100 posts
Introductory e-course on the rights of refugees
HREA launched an introductory e-course on the rights of refugees and displaced persons. This e-course gives an overview of the institutions and mechanisms that serve to protect refugees and internally displaced persons. It combines text with rich mul...
The Three I’s-Complex hits Germany
And finally it came to Germany, the all-disrupting debate about the Three I’s-Complex – Immigration, Integration and Islam -, a debate which threatens to turn all established politics, as we know it upside down. Germany has been contaminated...
Population dense
Yet again, the Daily Mail runs a story about an increase in immigration rates. Yet again, they bring up the fact that England has a high population density. (Edit: The part about population has been split into its own article now.) I’ll leave i...
Reading room: August 16th
All today’s links are from the Guardian. 1. As part of the ‘Europe on trial’ series, Les Back explains how EU integration bars the persecuted from finding refuge in Europe. 2. Clara Marina O’Donnell reckons the EU must co-...
The ACP Observatory on Migration
The African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) States Observatory on Migration is a new institution created to provide reliable data and information on migration flows in ACP countries. The objective is to design better policies to enhance the migration co...
DIIS Working Paper: Sovereignty at Sea: The Law and Politics of Saving Lives in the Mare Liberum
DIIS (Danish Institute for International Studies) has published a paper by Thomas Gammeltoft-Hansen and Tanja Aalberts, Sovereignty at Sea: The Law and Politics of Saving Lives in the Mare Liberum (DIIS Working Paper 2010:18). The paper addresses “...
CARIM: Updated migration profile for Senegal
CARIM has published an updated migration profile for Senegal. CARIM profiles are “[d]ivided into three parts – the demographic-economic, legal, and socio-political frameworks [and] portray key trends and dynamics as well as legal and policy dev...
Economic immigrants will save the European Social Model
The way to address the aging population of EU effect on state finances in UK, Greece, France, etc, is not by dismantling their Social Models (eg see changes in the NHS) but by adopting a more open (realistic & humanist at the same time) policy (by EU...
An article from German institute for international and security affairs
The Blue Card Impasse Three Options for EU Policy on Highly Qualified Immigrants By Steffen Angenendt / Roderick Parkes http://www.swp-berlin.org In May 2009, after long and difficult negotiations, the EU Member States agreed on common rules t...
East Africa hosts most refugees outside the Middle East
East Africa now hosts over a million refugees from East, Central and Southern Africa, the largest total figure in the world outside of the Middle East. According to the latest Global Trends report released by the United Nations High Commissioner for...
Failure to reach agreement on Migration in Revised Cotonou Agreement
Representatives of the EU and ACP (Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific group of states) signed the second revision to the Cotonou Agreement in Ouagadougou on 22 June.The Agreement provides the basic framework for relations between the EU and ACP states. ...
EP Refers Frontex Sea Borders Rule to ECJ
On 23 June the JURI committee (Committee on Legal Affairs) voted in camera to refer the question of the validity of the Frontex rule regarding the surveillance of the sea external borders to the European Court of Justice (Council Decision 2010/252/EU...
Crossborder: Plugging The Brain Drain
How can the old continent convince its best brains to stay in Europe? How can it entice foreign researchers to work in its laboratories? See EuroparlTV video.
Updated CARIM Overview of Migration Developments in Libya
CARIM just issued a short paper, Libya: The Migration Scene – Which implications for migrants and refugees?: “In the light of UNHCR’s announcement of the 8th of June 2010 that it was requested to close its offices in Libya, CARIM provides a...
Dwindling EU development aid spent on deporting refugees
'Charity begins at home' goes the old maxim, and when it comes to aid for the third world, Europe very much adheres to this motto. As the economic crisis pinches national budgets, EU member states' funds set aside for development are dwindling and...
EU JHA co-operation: After Lisbon, reality bites
By Hugo BradyEU policies on policing, justice and immigration were widely expected to take a big leap forward after the ratification of the Lisbon treaty. But interested outsiders should not assume that new powers for the EU’s institutions will tra...
Amnesty Int’l Report on Libya Criticises Libya and EU on Refugee Treatment
Amnesty International has released a comprehensive report on Libya entitled “Libya of Tomorrow – What Hope for Human Rights?” The report covers a range of matters including the criminal justice system and the use of the death penalty. Sec...
The right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers
Please, find my report on the right to education of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers.This report was presented at the beginning of June 2010 at the Human Rights Council, together with my reports of the official visits to Mongolia, Paraguay an...
A Place to Call Home
On Sunday, the 20th of June, the World Refugee Day is celebrated across the globe. It is a day of solidarity with those who have been displaced from their homes because of war, persecution or natural disasters. Today they include around 10 mill...
EUROSTAT: 2009 EU27 Asylum Statistics and Characteristics of Asylum Seekers
Excerpts from the EUROSTAT asylum statistics press release issued on 18 June 2010: The EU27 Member States granted protection to 78 800 asylum seekers in 2009 compared with 75 100 in 2008. The largest groups of beneficiaries of protection status in th...
