France and Britain are deploying more police and hi-tech surveillance equipment on the French northern coast to make small boat Channel crossings more difficult. Rights groups in Calais say that similar measures last year failed to stem the number of crossings, while migrants insist that they are prepared to take desperate measures to reach the UK. InfoMigrants reports.
Some countries have sent aid such as tents, beds and generators to Lithuania, which asked for support following the increase in arrivals of migrants and asylum seekers through the border with Belarus.
From June 14 to 20, Utopia 56 collected testimonies from migrants saying they have been victims of serious police violence in Calais. The association is concerned about a sharp increase in police violence since the clashes at the beginning of the month between the Eritrean community and the police there.
Hundreds of homeless migrants and their supporters set up tents in front of the Paris City Hall on Thursday evening to demand better accommodation. Mostly families from sub-Saharan Africa and unaccompanied minors, they pitched their tents as the bells of the building rang at 8pm.
Police in Calais have recently changed their tactics, making it harder for migrants to anticipate raids on their makeshift camps. Thousands of tents have been confiscated, causing worse humanitarian conditions.
20-year-old Ayoub snuck into Melilla as a minor and has been living in the small Spanish enclave for three years. Originally from a small village near Fez, he says he never wants to go back there "because life in Morocco offers me nothing." He told InfoMigrants he is "stuck" living on the streets and wants "more than anything" to get to the mainland to start a new life.
This week, around 300 migrants set up camp in the Villemin garden in Paris, hoping to be provided with emergency accommodation by authorities. They were supported by a number of NGOs and local residents.
Refugee Rights Europe and Still I Rise presented a new report on the current situation of unaccompanied minors on the island of Samos, Greece, denouncing a "gravely disheartening picture" of their condition.
Fedasil, the federal agency for the reception of asylum seekers in Belgium, announced on April 24 that it would investigate the Jalhay center for asylum seekers, near Liège. There have been reports of dilapidated premises, threats, and neglect of health care.
The Spanish government has come under fire from migrants, local officials and human rights groups on the Canary Islands, where thousands of migrants are stuck in inadequate camps.
Migrants are not a priority for receiving COVID-19 vaccination in Greece. The Migration Minister has said that asylum seekers in camps will begin to be vaccinated in May.
Tensions are rising on the Canary Islands where migrants feel trapped – they are officially in Europe but unable to get to the mainland. Many of them are leaving the camps, saying they are inadequate.