WEEKLY BULLETIN
 

4 October 2024
 

 

 

RECENT REPORTS

UPCOMING EVENTS

ONGOING CAMPAIGNS

OPEN JOB VACANCIES

CALLS FOR PAPERS, PROJECT PROPOSALS, UNIVERSITY COURSES etc.
 

EU EASTERN BORDERS

• The Tallinn Migration Centre is organising a two-day conference and fair in the Estonian capital for residents with a migrant background.
• The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Finland to strengthen the protection of Roma and people who want to claim asylum in the country, and recommended that authorities ‘reconsider’ the country’s new migration law.
• The Prime Minister of Hungary has repeated his earlier threat to transport people who enter Hungary irregularly to Belgium.
• Prosecutors in Latvia have requested an 18-month sentence for a human rights activist who is on trial for helping people to enter the country irregularly.
• An NGO is suing the President of Poland over comments that he made in 2023 about a film that depicted the situation on the Poland-Belarus border.
• The CoE Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Poland to respect its international human rights obligations on its border with Belarus.

The Tallinn Migration Centre is organising a two-day conference and fair for residents with a migrant background. During the event, which will take place on 8-9 October in the Estonian capital, participants will have the opportunity to discuss various important issues relating to daily life, including finance and taxation, family-related services, housing and employment. They will also learn more about the services of ECRE member organisation, the Estonian Human Rights Centre. Commenting on the upcoming event, Deputy Mayor of Talinn Karl Sander Kase said: “Both Tallinn and the state as a whole have a clear interest in helping newcomers adjust to our cultural and value system. Language skills, access to the labour market, and various services are central to this”. “Preventing potential issues is always wise, and during the conference, we will listen to and share best practices that support integration,” he added.

The Council of Europe (CoE) Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Finland to strengthen the protection of Roma and people who want to claim asylum in the country, and recommended that authorities “reconsider” the country’s new migration law. Speaking after a four-day visit to the country, during which he visited the Imatra crossing point on the Finland-Russia border and the Joutseno reception centre and detention unit, Michael O’Flaherty stated that border control should not come at the expense of human rights. “I remain of the view that the recent Finnish law allowing for temporary restrictions on asylum applications, if implemented, would violate international obligations, including the prohibition of refoulement and collective expulsion and the obligation to provide effective remedies,” he said, adding: “The authorities should reconsider this law”. O’Flaherty also noted the “efforts of border guards” in preparing for the implementation of the new migration law but expressed doubts about the “feasibility of carrying out such complex assessments in compliance with human rights”.

The Prime Minister of Hungary has repeated his earlier threat to transport people who enter Hungary irregularly to Belgium. Speaking in the Hungarian parliament on 30 September, Viktor Orbán said: ”We will take the migrants who are banging on Hungary’s gates to the main square in Brussels”. Referring to the € 200 million fine which the Court of Justice of the EU imposed on Hungary in June 2024 for its longstanding failure to comply with EU migration law, and which the Hungarian government has publicly refused to pay, Orbán said: “If Brussels persists in its decision to punish us, it will get what it wants”.

Prosecutors in Latvia have requested an 18-month sentence for a human rights activist who is on trial for helping people to to enter the country irregularly. In February 2023, Ieva Raubiško, who works for the NGO I Want to Help Refugees (Gribu palīdzēt bēgļiem), was charged with “organising intentional illegal crossing of the state border for a group of people” on the Latvia-Belarus border. The charges relate to Raubiško’s efforts to support a group of Syrians who had wanted to claim asylum in Latvia but who had experienced several pushbacks from the country to Belarus. According to the human rights NGO Front Line Defenders’ case summary, Raubiško provided the five people with “practical and legal information on seeking asylum” in January 2023 after they had obtained an “interim measure from the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ordering the Latvian government to refrain from deporting them and to provide basic humanitarian assistance, including food, water, clothing, medical care and temporary shelter”. Front Line Defenders has urged the Latvian authorities to drop the charges against Raubiško and to “guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Latvia are able to carry out their human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of restrictions”. According to the LETA news agency, Raubiško’s next hearing is scheduled for 30 October.

