#frontex aid

[metamatar]

With a budget nearing $1 billion, Frontex is the EU’s best-funded government agency. [...] including by helping Libya’s EU-funded coast guard send hundreds of thousands of migrants back to be detained in Libya under conditions that amounted to torture and sexual slavery. In 2022, the agency’s director, Fabrice Leggeri, was forced out over a mountain of scandals, including covering up similar ​“pushback” deportations, which force migrants back across the border before they can apply for asylum.

[...] EU hopes to extend Frontex’s reach far beyond its territory, into sovereign African nations Europe once colonized, with no oversight mechanisms to safeguard against abuse. Initially, the EU even proposed granting immunity from prosecution to Frontex staff in West Africa. [...] 26 African countries have received taxpayer euros aimed at curbing migration through more than 400 discrete projects. Between 2015 and 2021, the EU invested $5.5 billion in such projects, with more than 80% of the funds coming from developmental and humanitarian aid coffers.

[...] Besides the surveillance tech the DNLT branches receive, migration data analysis systems have also been installed at each post, along with biometric fingerprinting and facial recognition systems. The stated aim is to create what eurocrats call an African IBM system: Integrated Border Management. [...] no European countries maintain databases with this level of biometric information.

[...] In Niger, for instance, the EU helped draft a law that criminalized virtually all movement in the north of the country, effectively making regional mobility illegal.

[mariacallous]

The Greek Coast Guard on Wednesday stated that at least 78 migrants have been found dead after a fishing boat was wrecked off Pylos, Peloponnese. So far, 104 migrants have been rescued.

A rescue operation took place in the early hours of the morning in international waters 47 nautical miles southwest of Pylos.

Italian authorities informed the Greek authorities about the boat, which was carrying a large number of migrants. The Greek media reported that about 400 people were on board. Other reports have put the number as high as 750.

The boat had been deported from Libya, bound for Italy. The migrants were not wearing life jackets.

The survivors have been taken to the port of Kalamata, in the Peloponnese, where a reception centre with first aid has been organized in collaboration with the General Secretariat of Civil Protection.

The fishing vessel was spotted on Tuesday by a EU border protection agency FRONTEX aerial vehicle and by two ships. A Greek boat sailed to the spot, while a helicopter took off at the same time.

In successive telephone calls to the fishing vessel, offering assistance, they received a negative response, stating the vessel’s desire to continue the voyage to Italy.

The boat later capsized and sank. Two patrol boats, a coast guard’s lifeboats, a frigate of the navy, seven ships sailing alongside, a helicopter of the navy, and an unnamed aerial vehicle are operating at the site of the investigations.

Six such shipwrecks with migrant victims have occurred in the first six months or so of 2023.

More than 70,000 refugees and migrants have arrived in Europe’s frontline countries this year, with the majority landing in Italy, according to UN data, the BBC reported Wednesday.

The European Court of Human Rights condemned Greece in July 2022 for violating the European Convention of Human Rights over the sinking of a migrant boat in 2014 in which 11 asylum seekers, among them eight children, lost their lives.

CNN journalist Christiane Amanpour asked Greek ex-PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis if he will order a full and independent investigation into a New York Times video allegedly showing Greek authorities illegally setting adrift some migrants in the Aegean. “I have already done so, Christiane. I take this incident very seriously. It is already being investigated by my government,” said Mitsotakis.

On 5 June, MEPs in the LIBE committee debated the situation in Greece with home affairs commissioner Ylva Johansson.

The European Union submitted an official request to Greece for an independent investigation into the pushbacks of refugees-immigrants after The New York Times video document.

[beardedmrbean]

Crotone, Italy — Rescue teams pulled another body from the sea on Tuesday, bringing the death toll from Italy's latest migration tragedy to 64, as prosecutors identified suspected smugglers who allegedly charged 8,000 euros (nearly $8,500) each for the "voyage of death" from Turkey to Italy. Premier Giorgia Meloni sent a letter to European leaders demanding quick action to respond to the migration crisis, insisting that only way to deal with it seriously and humanely is to stop migrants from risking their lives on dangerous sea crossings.   "The point is, the more people who set off, the more people risk dying," she told RAI state television late Monday.   At least 64 people, including eight children, died when their overcrowded wooden boat slammed into the shoals just a few hundred meters off Italy's Calabrian coast and broke apart early Sunday in rough seas. Eighty people survived, but dozens more are feared dead since survivors indicated the boat had carried about 170 people when it set off last week from Izmir, Turkey.

