migration

Since 2017, there has been an increase in reported pushbacks ranging in the hundreds to the thousands. Despite increased international pressure and outrage, alleged pushbacks continue to persist. They are systematic, and those who speak out against them are criminalised. The latest issue of the Lesbos Bulletin by the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam looks at this practice and includes a pushback testimony.  

New research sounds the alarm on the risks facing young refugees in Europe on their eighteenth birthday. The report looks at how young refugees across Europe are falling through the gaps and into homelessness, exploitation and danger. Looking at the practices of five European countries, it finds that all of them have failed to protect and support this age group. As a result, they struggle to integrate into their new societies.

This report looks at what it is like to be a young person alone and seeking safety in Europe. It paints a difficult situation with many shortcomings but also some promising practices. The main finding is there is no legal framework or specific support schemes for unaccompanied minors entering adulthood. This leaves many young people to fall through the gaps.

Greece’s decision to close a good-practice refugee camp must be questioned. The shutting down of Kare Tepe, which functions as an alternative living space, is disappointing especially when the alternative is the unsafe and unsanitary living conditions in Mavrovouni (Moria 2.0).  

Five years ago, today, European leaders announced the EU-Turkey deal. Every single day since then, families have been trapped in ‘hotspots’ on the Greek islands, their lives put on hold.  

The EU and Greece created these ‘hotspots’ following the EU-Turkey deal. The EU’s aim to keep asylum-seekers on the Greek islands was to speed up their return to Turkey has resulted in appalling living conditions, violent border control practices and immense delays in asylum procedures. Despite overwhelming evidence of these failed policies, the EU migration pact seeks to copy this approach. 

This joint report with Save the Children and the Greek Council for Refugees sheds light on the situation for migrants in Greece. 

25 humanitarian organisations and NGOs are jointly urging EU leaders to expand safe and legal pathways from Afghanistan and the region. The call reiterates recommendations outlined in a joint statement released on 16 September that called on the EU and its Member States to live up to their commitments to refugee protection and humanitarian leadership, and share responsibilities with countries neighbouring Afghanistan.

While European leaders express their concern for the safety of people in Afghanistan, little concern is given to those Afghans seeking safety in Europe. A new Greek ministerial decision to stop Afghans, amongst other nationalities, from entering Europe, and dire living conditions in “Moria 2” highlights this lack of concern, as criticised in the latest edition of the Lesbos bulletin by the Greek Council for Refugees and Oxfam. 
 

Today, European heads of state and government met in Brussels to discuss migration policy and EU-Turkey relations. They called for the intensification of ‘mutually beneficial partnerships and cooperation with countries of origin and transit’ while also condemning and rejecting ‘any attempts by third countries to instrumentalise migrants for political purposes’. 

Oxfam is concerned about the treatment of the 8,000 migrants who crossed from Morocco into the Spanish enclave, Ceuta last Tuesday, 2,000 of which were thought to be children.