An NGO is suing the President of Poland over comments that he made in 2023 about a film that depicted the migration situation on the Poland-Belarus border. On 29 September, the Centre for Monitoring Racist and Xenophobic Behaviour (OMZRiK) X posted that it had “filed a lawsuit against the President of the Republic of Poland, Andrzej Duda, for insulting citizens of his own country by calling them ‘pigs’”. OMZRiK’s decision to sue Duda is based on an interview with Polish Television (TVP) in which the president referred to the slogan “Only pigs go the cinema” in the context of the film ‘Green Border’. The slogan is particularly controversial as it had previously been “associated with opposition to Nazi propaganda films shown in Poland during the Second World War”. The film was criticised by the then-ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, of which Duda is a former member, for insulting Polish border guards. “I am not surprised that the border guards who saw the film used the slogan ‘only pigs sit in the cinema’,” Duda said at the time. The trial is reportedly due to start in October 2025.

CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Michael O’Flaherty has urged Poland to respect its international human rights obligations on its border with Belarus. Speaking after a three-day visit to Poland, O’Flaherty stated that he considered that the “current summary return practice at the Polish-Belarusian border (…) does not allow for full respect of international human rights standards” and that “the practice of summary returns of persons across the border to Belarus, without an individual assessment, including in some cases persons who have formally requested asylum on Polish territory, exposes them to the risk of serious violations of the rights protected by the European Convention on Human Rights”. He also called on the on the Polish authorities to “invest more in creating structures for meaningful dialogue with expert civil society organisations active in providing people with legal and humanitarian assistance on the Polish-Belarusian border”, including through the “re-establishment of a consultation platform between the civil society organisations and the Border Guard” which had existed until 2015. He welcomed “the efforts of the Polish authorities to carry out search and rescue operations at the border, the initiative to embed specialised human rights coordinators in all Polish Border Guard units and at the central level, and the human rights training for members of the Border Guard”. However, he also noted that very few human rights and humanitarian NGOs had been allowed to enter the buffer zone, which was reintroduced in June and recently extended for another 90 days, and called for the establishment of “clear and standardised criteria” for the granting of entry permits by local Border Guard commanders.

Related articles

• EU EASTERN BORDERS: Estonian Border Guards to Support Latvian Colleagues on Latvia-Russia Border ― Finland Enacts Controversial New ‘Pushback Law’ ― Hungary Faces Renewed Criticism from Both EC and FRA ― Lithuanian Border Guards to Support Latvian Colleagues on Latvia-Russia Border ― Poland Allows Border Guards to Use Firearms Against People Trying to Cross Poland-Russia Border (August 2024)
• EU EASTERN BORDERS: Significant Increase in Arrivals via EU Eastern Borders Despite Overall Decrease in EU ― Finland Adopts Controversial ‘Pushback’ Law ― Asylum Seekers File Lawsuit Against Lithuania for Unlawful Detention ― NGO Calls for Urgent Action to Help People Trapped in ‘Death Zone’ Along Poland-Belarus Border ― Poland Asks France and Germany for Support to Secure Belarus Border (July 2024)

     

MEDITERRANEAN

• The Greek government is planning to build a new fence on the country’s border with Türkiye and a new report by the Border Violence Monitoring Network has condemned the ongoing ‘lack of transparency’ regarding the use of surveillance technology on the borders with Türkiye and Bulgaria.
• An investigation has been launched into the suspicious death of a Pakistani man in an Athens police station.
• The Italian government is planning to take a tougher approach to civilian search and rescue operations, including the imposition of fines of up to €10,000 for rule breakers while Doctors Without Borders’ Geo Barents rescue vessel has been detained yet again.
• Students and NGO representatives have joined survivors and the families of victims to commemorate the Lampedusa shipwreck that occurred on 3 October 2013.

The Greek government is planning to build a new fence along its border with Türkiye in order to prevent irregular immigration. The construction of the fence started in 2012 and it has been extended several times using national financial resources. Germany’s recent tougher stance on migration, including proposing to send people on the move back to ‘first-line countries’ such as Greece, has led to renewed calls in the country for the EU to fund the new fence. The European Commission (EC) has insisted that it will not fund the construction of border fences. “Member states must protect the EU’s external borders. They are best placed to define how to do this in practice in a way that is fully in line with EU acquis, including respecting fundamental rights”, said an EC spokesperson. “The new fence will be built with or without Europe”, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said recently. Elsewhere, Germany’s opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has called on the EC to fund the construction of fences along the EU’s external borders in Greece and Poland. “This is a task that affects us all. And anyone who wants secure borders must also commit to border fortifications,” said the CDU’s lead MP on home affairs, Alexander Throm.

