ASYLNYTT

The Thai government should provide recently rescued Rohingya asylum seekers with assistance and immediate access to procedures to determine their refugee status, Human Rights Watch said today.

On June 4, 2022, the Thai navy found 59 Rohingya - 31 men, 23 women, and 5 children - from Myanmar stranded on Koh Dong Island near Satun province in southern Thailand. The navy took them ashore and detained them at the 436 Border Patrol Police unit. Thai officials who questioned them said these Rohingya were abandoned by smugglers, who charged them about 60,000 Thai baht (US$1,750) per person for a journey to Malaysia.

"The Thai government should end its policy of summarily locking up rescued Rohingya people and throwing away the key," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Thailand should permit the United Nations refugee agency to screen all Rohingya arriving in Thailand to identify and assist those seeking refugee status."

To protect Rohingya asylum seekers, it is crucial for the Thai government to permit the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to conduct refugee status determination interviews, Human Rights Watch said.

Like its predecessors, the Thai government of Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha has treated Rohingya arriving at the border as "illegal immigrants," detaining them in squalid lockups. According to one Western embassy in Bangkok, Thai officials are holding more than 470 Rohingya in indefinite immigration detention with no access to refugee status determination procedures. Thai authorities have not permitted UNHCR to conduct refugee status determinations for them. Thailand also discriminates against Rohingya by refusing to allow them to register as legally documented migrant workers, unlike other people coming from Myanmar.

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Arkiveringsdatum 220607:

UNHCR 22-05-20:

Internationellt/ UNHCR calls on states to lift pandemic-related asylum restrictions

More than two years on from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, at least 20 countries across the world today still deny access to asylum for people fleeing conflict, violence, and persecution based on public health measures. Some of these countries apply exceptions for the entry of asylum seekers in an inconsistent or arbitrary manner.

The latest figure of denial of access to asylum represents an improvement in how states handle the admission of asylum seekers since the onset of the pandemic. At the height of the emergency, 100 countries initially restricted access to asylum seekers, placing people already at risk in even more danger.

While states have the sovereign right to regulate the entry of non-nationals, the right to seek asylum and the prohibition of returns to situations of danger are central tenets of international law. This also prohibits countries from rejecting asylum seekers at borders.

"I appeal to the states that continue to maintain these restrictions to lift them urgently, in order to enable people to seek safety and protection," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi.

"With wars and violence raging across the world, and people fleeing from persecution, these measures deny the fundamental human right of people to seek asylum. Women, men and children continue to be turned away at land borders and sea; or are returned or transferred to countries where they may face threats to their life or freedom."

UNHCR has repeatedly warned that measures that deny asylum seekers entry at borders are not only contrary to international law but are also not necessary to address public health risks.

Throughout the pandemic, UNHCR worked with and urged states to uphold their international legal obligations to asylum seekers and provided guidance and technical advice on how to safeguard the rights of refugees while also protecting public health.

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The UNHCR mapping of COVID-19 related border restrictions for asylum seekers (Extern länk)

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UNHCR 22-05-23:

Sydostasien/ UNHCR shocked at Rohingya deaths in boat tragedy off Myanmar coast

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is shocked and saddened by reports that more than a dozen Rohingya - including children - have perished at sea off the coast of Myanmar over the weekend.

While details remain unclear, initial reports suggest the boat left Sittwe in Rakhine State, Myanmar on 19 May. It encountered bad weather in waters off Ayeyarwady Region, causing it to capsize near the coast of Pathein township on Saturday, 21 May.

At least 17 people are feared dead, with distressing reports of bodies found on the shore and the local communities burying the dead.

"The latest tragedy shows once again the sense of desperation being felt by Rohingya in Myanmar and in the region,'' said Indrika Ratwatte, UNHCR's Director for Asia and the Pacific. "It is shocking to see increasing numbers of children, women and men embarking on these dangerous journeys and eventually losing their lives."

In Myanmar, UNHCR is urgently seeking more information on survivors that have arrived on shore in order to assess their situation.

Over the past decade, thousands of Rohingya have left by sea from the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh and Rakhine State in Myanmar.

"The root causes of these deadly journeys need to be addressed. Additionally, all countries in the region must come together to ensure the rescue and disembarkation of all those in distress at sea," UNHCR's Ratwatte added.

UNHCR reiterates its warning that collective failure to act will continue to lead to tragic and fatal consequences. It is imperative to take action against criminals, smugglers and traffickers who prey on the most vulnerable.

UNHCR and partners continue to actively engage refugee and host communities, raising awareness about the risks of falling victim to criminals responsible for these deadly journeys.

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UNHCR 22-05-25: UNHCR's Grandi urges redoubled support for Rohingya refugees, host communities in Bangladesh (Extern länk)

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Human Rights Watch 22-06-06:

Mexiko/ Asylum seekers face abuses at southern border

Migrants and asylum seekers who enter Mexico through its southern border face abuses and struggle to obtain protection or legal status as a result of policies aimed at preventing them from reaching the US, Human Rights Watch said today. As leaders meet in Los Angeles for the Summit of the Americas, they should commit to ending abusive anti-immigration policies and to ensuring people seeking protection are received humanely in the US, Mexico, and elsewhere.

Refugee status applications and migrant apprehensions in Mexico have risen dramatically as US President Joe Biden has continued restricting access to asylum at the US southern border, and pushed Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to heavily regulate travel to and within Mexico in order to prevent non-Mexican migrants from reaching the US. Those who cross Mexico's southern border fleeing violence and persecution struggle to obtain protection, face serious abuses and delays, and are often forced to wait for months in inhumane conditions near Mexico's southern border while struggling to find work or housing.

"Outsourcing US immigration enforcement to Mexico has led to serious abuses and forced hundreds of thousands to wait in appalling conditions to seek protection," said Tyler Mattiace, Americas researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Summit of the Americas is an opportunity for regional leaders, including presidents Biden and López Obrador, to commit to a regional migration agreement that moves away from heavy-handed enforcement policies and towards protection and human rights."

Leaders from the Western Hemisphere are expected to sign a regional declaration on migration and protection during the Summit of the Americas, hosted by President Biden in Los Angeles. Any agreement signed should include commitments by leaders to restore and expand access to protection across the continent, to end heavy-handed enforcement policies that have led to abuses.

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Amnesty International 22-05-23: Upholding dangerous immigration policy will harm people throughout the Americas (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 220404:

IOM News 22-03-29:

Panama/ Number of Venezuelans Crossing the Darien Gap Soars

Joint UNHCR-IOM Statement

More people, including a growing number of Venezuelans, are resorting to perilous crossings through the jungles of the Darien Gap in search of safety and stability, report UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

As the socio-economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic hit refugees and migrants from Venezuela in host countries across Latin America and the Caribbean, an increasing number are heading north, joining other groups of people on the move.

According to statistics from Panamanian authorities, the number of Venezuelans crossing the Darien Gap in the first two months of 2022 (some 2,500) has almost reached the entire total for 2021 (2,819)[1].

The total number of people crossing the jungle so far this year has almost tripled compared to the same period last year, going from 2,928 in the first two months of 2021 to 8,456 in the same period of 2022, including 1,367 girls, boys and adolescents.

The Darien Gap, which marks the border between Colombia and Panama, is one of the world's most dangerous refugee and migrant routes, consisting of 5,000 square-kilometers of tropical wilderness, steep mountains, and rivers. Crossings can take 10 days or more for the most vulnerable, who are exposed to natural hazards as well as criminal groups known for perpetrating violence, including sexual abuse and robbery.

Many of those who make the crossing - usually young adults and families - arrive in remote indigenous communities, hungry, dehydrated, exhausted and in need of medical attention. UNHCR and IOM recognize the Government of Panama's positive efforts to provide assistance and reiterate their commitment to help the authorities ensure access to aid and protection for all those in need, including host communities.

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Arkiveringsdatum 220324:

FRA 22-03-23:

Östeuropa/ What are the key fundamental rights risks at the EU-Ukraine borders?

High danger of human trafficking, concerns about discrimination and racism, and overreliance on volunteers. These are some of the key fundamental rights issues the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) identified at the EU border check points with Ukraine. While FRA witnessed overwhelming support to everyone fleeing the conflict, the Agency stresses the need to stay vigilant and address arising issues to ensure people's rights are upheld.

"I warmly welcome the heartfelt solidarity shown across Europe towards the people escaping the conflict in Ukraine," said FRA Director Michael O'Flaherty. "But there are grounds for immediate concern which urgently need addressing, such as allegations of discrimination and racism, and the danger of trafficking. In addition, EU countries need to start now planning ahead for the needs of millions of people who may no longer have a home to return to."

FRA's short report 'EU-Ukrainian border check points: First field observations' summarises observations from FRA staff at the Hungarian, Polish, Romanian and Slovak borders with Ukraine and Moldova. It highlights:

Overwhelming support - FRA witnessed tremendous solidarity towards the people fleeing from Ukraine. People were not only accepted into the EU, but officials and volunteers assisted them with kindness. Looking ahead, EU civil protection mechanisms should support authorities in providing assistance and simplifying administrative red tape.

