UNHCR is appealing to Greek authorities to increase efforts to put an end to "alarming" overcrowding and precarious conditions for migrants staying on the Greek islands of Lesbos, Chios, Samos, Kos, and Leros.
In 2016, Ankara and Brussels signed a refugee agreement designed to stem the flow of illegal entries into the EU via Turkey. Now, both sides are unhappy with the deal, but a revision looks difficult.
The EU and Turkey reached a so-called refugee deal in 2016 to prevent illegal migration. But new figures show that a tiny fraction of migrants are being returned to Turkey, while the EU is resettling significantly more.
68 asylum seekers have been sent from Rome to Paris as part of an EU-wide relocation program. Since September 2019, some 464 people have been redistributed from Italy to other EU countries.
Greece and Serbia have discussed a plan to relocate about 100 unaccompanied migrant children currently in Greece to Serbia. The plan was agreed last month and will be carried out with the help of the UN.
A group of Eritrean asylum seekers have held a protest in Slovenia against asylum request procedures, which the community sees as unfair. They also demonstrated against the rejection of five asylum claims filed by Eritreans.
The European Union has decreased its Mediterranean rescue efforts, while Greece and Italy are struggling to deal with displaced people who have already arrived. German cities are demanding permission to take action.
Norway says it will take 600 asylum seekers recently evacuated to Rwanda from Libyan detention centers. The Norwegian immigration minister told media that his country wants to stop the sometimes deadly smuggling of migrants across the Mediterranean Sea.
The European Asylum Support Office (EASO) will deploy up to 2,000 personnel to Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Malta in 2020 to support national authorities with asylum and reception. While support to Greece will double compared to 2019, support to Italy will be decreased as the country faces less workload within first instance asylum procedures.
Several German state governments have said they would be prepared to take in refugee children from Greece. One state, Thuringia, has even suggested it would do so in the face of the refusal in Berlin.
A total of 392 migrants have been relocated to other European countries by request of the Italian government since September. The most recent transfer took place just before the Christmas period on December 20, when 132 migrants were relocated to Germany.
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.