Aid groups at the scene have said many of the passengers hailed from Afghanistan, including entire families, as well as from Pakistan, Syria and Iraq. Rescue teams pulled one body from the sea on Tuesday morning, bringing the death toll to 64, said Andrea Mortato, of the firefighter divers unit. Crotone prosecutor Giuseppe Capoccia confirmed investigators had identified three suspected smugglers, a Turk and two Pakistani nationals. A second Turk is believed to have escaped or died in the wreck.   Italy's customs police said in a statement that crossing organizers charged 8,000 euros each for the "voyage of death."

As CBS News correspondent Seth Doane reported, the latest migrant boat tragedy on European shores stoked a roiling debate over how best to address the refugee and migrant crisis facing the continent. Italy's relatively new, staunchly right-wing government has been criticized by the United Nations and many migrant advocacy groups for adopting policies that inhibit charities from rescuing people from crippled boats in the Mediterranean.

Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi pushed back strongly at suggestions that the rescue was delayed or affected by government policy discouraging aid groups from staying at sea to rescue migrants, however.   The EU border agency Frontex has said its aircraft spotted the boat off Crotone late Saturday and alerted Italian authorities. Italy sent out two patrol vessels, but they had to turn back because of the poor weather. The rescue operation then went out early Sunday after the boat had splintered.   "There was no delay," Piantedosi said. "Everything possible was done in absolutely prohibitive sea conditions."   Meloni's government — Italy's most far-right leadership since the days of dictator Benito Mussolini — swept elections last year in part on promises to crack down on migration. 

During its first months in power, the government has concentrated on complicating efforts by humanitarian boats that had long carried out rescue operations in the central Mediterranean by assigning them ports of disembarkation along Italy's northern coasts. That means the vessels need more time to return to the sea after bringing migrants aboard and taking them safely to shore.

Piantedosi noted to newspaper Corriere della Sera that aid groups don't normally operate in the area of Sunday's shipwreck, which occurred off the Calabrian coast in the Ionian Sea. Rather, the aid groups tend to operate in the central Mediterranean, rescuing migrants who set off from Libya or Tunisia.

[head-post]

EU discusses deportation centres to tackle migration

European countries will discuss on Thursday “innovative” ways to increase deportations of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers, including controversial plans to set up special return centres in non-EU countries.

The rise of nationally-oriented parties in several European countries has helped put migration issues at the centre of the attention of the interior ministers of the 27-nation bloc, who are meeting in Luxembourg ahead of a meeting of EU leaders later this month.

Whether the bloc should explore “the feasibility of innovative solutions for the return of migrants, in particular the concept of return centres” will be discussed at the ministers working lunch, according to a background note to the official agenda.

The meeting comes just months after the EU adopted a sweeping reform of its asylum policy.

The long-discussed package, which will come into force in June 2026, tightens border procedures and requires countries to accept asylum seekers from “frontline” states such as Italy or Greece or provide money and resources. But more than half of EU member states said it doesn’t go far enough.

In May, 15 of them urged the European Commission to “think outside the box” by calling for the creation of centres outside the EU where rejected asylum seekers could be sent while awaiting deportation – a plan to be discussed on Thursday. Jacob Kirkegaard, an analyst at Bruegel, a Brussels-based think tank, told AFP:

Pressure is on accelerating deportations.

A growing number of governments are keen to show they are trying to “get rejected migrants off the streets one way or another,” he also added.

Centres for migrants

There are no detailed plans yet for how the return centres might work in practice. A diplomatic source said one option would be to ask EU candidates, over whom the bloc has some leverage to ensure acceptable standards, to host such centres. But sending migrants to third countries is fraught with ethical and legal issues, which could prevent the idea from becoming a reality.

Another diplomatic source warned that legal due diligence and an assessment of basic human rights would be needed to test the feasibility of any such project.

Last year, less than 20 per cent of the nearly 500,000 people ordered to leave the bloc were returned to their country of origin, according to Eurostat, the EU’s statistical office. Repatriation is notoriously difficult – it is costly and requires the co-operation of the countries to which the migrants need to return.

According to border agency Frontex, the top three migrants who crossed the EU border illegally this year include Syria, Mali and Afghanistan – countries with which Brussels has no or at best difficult relations.

In addition to return centres, Austria and the Netherlands have proposed legislative changes that would punish asylum seekers who are ordered to leave the country but fail to do so, which experts say could open the door to detentions.

