Latest news with #PactonMigrationandAsylum
Epoch Times
08-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
Germany to Turn Away More Asylum Seekers at Border
The new German government has ordered the pushback of more illegal immigrants and asylum seekers at the nation's borders. On the first day of the new administration, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt issued the order on 'This issue is about clarity, consistency and control. We are not going to close the borders, but we are going to control the borders more strictly and this stronger control of the borders will also lead to a higher number of rejections,' Dobrindt 'We will ensure that, step by step, more police forces are deployed at the borders and can also carry out these push-backs.' He added that vulnerable people, including children and pregnant women, would not be rejected at the German border. 'It's not a question of starting to reject everyone in full tomorrow, but of ensuring, bit by bit, that the excessive demands are reduced, that we reduce the numbers and that we send a clear signal to the world and to Europe that the policy in Germany has changed,' Dobrindt said in comments published in Related Stories 5/2/2025 5/6/2025 The order rescinds the de facto 2015 practice under former Chancellor Angela Merkel that allowed one million undocumented immigrants to enter Germany at the border if they claimed asylum. At the time, Germany's Federal Office for Migration and Refugees announced, in one single social-media As a result, Germany became the In January, Merz, whose new government formally His administration, in coalition with the centre-left SPD, has the populist Alternative for Germany (AfD) hot on its heels, which touts a harder line on immigration and has been consistently polling as the country's second-most popular party. Merz Last week, Germany's domestic intelligence agency officially classified AfD as A survey by Ipsos in AfD announced that it was suing the country's domestic intelligence service for classifying it as a 'right-wing extremist organization.' Dobrindt's policy is in line with Europe which is Under the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum, member states can strike agreements with non-EU states to handle asylum claims extraterritorially, potentially setting up processing centers in North Africa or beyond. Illegal immigrants are entering the EU primarily via Mediterranean sea crossings from North Africa and by overland routes through Poland and the Balkans, according to data from Frontex, the European Border, and Coast Guard Agency. Under pressure from parties with more hardline immigration platforms, establishment political parties have steadily abandoned their once-progressive immigration stances and supported the reintroduction of In 2024, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen She also suggested sending those with no right to stay in the EU to 'return hubs' in non-EU countries, such as Egypt, Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali. No such hubs have been established yet.
Time of India
24-04-2025
- Politics
- Time of India
Seeking asylum: Is Tunisia a 'safe country of origin?'
Over the weekend, Chaima Issa , a Tunisian writer and human rights activist, was sentenced to 18 years in prison. The daughter of a former political prisoner, Issa has been imprisoned in Tunisia since 2023 and is accused of "conspiracy against state security." She was not alone. Her sentencing came as part of a mass trial of prominent opposition figures in Tunisia last Friday, including politicians, diplomats, lawyers and civil society activists. All had spoken out against Tunisian President Kais Saied and were sentenced to between 13 and 66 years in prison. Some, like Issa, are in jail in Tunisia, while others have fled the country. "The Tunisian government has been using arbitrary detention and politically motivated prosecutions to intimidate, punish, and silence critics," the international advocacy group Human Rights Watch explained. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Invest $200 in Amazon without buying stocks to earn a second salary Marketsall Undo "The verdict is a travesty of justice and illustrates the authorities' complete disregard for Tunisia's international human rights obligations and the rule of law," the global human rights organization Amnesty International added. European Union: Tunisia is 'safe' Just three days earlier, the European Union's (EU) executive body, the European Commission, seemed to come to a totally different conclusion about the state of law in Tunisia. The EU's new Pact on Migration and Asylum is meant to go into effect June 2026, but the European Commission wanted to move forward with some elements of it earlier, in order to help member states process asylum claims faster. One of those elements is an EU-wide list of "safe countries of origin," which includes Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, India, Egypt, Morocco, and Tunisia. A " safe country of origin " is a country where people are generally considered safe and therefore should not require asylum in the European Union. According to the European Commission's explanation, part of the reason it considers