Migration and asylum

Just days after Taliban violently seized control of Afghanistan, the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, has warned of a repeat of the situation in 2015 and announced that Greece will not be the “gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants”.

This short sentence is all you need to understand why the German government committed an error of judgment concerning Afghanistan. An error of judgment that kills people every day – and democracy throughout the world as well, by the way.

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Refugee Convention, it seems more important than ever to bring the Convention’s indispensable importance for refugee protection back to the attention of policy makers and a broader public.

As part of the examination of the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum proposed by the European Commission, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Paris office publishes a series of analyses devoted to this subject. This second article examines the progress of the debates on the Pact at European level, considering in particular the external dimension of migration and asylum policies and the relationship with third countries, as well as the legal routes of entry of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants into the EU.

The Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Thessaloniki office, together with the Goethe Institute Thessaloniki, organised a public screening of the movie “Citizen of Moria” and took our audience on a journey to Europe’s most notorious refugee camp. In a personal interview the film-maker and protagonist Ahmad Ebrahimi talks about the struggle of being forced to flee in search for protection.

Neda Noraie-Kia, Head of Migration Policy Europe at Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Thessaloniki office, talked to the Greek Ombudsman, Mr. Andreas I. Pottakis, about his latest report on alleged pushbacks to Turkey of foreign nationals who had arrived in Greece in search for international protection. He raises serious concerns regarding the level of the protection of human rights in Greece and suggest investigation by the Greek police, but also EU policies in order to improve the transparency of the EU border and coast guard agency’s (FRONTEX).

In an interview, Dr. Franziska Brantner MdB comments on the results of the “Actually European!? Citizen expectations of the next German government’s EU policy” study and makes the case for greater German engagement in the fields of climate protection, tax policy and ensuring the rule of law.