“Hotspots” outside the EU

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who currently holds the presidency of the EU Council, advocated the creation of “hotspots” outside the EU to process asylum claims and called for a regular “Schengen summit” to discuss border control issues. Hungary’s PM also reiterated his country’s request to opt out of EU migration policy – an approach the Dutch government is now considering.

Some point to Italy’s deal with Albania to hold and process migrants in that country as a possible way forward. But other agreements the EU has made with Tunisia, Libya and other countries, providing aid and investment in exchange for help in deterring the arrival of migrants, have proved highly controversial and faced legal challenges for subjecting migrants to abuse.

Just last week, two non-governmental organisations filed a lawsuit against Frontex, claiming that the support it provided to the Libyan coastguard to detect boats carrying migrants violated EU rules.

Numbers are down, but that means nothing

Frontex claims that unauthorised border crossings from the south have fallen by 39 per cent in 2024 compared to 2023.

The route from North Africa through the central Mediterranean to Italy is the most commonly used by migrants, but 65 per cent fewer people used it this year than in 2023. However, the figures for individual routes do not show a decline in all cases.

The second most popular route is the eastern Mediterranean, where migrants arrive in Greece. Arrivals have increased by 57 per cent in the first eight months of this year, with trafficking networks using speedboats and other aggressive methods to thwart the coastguard.

This is despite the supposed success of a declaration between the EU and Turkey signed in 2016 that was supposed to stem the flow of irregular migrants from Turkey to the EU.

The Atlantic route from West Africa to the Canary Islands is the third most popular and has more than doubled this year. More than 25,500 migrants from countries such as Mali and Senegal landed here at the end of August, according to the United Nations.

Read more HERE

[a2imediagroupe]

Naufrage de Pylos : la médiatrice de l'UE regrette que Frontex n'ait pas "joué un rôle plus actif" pour sauver les exilés

Dans un rapport rendu mercredi, la médiatrice européenne Emily O’Reilly regrette que Frontex n’ait pas déclenché un appel d’urgence pour venir en aide aux 750 passagers de l’Adriana, ce bateau de pêche qui a fait naufrage le 14 juin 2023. Ce jour-là, plus de 500 exilés sont morts, faute d’une opération de sauvetage menée dans les temps. Huit mois après le terrible naufrage au large de Pylos, en…

[aurianneor]

Immigration

Les images font peur. On voit des caravanes de migrants traverser l’Amérique centrale pour aller aux Etats-Unis. On voit des bateaux remplis à ras bord au large de la Floride ou en Méditerranée. Dans les villes frontière, on voit des hordes de jeunes hommes dans la rue, démunis, sautant les barrières des centres de rétention, vivant dans des squats; parfois toxicomanes. 

Les pays européens ou les Etats-Unis affirment être complets au point qu’ils sous-traitent leurs frontières au Mexique, à la Turquie et aux pays d’Afrique du Nord. Ils les paient pour traiter les demandes d’asile avant que les migrants aient mis le pied dans le pays de destination. Les centres de rétention sont inhumains et les migrants sautent les barrières pour aller à leur destination. La barrière est très facile à sauter. Les migrants entrent dans les territoires de manière illégale car demander de la manière légale est inhumain. Ils ne font donc pas valoir leurs droits. 

Face à ces images terrifiantes, on entend la droite nous dire qu’il faut punir ces illégaux plus sévèrement et on entend la gauche nous dire qu’il n’y a pas de problèmes avec les migrants. Ces migrants travaillent pour le dixième du prix et ne peuvent pas faire valoir leurs droits auprès d’un juge. Les personnes les plus impactées par la migration sont les populations rurales et pauvres. Le résultat de cette situation d’irrégularité est de créer une main d’oeuvre extrêmement bon marché qui ne peut pas être concurrencée par la main d’oeuvre européenne ou américaine. Il est légitime de se sentir en désarroi face à ces migrants. Les champs aux Etats-Unis ou en Europe sont pleins de travailleurs illégaux et les champs ne sont pas contrôlés. La politique actuelle ne fait que créer plus de marge pour les employeurs. Les habitants des zones rurales sont concernés et seule la droite s’adresse à eux.

A court terme, de nombreux migrants se présentent aux frontières de l’Occident et il n’y a aucune raison pour que leur traitement ne soit pas organisé dans des conditions humaines. Ceux qui veulent faire valoir leur droit d’asile ne méritent pas la prison.

