As more and more refugees and migrants try to make it to Western Europe via the western Balkan route, and with winter approaching, the EU and NGOs have warned of a humanitarian crisis in the Vucjak migrant camp and similar facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina near the border with Croatia. On Friday, hundreds of locals protested against the migrants' presence.
The Vucjak migrant camp in Bosnia and Herzegovina is reportedly about to be shut down following sustained criticism of its dangerous living conditions. The European Council’s human rights chief welcomed the closure.
154 Somali refugees were sent to Germany from Ethiopia last week. The resettlement was made possible through a program run by the German and Ethiopian governments, the UN migration agency, and the UN refugee agency.
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called on EU member states to relaunch a naval rescue operation in the Mediterranean. The body, which is not related to the European Union, highlighted that it is the duty of EU member states "not to let people drown in the Mediterranean."
The Italian government has presented a new asylum decree, which would see the waiting time for an asylum decision cut from two years to just four months, resulting in faster repatriations in applicable cases. Speaking at a press conference in Rome, Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said the decree would also update the list of countries considered safe for repatriations.
More than 200 migrants have reportedly arrived on Italian shores over the weekend. The number of arrivals in Italy is on the rise once more.
UNHCR chief Grandi told the Italian foreign minister that Libya has to be ruled out as a country to send migrants back to due to ongoing conflict and the humanitarian conditions there. He stressed that letting migrants return to the North African country must be "avoided at all costs." However, Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio wants to keep Libya on board as part of the solution.
The Greek Migration Ministry said Friday it had concluded a bilateral agreement with Portugal to relocate 1,000 people with a right to asylum. The first phase will start with 100 persons.
Portugal has signed a bilateral agreement with the Greek government to accept the relocation of refugees from Greece.
With his announcement to take in several dozen orphaned Syrian children, Slovakian Prime Minister Peter Pellegrini is making a slight break from other central European countries who have refused refugees.
Regional governors of Greece's North Eastern Aegean islands are making fresh calls on the state to transfer thousands of refugees and migrants from overcrowded camps to the mainland, claiming the government is breaking its promises.
The German Interior Ministry has announced it has reached a deal that will allow it to return asylum-seekers to Greece. Chancellor Angela Merkel and Spain's Pedro Sanchez agreed to a similar compromise last week.