About: Refugees Archives

As the war in Ukraine rages on, Europe braces for an unprecedented wave of refugees. European regions are expected to play a crucial role by leveraging their interconnectedness and the EU’s regional cohesion funds.

Following seven days of the war in Ukraine, one million refugees have fled to neighbouring countries and to help those fleeing and staying, $1.5 billion was pledged for humanitarian support on Tuesday (1 March).

The European Commission has proposed that those fleeing the war in Ukraine should be granted “temporary protection” in the EU, while border checks should be simplified. EU interior ministers will decide on the matter on Thursday.

European telecom companies have voluntarily taken measures to relieve the humanitarian crisis caused by the ongoing Russian invasion. The measures include free international calls to Ukraine, the distribution of SIM cards to refugees fleeing to neighbouring countries, and free Wi-Fi at …

EU home affairs ministers have put off a decision on whether to grant temporary protection to Ukrainian refugees amid what threatens to become the “largest humanitarian crisis” in Europe in recent times.

As many Ukrainians flee from Russian attacks, the EU must work together to provide humanitarian help and take in refugees, Hungarian MEP Katalin Cseh (RENEW), who is currently in Western Ukraine, told EURACTIV in an interview.

A veteran Turkish politician who has struggled for years to have Erdoğan voted out of office says that his dream is drawing nearer, even as doubts remain whether he will be the main opposition candidate at the 2023 presidential elections.

Citizens contributing to the Conference on the Future of Europe (CoFoE), the EU's democracy engagement project, have issued their recommendations on migration following the conference's fourth panel in Maastricht.

On the Mediterranean island of Cyprus, grappling with an influx of asylum seekers, the small town of Chlorakas has become the centre of tensions. One-quarter of its residents are refugees.

EU interior ministers have agreed to make the so-called "solidarity" principle mandatory for migration issues, French Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin announced on Thursday (3 February). France is seeking a close alliance with Germany on this matter.

Four months after Albania stepped up to accept thousands of Afghan refugees fleeing the Taliban, some 2000 live in hotels on the country’s Adriatic coast. While they are ever-thankful to their hosts' kindness, the uncertainty of knowing their future is causing problems.

The European Commission on Wednesday (1 December) proposed letting member states bordering Belarus, and facing migrant flows allegedly orchestrated by Minsk, to keep arrivals' asylum claims in legal limbo for longer. But Poland called the move ‘counter-productive’.

Refugee women face lower levels of employment in Europe than their male counterparts or native-born females, according to a new report from Economist Impact. In response, 25 businesses have pledged to mentor over 1,200 refugee women and help them enter the workforce.

As the world awaits a possible new wave of refugees from Afghanistan to Europe in the aftermath of the fall of Kabul, vulnerable Afghans already on the EU's border face growing uncertainty.

Angela Merkel urged Germans on Sunday (3 October) to forge a common future that draws on their diverse backgrounds, harking back to the 2015 decision to admit 1 million refugees that was a defining moment of her long chancellorship.

The EU's new model of refugee camps make liberal use of new technologies and modern methods of surveillance, writes Petra Molnar.

Rejecting the idea of 'deportation centres' that would host Afghan refugees in Central Asia, Luxembourgish Foreign Minister Jean Asselborn told EURACTIV in an interview the EU holds enormous responsibility towards those who "helped us build an embryo of rule of law" in Afghanistan.

The United States said Tuesday (14 September) it had evacuated nearly 500 "military and civilian" Afghans from Uzbekistan, while the Central Asian country declared there were now no Afghan refugees on its territory.

In a tented courtyard in the migrant camp on Greece's Leros island, a dozen new arrivals await registration after two weeks in COVID-19 quarantine.

Donors have pledged more than $1.1 billion to help Afghanistan, where poverty and hunger have spiralled since the Islamist Taliban took power, and foreign aid has dried up, raising the spectre of a mass exodus.

Without major financial and logistical support, the people of Afghanistan face a future of poverty and humanitarian crisis, warns Achim Steiner.

This week our podcast focuses on a security conference organised by Austria with the Central Asian states to discuss further strategy regarding Afghanistan. Austria and other EU countries are asking Afghanistan’s neighbours to manage migrations flows and prevent a potential …

At least 525 people have died trying to make the Atlantic crossing between the African continent and Spain’s Canary Islands so far this year, one of the deadliest migrant routes in the world, the International Organization for Migration said Tuesday, EURACTIVS’s partner EFE reports. 

The Taliban government in Afghanistan would accept any Afghan migrants whose applications for asylum were rejected in Europe and they would then face court, an Austrian newspaper quoted a Taliban spokesman as saying on Monday (30 August).