A long terme, les puissances européennes et nord-américaines ont largement participé à rendre les pays du Sud invivables. Il faut arrêter de détruire activement ces pays. Les multinationales doivent être responsables pénalement quand elles commettent un acte dans ces pays qui serait un crime en occident. Elles doivent être jugées en occident pour la pollution, la subversion, la corruption, le travail forcé, le travail des enfants, etc. D’autre part, l’occident peut et doit soutenir les régimes démocratiques quand ils émergent dans ces pays. Les révolutionnaires africains ont tous été tués. Il faut arrêter.

C’est seulement dans ces conditions que l’aide au développement peut être efficace. Si on aide au développement alors que ces conditions ne sont pas réunies, elle nourrit la corruption. Ce n’est qu’au prix d’une aide au développement efficace qu’on créera des opportunités de vie décentes dans ces pays et que les migrants seront moins nombreux.

Agir plus énergiquement pour le climat est également important afin que ces pays ne deviennent pas des trous d’enfer. 

Si ces pays finissaient par percevoir un revenu équitable de leurs ressources et de leur main d’oeuvre, ils deviendront à long terme des clients, des partenaires commerciaux et ils pourraient faire face aux problèmes sanitaires qui nous menacent tous.

Comment l’Europe sous-traite à l’Afrique le contrôle des migrations (1/4) : « Frontex menace la dignité humaine et l’identité africaine »: https://www.lemonde.fr/afrique/article/2023/09/06/comment-l-europe-sous-traite-a-l-afrique-le-controle-des-migrations-1-4-frontex-menace-la-dignite-humaine-et-l-identite-africaine_6188169_3212.html

Mexico makes agreement with US to deport migrants from its border cities as one mayor warns his city is at ‘a breaking point’: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/23/us/mexico-us-border-patrol-agreement-migration-surge/index.html

L’intégration des travailleurs migrants sur le marché du travail: Les politiques et leur impact: https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—ed_protect/—protrav/—migrant/documents/publication/wcms_201037.pdf

Immigration : le Conseil de l’Europe dénonce un “système hypocrite” qui appuie son économie sur plusieurs millions de “travailleurs invisibles”: https://www.francetvinfo.fr/monde/europe/migrants/immigration-le-conseil-de-l-europe-denonce-un-systeme-hypocrite-qui-appuie-son-economie-sur-plusieurs-millons-de-travailleurs-invisibles_5896273.html#xtor=CS2-765-%5Bautres%5D-

‘A lot of abuse for little pay’: how US farming profits from exploitation and brutality: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/dec/25/us-farms-made-200m-human-smuggling-labor-trafficking-operation

À qui profite l’exil ?: https://www.editions-delcourt.fr/bd/series/serie-qui-profite-l-exil/album-qui-profite-l-exil#:~:text=En%20adoptant%20une%20vision%20humaine,de%20la%20fermeture%20des%20frontières%20%3F

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Permis sur la planète rouge – Une histoire de science-fiction: https://www.aurianneor.org/permis-sur-la-planete-rouge-une-histoire-de/

Solidarité Hélvétique: https://www.aurianneor.org/solidarite-helvetique-democratie-semi-directe/

“Calais ou pas caler”: https://www.aurianneor.org/calais-ou-pas-caler/

Les humiliés de la République: https://www.aurianneor.org/les-humilies-de-la-republique/

Comment regagner la confiance?: https://www.aurianneor.org/comment-regagner-la-confiance/

Donner ou pas donner?: https://www.aurianneor.org/donner-ou-pas-donner-donner-de-largent-a-un/

“How can you frighten a man whose hunger”…: https://www.aurianneor.org/how-can-you-frighten-a-man-whose-hunger-is-not/

Le Pérou, la biodiversité en danger: https://www.aurianneor.org/le-perou-la-biodiversite-en-danger/

[wingedchildtiger]

Greece boat disaster

At least 78 people have died and more than 100 have been rescued after their fishing boat sank off southern Greece.

But survivors have suggested as many as 750 people may have been packed on to the boat, with reports of 100 children in the hold.

Greece says it is one of its biggest ever migrant tragedies, and has declared three days of mourning.

Authorities say their offers of aid were refused but they are facing claims of not doing enough to help.

The boat went down about 80 km (50 miles) south-west of Pylos after 02:04 on Wednesday morning local time, according to the Greek coastguard, which lowered an earlier confirmed death toll of 79 to 78.

The EU's border agency Frontex said it had spotted the boat early on Tuesday afternoon and immediately told Greek and Italian authorities. The coastguard said later that no-one on board was wearing life jackets.

In a timeline provided by the coastguard, it said that initial contact was made with the fishing boat at 14:00 (11:00 GMT) and no request for help had been made.

