News Highlights: MSF stops activities in 3 Tigray locations, Lithuania to build refugee barrier on Belarus border, Libyan boat fires at refugees
9 Jul 2021

News Highlights: MSF stops activities in 3 Tigray locations, Lithuania to build refugee barrier on Belarus border, Libyan boat fires at refugees

by | posted in: Abiy Ahmed, Africa, Asylum Seekers, Belgium, Coast guards, COVID-19, Deportation, Detention, Doctors without Borders, EEPA news and activities, Eritrea, Ethiopia, European Commission, European Politics, European Union, Germany, Horn of Africa region, Human Rights abuses, Human Trafficking, IOM, Italy, Libya, Médecins Sans Frontières, Mediterranean Sea, Migration, Refugee Camps, Refugees in the EU, Relocation system, Sanctions, Schengen area, Sea-Watch, Search and Rescue Operations, South Sudan, Starvation, Tunisia, Turkey | 0

In this week’s news highlights: Over 900,000 people are starving in Tigray in a “man-made famine” while 1 million more are “just one step away”; MSF suspends activities in Abi Adi, Adigrat and Aksum following killings of aid workers; UNICEF reports that in 4.5 million children are in “desperate need of support” in South Sudan; 60 refugees feared dead after 4 boats sink off Tunisia; Video shows Libyan coast guard firing at and attempt to ram at a refugee boat in distress; Lithuania to build barrier on Belarus border to stop migrants and refugees; Four men fined over abusing asylum seekers in Germany; Greece cracking down on refugee NGOs; and Twelve refugees in the UK found struggling to breathe in the back of a lorry.

The EU’s lack of a unified voice leads to scapegoating of migrants in some countries
27 Mar 2020

The EU’s lack of a unified voice leads to scapegoating of migrants in some countries

by | posted in: COVID-19, Hungary, Italy, Schengen area, US | 0

The European Commission (EC) decided to apply a temporary restriction for non-essential travel from third countries into the European Union or in other words, closed the Schengen external borders. The EU hoped that the decision would enable the lifting of internal border controls. However, such controls have already been applied by several member states in an effort to limit the spread of the virus. Some have criticized the EU’s lack of a unified response and clear message; and some countries, like Hungary and Italy, justify their anti-migration policies by using the uncertainty surrounding the coronavirus.