European Integration Forum - 2nd meeting
The objective of the European Integration Forum is to provide a voice for representatives of civil society on integration issues, in particular relating to the EU agenda on integration, and for the Commission to take a pro-active role in such discuss...
CEAR Releases 2010 Annual Report: La situación de las personas refugiadas en España
CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado) has released its 2010 annual report: “La situación de las personas refugiadas en España – INFORME 2010.” The report is 350+ pages long. I will try to review it and do an additional post...
Migration Flows and Economic Sustainability In The Baltics
Here’s the third in the series of paper abstracts submitted to the Bologna conference in 2007 and which weren’t considered sufficiently interesting to be selected for presentation. This time the topic is migration and the Baltics, and the...
MEPs call for EU money for Member States willing to host refugees
Member States volunteering to receive refugees sheltered by third countries should receive up to €6000 from the EU refugee fund per person resettled, suggested Parliament's Civil Liberties Committee on Tuesday.
At a stroke of a Hungarian pen, another 450,000 EU citizens are created.
By passing a new citizenship law the Hungarian Parliament has just given EU citizenship - thus migration rights to the UK to 450,000 (approx) ethnic Hungarian speakers in the Ukraine and Serbia.Now if the Hungarians wish to give citizenship rights to...
American Anthropological Association denounces the New Arizona Immigration Law!
[What is Arizona Senate Bill 1070?] AAA Challenges New Arizona Immigration Law from American Anthropological Association by damondozier In a strongly-worded resolution passed by its Executive Board on May 22, 2010, the American Anthropological As...
End our children’s Yarl’s Wood nightmare
The following letter was sent to Nick Clegg and to the Observer: First of all may we take this opportunity to congratulate you and wish you every success in the new job. We parents in this detention centre need to express our concerns about our ch...
History blogging: Why is SCIFA still there?
Just details of EU history: According to a Council document from June 2008 in which you find a summary of the preparatory work for the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty at that time (document version with handwritten comments), "many delegations"...
Camps for foreigners and the corridor of exile: a global landscape
The plight of migrants, the ‘globalisation’ of the human condition, poses again the question of solidarity and demands a response of planetary ambition and responsibility. Related posts:The Anti-Sites in the new city The UN and discrimination i...
FT video: Is Europe still the promised land?
In this FT video, Victor Mallet, Madrid bureau chief, follows the migrant trail from Tangiers, north Morocco, to an immigration camp in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta and across the mouth of the Mediterranean to southern Spain. He sees how the regions&...
The Wiffen of Racism from UKIP in London
The Chair of UKIP in London Paul Wiffen has expressed these views on multicultural London: “You Left-wing scum are all the same, wanting to hand our birthright to Romanian gypsies who beat their wives and children into begging and stealing money th...
The EU’s role in UK immigration
Just a quick note for future reference, as most people who blame the EU for “uncontrollable” immigration (*ahem* UKIP *ahem*) tend not to know what they’re talking about – but also tend not to believe anything you say unless i...
First Italian Migrants’ Strike: Its success and its future.
The degree of racism in a country is an indicator for the level of its internal crisis. In Italy, where this rate is rising dangerously, it is necessary to continue along the route marked by the events of the first of March. Related posts:A migrant...
London: two events on migration and democracy coming up
On Tuesday March 30 and Wednesday March 31 in London we will be organising a workshop and a conference on questions of migration, political participation, and transnational representation. Related posts:30 March – London – Workshop wit...
The R-word
We know we need to talk about it, but who dares to pronounce it, the R-word? In the era of political correctness, no hot potato is a potato. Euphemisms encroach. We change candy wrappings, we are ready to give up school plays and customs not to offen...
The ECtHR on Conditions in Deportation Centre
I did recently translate the decision of the ECtHR as to the admissibility of application No. 14160/08 by Sergey Dolinskiy against Estonia, into the Estonian language. This is about a refused request for a residence permit and the subsequent detainme...
The return of a new generation – well-educated children of Turkish immigrants leave Germany
BERLIN — The roughly 2.7 million immigrants of Turkish origin in Germany have been at the center of the country’s debate on immigration and integration as long as the debate has existed. Now, almost 50 years after the first Turkish guest...
The End of Migration
Liberal Conspiracy carries an interesting piece by Jennifer O’Mahony on a continental campaign that encourages immigrants into one-day strikes. The idea is to make people realise the dependence of successful economies on migrant labour. From...
Geert Wilders: The first truly European politician?
I don’t like Geert Wilders, because, whereas I do agree with some of his conclusions, I’m loath to pigeonhole any group of people because of their religion. Muslims are no more all anti-democrats than Irish Catholics are all pedophiles. Y...
Immigration: Let’s Get Silly!
Sunny Hundal ponders the issue of immigration, and what it is about migration that sends rightwingers into a kind of frenzy: It boggles my mind that when it comes to immigration, Tories just go nuts. It’s like a red rag to a bull – they can’t p...
A migrants’ strike in Italy and France
A day without foreigners. This may seem a macabre commercial for the xenophobic Italian Northern League party, but it is actually the slogan of the general strike that has been called on 1st March by the migrants' communities in Italy and France.
