Latest Migration News
On the move
Recent highlights
- In the Central Mediterranean, SOS Humanity has accused Tunisian and Italian coast guards of not doing enough to save four people during a rescue on July 11th. Neither the Italian nor the Tunisian coast guard replied to the InfoMigrants’ request for comments on the event. Moreover, on the 11th of July, a three-month suspension of asylum claims for migrants arriving from North Africa was voted by a majority of 177 against 74 in the Greek Parliament. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis described the situation in the Greek islands of Gavdos and Crete, points of arrival of thousands of migrants, as an “emergency situation” which requires “emergency measures”.
- On the Atlantic route, 201 African migrants were intercepted, Senegal’s authorities announced on July 9th. While 132 of these people were intercepted at sea in a small boat, the remaining 69 were caught on land.
- In the Eastern Mediterranean, a research carried out by IMT School for Advanced Studies in Lucca found that the deal signed between the EU and Turkey in 2016 to reduce migration has had severe consequences. In fact, it has shifted migration routes to more dangerous ones and increased the number of deaths in the central Mediterranean.
Positive News
The British Asylum Minister Angela Eagle announced on July 15th that the UK would resume processing asylum requests for Syrian nationals, after these proceedings had been suspended for seven months.
EU updates
- On the 22nd of July, while a common EU return policy was being discussed in Copenhagen, Danish (Social Democratic) Immigration Minister Kaare Dybvad advocated a hard line, aligning himself with the positions of other European leaders such as Giorgia Meloni and Donald Tusk. Politico also reported that on Friday 18th of July, Commissioner Magnus Brunner and six ministers (from Austria, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Poland) who support the hard line, met in Zugspitze, Germany, to discuss ways to reduce “illegal migration effectively”.
- On the 16th of July, the European Commission presented its proposal for the 2028-2034 Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) budget. This proposal includes increased funding for migration management for “strong external borders” up to 34.2 billion EUR. This provisional budget includes also an allocation of 11.9 billion EUR to the Frontex agency. State Watch has highlighted the agency’s increasing interference in Africa. In a report published on the 10th of July, the organisation denounced Frontex’s role in the externalisation of European borders and the risks to human rights and sovereignty.
- On the 11th of July, Euractiv relayed that the European Union’s border agency, Frontex, reported a 20% decrease in “irregular crossings” to the EU, compared to the same period in 2024. These numbers are related to the decrease in numbers of border crossings in the Mediterranean and Western Balkan routes.
- On the 3rd of July, the EU’s first forced deportation to Syria since the fall of Bashar Al-Assad’s regime was carried out by Austria. The individual lost his asylum status in 2019 after being granted it in 2014 due to a criminal conviction.
- On the 3rd of July, according to EUobserver the European People’s Party (EPP) has sparked criticism after a shift in policy more aligned with the far-right European Conservatives and Reformists Group (ECR) positions. This shift has been observed especially regarding the “safe third country” and “safe country of origin” concepts.
Countries
Return Mania
Mapping policies and practices in the EuroMed region
The research provides an overview of the current return policies and practices in the Euro-Mediterranean region and sheds a light on the violations of human rights entailed by this “return obsession”, which is shared across Member States, EU institutions and third countries alike. The report covers national return policies and practices in the Mashreq and Maghreb regions, focusing on returns from Turkey and Lebanon to Syria, and on readmission agreements between Italy and Tunisia, Spain and Morocco as well as France and Morocco. It also looks at returns from Germany and Italy to Egypt. Read More