WEEKLY BULLETIN
 

7 November 2024
 

 

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UPCOMING EVENTS

ONGOING CAMPAIGNS

OPEN JOB VACANCIES

CALLS FOR PAPERS, PROJECT PROPOSALS, UNIVERSITY COURSES etc.
 

EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS

• Egypt is planning to start registering refugees itself instead of relying on the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR).
• An EU-funded search and rescue centre in Libya is reportedly set to become fully operational following years of delays.
• The European Ombudsman has revealed that the European Commission withheld the findings of the human rights inquiry that it conducted prior to signing its migration deal with Tunisia.
• There was been widespread condemnation of Israel’s decision to ban the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) from operating within its borders and occupied East Jerusalem.

Egypt is planning to start registering refugees itself instead of relying on the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). According to Egyptian Deputy Assistant Foreign Minister for Migration, Refugee Affairs and Combating Human Trafficking, Dr Wael Badawi, the Egyptian government is currently preparing for the “transition from UNHCR” which has been “taking up some of the responsibility” since 1954. Badawi’s announcement, which was made on the first day of the 2024 Vienna Migration Conference, has raised concerns amongst various civil society organisations that have been highly critical of Egypt’s human rights record. They are likely to be particularly concerned about the potential impact of the proposed law on asylum on the large numbers of refugees who have travelled to Egypt in order to escape the ongoing violence in Sudan. According to a report on the situation in Egypt that was published by Amnesty International in June, “thousands of Sudanese refugees have been arbitrarily arrested and subsequently collectively expelled”. The report was published a few months after the EU signed a € 7.4 billion deal with Egypt which included € 200 million for “migration management”.

An EU-funded search and rescue (SAR) centre in Libya is reportedly set to become fully operational following years of delays. According to EUobserver, the Libyan maritime rescue coordination centre (MRCC), which was initially foreseen as part of a project launched in 2017, will become fully operational “soon”. Describing the development as “another step towards the externalisation of migration”, the site quotes a European Commission (EC) spokesperson as saying that “the mobile MRCC will be fully operational shortly”. The surprising news follows the publication in September of a report by the European Court of Auditors which was highly critical of the ongoing delays relating to the launch of the MRCC, including related training for the Libyan coastguard. It is also unlikely to be welcomed by the various SAR organisations that operate in the Central Mediterranean and that regularly denounce the violent tactics employed by Libyan coastguard personnel against people trying to travel to Europe in small boats.

The European Ombudsman has revealed that the EC withheld the findings of the human rights inquiry that it conducted prior to signing its migration deal with Tunisia. In a report on the findings of her office’s own-initiative inquiry into how the EC would guarantee respect for human rights in the context of the EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which was signed in July 2023, European Ombudsman Emma O’Reilly found that “despite repeated claims by the Commission that there was no need for a prior HRIA, it had in fact completed a risk management exercise for Tunisia before the MoU was signed”. She also recommended that the EC should “publish on its website a summary of the risk management exercise it conducted for Tunisia before it signed the MoU” and “encourage its implementing partners to set up complaint mechanisms for individuals to report alleged violations of their human rights in the implementation of EU-funded projects/programmes in Tunisia”. Responding to the report, which was published on 21 October, an EC spokesperson said that their institution had taken note of the “decision and suggestions for improvement of the European Ombudsman” and reiterated its “full commitment to transparency and accountability” without setting out any specific measures to be undertaken.

There was been widespread condemnation of Israel’s decision to ban the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) from operating within its borders and occupied East Jerusalem. The ban, which was approved by the Israeli parliament on 28 October, is expected to severely limit the agency’s ability to operate in Gaza and the West Bank. It was immediately denounced by UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini who described the vote as a “dangerous precedent” and one which “opposes the UN Charter and violates the State of Israel’s obligations under international law”. The governments of Ireland, Norway, Slovenia and Spain issued a joint statement in which they described UNRWA as “essential and irreplaceable for millions of Palestinian refugees in the region, and particularly in the current context in Gaza” and committed to “continue to work with donor and host countries to ensure the viability of UNRWA’s work and its humanitarian role.

