Category: News from the Borders

• Yesterday I was in a "duel" on migration policy on Welt-TV with Alexander Throm, the CDU parliamentary group's domestic policy spokesperson. One point: you can't shout "Never again is now!" at demonstrations without fighting against the disenfranchisement of asylum seekers. Because the right to asylum is one of the core components of "Never again". You can find a clip of the duel on my Instagram.

• The EU Commission has presented proposals to take stronger action against "people smuggling", but unfortunately this also threatens to increase the criminalization of civil society in solidarity. ND reports.

• After six years of proceedings, the Court of Appeal in Greece has acquitted 16 helpers of charges of espionage. However, other charges are still pending. To the statement by „Free Humanitarians“.

• The Albanian Constitutional Court has cleared the way for the ratification of the migration agreement with Italy. Click here for the Deutschlandfunk article.

• In the "Osnabrück Rettet" fundraising campaign 65,000 euros for the civilian sea rescue organization Sea-Eye have come together. The joint commitment in the municipalities is a constant demonstration of solidarity with refugees seeking protection.

• A forgotten crisis: after nine months of war in Sudan according to the SOS Children's Villages around three million children have been displaced and 13,000 people killed.

• In recent months, several opposition members from Rwanda have been granted asylum in the UK due to persecution. The Conservative British government is thus coming under pressure because it currently wants to declare Rwanda a safe third country by law in order to deport asylum seekers there regardless of their origin. The Guardian reports.

• The movie "Green Border" opens this weekwhich provides an insight into the disturbing conditions in the Polish-Belarusian border region. I will be at the premiere in Hamburg on Wednesday and will talk about the current situation after the film.

• The Border Violence Monitoring Network documents violence against refugees in Greece. To the report.

• According to IOM data, far more people worldwide were forced to leave their homes by natural disasters in 2022 than by conflict. Deutschlandfunk reports.

• The governments in Rome and Tirana want to bring asylum seekers rescued from distress at sea by Italy to Albanian reception camps. The implementation of this plan would according to Amnesty International massively violate the human rights of those affected.

• The UNHCR reportsthat more Rohingya refugees drowned or were reported missing last year than at any time since 2014. More and more people are dying because they are not rescued in time and taken to the nearest place of safety.

• There was a premiere at Humanity 1 on Sunday: The ship's crew also rescued a cat from distress at sea during their mission.

• The new Finnish government, which includes the right-wing populist party "The Finns", plans radical tightening entry and asylum conditions.

• British Prime Minister Sunak wants to deport people seeking protection to Rwanda regardless of their origin. However, the House of Lords rejected the lawalthough the Chamber approved the Asylum Act last week.

News from the Borders 22.01.2024

• Around 150 European organizations and initiatives want to ensure this, that the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment from the European Charter of Fundamental Rights is respected at the EU's external borders. This offers the opportunity to draw attention to this issue and build up pressure.

• At the weekend, the SOS Balkanroute the first memorial for deceased refugees and 41 new gravestones were dedicated at two cemeteries in the Bosnian towns of Bijeljina and Zvornik. The dead are people seeking protection who drowned in the Drina.

• According to the UN Refugee Agency, 710 refugees lost their lives in the Eastern Mediterranean last year. This means that the number has doubled compared to the previous year.

News from the Borders 19.01.2024

• The German government has passed a law for faster deportations. With Time Online I explain that the law also threatens to criminalize sea rescue. 

• The Constitutional Court in Albania will decide next week whether the "refugee deal" with Italy is legal. DW explainswhere the legal concerns come from.

• Refugees have limited access to the healthcare system. According to a study, they visit the dentist less often than the general population. They are also underserved in other areas of medicine. You can find the study here.

News from the Borders 17.01.2024 

• On September 22, 2014, an officer of the Greek Coast Guard fired thirteen shots at a refugee boat, killing the Syrian father Belal Tello. After nine long years, Greece has now been condemned by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). More on this at Pro Asyl.  

