MIGRATION

EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland granted protection status to 538,000 asylum seekers in 2017, according to new data released by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union, on Thursday. Another 24,000 refugees were resettled in the region last year. Last year’s asylum seeker figures represent a 25% drop from 2016, when 710,000 asylum seekers …

Eritreans whose asylum claims were denied but were allowed to remain in Switzerland on a temporary basis could lose their status due to a court ruling last year. In recent days, they have received a letter from the government stating that their residence permit is being reviewed. In August 2017, the Federal Administrative Court ruled that Eritrean nationals who had …

African migrants pose a greater threat to Israel than Islamist terrorism, according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli leader made the remarks as he complimented the country’s border ‘wall’ with Egypt. Speaking at the Negev Conference in the Israeli city of Dimona, Netanyahu said the fence along the Israel-Egypt border is all that stands between Israel’s Jewishness and …

Africa and Europe-based institutions have just concluded a week-long training in Dakar to deepen understanding of migration-related issues and strengthen its media coverage on the continent. The workshop has received generous support from the Germany-based Erich Brost Institute for International Journalism of TU Dortmund University, the German magazine Africa Positive, the Robert Bosch Stiftung and the African Media Initiative (AMI). …

Some 500,000 more people moved to Germany than left in 2016, Germany’s statistics office says. The figure is less than half that of the previous year. Net migration to Germany fell by more than half from 2015 to 2016, figures released on Tuesday by the German Federal Statistics Office show. Altogether 1,865,000 people came to Germany in 2016, while 1,365,000 …

Israel’s Supreme Court has suspended a controversial government plan to deport thousands of African migrants. The court issued its ruling on Thursday, following a legal challenge by a group of migrants from Eritrea and Sudan. The government now cannot deport African migrants until the court receives additional information Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in January announced the implementation of the programme …

Libya’s coast guard and an international charity ship have picked up hundreds of migrants who were travelling towards Italy off the Libyan coast on Saturday, according to press reports. Libya coast guard vessels intercepted two migrant boats, one of which was an inflatable dinghy that had broken down and was carrying 125 people, Reuters reported, citing coast guard spokesman Ayoub …

The International Organisation for Migration (IOM), an agency of the UN, has opened a centre in Benin City to provide information on how to migrate legally and rehabilitate returnees from Libya or Europe. Speaking at the opening of the Migration Resource Centre (MRC) on Monday, Minister of Labour and Employment, Dr Chris Ngige, said Nigeria was finding it tough to …

Israel’s deportation of Eritrean and Sudanese citizens to third countries “violates human rights and international law on refugees,” according to UN experts, who are calling on the Israeli government to review its policy. A group of UN human rights experts has said that the new Israeli policies for deporting Eritrean and Sudanese citizens present in its territory “violates human rights …

Asylum seekers and activists tell Al Jazeera how government-linked translators have infiltrated the immigration system in Europe. Elaine Allaby reports. Rome, Italy – It was a warm Mediterranean day in October 2013 when Meron Estefanos got the news. A boat had sunk off the Italian island of Lampedusa and several hundred refugees had drowned. In the end, the death toll …

Real estate agencies are refusing to rent properties to refugees and migrants in Basque Country, northern Spain, the SOS Racismo association has said in a report. It added that there had been at least about 30 cases of discrimination in Victoria. In Bilbao, a group of Moroccan women has taken part in a protest against “humiliation and for the right …

A campaign to raise awareness among the youth regarding the realities of irregular migration has been conducted by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Ghana. Communities in the Brong Ahafo region in Ghana participated in an outreach and sensitisation campaign organized by IOM, the UN Migration Agency, and the Ghana Immigration Service (GIS). From 5 to 10 February, the …

Thousands of people protested against Israel’s plans to deport African migrants at a rally in Tel Aviv on Saturday. At the same time there was a smaller protest, numbering in the dozens, who rallied for the deportation of the migrants. Israel began in early February to hand out notices to 20,000 male African migrants giving them two months to leave …

Dozens of Sweden’s largest and most influential companies have released a statement, appealing to the government to stop the deportation of qualified migrant workers. Among the signatories are H&M’s chairman and the CEO of Ericsson. Swedish financial daily Dagens Industri has published an open letter that argues that the expulsion of foreign workers “hits business” and that “Swedish companies have …

The Government of Ghana has announced that some 500 young Ghanaians have been left stranded in Dubai. The 500 were sent to the largest and most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) by fake recruitment agencies to take up non-existing jobs. Information Minister Mustapha Hamid however said government is collaborating with authorities in the UAE to repatriate them. …

German officials say 12,285 people applied for asylum in the country in January. That is a 15 percent drop compared with the same month last year. In January 2017, Germany recorded 14,476 new asylum requests, while some 13,082 people applied for asylum in December 2017. Figures published by the Interior Ministry on Tuesday show most new asylum-seekers last month originated …

Displaced people have a hard time finding employment. Five hundred thousand refugees are currently on the job market — and prospects look bleak. A Munich startup has founded a non-profit temporary work agency. Temporary work employment refers to an employment situation where the working arrangement is limited to a certain period of time based on the needs of the employing organization.  …

Amidst the deportation-or-imprisonment policy of the Israeli government, some pilots of national airline El Al are refusing to fly planes that will forcibly expel Eritrean and Sudanese refugees in Israel to third countries. Israeli pilots are taking a stand against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s mission to expel tens of thousands of African migrants from the country, publicly declaring they will …

Israel has started issuing deportation orders to African migrants, giving them 60 days to return to their home countries or opt for an unnamed safe haven. Those failing to meet the deadline risk being sent to prison. Israel’s Population, Immigration and Border Authority delivered the first batch of notices Sunday, telling migrants they have to leave before 1 April. The …

Arab refugees and Germans carrying pro-immigrant and anti-fascism placards marched in Cottbus on Saturday to denounce what they say are attempts by far-right groups to stoke tension in the eastern city after two knife attacks by Syrian teenagers. The group of around 600 demonstrators in the German city of Cottbus calling for acceptance and open-mindedness were upstaged and outnumbered by …