Fractured

From a perspective of global conflict and intense suffering, 2023 has certainly been a year to say farewell to. But for us at ReFOCUS, we also have to look back on all we’ve achieved, especially within the evolution of our Fractured podcast. In this final episode of 2023, our core team discusses the topics that were most impactful as well as upcoming episodes and wishes for the coming year of prod...

According to the UNHCR there are currently around 4400 asylum seekers on Lesvos. Even though every month more than one thousand people are transferred to the mainland, more people keep coming. The island has been the hub of the so-called “refugee crisis” for years now, and nothing indicates a change in this matter. Even though Lesvos is no longer in the center of media attention, the conditions in...

According to the UNHCR there are currently around 4400 asylum seekers on Lesvos. Even though every month more than one thousand people are transferred to the mainland, more people keep coming. The island has been the hub of the so-called “refugee crisis” for years now, and nothing indicates a change in this matter. Even though Lesvos is no longer in the center of media attention, the conditions in...

How many layers of discrimination can one person carry? Yuli, the guest of our latest episode, says that she holds the worst possible combination in the world: “black, trans, sex worker.” On top of that she is a refugee and struggles with stigma related to that fact that she had to flee her home. In a very honest conversation with us, Yuli and Moran from Safe Place International reveal all issues...

This Is Who You Are. There Is Nothing Wrong with You! Almost every LGBTQI+ refugee carries a double stigma. One related to their sexual orientation, the other to the fact that they had to flee their country. Masi and Sulah from Safe Place International clarify how sexual orientation is the reason for many people to seek asylum and on the other hand how it still remains the main ground for discrimi...

Starting on October 7th multiple earthquakes devastated the Herat region of Eastern Afghanistan within a week. The final number of dead is still unknown as many bodies are still covered with dust after whole villages of poorly constructed clay houses have been destroyed. The country is now facing an escalating humanitarian crisis, following on top of a collapsed economy and instability constantly...

According to the UNHCR data, 29,485 Iranians fled their country in 2022. Big part of this group were activists and artists who due to their activity couldn’t freely create in their homeland or couldn’t stay free period. Recently three award-winning filmmakers Mohammad Rasoulof, Mostafa Aleahmad and Jafar Panahi have been arrested in Tehran for “inflaming and disrupting the psychological safety of...

Mahsa (Jina) Amini, a Kurdish woman was killed by the morality police in Tehran on September 16th 2022. Morality police claimed that Mahsa died of a heart attack, however other women detained with her testified that she was treated very brutally by the police for resisting the assaults. The official reason for arresting Mahsa was the accusation that her hijab was not covering her hair enough and t...

It’s been 2 years since the Taliban took over power in Afghanistan. Since then, the regime has faced international condemnation over the human rights situation, including restrictions they have imposed on women’s education. Afghanistan is also fighting a humanitarian crisis, with almost half of its population – 23 million people – receiving assistance from the World Food Programme last year. In th...

Hundreds of witnesses have testified to the existence of “black sites” – places where people who came to Europe to claim asylum are denied any rights. In this episode we focus on an investigative piece by Lighthouse Reports which revealed that security forces along the Bulgarian-Turkish border are using secret facilities to systematically detain people seeking refuge before illegally deporting the...

Every year on June 20th, the world celebrates World Refugee Day to "honor those who have been forced to flee".  At ReFOCUS we believe that day should focus on advocacy for refugee rights, which are very frequently overlooked or not acknowledged on purpose.  So today we are bringing several strong voices of people who went through the asylum process or are still in it. We want you to hear...

So far this year more than 1000 people have died or were categorised as missing while trying to cross to the European Union through the Mediterranean Sea or one of the EU Southern borders. Many people who take this dangerous journey do not have any documents with them. When they die at the borders it is extremely difficult to identify them and then find their family to inform them about the traged...

In the past several years, the detention of asylum seekers in Greece has transformed from a last resort measure into a standard procedure. Many asylum seekers spend months in Pre Removal Detention Centers without any knowledge why they have been detained or when they will be released. Recently, the Mobile Info Team and the Border Violence Monitoring Network have published reports about the facilit...