• Last night I spoke in the European Parliament about the rise of the right in Europe and their remigration fantasies. Unfortunately, I only had one minute to speak, there was so much more to say. The speech can be found her here.

• In August, I took over the godparenthood for Ehsan Mohammadi, who is now 17 years old. He was facing the death penalty for demonstrating against the Iranian regime. The charges have since been dropped, he had to pay a fine for "disrupting public order", but is now free. More on this at my Instagram. 

News from the Borders 15.01.2024

• I spoke to Deutschlandfunk radio this morning about how we can stop right-wing extremism. Click here for the interview.

• The ban on deportations to Iran has expired, although the regime executed hundreds of people in 2023. We are calling for the deportation ban to be extended. 

• The Taliban are increasingly arresting women for "insufficient veiling" and throwing them into prison. taz reports.

News from the Borders 12.01.2024

• According to Caminando Fronteras, 6618 people died last year trying to reach Spain by boat. Over 6,000 of these were on the route from West Africa to the Canary Islands. You can find the details of the aid organization here.

• In 2023, two thirds of new asylum applications in Germany came from people from Syria, Afghanistan and Turkey. The BAMF has summarized further data in "Asylum key figures 2023".

• Brandenburg's Minister President Dietmar Woidke (SPD) is pushing for payment cards for refugees. In doing so, he disregards the law and serves resentment. 

News from the Borders 10.01.2024 

• On Lesbos, the flimsy proceedings against the lifesavers from Free Humanitarians are being resumed. If convicted, they could face years in prison. taz reports.

• The Greek coastguard recovered two dead people in Lesbos this morning. Their boat crashed into the coastal rocks at around 3 a.m. Stonisi reports (Greek).

• Last Friday, the premises of the NGO Kisa in Cyprus were attacked with a bomb. The anti-racist and refugee solidarity association has repeatedly been targeted by nationalist and far-right forces in the past. Homepage of Kisa.

News from the Borders 8.01.2024 

• The EU Commission wants to conclude a "refugee deal" with Egypt this month. In an interview with RND, I explained that we should not also support military dictatorships with miserable human rights records with EU funds. 

• The Mirror reports on attacks, harassment and beatings by Tunisian security forces and asks to what extent the EU is partly to blame with its support. 

• Thousands of Rohingya are homeless after a fire in an overcrowded camp in Bangladesh. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. tagesschau.de reports.  

• After North Rhine-Westphalia, Thuringia is also issuing a deportation ban for Yazidis. The regulation affects women and underage children and will initially apply until April 2024. Tagesspiegel reports.

• Negotiations on EU asylum reform continue today. Compared to the Frankfurter Rundschau I explained that an agreement would be at the expense of human rights.

• On Sunday I was at "forum democracy" of Phoenix to discuss European asylum and migration policy with other guests. 

• Jens Spahn (CDU) has proposed deporting people seeking protection to countries such as Rwanda or Ghana. The journalist Franziska Grillmeier explains in a threadwhy this proposal is nonsense. 

• Off the Libyan coast According to the IOM, 61 refugees drowned in a boat accident while trying to escape.n to reach the European Union. 

News from the Borders 15.12.2023 

• Very good: The European Parliament has adopted a Resolution which calls on Frontex to end operations that violate human rights.

• In a detailed interview I explained why we, as the Green Group in the European Parliament, reject the EU asylum reform – as it is currently on the negotiating table –. 

• Italy wants to set up reception centers in Albania for people seeking protection who have crossed the Mediterranean. According to the Albanian Constitutional Court, however, the deal violates international agreements. 

• The people who have come to Germany from Ukraine since January 2022 often have an above-average academic degree, are mostly female and are often single parents. Here is the data from the Federal Statistical Office.

News from the Borders 13.12.2023. 

• The UNHCR wants to mobilize more aid for displaced persons and host countries with the refugee forum taking place today. 

More about the background on taz.de

• A French government law on stricter asylum rules was passed after a motion by the Greens overturned.

• The British House of Commons has approved the Migration Bill for deportations to Rwanda. Although the courts have already stopped the plans, the Conservatives want this deal at all costs. Analysis in Zeit Online.