A new report by the Border Violence Monitoring Network has condemned the ongoing “lack of transparency” regarding the use of increasingly sophisticated surveillance technology on Greece’s borders with Türkiye and Bulgaria. “There is a persistent lack of transparency around the implementation of this type of equipment and the incorporation of artificial intelligence tools to migration policies,” the organisation said in a statement, adding: “This secrecy constantly hinders attempts by civil society to thoroughly assess the impact of these developments on the lives of people crossing borders”.

On 21 September, a young Pakistani man named Muhammad Kamran Ashiq was found dead at a police station in Athens with bruises and injuries on his body that his family has alleged were inflicted by the Greek police. According to the Movement United Against Racism and the Fascist Threat (KEERFA) group, Ashiq had been taken to five different police stations and tortured. On 27 September, the Ministry of Citizen Protection ordered the Ombudsman to lead an investigation into his death. Commenting on the incident, Human Rights Watch issued a statement in which it urged the government to “comply fully with its obligations under international human rights law, including the absolute prohibition on torture and ill-treatment, and ensure all people, regardless of their nationality, immigration status, or ethnic origin, are treated with dignity and their rights are respected”. ECRE member organisation the Greek Forum for Refugees also issued a statement in which it condemned the apparent police brutality. “The shocking images of Mohammed Kamran Ashiq are unfortunately already familiar to us, without surprising us. On the contrary, our anger and frustration are always growing, fear and worry are always at the centre of situations,” it wrote.

The Italian government is planning to take a tougher approach to civilian search and rescue (SAR) operations, including the imposition of fines of up to €10,000 for rule breakers. Under the proposed legislation, which was discussed at a cabinet meeting in Rome on 28 September, SAR aircraft that take off or land in Italy will be required to inform the authorities about any emergencies immediately and to follow their instructions. Meanwhile, on 23 September, the Italian authorities detained the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) Geo Barents rescue vessel yet again. The ship had previously received a 60-day detention order on 26 August but this was suspended on 11 September following an appeal by MSF. The latest detention came on 23 September after the Geo Barents undertook two operations in which it brought 206 people to safety on 19 September. In a press release issued on 25 September, MSF condemned the latest detention orders as “a clear attempt by the authorities to ensure that the Geo Barents will not be able to sail again to save lives in the Mediterranean Sea.” Commenting on the Geo Barents’ latest detention, Judith Sunderland from Human Rights Watch said that it was “based on the same twisted logic the Italian government has used repeatedly since early 2023 to obstruct humanitarians from rescuing people on overcrowded, unseaworthy boats in distress”.

On 29 September, a group of students and NGO representatives joined survivors and the families of victims to commemorate the Lampedusa shipwreck that occurred on 3 October 2013. At least 368 people died in the tragedy which happened when a boat that was carrying approximately 500 people from Libya to Italy sank off the island of Lampedusa. The anniversary event was organised by the October 3rd Committee. In a statement issued in advance of the remembrance event, the Committee said that the commemoration was intended to “promote learning opportunities for future European generations to adopt a culture that is open to inclusion and solidarity in order to offset intolerance, racism and discrimination, and to promote inclusion processes that lead to the social inclusion of migrants”. “The initiatives are aimed at strengthening young people’s awareness and knowledge on topics regarding migration, global interdependence and human rights, cultural integration and sheltering migrants, refugees and asylum seekers,” it added.

