migrants at a “secret extrajudicial location before expelling them to Turkey without due process.” The Greek government dismissed the claims.
A global summit in Geneva is hoping to address a series of issues relating to global migration trends reaching from forcible displacement to the energy and infrastructure needs of refugees. The event, however, might also be hijacked by politicians pursuing their own agendas.
Under international law, ships have a clear duty to help those in distress at sea. But when the ships are run by non-governmental organizations, and the people in distress are migrants, there are very often questions about what is 'the right thing to do'. The German news agency epd asked a maritime law expert for some answers.
Stand-offs between the Italian government and private rescue organizations have become fairly commonplace in the last year. With each side laying claim to having the right on their side, it can sometimes be difficult to understand what is going on. So InfoMigrants decided to look more closely at the International Law of the Sea for some clarification.
December 2018 marked the culmination of two years of hard work by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and its member states. Two new compacts, which were designed as roadmaps for managing mass migration, were adopted late last year, addressing an issue that shows no signs of slowing.
European law says 'an asylum seeker shall not be detained on the sole reason of seeking international protection or having entered and/or stayed in the country irregularly.' So if the irregular entry by migrants is not a criminal offense, when is the detention of asylum seekers allowed? And what is the reality in Europe?