Freedom to travel for Schengen migrants on long-stay visas
The current situation has led to thousands of complaints, says the European Parliament rapporteur Carlos Coelho. The Grahnlaw blog post Schengen residents with long-stay visa: Proposals on freedom to travel (3 February 2010) mentioned the travel res...
Inside UKBA
Someone at the UK Border Agency has blown the whistle on what appears to be a culture of cruelty and casual racism. The home affairs select committee chairman, Keith Vaz, has called for an investigation following allegations that officials at one of...
Schengen residents with long-stay visa: Proposals on freedom to travel
There is a problem concerning circulation within the Schengen area without internal borders for third-country nationals legally residing in one of the Schengen states on the basis of a long-stay "D" visa issued by that member state: Lacking a residen...
PACE Addresses Property Issues of Refugees and IDPs
Permit me to highlight a resolution adopted by the Parliamentary Assembly (PACE) last week on the issue of 'Solving property issues of refugees and displaced persons.' The resolution contains a set of recommendations for member states and is based on...
EU development funds to be used for fingerprinting refugees
Article from David Cronin for Inter Press Service published 13.11.2010, reproduced in full here: BRUSSELS: Aid traditionally reserved for keeping victims of war and disasters alive may now be used for security-related projects such as the fingerprint...
Nonsense on asylum
Two types of nonsense on display in the Daily Express today. The spark is a report that 124 illegal immigrants found on a beach in Corsica were set free by French judges rather than held in detention. It is thought likely by police and charity work...
18th February – Bologna – Salon Europa / Migration
European Alternatives organizes a new meeting as part of the Salon Europa series of events, which this time will be focused on immigration. With the writer Tahar Lamri and the journalists Eric Jozsef (Liberation) and Gabriele Del Grande (Fortress Eur...
Eurabia: No such thing
The Brookings’ Institution’s Justin Vaïsse takes apart the Eurabia myth in this excellent short piece inForeign Policy. He points out the concept’s stylistic links to fear of “Eurocommunism” in the 50s and general anti...
Cotonou Partnership Agreement: revision of article on Migration
Article 13 on ‘Migration’ is a priority issue for European Union member states in the revision of the Cotonou Partnership Agreement (CPA). However, the ongoing revision process scheduled to be finalised at the end of February 2010 does not seem t...
The numbers game
A group of cross party Parliamentarians (including a former Archbishop of Canterbury) have released a statement (extracted and linked at ConservativeHome), saying that immigration is too high and that the population of the country should be capped at...
North Africa a Transit Region for International Migration
Copyright (C) Hein de Haas (2007), The Myth of Invasion In the year 2009 the European continent saw a decrease of 17 percent in irregular border crossings from the Southern Mediterranean rim. This sharp drop of the immigration flow headin...
Immigration to Denmark: Danish Green Card
If you go over articles below you will see that thee EU Countries – Britain, Denmark and Ireland may not participate in the EU Blue Card initiative. Wondering why? They already have their own ‘high-skilled’ immigration schemes. Before I mov...
Interview with Seyla Benhabib
Seyla Benhabib is a professor of political science and philosophy at Yale, and director of the program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and a well-known contemporary philosopher. She is the author of several books, most notably about the philosoph...
‘Welcome!’ gets Lux Prize and highlights painful debate
Immigration has certainly become an essential aspect of European identity. Finding who we are as Europeans means finding common references which enable a community spirit to take shape. Ultimately it also means comparing our peculiarities with others...
UKIP’s new leader, Lord Pearson
UKIP, love them or hate them, have been fairly consistent in one thing over the years – arguing against the EU because it is run by unelected bureaucrats. Just one of their arguments, perhaps – but the democratic deficit claim (though cer...
Electronic discussion on Migration and Rural development in ACP countries
It is increasingly recognized that migrants constitute an invaluable resource for development in their home countries. For many developing countries, remittances from overseas migrants exceed development aid and foreign direct investment volumes. But...
Step towards EU-funded flights for deportation of illegal immigrants
On Friday 30 October the EU Council reached agreement on the joint funding of flights to remove illegal immigrants from EU countries. This decision, the first of its kind, came after a week of fierce controversy surrounding France’s repatriation of...
Goose Chase: The New Immigration Rules in the UK
On the 19th of September 2009, a 19 year old Canadian woman was forced to fly back home as she was threatened to be deported from the United Kingdom. Rochelle Wallis, who had recently married a British man she had known for over two years, was separa...
Fortress Europe – War against refugees?
Via wikileaks I found this very interesting video, unfortunately only in German. If I had some time I would add subtitles (here is the text file). Although only a shorter version of the video was shown on German TV, it is quite a good example of EU r...
Migration road
I have arrived on the Greek Island of Samos to look at one of the main illegal migration paths into Europe. The islands in the Aegean Sea are the new front line, and Samos in particular has become the favoured...
If Odysseus was alive today, he would end up in an asylum camp
I am from Athens, Greece. I am 24 years of old. I grew up with a nanny from Philippines. During my adolescence I played at school with Albanian immigrant kids and now I have my car windscreen cleaned on the streets by immigrants from Pakistan. My gra...
