Press release – Freedom for Homayoun
Homayoun Sabetara has been innocently kept in prison in Greece for more than three years. Like thousands of others, he is unlawfully accused of driving his own getaway car across the Greek border to apply for asylum. Ahead of his appeal trial on 24 September, 70 organizations, including LeaveNoOneBehind, Borderline Europe and Sea-Watch, are calling for his release and an end to the criminalization of refugees in Europe.
Pylos is not an isolated case! – Q&A on July 3 at 6 pm with the lawyers of Human Rights Legal Project, Samos
Want to learn more about how the incredible team of lawyers, and activists on Samos are tackling border violence, pushbacks, human rights violations and unlawful arrests of refugees? Come to our Q&A on July 3rd at 6pm and meet Dimitris and Ioanna, two of the lawyers of HRLP and the Pylos Defense Team!
The shipwreck of Pylos – 1 year on
One year after the deadliest shipwreck in the Aegean to date and in the history of migration to Europe in recent years, we are not only looking back on a year of incomplete and insincere processing of the events. Also, the grueling legal proceedings against the 9 defendants who were held responsible for the disaster are coming to an end.
Italy’s new Albania deal and its pioneers
In future, Giorgia Meloni will have Albania intercept refugees and bring them to camps before they reach Italian soil. She and the Albanian prime minister swear by human rights standards and speak of "solidarity-based cooperation between the two countries". However, the models for these camps already exist and are common practice in Italy.
SAMOS – Human Abysses in the Shadow of the World’s Public: The “Prison Camp” in Zero
On 10 April 2024, the EU Parliament adopted the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) - a dark day for Europe and human rights. However, parts of what the reform will soon bring have long been a bitter reality. For example, the "prison camp" for arriving refugees on the Greek island of Samos.
The forgotten Green Border
Can you imagine what -15 degrees feels like at night in the forest without a sleeping bag on frozen ground between branches, moss and swamps? Akram (32, from Yemen) and Mohammad (50, from Syria) were stuck in the border forest between Poland and Belarus for over 5 months. They often had no clean drinking water for days on end and filtered the polluted water from the swamps through a scarf.
Agreement on the CEAS reform – Or: How the EU institutions are abolishing the right to asylum
After several days of negotiations, the Council of the EU and the EU Parliament have agreed on key points in the migration reform package. The conclusion: the new laws legitimize serious human rights violations at the external borders and de facto abolish the right to asylum in the EU.
A Crisis Becomes a Permanent Condition – What Happens in Europe’s Last Primeval Forest in the Polish-Belarusian Border Area?
Since last year, another wall has been stretching across Europe: Poland has erected a 186-kilometer-long border wall with Belarus. Here, people seeking protection are pushed back, their mobile phones destroyed and they are left unprotected and disoriented in the forest. We'll talk to a photojournalist, an activist and researcher, and a paramedic on the ground to answer your questions! - Register now for our online event on October 8, 2023 at 5pm.
Joint statement regarding the situation in the Central Mediterranean
Urgent warning: Increased deaths at sea, NGO vessels detained – European states must stop obstructing civilian search and rescue efforts in the Central Mediterranean
Abandoned in the desert- without food or drink: Tunisia’s treatment of refugees
In the port city of Sfax in Tunisia, refugees are pursued, attacked, arrested and abandoned in the desert by the Tunisian National Guard and citizens (incited by the Tunisian government). Without water, without food. Men, women, children, pregnant women.