Italy has dismantled a criminal organization, arresting 19 suspects who smuggled migrants and asylum seekers from Turkey and Greece to Italy and into northern Europe, police said in a statement on 5 December. The smugglers, including Iraqi Kurds, Afghans and Italians, were found to have had hired or stolen boats transporting migrants and to be […]
A group of 13 irregular migrants were stopped by the Italian police in the northwestern city of Savona as they were walking along the state highway towards the border with France on 24 November. The group of migrants from Iraq, Iran and Syria, had travelled from Puglia in Southern Italy to Savona hidden in trains […]
The UK and France have signed a new deal to stop migrants from crossing the English Channel irregularly in small boats, Britain’s Home Office announced on 29 November. The agreement will double the number of French police patrolling beaches and increase surveillance using “drones, radar equipment, optronic binoculars and fixed cameras,” the UK government said […]
The number of migrants crossing the English Channel recorded so far this year is four times higher than in 2019. The UK authorities continue to take action to stop small boats from reaching British shores. About 615 small boats carrying at least 8,090 irregular migrants and asylum seekers have reached the UK this year. Only […]
Human rights groups have voiced their outrage after videos were circulated online showing the French police clearing a makeshift migrant camp in the Saint-Denis area of northern Paris. The video, which was posted by a French journalist on Twitter, shows between 300 and 400 migrants carrying bags and blankets on the streets of the suburb […]
The migrants in detention facilities the Greek Evros region and on the island of Samos of are held in conditions which could amount to “inhuman and degrading treatment”, the Council of Europe’s Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) said in a report issued on 19 November. The […]
The Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) has repatriated 25 Kurdish migrants who were detained in Egypt after their boat broke down in the Mediterreanean Sea off the Egyptian coast on 18 October. The boat was reportedly carrying 57 migrants from Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Egypt. The migrants were attempting to reach Italy from the western Turkish […]
The Greek government has finalised plans to extend a wall along its northeast border with Turkey to prevent migrants and asylum seekers from entering the country irregularly. The move follows a border dispute earlier this year, after Turkey opened its land border to Greece leading to thousands of migrants attempting the crossing. Greece is concerned […]
Turkish authorities say they have rescued and detained 70 irregular migrants in the eastern province of Van on Sunday, 4 October 2020. Two others in the van were found dead upon arrival. The detained irregular migrants include 37 Pakistanis, 33 Afghans and two Iraqis. Three human smuggling suspects have been placed in police custody while […]