MIGRATION

There is currently a humanitarian crisis in Libya where between 800,000 and 1 million migrants are trapped. Most of them are waiting to embark on the perilous journey across the Mediterranean to Europe. With new measures adopted by the Libyan government and other similar developments, the chances of the overwhelming majority of the migrants reaching Europe are almost foreclosed. Most …

Requests for asylum in Switzerland dropped by a third in September, bringing the total for the first nine months of 2017 to just under 14,000, the lowest since 2010, government data showed. A drop since mid-July in the number of would-be refugees trying to reach Europe via the Mediterranean played a role, the State Secretariat for Migration has said, adding …

While praising Germany’s openness toward refugees, the UN refugee agency UNHCR has called on newly elected German lawmakers to further improve the situation and prospects for refugees, reports Ashutosh Pandey. The German office of the UN refugee agency UNHCR has urged the newly elected members of the Bundestag, which will hold its first session on Tuesday, to provide the right …

This is the moving story of Mohamed, a Cameroonian, about his 3-year journey through North Africa in his attempt to reach Europe. It’s a story of ordeal and suffering and encounters with death, which made the young man to finally decide to return home. “I left Cameroon back in 2013 to find work elsewhere. I spent a year and a …

EU leaders, gathered at a summit in Brussels on Thursday, have agreed to focus their attention on stopping people from leaving for Europe from North Africa, report Nikolaj Nielsen and Eric Maurice. On Thursday (19 October), European Council president Donald Tusk agreed to offer Italy more help in shutting down the migrant sea route from Libya by stepping up financial …

Success rates for asylum applications in Germany vary widely from state to state, according to a new report by Funke Mediengruppe. But the varying rates raise questions over how Germany processes asylum requests. Iraqis much more likely to get asylum in Bremen than in Berlin, official figures show. For example, the protection rate for Iraqi refugees in Bremen during the …

Souleymane Diallo says his journey to reach Italy from Guinea “is hard to narrate because it is truly horrible, although it remains part of my life.” His trip, which he described during a meeting in Rome last week, is a story of death, suffering, slavery and hope for a better future. Souleymane Diallo comes from Guinea. “I was born on …

The ruling Christian Democrats (CDU) and their sister party, the Christian Social Union (CSU) have agreed to put a limit on the number of refugees Germany would accept on humanitarian grounds each year. They also laid out further steps to regulate migration in a regulatory framework. What are the key points of the plan? Charlotte Hauswedell reports. The new plan …

Far fewer people are making the dangerous journey from Libya to Italy. Maryline Dumas of InfoMigrants talked to people in Libya to find out why. The number of migrants arriving in Italy has significantly decreased since the beginning of this year. Compared to the same period in 2016, there has been a 22 per cent decrease. In August alone, there …

Prince Wale Soniyiki, a refugee from Nigeria, says his own story shows how migrants can find their place in Croatia – if the country gives them a chance. In Croatia, just 30 refugees have jobs. Prince Wale Soniyiki wants to change that. He found work via a TV show and a former army leader, now he wants to help other …

Mamadu Bassir sits eating a breakfast of warm milk and cookies in a migrants’ shelter in Rome – one of nearly 65,000 lone youngsters who have survived the perilous sea journey from North Africa to Italy in the past four years. His meal finished, the gangly 17-year-old tells the story of his trip from Guinea, via a Libyan prison where …

The European Commission is setting aside €500 million to pay member states to resettle 50,000 refugees from Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya and Sudan by late 2019. EU home affairs commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos told reporters on Wednesday (27 September) that the move was needed to help curtail irregular migrant flows to Europe. “I really count on member states to make ambitious …

Pope Francis launched a global Roman Catholic campaign on Wednesday to improve the lot of immigrants and one of his top cardinals urged politicians to “touch the hand of a migrant” before trying to stereotype them. The two-year “Share the Journey” campaign comes at a time of growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the United States and many European countries where far-right …

The number of asylum seekers “in limbo” in the EU is likely to have become greater than the combined populations of Cyprus and Malta, estimates indicate. More than 1.1 million of the 2.2 million people who sought asylum in the EU and associated countries Norway and Switzerland in 2015 and 2016 still do not know if they will get it, …

The death rate among migrants attempting to cross the Mediterranean to reach Europe almost doubled this year, although fewer migrants made the journey, according to a new report released by the International Organization for Migration (IOM). The number of migrants who crossed the Mediterranean to reach Europe in 2017 has decreased compared to the same period last year. However, the …

For pregnant asylum seekers, knowing that they are expecting a child can make their life in a new country even more stressful. However, the German state and a variety of charities offer support to expectant mothers, reports Mara Bierbach. Pregnancy is a worrisome time for any woman, but for refugee women, trying to find their footing in a new country it must …

New EU proposals on sending unwanted migrants back to their homes countries and creating new legal routes for those requiring protection are set to be unveiled before the end of the month. Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, told members of the European Parliament on Wednesday (13 September) that people with no rights to stay in Europe must …

The EU is financing and perpetuating the cycle of suffering of migrants in Libya by forcing people to return to notorious detention centres, says the head of a major charity. Joanne Liu, the president of Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) International, told reporters on Thursday (7 September) that European governments are complicit in torture and that the EU’s policy of ring …

A woman from Ghana gave birth to a baby girl on Wednesday morning (6 September) onboard a Spanish NGO vessel immediately after she was rescued trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea from Libya to Italy. Despite a lack of sterile hospital conditions, the on-board doctor, with the help of crew members, successfully delivered the baby girl before returning to harbour, …

The European Court of Justice (ECJ) said on Wednesday (6 September) that an EU Council decision in September 2015 that imposed the quota system was valid. EU interior ministers at the time voted to share 120,000 asylum seekers from frontline states Greece and Italy. They were to be distributed according to calculations based on member states’ size and wealth, with …