Tunisia safe is because, "the [Tunisian] constitution provides that the judiciary is an independent function, exercised by judges over whom there is no authority other than the law." "If it wasn't so tragic, you might think the timing was ironic," Rasmus Alenius Boserup, director of Copenhagen-based advocacy organization EuroMed Rights, told DW, referring to how the heavily-criticized mass trial and the EU designation both happened last week. There are many human rights violations in Tunisia, Alenius Boserup added. "The judiciary, the political opposition, journalists, human rights defenders and activists of all kinds have been being targeted there for three to four years now," he said. "And Egypt is even worse." Egypt has around 60,000 political prisoners, and neither the political nor judicial system can be considered free and fair, he explained. "So, if we're just designating countries like that as 'safe' for the sake of more expedient ways of handling asylum requests, it just doesn't make sense," Alenius Boserup argued. Potential solution? The EU itself says a mandatory EU-wide list of "safe countries of origin," or SCOs for short, should speed up the processing of asylum applications. That's because its assumed most applications from SCOs will be unsuccessful. "Under the new regulation, applications [from SCOs] must be examined in an accelerated examination procedure and completed within a maximum of three months," the EU has stated. EU countries could also choose to use so-called "border procedures" on irregular migrants from SCOs — that's basically when a person is simply refused entry at the border. Faster processing times mean EU authorities could then concentrate on asylum applications with a better chance of asylum being granted. Additionally, many member countries already have their own SCO lists. This can encourage "asylum-seekers to apply for asylum in host countries where the chances of success are higher," a May 2024 EU briefing on the topic explained. A unified EU list would prevent that. The European Commission's proposal to fast-track an SCO list is yet to be voted on. But if agreed, rights organizations say it could have problematic consequences. An SCO designation doesn't mean that everyone in the country is safe, or even that all parts of the country are. "Member states [still] need to conduct an individual assessment of each asylum application, … whether a person comes from a safe country of origin or not," the European Commission said this month. "But this will likely make it more difficult for some asylum seekers to prove they are actually in danger," Alenius Boserup told DW. Risk of mistakes "The EU has been trying to be more expedient in its asylum application processing and objectively, that's not a bad ambition. We do need some reform," he conceded. "The problem is if you do it in a way that jeopardizes basic rights. By trying to be faster, the EU might well be undermining the principle it claims to want to defend." Could a Tunisian opposition politician still successfully claim asylum in Europe, then? Alenius Boserup remains hopeful. "Still, the SCO listing increases the risk they won't," he explained. "We know there is painstakingly detailed work that goes into deciding a credible claim. But when you prioritize expediency over diligence, the risk of a mistake increases." Rights organizations and lawyers also have serious misgivings about how a country gets on the list of SCOs in the first place. The European Commission says its SCO list "draws on analysis" from the EU Agency for Asylum, member states, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and EU diplomats, among other sources. Part of the decision about countries' SCO status is also based on the percentage of rejected European-wide asylum applications a particular country has. For example, only 4% of Tunisians applying for asylum in the EU are successful in their claims. However as Baya Amouri, a legal researcher at the European University Institute in Italy, wrote for the Refugee Law Initiative in February, because the reasoning behind SCO status is so vague, there's potential for manipulation "based on diplomatic relations or political considerations rather than on a rigorous, objective evaluation of conditions." "If you're going to use an SCO list, then at least do it correctly," Alenius Boserup agreed. "The criteria used to declare a specific country safe or not safe seems, at best, vague and under-documented." For instance, he continued, Morocco's status as an SCO could be debated. "But it's not even a discussion when you talk about Egypt and Tunisia." DW asked the European Commission whether, given the long sentences handed out to members of Tunisia's political opposition last Friday, it still agreed with its earlier assessment about the Tunisian justice system being "independent"? A spokesperson from the Commission did not offer a clear answer. They repeated that not everyone in a SCO is safe, and that member states still have to carry out "individual assessments." Additionally they said, "the Commission will monitor the EU list on a regular basis. Where the Commission finds that there is a significant change for the worse … it can suspend the designation."
