Tag: politics of immigration

The Caucasus
Nagorno-Karabakh

Refugee exodus mounts from Nagorno-Karabakh

The separatist government of Nagorno-Karabakh, which controlled the disputed territory for more than three decades, announced that it will disband by the end of the year. Azerbaijan took full control of Nagorno-Karabakh following a swift military offensive last week. The region, an enclave within the borders of Azerbaijan, is home to around 120,000 ethnic Armenians who have considered it a de facto independent state, the Republic of Artsakh, since 1991. Most of that population—almost 90,000 people—has fled to Armenia in the past week due to fears of persecution and ethnic cleansing by the Azerbaijani forces that are now in control. Authorities in Armenia are struggling to register and provide for the needs of the tens of thousands of people arriving from the enclave, and concerns are growing about a nascent humanitarian crisis. (Map: Wikipedia)

Europe
Maksym

Ukrainian anti-fascist sentenced to prison in Russia

An appeals court in Moscow upheld the 13-year sentence imposed on Ukrainian human rights defender Maksym Butkevych, in what Amnesty International called “a grave miscarriage of justice.” Butkevych had been convicted in a “sham trial” by a de facto court in the Russian-occupied “Luhansk People’s Republic” in Ukraine, which Moscow has unilaterally declared annexed territory. A platoon leader in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Butkevych was taken captive in March and charged with war crimes. Amnesty dismisses the case as “a reprisal by Russia for his civic activism and his prominent human rights work.” Before the invasion, Butkevych led a Ukrainian NGO helping refugees find asylum in the country, and had long been a frontline opponent of the militant right in both Ukraine and Russia. (Image: Ukraine Solidarity Campaign)

Greater Middle East
Yemen

Saudi border guards massacre Ethiopian refugees

Saudi Arabian border guards have killed hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum-seekers attempting to cross the border from Yemen, according to a report from Human Rights Watch. The report documented incidents between March 2022 and June 2023, based on interviews with migrants, satellite imagery, and social media posts. According to the report, Saudi border guards used explosive weapons such as mortars against migrants, and shot them at close range with live ammunition. Border guards reportedly fired on people even when they complied with orders. HRW called the recent pattern of killings a change from “an apparent practice of occasional shootings” to “widespread and systematic killings.” (Map via PCL)

North America
rio grande

Deaths linked to Texas-Mexico floating border barrier

Mexican authorities confirmed that they recovered two bodies from the Rio Grande near the border town of Piedras Negras, Coahuila state. Authorities recovered one of the bodies, a Mexican national, from buoys recently floated by Texas in an effort to impede border crossings from Mexico. The second body, that of a Honduran national, was recovered further upstream. The incidents have renewed attention on the floating barrier, which is now the subject of a lawsuit between the US Department of Justice and the state of Texas. (Map: Google)

Africa
Burkina Faso

Ghana: cease forced return of Burkinabé refugees

The United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said it is concerned about reports that hundreds of Burkinabé refugees fleeing to Ghana, including women and children, are being deported. According to UNHCR, more than 17,500 Burkina Faso nationals have fled to neighboring countries, including Niger, Mali and Ghana, since January 2021 as a result of the ongoing internal conflict. Ghana is accused of having forcibly deported more than 500 Burkinabé seeking protection along the border. A video on Twitter showing expelled women and children sitting in a parking lot near the border has been widely circulated. The UNHCR called on Ghana to stop the deportations, saying that they amount to a violation of the non-refoulement principle. (Photo: Leonardo Perez Aranda via Wikimedia Commons)

North Africa
migrants

EU-Tunisia migration deal amid rights abuses

Amnesty International condemned a new migration agreement between the European Union and Tunisia, saying it makes the EU “complicit in the suffering that will inevitably result” from what represents a “dangerous expansion” of failed policies. The deal commits the EU to providing €105 million (around $120 million) in aid to Tunisia to deter Europe-bound migration. The signing of the deal came mere days after Tunisian authorities forcibly deported hundreds of Black African migrants across the Libyan border, amid a surge of xenophobic violence. The UN condemned the Tunisian government’s actions as “cruel and inhuman treatment.” (Photo: US Navy via Wikimedia Commons)