It said the Greek shipping ministry had made repeated contact with the boat and was told repeatedly it simply wanted to sail on to Italy. A Maltese-flagged ship provided food and water at around 18:00, and another boat provided water three hours after that, it added.

Then at around 01:40 on Wednesday someone on the boat is said to have notified the Greek coastguard that the vessel's engine had malfunctioned.

Shortly afterwards, the boat capsized, taking only ten to fifteen minutes to sink completely. A search and rescue operation was triggered but complicated by strong winds.

Alarm Phone, an emergency helpline for migrants in trouble at sea, complained that the coastguard was "aware of the ship being in distress for hours before any help was sent", adding that authorities "had been informed by different sources" that the boat was in trouble.

It added that people may have been scared to encounter Greek authorities because they were aware of the country's "horrible and systematic pushback practices".

Jérôme Tubiana of Médecins Sans Frontières told French radio that European and Greek authorities should both have intervened earlier. "It's really shocking to hear that Frontex flew over the boat and no-one intervened because the boat refused all offers of help… an overloaded boat is a boat in distress."

The boat is thought to have been going from Libya to Italy, with most of those on board believed to be men in their 20s.

They had been travelling for days, according to local media reports, which added that the boat had been approached by a Maltese cargo ship on Tuesday afternoon that supplied food and water.

Survivors spoke of as many as 500 to 750 people on board and regional health director Yiannis Karvelis warned of an unprecedented tragedy: "The number of the people on board was much higher than the capacity that should be allowed for this boat."

One survivor told a hospital doctor in Kalamata that he had seen 100 children in the hold.

Coastguard Cpt Nikolaos Alexiou told public TV that the boat had sunk in one of the deepest parts of the Mediterranean.

[bronva]

Frontex delivers cruelty from the skies

Frontex delivers cruelty from the skies

Despite its claims of saving lives, Frontex is putting people at risk by aiding Libya’s interceptions of migrant boats.

[ambipolis]

Mercredi 14 décembre 2022 

Propositions immigration 2

Comment limiter l’immigration clandestine ? C’est la question clé pour plusieurs raisons.

D’une part parce que si on estime à partir de différents paramètres que l’immigration clandestine aura représenté au cours des dernières années environ la moitié de l’immigration légale (un peu plus au cours des deux dernières années), il est fort probable qu’au cours de la prochaine décennie elle soit aussi importante, voire supérieure. D’autre part parce que par définition aucun contrôle ne peut être effectué parmi ces clandestins tant en ce qui concerne leur dangerosité que leur état mental et sanitaire.

Le président Macron a déclaré la semaine dernière que l’immigration était dans l’ADN de la France, sans préciser de quelle immigration il s’agissait et pour quel pourcentage, mais aussi que si nous avions un système généreux on doit mettre des barrières à l’entrée car « on ne peut accueillir tout le monde. »

Il existe bien une barrière théorique aux frontières européennes dont le contrôle doit être assuré par Frontex. Frontex peut être une solution, mais à l’horizon de la fin du XXIème siècle .

Auparavant que faire ? 

D’abord condamner sévèrement les passeurs, mais aussi les associations complices de ces passeurs ; des dispositions devront être adoptées par référendum afin d’éviter leur annulation par des juges.

Ensuite comme l’a proposé Bruno Retailleau devra être rétabli le d��lit de clandestinité, d’entrée en France sans titre de séjour supprimé par François Hollande ; certes tous les clandestins ne pourront être contrôlés et surtout quelle sera la sanction, ce qui nous renvoie à notre capacité d’expulser.

Des solutions existent, notamment celles proposées par Eric Zemmour, elles requièrent ce qui nous manque le plus : le courage.

Enfin pour éviter les appels d’air, des mesures fermes devront être prises pour mettre fin aux aides sociales non contributives des clandestins, limiter drastiquement l’aide médicale et cibler les municipalités qui accordent de fait une priorité aux étrangers, y compris clandestins, pour l’attribution des logements sociaux. Et évidement ne pas régulariser en masse des clandestins pour ensuite les naturaliser.

Il y aurait bien d’autres questions à aborder dont la coordination européenne, mais on concluera provisoirement cette amorce de vrai débat par un triste constat : il y ceux pour qui l’immigration n’est qu’un enjeu économique dans le cadre mondialiste selon lequel tous les hommes sont interchangeables et doivent être payés de moins en moins cher. Pour d’autres qui vivent de plus près ces mutations c’est un enjeu culturel, de mode de vie, de transmission, de civilisation.