Forbes
19-04-2025
- Politics
- Forbes
EU Declares 7 Countries ‘Safe' For Asylum Seekers To Be Deported To
The European Union has named seven countries it considers safe enough to deport rejected asylum seekers back to. It comes amid a charged political atmosphere over irregular migration in the bloc, as multiple countries push to speed up deportations, or 'returns.' The European Commission, the executive arm of the EU, announced its plans to establish 'an EU list of safe countries of origin' which will include Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia. The practical effect of this list is that people from those countries will likely have their asylum applications rejected, and are likely to see the process expedited, with a view to deporting people back as soon as possible. Speeding up asylum processes and deportations has been on the agenda of many countries and policymakers around the EU for a long time. Certain EU member states have pursued this unilaterally. Greece and Italy most notable have established their own lists of 'safe countries' in an attempt to deport people back to their countries of origin, or in the case of Italy, send them to Albania for processing (and likely subsequent deportation.) Both countries - who have long been on the 'frontline' of irregular migration, receiving the overwhelming majority of people in recent decades - have seen their attempts to use safe country lists stymied by their own courts and rulings from the European Court of Justice. They along with other countries have long called for a harmonized deportation regime in the EU, and in anticipation of an overhauled system due to come into effect in 2026, the Commission has acquiesced to these demands by publishing the new safe countries list. This will, in theory, make it easier for countries to speed up asylum processes and send people back. 'Making asylum procedures faster and more efficient is a core objective of the Pact on Migration and Asylum agreed last year,' said the Commission's Henna Virkkunen. 'We want to advance the implementation of key provisions, equipping Member States with additional tools to streamline asylum processing.' The 'safety' of the seven countries on the list is, despite the Commission's designation as such, highly debatable. Among the seven, for instance, are Bangladesh and Egypt, from where hundreds of thousands have fled in recent years amid political repression, gender-based and anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and organized crime violence. Tunisia features as well, despite becoming infamous in recent years for violent and widespread political repression, as well as rampant violence against Black African migrants in particular. The selection and assessment criteria for inclusion on this list is unclear, though the Commission says their choices are based on analysis from EU bodies such as the EU Agency for Asylum as well as individual member states and the UN's refugee agency. The list in theory can be revised, with other countries added to it or the current ones removed, depending on these somewhat opaque evaluations. There likely will be legal complications emerging from this safe country list, if it is implemented by individual member states for the purpose of deporting people. The EU's own humanitarian and legal frameworks, as well as international ones, typically prohibit what is known as refoulement, or sending people back to places where they likely will face danger. That said, the Commission's tacit endorsement of deportations by establishing this list may give more weight to countries trying to send people back where they came from, regardless of the consequence.
See - Sada Elbalad
17-04-2025
- Politics
- See - Sada Elbalad
Henna Virkkunen: Making Asylum Procedures Faster and More Efficient Is A Core Objective of Migration Pact
Yara Sameh On Wednesday, the European Commission proposed to accelerate the implementation of certain aspects of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, adopted last year and due to enter into application in June 2026. The Commission has proposed to frontload two key elements of the Asylum Procedure Regulation to support Member States in processing asylum claims faster and more efficiently for applicants whose claims are likely to be unfounded. In addition, and to support the same objective, the Commission also proposed to make use of one of the novelties of the Pact and establish an EU list of safe countries of origin, the nationals from which will see their applications processed in an accelerated or border procedure. Frontloading key elements of the Pact: The Commission has proposed to apply two important rules under the Pact already before the Pact enters into force in June next year. This covers: 20% recognition rate threshold: Member States can apply the border procedure or an accelerated procedure to people coming from countries where, on average, 20% or fewer applicants are granted international protection in the EU. Safe third countries and safe countries of origin can be designated with exceptions, giving Member States greater flexibility by excluding specific regions or clearly identifiable categories of individuals. The Commission also proposed to establish a first EU list of safe countries of origin. Some Member States already have national lists of safe countries of origin. An EU list will complement these and support a more uniform application of the concept, which allows Member States to process asylum claims of nationals from countries on the list in an accelerated procedure, on the basis that their claims are unlikely to be successful. The Commission proposed to establish a first EU list covering Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco, and Tunisia. The Commission is also considering that EU candidate countries, in principle, meet