On 31 October, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell issued a statement on behalf of the EU in which he said that: “If implemented, the laws will have far-reaching consequences, stopping all UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, de facto preventing UNRWA’s vital operations in Gaza hampering UNRWA’s provision of health, education and social services in the West Bank and revoking UNRWA’s diplomatic privileges and immunities in Israel”. Meanwhile, European Council President Charles Michel told reporters in Geneva: “The decision made by parliament in Israel, if implemented, to ban UNRWA in Israel is absolutely not acceptable and I cannot imagine that there would be no consequences on the EU side”.

NGOs were equally critical in their responses to the Israeli parliament’s vote. On 29 October, ECRE member organisation the Norwegian Refugee Council X posted: “The Israeli Knesset’s vote this evening to expel UNRWA from its East Jerusalem headquarter will be catastrophic for the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who depend on its assistance”. “No aid agencies can substitute its services. World leaders must intervene to stop this,” it added. Similarly, the International Rescue Committee X posted: “The Bill passed in the Israeli Parliament is an unprecedented attack on a UN agency and, if implemented, would only worsen the humanitarian catastrophe,” adding: “We strongly urge that this legislation is not applied”.

Related articles

• EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS: EU accused of funding forced deportations from Türkiye ― European Commission President calls for development of ‘return hubs’ ― Egypt and Tunisia reportedly reluctant to co-operate with EU on migration deals; Libya showing more ‘commitment” ― NGOs denounce Tunisia as ‘not a safe place’ for disembarking rescued people and call for end of EU-Tunisia migration co-operation ― More than 300,000 people flee into Syria from Lebanon (October 2024)
• EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS: Investigation Reveals EU Funding Security Forces Accused of Migrant Abuse in Tunisia ― Leaked Report Reveals EU Concerns About Credibility Risk of Migration Co-operation with Tunisia ― European Court of Auditors Report Criticises Use of EU Trust Fund for Africa in Libya ― NGOs Denounce Morocco and Spain for Forced Returns from Ceuta (September 2024)

     

MEDITERRANEAN

• The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Cyprus to allow the people who are currently stuck in the buffer zone to seek asylum in the country.
• Italy is planning to resume the transfer of people rescued in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea to its migration centres in Albania despite the legal difficulties that arose following the first attempt.
• A court in Greece has found a man from Somalia not guilty of people smuggling while he was still a minor.

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights has urged Cyprus to allow the people who are currently stuck in the buffer zone to seek asylum in the country. In a letter to Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides dated 23 October, Michael O’Flaherty wrote: “I respectfully ask the Cypriot authorities to ensure that effective access to asylum procedures and to adequate reception conditions is given to all those currently stranded in the buffer zone,” adding: “their immediate admission into the government-controlled areas appears to be the only possible way to ensure adequate protection of their human rights”. O’Flaherty also appeared to reject the Cypriot government’s previous assertion that its refusal to allow the people to leave the buffer zone was in accordance with the Green Line Regulation when he wrote: “this Regulation cannot be interpreted as providing a legal basis to derogate from Cyprus’ obligations under international refugee and human rights law”. In his response to O’Flaherty, Christodoulides wrote: “Against this backdrop, and always in conformity with our obligations under international and European law, the Cyprus government will make every effort to prevent the normalisation of irregular crossings through the ‘Green Line’”. He added that his government’s priority was to “combat irregular migration, detect and prevent threats to national security and public order, and to prevent Türkiye from “instrumentalising” migration.

Italy is planning to resume the transfer of people rescued in international waters in the Mediterranean Sea to its migration centres in Albania despite the legal difficulties that arose following the first attempt. Speaking on the sidelines of a G7 ministerial meeting in Rome on 4 November, Minister of the Interior Matteo Piantedosi told reporters that transfers could start again “as soon as the logistical and interception conditions, transit of migrants, and then the pre-screening that can be done of any people who can be transferred to Albania are in place”. Although there is a clear risk of further legal challenges similar to those that followed the attempt to transfer 12 people to the centres in October, the Italian government has said that it will not allow the judiciary to “halt” its migration policies and that the Italy-Albania Protocol would work and make Italy a “role model” for other countries. The announcement came a few days after a Bologna court referred the government’s recently adopted decree-law to the Court of Justice of the EU to ask for clarification about the parameters to be used for the definition of a “safe country” in the context of repatriation and about the primacy of EU law in cases in which there is a conflict with Italian law. Commenting on the court’s questions, Lucia Gennari from ECRE member organisation the Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI) said: “It is very likely that there will be a second [European] decision that will exclude the possibility of considering a country safe when there are exceptions for certain categories of people”. “To us, the passing of this decree seems to be less about substantially changing things, from a legal perspective, and more about signalling that if there is a decision in the future where a judge rules that the person who comes from a country on the list should have their asylum claim heard anyway, they can accuse the courts of being politicised and trying to interfere with the policies of government,” she added.

