100 posts
Technology and Schengen Governance
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On the 21 March 2013 the LIBE Committee organised a hearing on Schengen Governance and Border Management with the aim of presenting the state of play and latest developments, with a particular eye to the switch-on of the revised Schengen Information...
A border control dressed up as a customs control, inside Schengen. Buchs, Switzerland, 1020, 14 March 2013
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Switzerland is in the Schengen Area. But it is not part of the EU Customs Union. Therein is the newest excuse I’ve heard for a border control within the Schengen...
Visa facilitations for the benefit of tourists
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Today's pressconference Photo: EbS To facilitate travelling for tourists willing to visit Europe, and to spend their time and money, is crucial for our economy, and this is particularly important in a time of crisis, like the one that we are expe...
Interview With Lampedusan Activist , Giacomo Sferlazza: “Trying to change the world and realizing that the biggest risk is to be changed by the world.”
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Giacomo Sferlazzo is a most gracious man. He is also a very busy man so I am so grateful that …Continue reading »...
EASO's October newsletter
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A few days ago we received EASO's October newsletter, giving updated information on the Agency's activities and recruitment opportunities. The newsletter (in .pdf) can be downloaded here.
Askavusa, Lampedusa, and a Meditation on the Condition of the Refugee
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Refugees live in a divided world, between countries in which they cannot live, and countries in which they may not …Continue reading »...
Mr Consul: you may suspect she is a prostitute – but you may not presume
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I live in Thailand. Last summer I decided to take my wife and two-year old son to France for a holiday. I invited another couple to join us, Martin and Helen, both in their fifties. My wife wanted to take her favourite cousin, Nangnoy, a young...
EASO's 2nd Consultative Forum: where is Civil Society?
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Some days ago the European Asylum Support Office announced the organisation of its 2nd Consultative Forum. A a quick refresher, the founding Regulation requires EASO to engage in dialogue with those members of civil society that are active in t...
Biometric Passports and ID Cards – Ukraine
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Having finally got around to the core issue of Stage 1 relating to the road map on Visa-free travel as per the document from the EU, the RADA has passed the necessary laws for biometric passports and identified the company that will produce them. Jus...
Along the border
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At the Venna detention centre, talking to Syrian, Pakistani, Palestinian & Eritrean migrants. Photo: Michele Cercone I have had an intense day in Greece, in the border areas near Turkey – Komotini, Venna, Feres and Poros. I am here with Greek m...
Agencies with close(r) ties: EASO & Frontex
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As hinted at in an earlier post, EASO and Frontex have just formalised a Working Arrangement. You can read about this arrangement in the joint press statement issued by both Agencies today.
Resettlement, a transatlantic meeting, Frontex, GENSEN...
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In May the European Asylum Support Office participated in a skills share day organised by the EU Resettlement Network, indicating it's clear role in ensuring that solidarity does not remain an intra-EU term and principle but that it is understood in...
Dr. Visser meets MEP Kyriacos Triantaphyllides
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...and just following our earlier post on MEP Triantaphyllides' report on intra-EU solidarity, we're also sharing with you EASO's press release on the meeting between the MEP and EASO's Executive Director, Dr. Robert K. Visser.
EASO & intra-EU relocation of protection beneficiaries
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Yesterday afternoon, the European Parliament Office in Malta organised a Citizens' Forum on Burden-sharing and Asylum. The main aim of the event was to present the recent EP report "Report on enhanced intra-EU solidarity in the field of asy...
LIBE committee, Frontex, Greece, EMN...
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We've gathered a number of information items for your attention: Plenty of press coverage relating to the recent adoption (19th September) by the Parliament's LIBE committee of its position on the proposals to amend the Dublin II Regulation. &nb...
For a Europe without borders !
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Mobility is officially regarded as having an intense impact in fostering European citizenship and pluralist societies on one hand, and as a prime asset for a competitive labour force on the other. Europe nowadays is the continent where all citizens s...
A Turkish tale of cafebabel.com and borders: an insider/outsider story
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I am not a journalist. I sometimes practice journalism, extensively study journalism, and mostly hang out with journalists, but I wouldn’t identify myself one. However, when Café Babel team asked me to join their project briefly this summer, I kne...
