Croat police kept handwritten logbook of likely pushbacks
Croatian police tried to withhold incriminating evidence of likely pushbacks, documented in a hand-written logbook, from the Strasbourg-based Council of Europe human rights watchdog.
News in Brief
- No US troops going to Ukraine, Biden said
- UK's Johnson apologises in Christmas party scandal
- Kaczyński harming LGBTI people's mental health
- Scholz sworn in as new German chancellor
- Corporate due diligence delay 'unacceptable,' NGOs say
- Triple shot of BioNTech, Pfizer 'effective' against Omicron
- 80% of products sold online 'breach chemicals laws'
- Saudi man released over Khashoggi killing
Exclusive
Revealed: EU plan to make 1,400 people-smuggling arrests in 2022
A leaked internal document reveals dozens of operational plans to crack down on migrant-smugglers next year, including a target to make over 1,400 arrests - mostly under the aegis of the EU's border agency Frontex.
People helping migrants 'increasingly persecuted in EU'
A new report has found a dramatic increase in the number of criminal and administrative cases against people who help migrants. The report comes as a number of sea-rescue activists face up to 25 years in prison in Greece.
Frontex implicated 'to some extent' in violations, says officer
Jonas Grimheden is the EU's border agency Frontex fundamental rights officer. Almost seven months into his job he says the agency "could be seen as being implicated or supportive of fundamental rights violations". His recommendations have yet to be implemented.
Belarus migrant arrivals 'under control', says EU
The European Commission estimates up to15,000 people are currently stuck in Belarus, of which around 2,000 are close to the border with Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
Too early to 'de-escalate' Belarus crisis, says EU official
EU senior officials say Belarus needs to do much more than move migrants and asylum seekers into a shelter. They want UN aid agencies to have unhindered access to people stranded in Belarus. Poland is still refusing any humanitarian aid.
Belgian impasse leaves asylum seekers on snowy streets
Asylum seekers have been sleeping in the streets, some for weeks, in the Belgian capital Brussels - as the government grapples over the lack of capacity to accommodate them despite months of debate over the issue.
EU skirts pushbacks, suggests people seek asylum in Belarus
The EU Commission presented a proposal to allow relaxing EU asylum laws in Poland, Lithuania and Latvia for six months. It says all rights will be respected - but deflected questions on whether a Polish law on pushbacks complies.
Lead MEP wants 'mandatory relocation' in EU asylum law
Spanish centre-left MEP Juan Lopez Aguilar chairs the European Parliament's civil liberties committee and is the lead on the crisis regulation, a bill presented by the EU commission last September as part of its migration and asylum pact.
Minsk using migrants to 'divert focus from domestic crackdown'
Belarus authorities in late July launched a crackdown against civil society, says exiled Belarus youth leader Vorykhava. She said the regime in Minsk is now using the migrant border crisis to divert international attention away from repression inside the country.
EU Commission: laws allowing Belarus pushbacks need changes
Poland, Latvia and Lithuania have introduced national laws, under states of emergency, allowing authorities to turn back people into Belarus. The European Commission is set to ask for some of those rules to be amended.
Greek minister says extra border monitoring may 'break law'
Despite evidence of illegal pushbacks, Greece's migration minister Notis Mitarachi says judicial oversight already exists to ensure authorities do not abuse migrants at the border, amid claims the creation of another independent system on top could violate rule of law.
Revealed: EU migration plans for Morocco, Libya and others
Leaked commission documents, dated earlier this month, outline draft migration proposals on Afghanistan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia. They also provide insights into bilateral moves by individual EU states.
Most lawmakers unhappy with lead MEP's asylum bill
Sweden's centre-right MEP Tomas Tobé is steering the core bill on migration and asylum through the European Parliament. But his draft proposal has been met with resistance from liberal left leaning MEPs, possibly creating another political deadlock.
Opinion
Europe's deadly border policies
EU institutions and states abdicated their responsibilities for search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean, deputising Libya to take their place, withdrawing naval assets from high-seas corridors, and obstructing, even criminalising, NGO groups, writes the European director of Human Rights Watch.
