Italy’s far-right Interior Minister Matteo Salvini on a visit to Tripoli called Monday for processing centres to be set up south of Libya’s borders as a way to block attempts by migrants to cross the Mediterranean. “On Thursday in Brussels, we will jointly support with Libyan authorities the setting up of reception and identification centres south of Libya, on the …
Read More »Italy vows to expel 100,000 migrants
After the new Italian government turned away a rescue boat with hundreds of migrants aboard, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said he wants to expel 100,000 migrants from the country. Asylum experts are sceptical Salvini can achieve his ambitious target. Kai Dambach reports. Italy’s new interior minister, Matteo Salvini, took a strong stance against migrants during the election campaign. Now that …
Read More »Germany: Migrants urged to vaccinate against infectious diseases
With the number of cases of measles growing in Europe, health authorities are urging everyone to make sure they are vaccinated against the potentially deadly disease. Migrants are especially at risk, as studies have shown they have lower immunization rates than European-born individuals. Marion MacGregor reports. Every migrant who arrives at a reception centre in Germany receives a compulsory medical …
Read More »Majority of Spaniards welcome more migrants, says poll
A poll by Oxfam Intermon said over 60 percent of Spaniards interviewed were in favour of migration while 20 percent thought they were being ”invaded” by migrants. Paola Del Vecchio reports. A survey released by Oxfam Intermon to mark World Refugee Day on Wednesday said 65 percent of Spaniards interviewed wanted to welcome refugees and migrants and 21 percent of …
Read More »EU considering migrants’ disembarkation ports in North Africa
EU leaders are set to endorse plans to create a so-called “disembarkation scheme” under which migrants rescued at sea would be taken to sites in North Africa where their requests for asylum would be processed. The EU is considering the creation of “disembarkation platforms” in North Africa to decide asylum applications before migrants set out for Europe, according to a draft statement …
Read More »Nigerian, Moroccan asylum-seekers enter Finland using World Cup IDs
Five people have entered Finland illegally with the help of World Cup fan identity papers and then applied for asylum, the Finnish border guard said on Wednesday. The asylum-seekers, of Nigerian, Moroccan and Chinese nationality, arrived from World Cup host Russia, which has provided match ticket holders with visa-free entry, a senior border guard official told Reuters. “We had been …
Read More »EU asylum applications drop, Germany registers most claimants
Germany last year registered almost twice as many asylum applications as any other EU state, followed by Italy and France. A report out Monday (18 June) by the Malta-based European Asylum Support Agency (Easo) says some 222,560 applications were lodged in Germany in 2017, followed by Italy at 128,850 and France with just over 100,000. The German figure represents a …
Read More »Spain welcomes hundreds of migrants after Italy rejected them
After more than a week at sea, hundreds of migrants turned away by Italy danced and sang as their ships arrived in the Spanish port of Valencia on Sunday. The migrant rescue boat Aquarius arrived in Spain Sunday with 106 migrants on board. Spain swooped to offer safe harbour to a convoy of boats, carrying a total of 629 rescued …
Read More »Germany’s refugee agency chief sacked amid asylum fraud scandal
After serving just 18 months as head of the Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF), Jutta Cordt was fired on Friday by Interior Minister Horst Seehofer, after an internal review discovered that the agency’s branch in the city of Bremen had violated legal and internal regulations for the approval of asylum applications. In April, it was revealed that a …
Read More »Nigerian refugees in Germany among top job finders
Nigerian asylum seekers in Germany seem to find it easier than other African refugees to integrate into the labour market, a survey found. Sonia Piotie Yakap of Deutsche Welle (DW) reports. The latest monthly report on the integration of migrants in the German labour market, issued by the Institute for Employment Research (IAB), which is affiliated to the German Employment …
Read More »Immigrants must accept German values, says ex-President Gauck
Former German President Joachim Gauck has called on migrants living in Germany not to form parallel societies. He also warned against a misuse of the term “Heimat”. Migrants living in Germany should be ready to accept the country as it is, along with its values, Joachim Gauck, a former president of Germany, said in comments published last Thursday. “I find …
Read More »Bavaria plans tougher approach to asylum-seekers in Germany
Bavarian State Premier Markus Söder has unveiled new measures to speed up the asylum process and deport rejected applicants. He believes the rest of Germany should follow his lead. With Bavaria’s elections only a few months away, State Premier Markus Söder of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU), is advocating a tougher stance on asylum-seekers. The CSU, which has traditionally dominated …
Read More »Nigerians have no genuine reasons to seek asylum in Germany, says President Buhari’s adviser
“Germany said it has about 25,000 to 30,000 Nigerians seeking asylum and they can’t guarantee they will get it. So, there is every possibility that they will be returned to Nigeria,” Senior Special Assistant (SSA) to President Muhammadu Buhari on Diaspora and Foreign Affairs, Hon. Abike Dabiri-Erewa, has said. She spoke at a program; “Developing a mixed migration strategy for …
Read More »Death toll from migrant shipwreck in Mediterranean rises to more than 100, says IOM
Death toll from the sinking of the boat near Kerkennah Islands has risen to 112, the UN migration agency says. The death toll from the sinking of a boat packed with migrants off the coast of Tunisia on Saturday has risen to 112, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said on Monday. On Sunday, officials said 46 people died when …
Read More »How crisis in Senegal’s fishing sector drives migration to Europe
The documentary ‘Mareyeurs’ by director Matteo Raffaelli explores how exploitation of fish stocks in Senegal can drive young people to migrate to Europe. The film, produced by Ocean Film in collaboration with HF4, tells the story of Ibrahima, a young trader specialized in wholesaling fresh fish products in Senegal, who is worried about the depletion of fish stocks and his …
Read More »Dozens of African migrants drown after their boat sinks off Tunisian coast
At least 35 people have drowned after a migrant boat sank off the coast of Tunisia. The country has become the preferred jumping off point for desperate migrants after Libyan forces tightened security. The bodies of 35 migrants were recovered off the coast of Tunisia Sunday, raising the death toll put out earlier by the Defense Ministry. As of 1 …
Read More »A quarter of migrants who arrived in Germany since 2015 have found jobs
One in four migrants who arrived in Germany to seek refuge from wars and conflicts since 2015 has since found a job. According to figures from the research institute of the Federal Employment Agency, those from Pakistan have been the most successful. “If employment growth continues at this rate, half of the migrants will be employed within five years,” the …
Read More »The Romanian who is seeking asylum in Africa
Radu Mazare is one of more than 3 million Romanians who work outside the country. But he’s a little different to most of them. He first started to visit the Indian Ocean island of Madagascar as an alternative to his usual holiday destination of Brazil. “I felt amazing from the first visit back in 2011,” he told Euronews. When he …
Read More »EU policies led to increase in Libya trafficking routes, study reveals
A recent study by the REACH initiative, funded by UNHCR, has found that European Union measures implemented in Libya since the beginning of last year have led to an increase in internal trafficking routes and that the living conditions of migrants in the country have not improved. Migration policies implemented by the EU in Libya since the beginning of 2017 …
Read More »UN criticises Algeria for mass deportations of sub-Saharan Africans
The United Nations has criticised Algeria for expelling sub-Saharan migrants and refugees, mostly coming from Mali, Cameroon and Nigeria. After Algeria had requested help from the UN to support a huge influx of migrants, the UN on Tuesday urged the Algerian authorities to stop expelling such migrants. UN spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani told a regular UN briefing in Geneva that deportations …
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