Related articles

• MEDITERRANEAN: Over 1,000 Recorded Deaths in Central Mediterranean Sea in 2024 ― NGOs Mark Ten Years of Civilian Sea Rescue in Central Mediterranean Sea Amid Accusations of ‘Double Standards’ Surrounding Bayesian Yacht Tragedy ― Human Rights NGO Accuses Cyprus of ‘Secondary Refoulement’ of Syrian Refugees ― Greek Coastguard Warns of Dangerous New Tactics Used By People Smugglers; Stands Accused of Causing Death of Migrant By Firing on Boat ― Third Detention Order for Geo Barents Rescue Ship ― Human Rights Award for Maltese NGO, (September 2024)
• MEDITERRANEAN: New Joint Report Highlights Extreme Violence on Land Routes Towards Africa’s Mediterranean Coast ― NGO Appeals to Cypriot Courts on Behalf of People Trapped in Buffer Zone ― Greek Court Acknowledges Racist Motives in 2018 Anti-Migrant Attacks on Lesvos ― CoE Urges Greece to Treat Migrants and Refugees with ‘Dignity and Humanity’ ― Investigation Reveals Frontex Failure to Report Migrant Abuses (July 2024)

     

FRANCE

• The new government has vowed to take a tougher approach to migration, with a focus on overhauling the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the Schengen Agreement.
• Plans to abolish the state medical aid (AME) for undocumented people have provoked strong reactions from former health ministers and NGOs.
• A new report by Amnesty International has highlighted the discrimination that migrant women in France face at the hands of the police when they try to report abuse.

The new government has vowed to take a tougher approach to migration, with a focus on overhauling the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, and the Schengen Agreement. In a speech to parliament in which he set out his government’s priorities on 1 October, Prime Minister Michel Barnier called for the Pact to be “implemented without delays” and for it to be “completed by giving Frontex its prime role as the EU’s border guards back”. Barnier also confirmed that border checks would remain in place “for as long as necessary, as allowed under EU rules, just like Germany”. He has previously described France’s borders as “sieves”, stated that migration was “not under control” and promised to “limit immigration”. Although he did not propose any more repressive measures, Barnier did not condemn the radical tone that Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau took when the latter stated that the rule of law was “neither intangible nor sacred” when he called for a major revamp of the Pact, including the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management, and reform of the Schengen Agreement. In an apparent nod to the Netherlands and Hungary, Retailleau also called for a “sort of alliance with [EU] countries who want a tougher response on immigration to review European legislation that is no longer relevant”. Commenting on the Prime Minister’s speech, Renaissance party member of the European Parliament, Fabienne Keller said: “It is troubling to see that the words he is using are those of the far right”. In a press release issued before Barnier’s speech, ECRE member organisation Forum réfugiés said that “the announcement of a tenth Asylum and Migration law would be a disastrous signal to public opinion”. The organisation added that it expected the prime minister to “reaffirm France’s respect for its international commitments in terms of fundamental rights, which constitute the basis for all reflection and action in the field of asylum and migration” but that “the gap between the proclamation of these rights and their effectiveness is already growing, as evidenced by the European Asylum-Migration Pact”. The concerns expressed by Forum réfugiés were echoed by ECRE member organisation France terre d’asile. “We call on the new government to move past posturing in order to address real issues such as reception and integration,” it X posted.

On 24 September, it was reported that ministers were considering the removal of the state medical aid (AME) for undocumented people. Minister of the Interior Bruno Retailleau had previously expressed his support for replacing the AME, which provides free healthcare to undocumented people settled in France, with a smaller fund to cover emergency situations only. On 26 September, eight former health ministers co-authored an opinion piece in the Monde newspaper in which they warned against the proposed changes to the AME. “Calling the AME into question would be completely stupid not only for public health, but also for health insurance finances,” said former health minister, François Braun. Another former health minister, Aurélien Rousseau, also criticised the plan. “Let’s be clinical: the AME is not a factor in immigration. This is well-documented. However, the government prefers to talk about its abolition to satisfy the extreme right. A pledge, a scalp, a totem, without having the strength or the courage to tell the truth,” he X posted. On 30 September, Forum réfugiés issued a press release in which it said: “We share the concern of other health and social action bodies about the plan to change state medical aid into emergency medical aid, when everything demonstrates its ineffectiveness and dangers in the health, economic and legal fields, and care constitutes a collective protection”.