Opinion
How to break the political deadlock on migration
We propose a mandatory solidarity mechanism that allows for flexible options. Every member state will have to contribute in one way or another - through either relocation, return sponsorship or capacity-building measures, writes EPP rapporteur Tomas Tobé MEP.
EU states want more Belarus sanctions
EU heads of state and government on Friday, at a summit in Brussels, demanded more sanctions against Belarus "as a matter of urgency" and want the European Commission to tweak rules governing borders to tackle "state-sponsored smuggling".
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Latest News
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Analysis
Commissions's new migration pact still seeking 'landing zone'
Last October, the European Commission gave an optimistic outlook on the adoption of its migration and asylum pact. EU commission vice-president Margaritis Schinas said its pact on migration was lowering the landing gear - suggesting agreement was possible.
Dutch lawyers take Frontex to EU court over pushbacks
Dutch lawyers are seeking damages on the behalf of a Syrian family they say were unlawfully returned to Turkey from Greece on a Frontex-operated return mission.
Poland doubles troop numbers on Belarus border
Poland doubled the number of troops to 6,000 on its Belarus border, amid an ongoing standoff with stranded migrants - at least seven of whom have died as temperatures start to plummet.
Stakeholder
The European Union has blood on its hands - we can't be complicit
Why the European Parliament's vote against the discharge of Frontex is the only plausible position for anyone who values human life.
Opinion
Frontex: An EU agency gone rogue?
In a Kafka-esque irony, Frontex is withholding public access to documents pertaining to the response of a public institution to a protest by members of the public on grounds that this would violate the "public interest".
EU borders chief: More 'violations' in Lithuania than reported
The EU now has some 20 reports of alleged violations against migrants in Lithuania, the head of Europe's border-control agency, Frontex, has said.
Libya to get new EU-funded boats despite crimes
The EU Commission is to deliver three new 'P150' patrol boats to the Libyan coast guard, despite a recent UN report citing possible crimes against humanity at Libyan detention centres.
Dozen ministers want EU to finance border walls
Interior ministers from 12 member states are demanding the EU finance border-wall projects to stop migrants entering through Belarus, in a further push towards a fortress Europe.
Frontex documents 'collective expulsion' in Lithuania
Collective expulsions of people seeking asylum violates the European Convention of Human Rights. At least 14 reports of collective expulsions in Lithuania have been lodged by officers from the EU's border agency, Frontex.
Migrant kids returned to border, Polish minister admits
Deputy foreign minister Piotr Wawrzyk said migrant kids were "not driven off into the forest, but to the border zone", in what appeared to be an admission of illegal pushbacks.
Exclusive
Hungary only EU state against bill to attract skilled migrants
The EU 'Blue Card' seeks to lure highly-skilled immigrants to Europe. Hungary attracted only six in 2019 - but still opposes reforms to make it easier, citing labour protection rules.
EU Commission evasive on Polish/Lithuanian pushbacks
The European Commission was evasive when asked about the legality of push backs of migrants in Poland and Lithuania, which is illegal under EU and international law.
Netherlands against more rights for rejected asylum-seekers
A leaked Council document provides a partial overview of member state positions on a new EU strategy on voluntary returns and reintegration. The Dutch are concerned any new legal framework on voluntary returns could lead to greater rights.
EU 'stands by Afghans' but wants most kept away
The European Commission wants to help vulnerable Afghans to reach the EU, while seeking to resettle thousands of others. But an internal document also says those not welcomed should be returned to transit or so-called third countries.
Auditors: EU migrant return deals 'encourage' arrivals
A report by the European Court of Auditors, the EU's Luxembourg-based watchdog, suggests the current, ineffective, EU agreements to return migrants may end up encouraging people to come.
Lead MEP on asylum fingerprint bill dismisses NGO appeal
NGOs are appealing for EU lawmakers to stop work on Eurodac reforms, a bill that collects the biometric data of migrants and asylum seekers. But the lead MEP on the file says the European Parliament intends to adopt it anyway.