The Mediterranean as Liquid Coffin: One Man’s Desperation is Another Man’s Golden Opportunity
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Though in the traditional sense, we equate water with life, the past few years, with seemingly no let up in …Continue reading »...
Visser in Portugal, increased solidarity, Greece
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We're happy to bring you some news items that have been sitting in out Inbox for some time now...more to follow as we clear out the info backlog: Dr. Visser (second from left) in Portugal. Visit by EASO's Executive Director to the Portugues...
Belarus, Ukraine: No More Gratis UK Visas for Chernobyl Children?
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According to this online petition, bringing Belarusian and Ukrainian children affected by the 1986 Chernobyl disaster to the UK for recuperative charity-sponsored visits would soon cost an additional £86 per child in visa fees. Odessablogger posts a...
Embarrassment as a motivational lever? EU Visa-free and Ukraine
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Last week the EU appraised Moldova against the Visa-free road-map it was given, pretty much at the same time as Ukraine was given the same road-map. The up-shot of that appraisal? Moldova has overtaken Ukraine and can now move from Stage 1 to Stage...
Schengen: what can they ask, and what am I obliged to tell?
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Bleary eyed and grumpy last week due to a delayed night train, I was nevertheless rather surprised when a Danish policeman demanded to see my passport abord the night train to København H at Padborg (border station from Germany). When I asked him wh...
EU Court of Justice Annuls Frontex Sea Borders Rule – EU Parliamentary Approval Required
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The EU Court of Justice, Grand Chamber, issued a judgment on 5 September 2012 annulling Council Decision 2010/252/EU of 26 April 2010 supplementing the Schengen Borders Code as regards the surveillance of the sea external borders in the context of &#...
PACE Rapporteur Strik and HRW Respond to Recent Migrant Boat Tragedies
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Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) on “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?”, issued a statement on Friday in response to the deaths of 61 persons from Syr...
Question Raised Whether Migrant Boat Sank Off Lampedusa Last Week
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Italian authorities are questioning survivor reports that the boat on which they were sailing from Tunisia actually sank or capsized near Lampedusa on 7 September. Authorities have raised the possibility that the survivors were intentionally landed...
High Death Toll in Turkish Migrant Boat Sinking Likely Caused by Persons Trapped Below Deck
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Last week’s sinking of a migrant boat off the Turkish coast took place about 50 metres from shore. The high death toll of 61 persons, including 31 children and infants, seems to have occurred in part because many of the … Continue reading &...
Fortress Europe
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IN THE RADICAL PRESS / IL MANIFESTO Welcome to the European Union: migrant marine cemeteries and concentration camps By Tommaso Di Francesco You can’t get into Fortress Europe. Less than 24 hours after the shipwreck in the Aegean of a boat of...
Docs & photos on the opening of EASO's premises
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Malta Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi (left) & EASO Executive Director Dr. Robert K. Visser (right) We've received a number of documents related to the opening of EASO's premises, just a few days ago. There are a couple of photos, in case...
So where is EASO now?
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...a few days ago we told you EASO's moved into its originally-intended premises. If you want to see the official inaugaration of the premises by the Malta Prime-Minister, you can go to the Times of Malta's article here. There's also a short...
An open letter to the Foreign Office – Chernobyl Children’s Visas
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To the very clever people in the Foreign & Commonwealth Office, London UK. I write that opening sentence with some sincerity, despite the sarcastic tone it may convey. I have in my many years living in Russia and latterly Ukraine met a good n...
Schengen and the meaning of borders
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The debate about the Schengen Agreement (see post of 23 August 2012) also raises the question of what borders mean. What are borders? It’s question posed by places like Drielandenpunt near Aachen where Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands meet and...
Frontex to Increase Sea and Air Patrols in Aegean at Greece’s Request
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Greek news reports say that Greek officials have made requests to Commissioner Malmström and Frontex for assistance to respond to “increasing migratory pressures on the islands of the Eastern Aegean.” The Greek islands of Lesvos, Samos, Patmos...
HRW Briefing Paper: Hidden Emergency-Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean
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Human Rights Watch released a briefing paper on 16 August entitled “Hidden Emergency-Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean.” The briefing paper, written by Judith Sunderland, a senior researcher with HRW, reviews recent events in the Mediterranea...
EASO moves into its (new) office
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We've been wondering all day whether the Commission, the Malta Government of EASO itself will issue a press statement breaking the news that the Office has finally moved into its originally intended premises! Sources tell us that the move is plann...
