A video published on the website of the Maltese newspaper Times of Malta shows footage purporting to be from inside the Safi military barracks on the island nation where migrants claim they are being held for months at a time. Conditions are so bad, some are begging to be allowed to return home.
The UN migration agency carried out the first voluntary return flight in five months last week. More than 100 migrants from Ghana were flown to Accra.
A first contingent of 134 Iraqis took off from Athens on Thursday, August 6, in Greece’s first voluntary returns flight. The scheme, funded by the European Union is aimed at relieving pressure on Greece, which is struggling to cope with the amount of migrants and asylum seekers who have reached its shores.
Thousands of Ethiopian migrants have returned to their home country from Sudan, Djibouti, Saudi Arabia and other countries, according to IOM. Many returned because they lost their jobs abroad due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A new "wave" of Syrian refugees reportedly returned home from Lebanon last week. Meanwhile, people continue to be displaced in northwestern Syria, where fighting continues.
A new study published by Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) found that over 80% of those who chose to voluntarily return from Germany were happy or satisfied with the help provided by the state-run program "Starthilfe Plus".
The Italian region of Friuli Venezia Giulia is ready to propose a project to create measures for migrant repatriation. Five million euros are earmarked for the project which is financed by the interior ministry's 2014-2020 Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (FAMI).
Last week the International Organization for Migration (IOM) hosted a job and training fair for returned migrants in Cote d'Ivoire to help them reintegrate and find work in their home country.
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) assisted in the voluntary repatriation of a first group of migrants who survived shipwrecks off the coast of Tunisia between May 10 and May 12, as part of an assisted voluntary return program.
Lebanon is continuing to send back small groups of refugees to Syria. In the past 24 hours, dozens of refugees who had fled the war in Syria have been returned from different parts of Lebanon.
The UN agency International Organization for Migration (IOM) is promoting a program in Gambia together with the private sector and government authorities to train migrants who have voluntarily returned to their home country and help them settle back. As of March 19, 2019, 101 returnees graduated from a three-month-long training program in sectors including construction, carpentry, electronics, mechanics, plumbing, tailoring and welding, IOM said. They were the second group of students to graduate in four months.
The Turkish interior ministry said they apprehended around 268,000 undocumented migrants in 2018. The ministry also released estimates for how many Syrian refugees have returned home: roughly 310,000. But more than ten times as many Syrians remain in the country.