François BAUDILLON * 

[psikonauti]

Nazi Europe 2020

The Mediterranean sea is filled with corpses of thousands of drowned people who just tried to live.They are methodically murdered without consequences.

Text written by Iasonas Apostolopoulos, a rescuer and a Doctors Without Borders volunteer.

"This baby was born, the day before yesterday, on a rubber boat with a broken engine, in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea.

The Italian military ships that were nearby, such as the "Luigi Durand de la Penne", refused to intervene, despite a general distress call sent by the Italian MRCC in Rome, despite the fact that a woman was giving birth onboard and 6 other people were dying of thirst.

His first images were of dozens of desperate people begging for help.

We tried to reach them, but we were far, 120 miles.

Our rescue ship Mare Jonio, has a maximum speed of 10 miles/hour. We spent the next 14 hours in a race against time, anxiously searching for the boat, making calculations on the map of their possible course according to the direction of the waves.

We arrived at the last known position late at night. The Libyans were nowhere to be seen. There was still hope.

We only needed 8 more miles to reach the refugees.

All of a sudden, a dot appears on the radar coming from Libya. It moves with tremendous speed and overtakes us.

We refuse to accept it, but deep down we all knew what that meant.

We called on the radio, they didnt even respond.

All the survivors, 93 people, were returned to a war-torn Libya, by the EU-funded Libyan coastguard, aided by the aerial assets of the European border police (Frontex).

Most likely, they will be sold as slaves again or they will be detained in one of the countless torture camps of the country.

The next morning, spokesperson UN Msehli confirmed: a woman had given birth on board. Six were dead.

This is the third pushback we witness in 48 hours, taking place in the international waters dozens of miles off the libyan coast.

The EU states are sending tortured people back to their torturers and are complicit in crimes against humanity. ‬"

[mariacallous]

A group of five international activists from Italy, France and Spain was arrested recently in Malko Tarnovo in Bulgaria and abused by police, the Italian activist group Collettivo Rotte Balcaniche Alto Vicentino alleged on Monday.

The group said the arrests happened during one of the group’s rescue missions to aid migrants and refugees in distress on the Bulgarian-Turkish border on September 10.

The emergency call reached the group at 4am. “A local partner organisation told us there was a group of seven people in distress, among them three children and two women in the Malko Tarnovo area,” one of the arrested activists told BIRN. He declined to give his name for security reasons.

The activists reached the group, stranded in a remote area, at around 5.30pm.

“We immediately called the emergency number, requesting an ambulance, as one of the children was unconscious and one woman had respiratory issues,” the activist said.

Instead, according to the activist, a man in a military uniform arrived with a dog and contacted the border police, who arrived quickly afterwards. “The police grabbed us by the neck and pushed us around but we were able to keep calm and avoid the situation escalating,” he said.

The activists were then taken to the police station in Malko Tarnovo, where they were questioned. Police later confirmed their arrest, accused them of being human smugglers and threatened them with jail time. The migrants and refugees in distress were brought to a closed camp near the town of Harmanli. 

“Our rights were violated. We were not provided with medical care despite two girls needing medicine for chronic diseases, we did not have access to our lawyer, we did not sign any papers or documents proving our detention, and the translator provided didn’t speak English,” the activist said. 

“We think it was an attempt from the border police in Malko Tarnovo to intimidate us. It happened in the past already, once they even deflated one of our tires to stop us from reaching a group in distress. They are behaving this way not only against us, but also local humanitarian workers,” he added. 

A local humanitarian organisation, Mission Wings, was cleared of suspected human smuggling in 2022, but is now again under investigation for the same crime.

Rescue missions have been part of the international activist group’s activities since it started operating in Bulgaria in spring 2023. In 2024, the group says it has conducted 50 rescue missions, helping 200 migrants and refugees in distress on the border.

A recent BIRN investigation reported that some EU Frontex border agency officers deployed to Bulgaria’s border with Turkey have been intimidated into silence about illegal pushbacks and brutality against migrants and refugees.

[beardedmrbean]

EU member states and the European Parliament on Wednesday agreed to a major overhaul of the bloc's laws on handling asylum-seekers and migrants, European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said, describing the deal as a "breakthrough."

European Parliament President Roberta Metsola hailed the deal as a "landmark agreement" on the messaging platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

The deal has also been praised by UN refugee chief Filippo Grandi, who called it a "very positive step" in comments on X.

What is the agreement about?

The aim of the agreement is to reduce the amount of irregular migration to the European Union.

