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16 January 2025
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EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS
RECENT REPORTS
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EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS
EU EXTERNAL PARTNERS
- Critics have argued that EU aid to Egypt strengthens President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s authoritarian rule and enables the repression of refugees and dissidents.
- Libyan authorities have deported more than 600 people to Niger.
- NGOs and advocates in have launched a joint solidarity campaign following the detention of prominent refugee rights activists in Tunisia.
- The Turkish government has introduced new measures to facilitate the voluntary return of people to Syria.
- NGOs have urged the international community to address the root causes of the conflict in the Middle East in order to end the decades-long cycle of violence.
European Parliament (EP) President Roberta Metsola has led a delegation of EU diplomats to Egypt to strengthen EU-Egypt relations, discuss macro-financial assistance and address regional geopolitical issues. The visit, which took place on 8-9 January, followed the European Commission’s (EC) December 2024 decision to disburse € 1 billion in loans to Egypt as part of a broader €7.4 billion financial package. According to the Mada Masr newspaper, an assessment which had been prepared following a visit to Egypt by an EU delegation in October 2023 showed that the EC’s decision was based on “concrete and credible steps” that had been taken on democracy and human rights in the country. Hussein Bayoumy from Amnesty International has argued that the assessment was “always going to be flawed” as it lacked clear measurable criteria for human rights improvements. He also described it as “purely political” rather than having been based on any concrete evidence of progress. “It wanted to release the €1bn and it did so,” he X posted. Commenting on the assessment, the director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Hussam Bahgat, said: “This is not a case of the Europeans being misinformed or misled, but rather EU bureaucrats understanding their assignment both from their leadership and from member states to simply clear Egypt to get the loan even if that was to mean painting an imaginary picture of Egypt being on a trajectory of reform”.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi has emphasised Egypt’s crucial role in managing migration between North Africa and Europe, and requested additional financial support following the disbursement of the first tranche of EU aid. He noted that his country was hosting over nine million foreigners due to regional crises. In response, the EP has begun considering the release of an additional € 4 billion in assistance. In an X thread, European People’s Party MEP, Céline Imart, advocated this approach, describing Egypt’s strategic role in the region and inter-faith initiative as a “role to follow”. She also described Egypt as a “reliable and credible partner on the subject of migration” despite its delicate economic situation. In response, Hussein Bayoumy from Amnesty International urged the Parliament to adopt measures that protect the integrity of the process and ensure compliance with EU standards. “This means a clear requirement for the EEAS to negotiate benchmarks with Egypt,” he X posted.
On 17 December 2024, President El-Sisi signed Egypt’s first-ever asylum law. Approved first by the Egyptian parliament, the law creates a comprehensive legal framework on refugee protection, including a national committee which will start to take over refugee status determination, currently carried out by the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). Given the large number of refugees hosted by Egypt, notably due to displacement from Sudan, it is expected that the UNHCR will continue its work alongside the new committee. Concerns about the law have been raised by Egyptian human rights organisations in relation to its content and lack of consultation during preparation. According to Amnesty International, the law takes a “security-based approach” and does not meet the standards required by the Refugee Convention. In addition, journalist Shimaa Samy has argued that the EU’s financial assistance to Egypt, ostensibly aimed at addressing economic challenges, strengthens Al Sisi’s authoritarian regime and encourages its oppressive practices against both refugees and dissidents. “The EU’s partnership with Egypt on migration reflects a dangerous trade-off, where human rights are sacrificed for political expediency,” she wrote in an op-ed for EUobserver.
On 10 January, Libyan authorities deported more than 600 people to Niger in a move which has been described as “one of the largest expulsions from the north African country to date”. “This is something new. There was one expulsion of 400 people last July, but this convoy is the largest number to date,” said Azizou Chehou from Alarm Phone Sahara. Jalel Harchaoui, a specialist on Libya, said that the periodic roundup and expulsion of foreign workers was “something of a tradition in southern Libya since even during the time of Gadafi”, but that this incident was notable due to the large number of people expelled at the same time. The mass deportation took place a few days after the International Organization for Migration (IOM) reported that almost 22,000 migrants had been intercepted in the Mediterranean and forcibly returned to Libya in 2024.
On 15 January, the former UNHCR Special Envoy for the Western and Central Mediterranean situation, Vincent Cochetel, urged Tunisian authorities to release refugee and migrant aid workers unconditionally. “Accusing them of being foreign agents or mishandling funds aims to halt NGO activities, making Tunisia unsafe for refugees and asylum seekers,” he X posted. Cochetel’s call is part of a broader campaign by numerous organisations and individuals demanding an end to the criminalisation of solidarity and the release of humanitarian workers detained in Tunisia that gained momentum after the arrest and detention of Abdallah El Saïd and a number of his associates from the NGO Children of the Moon in Medenine (AELM) in November 2024.
