Firefighters tackle a blaze in an abandoned industrial building squatted by migrants near Barcelona. At least two people have died and 17 have been injured, five seriously, in the blaze in Badalona which broke out in the small hours. Firefighters fear that more people could be trapped inside and that the building could collapse
Continue reading...Category Archives: Migration
Revealed: 1,500 people in limbo under Australia’s ‘bizarre and cruel’ refugee deterrence policy
Australia declared in 2013 that asylum seekers who arrive by boat would never settle here. Hundreds of people’s lives are still on hold to prove that point
- Interactive timeline: what happened to every person caught up in Australia’s offshore processing regime
- ‘Reza is bleeding, his head was all blood’: some memories will never go away
- Funded by ‘extraordinary’ ordinary Australians: the people who supported this series
For more than seven years, Australia’s policy has been clear: if you seek asylum by boat you will never be settled here. You will be sent offshore and have your asylum claims heard there.
Between the declaration of that policy by prime minister Kevin Rudd on 19 July 2013 and the last transfer offshore in December 2014, Australia sent 3,127 people seeking protection as refugees to Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island.
Continue reading...George Soros: Orbán turns to familiar scapegoat as Hungary rows with EU
Rightwing prime minister Viktor Orbán reignites anti-Soros rhetoric with EU dispute
Hungary’s rightwing prime minister, Viktor Orbán, is threatening to veto the new EU budget over a provision that would link some funding to rule-of-law concerns. As the standoff intensifies, he has found a familiar enemy to blame: the 90-year-old financier and philanthropist George Soros.
Orbán has reinvigorated his government’s anti-Soros campaign, which has often been marked by conspiratorial and antisemitic rhetoric, as Hungary and Poland have tussled with other European leaders over the so-called “rule-of-law” mechanism. The dispute is holding up final agreement on the EU’s €1.7tn (£1.5tn) seven-year budget and recovery package.
Continue reading...Part 3: How do you say goodbye forever?
In part three of the Temporary podcast we meet Elaheh, who had to suddenly flee Iran, not realising she might never see her family again. Now a recognised refugee in Australia with a young son, her visa’s restrictions dictate whether her son will ever meet the strong women who raised her
Temporary is a project from the University of New South Wales Centre for Ideas and Kaldor Centre for International Refugee Law in partnership with Guardian Australia, inspired by the book Refugee Rights and Policy Wrongs by Jane McAdam and Fiona Chong. Series artwork by Matt Huynh.
You can find additional information, photography and artwork at the Kaldor Centre’s Temporary website.
Continue reading...Spain dismantles ‘deplorable’ migrant camp in Gran Canaria
Authorities in Canary Islands move hundreds of people from Arguineguín camp
Spanish authorities on the island of Gran Canaria have emptied and begun dismantling the much-criticised dockside camp that was used to house thousands of migrants and refugees, as the Canary Islands continue to struggle with a huge rise in migration.
The makeshift camp was set up in the town of Arguineguín in August amid a surge in the number of people making the dangerous Atlantic journey from Africa to Europe. So far this year, about 20,000 people have arrived by sea in the Canary Islands – 8,000 of them in November alone.
Continue reading...‘Try again next time’: my three visa rejections – podcast
After being offered a prestigious international literary residency, Nkiacha Atemnkeng was excited for his first visit to the US – until he turned up at the embassy for his interview
Continue reading...‘This lack of humanity can’t go on’: Canary Islands struggle with huge rise in migration
Spanish archipelago has received 20,000 migrants and refugees this year, 8,000 in the last month
In the Canary Islands, 2020 will be remembered as more than just the year of the coronavirus.
The streets of Arguineguín, a small town on the island of Gran Canaria, are thronged not with tourists in search of winter warmth, but with police officers, health workers and journalists, all scurrying to and from the crowded dock, which has become the newest symbol of an old phenomenon.