The Schengen visa…and jesus
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Getting a Schengen visa on time? It is often beyond the control of us mortals. So maybe somebody up there can help…. http://www.prayerrequest.com/topic/124176-let-me-get-a-schengen-visa-this-week-i-ask-in-christ-jesus-name-amen/...
Ukraine: Striving for Unguarded EU Borders
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“We are Europeans” grassroots initiative (whose launch GV covered in Oct. 2011) re-posted on its Facebook page a photo collage [en] comparing the Iraq-Syria and the Netherlands-Belgium borders: the former is heavily guarded, the latter is...
400 Migrants Reach Lampedusa Over Past Weekend; Detention Centre Over Capacity; Former Interior Minister Maroni Calls for Resumption of Italy’s Push-Back Practice
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Two large migrant boats reached Lampedusa over the past weekend. One of the boats was carrying about 250 persons, believed to be Sub-Saharan Africans, and is thought to have departed from Libya. The boat was a 15 meter wooden fishing … Cont...
6 Persons Die During Rescue Off Malta; 235 Migrants Reach Malta Over Past Week
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A rescue operation that began last week off Malta was successful in saving 158 persons on board two separate migrant boats. Six persons died. Two fell into the sea and were lost while being transferred from their boat to a … Continue readin...
Meeting with FRA, UAM questionnaire, Procedures Directive
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These are some news updates we've been wanting to post for some time now…apologies for the delays! On 13th April Dr. Robert Visser, EASO Executive Director, visit the EU Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA). The FRA press statement can be read...
The Shehyni-Medyka border post
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OUR correspondent crossed from Ukraine into Poland by foot at the busy Shehyni-Medyka border post, which is one of the crossings of the European Union's eastern border since the EU's enlargement in 2004. The pedestrian route is a recent add...
Malta Expresses Interest in Use of Drones for Migrant Surveillance at Sea
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Malta Today reported last week that the Armed Forces of Malta (AFM) “have expressed interest in benefitting from a European Union-sponsored project involving the deployment of unmanned drones to assist in migrant patrols at sea.” “An AFM spok...
Slight Decrease in Number of Migrants Arriving by Boat in Spain in First Half of 2012
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Frontex reports a 3% decrease in the number of irregular migrants arriving by boat in Spain over the first half of 2012 compared to the same period in 2011: 2,637 in 2011 versus 2,559 in 2012. Most migrant boats attempt … Continue reading ...
Restrict citizenship in Southern Europe to fight irregular migration? More rhetoric than reality
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Written by Thomas Huddleston, MIPEX Research Coordinator, Co-author and Policy Analyst, Migration Policy Group The new Greek government wants to undermine its landmark 2010 Nationality Reform by aligning the law with other southern European countrie...
SOS til Europa
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De siste årene har over 18 000 båtflyktninger omkommet. I fjor døde over 1500 mennesker. Det er kun de vi har lest om i media. I tillegg er det et stort antall som aldri når nyhetsdesken, kun havbunnen. Europeiske politikere ser mer engasjert i...
Annual Report on the Situation of Asylum in the EU
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EASO has just published its first 'Annual report on the Situation of Asylum in the European Union and on the Activities of the European Asylum Support Office.' Article 12 of the Regulation states: "The Support Office shall draw up an annual rep...
HRW Report on Malta’s Migrant Detention Policy: “Boat Ride to Detention”
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Human Rights Watch has issued a report, “Boat Ride to Detention – Adult and Child Migrants in Malta”, documenting the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers arriving by boat in Malta and concluding that the mandatory detention policy violates...
Heinrich Böll Foundation Study: Borderline- The EU’s New Border Surveillance Initiatives, Assessing the Costs and Fundamental Rights Implications of EUROSUR and the ‘Smart Borders’ Proposals
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The Heinrich Böll Foundation released a study written by Dr. Ben Hayes from Statewatch and Mathias Vermeulen (editor of The Lift- Legal Issues in the Fight Against Terrorism blog) entitled “Borderline – The EU’s new border surveill...
Ingen flyktninger på Lampedusa?
