This text appeared in the Blättern für deutsche und Internationale Politik (November 2021) and you can also find it at this link. Just one day before the fall of Kabul, then Afghan President Ashraf Ghani is said to have told U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken that he would "fight to the death."[1] But when the Taliban on August 15 …
Study: Inadequate training for border officials
„I work at the [name redacted] border patrol station and have been in border patrol for a long time. Some of us no longer have the will or the strength to watch what is being done to these people. We send them back to Bosnia-Herzegovina every day, without papers, without processing, no matter who it is, women, children, it doesn't matter. There is no asylum, …
No more EU funding for forced labour in Eritrea
With the so-called "Emergency Trust Fund for Africa", the EU created an instrument in 2015 to "address the root causes of instability, displacement and irregular migration and to contribute to better migration management". This fund, which is outside the EU budget and therefore hardly subject to parliamentary control, has been repeatedly criticised by the European Parliament – also because of the …
Question: Criminalisation of protection seekers in Greece
In order to deter, Greece sentences those seeking protection to long prison terms – covered by the Commission, which refuses to intervene and does not declare itself competent. For example, Hanad Abdi Mohammad was sentenced to a total of 142 years in prison for taking the helm of a boat and saving 31 people in the process. With other Members, I asked whether …
News from Afghanistan
Because of the current developments in Afghanistan, we have created until mid-October 2021 in addition to the „News from the Borders“ daily press review on the most important events in the country itself, but also on the people who are trying to flee from there. 10/14/2021: I talk to T-Online and Watson about the Kabul airlift and the …
Question: Security situation in Afghanistan
Together with the Social Democrat Bettina Vollath and the left-wing Clare Daly, I tabled a question to the Commission on the advance of the Islamists as early as 30 June, six weeks before the Taliban invaded Kabul. Unfortunately, it took the Commission more than 10 weeks to answer our question. This and other questions can be found …
Dissent Podcast „We could rescue people from Afghanistan, but we lack documents“
I talked with Lukas Ondreka from the Dissens Podcast for about an hour about the founding of the Kabul Airlift, our problems and possible solutions. You can listen to the detailed conversation here.
Question: Arrest of Dutch journalist Ingeborg Beugel
Journalist Ingeborg Beugel was arrested on the Greek island of Hydra at the beginning of June for harbouring a young Afghan. If convicted, she faces up to a year in prison. She says the accusations against her are unjustified and that the young man is a refugee, not an illegal migrant. To that …
EU Commission supports Croatia's Schengen accession despite pushback
On 15 June, together with eleven other MEPs from three political groups, I wrote this letter to Commissioner Ylva Johansson, in which we call on the Commission to take immediate action against the pushbacks and human rights violations by Croatia at the EU's external border. The letter was prompted by media reports from Spiegel, ARD, Lifhthouse Reports and Novosti, from which …
This is the current situation on Lesvos
I travelled to Lesvos in July to see what the current situation is in the new Mavrovouni camp after the fire in Moria. I also met with the Frontex field officers to talk about the current situation and the pushbacks by the Greek Coast Guard. And I visited various NGOs and civil society actors, …