Continue reading...UK and France sign deal to make Channel migrant crossings ‘unviable’
Both countries agree to double police patrols on route already used by more than 8,000 people this year
Britain and France have signed a new agreement aimed at curbing the number of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats.
The home secretary, Priti Patel, and her French counterpart, Gérald Darmanin, said they wanted to make the route used by more than 8,000 people this year unviable.
Continue reading...Rescuers recover migrants’ wedding rings lost at sea
Algerian couple were survivors of a shipwreck in October off the coast of Lampedusa, Italy
On 9 November, a migrant rescue boat came across a red backpack floating in the Mediterranean alongside other remains from a shipwreck that took place weeks before. The rucksack, covered with sea snails and reeking of petrol, contained two wedding rings, inscribed with the names Ahmed and Doudou.
“We thought it was proof of yet another love story that ended up at the bottom of the sea,” said Riccardo Gatti, the president of the NGO Open Arms in Italy, who recovered the personal items. “Unfortunately we find many of these. Most of the time suitcases and bags, floating in the sea, are nothing more than symbols of yet another journey that began in Libya and ended in tragedy.”
Continue reading...Clashes erupt as police break up makeshift refugee camp in Paris – video report
French police and gendarmes removed tents set up at Place de la République in Paris by refugees in a charity-organised protest on Monday against mass evacuations of homeless camps. Footage posted online showed police and demonstrators pushing against each other as officers moved in to clear the square of tents, which the police said had been set up without official permission. The interior minister, Gérald Darmanin, said on Tuesday that images of the scuffles were 'shocking' and he was launching an investigation into the clashes
Continue reading...Wealthy nations urged to give portion of Covid vaccine as ‘humanitarian buffer’
Stockpile sought for use in rebel-held territories, asylum camps and for others unlikely to receive vaccinations
Public health groups are lobbying countries to commit a portion of their Covid-19 vaccine supplies to a “humanitarian buffer” that would be used to inoculate people living in rebel-held territories, those in asylum-seeker camps and others unlikely to receive vaccinations from their governments.
The emergency stockpile is intended to act as a safety net to ensure the global effort to end the Covid-19 pandemic is not sabotaged by governments using vaccines as bargaining chip with restive populations, or simply denying it to some marginalised groups.
Continue reading...Father faces criminal charge over son’s death in migrant boat tragedy
Afghan asylum seeker accused of endangering six-year-old’s life after family tried to reach Greek island of Samos from Turkey
The father of a six-year-old who died trying to reach the Greek island of Samos from the Turkish coast has been charged by Greek authorities with endangering his son’s life.
Abdul*, 25, from Afghanistan, faces up to 10 years in prison if found guilty. The cause of his son’s death has not been confirmed.
Continue reading...Judge rules Daca suspension invalid, Homeland Security head in office illegally
Chad Wolf took office unlawfully, says federal court judge, therefore could not suspend program that shields young people from deportation
A federal judge in New York has ruled that the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Chad Wolf, assumed his position unlawfully and has invalidated Wolf’s suspension of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (Daca) program, which shields young people from deportation.
“DHS failed to follow the order of succession as it was lawfully designated,” the US District Judge Nicholas Garaufis wrote.
Continue reading...More than 110 migrants die in Mediterranean in three days
Bodies of 74 people wash up on beach in western Libya as baby boy dies on rescue boat
Four shipwrecks in the space of three days have claimed the lives of more than 110 people in the Mediterranean, including at least 70 people whose bodies have washed up on the beach of al-Khums, in western Libya.
According to the UN migration agency (IOM), that boat was reported to be carrying more than 120 people, including women and children. Forty-seven survivors had been brought to shore by the coastguard and fishermen, while the bodies of at least 74 people were floating near the water’s edge on Thursday.
