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- INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS
SUDANESE REFUGEES (NRC) War in Sudan displaces over 500,000 to South Sudan - “The outside world must better support South Sudan as it shoulders the cost of more than half a million people fleeing conflict.”
US MIGRATION (The Guardian) Biden vows to ‘shut down the border’ if Senate immigration bill is passed - The bipartisan talks have hit a critical point amid mounting Republican opposition. Some Republicans have set a deal on border security as a condition for further Ukraine aid.
EXTERNAL PARTNERS: UN News: UN chief urges countries to reverse UNRWA funding suspension - “The dire needs of the desperate populations they serve must be met.”
See more (farsnews) UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine Slams Countries That Suspended Funding for UN Agency Because of Israeli Allegations - The US, UK, Italy, Australia, Canada, Finland, and Netherlands decided to suspend funding to UNRWA following the claims.
MEDITERRANEAN (Info Migrants) body found after shipwreck off Sicily - His boat was wrecked due to the “violent wind”. The other passengers have reached the shore, and must reach the hotspot of Porto Empedocle.
PACT (EU Observer) EU presidency to enact asylum reforms despite abuse claims - "We have to turn this reform on paper into concrete action on the ground and that's what the Belgian presidency will do," Belgium's migration minister Nicole de Moor
SCHENGEN (euractiv) Renew MEPs propose a mini-Schengen between Greece, Bulgaria, and Romania - “We are in Schengen, and we are not at the same time. We must use this reality of the new Schengen,” Romanian MEP Vlad Gheorghe (Renew) told Euractiv Bulgaria in an exclusive interview.
URANIAN REFUGEE (Kyiv Independent) EU ready to extend protection for Ukrainian refugees past March 2025 - In October 2023, the EU officially prolonged the directive until March 2025.
FRANCE (Breaking Latest) The French Constitutional Court rejects 40% of Macron’s immigration reform - The contested one immigration law desired by the French president, Emmanuel Macron which has already triggered an earthquake within the government and even satisfied the leader of Rassemblement National, Marine Le Pen, deals a new blow to the executive.
FINLAND/RUSSIA (Info Migrants) Asylum seekers arrested after crossing border to Finland - Finnish authorities are reported to have detained 18 people who were found in a forest north of the Imatra station on Finland’s southeastern border with Russia
IRELAND (Irish Times) As many as 20,000 asylum seekers could enter the country this year, ministers told - Last year, a total of 13,277 people claimed asylum in Ireland, a drop of 3pc when compared to 2022.
See more (Irish Examiner) Government to speed up asylum system and 'crack down' on wrongful applications - It is understood that the minister intends to increase the numbers going through the accelerated process under which asylum seekers from safe countries get a first-instance decision in less than 10 weeks — down from up to 26 months in recent years.
ITALY/ALBANIA (Corriere) Italy-Albania: yes from the Albanian Constitutional Court to the agreement (translated) - Five out of nine supreme judges do not oppose the Rome-Tirana agreement on temporary reception centres. Now the last parliamentary passage in Albania, then the implementation of the agreement
See more (ekathimerini) UN rights chief voices concerns over Italy-Albania migrant pact - Turk also criticized Italy’s existing migration policies saying that the extensive use of detention for asylum-seekers was “troublesome.”
ITALY (Euractiv) Italian authorities deemed migrant boat ‘not of interest’ before shipwreck - The Fundamental Rights Office, which monitors Frontex’s implementation of its fundamental rights obligations, wrote in the report that cases like this “can escalate into emergency quickly” and said that “close monitoring, or even assistance by the Italian [authorities] of such cases [is] imperative”.
SPAIN (El Pais) Frontex threatens to leave Spain - The European border agency threatens to leave the country if it does not reach an agreement with the Spanish authorities to renew joint operations against irregular immigration.
UK (the Guardian) Revealed: UK granted asylum to Rwandan refugees while arguing country was safe - Four Rwandans were granted refugee status in the UK over “well-founded” fears of persecution at the same time as the government was arguing in court and parliament that the east African country was a safe place to send asylum seekers.
UK (the Guardian) Theresa May to confront Home Office over ‘appalling’ secret policy on trafficking victims - In an extraordinary finding, the high court concluded last week that the Home Office had operated a secret policy that affected the asylum rights of at least 1,500 people found to be genuine victims of trafficking and modern slavery.
(Info Migrants) From amputated digits to death: The effects of cold on migrants crossing Europe's borders - "When you are being chased, you forget to pay attention. They were crossing a bridge near the city and they just slipped. One slipped in to the stream and died of drowning. The other was hanging for ages on a rock before he was eventually found. Another one slipped and also drowned. And another young guy, we don't know how he died exactly, but he maybe had a heart attack or some kind of illness and they found his body on the mountain. Most of these people got lost or they panicked and tried to escape from the police and slipped," Amin explains.
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