News Highlights: Eritrea and Sudan to collaborate on security, Eritrean political prisoners still detained, Alleged human traffickers arrested in Italy

In this week’s news highlights: Eritrean prisoners of conscience still in prison after 18 years; Eritrea and Sudan to collaborate on security; Eritrean political expert argues EU does not recognize abnormality of Eritrean regime; More child soldiers in South Sudan despite peace deal; Italian officials accused of being responsible for the deaths of 268 refugees; Rescue ship allowed to dock in Italy; Council: EU member states should ‘deliver on commitments’ on human trafficking; Council of the European Union implements revised torture guidelines; Three men accused of rape and other crimes in Libyan detention center; 98 refugees evacuated from Libya to Italy; Migrants in Libyan detention centers anxious about future after evacuation to Rwanda; and the number of refugee growth is outpacing the world’s population growth rate.

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

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

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.