The reform includes provisions for faster vetting of irregular arrivals, the creation of border detention centers and quicker deportation for asylum seekers whose requests are rejected.

The overhaul also contains a solidarity mechanism to reduce the pressure for southern countries that are seeing large numbers of asylum seekers arriving at their gates. 

Under the mechanism, some asylum seekers will be relocated to other EU states, while countries that refuse to take them in will make a financial or material contribution to those that do.

Up to the end of November this year, the EU border agency Frontex had registered more than 355,000 irregular border crossings into the bloc, an increase of 17%. 

How did EU countries react?

Germany has also welcomed the agreement, with German Chancellor Olaf Sholz saying it "will relieve the burden on countries that are particularly affected — including Germany."

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said it was "urgently needed and long overdue."

However, she admitted that not all of Germany's concerns had been addressed in the agreement, saying that Berlin had wanted a "blanket exemption of children and families from border procedures." 

Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi, whose country has seen large numbers of migrants arriving over the Mediterranean by boat over the past years, voiced relief at the deal.

"The approval of the pact is a great success for Europe and for Italy ... [which] has always played a leading role in order to affirm a balanced solution so that EU border countries, which are particularly exposed to migratory pressure, no longer feel alone." he said in a statement.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis announced his "satisfaction" with the agreement, calling it "an important response" to Athens' calls for change. 

Meanwhile, Hungary strongly rejected the agreement.

"We reject this migration pact in the strongest possible terms ... We will not let anyone in against our will, no one from Brussels or anywhere else can tell us who we can let in, and we refuse in the strongest possible terms to be punished for this [stance]," said Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto.

What do critics say?

While the agreement has been described as "historic" by several conservative lawmakers, left-leaning politicians have been anything but positive about the reform.

"The negotiators agreed to undermine the right to seek asylum," said German EU lawmaker Damian Boeselager, a member of the European Greens.

"This new system will make sure we have prison camps at our borders and should have never been accepted," Boeselager said.

Several aid agencies that work with migrants, such as Amnesty International, Oxfam, Caritas and Save the Children, have also slammed the reform, saying it will create a "cruel system" that is also unworkable. 

"Not one single life will be saved by today's decision. This agreement is a historic failure and a bow to the right-wing parties of Europe," said the Sea-Watch rescue charity in a statement it said was backed by more than a dozen NGOs.

The EU migration reform agreement comes as the French parliament has just approved a divisive immigration bill that also contains stricter rules enabling the faster deportation of certain foreigners and that has drawn considerable criticism from leftist lawmakers and migration advocacy groups.

[rightsinexile]

News on countries of asylum

Global

2020: The year a pandemic collided with global refugee crises

EU to spend hundreds of millions more on refugees in Turkey

Greek government accuses Turkey of coordinating arrival of Somali migrants

France and Morocco sign agreement to facilitate returns of unaccompanied minors

Africa

BURKINA FASO: 

New safety measures allow Malian refugees to return to camp in Burkina Faso

Three thousand Malian refugees return to Burkina Faso’s Goudoubo camp after being forced to abandon the site nine months earlier following violent attacks

SUDAN: UNHCR daily new arrivals update from East Sudan reporting refugee influx from Ethiopia

TANZANIA: Burundian refugees in Tanzania face increasing danger

UGANDA: Funding shortfall forces cut to UN food rations for refugees in Uganda

Asia

AUSTRALIA: The fate of an Iranian asylum seeker and his death in immigration detention

BANGLADESH: Bangladesh ships Rohingya refugees to remote island, despite outcry

PAKISTAN: UNHCR Legal Assistance and Aid Programme Update for Pakistan highlights significant decrease in arrest, detention of refugees

Europe

Dossier documenting systematic violations of asylum seekers, illegal pushbacks along the “Balkan route” compiled by watchdog groups

270 asylum seekers relocated from Malta to other EU countries, with eight times that number arriving on the island in 2020

Suspected smugglers arrested after transferring Syrian asylum seekers from Turkey to Cyprus

EU concludes EUR 6 billion contract with Turkey for refugees, host communities

Growing proportion of migrants rescued at sea are unaccompanied minors: European sea rescue organization

EU Parliament, Council reach EUR 9.882 billion deal on Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund budgetary priorities through 2027

EU parliamentarians call for Frontex director to resign over allegations of pushbacks

Two Kurdish asylum seekers explain that they did not choose their route or their destination country; smugglers did

BOSNIA & HERZEGOVINA: 

EU tells Bosnia it must act to protect migrant families on the move amid rising cold