A new report by Amnesty International has highlighted the discrimination that migrant women in France face at the hands of the police when they try to report abuse. The report, which was published on 5 September, describes how the “double violence” that the women experience makes them reluctant to file complaints of rape or other sexual violence, and how they struggle to access to justice because they are often at risk of arrest or deportation. It also reveals that “numerous female migrants who were victims of violence went to a police station to be protected (…) and were issued an OQTF (obligation to leave French territory) and placed in detention”. “It’s absolutely illegal,” said Lola Schulmann, one of the report’s authors, adding: “Everyone has the right to press charges whether they are documented or not”. “It is time to put an end to these stigmatising and cruel practices. It is urgent that these women are fully listened to, respected, and protected by the police,” she concluded.

Related articles

• FRANCE: Recent Decision By National Court of Asylum Decision Could Have Significant Impact for Palestinians from the Gaza Strip ― Tension in Mayotte Amid Possible Change to Citizenship Rights for Islanders ― Former Frontex Chief to Run in European Parliament Elections for Far-right Party (February 2024)
• FRANCE: New Immigration Law Adopted Despite Constitutional Council Rejecting Almost Half of Its Articles ― Authorities in Marseille Accused of Ignoring Obligations Towards Unaccompanied Migrant Children ― Paris Police Evict Migrant Teenagers From Temporary Housing Despite Freezing Conditions ― Franco-British Migration Pact Blamed For Doubling Of Channel Deaths (February 2024)

     

AIDA Country Report on Malta – 2023 Update

The updated AIDA Country Report on Malta provides a detailed overview of legislative and practice-related developments in asylum procedures, reception conditions, detention of asylum seekers and content of international protection in 2023. It also includes an annex which provides an overview of temporary protection (TP).

In 2023, Malta received 600 asylum applications, with 833 cases pending at end of the year. The top five countries of origin for applicants were Syria, Bangladesh, Sudan, Libya and Ukraine. Of these, only Syrian nationals enjoyed a high protection rate (84.6% positive decisions at first instance). A total of 951 decisions were taken at first instance, of 488 were made without a personal interview. The overall protection rate at first instance was 27.9%. At the appeal stage, the International Protection Appeals Tribunal made 595 decisions which resulted in refugee status being recognised in just four cases and subsidiary protection being granted in five others. Of the 595 International Protection Appeals Tribunal decisions in 2023, 587 cases were made without an oral hearing.

Despite a 2022 European Court of Human Rights judgment which criticised Malta’s accelerated asylum procedure, it remained unchanged in 2023. Legal practitioners continued to argue that it violated the obligation to provide an effective remedy for all negative decisions. In 2023, 191 cases were processed under the accelerated procedure. They resulted in just two applicants being granted refugee status, one being granted subsidiary protection and 188 having their applications rejected. A new policy also barred people who filed subsequent applications which were deemed inadmissible from accessing employment. This measure was criticised by NGOs who argued that it discouraged asylum seekers from filing subsequent claims and, thus, limited their access to legal remedies.

Despite the relatively low number of arrivals in Malta in 2023, living conditions in the open reception centres remained challenging. The largest reception centre, which also houses unaccompanied children, consists of rows of metal containers with shared facilities. In addition, all third country nationals who arrived by sea in 2023, including children and vulnerable people, continued to be systematically detained on public health grounds upon arrival.

Malta formalised its approach to detention in 2023 by establishing the Detention Services Agency within the Ministry of Home Affairs. However, access to detention centres and detained asylum seekers remained a significant challenge throughout the year. Key organisations, including the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration, rejected the new visitors policy on the grounds that it created unreasonable barriers to providing services and prevented detained asylum seekers from receiving independent information about their cases. Although the revised visitors policy was eventually accepted (and NGOs and other stakeholders resumed visits in 2024) concerns remained that people in detention continued to be denied adequate access to information and legal advice. Living conditions in detention centres, particularly for children and vulnerable people, remained extremely poor.

In 2023, Malta’s Human Rights Directorate launched a national consultation on the country’s second National Integration Policy and Action Plan. A public consultation document was published which included key principles for the upcoming strategy and questions to guide public input. This move was seen as an opportunity to address long-standing integration challenges for asylum seekers and migrants in Malta.

The full report is available here and the annex on temporary protection is available here.

For more information about the AIDA database or to read other AIDA reports, please visit the AIDA website.

     

ECRE Member Organisations

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