Two Italian photojournalists were detained in the night between April 5 and 6 by French Gendarmerie officials while reporting a story on a group of migrants who were trying to reach France from Claviere, near Turin. French authorities accused the pair of being migrant smugglers.
The IOM in Bosnia has called for the international community to take "urgent action to end violent pushbacks and collective expulsions of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees, including minors, along the Croatian border with Bosnia Herzegovina."
Greece has accused Turkey of trying to help migrant boats in the Aegean Sea to reach Europe. The Greek coast guard claimed that in one incident, two Turkish patrol vessels "tried to push" a migrant dinghy into Greek territory.
The UN refugee agency UNHCR says it has observed "several hundred cases" of suspected pushbacks in the Aegean Sea since the beginning of last year. It is stepping up pressure on Greece to investigate the reports.
According to a new ECRE report, Serbia rejected applications from nearly three in four asylum seekers last year. A major reason were anti-coronavirus measures, the author of the report said.
The Council of Europe, Europe’s human rights watchdog, has expressed concern over the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Cyprus. The Mediterranean island has faced a sharp rise in irregular migrant arrivals in recent years.
Bosnian authorities have announced that over 100 migrants who had been sleeping rough have been moved into asylum centers. Nearly half of those moved were reportedly children.
A year after the deadly clashes between migrants and Greek border guards at the Greek-Turkish border, EU lawmaker Erik Marquardt has called on the bloc to launch infringement proceedings against Greece over alleged human rights abuses against migrants.
During her current visit to Bosnia, EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson urged the non-EU country to further improve living conditions for thousands of migrants stuck there on their way to western Europe.
The heated debate over alleged pushbacks of migrants on the Greek-Turkish border continues: After the Greek government denied allegations on Sunday, rights groups on Monday deplored the lack of "an efficient investigation" by Greece.
Five Eritrean citizens have filed a lawsuit in the civil court in Rome against Italian authorities for what they claim was an illegitimate pushback to Libya on July 2, 2018.
The Greek migration minister Notis Mitarakis has once again denied claims that Greece is pushing migrants back to Turkey. He called the allegations "fake news," and said the claims were part of a strategy propagated by Turkey.