Refugee camp burns in Bosnia, leaving some 1400 men to seek shelter in abandoned buildings, on the street

EU Commission “alarmed” over state of affairs in Bosnia, where thousands of migrants face a winter without shelter

FRANCE: 

120 refugees from Sudan, CAR resettled in France

France makes deal to facilitate deportations to Morocco as Calais situation worsens

GERMANY: 

Vulnerable migrants from Greek camps arrive in Germany in last transfer of 2020

Germany to move 2020 resettlement contingent into 2021

GREECE:

Doctors confirm rape of toddler at Kara Tepe migrant camp on Lesbos, where many reports have indicated that women, children are at risk of sexual abuse, exploitation

Medics working at Lesbos migrant camp treating children with rat bites

Four Greek officials charged with assaulting asylum seekers on Lesbos

After visit, Greek Minister of Migration and Asylum praises conditions in Kara Tepe

Greek law intensifies its crackdown on refugee NGOs, preventing NGO workers and volunteers from talking about deprivation, neglect or abuse in Greek refugee camps

Lead poisoning a new concern at Lesbos camp built on repurposed military firing range

ITALY: 

New security decree modifies Salvini decree, with positive effects on Italy’s asylum system, facilitating refugee integration

Italy’s five-month block lifted on migrant rescue ship Ocean Viking, allowing return to search and rescue operations off the coast of Libya

Humanitarian Corridors initiative brings 54 Syrian refugees to Italy in second mission

Local organization says conditions in Lampedusa’s migrant hotspot are “inadequate”

MALTA: Maltese court condemns arbitrary detention of migrants, orders four men immediately released

SPAIN: Spain closes controversial makeshift dock camp for migrants on Gran Canaria island

UK:

UK Home Office criticized over plan to house asylum seekers at former immigration removal center Yarl’s Wood

Inspection of how Home Office country-of-origin information deals with LGBTI asylum seekers reveals good work being done too slowly

UK reneges on vow to reunite child refugees with families

Changes to UK immigration rules separate readmission requirements from inadmissibility decision

UK to deny asylum to refugees passing through a “safe” third country, prevent claims from being made in UK territorial waters

Number of immigration cases to be heard by the UK Court of Appeal to be radically cut, with Ministry of Justice proposing that “reasons of exceptional public interest” be the legal test

MENA

IRAQ: Iraqi government launches “emergency plan” to provide shelter for tens of thousands of displaced people after Baghdad authorities’ closure of refugee camps in October

TUNISIA: UNHCR and Tunisia sign accord to improve refugee assistance

[gungieblog]

WORLD 

92 migrants found naked as Greece and Turkey trade blame and U.N. condemns "cruel and degrading" treatment

BY HALEY OTT

OCTOBER 17, 2022 / 7:14 AM / CBS NEWS

Greek authorities rescued a group of 92 migrants who were found naked along the country's northern border with Turkey over the weekend, officials said. Some of the people were injured, and the United Nations condemned their treatment as "cruel and degrading."

The European Union's border agency Frontex said it had assisted Greek authorities at the Evros River in providing immediate aid to the migrants, who were mainly from Afghanistan and Syria.

Greece's minister for civil protection, Takis Theodorikakos, told local television that some of those rescued said they had been dropped off at the river, which forms part of the border between Greece and Turkey, by three Turkish army vehicles. Theodorikakos accused Turkey of "instrumentalizing illegal immigration," according to the AFP news agency.

[radiosat24web]

What are the new modifications? One of the most important decisions reached by the European Council is the need to protect European borders by expanding the work of Frontex or the European Agency for Border and Coast Guard and increasing the number of its employees to an additional 10,000 employees, to protect the external borders of the Schengen area by 2027. Compulsory refugee quotas for EU member states will be abolished, but solidarity remains mandatory among three main options: 1) Hosting a percentage of immigrants on their lands 2) Financial sponsorship for the return of rejected refugees 3) Providing financial aid to the country from which the refugees flow. Some ministers hope the new changes will help end the EU's double standards on non-European refugees. “We must know that if we can welcome millions of Ukrainians, we can also take care of thousands who are not from Ukraine from the south but suffer the same conditions and have another language and religion,” said Jan Asselborn, Minister for Foreign Affairs and European Affairs. European Union." The final patchwork of legislative proposals and recommendations hopes to reassure European countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy that complain that they are being left alone to take in thousands of Syrian asylum seekers. #radiosat24web https://www.instagram.com/p/Cep8H7pt4t6/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=