Category: News from the Borders

News from the Borders 26.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 26. February 2024

• Referendum: In Fürstenau, Lower Saxony, a clear majority voted in favor of accepting refugees. Find out more at NDR.

• In Greece, a 16-year-old faces up to 4670 years in prisonbecause he is accused of smuggling people with his father, an Egyptian fisherman. Lawless space: A study I commissioned on the criminalization of refugees in Greece.

• The European Court of Human Rights has ruled in favor of a man from Switzerland who had filed a complaint about racial profiling during a police check. The Tagesschau reports.

News from the Borders 23.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 23. February 2024

• Childcare, housing, language and recognition of qualifications: The head of the Marzahn-Hellersdorf job center explains the challenges involved in getting people from Ukraine into work. To the interview.

• Dozens of organizations have declared their solidarity with the Cypriot NGO KISA and are demanding that it regain its official registration as an NGO. The government is taking action against human rights defenders on flimsy grounds, and KISA's offices were recently attacked with a bomb. The explanation at PICUM.

• There are currently around 150,000 Russians and 16,000 Ukrainians living in Serbia. Many refugees from Russia would prefer to come to the EU, but are not allowed to. Euronews reports.

News from the Borders 21.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 21. February 2024

• Germany has recognized the genocide of the Yazidis. In Iraq, they are persecuted because of their faith. Nevertheless, survivors are deported there from Germany.

• The number of registered politically motivated attacks on refugees in 2023 was almost twice as high as in the previous year. 219 people were injured in the 2,400 attacks. To the Zeit article.

• 65 percent of refugees from Ukraine and 72 percent of internally displaced persons want to return to their old homes. However, this proportion has fallen as more and more people feel insecure due to the ongoing war.

News from the Borders 19.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on February 19, 2024

• Italy's Supreme Court has ruled that it is a crime to hand people over to Libya after they have been rescued at sea. The FAZ reports.

• Ex-Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri is running for third place on the list of the far-right Rassemblement National in the European elections. To the Zeit article.

• A non-governmental organization in North Macedonia has accused the Serbian police of violence against refugees. Last weekend, more than 70 people appeared in a village on the border with SerbiaMany of them were only wearing underwear in sub-zero temperatures.

News from the Borders 16.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 16. February 2024

• A trial is being held in Trapani against sea rescuers from the Iuventa crew for allegedly aiding and abetting illegal entry. After more than two years of preliminary negotiations, it now emerges thatthat the two main witnesses are not credible and have not observed any cooperation with smugglers. You can find an interview with one of the defendants here.

• In light of the announced ground offensive in Rafah in the Gaza Strip, Egypt has begun building a reception camp for Palestinian refugees. The fenced camp in the Sinai desert has space for more than 100,000 people. Click here for the article.

• Germany has decidedto extend checks at the internal borders with the Czech Republic by a further six months at the next review in March.

News from the Borders 14.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on February 14, 2024

• The crew of the Ocean Viking witnessed numerous violations of maritime and human rights by Libyan patrol vessels. Now the ship has been detained due to questionable information provided by Libyan patrol vessels. To the press release of SOS Mediterranee.

• The EU Commission provides Mauritania with 210 million eurosto better "secure" the borders with Mali. People are fleeing the civil war from there.

• A district court in Latvia is conducting criminal proceedings against human rights activist Ieva Raubiško after she traveled to the Latvian border with Belarus. There, she wanted to ensure that a group of Syrian asylum seekers were not forcibly returned to Belarus. Ieva had previously obtained a decision from the European Court of Human Rights on interim measures in relation to the group. Click here for the English summary of the case.

News from the Borders 12.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 12. February 2024

• Frontex has sent around 2200 e-mails with position data to the Libyan coastguardalthough it is known that they are dragging people back to torture camps. Now even the agency's human rights commissioner is proposing that private sea rescuers should also be sent the position data in the Libyan sea rescue zone in future. To the paid Spiegel Plus article.

• Thousands of Sudanese refugees live in Libya unregistered under critical conditions and are defencelessly exposed to attacks by militias and human traffickers.

• After public pressure and a petition Vietnamese student Thanh D. was released from detention pending deportation and allowed to stay in Frankfurt am Main for the time being. He moved in with his mother, who is married to a German, seven years ago when he was a minor.

News from the Borders 09.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 9. February 2024

• By a narrow majority, we have A resolution which clearly criticizes the systematic human rights violations by pushbacks, the restriction of press freedom and the criminalization of humanitarian aid in Greece. The right-wing and the conservatives had tried to prevent the resolution. To my homepage contribution and of my speech.

• The ECJ has ruledthat Syrian conscientious objectors can apply for asylum. This shows that the Bamf has wrongly denied thousands of Syrian conscientious objectors in Germany a follow-up application for asylum. To the article in the Süddeutsche Zeitung.

• A survivor of the deadly pushbacks of people seeking protection at the Spanish-Moroccan border in Melilla filed a complaint with the UN Committee against Torture last week. Here is the ECCHR press release.

• On Tuesday, the Council and Parliament agreed on the followingthat border controls within the EU may be permitted for up to three years in future. A global pandemic, terrorism or irregular migration, for example, would justify this. Der Spiegel reports.

News from the Borders 07.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on February 7, 2024

• During my speech in Parliament I explained that the right is also getting stronger because democratic parties themselves too often drive reason out of the debate with populist demands and vile language.

• Ten new bus drivers who came to Germany as refugees have been hired in Mainz. The next ones are already being trained. To the SWR article.

• Amnesty International warns in a new report against the increasing use of digital technologies for migration control. According to the report, automated monitoring and decision-making systems endanger human rights and increase discrimination and racism. To the report in English.

News from the Borders 05.02.2024

Erik Marquardt on 5. February 2024

• Hundreds of asylum seekers have been in a catastrophic situation at Madrid airport for two weeks. The problems include a lack of interpreters, long processing times (10-20 days) and overcrowded, unsanitary accommodation. Voice of Europe reports.

• According to Human Rights Watch, authorities in Marseille are forcing unaccompanied children to sleep on the streets for days or weeks at a timewhile they wait for their appeals for age assessment. This also applies to children who are dependent on medical care. To the report in English.

• A new immigration law has come into force in France, which provides for a significant tightening of the nationality law. Euractiv reports.