Continue reading...Canary Islands appeal for help as 2,200 migrants arrive over weekend
People housed in makeshift dock-side camps after braving dangerous Atlantic route from Africa
The president of the Canary Islands has appealed for urgent help from the Spanish government and the EU after around 2,200 migrants arrived on the archipelago over the weekend, putting further strain on its already massively overstretched reception resources.
Ángel Víctor Torres said the Canaries’ existing infrastructure simply could not cope with the number of people arriving as the dangerous Atlantic route from Africa to Europe attracts more refugees and migrants.
Continue reading...Inquiry launched into EU commission’s protection of migrants at Croatia border
Investigation follows allegations of brutal pushbacks of refugees into Bosnia and lack of monitoring of border police
An official inquiry has been launched into the European commission’s alleged failure to protect the rights of migrants and refugees said to have been robbed and abused by police at Croatia’s borders.
The EU ombudsman is investigating the potential complicity of the EU’s executive branch in the maladministration of funds that should have been spent on supervising the behaviour of border officers working at the scene of some of the violence.
Continue reading...EU draft declaration sets out stricter rules on migrant integration
Contentious statement includes edict on learning language of new home country
Migrants to Europe must learn the language of their new home countries and encourage their children to integrate in the light of the recent Islamist terror attacks, EU governments plan to say in a declaration drafted by France, Austria and Germany.
The contentious draft statement, due to be made by EU home affairs ministers on Friday, is being championed by the French president, Emmanuel Macron, who was accused by Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, of religious persecution after his recent warning of the dangers of Islamist separatism.
Continue reading...Lone child migrants cannot be put in adult hotels, high court rules
More under-18s seeking asylum likely to be affected by ruling against Hillingdon council
The high court has ruled that unaccompanied child migrants cannot be placed in adult hotel accommodation after three young asylum seekers won the right to be placed in the care of social services in the first case of its kind.
The three, who cannot be identified, say they are 17 years old. They arrived in the UK in July and August 2020.
Continue reading...The Guardian view on Tories and migration: stop the posing | Editorial
The drowning of a family of five in the Channel and a fire on a ship off the coast of Senegal should prompt action – ‘thoughts and prayers’ are not enough
“We don’t see migration as a problem at all: we see people dying at sea as a problem and the existence of the mafias as a problem.” Such was the view expressed last week by Hana Jalloul, secretary of state for migration in Spain. Days earlier, more than 140 people had died off the coast of Senegal, after their ship caught fire and capsized, in the deadliest shipwreck recorded this year. Ms Jalloul spoke of efforts to support the regional government of the Canary Islands, which is struggling to cope with the number of arrivals, and stressed her determination to combat organised crime. She also pointed to migrants’ crucial role in Spanish life, including as care workers during the pandemic.
British politicians could profit from studying her example in the aftermath of the drowning of a family of four Kurdish Iranians in the Channel. (A fifth member of the same family, aged 15 months, is missing and presumed dead.) Reports of the deaths of Rasul Iran Nezhad, Shiva Mohammad Panahi and their children drew forth platitudes from the home secretary, Priti Patel, about “thoughts and prayers”. But nothing said by her or Boris Johnson did anything to dispel the impression that their attitude to people trying to reach the UK to seek asylum is chiefly antagonistic. While Ms Patel repeated her opposition to “callous criminals exploiting vulnerable people”, there was no serious attempt to sympathise with the migrants’ desperation – or acknowledge that their reliance on smugglers is a matter not of accident but of political choice.
Continue reading...Man arrested over deaths of Iranian Kurd family in Channel sinking
Iranian man held on suspicion of manslaughter following deaths of at least four people
An Iranian man has been held on suspicion of manslaughter following the deaths of four people, and the disappearance of a further three who are believed to have died, as they attempted to cross the Channel.
Iranian Kurds Rasul Iran Nezhad and his wife, Shiva Mohammad Panahi, both 35, and two of their children, Anita, nine, and Armin, six, drowned on Tuesday as they tried to reach Britain by boat after departing from near Dunkirk.
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