Fahamu Refugee Legal Aid Newsletter

Country of Origin and Legal News

AFRICA

ANGOLA: COI - Angolan government cracks down on resistance demonstrations; ICJ condemns the abduction of war veterans in Angola

COTE D’IVOIRE: Liberian refugees’ future uncertain

THE GAMBIA: Immigration warns foreigners to regularise status or risk deportation

NAMIBIA: Rights group states government is detaining and deporting people from refugee camp

SENEGAL: Round-up of illegal immigrants in big operation

SOUTH AFRICA: Court orders Cape Town to process asylum applications

TANZANIA: What does it mean to be told to go ‘back home’ when you don’t have a home to go to?

UGANDA: Ugandans both proud and brave in country’s first gay pride parade

ZIMBABWE: Undermined by new UKBA operational guidance note

AMERICAS

CANADA: Government announces preparation of ‘safe country list’ that qualifies countries where one-in-four

applicants or less succeed in being granted asylum as ‘safe’ for accelerated procedures

MEXICO: 76 year old woman seeks asylum in the US citing failing security in Mexico

USA: A Lifeline for DREAMers; New Chicago Ordinance on Immigration Inspired by African Woman; New American Bar Association Video Helps Immigrant Detainees Understand Their Rights; US rules that asylum seekers who have assisted terrorist organizations – even on the threat of death – may not be granted refugee status

ASIA

PAKISTAN: Pakistan announces it will strip Afghans of refugee status, putting the world’s largest concentration of refugees at risk of refoulement

RUSSIA: Opposition activists seek asylum abroad

ASIA-PACIFIC

AUSTRALIA: Gillard Backs Experts’ Asylum Seeker Report; Australia: ‘Pacific Solution’ Redux; UNHCR tells Govt it won’t be involved in Pacific Solution Mark 2; 100 asylum-seeker refugees on hunger strike in Australia

INDONESIA: Asylum seekers in Indonesia: why do they get on boats?

MYANMAR: Abuses against Rohingya erode human rights progress

EUROPE

ANALYSIS: Increasing concern over detention of migrants in Europe; Can would-be immigrants to Europe get almost anywhere for a price?; Campaign under way to increase refugee resettlement places in Europe

GERMANY: Constitutional court rules that State assistance to refugees is insufficient

GREECE: As Greece rounds up migrants, official says ‘invasion’ imperils national security; Greece must halt the sweep-operation ‘Xenios Zeus’ and ensure that the right to asylum is guaranteed for persons seeking international protection

HUNGARY: Court annuls Afghan’s Dublin II return to Hungary

ITALY: 54 migrants died of thirst in refugee boat from Tripoli; German court blocks the return of a Palestinian family to Italy citing ‘significant evidence exists that Italy is not meeting its obligations in accordance with European and international law’.; Syrian refugees land on Italian shores

MALTA: Migrant detention violates rights

NETHERLANDS: Dutch government clarifies its position on granting asylum to Egyptian Copts; Dutch Council of State rules that failed asylum-seekers from Somalia cannot be returned; Netherlands announces policy for granting gay Iraqi asylum seekers refugee status

SLOVENIA: Strasbourg Court Grand Chamber corrects chamber approach to discrimination

SWITZERLAND: Take in refugees from Malta under the Eurema Initiative

UK: Government urged to end migrants’ indefinite detention; ‘Hundreds’ of miscarriage of justice claims over legal advice failings; Another shambles as G4S is entrusted with running asylum seeker housing; Refugee action helps to reverse UKBA policy on asylum support; UKBA facing high court over attempt to worsen mental health of Iraqi refugee to encourage ‘voluntary’ return; Asylum seekers should not have to feign political beliefs, court rules

MIDDLE EAST

EGYPT: Egypt authorities arrest 68 ‘migrants’ in Sinai; Court orders deportation of 107 Eritreans caught in Sinai

IRAQ: Palestinian refugees under attack

ISRAEL: Israel aiding Syrian refugees on Turkish, Jordan borders; Israeli soldiers preemptively arrest African migrants in Egyptian territory; A scorching desert jail for asylum seekers, with no way out; Eilat parents: we don’t want Sudanese in our schools

JORDAN: Syrian expats try and get visas for their refugee relatives in Jordan; Palestinians face bias at the border

LEBANON: Sudanese refugees and asylum seekers on hunger strike in Beirut; Lebanon’s forgotten refugees

PALESTINE: Rule prevents stateless Palestinians filing lawsuits

SYRIA: Syrian refugees top 200,000 as exodus grows

TURKEY: Turkey wants U.N. to house refugees inside Syria

GLOBAL

EU watchdog launches probe into borders agency;

Stateless Rohingya continue to suffer lack of protection in Burma, international community refuses to raise concerns, fearing an ‘obstacle to democratization’;

There’s no evidence that asylum seeker deterrence policy works