News Selection – Migration

18/1/2019: Amnesty has condemned the outsourcing of European border control to the Libyan authorities which, in combination with a system which fails to share responsibility for asylum-seekers fairly across Europe, has denied asylum-seekers their rights. Source: Amnesty International

18/1/2019: A new law allows refugees in Ethiopia to attend regular schools and to travel and work across the country. This is a condition of the EU-funded “compact”, a $500 million aid programme which aims to prevent refugees from trying to reach Europe.

Source: The East African

17/1/2019: Thailand's immigration chief has vowed not to force refugees to return home "involuntarily", after a Saudi woman's desperate plea for resettlement drew global attention to a country that does not recognise asylum seekers. Source: SBS News

14/1/2019: Jordan’s ‘jobs-for-refugees’ compact, rolled out in 2016, saw mixed results. Five researchers from the Overseas Development Institute draw on lessons learned to recommend five ways to ensure the Ethiopia compact succeeds.

Source: Refugees Deeply

30/12/2018: The numbers of people attempting to cross the Channel are minuscule compared to the height of the EU’s 2015 crisis when 10,000 people landed in a single day in Greece. Source: The Guardian

Tread Softly Comment: This calm presentation of simple statistics debunks all the frothy hysteria generated by the combination of an emotive topic and news-starved holiday media. Relevant Briefing: Rights of Refugees and Migrant Workers

20/12/2018: The UN independent human rights expert on torture estimates that transfers and returns to Libya can be considered a violation of the international legal principle of “non-refoulement”, which protects asylum seekers and migrants. Source: UN News

22/12 2018: An NGO ship, newly active in searching the Mediterranean, has rescued nearly 300 migrants off the coast of Libya. Source: News24

17/12/2018: Most refugees actually flee to the country next door. But those countries often are not wealthy – so even if they initially welcome refugees, the rest of the world has a role to play, too.

Source: The Christian Science Monitor

19/12/2018: The UN General Assembly has officially endorsed the Global Compact for Safe, Orderly and Regular Migration. It points the way towards sensible action to benefit countries of origin, transit and destination, as well as migrants themselves. Source: UN News

17/12/2018: The UN General Assembly has affirmed a non-legally binding Global Compact on Refugees. An overwhelming majority of States voted in favour of adopting the compact, with only the US and Hungary opposing the move. Source: UN News