Newsletter on migration and refugees - July 2017
Mission to Serbia and the transit zones in Hungary, and synergies with CoE standard-setting bodies
From 12 to 16 June 2017, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees, Tomáš Boček, conducted his fifth fact-finding mission to Serbia and two transit zones in Hungary. In Serbia he visited a number of temporary reception centres (in Adaševci, Principovac,...
PACE: Sweden’s Justice and Migration Minister and Mayor of Athens take part in the Migration Day debate
On 28 June 2017, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) devoted a full day of its summer plenary part-session to migration, with the adoption of four resolutions and two recommendations on comprehensive solutions to the refugee crisis (rapporteur: Duarte Marques, EPP/CD; see...
Commissioner: Issue paper on family reunification, visit to Bosnia-Herzegovina and PACE debate
On 19 June 2017 the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Nils Muižnieks, published an Issue Paper on “realising the right to family reunification of refugees in Europe”, its aim being to help member states adopt a more humane and human-rights-oriented policy on family reunification...
CPT visited Italy to examine the situation of persons in immigration detention
A delegation of the Council of Europe's Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) carried out an ad hoc visit to Italy from 7 to 13 June 2017. The purpose of the visit was to examine the situation of persons held in immigration detention in...
Conference on smuggling of migrants
On 23 June 2017, the Council of Europe organised, in Strasbourg, an International Conference on Smuggling of Migrants. The Secretary General, Thorbjørn Jagland, opened the event, which brought together experts and high-level representatives from member and observer States of the Council of...
Two rulings in deportation cases
On 20 June 2017 the European Court of Human Rights handed down a Chamber judgment in the case of M.O. v. Switzerland (application no. 41282/16), which concerned the complaint brought by an Eritrean asylum seeker that he would be at risk of ill-treatment if deported from Switzerland to his country...
Italy contributes € 3 million to the CEB’s Migrant and Refugee Fund
Italy, one of the eight founding member countries of the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), contributed € 3 million to the Migrant and Refugee Fund (MRF). This contribution brought the total amount committed to the MRF to almost € 24 million. The MRF is a grant-based facility established...
The linguistic integration of adult migrants: lessons from research
The Council of Europe has recently released a report on “The linguistic integration of adult migrants: lessons from research”, which examines how scientific evidence can inform the development and implementation of policy and practice designed to support the linguistic integration of adult...
Administrative detention of migrants
Civil society and key stakeholders were given the opportunity to exchange views on the first draft instrument codifying existing international standards relating to the conditions of administrative detention of migrants, during a consultation hearing organised by the European Committee on Legal...
Migrants and Disaster Risk Reduction
The EUR-OPA Major Hazards Agreement has issued two publications on Migrants and Disaster Risk Reduction. Migrants, asylum seekers and refugees are a particularly vulnerable group, their situation exposing them to an additional risk of harm in the event of a disaster. As a result, EUR-OPA has...