News Highlights: Letter criticises EU migration policy ahead of EU Summit, Italy’s anti-rescue decree adopted, Eritrea targets Catholic health facilities
21 Jun 2019

News Highlights: Letter criticises EU migration policy ahead of EU Summit, Italy’s anti-rescue decree adopted, Eritrea targets Catholic health facilities

by | posted in: Africa, Asylum Seekers, Eritrea, Italy, Libya, Migration, Refugees in the EU, Sudan, Switzerland, Weekly news highlights | 0

In this week’s news highlights: Letter – EU migration policy contributes to human rights abuses; Italy adopts anti-rescue decree; Refugee accused of being trafficker faces 14 years in jail; Eritrean refugees from Switzerland on streets of Belgium; Sudan’s TMC seen as responsible for abuses – protests continue; Eritrea and Sudan agreement to reopen shared border; Eritrean Catholic health facilities shut down; Eritrean campaign urges transition; EU accused of fostering slave-like conditions through its project in Eritrea; UN Secretary-General calls enforcement of Libyan arms embargo; and Libyan Government of National Accord proposes steps towards peace.

Eritrean asylum seekers rejected by Switzerland face life on the streets of Brussels
19 Jun 2019

Eritrean asylum seekers rejected by Switzerland face life on the streets of Brussels

by | posted in: Asylum Seekers, Deportation, Eritrea, European Union, France, Refugees in the EU, Switzerland | 0

Swiss authorities have rejected hundreds of applications of Eritrean asylum seekers who are now legally obliged to return back to Eritrea. Rejected Eritreans are left out of the social assistance as Switzerland has tightened the admission criteria through the ruling of the Swiss Federal Administrative Court adopted on 10 July 2018. This recent practice leads to social disintegration and it brings a new wave of insecurity and fear among the Eritrean community living in Switzerland. Because of this situation, many Eritreans are currently residing on the streets of Brussels hoping to reach the UK. Young Eritreans speak about their experiences.

Refoulement: France returns an Eritrean woman to Eritrea
13 Jun 2019

Refoulement: France returns an Eritrean woman to Eritrea

by | posted in: Africa, Asylum Seekers, Deportation, Detention, Eritrea, Eritrean Women, France, Horn of Africa region, Migration | 0

The prefecture of the Pyrénées-Orientales (South-West of France) deported an Eritrean national to her country of origin on 6 June 2019. According to RFI Africa, the French prefecture arrested the young woman on 8 May at the Spanish border with a “counterfeit” residence permit. The French newspaper Le Figaro explains that the young Eritrean woman filed an asylum application with the administrative court and appealed to the jurisdiction, unsuccessfully, after being placed in a detention centre in Toulouse by the French authorities. It is the first return from France to Eritrea and can be considered refoulement, due to the fact that the woman is likely to face persecution and human rights abuses in Eritrea.