A court in Greece has found a man from Somalia not guilty of people smuggling while he was still a minor. On 24 October, the Juvenile Court of Kos ruled that M.A., who had sought refuge in Greece as an unaccompanied child in August 2021, was not guilty of any of the crimes with which he had been charged, namely criminal organisation with the purpose of facilitating the unauthorised entry of third country nationals and the pursuit of financial benefit with others, complicity in the facilitation of unauthorised entry of third country nationals to Greece as a perpetrator acting on a professional basis, and unlawful entry into the country. The case had been based on M.A. lending his phone to a fellow traveller so that the latter could call an NGO that might help them to apply for asylum in Greece and avoid being pushed back to Türkiye. Greek officials misconstrued this act as the facilitation of illegal entry of third country nationals into the country, committed by a criminal organisation formed by M.A., two fellow travellers and an unidentified smuggler. “We welcome the court’s decision,” said Elli Kriona Saranti and Maria Spiliotakara from ECRE member organisation HIAS Greece who represented M.A. “The criminalisation of migration and human rights defenders must stop being used as a decoy to deflect from the continuous lack of effective investigations into crimes against migrants at the borders,” HIAS Greece added in a Facebook post.

Related articles

• MEDITERRANEAN: Confusion regarding future of Italian migration centres in Albania ― ECtHR criticises Malta’s regime again ― Asylum seekers still trapped in Cyprus buffer zone ― Cyprus President calls for normalisation of relations with Syria ― NGOs call on Greece to fix ‘dysfunctional’ registration system (October 2024)
• MEDITERRANEAN: Italian migration centres in Albania finally operational ― ECtHR ruling may give hope to people stranded in buffer zone ― ‘Historic’ ECtHR ruling on Samos refugee camp (October 2024)

     

 

ECRE Member Organisations

• aditus Foundation, #ThereAreAlternatives – Combating administrative detention
• aditus Foundation, #Safe4All – LGBTQI+ refugees deserve protection
• Greek Forum of Refugees, Democracy4all
• Association for Legal Studies on Immigration (ASGI), Italian Society of Migration Medicine (SIMM) and No More Camps – No to CPRs (Mai più lager – NO ai CPR), Appello per una campagna di presa di coscienza dei medici sulla certificazione di idoneità delle persone migranti alla vita nei CPR
• Refugee Council, Fair and Humane Asylum System
• Safe Passage International, End Channel Tragedies: Share a Message of Solidarity and Call for Change
• Various, #stopborderviolence on the Polish-Belarusian border

 

Others

• Captain Support UK, Open Letter to the Home Secretary on the Unjust Prosecution of Ibrahima Bah
• Care4Calais, Far-right hate will not win. It’s time to unite.
• Collective Aid, Water for All // De L’eau Pour Tou-te-s
• Conversation Over Borders, Messages of Welcome
• Conversation Over Borders, Safe Homes, Not Hotels
• Freedom from Torture, Messages of Support
• Free the El Hiblu 3 Campaign, Drop the Charges Against the El Hiblu 3!
• Free the Pylos 9 Campaign, Free the #Pylos9
• Human Rights Watch, Act #WithHumanity
• Object War Campaign, Protection for Belarusian Conscientious Objectors Vitali Dvarashyn and Mikita Sviryd
• Refugee and Migrant Forum of Essex and London, End the Use of Hotels
• Right to Remain, These Walls Must Fall
• Samos Volunteers, Choose Your Warmth 2024
• World Justice Project, European Union Subnational Justice, Governance and Rule of Law Indicators

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