Newsletter on migration and refugees - January 2017
Court delivers judgments on expulsion and detention conditions
In its judgment in Paposhvili v. Belgium, handed down on 13 December 2016, the Grand Chamber held that there would have been a violation of Articles 3 (prohibition of inhuman or degrading treatment) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the Convention had the applicant been...
CPT publishes reports on monitoring of returns by air
The Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published on 15 December 2016 reports on two return flights it had monitored. The first was from Rome to Lagos (Nigeria) on 17 December 2015. The second was from Madrid to...
Forum on children’s rights and International Migrants Day
On 29 November 2016, Tomáš Boček, the Secretary General’s Special Representative on migration and refugees, attended the 10th European Forum on the Rights of the Child: the protection of children in migration, in Brussels. He participated in a plenary session on “Challenges and opportunities for...
HELP/UNHCR asylum course launched in Rome and round-table on migration detention
On 6 December 2016, the HELP Programme and UNHCR, in close cooperation with the Italian School of Magistracy (Scuola della Magistratura), launched the HELP/UNHCR course on “the ECHR and Asylum” for a pilot group of Italian civil and criminal judges, prosecutors and ombudspersons in Rome. Speaking...
Germany tops up contribution to CEB Migrant and Refugee Fund
Germany will contribute a further € 2 million to the Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF), in addition to the € 3 million it donated last year. This latest contribution makes Germany the biggest donor to the MRF among Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) member countries. The MRF is a trust fund...
Immigration detention is never in the best interests of the child
Commissioner Muižnieks reaffirmed that immigration detention is never in the best interests of the child in a letter addressed to the Secretary of State for Migration and Asylum of Belgium, Mr Theo Francken, published on 19 December 2016. In his letter, he warns against resuming the practice of...