Declaration from the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES)

The European Commission has issued a consolidated list of “safe third countries of origin,” which will be ratified by the Council and the European Parliament, making it binding on all EU countries.
The creation of the “safe countries of origin” list is part of the policies of externalizing European migration policies, limiting asylum, facilitating and accelerating deportation and expulsion procedures, and becoming a political bargaining chip to whitewash undemocratic regimes to reward them (…)

Brief #16 - December 2024

The long-standing desire of European countries to externalise the processing of asylum applications has recently taken concrete form in the UK/Rwanda and Italy/Albania ’agreements’. While the British initiative has been abandoned, the Italian one has been temporarily blocked. Following the cancellation of the first two transfers of people on the move to camps in Albania, and pending the decision of the Court of Cassation in Rome on the Italian government’s appeal, the latter has recalled the (…)

Egypt The New Arab, ’UNHCR suspends aid to refugees in Egypt over lack of funding’, 26 March 2025
On 25 March, the UNHCR announced that it would be ceasing its assistance activities for refugees in Egypt, including medical care for those fleeing the war in Sudan. The UN agency estimates that this decision, which it says was forced by uncertainty over the amount of contributions it can expect to receive this year, will affect around 20,000 people, who will be deprived of vital treatments (…)

Transnational Action Day against the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum

10 April 2025 - Nothing to celebrate!
Everywhere, the same logics of oppression are strangling us. From Belgrade to Athens, from Rome to Brussels, governments stifle the most precarious, destroy solidarity and oppress those who refuse to bow down. They impose a world where survival is a daily struggle, where borders kill and where people are criminalized.
On 10 April 2024, the EU Parliament adopted the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum despite the fierce opposition of many of us. The Pact (…)

Campaign manifesto to stop “voluntary” return programs from transit countries

The signatory organizations, including Migreurop, denounce the instrumental and distorted use of voluntary assisted returns from transit countries, such as Libya and Tunisia, where the fundamental rights of migrants are systematically violated. In these contexts, so-called voluntary return is not a free choice but a last resort due to the absence of safe alternatives, effectively turning into a disguised expulsion. Instead of providing protection, the European Union and its Member States (…)