• Currently The second largest group of asylum seekers in Germany comes from Turkey.

• Yesterday I was a guest at an online Deutsche Welle panel discussion on the topic of migration and flight.

• A militia of the warlord Khalifa Haftar intercepts refugees in the Mediterranean and forcibly transports them to Libya. SPIEGEL research show how Frontex and the Maltese authorities are helping her. At Lighthouse you will find a Summary of the research without paywall.

• Until now Uganda for reliable protection, its asylum policy was considered a model worldwide – but Now there is a lack of resources to accommodate and care for more people.

• Around one million of the asylum seekers in Germany suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder or depression. However, only a fraction of them receive therapy. 

About Correctiv's research https://correctiv.org/aktuelles/flucht-und-migration/2023/12/06/rund-eine-million-psychisch-kranker-fluechtlinge-in-deutschland/ 

News from the Borders 8.12.2023 

• At the Yesterday's jumbo trilogue on the Common European Asylum System failed to reach an agreement. We will continue negotiations from 18.12. 

• The British government pushes ahead with its plans for deportations to Rwanda – and Prime Minister Sunak even said that this policy should not be stopped by court decisions – a very strange understanding of the rule of law. 

• Filipo Grandi (UNHCR) and Amy Pope (IOM) write that it is wrong to rely on isolation and that it is against international law to outsource asylum procedures to third countries. To the guest article in Der Spiegel.

News from the Borders 6.12.2023 

• I have worked with the Tagesschau that the dead on the Balkan route are often buried after a few days without relatives being identified. In my view, we finally need an end to pushbacks and an EU-wide DNA database for unidentified corpses. 

• The British government has with Rwanda on a new agreement for deportations agreed. The agreement is intended to circumvent a ruling by the Supreme Court.

• Seven months ago, a new war broke out in Sudan. More than 6 million people are on the run. The NZZ presents photos from the region.  

News from the Borders 4.12.2023 

• On Saturday evening, the rescue ship Humanity 1 was detained in Crotone in southern Italy after disembarking 200 people rescued from distress at sea. SOS Humanity is taking legal action against this. 

• In the coming year, savings were already to be made on assistance for refugees. The budget freeze now makes the situation even more precarious.

• The Time Magazine has searched all over Germany for municipalities that are currently completely overwhelmed by the number of refugees. They couldn't find a single one. 

• Many refugees who die on the Balkan route are never identified. In conversation with ARD I have proposed an EU database and an obligation for Member States to cooperate in tracing relatives. 

• The El Hiblu 3 faces life imprisonmentbecause they had resisted illegal repatriation to Libya. The Maltese justice system's treatment of those who were minors at the time of the incident is shameful. 

• The South German Newspaper has taken up a report on the study I commissioned on EU funding for border protection initiatives in Tunisia and Libya – where serious human rights violations – occur. You can find the study here.

• A study I commissioned sheds light on the means by which the EU supports border regimes in Tunisia and Libya – and the serious human rights violations – that go hand in hand with them. The entire study at English. Summary on German.  

• The military government of Niger, which came to power in a coup has repealed a law that made it a criminal offense to transport foreigners to the north. You can find out why this is important in the taz.

• The EU Commission wants to take stronger action against people smugglers and organized a conference on this topic yesterday. It is important to me that, following a reform, it is absolutely clear that humanitarian organizations and sea rescuers must not be criminalized. Here you can find the Commission proposal

• Children and young people also suffer at the EU's external borders, they are victims of pushbacks and are in migration detention. This is the result of the Terre des Hommes study.

• Frontex sends 50 officers to the border with Finlandwhich has closed almost all border crossings to Russia. 

• 2023 will probably be the deadliest year on the Mediterranean since 2017 Doctors without Borders calls on the EU states to end their inaction and finally do something about the deaths in the Mediterranean. 

• The war in Sudan is far too rarely present in the public debate. Six million people are on the run. As aid organizations are running out of money, the refugee camps are in need.