30 September 2014
On 26 September, Australia’s Immigration Minister Scott Morrison and Cambodia’s Interior Minister Sar Kheng, signed a controversial agreement, aimed at resettling asylum-seekers in Cambodia, a country criticised for its deteriorating human rights record. (more…)
Source: The Washington Post | Cambodians protest Australia resettlement deal
Source: UNHCR | UNHCR statement on Australia-Cambodia agreement on refugee relocation
Source: BBC | Australia and Cambodia sign refugee resettlement deal
14 September 2012
A briefing paper from Human Rights Watch (HRW) entitled ‘Hidden Emergency – Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean’ argues that the EU needs to take urgent action to address the tragic deaths of thousands of boat migrants on its shores. According to UNHCR, an estimated 1500 migrants died in the Mediterranean in 2011 making it ‘the deadliest year on record’.
HRW recommends establishing a framework for cooperation in rescue at sea and standard operating procedures for shipmasters as well as amending the draft legislation creating EUROSUR – a surveillance system to monitor the Mediterranean and North Africa – in order to include the duty to assist migrants at sea. Furthermore, it is advised that resettlement programs for recognized refugees rescued at sea should be put in place.
Source: HRW | Hidden Emergency - Migrant deaths in the Mediterranean
2 March 2012
Ministers for Home Affairs of European Union countries will next week approve an increase in the compensation Member States receive from the EU budget for allowing refugees from outside the Union to settle in their territory. They will also endorse a pilot scheme under which each Member State is to indicate by 1 May how many refugees it plans to resettle in 2013, and from which groups designated by the EU as priorities. The ministers will meet in Brussels on Thursday 8 March.
Source: European Voice | EU member states to get more money for receiving refugees