Discrimination and racism - even though FRA did not observe any discriminatory or racist acts during its field visits, the Agency is aware of the many allegations of racism as reported in the media. These should be promptly investigated. Authorities should be diligent to prevent such acts and civil society should be encouraged to report incidents.

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Arkiveringsdatum 220215:

Human Rights Watch 22-02-04:

USA/ Border Program's Huge Toll on Children

The United States and Mexican governments have subjected more than 20,000 children to the risk of serious harm under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), commonly known as the "Remain in Mexico" program, Human Rights Watch said today based on analysis of new data.

The United States sent at least 21,300 asylum-seeking children together with their families to dangerous Mexican border cities under Remain in Mexico during the administration of former US President Donald Trump, newly available records show. Children made up about 30 percent of asylum seekers placed in the program, based on data from records given to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) by US immigration courts.

"The data shows how many children the Trump administration wrongly sent to dangerous conditions in Mexico, many of them still there a year after President Joe Biden came into office with pledges to end this program," said Ari Sawyer, US border researcher at Human Rights Watch. "With efforts to account for and process those children and their families on indefinite hold, the Biden administration has left vulnerable asylum seekers stranded and should reverse course immediately."

Some of these children were able to reenter the United States between February and August 2021, when the Biden administration initially terminated the program. But the administration halted the wind-down process in August 2021, leaving behind at least 15,000 children.

The administration said it restarted the program in December to comply with a federal court order and has since placed over 330 adults, but no children, in the program. However, the administration has sent family units with children to Mexico and other countries more than 145,000 times under another abusive anti-asylum measure, the Title 42 border expulsion policy.

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Arkiveringsdatum 211231:

Frontex 21-12-09:

Litauen/ Frontex and Lithuania agree on service weapons delivered to Frontex corps

Today, on the margins of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri signed an agreement with Lithuania's Minister of Interior Agné Bilotaité to deploy Frontex standing corps officers equipped with service weapons provided by Lithuania.

The agreement has been signed in the presence of EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson and Slovenia's Minister of Interior Ales Hojs.

"This is a historic step for the standing corps and the European Union," said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.

"The Frontex standing corps officers have undergone extensive firearms training, they have been vetted by national authorities and have completed a psychological assessment. I am grateful to Commissioner Johansson and the EU presidency for their presence. This will give us more flexibility to continue our support to Lithuania after the end of the rapid intervention," he added.

For the first time, the Frontex standing corps officers recruited as EU statutory staff (category 1) will be able to carry firearms for patrolling activities. This agreement will be followed by similar agreements with other national authorities in the coming months.

The use of force by Frontex staff is governed by the regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard, and includes a specific control mechanism. The officers work under the command of national authorities. Any incident involving the use of force shall be immediately reported to Frontex.

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Arkiveringsdatum 211122:

BVMN 21-11-16:

Östeuropa/ Balkan Region Report - October 2021

Summary and analysis of pushbacks and internal violence documented by bvmn during the month of october.

In October the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) shared 36 testimonies of pushbacks impacting 986 people-on-the-move across the Balkans. This report brings together first hand accounts from a range of countries in the region to look at the way European Union states and other actors are affecting systemic violence towards people crossing borders.

BVMN is a network of watchdog organisations active in the Balkans, Greece and Turkey including No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, Disinfaux Collective, Josoor, [re:]ports Sarajevo, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response. Combining insights from these different members, the report analyses among other things:

+ Dead and missing in Evros

+ Romanian pushbacks and developments in Majdan

+ Apprehensions near the Slovenian-Italian border

+ Lighthouse Reports video and Ministry response

+ Pushbacks in the Aegean

+ Squat evictions in Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina

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Arkiveringsdatum 210904:

UNHCR 21-08-19:

Sydostasien/ UNHCR: Rohingya refugees facing deadlier journeys in the Bay of Bengal

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, revealed today that 2020 was the deadliest year on record for refugee journeys in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea.

Over the last year, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted many States in Southeast Asia to tighten their borders, leading to the highest numbers of refugees stranded at sea since the region's "boat crisis" in 2015.

UNHCR's new report, titled "Left Adrift at Sea: Dangerous Journeys of Refugees Across the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea", also highlights that some two-thirds of those attempting these perilous voyages are women and children.

These deadly journeys are not a new phenomenon. Over the past decade, thousands of Rohingya refugees have left by sea from Rakhine State in Myanmar and from the refugee camps in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh. The roots of these dangerous journeys are found in Myanmar, where the Rohingya were stripped of their citizenship and denied basic rights.

For the Rohingya who found refuge in neighbouring countries, restrictions on movement, livelihoods and education are compelling factors to seek a future elsewhere in the region. Motivations are various, often overlapping, and also include aspirations of reuniting with family members.

The risks have increased markedly for those attempting the journey. Of the 2,413 who are known to have travelled in 2020, 218 died or went missing at sea. This means that journeys were 8 times deadlier in 2020 than those in 2019.

In contrast to earlier periods where most of those travelling were men, the majority of passengers are now women and children. They are at even greater risk of abuse by smugglers when making such journeys. Their ordeal was made worse because safe harbours to end their dangerous journey were nowhere to be found.

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Border Violence Monitoring Network 21-08-25:

Östeuropa/ Balkan Region Report - July 2021

Summary and analysis of pushbacks and internal violence documented by BVMN during the month of July.

The Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) documented 22 pushbacks in the July reporting period, affecting a total of 544 people-on-the-move across the Balkans. This report brings together first hand accounts of police violence with updates from various border areas, including Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania and Italy. The publication contains an in-depth look at patterns of collective expulsion and internal violence, as well as various field and policy updates from the region.

BVMN is a network of watchdog organisations active in Greece and the Western Balkans including No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, Disinfaux Collective, Josoor, [re:]ports Sarajevo, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response. Combining insights from these different members, the report analyses among other things:

+ Croatian border rivers in pushbacks and transit

+ Direct pushback trends from Bulgaria

+ Death of child on Lesvos and new 'hotspot' announced on Samos

+ Police violence in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Romania

+ Successful court ruling on Hungarian asylum breache

The report also contains information on the renewed joint border patrols between Italy and Slovenia, the donation of border equipment by the European Union to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Greek government denials and admissions on pushbacks, and analysis on Slovenia's Presidency of the Council of the EU. Together, these various developments from across the region portray a migration regime which has weaponised borders and interiors against human mobility in a cruel and fatal way.

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Arkiveringsdatum 210808:

Frontex 21-07-30:

Litauen/ EU solidarity in Lithuania

Today, 60 additional standing corps officers have arrived in Lithuania to support the country with migration management due to increased pressure at its border with Belarus.

Earlier this month, Lithuanian authorities asked Frontex for additional support and the launch of a rapid border intervention.

In total, the agency is currently deploying 100 officers, 30 patrol cars and two helicopters in Lithuania. Experts from the Frontex European Centre for Return will also visit Vilnius next week to share information about types of return operations coordinated by the agency and discuss potential Frontex support.

The standing corps officers will work alongside their Lithuanian colleagues and help them with border checks, border surveillance, as well as the registration, identification and screening of the irregular migrants crossing the border.

After joining an operational briefing to get familiar with the current situation and the operational area, the officers will travel to selected border crossing points and start their activities the following day.

Since the beginning of the year, Lithuanian authorities registered more than 3200 illegal entries from Belarus. More than half of the detected migrants came from Iraq, followed by nationals from Congo (Brazzaville) and Cameroon.

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Arkiveringsdatum 210720:

Frontex 21-07-12:

Litauen/ Frontex launches rapid intervention in Lithuania

The Executive Director of Frontex has agreed to launch a rapid border intervention at Lithuania's border with Belarus to assist with the growing migration pressure.

Lithuanian authorities sent an official request for a rapid border intervention to Frontex on Saturday evening. Frontex has already sent officers and equipment to Lithuania on 1 July.

"The situation at Lithuania's border with Belarus remains worrying. I have decided to send a rapid border intervention to Lithuania to strengthen EU's external border," said Frontex Executive Director Fabrice Leggeri.

"We will reinforce our assistance and send additional border guards, patrol cars and specialised officers for conducting interviews with migrants to gather information on criminal networks involved. This is EU solidarity in action," he added.

Only in the first week of July, Lithuanian authorities recorded more than 800 illegal border crossings at its border with Belarus. While in the first half of the year most migrants came from Iraq, Iran and Syria, recently the authorities have seen a change in the composition of migratory flows. In July, nationals of the Republic of Congo, Gambia, Guinea, Mali and Senegal accounted for the majority of arrivals.

Rapid border interventions are designed to bring immediate assistance to an EU Member State that is under urgent and exceptional pressure at its external border, especially related to large numbers of non-EU nationals trying to enter its territory illegally.

Within the next days, the agency will deploy Frontex's own border guards together with officers from the Member States as part of the European Border and Coast Guard Standing Corps. They will work alongside their Lithuanian colleagues to jointly show Europe's response to the ongoing crisis.