On 27 December 2024, Turkish Minister of the Interior Ali Yerlikaya reported that nearly 31,000 Syrians had left Türkiye to return to their home country. In order to facilitate this process, on 5 January, the Turkish government announced a number of new procedures for the voluntary return of Syrians. They included allowing one member from each family to make three trips to Syria between 1 January and 1 July 2025 to assess conditions for return, creating a central appointment system to apply for return, establishing migration management offices in the Turkish embassy in Damascus and consulate in Aleppo, and designating five border passages for people who wish to return to Syria and two others for people who want to visit the country to assess the situation and make arrangements for their return.
The long-awaited and “tragically overdue” ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, which is due to begin on 19 January, has elicited immediate responses from various humanitarian and human rights organisations. On 15 January, the Secretary General of ECRE member organisation the Norwegian Refugee Council, Jan Egeland, said: “This ceasefire must be the foundation for an enduring truce that can pave the way for peace and human rights for long-suffering civilian populations”. He also urged Israel to remove all barriers to humanitarian aid immediately in order to address the dire conditions in Gaza. “To end the cycle of violence, the international community must address the root causes of this decades-long conflict and pursue a just resolution in alignment with international law,” he added. Similarly, the Commissioner-General of the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, X posted: “What’s needed is rapid, unhindered and uninterrupted humanitarian access and supplies to respond to the tremendous suffering caused by this war.” Amnesty International Secretary General Agnès Callamard said: “Unless the root causes of this conflict are addressed, Palestinians and Israelis cannot even begin to hope for a brighter future built on rights, equality and justice. Israel must dismantle the brutal system of apartheid it imposes to dominate and oppress Palestinians and end its unlawful occupation of the Occupied Palestinian Territory once and for all”. She also called on third states to “bring an end to Israel’s impunity and restore some faith in the rule of law”.
Related articles
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EUROPEAN DEVELOPMENTS
MEDITERRANEAN
- There has been a major decrease in the number of recorded irregular crossings in the Mediterranean.
- Although the number of recorded deaths and disappearances in the Mediterranean fell in 2024, at least 2,300 lives may have been lost.
- The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Greece illegally deported a woman to Türkiye in 2019 and applied a ‘systematic practice of pushbacks’.
There has been a major decrease in the number of recorded irregular crossings in the Mediterranean. According to preliminary data published by the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) on 14 January, there was a 59% decrease in the number of recorded crossings on the Central Mediterranean route in 2024 compared to the previous year. Despite this decrease, Frontex still recorded 66,766 crossings via this particular route, making it the second most widely used in 2024 after the Eastern Mediterranean route (69,436) which saw a 14% increase. The decrease in the number of recorded irregular crossings via the Central Mediterranean route was a major factor in the 38% decrease in the overall number of recorded irregular border crossings into the EU in 2024 (approximately 239,000).
The decrease in the number of recorded irregular crossings in the Mediterranean was accompanied by a decrease in the number of recorded deaths and disappearances. According to data published by the International Organization for Migration’s (IOM) Missing Migrants Project, 2,333 people on the move were recorded as dead or missing in the Mediterranean in 2024 compared to 3,155 in the previous year (26% decrease). Of the 2,333 people included in the IOM statistics in 2024, 1,699 (73%) died or went missing on the Central Mediterranean route (33% decrease compared to 2023).
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled that Greece illegally deported a woman to Türkiye in 2019. In a judgment issued on 7 January, the ECtHR found that the woman, a Turkish citizen identified as ‘A.R.E.’, who had entered Greece in May 2019 in order to seek asylum, had been illegally detained and subsequently sent back to Türkiye without her asylum request having been considered. The court also stated that there were “strong indications” to suggest that there had been a “systematic practice of ‘pushbacks’ of third-country nationals by the Greek authorities, from the Evros region to Türkiye”. The ruling is particularly significant as it is the first time that the ECtHR has ruled on Greece’s pushbacks. A.R.E’s lawyer, Maria Papamina from ECRE member organisation the Greek Council for Refugees (GCR), described the ruling as a “landmark judgment”. “The ECtHR’s recognition of this illegal practice of the Greek authorities is a vindication for the thousands of victims who denounce the Greek authorities’ pushbacks at the Greek-Turkish border”, she said, adding: “Greek authorities must stop this illegal practice”. GCR director, Lefteris Papagiannakis, said: “The Court saw a pattern and decided to punish these violations (…) It decided that it was not acceptable”. He also described the ruling as “hugely important” and said that it would serve as a “pilot case” for other pending cases involving allegations of pushbacks against Greece. The ECtHR ordered Greece to pay A.R.E. € 20,000 in damages.
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RECENT REPORTS
ECRE
December 2024
ECRE Member Organisations
January
December 2024
Others
January
December 2024
- Access Centre for Human Rights, Uprooting the Displaced: The Forced Evictions of Syrian Refugees in Lebanon
- Alarm Phone and LIMINAL, ‘They ignored us initially’: What happened in the Channel on 14 December, 2022?