Europe
F-16

Kurds betrayed in Sweden NATO deal

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has dropped his opposition to Sweden’s entry into NATO, it was announced ahead of the alliance summit in Vilnius. In an apparent quid pro quo, the Biden administration is dropping its objections to Turkey purchasing F-16 fighter jets from the US. Sweden has also offered concessions to Erdogan. In blocking Sweden’s NATO bid, Turkey had accused Stockholm of harboring Kurdish “terrorists”—meaning supporters of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which Ankara labels a “terrorist” group. Last November, Sweden amended its constitution to strengthen its “anti-terrorism” laws, weakening free-speech protections—clearly in deference to Turkey. The Swedish Supreme Court in June also ruled to allow extradition of the accused PKK figures to Turkey. And the rallies held in Stockholm against the extraditions by Kurdish immigrants and exiles may now be criminalized. (Photo of F-16: USAF via Wikimedia Commons)

North Africa
sfax

Tunisia: mass expulsion of Black African migrants

Hundreds of Black African migrants were rounded up from the Tunisian port city of Sfax, expelled across the country’s border with Libya and left stranded in the desert, sparking street protests by the large community of migrants waiting in the city. According to reports, some managed to escape back to the Tunisian side after being confronted by Libyan militiamen, but the fate of all those expelled has still not been accounted for.  The expulsions came after mobs attacked Black Africans in Sfax following the funeral of a Tunisian man who was stabbed to death in an altercation with migrants. Tensions have been rising for months in Tunisia, which has seen a sharp increase in people attempting to cross the Mediterranean from its shores this year. (Map: Google)

Europe
Nahel

France: far-right parties invoke ‘civil war’

French police have arrested more than 3,000 protesters in unrest that has spread since the fatal police shooting of 17-year-old delivery worker Nahel Merzouk, the son of North African immigrants, during a traffic stop in the Paris suburb of Nanterre. The Ministry of the Interior has mobilized some 45,000 police troops and gendarmes, as fierce clashes with police have spread across the country. The French far right is meanwhile baiting President Emmanuel Macron for what they portray as a weak response to the uprising. Marine Le Pen issued an inflammatory video statement warning of “anarchy” and calling for a state of emergency to be declared. Marion MarĂ©chal, Le Pen’s niece and a former National Front parliamentarian, has called for armed vigilantism and repeatedly invoked “civil war.” (Photo via Crimethinc)

Planet Watch
displaced

UN grapples with definition of ‘climate refugees’

The United Nations must update its 70-year-old refugee convention to address the growing numbers displaced across borders by the climate crisis, according to the special rapporteur on climate change. Speaking before the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Ian Fry said there’s an “urgent need” to protect the rights of the displaced as the climate crisis builds. While few contest the need to address climate-related displacement, how to do so is a sticky question. The UN’s two main agencies for displacement, the UNHCR and IOM, shun the term “climate refugees,” saying that it’s misleading and could even undermine existing protection law. (Photo of displaced families in Somalia: UN Photo/Tobin Jones via Flickr)

Europe
Lampedusa

Politics, neglect hobble Italy’s migration system

The number of asylum seekers and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to reach Italy has surged this year, according to EU officials. More than 56,000 people have made the journey–almost double the total over the same period last year. The increase prompted Italy’s government to declare a six-month state of emergency in April, in part to address overcrowding at a center for those who arrive on the Italian island of Lampedusa. But experienced aid workers say the focus on numbers is distracting from the real issues: dire conditions in North Africa—most recently Tunisia—pushing more people to take dangerous journeys at sea; and an Italian migration reception system near collapse due to years of politicization and neglect. (Photo: Sara Creta/TNH)

Syria
syria refugees

EU donor conference for Syria falls short

Donors and diplomats met for a seventh straight year in Brussels to raise money for Syria’s ongoing humanitarian crisis. They pledged a total of 5.6 billion euros ($6.1 billion) for “2023 and beyond,” including 4.6 billion euros ($1 billion) for this year. The money will be used to support people both inside Syria and in neighboring countries hosting Syrian refugees. Aid groups say the amount isn’t enough given growing needs within Syria and for Syrian refugees, many of whom face pressure to return to a country still at war. The UN has only received 11.6% of the $5.41 billion it says it needs for aid to Syrians in 2023, and that doesn’t include assistance for refugees. Low funding levels have led to cuts in aid, including food rations in a place where millions are struggling to get by. (Photo: UNICEF via UN News)