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EASO 21-07-15: Lithuania to receive immediate operational support from EASO (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 210701:

Human Rights Watch 21-06-28:

USA/ Exceptions to US border expulsion policy fail to address flaws

Thousands have been expelled under abusive policy

The New York Times reported last week that the United States would lift a public health bar on migrants crossing the border into the country for families, but that it would keep expelling single adults, at least until the end of the summer. The US has expelled single adults more than 262,000 times under the rule. And many of them, including Black and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people and adults with disabilities, are as vulnerable as the family members now being allowed to enter.

While the exemption is good news for children and families, the ongoing bar on single people is both wrongheaded and nonsensical and shows the absurdity of the policy.

The foundation for this policy, rolled out under the administration of former President Donald Trump, is the Public Health Service Act of 1944, which was designed to confer quarantine authority to health authorities that would apply to everyone, including US citizens, arriving from a foreign country. Quarantine authority was never meant to be used to pick and choose who could or couldn't be expelled.

So, by barring only irregular border crossers, the Trump administration had already turned the public health rationale on its head. And while the move by President Joe Biden's administration to ease restrictions is welcome, the policy makes no more sense now with this exemption in place, and remains as arbitrary and ill-advised as it did under the Trump administration.

Ask yourself: Is a person traveling with their family any more or less likely to be infected by Covid-19 than a person traveling alone? For that matter, is a person crossing a land border on foot more likely to be infected than someone arriving by plane, who is not subject to expulsion under this policy? Or, as a matter of public health, does citizenship status have any bearing on infection?

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Arkiveringsdatum 210616:

Amnesty International 21-06-11:

USA/ USA and Mexico deporting thousands of unaccompanied migrant children

The US and Mexican governments are forcibly returning tens of thousands of unaccompanied children to the countries they just fled in search of safety, without adequate screenings or protection from the harm they may face upon return, Amnesty International said in the new report published today, Pushed into Harm's Way.

As Mexican President López Obrador and US Vice President Harris met this week in Mexico City, they pledged to increase coordination on immigration enforcement across the region. In reality, that translates into expanding the interception and forced returns of thousands of unaccompanied children to potential harm in their countries of origin. Children account for one in three migrants and asylum-seekers in the region - including many who have been forced to cross separately from their asylum-seeking families, after being turned away by US border authorities.

"The Biden administration is summarily returning almost all unaccompanied Mexican children just hours after they seek safe haven, often without considering the risks they could face upon return. Likewise, Mexican authorities are deporting the vast majority of unaccompanied children from Central America to their home countries - often where they just fled threats or violence - even though most have family in the United States with whom they are trying to unite," said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International. "These are dangerous and unconscionable policies. The United States and Mexico must stop denying unaccompanied children their universal human rights to seek asylum and to family unity, no matter where they're from."

United States forcibly returning almost all unaccompanied Mexican children

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Amnesty International 21-06-11: Facts and figures: Deportations of unaccompanied migrant children by the USA and Mexico (Extern länk)

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Amnesty International 21-06-11:

Mexiko/ USA and Mexico deporting thousands of unaccompanied migrant children

United States forcibly returning almost all unaccompanied Mexican children

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Amnesty International 21-06-11: Facts and figures: Deportations of unaccompanied migrant children by the USA and Mexico (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 210603:

Protecting Rights at Borders / ECRE 21-05-21:

Östeuropa/ New report on pushbacks across six European countries

In the report "Pushing Back Responsibility. Rights Violations as a "Welcome Treatment" at Europe's borders", Protecting Rights at Borders (PRAB) has collected testimonies of 2,162 cases of pushbacks, including chain pushbacks over multiple countries. The report covers rights violations at borders in Italy, Greece, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, and Hungary.

Based on an extensive collection of testimonies from the Central Mediterranean and Western Balkan routes, as well as at the EU's internal borders, the report concludes that: "Pushbacks continue to be systematically used by EU Member States and neighboring countries..." and "can be considered a de-facto tool for border management by some countries".

Of the total of 2,162 pushbacks recorded by PRAB partners between January and April 2021, 176 involved chain pushbacks. 24% of the cases involved physical abuse and assault, 27% involved theft, extortion and destruction of property, at the hands of national border police and law enforcement officials. 13% of pushback cases involved children.

In order to re-establish trust and monitor human rights violations the report recommends the establishment of national independent mechanisms to start investigations once evidence is collected by the mechanism or is referred to it: "This would be a tool to hold perpetrators accountable, end impunity and ensure access to justice".

The report further notes that pushbacks should be seen in the wider context of: "an overall trend, a so-called race to the bottom, with regards to respect for the fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees. While governments - deliberately - do not respect and often directly violate migrants', refugees' and asylum seekers' rights under human rights law, humanitarian organisations are often prevented from providing assistance in line with their humanitarian mandates.

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Arkiveringsdatum 210416:

IOM 21-04-08:

Internationellt/ First comprehensive global analysis of COVID-19 travel restrictions

While the overall picture of cross-border human mobility in 2020 is of movement dramatically curtailed as a result of measures imposed by governments since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report shows a varying reality over time and by region, with particularly harsh effects for refugees and other migrants who move out of necessity.

The report resulting from the collaboration by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and the Migration Policy Institute (MPI) marks the first comprehensive analysis of the travel measures and border closures that governments around the world took during 2020-which at their peak in mid-December exceeded 111,000 in place at one time. The report, COVID-19 and the State of Global Mobility in 2020, results from MPI analysis of IOM's COVID-19 Mobility Impacts platform, which collects all of the actions taken by countries and subnational authorities to close international borders, restrict travel between particular locations, impose quarantines and health requirements for travellers, and establish "travel bubbles" and other arrangements.

"The COVID-19 pandemic has gravely impacted global mobility, stranding millions of people, migrant labourers, family members or international students overseas," said IOM Director General António Vitorino. "This report draws out these dynamics over the course of 2020 and highlights the ways governments are attempting to restart mobility in 2021 and beyond."

Cross-border mobility in 2020 can be divided into three phases, the report's authors find:

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Human Rights Watch 21-04-08:

USA/ Misguided public health border expulsions

Biden administration returning asylum seekers to harm

The United States government's summary expulsion of irregular border crossers without regard to their asylum claims or need for protection on ostensible public health grounds puts lives at risk and violates US obligations under international law, Human Rights Watch said today in releasing a "question and answer" analysis. The administration of President Joe Biden should immediately stop returning asylum seekers to harm and rescind the March 2020 order invoked to authorize the expulsions.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued the order under pressure from the administration of former President Donald Trump. The order, which is based on the misapplication of Title 42 of US law - an obscure 1944 public health law not intended for immigration enforcement purposes - has been wrongfully used to give US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) unchecked authority to summarily expel migrants, including asylum seekers, arriving at US land borders.

"President Biden promised during his campaign to restore the right to seek asylum, but close to 100 days into his administration, Trump's border expulsion policy remains in place," said Ariana Sawyer, US border researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The Biden administration should immediately stop returning asylum seekers to harm, and instead build a humane border regime that protects public health and respects rights."

CBP agents have so far performed more than 642,700 expulsions under the CDC order, which uses public health as a pretext for dismissing human rights obligations. Under the order, agents have been denying asylum seekers access to nonrefoulement screenings required under US and international law to ensure they are not returned to persecution or torture.

The expulsion policy is only being applied at the border, and other travelers do not face the same restrictions.

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Border Violence Monitoring Network 21-04- 14:

Östeuropa/ Balkan Region Report - April 2021

In April, the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) reported on 42 pushbacks, impacting 1125 people-on-the-move at borders across the Balkans. This report brings together the latest first hand testimony and data on these incidents, highlighting the violent methods used by police across the EU external border. The report also looks at the involvement of other actors in violence at borders and interiors, such as right wing groups.

As a network comprised of grassroots organisations active in Greece and the Western Balkans, this report was produced via a joint-effort between Are You Syrious, Mobile Info Team, No Name Kitchen, Rigardu, Josoor, IPSIA, Disinfaux Collective, InfoKolpa, Centre for Peace Studies, Re:ports Sarajevo, Mare Liberum, Collective Aid and Fresh Response.

This report analyses among other things:

+ Court ruling for Madina Hussiny's family

+ Translation and linguistic violence in pushbacks

+ Border sites used in Albanian & Romanian removals

+ Cycle of pushback violence in Evros region

+ Right wing delegations and harrasment of squats

Read the full report to find out more on these topics and other developments in April, including the expansion of surveillance in Greek camps, the closure of Kara Tepe, large pushbacks from Samos, and the COVID-19 conditions in camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Together, these updates offer a grim insight into the way transit, reception and removals are being structured violently against people-on-the-move in the Balkans.

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Arkiveringsdatum 210402:

American Immigration Council 21-03-23:

USA/ Facts about the current situation at the border

The nation has turned its attention to the current situation at the U.S.-Mexico border, including the rise in immigrant children in U.S. government custody. Much of the conversation has focused on a supposed surge in arrivals under the Biden administration, but the current increase began well before President Biden took office. Here are five facts about the border.

