We are a non-profit project that aims to fill the data gaps relating to refugees and displaced people in Europe.
Refugee Rights Europe’s preliminary reaction to the European Commission’s Migration and Asylum Pact For years, women, men and children in displacement have suffered human rights violations across Europe: left to drown at sea, beaten, violently and illegally pushed back at EU borders, contained without dignity at the EU’s edges, returned to danger under cynical deals … Continue reading New Pact on Migration: An exacerbation of past failures in shiny new packaging
By Melis Ozbardakci, RRE Programme Associate The prefecture of Imperia in northern Italy recently announced the shutdown of a reception centre in Ventimiglia; a border town sometimes dubbed the ‘Italian Calais’ given its bottle-neck scenario and poor living conditions. The Campo Roja reception centre, managed by the Red Cross, officially closed on 31 July 2020, … Continue reading Closure of the Red Cross Reception Centre in Ventimiglia
By Melis Ozbardakci, RRE Programme Associate The vulnerability and the special needs of young asylum seekers are far too often overlooked. Most young asylum seekers in the UK would have left their home countries as children and subsequently experience harmful and traumatic environments that impact them deeply. In 2019, there were reportedly over 6,600 18 … Continue reading A Youth Welfare Officer pilot scheme launches in the UK
By Rory Goldring, Calais Food Collective When the police shut down our food distribution again, the people that were waiting for a meal were understandably frustrated. Accessing food is not straightforward for displaced people in Calais right now. An arguably racist application of Covid-19 precautions has meant that people of colour are often being denied … Continue reading “They beat us every time they get a chance.” A frontline perspective on police violence towards displaced people in Calais
By Barbara Joannon, Head of Programme and Advocacy The EU Commission’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum offers an opportunity. A chance to move away from a security driven approach to migration and asylum within the EU, to one based on human dignity, the rule of law and human rights. But the New Pact comes … Continue reading What we want to see in the New Pact on Migration and Asylum
The past weeks have seen a sharp increase in media coverage of small boat crossings by desperate individuals trying to reach the UK from northern France. UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson recently branded these Channel crossings “a very bad and stupid and dangerous and criminal thing to do”. Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel says she … Continue reading The UK Channel crossings – what’s happening?
By Selma Mesic, RRE Greece and Balkans Coordinator Photo of Leros Hotspot by: Bohm Rothenberg On 3 August, the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum announced that the funding they had requested in June for the building out of closed centres on the hotspots Samos, Kos and Leros had been approved by the European Commission. … Continue reading EU funding for closed centres in Greece is further sustaining a failing Hotspot approach
Harmful narratives The current narrative and political framing of boat arrivals as a “major threat” to the UK border needs to be challenged and put into perspective. In fact, the total number of arrivals by boat in 2020 thus far is expected to be just over 4,000 (compared with 1,890 in Jan-Dec 2019). This is … Continue reading On the arrival of prospective UK asylum seekers by boat, and the need for humane policy change
We recently submitted a briefing document, with substantial contributions from the non-governmental organisations Association for Juridical Studies on Immigration (ASGI), WeWorld, Diaconia Valdese and Befree, in advance of the adoption by the Committee against Torture (hereafter The Committee) of a list of issues prior to the Committee’s consideration of Italy’s Seventh Periodic Report on its … Continue reading RRE submits evidence to the UN Committee against Torture
La nostra organizzazione ha presentato un documento informativo, con contributi sostanziali delle organizzazioni non governative ASGI, WeWorld, Diaconia Valdese e Befree, prima dell’esame da parte del Comitato contro la tortura (di seguito il Comitato) della settima relazione periodica italiana sull’attuazione della Convenzione contro la tortura e altre pene o trattamenti crudeli, disumani o degradanti (di … Continue reading Refugee Rights Europe presenta un documento informativo al Comitato contro la tortura