News & blogs
70th Anniversary of the 1951 Refugee Convention in the wake of Pushbacks and Border Violence
The 28th of July 2021 marked the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the 1951 Geneva Convention – one of the most fundamental legal documents protecting the rights of refugees and outlines the legal obligations of States to protect them. In particular, Article 33 of the Convention as well as the principle of non-refoulement – […]
Covid-19 and the response of Portugal: choosing an inclusive path
The arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic in Europe, starting in February 2020, led to extraordinary measures to slow down the spread of the virus, in particular through restricting the movement of persons. These restrictions included the closure of many parts of public administrations, access to ports for rescue vessels in Italy and serious disruption to […]
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Guest blog: The Impact of Covid-19 on Migrants and Refugees
Understanding the unique challenges faced by migrant populations is necessary to prepare future policy responses to health crises that prioritize migrants’ safety and wellbeing.
Guest blog: Vulnerable or not, no durable solutions on the horizon for refugees in Lebanon
This blog post sheds light on the protection vacuum created by the uncoordinated asylum policy decisions made worldwide. It argues that the undeclared political intention of the traditional resettlement countries and Lebanon’s positioning on the issue of refugees has one inevitable repercussion, i.e., dispossessing refugees from (international) protection.
Guest blog: Resettlement: Durable solution for the ‘most vulnerable’
World Refugee Day is a good day to reflect on refugee resettlement, a distant dream for most of the world’s refugees. However, less than one per cent of the refugees under UNHCR’s mandate are ever resettled.
Guest blog: What do Syrian refugees in Turkey need? Durable solutions. When do they need it? Now.
By Meltem İneli Ciğer (Asile project). Photo: Yousif Al Shewaili/Oxfam Today, Turkey hosts the largest refugee population in the world, including more than 3,678,527 Syrians. Considering that Syrians began arriving to the Turkish borders to seek refuge in April 2011, the Syrian displacement has long become a protracted situation. I have analysed the legal framework […]
The protest of the ‘vulnerable people’ in Marseille: a call for a decolonised asylum and border regi
Gathered into a union of asylum seekers, some women and men, mainly from West and Central Africa, held their first demonstration on 10 June 2021 in Marseille, a port city located in the midst of the Mediterranean migratory routes. “Let’s take to the streets and show them that we all have duties before we have rights!”
International protection on Lesvos five years after the EU-Turkey Deal
Both the EU-Turkey Statement and the recent Joint Ministerial Decision are very problematic as they jeopardise the state and nature of international protection itself. Readmissions or returns of asylum seekers back to Turkey constitutes a direct violation of European and international law.