1. Border encounters have been rising for months. The current rise began in April 2020, when President Trump instituted the practice of expelling all individuals encountered at the border under public health authority allegedly provided by Title 42 of the U.S. Code. Under Title 42, any single adult or family crossing the border from Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, or El Salvador were immediately turned around and sent back to Mexico. Unaccompanied children and most individuals from other countries were taken into custody, held for days or weeks, and then deported by plane back to their home country.

After implementing Title 42, the number of single adults crossing the border began rising rapidly, from a low of 14,754 in April to 62,041 in December. Many encounters are the same people trying to cross multiple times, as primarily Mexican men are turned back within hours, letting them try again quickly.

While the number of unaccompanied children and families encountered at the border also rose over that same period, it rose in much smaller numbers. Even after President Biden took office, in February 2021 a full 71% of all people encountered at the border were single adults, not families or children. The number of families apprehended at the border is still half that of February 2019.

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Congressional Research Service 21-03-19: Asylum Processing at the Border: Legal Basics (Extern länk)

Caitlin Dickerson in The Atlantic 21-03-29: America's Immigration Amnesia. Despite recurrent claims of crisis at the border, the United States still does not have a coherent immigration policy (Extern länk)

The New Yorker 21-03-28: "Biden and the Blame Game at the Border," (Extern länk)

Fler artiklar: (Extern länk)

Forced Migration Current Awareness 21-04-03: Commentary, reporting & resources on the border "crisis"

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Arkiveringsdatum 210226:

UNHCR 21-02-24:

USA/ UN agencies begin processing at Matamoros

UN agencies today will begin to prepare individuals and families in the informal camp in Matamoros, Mexico for entry to the United States in line with the U.S. plan to terminate a policy known as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) that forced asylum-seekers to wait for their U.S. immigration hearings in Mexico.

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, on Wednesday begins in-person registration of an estimated 750 people who have been living in the informal camp at Matamoros. A first group could be permitted to enter the United States later this week, pending authorization from U.S. authorities, who decide who will enter and when.

In addition to registration by UNHCR, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is conducting COVID-19 tests to ensure protection of public health while the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) is ensuring humane treatment of children and their families.

This action from UN agencies comes at the request of the U.S. and Mexican governments to assist with the re-entry into the United States of an estimated 25,000 people who have active immigration proceedings in the U.S. but were returned to wait in Mexico under the MPP program.

Both governments have prioritized the Matamoros camp due to the difficult humanitarian conditions there. Other individuals with active MPP cases residing outside the Matamoros camp will also be processed.

Following termination of the MPP program, a first group with active MPP cases entered the United States on February 19 at the San Ysidro port of entry between Tijuana and San Diego.

UNHCR, IOM and UNICEF support the termination of the MPP program and the addressing of the grave humanitarian situation of the thousands of people who have been waiting at the United States-Mexico border since as early as 2019.

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Amnesty International 21-02-22:

Indien/ Rohingya stranded in Indian Ocean must be rescued and disembarked

Responding to reports that a group of Rohingya refugees and at least three Bangladeshi nationals are stranded on a boat in the Andaman Sea and are in urgent need of rescue and disembarkation, Saad Hammadi, Amnesty International's South Asia Campaigner, said:

"Instead of passing on responsibility to other states, governments in the region must immediately deploy search and rescue measures to assist those stranded in the vessel, who are in desperate need of food, water and a safe place to disembark free of discrimination.

"Too many lives have already been lost at sea as the result of countries refusing to assist Rohingya people on boats. Another repeat of those shameful incidents must be avoided here.

"After years of limbo in Bangladesh and following the recent coup in Myanmar, Rohingya people feel they have no option but to undertake these perilous journeys. With a new 'sailing season' already underway, thousands more could yet take to boats. Regional governments must adhere to their international obligations to rescue and disembark people in distress at sea."

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Arkiveringsdatum 210125:

IOM 21-01-19:

Kenya/ IOM assists border control on route linking Ethiopia, Kenya

Ethiopia, Africa's second largest country (by population) after Nigeria, is also one of the continent's largest sources of international migrants.

Along its vast national circumference -some 5,311 kilometres, connecting Ethiopia to Sudan, South Sudan, Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Somalia- government control posts are limited. Lack of adequate staffing and modern technology impedes proper migration management, a matter of concern for national governments as well as for the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

At the start of this new year, IOM has helped open a new Border Control Post (BCP) between Ethiopia and Kenya. The post, at Neprumus in Ethiopia's Dasenech district, straddles one of the 830-kilometer Ethiopia-Kenya frontier's most frequented migratory routes, alongside a major route for Ethiopian migrants trying to reach South Africa. Ethiopians normally pass through Kenya into Tanzania, then travel further south.

In March 2020, at least 60 Ethiopian migrants in irregular situation were killed after being trapped in a lorry along this route. Hence, the urgent need for better and improved border control posts in the region.

"Supporting the establishment of modern and efficient BCPs will facilitate safe and orderly migration of citizens, enhance the relationship between bordering countries, provide protection, and increase the political and socio-economic stability between Ethiopia and Kenya," explained Kederalah Idris, IOM's Better Migration Management (BMM) Project Officer.

IOM is also supporting Ethiopia's Immigration, Nationality, and Vital Events Agency (INVEA) with training to enhance the capacity of immigration officers, and at the same time supplying infrastructure and office equipment, computers, and generators to establish new border control posts.

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Arkiveringsdatum 201124:

UNHCR 20-11-19:

Internationellt/ UNHCR warns 2020 risks lowest resettlement levels in recent history

2020 will be a record low for refugee resettlement, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, warns today.

"We are dealing with a disappointingly low resettlement ceiling to begin with - a quota of less than 50,000 for the entire year - and this was further impacted by COVID-19 delaying departures and pausing some states' resettlement programs," said UNHCR's Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, Gillian Triggs.

According to latest UNHCR data, only 15,425 refugees were resettled from January to the end of September this year, compared to 50,086 over the same period last year.

"Current rates point to one of the lowest levels of resettlement witnessed in almost two decades. This is a blow for refugee protection and for the ability to save lives and protect those most at risk," said Triggs.

UNHCR is urging states to resettle as many refugees as possible in 2020 in order not to lose those resettlement opportunities for refugees, and to maintain resettlement quotas for 2021.

Some countries have established or expanded their capacities to apply flexible processing modalities and are safely managing resettlement travel with recommended protocols in place. UNHCR is encouraging others to do the same.

"Expanding safe and legal pathways to protection, including through resettlement, saves refugees' lives and it can also mitigate their resort to dangerous journeys by land or sea," Triggs said.

The impact of COVID-19 put on hold life-saving evacuation of refugees from Libya on 12 March, only restarting again on 15 October. Some 280 refugees who were previously evacuated to emergency transit facilities in Niger and Rwanda are currently waiting to depart to resettlement countries, while 354 people are waiting for decisions from resettlement countries.

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Human Rights Watch 20-10-21: US, Australia Hit New Lows on Refugee Resettlement (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 201111:

House Judiciary Dems 20-10-29:

USA/ Committee releases report on Trump administration family separation policy

Family separation policy was "driven by an Administration that was willfully blind to its cruelty and determined to go to unthinkable extremes to deliver on political promises..."

Today, the House Judiciary Committee released the findings of its 21-month investigation into the development and execution of the Trump Administration's family separation policy, which resulted in more than 2,500 migrant children becoming unnecessarily separated from their parents.

The report, entitled "The Trump Administration's Family Separation Policy: Trauma, Destruction, and Chaos," provides the first complete narrative of the inhumane family separation policy, in the Administration's own words. The investigation revealed the Trump Administration's family separation policy lasted far longer than is commonly known and was marked by reckless incompetence and intentional cruelty. Worse still, administration officials knew that the government lacked the capacity to track separated family members and moved forward with separations anyway. As a result, efforts to reunify separated children continue to this day.

"The Committee's report makes clear that Trump Administration was willing to go to extreme lengths, including ripping young children and children with disabilities from the arms of their parents, to stop migrants fleeing violence from seeking protection in the United States," said Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) and Immigration Subcommittee Chair Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) in a joint statement. "Now, more than year since the end of this cruel policy, the Trump Administration has failed to reunite hundreds of children with their families. The incompetence is unforgiveable. As we move forward, we need a whole of government approach to reunite these families and put an end to this dark chapter in our nation's history."

The Committee's report draws the following conclusions:

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ECRE 20-10-23:

Östeuropa/ Report on illegal pushbacks and border violence in the Balkan region

In the latest issue of its Illegal Pushbacks and Border Violence Report, the watchdog network Border Violence Monitoring analyses 40 cases of pushbacks along the Balkan Route and Greece that affected 1,548 people on the move in September 2020. According to the report, the collected testimonies are extremely alarming and demonstrate how the existing EU border regime is underpinned by horrendous abuse.

A number of pushbacks were documented in Tovarnik at the Croatian border with Bosnia and Herzegovina, which affected people intercepted across Croatia and through chain pushbacks people intercepted in Slovenian and Italian territories. The patterns of physical mistreatment during these operations by Croatian border police suggests a systematic use of violence. Recurrent abuse involved being beaten, forced to undress, and having belongings stolen or destroyed. Both men, women, and children were affected.

