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BALKAN ROUTE (InfoMigrants) Serbia: Criticism over government closure of refugee shelters along Balkan Route – Human trafficking experts and humanitarian groups warn that the closures will drive migrants to take more dangerous routes to reach northern Europe. “This is just a strategy to prevent people from entering Serbia,” said Alice Pezzutti of No Name Kitchen, an independent humanitarian organization that provides aid to people along the Balkan Route. 

EXTERNAL PARTNERS (Middle East Monitor) Tunisia President vows further crackdown on irregular migration – According to a statement by the presidency, Kais Saied said during a meeting with Ivorian Foreign Minister, Kacou Adom, that Tunisia “welcomes its African brothers and is committed to treating them humanely, but it will not allow any irregular migrants to exist on its soil”. 
 

•  NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTS

CYPRUS (InfoMigrants) EU Commission urges Cyprus to allow stranded migrants to seek asylum – The European Commission has urged Cyprus to allow dozens of migrants, stranded for weeks in harsh conditions, to claim asylum. The migrants have been living in tents in the buffer zone between the Turkish-controlled north and the Republic of Cyprus. 

See more (Philenews) Cyprus shifts blame to Turkey after being accused of migrant pushbacks – The ministry of migration director stressed that Turkey is considered a safe country and it is obliged to provide access to asylum procedures to migrants within its territory, under its international legal obligations and the agreements it has with the EU. As such, he argued, the recommendations of international organisations should have been directed towards Turkey rather than the Republic of Cyprus, “which operates lawfully,” he said. 

FRANCE/UK (BBC) Two migrants die trying to cross English Channel – The incident happened offshore between Calais and Dunkirk, in France, on Sunday morning, a French maritime official told the BBC. Some 53 migrants were rescued. In a separate incident, several people onboard another boat suffered petrol burns, according to French maritime authorities. More than 50 migrants were rescued from the second small boat. 

See more (Guardian) Family whose daughter died in Channel say they will attempt crossing again – A mother from a stateless Arab minority say she and her family have no choice but to try to cross the Channel again despite the death last month of her eldest daughter on a previous attempt. 

FRANCE /UK (France24) More than 700 migrants cross the Channel to Britain in a single day – More than 700 migrants crossed the Channel to Britain in small boats on Sunday, the highest number arriving on a single day since Prime Minister Keir Starmer took power vowing to tackle people-smugglers. The latest figures come after the UK has been rocked by anti-migrant unrest, following a knife attack on July 29 that killed three children and was falsely linked on social media to a Muslim immigrant. 

GERMANY (Euractiv) German Greens urge von der Leyen to stop Germany’s border checks – The German government has registered several border crossings for checks as exceptions to the border-free Schengen travel area to curb irregular migration, as permitted by the code’s rules. With some worrying that the Schengen area is under threat, Germany’s Greens, who are part of the coalition government, have criticised their government’s internal border controls in an open letter to von der Leyen.    

ITALY (ANSA) Italy’s League rails against new migrant center in Piedmont – A new migrant reception center due to open in early September in Italy's northern region Piedmont has sparked negative reactions from Italy's far-right party, The League. The former hotel will host 33 people waiting for a response on their asylum requests. 

ITALY (ANSA) Italy tops EU for asylum applications for 2026-27 – Between June 2026 and June 2027, Italy will be obliged to examine a maximum number of 16,032 asylum applications received through the new border procedure established by the reform of the EU Pact - the highest quota in the EU, amounting to 26.7 per cent of the total, a report said Saturday.

SWEDEN (Guardian) Sweden’s ‘snitch law’ immigration plan prompts alarm across society – “This proposal is utterly inhumane,” said Michele LeVoy of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants. The impacts could be far-reaching, with people potentially hesitating to send children to school and more reluctant to access healthcare or report crimes committed against them. 

UK (BBC) Refugee charities close for safety following riots – Refugee charities are offering support to migrants while at the same time taking action to keep themselves safe during ongoing unrest. A Newcastle lawyer said he had shut his office, while a north-east England charity temporarily closed its doors and cancelled planned events for asylum seekers. 

UK (Guardian) Asylum seekers ‘traumatised’ after hotel riot – Nooralhaq Nasimi, director of the Afghanistan and Central Asian Association (ACAA), said the people he supports were “anxious and scared” for the future. The community leader, who was recognised in the 2023 New Year Honours for services to refugees, said he believed those behind the violence were “a very small minority”. 
 

•   FEATURE STORY