In the past few months over 2,000 people have been illegally prevented from seeking protection along Europe’s borders, a new report says. Humanitarian groups say the real number is likely to be even higher.
EU officials accuse the governments of several countries of a lack of cooperation when it comes to readmitting citizens whose asylum applications have been rejected within the bloc, a German newspaper reports.
While EU member states disagree over how to handle asylum seekers, all agree protecting the bloc's external borders is key. But Frontex, the agency tasked with the job, is in crisis. Marina Strauss reports from Brussels.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) has called on the European Union to adopt urgent measures to end violence on migrants and refugees, including minors, at the European Union's external borders.
Senior German politician Claudia Roth from the Green Party has publicly withdrawn her personal support for the EU’s border protection agency, Frontex. She has called for Germany’s withdrawal from the agency in the absence of a "complete reorientation of Frontex."
The managing board the EU’s border agency Frontex announced that following an internal investigation, it did not yet find enough proof of any rights violations at sea involving Frontex agents. However, it also didn't rule out that pushbacks might have occurred in some of the instances.
Administrative courts across Germany have issued repeals in 5,644 negative decisions of Afghan nationals seeking asylum in the first nine months of 2020.
The parliamentary faction of German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s CDU/CSU party wants to use the results of an inquest into the security situation in northern Syria to examine whether the region could be deemed a safe zone for deportation. But many have criticized the plans.
International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Fatou Bensouda has asked the UN in Libya to adopt concrete measures to end impunity in the country, and bring to justice those who have committed serious crimes and crimes against humanity.
The European Union looks poised to find broad political agreement on a new EU migration pact. German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer said that the 27 member states might be able to adopt the new legislation before the end of the year.
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.