The report highlights the widespread use of weapons during violent pushback operations across the region including assault rifles, pistols, batons and tasers. Further, the use of more improvised and non-standard weapons emphasises the demonstrative nature of the abuse that exceeds regular policing practices. During an earlier reported case, Romanian police used an improvised whip consisting of an cable attached to a wooden baton to lash a group of Syrian nationals. And also the use of tree branches in beatings is frequently recorded.

Chain pushbacks across multiple countries continued to take place during the reporting period. In an incident from mid-September, a group of five was intercepted in the Austrian village of Laafeld and handed over to Slovenian police. Subsequently the group was further pushed back to Croatia and finally beyond EU borders to Bosnia and Herzegovina. A testimony report suggests that there was at least one more case of a chain pushback from Austria to Bosnia and Herzegovina in September.

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Arkiveringsdatum 200913:

ECRE 20-08-28:

Östeuropa/ Balkans: New report details illegal pushbacks and border violence

The Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) published its monthly report highlighting 21 incidents of illegal pushbacks during July across the Balkan region. The report shares the experience of 389 people and details rights violations occurring at the external border of the European Union.

The report gives special focus to the testimonies collected from persons pushed back from Romania to Serbia. Two groups described a practise by Romanian authorities apprehending people seeking to transit through Serbian territory in the border region. Reportedly, removing them and detaining them in Romania for short periods and where they were exposed to violent and abusive treatment. According to testimony collected by BVMN in Sid: "All but children were beaten." The striking similarity between the testimonies collected from pushback incidents over 50km apart suggests that such practises represent a structural approach by Romanian authorities.

Further, violent pushbacks from Bosnia to Serbia, across the Drina River, were recorded by video. Police officers were filmed pushing boats towards an island in the middle of the river and people were made swim from mid-way across the water. Groups interviewed by BVMN at the Greek - Macedonian border reported being beaten and kicked by officers allegedly wearing Frontex uniforms. BVMN also summarises testimony of almost daily pushbacks at the Greek Albanian border.

The publication of BVMN's report coincides with the completion of the five-day, rapid reaction visit to Croatia by the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) to examine the treatment of persons attempting to enter the country, the conditions of detention and formal pre removal procedures at a number of border police stations and the country's main reception centre.

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AYS 20-09-04: Croatia: "They are crueler during the night" (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200805:

UNHCR 20-07-29:

Afrika/ Thousands of refugees and migrants suffer extreme rights abuses on journeys

Thousands of refugees and migrants are dying, while many are suffering extreme human rights abuses on irregular journeys between West and East Africa and Africa's Mediterranean Coast.

A new report released today by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC) at the Danish Refugee Council, titled 'On this journey, no one cares if you live or die', details how most people taking these routes suffer or witness unspeakable brutality and inhumanity at the hands of smugglers, traffickers, militias and in some cases even State officials.

"For too long, the harrowing abuses experienced by refugees and migrants along these overland routes have remained largely invisible," said Filippo Grandi, UN High Commissioner for Refugees. "This report documents killings and widespread violence of the most brutal nature, perpetrated against desperate people fleeing war, violence and persecution. Strong leadership and concerted action are needed by States in the region, with support from the international community, to end these cruelties, protect the victims and prosecute the criminals responsible."

Collecting accurate data on deaths in the context of irregular mixed population flows controlled by human smugglers and traffickers is extremely difficult as many take place in the shadows and away from the view of authorities and their formal systems for managing data and statistics. However, the report's findings, primarily based on MMC's 4Mi data collection programme, and data from additional sources, suggest that a minimum of 1,750 people died on these journeys in 2018 and 2019. This represents a rate of least 72 deaths per month, making it one of the most deadly routes for refugees and migrants in the world. These deaths are in addition to the thousands who have died or gone missing in recent years attempting desperate journeys across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe after reaching north African shores.

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Media page: photos, video testimonies and b-roll footage (Extern länk)

Läs eller hämta rapporten "On this journey, no one cares if you live or die" (Extern länk till pdf-fil)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200624:

Amnesty International 20-06-22:

Afrika/ People seeking safety are trapped at borders due to COVID-19 measures

A coalition of international, national, and refugee-led organizations in the Horn, East and Central Africa (HECA) have today called on governments in the region to reopen borders for asylum seekers. The organizations are calling on governments to put in place measures that manage the current health emergency while ensuring asylum seekers can seek protection.

Countries in the HECA region host approximately 4.6 million refugees and asylum seekers and have a long history of receiving asylum seekers and providing them with protection. Before the pandemic, the countries continuously received new people seeking safety and protection from violence and conflict, political persecution, or other threats to their lives. States started closing their borders in March as a public health measure to contain the transnational spread of COVID-19, without safeguards for the many women, men and children fleeing threats to their lives and freedoms and needing to seek asylum.

"While countries in the region are faced with a genuine public health emergency, governments, with support from international partners, must find solutions that respect international human rights and refugee law commitments, including the right to seek asylum. Governments should consider measures such as medical screening or testing, preventative and time-bound quarantine facilities at border crossing points to allow access to asylum seekers," said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International's Director for East and Southern Africa.

Burundi, Ethiopia, Rwanda, and Somalia closed their borders in March 2020. In Kenya, the borders with Somalia and Tanzania closed on 16 May. Asylum seekers and refugees who cross into Kenya are sometimes arrested and returned to the border point of entry.

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Human Rights Watch 20-05-19:

USA/ Deportation with a Layover

Failure of Protection under the US-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement

An agreement between the United States and Guatemala, the US-Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement (ACA), enables the United States to rapidly expel non-Guatemalan asylum seekers to Guatemala without allowing them to lodge asylum claims in the United States, but also leaves them without access to effective protection in Guatemala. As a result, they are effectively compelled to abandon their asylum claims, and some who have a well-founded fear of persecution appear to be returning to their home countries where they are at real risk of serious harm.

Guatemala does not meet the standard required in US law for a "safe third country" - the ability to provide "access to a full and fair procedure for determining a claim to asylum or equivalent temporary protection."[1] Guatemala's asylum system is hamstrung by a limited legal framework that only allows high level officials to approve claims, which causes massive bottlenecks in a system that has only recently begun to function at all. At the end of March 2020 there was a backlog of 713 cases,[2] including every one of the few asylum applicants among ACA transferees;[3] the interministerial committee that decides asylum cases had not met from the time Covid-19 restrictions went into place in mid-March through the time of writing this report in late April.[4]

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Human Rights Watch 20-06-02:

USA/ Investigate 'Remain in Mexico' Program

The United States government should initiate an internal investigation into the Trump administration's "Remain in Mexico" program, Human Rights Watch said today after submitting a formal complaint to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The department should be held accountable for its failure to protect asylum seekers under the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program from routine targeting in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

The complaint was submitted to the DHS Office of the Inspector General and the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties, both of which are responsible for ensuring that the department complies with the law and its own policies.

"Under the 'Remain in Mexico' program, the Department of Homeland Security has knowingly sent tens of thousands of vulnerable asylum seekers across the border where criminal organizations have long preyed on migrants," said Ariana Sawyer, US border researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The DHS inspector general should investigate and act since Homeland Security has run roughshod over federal and international law by returning asylum seekers to harm."

Under the MPP program - known as "Remain in Mexico" - non-Mexican asylum seekers in the United States are sent to cities in Mexico while awaiting asylum hearings in US immigration court. The program has had serious rights consequences for returned asylum seekers. Human Rights Watch has repeatedly urged the US government to immediately end the program, stop returning asylum seekers to Mexico, and instead ensure them access to humanitarian support, safety, and due process in immigration court proceedings.

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Arkiveringsdatum 200521:

IOM 20-05-15:

Afrika/ Responding to the pandemic amid crises: "Stop the virus, not the people."

Mobility across the arid African Sahel region is a long-standing tradition and is considered a critical livelihood and adaptation strategy for millions in one of the world's harshest environments.

Now, as governments are mandating significant restrictions of movement to contain the propagation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) - notably by putting a halt on border trade and "non-essential" activities - heavy socio-economic impacts for households have begun.

"I'm stranded here for weeks, and I can't send money to my parents and my wife because I have to use the money for food and accommodation," explained Malick, a Senegalese trader once accustomed to travelling to Mauritania weekly for commerce.

Stranded since March at the Sélibabi, Mauritania, border station, he added, "Now, I can no longer support my family in Senegal, as I am jobless."

For this man, and thousands of others, this week (14 May), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) joined several UN agencies and NGOs in West and Central Africa to sound the alarm about the rapidly deteriorating crisis in the Sahel amid the COVID-19 crisis, a condition now headed to unprecedented levels of humanitarian need across the region.

UNDESA estimates there are 9.5 million West and Central African migrants currently in the region, more than 100,000 of whom are considered returning migrants. The International Centre for Trade and Sustainable Development calculates cross-border trade across the Sahel today represents almost 12 per cent of the region's overall trade volume.

Therefore, mobility in the region is crucial to livelihoods in several nations, upon which the pandemic already is having a devastating impact.