- Border Criminologies, Border Violence Monitoring Network and Mobile Info Team, Report on the Conditions in Pre-Removal Detention Centres in Greece
- Caminando Fronteras, Monitoring the Right to Life – 2024
- Doctors Without Borders (MSF) and the Institute of Studies on Conflicts and Humanitarian Action (IECAH), La acción humanitaria en 2023-2024: Sudán y Gaza, muestra de la inacción internacional
- European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, Report to the Italian Government on the visit to Italy carried out by the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) from 2 to 12 April 2024
- European Court of Auditors, Special Report 26/2024: Integration of third-country nationals in the EU – Relevant support from the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund but its impact could not yet be demonstrated
- European Network of Legal Experts in Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination, Cyprus: Country report – Non-discrimination – 2024
- Forced Migration Review, Issue 74: Financing displacement response
- Free Movement, Briefing: Current problems in the UK asylum system and how to address them
- Human Rights Association (IHD), Refugee Rights Report within the Framework of the Action Plan on Human Rights
- Legal Centre Lesvos, Lesvos Situation Report – Quarterly Developments and Updates: July-September 2024
- Migration Policy Group, Political Participation Policy Index 2024: A Seat at the Table?
- Migration Policy Institute, Complementary Pathways: Key Factors in Future Growth
- Migration Policy Institute, Exploring Refugees’ Intentions to Return to Ukraine: Data Insights and Policy Responses
- Mixed Migration Centre, Mixed Migration Review 2024
- No Name Kitchen, EU states crack down on asylum seekers after al-Assad’s fall
- Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, Sixth Interim Report on reported violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law in Ukraine
- Overseas Development Institute, Expanding legal pathways for labour migration: A stocktake of the European Commission’s efforts
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UPCOMING EVENTS
ECRE
ECRE Member Organisations
Others
- 21-27 January, Online, 4th Global Diaspora Week – Advancing Systematic Approaches in Humanitarian and Development Efforts, Global Diaspora Confederation
- 23 January, Online, Data protection in immigration and asylum: Rights and opportunities for redress, Statewatch
- 23 January, Online, Reaching Irregular Migrants in Europe: Harnessing the Value of Counselling, Migration Policy Institute
- 30-31 January, Online, Cross-Border Training Workshop for Judges, Prosecutors, Attorneys and Other Legal Professionals: Mutual Trust, Judicial Independence and Judicial Cooperation in Asylum, European University Institute
- 3-7 February, Florence, 2025 Migration Winter Academy, European University Institute
- 8 February, Sheffield, Thinking with our communities – detention and beyond, Right to Remain
- 3-7 March, London, Research Methods in the Refugee and Forced Migration Field, Refugee Law Initiative
- 8 March, London, Womens Run Series, Women for Refugee Women
- 10-11 March, Florence, Building effective engagement between research, policy and practice: a strategic approach to impactful migration research in the world of policy, European University Institute
- 17-19 March, Krems an der Donau, 2025 IMISCOE Spring Conference, University for Continuing Education Krems
- 17-21 March, Krems an der Donau, MIrreM Spring School 2025, University for Continuing Education Krems
- 20-23 March, Budapest, Statelessness Awareness Forum (Europe), Apatride Network
- 12-17 May, Online, Migration Communication Strategies: Effective Approaches to Depolarise the Debate, European University Institute
- Online, Training Course: Temporary Protection in the European Union, Council of Europe
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OPEN JOB VACANCIES
ECRE Member Organisations
- Cepaim Foundation, Various
- Danish Refugee Council, Various
- Diakonie in Österreich, Various
- Entraide Pierre Valdo, Various
- Female Fellows, Various
- Fenix – Humanitarian Legal Aid, Interpreter, Remote
- Fenix – Humanitarian Legal Aid, Volunteer MHPSS Officer, Lesvos, 1 March
- Forum réfugiés, Various
- Immigration Law Practitioners' Association, Various
- Kids in Need of Defense, Various
- Movement for Peace (MPDL), Various
- Refugee Rights Association, Legal Advisor / Lawyer, Cyprus, 21 January
- Scottish Refugee Council, Programming Fellow – Refugee Festival Scotland 2025, Glasgow, 12 February
- Solentra, Klinisch psycholoog – 5 jaar ervaring, Antwerp
- Solentra, Klinisch psycholoog – 10 jaar ervaring, Antwerp
- Solentra, Klinisch psycholoog, West Flanders
Others
- Diaspora Vote, Policy and Communication Officer, Brussels, 31 January
- European Network on Statelessness, Legal Officer, London, 20 January
- Refugees Seeking Equal Access at the Table, Latin America Regional Lead, Brazil, Colombia or Mexico, 31 January
- University of Sussex, Research Fellow, Brighton, 6 February
- Women for Refugee Women, Co-Chair of Board of Trustees, London, 7 February
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ONGOING CAMPAIGNS
ECRE Member Organisations
Others
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CALLS FOR PAPERS, PROJECT PROPOSALS, UNIVERSITY COURSES etc.
Calls for Applications
Call for Artists from Refugee Backgrounds
Call for ‘Engagement Shorts’
Call for Input
Calls for Papers
Call for Research Projects and ‘Research Shorts’
Call for Survey Participants
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