the criteria to be designated as safe countries of origin since as part of their EU membership path, they are working towards reaching the stability of institutions guaranteeing democracy, the rule of law, human rights and respect for and protection of minorities. A candidate country would be excluded only under certain specific circumstances: indiscriminate violence in conflict situations, sanctions adopted by the Council towards that country, or an EU-wide recognition rate of asylum applicants higher than 20%. The Commission's proposal draws on an analysis from the EU Agency for Asylum and other sources, including information from Member States, UNHCR, and the EEAS. The EU list of safe countries of origin can be expanded or reviewed over time. Countries can also be suspended or removed from the list, should they no longer fulfil the criteria for being designated as a safe country of origin. The designation as a safe country of origin does not establish a guarantee of safety for all nationals of that country. Member States need to conduct an individual assessment of each asylum application, independently from the fact whether a person comes from a safe country of origin or not. Henna Virkkunen, Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said: 'Making asylum procedures faster and more efficient is a core objective of the Pact on Migration and Asylum agreed last year. With today's proposal, we want to advance the implementation of key provisions, equipping Member States with additional tools to streamline asylum processing,". Added Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration: 'We have a little over a year before the Pact on Migration and Asylum enters into full application but where we can go faster, we should go faster. Many Member States are facing a significant backlog of asylum applications, so anything we can do now to support faster asylum decisions is essential. The Pact provisions on recognition rates and applying the safe country of origin concept can help Member States deal with claims more quickly, whilst always ensuring that every asylum claim still receives an individual assessment and is subject to the scrutiny of national courts.' read more Gold prices rise, 21 Karat at EGP 3685 NATO's Role in Israeli-Palestinian Conflict US Expresses 'Strong Opposition' to New Turkish Military Operation in Syria Shoukry Meets Director-General of FAO Lavrov: confrontation bet. nuclear powers must be avoided News Iran Summons French Ambassador over Foreign Minister Remarks News Aboul Gheit Condemns Israeli Escalation in West Bank News Greek PM: Athens Plays Key Role in Improving Energy Security in Region News One Person Injured in Explosion at Ukrainian Embassy in Madrid News Egypt confirms denial of airspace access to US B-52 bombers News Ayat Khaddoura's Final Video Captures Bombardment of Beit Lahia Lifestyle Pistachio and Raspberry Cheesecake Domes Recipe News Australia Fines Telegram $600,000 Over Terrorism, Child Abuse Content Arts & Culture Nicole Kidman and Keith Urban's $4.7M LA Home Burglarized Videos & Features Bouchra Dahlab Crowned Miss Arab World 2025 .. 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Times of Oman
17-04-2025
- Politics
- Times of Oman
EU lists seven 'safe' countries including India, Bangladesh to speed up asylum process
Brussels: The European Commission on Wednesday proposed speeding up certain aspects of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum by introducing key measures. One of the main steps includes creating the first EU list of safe countries of origin, which includes India, Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia. In a release, the European Commission said, "Today, the Commission is proposing to accelerate the implementation of certain aspects of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, adopted last year and due to enter into application in June 2026. The Commission is proposing to frontload two key elements of the Asylum Procedure Regulation with the aim of supporting Member States to process asylum claims faster and more efficiently for applicants whose claims are likely to be unfounded. In addition, and to support the same objective, the Commission is proposing to make use of one of the novelties of the Pact and establish an EU list of safe countries of origin, the nationals from which will see their applications processed in an accelerated or border procedure." It added, "Commission is also proposing to establish a first EU list of safe countries of origin. Some Member States already have national lists of safe countries of origin. An EU list will complement these and support a more uniform application of the concept, which allows Member States to process asylum claims of nationals from countries on the list in an accelerated procedure, on the basis that their claims are unlikely to be successful. The Commission is proposing to establish a first EU list covering Kosovo, Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Morocco and Tunisia." Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, said that many EU countries are struggling with a growing backlog of asylum applications, and speeding up the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum is essential. "We have a little over a year before the Pact on Migration and Asylum enters into full application, but where we can go faster, we should go faster. Many Member States are facing a significant backlog of asylum applications, so anything we can do now to support faster asylum decisions is essential. The Pact provisions on recognition rates and applying the safe country of origin concept can help Member States deal with claims more quickly, whilst always ensuring that every asylum claim still receives an individual assessment and is subject to the scrutiny of national courts," Brunner said.