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Border Violence Monitoring Network / ECRE 20-05-15:

Östeuropa/ Special Report on Violence along the Balkan Route during COVID-19

The Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN) published a special report on human rights abuses against people in transit along the Balkan Route during the current Coronavirus outbreak. The report shows how health restrictions and border management combine to tightened measures for migrants.

The report identifies key developments, which result in further limited access to asylum and territory in the EU, healthcare, adequate accommodation, and safety from violent and collective expulsion. A rise in military deployment at borders and camps in response to COVID-19 marks the securitised approach taken by countries such as Slovenia and Serbia.

Violent pushbacks from Croatia to Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) and chain pushbacks from Slovenia via Croatia continue. According to BVMN enhanced autonomy of state authorities in times of the pandemic led to increased brutality. Migrants, pushed back from Croatia to BiH, have been tagged with orange spray-paint on their heads and robbed their belongings allegedly by the Croatian police. Zoran Stevanovi?, UNHCR regional communications officer for central Europe, demands an investigation by the Croatian government to all allegations of abuse against migrants.

In Greece and Serbia pushbacks have expanded to institutional spaces with lockdown measures used as excuse to perform unlawful removals such as collective expulsions from inner city camps and centres hosting asylum-seekers. In addition, inadequate accommodation facilities remain an ongoing concern for migrants especially during a health care crisis, which makes them highly vulnerable.

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Arkiveringsdatum 200426:

ECRE 20-04-17:

Östeuropa/ Slovenia plans new barriers, pushbacks and violence continue

On Tuesday 14 March, Slovenia announced a plan to establish 40 kilometers of fence to stop the entry of people moving though the Balkan route. According to a recent report published by the Border Violence Monitoring Network (BVMN), the situation along the borders of the Balkans is alarming.

According to Slovenian media, 40 kilometers of fence will be erected at the southern border with Croatia in the municipalities of Ko?evje and Kostel and in the western region of Primorska. Since 2015; 169 of the 670 km of border separating Slovenia from Croatia has been gradually fenced.

A report from BVMN documents that in March 2020, the pushbacks of 165 people across the region, one third of whom suffered cruel collective expulsions from Greek territory. Of particular concern to the network are also what it defines as "chain pushback" from Slovenia to Serbia with the intermediary role of Croatia.

The use of violence during pushback operations is frequent across the region. According to a testimony collected recently at the Greek bank of the Evros river: "People were forced to undress and then, eight by eight, were loaded into a boat". In Serbia, online anti-migrant propaganda is increasing social tensions and the presence of far-right patrols at the borders and inside migrant centres is well documented.

The marginalisation of asylum seekers is exacerbated by the current Covid-19 emergency. In Croatia, the Porin Centre for asylum seekers in Zagreb was fenced off to enforce the self-isolation of about 600 people living there, without proper actions to ensure social distance and basic hygiene conditions. Similar situations are reported also in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Greece and Italy.

Due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, BVMN is facing new challenges in collecting individual testimonies but working hard to maintain the contact with people and adopt new reporting strategies.

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Arkiveringsdatum 200410:

Human Rights Watch 20-04-02:

USA/ COVID-19 policies risk asylum seekers' lives

The Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program, known as "Remain in Mexico," is driving asylum seekers to stay in unhygienic camps and shelters in Mexican border cities where they are at heightened risk of contracting the COVID-19 virus, Human Rights Watch said today. Additionally, the United States announced new travel restrictions on March 20, 2020 that would allow US border agents to deny entry to people who previously may have been held in border detention centers in the US, including unaccompanied children and other asylum seekers, trying to cross the border.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) should immediately end the MPP program and reverse the new travel restrictions, Human Rights Watch said. Asylum seekers removed from the MPP program should not be detained, but rather paroled into the United States with quarantine or other measures as necessary for public health. Any policies closing the border to asylum seekers would violate US and international rights obligations.

"The US government is pushing people who are in the process of seeking asylum, including children, to live in unhygienic conditions that unnecessarily increase their risk of contracting the coronavirus," said Ariana Sawyer, US border researcher at Human Rights Watch. "The US has an obligation under international law not to compel people to risk their right to life in order to pursue their right to seek asylum."

Under the MPP program, non-Mexican asylum seekers in the United States are returned to cities in Mexico while awaiting asylum hearings in US immigration courts, where they often appear in mass group hearings. Immigration attorneys, judges, and prosecutors have called for the Department of Justice to suspend immigration court hearings to protect public health. Immigration courts have since announced that all MPP hearings scheduled through May 1 will be rescheduled, effectively stranding asylum seekers in the program in Mexico.

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Grace Meng, Human Rights Watch 20-04-07: Trump administration using pandemic as excuse to target asylum seekers (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200306:

ECRE 20-02-21:

Östeuropa/ Balkans: new protests along the EU borders

A new round of marches and protests have taken place in the Balkans along EU's external borders. In Bosnia and Herzegovina 700 people were prevented by police from breaking out of the Miral camp, protesting their conditions as well as abuse by authorities across the border in Croatia.

Following arrests and violent pushbacks at the Serbian border with Hungary at the end of January, another round of protests and marches from people prevented from entering the EU took place in North Macedonia and Serbia this week. In Bosnia and Herzegovina several people were detained when hundreds of inhabitants of the Miral camp located about 10 kilometres from the border with Croatia were confronted by police on February 15. The group was protesting the widespread and well documented abuse by Croatian border police as well as the conditions in the overcrowded Miral camp hosting 1000 people - 300 above capacity.

A resident of the camp was quoted by Reuters for stating: "the Croatian police are very, very bad. We want the border to be opened. Please don't hit us anymore. Don't remove our jackets, shoes, and socks. They take it all." Conditions in the makeshift camps in North-western Bosnia where the Miral camp is located has been criticised by Doctors Without Borders (MSF) for not meeting basic living standards.

Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the main transit countries for people seeking to enter the EU: "Everybody here wants to go to the border and go to Italy, Germany or France," stated a man from Pakistan to Reuters.

While Bosnian authorities estimates that as many as 50,000 people passed through the country en route to Europe in 2019, according to IOM the number of registered arrivals last year was 29,232. The organisation states that most have fled Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Iran and Syria, among them "families with children, elderly, unaccompanied migrant children, and those vulnerable to violence, exploitation and abuse".

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Arkiveringsdatum 200224:

Läkare utan gränser 20-02-11:

USA/ Rapport: Avskräckningspolitik hot mot migranter och asylsökande i Mexiko

Den nya migrationspolitik som införts av USA och Mexiko gör att många centralamerikaner tvingas leva under farliga förhållanden, något som har allvarliga konsekvenser för deras fysiska och psykiska hälsa. Det visar en rapport som Läkare Utan Gränser publicerar i dag.

- Det framgår av medicinska uppgifter och vittnesmål insamlade under flera år att många av våra patienter desperat flyr från våldet i sina hemländer, säger Sergio Martin, ansvarig för Läkare Utan Gränsers insats i Mexiko. Dessa människor har rätt till skydd och vård, och åtminstone en rättvis chans att söka asyl. Istället möter de mer våld längs migrationsrutten och är samtidigt utestängda från länder där de inte skulle vara i fara. Nu är de fast på farliga platser utan möjlighet att söka skydd.

Rapporten No Way Out (Ingen utväg) baseras på vittnesmål och intervjuer med 480 centralamerikanska migranter och asylsökande samt erfarenheter från Läkare Utan Gränsers anställda och medicinska uppgifter från mer än 26 000 personer som fått hjälp längs migrationsrutten genom Mexiko under de första nio månaderna 2019. Den medicinska evidensen visar att migranter och flyktingar utsatts för våld och misshandel i stor omfattning i sina hemländer, längs migrationsrutten och i förvar hos amerikanska och mexikanska myndigheter. Den stora mängden våld i den norra triangeln i Centralamerika (NTCA) är jämförbar med den i krigszoner, där Läkare Utan Gränser har arbetat i årtionden - och är en viktig faktor i det som driver människor att migrera norrut, till Mexiko och USA.

"Utnyttjar de allra mest sårbara"

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Arkiveringsdatum 200208:

UNHCR 20-02- 05:

Internationellt/ More resettlement needed as only 4.5 per cent of global needs met

Out of 1.4 million refugees estimated to be in urgent need of resettlement worldwide, only 63,696 were resettled through UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, last year.

While the number of refugees resettled in 2019 increased modestly by 14 per cent when compared to the previous year, in which 55,680 people were resettled, a tremendous gap remains between resettlement needs and the places made available by governments around the world.

"Resettlement is not a solution for all the world's refugees but it is a life saving measure to ensure the protection of those most at risk and whose lives often depend on it," said Grainne O'Hara, UNHCR's Director of International Protection.

The largest number of UNHCR-facilitated resettlement departures last year were to the United States, followed by Canada, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Germany.

Out of the more than 63,000 refugees resettled last year, the largest number originated from Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Myanmar.

Increasing refugee resettlement opportunities and other complementary pathways for admission, including through family reunification, work and study routes, is one of the key objectives of the Global Compact on Refugees. It is a tangible way for states to share responsibility and show solidarity with host countries supporting large refugee populations.