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Viste du at det ikke er en eneste flyktning eller asylsøker på Lampedusa i dag? Er det ikke merkelig at den europeiske øya som er nærmest Afrika og kun 2-3 timers båttur fra Tunisia og Libya ikke har en eneste flyktning her? Det er dag to av pro...
Visa restrictions are shutting Turkey out of the EU | Egemen Bağış
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The idea of Turks flooding into the EU is absurd, yet ours is the only candidate country to be kept outside the Schengen zoneIstanbul enjoyed the honour of being recognised as the European capital of culture in 2010, and the European capital of sport...
Lampedusa øy, port og himmel og helvete.
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Er ankommet Italias sørligste øy som heter Lampedusa. Lampedusa ligger etter all normal fornuft i Afrika, men er altså en av Europas mange yttergrenser mot “resten” av verden. Jeg ankom Lampedusa i går kveld etter en flytur fra Bergen...
UNHCR Reports 54 Persons Dead After Migrant Boat Drifts in Mediterranean for 15 Days
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The UNHCR reported yesterday that UNHCR staff interviewed the sole survivor of a migrant boat that departed from Tripoli for Italy in late June with 55 people on board. The survivor was interviewed in Zarzis, Tunisia. “According to the survivor,...
Things You Ought to Be aware Regarding Polish Visa and Immigration Poland
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Immigration Poland stats have increased in number and folks indicated great pursuits in migrating to the country. Poland is one of the European union countries and provides cheaper labour when compared to rest. The nation is endowed with professional...
Visser on joint processing of asylum applications
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Every month Eurasylum publishes a short interview with a key person in migration and asylum affairs. Last May the interviewee was Dr. Robert Visser, the Executive Director of the European Asylum Support Office. In the interview Visser outlin...
Russia to modernize border security
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By Trude Pettersen Russia is modernizing protection of its outer border by replacing outdated protective installati...
EASO's June Newsletter
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We're happy to disseminate the June newsletter for the European Asylum Support Office. Until EASO sets up its own website, you can download it from our own site, here. Enjoy the reading!
EASO and EFTA...where do things stand?
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To follow up on Switzerland’s role in relation to the European Asylum Support Office posted here inJuly last year, we should give you another update on the relations between EASO and Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein. ...
Cyprus Reportedly Preparing for Possible Influx of Syrian Boat Refugees
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The EU Observer reported two weeks ago that Cyprus “is worried that Syrian refugees could arrive en masse in the island-nation and in the EU more broadly if the conflict gets worse [and that Cyprus] is drawing up plans in … Continue reading &...
Frontex Director is Leading Candidate for Finnish Interior Ministry Position
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Frontex Executive Director Ilkka Laitinen is a leading candidate for the recently vacated position of Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of the Interior in Finland. He was passed over for the position when it was last open. Prior to becoming ...
The March 2012 JHA Council Meeting
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We've mentioned this meeting in several of our previous posts, but we thought we better make the most interesting EASO-related conclusions easily accessible to our readers. The full meeting press release can be found here. In the meeti...
2012 Frontex Annual Risk Analysis
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Frontex posted its 2012 Annual Risk Analysis (“ARA”) on its website on 20 April. (The 2012 ARA is also available on this link: Frontex_Annual_Risk_Analysis_2012.) The stated purpose of the ARA is “to plan the coordination of operational ac...
Finally, some information on EASO in Greece!
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We came across a very interesting document that describes the current asylum situation in Greece, particularly looking at the role played by EASO's Asylum Support Team. The 'Implementation of the Greek National Action Plan on Migration Manag...
Orwellian EU Borders?
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By Bibbi Abruzzini Photo: Santosh Thatal "Dear Mr Laitinen, I am writing to inform you that I have decided to open an own-initiative inquiry into the implementation by Frontex of its fundamental rights obligations." With this agglomeration of words...
The Guardian’s Advance Coverage of PACE Report – “Lives Lost in the Mediterranean Sea: Who is Responsible?”
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The Guardian has reviewed a copy of the report prepared by Ms. Tinke Strik which will be presented to the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons on Thursday, 29 March. The Guardian describes the report as “a damning … C...
Human Rights Organisations Renew Call for NATO and Governments to Release Information Regarding Migrant Deaths in Mediterranean Sea
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Human Rights Watch, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and 9 other human rights groups on 26 March sent letters to NATO and the defence ministers of France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the UK, and the US calling for the … Continue...
