News Highlights: Offensive against Tigray forces starts, Shooting in Libyan detention centre kills 6, Increasing harassment of refugees in EU

In this week news highlights: Ethiopian government launches offensive against Tigray forces; US ponders sanctions; UN recalls two officials over audio recordings; High ministerial meeting on Ethiopia; Tigray interim government member seeks asylum; Sudan Tribune reports unconfirmed news that Salva Kiir would mediate in Tigray conflict; Eritrea re-elected to UN Human Rights Council – critics cry foul; 6 migrants shot and killed by Libyan detention centre guards following crackdown; 15 migrants bodies found off to shore of Libya; 1,100 migrants and refugees crossed the English Channel during the weekend; Migrants and refugees facing harassment in Northern France; NGO unable to operate in militarized Greece-Turkey border area; Greece and Croatia suspected of illegal pushbacks at the borders using EU funds; UNHCR urges greater access to mental health for refugees.

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

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.

News Highlights: Amnesty: US should address human rights in Eritrea, Dublin Regulation challenged, Italian law to expel people from centres

In this week’s news highlights: A call to US Secretary of State to address human rights in Eritrea; UN condemns mass rapes in South Sudan; Proposals for Ethiopia’s new law on hate speech; US embassy reopens in Somalia; IFAD President urges to invest in the youth in Africa; Presidents of Egypt and Sudan to cooperate on security; Dead end in Libya leads refugees to Morocco; New Italian law expels migrants from reception centres; Tribunal ruling states that UK cannot send vulnerable migrants to Italy without assurance; Commissioner Avramopoulos suggests asylum procedure will voluntarily fall to EU Member States; and the need to put emphasis on agriculture in the Post-Cotonou agreement.