To work towards increasing the number of resettlement places and admissions, as well as expanding the number of countries offering these programs, a Three-Year Strategy on Resettlement and Complementary Pathways was launched last year by governments, non- governmental organizations, civil society and UNHCR.

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Göteborgs-Posten 20-01-29:

USA/ Nya flyktingkaravaner stoppas med tårgas vid Mexikos södra gräns

Tusentals centralamerikaner gör återigen gemensam sak i sin önskan att resa norrut. Det kan se ut som en repris av de karavaner som 2018 satte tonen för migrationsdebatten i USA. Men det mesta har förändrats. Då möttes de av kraftsamlingar för att underlätta resan. Nu tycks alla dörrar ha stängts och soppkök har bytts mot pepparsprej.

Runt 4000 personer hade anslutit sig till den senaste karavanen med migranter när den härom veckan anlände gränsen mellan Guatemala och Mexiko. De allra flesta var från Honduras, varifrån gruppen startade i mitten av januari. Liknande karavaner blev ett fenomen i slutet av 2018, när allt fler anslöt sig till följena som startade i våldsutsatta San Pedro Sula i nordvästra Honduras.

Grupperingarna, som till stor del bestod av familjer, kvinnor och barn, uppmärksammades stort när de tilläts passera in i Mexiko och visades solidaritet längs vägen norrut. Människor fick lift och tillfälliga humanitära visum för att de snabbare och säkrare skulle kunna nå sitt mål: att ta sig till USA.

Enligt Gretchen Kuhner, chef över Mexikos Institut för kvinnliga migranter, IMUMI, ligger förklaringen till bemötandet då - efter ett kort första försök att stänga karavanerna ute - delvis i att Mexiko befann sig i något av ett vakuum i väntan på presidentskiftet, vilket gjorde att olika delstatsregeringar tog egna beslut.

- En del delstater agerade med mycket solidaritet gentemot migranterna, medan andra till exempel anlitade bussar för att de skulle bli av med dem snabbare. Så det blev ett slags ping-pong mellan delstaterna, tills de kom fram till Tijuana.

Skapade nytt nationalgarde

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Human Rights Watch 20-01-29: Returns to Mexico threaten rights, security (Extern länk)

Human Rights Watch 20-01-29: Q&A: Trump Administration's "Remain in Mexico" Program (Extern länk)

Human Rights Watch 20-02-07: US Congress Investigates Policy Harming Asylum Seekers (Extern länk)

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Amnesty International 20-02- 04:

Peru/ Unlawfully turning away Venezuelans seeking protection

Peru is betraying its tradition of solidarity with Venezuelans seeking protection and is now deliberately rejecting people at the border, Amnesty International revealed today in a new report, In search of safety: Peru turns its back on people fleeing Venezuela.

Venezuelan asylum-seekers trying to enter via Peru's border with Ecuador are being turned away, despite appearing to fulfil all the criteria for international protection. Peru is denying entry even to Venezuelans in evidently vulnerable situations, including older people and unaccompanied children.

"In recent years, Peru has been an example of solidarity and safe refuge. Instead of resorting to restrictive policies, it should continue to demonstrate leadership and welcome Venezuelans, in line with its domestic and international obligations to guarantee the protection of people fleeing hunger and violence in Venezuela," said Marina Navarro, executive director of Amnesty International Peru.

Since June 2019, Peru has introduced a series of measures with the deliberate aim of restricting entry to the country. The new "humanitarian visa" was effectively rendered obsolete only weeks after its introduction, because without entry and departure stamps from Ecuador, Venezuelans are not permitted to enter Peru, regardless of whether they have acquired the visa.

Amnesty International spoke to many Venezuelans who were stranded at the border after having their asylum claims or humanitarian visas rejected. One man said he left Venezuela in October 2019 because he could no longer afford to feed his family. Despite having a valid Peruvian humanitarian visa in his passport, the Peruvian officials did not allow him to enter. Left in limbo at the border, he began to cry when he described how he had accumulated debt and left his family behind on the understanding that they would later be reunited in Peru.

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Arkiveringsdatum 191120:

UNHCR 19-11- 02:

USA/ UNHCR troubled by latest U.S. refugee resettlement cut

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is troubled by the U.S. decision announced today to reduce, substantially and for the third consecutive year, the number of refugees it will admit for resettlement in the United States over the coming year. The admissions ceiling of 18,000 leaves thousands of the most vulnerable refugees in risky circumstances, sends a counterproductive message to other countries on the need for more burden-sharing and erodes one of three durable solutions for refugees.

"At a time of record forced displacement in the world, lower admissions constrain UNHCR's ability to deliver on its refugee protection mandate and diminish our humanitarian negotiating power at the global level," said UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi. "As the agency mandated by the UN General Assembly to lead and coordinate the international response to refugees, UNHCR is naturally troubled by this trend in the United States and elsewhere.

"Grandi underscored that only about half of one percent of the world's 26 million refugees - including victims of torture, women and girls at risk and other individuals with acute vulnerabilities - are resettled to any country. This is only after intensive screening and is solely at the discretion of admitting states. Yet with the numbers of individuals and families uprooted around the world by conflict and persecution at an all-time high, resettlement needs far exceed the places governments are making available for them.

The U.S. ceiling for fiscal year 2020 starting October 1 is well below the number of people already waiting in the U.S. resettlement pipeline. Lower admissions will postpone reuniting of traumatized families and leave many living in open-ended limbo, lacking basic conditions for rebuilding their lives.

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Arkiveringsdatum 191025:

ECRE 19-10-18:

Östeuropa/ Systemic pushbacks and border violence continue in the Balkans

Pushbacks and violent policing practices in the Balkan Region remain a serious matter of concern according to a report published by the Border Violence Monitoring Network.

The report gathers testimonies, photographs and other evidence of violent border practices carried out by law enforcement authorities during September 2019. It raises particular concern with regard to the increased use of police dogs in Croatia and Hungary, which resulted in the hospitalisation of several bite victims. It further reports that 50% of the persons interviewed in September were pushed back from Croatia and forced into the rivers that they had used to cross the border, putting their life at risk. Humiliating and degrading practices have also been reported in Hungary, with people in transit zones being forced to stand in the cold water of an inflatable swimming pool while police officers were recording and taking pictures of them. There are also reports of illegal detention - whereby persons are being held in informal hangars and garages with no access to information - and beatings by the police in several countries.

In recent years, Balkan countries have stepped up border patrols following an increasing number of people transiting through the area. This has resulted in the adoption of emergency measures to prevent migration and in granting law enforcement authorities with increased powers, as illustrated by the recent announcement of prolongation of the state of crisis until March 2020 in Hungary.

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Arkiveringsdatum 190912:

IOM 19-09-10:

Afrika/ Over 7,400 deaths on migration routes across Africa in last five years

African migrants are perishing at a rate of about 25 persons per week - or about 1,300 annually - on the African continent, even before embarking on perilous sea journeys to Europe or the Arabian Peninsula. Since 2014 over 7,400 men, women and children have died in transit across Africa, new records published today by IOM's Missing Migrants Project (MMP) show.

These recently added records bring the total number of deaths documented on the African continent to 607 in 2019, and 7,435 in the last five years. Moreover, these figures fail to capture the true scale of the tragedy, as they represent only fatalities which have been reported.

The new records are based on hundreds of eyewitness accounts collected from migrants through surveys by the Mixed Migration Centre's Monitoring Mechanism Initiative (4Mi). The interviews with migrants were conducted by 4Mi between December 2018 and April 2019 in West, North and East Africa and were analysed by the Missing Migrants Project team before being added to its MMP database.

However, 4Mi interviews covered only a small sample of the total number of migrants on the move in Africa - meaning that hundreds of additional deaths likely remain unreported and, of course, uncounted.

Nonetheless, due to the absence of other sources of information, surveys such as those conducted by 4Mi reveal important information about migrants' experiences, including the risks to life that people face during their journeys.

Records show that thousands of people lose their lives as they journey through North Africa, where 4,400 deaths have been reported since 2014. However, deaths in this region are not well documented, and the true number of lives lost during migration remains unknown.

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ECRE 19-08-30:

Östeuropa/ Report on Illegal Pushback and Border Violence

The Border Violence Monitoring Network has published a report which includes updates and a summary of recent policy developments related to violence and practices of push-backs at the borders of Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Hungary, Slovenia and Serbia.

The situation at the Croatian border with Bosnia Herzegovina is particularly highlighted. This includes changes of the locations where pushbacks are happening and where people are returned to, which often leaves them further from material and medical assistance. The report finds that as part of systematic push-back practices, the prevalence of testimonies describing Croatian authorities burning the belongings of people transiting continued. Witnesses described Croatian police officers burning clothes, sleeping bags, backpacks and tents in addition to targeting other material possessions such as mobile phones, power banks, and personal documents.

The report also makes the point that pushbacks from Croatia to Bosnia Herzegovina are organized and coordinated as people who are apprehended are merged with other groups and their transport (often over more than 150 km). This results in delays and waiting periods which lengthen the amount of time people-in-transit spend in police vans. The report mentions testimonies of the drive in the police van as: overcrowded, overheated, overly long, with low levels of oxygen and reckless driving that cause the people inside to faint and vomit.

