On 1 November, a new Frontex mission called Triton starts in the Mediterranean, replacing the earlier Mare Nostrum mission, which focused on saving lives at sea in the aftermath of the Lampedusa disaster last year. The Greens have expressed concern that stopping Mare Nostrum will lead to more deaths…

The massive EU-wide police action against irregular migration, “Mos Maiorum”, is targeting the wrong people, says Ska. Watch her statement in the summary of EuroparlTV of this week’s plenary session of the European Parliament: http://europarltv.europa.eu/en/player.aspx?pid=0b40ee96-0ccc-42ec-a177-a3cb00eb8b5a  

Download the Briefing here 2014 threatens to be one of the most deadly years for refugees. Since the beginning of the year, more than 3,000 people seeking protection have died in the Mediterranean. In spite of this, the “Mare Nostrum” rescue mission, set up by Italy after the refugee disaster off…

PRESS RELEASE – Strasbourg, 16 April 2014  The European Parliament today voted to confirm new EU legislation governing sea missions by FRONTEX, the EU’s border management agency. The Greens acknowledged some improvements in the new rules but expressed concern that it will still fail to offer full protection to MEPs.…

The regulation on Frontex operations at sea sets new rules for intercepting and pushing back migrants at sea as well as for rescuing them. It replaces the current Council decision of 2010, which was struck down by the European Court of Justice because the European Parliament was unlawfully excluded from…

Ska recently visited Ceuta, one of the two Spanish cities on the border to Morocco where migrants and refugees try to enter Europe. She was accompanied by Ernest Urtasun and Florent Marcellesi, two people who are pretty much involved with the Spanish Greens. The Green delegation was welcomed by Caballas…

Some days ago I received an email that really got me and made me very angry. Someone from my constituency told me about the experience of his Syrian relative at the Greek-Turkish border who tried to reach the shores of Greece on a rubber boat. “A military vessel stopped next…

Having been at Melilla several times, I have again been speechless facing this enormious fence and it’s consequences for security- and perspective-seeking refugees. I was there with Juantxo. Take a look at the video or this article’s .pdf [in ES]  

Last week the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs in the European Parliament for the first time discussed the European Commission’s proposal for the establishment of a fingerprint databasefor foreigners (“Smart Borders”). The proposal stipulates that in the future all ten fingerprints of foreigners who enter and exit…

Like every year on world refugee day, the UN refugee agency UNHCR is reporting new figures. With 45,2 Mio people on the run worldwide, the globe sees the highest population of refugees since the genocide in Rwanda and the collapse of Yugoslavia in 1994. Of those people, only very few…