Italy mission and Calais report

SRSG ON MIGRATION AND REFUGEES

From 16 to 21 October 2016, the Secretary General’s Special Representative on migration and refugees, Ambassador Tomáš Boček, was in Italy on a fact-finding mission. He visited hotspots at Lampedusa and Pozzallo, first and second line reception facilities in Palermo, Caltanissetta, Mineo and...

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Commissioner’s focus on migration in Hungary and Croatia

HR COMMISSIONER

In his op-ed, published on 28 September 2016 in the New York Times, the Commissioner criticised Hungary’s approach on migration, including its smear campaigns against refugees which were intensified in the run-up to the country’s October 2016 referendum on EU refugee relocation quotas. “Over the...

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CEB’s recent activities

CEB

The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) and Germany are intensifying their long-lasting partnership in the face of the migrant crisis by investing in the long-term integration of migrants through social housing. (read more) The CEB also recently approved a € 160 million loan to the City of...

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Training in Western Balkans on ECHR asylum standards

HELP

On 5 October 2016 legal professionals from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" and Croatia gathered in Belgrade to discuss European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) standards and related ECtHR case-law on asylum. The event was organised by the HELP...

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Congress committee report on reception and integration

CONGRESS

On 19 October 2016 the Current Affairs Committee of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities adopted a report assessing the situation of local and regional authorities who face the challenge of receiving and integrating asylum-seekers and migrants with limited means and in the absence of a...

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Social Innovation for Refugee Inclusion

INTERCULTURAL CITIES

A seminar to discuss strategies of refugee inclusion and propose innovative and collaborative solutions was organised in Brussels on 12-13 September by the European Council of Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), the United States Mission to the EU, the Council of Europe and its network of Intercultural...

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Report on detention conditions of migrants in Malta

CPT

On 25 October 2016 the Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) published its report on its visit to Malta from 3 to 10 September 2015, together with the response of the Maltese authorities. Regarding migrants, the CPT noted positively that...

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Court judgment on delay in deciding asylum application

EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS

On 13 October 2016 the European Court of Human Rights handed down a Chamber judgment in B.A.C. v. Greece. The case concerned an asylum-seeker of Turkish nationality who had been waiting for a final decision from the Greek authorities on his request for asylum since 2002. At the date of the...

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ECRI reports on UK, Turkey and Armenia

ECRI

The European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) published on 4 October 2016 country reports on the UK, Turkey and Armenia. On this occasion Christian Ahlund the Chair of ECRI, said: “The Brexit referendum seems to have led to a further rise in ‘anti-foreigner’ sentiment, making it...

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Conference on migrants and major hazards

EUR-OPA MAJOR HAZARDS AGREEMENT

On 14 October 2016 the EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement of the Council of Europe held a conference on Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in the context of natural and technological hazards in Lisbon, Portugal, to analyse how countries deal with migrants’ vulnerabilities. The conference...

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GRETA visit to Greece and report on UK

GRETA

A delegation of the Council of Europe’s Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) carried out an evaluation visit to Greece from 3 to 7 October 2016, during which it visited, inter alia, a specialised shelter for women victims of human trafficking run by the NGO A21,...

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