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Arkiveringsdatum 190721:

Läkare utan gränser 19-07-04:

USA/ 45 procent asylsökande i Nuevo Laredo utsatts för våld, 12 procent kidnappats

Läkare Utan Gränser fördömer Mexikos och USA:s beslut att utöka den policy som tvingar människor som söker asyl i USA att stanna i våldsamma områden i Mexiko. Där utsätts de för stora faror, som kidnappning och våld.

Både Mexiko och USA har gått med på att utvidga policyn som ska få migranter och flyktingar att stanna i Mexiko (officiellt kallad Migrant ProtectionProtocols) till Nuevo Laredo, en gränsstad i delstaten Tamaulipas som kontrolleras av kriminella grupper. Asylsökande i Nuevo Laredo utsätts ständigt för rån, överfall, utpressning, kidnappning och mord.

- Att skicka tillbaka människor som söker asyl till Mexiko och tvinga dem att stanna i Nuevo Laredo är oacceptabelt, säger Maria Hernandez, som arbetar för Läkare Utan Gränser, i Mexiko. Den här politiken tvingar utsatta människor till områden som kontrolleras av kriminella grupper, som betraktar migranter som en handelsvara och inkomstkälla.

Läkare Utan Gränser tillhandahåller sjukvård och psykosocialt stöd till migranter och flyktingar i olika skyddsläger i Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa och Matamoros.

Enligt Läkare Utan Gränsers patientdata från januari till maj i år har mer än 45 procent av de 378 patienter som organisationen vårdat i Nuevo Laredo drabbats av minst ett fall av våld i staden och 12 procent har kidnappats.

- Majoriteten av våra patienter vågar inte gå utanför dörren på grund av den överhängande risken för kidnappning, säger Maria Hernandez. De asylsökande vi vårdar och ger rådgivning till i Nuevo Laredo kommer från flera länder, som Kuba, Kongo-Kinshasa, Kamerun och Mexiko. Men det är utan tvekan människor från Centralamerika som är mest utsatta för kidnappning, och det är till största delen de som kommer att återföras till Mexiko på grund av policyn.

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Arkiveringsdatum 190703:

IOM 19-06-25:

Afrika/ Close to 20,000 migrants rescued in Sahara since beginning of operations

The June 15 rescue of 406 migrants including seven women and four children stranded in the Sahara Desert brings to nearly 20,000, the number of people the International Organization for Migration (IOM) has rescued there since April 2016.

"We walked for hours under the scorching desert sun with no water or idea where we were heading," said 27-year-old Amadou from Mali.

"Suddenly, I saw the IOM truck coming our way. They gave us food and water and brought us to Assamaka, and then Arlit the following day."

The latest rescues included people from 14 West African countries, mainly Guinea-Conakry, Mali and Côte d'Ivoire bound for north Africa. They were transported to the town of Assamaka where IOM's team, one Focal Point, four community mobilizers (MobComs), two nurses and one driver, are based.

"Despite having assisted so many groups of migrants, I still find it difficult every time a new group arrives, with newborns in their arms, faces covered in sand and their clothes ripped apart," said IOM's local Focal Point Alhassane Adouel.

"After so many arrivals, it still breaks my heart to see what they have to go through."

The latest operation was IOM's 189th humanitarian mission into Niger's Ténéré desert. Trucks carrying migrants north frequently break-down in the desert; in other cases, they become lost or the smugglers simply abandon people to their fates.

No one knows how many migrants have died attempting to cross the Sahara.

IOM's operations are supported by the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID) and the European Union, within the framework of the Migrant Resource and Response Mechanism.

Rescued migrants are often mentally and physically drained, injured and dehydrated.

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Läkare utan Gränser 19-06-20:

Mexiko/ Massarresteringar av migranter leder till farliga ruttval

Räder mot och massarresteringar av migranter har blivit allt vanligare vid Mexikos södra gräns. Migranterna har därför börjat använda sig av farligare rutter. Det har drivit dem i armarna på kriminella gäng och bort ifrån medicinsk vård, varnar Läkare Utan Gränser.

Under de senaste veckorna har Läkare Utan Gränsers team i Coatzacoalcos och Tenosique bevittnat flera massarresteringar av migranter. En räd i Coatzacoalcos genomfördes när organisationen var på plats för att dela ut hygienartiklar och ge medicinsk vård och psykologiskt stöd åt migranterna.

Räderna har lett till att migranterna undviker platser där polisen kan få syn på dem, i rädsla för att bli häktade. Därför undviker migranterna också ställen där medicinsk vård är tillgänglig.

- Vi ser redan konsekvenserna av att migranter och asylsökande kriminaliseras, säger Sergio Martin, ansvarig för Läkare Utan Gränsers insats i Mexiko.

- De senaste dagarna har antalet migranter som söker vård minskat. Det är tydligt att de här människorna inte får den vård de behöver.

Räderna i Coatzacoalcos och Tenosique förra veckan sammanföll med att USA offentliggjorde ett avtal med Mexiko, ämnat att minska migrationen och öka åtgärderna mot migranterna, speciellt vid Mexikos södra gräns.

- Människorna rör sig nu i små grupper och i hemlighet, säger Sergio Martin.

- De är tvungna att ta farliga rutter och utsätts för brottslighet. De har inte tillgång till tak över huvudet eller grundläggande medicinsk vård, trots att det är nu de behöver det som mest. Allt fler migranter tyr sig nu till människosmugglare, och just smugglarna kommer att vinna mest på de här repressiva åtgärderna.

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Human Rights Watch 19-07-02:

USA/ Asylum seekers returned to uncertainty, danger in Mexico

The United States government should cease returning asylum seekers to wait in Mexico during their US immigration court proceedings, Human Rights Watch and the Hope Border Institute said in a report released today.

Human Rights Watch's 50-page report, "'We Can't Help You Here': US Returns of Asylum Seekers to Mexico," finds that thousands of asylum seekers from Central America and elsewhere, including more than 4,780 children, are facing potentially dangerous and unlivable conditions after US authorities return them to Mexico. The US and Mexico agreed on June 7, 2019 to dramatically expand the returns program.

"The US government has advanced a dangerous fiction that asylum seekers returned to Mexico will have access to work and shelter and a fair chance in US immigration courts," said Clara Long, senior US researcher at Human Rights Watch and co-author of the report. "Instead, US border officials are stranding mothers with small children and other vulnerable migrants in Mexican border cities where their safety and security are at risk."

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) first began returning asylum seekers to Mexico under its Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP) program at the San Ysidro port of entry in southern California on January 29, and soon after to Calexico. The program expanded to El Paso, across the border from Ciudad Juárez in Chihuahua state by mid-March. Since then, Ciudad Juárez has surpassed both Tijuana and Mexicali as hosting the highest number of asylum seekers placed in the MPP program.

Human Rights Watch and the Hope Border Institute conducted 23 in-depth interviews with asylum seekers, as well as interviews with US and Mexico government officials, local activists, and attorneys, and observed MPP immigration court hearings for 69 individuals. Human Rights Watch learned of serious harms to asylum seekers in Ciudad Juárez including kidnapping, sexual assault, and violence.

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Human Rights Watch 19-07-12: Immigrant Rights Groups: Congress Must Investigate Separation & Suffering Caused by Trump 'Remain-in-Mexico' Policy (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 190620:

Amnesty International 19-06-17:

USA/ The impact of US policies on refugees in Lebanon and Jordan

'The mountain is in front of us and the sea is behind us'

The USA's retrenchment in refugee protection has had profound global effects. For the first time since the US refugee program began in 1980, the USA is no longer the global leader in refugee resettlement. This has been a deliberate choice by the current US administration, executed through a series of discriminatory policies disproportionately affecting refugees from Muslim-majority countries and other policy decisions slashing refugee admissions and adding extreme vetting processes. Amnesty International urges the USA to reverse its discriminatory and restrictive policies on refugee protection and uphold its commitments to share responsibility for refugee protection.

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Se även:

Bill Frelick, Human Rights Watch, i Foreign Policy in Focus 19-05-30: Trump's policies are harming refugees worldwide (Extern länk)

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Källor: Informationen på denna sida är hämtad från följande källor (externa länkar): EU (kommissionen, ministerrådet, parlamentet och domstolen), Europarådet (mr-kommissionären, domstolen, kommittén mot tortyr), FN:s flyktingkommissariat UNHCR, FN:s kommitté mot tortyr m.fl. FN-organ, Sveriges Radio, SvT, andra svenska media via Nyhetsfilter och pressmeddelanden via Newsdesk, utländska media till exempel via Are You Syrious och Rights in Exile, internationella organisationer som Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ECRE, Statewatch och Picum, organisationer i Sverige som Rädda Barnen, Asylrättscentrum, Svenska Amnesty, FARR och #vistårinteut samt myndigheter och politiska organ som Migrationsverket, Sveriges domstolar, JO, Justitiedepartementet m.fl. departement och Sveriges Riksdag.

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