On April 25th the Lithuanian parliament passed legislation to make it legal to deny entry to asylum seekers. We know the country had already been engaged in pushbacks since at least end of  2021, when thousands of migrants and refugees — mainly from the Middle East and Africa - were entering the European Union via Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. Many human rights organisations as well as the Europea...

Italy’s government has declared a six-month national state of emergency to cope with asylum seekers reaching its southern shores. The state of emergency was announced right after Easter weekend, during which around 2,000 people arrived by boat on the Italian island of Lampedusa. The only other time a state of emergency was activated over migration in Italy was in 2011 under the Berlusconi governme...

Last year the UK government proposed a scheme which would deport asylum-seekers who have entered the country illegally to their home countries or to have their asylum claims handled in Rwanda. The first deportation flight was blocked by an injunction from the European Court of Human Rights. London’s High Court ruled in December that the scheme was legal, however human rights defenders are seeking...

In September 2020 the most infamous refugee camp in Europe burned almost completely. 14 000 people living inside Moria have yet again lost everything. After 5 days the Greek authorities declared that they had found people guilty of this crime and soon will put them on trial. Those 6 young Afghan men are now known to the world as Moria 6. However there are many question marks in the prosecutor'...

Russia initiated a full-scale invasion on Ukraine almost exactly a year ago. As an outcome of the aggression more than 8 milion Ukrainians had to flee to other countries. 4,8 mln of them have been registered for temporary protection or a similar national protection scheme in Europe. Most of them went to Poland, which currently hosts more than 1,5 mln refugees from Ukraine. In addition, 5,3 milion...

Humanitarian action in Europe has been increasingly criminalised over the last years. France and Italy have forbidden citizens from giving food, water, and shelter to refugees and migrants. Hungary passed the so called "Stop Soros" law, criminalising individuals and NGOs helping migrants claim asylum. Poland criminalises aid at the Polish-Belarusian border. But no case gets for media attention at...

“Citizen of Moria” - a documentary by Jawad Mir and Ahmad Ebrahimi presents Ahmad’s experiences in Moria camp as an asylum seeker but also as a filmmaker who had to flee Afghanistan leaving his whole life behind. Moria burned down back in 2020, but for years it has been a symbol of the lack of respect for human rights and dignity. In this episode of Fractured Ahmad Ebrahimi and Jawad Mir describe...

One year after the Taliban took over power in Afghanistan millions became unemployed after jobs with foreign embassies, militaries and NGOs vanished practically overnight.  Malnourished children have flooded Kabul’s hospitals in recent months and more than half the population faces life-threatening food insecurity. Yet, the Taliban regime celebrated last Monday and announced August 15th a nat...

Fresh on the heels of Boris Johnson’s resignation as Prime Minister of the UK, we reflect on immigration policy in the UK, how we’ve gotten to where we are, what BoJo’s resignation implies—and what it doesn’t.  Since early May, the UK has made a lot of noise with a new policy that it describes as world-leading, and that most advocates describe as lunacy: an immigration agreement with Rwanda,...

On June 24th a group of approximately 2000 asylum seekers tried to cross the border separating Melilla - a Spanish enclave in Morocco. More than 500 people managed to enter the border control area after cutting a fence and 130 of them succeeded in entering Melilla. In addition, according to the latest reports, 23 people died while trying to cross to this Spanish enclave. Several international inst...

In this week's episode of Fractured, we celebrate the first year of Mixed Migration—hebdo by reviewing the broad trends in migration news and events, and reflecting on the broader trends that have emerged since MMh launched in mid-June 2021 by Fractured co-host Joel Hernandez. To access MMh, review the trends discussed in this episode, and subscribe, please visit its homepage here: https://mixedmi...

Since March 2016, when it comes to the refugee situation in Greece, media have been predominantly focused on the arrivals and living conditions on the five Eastern Aegean islands hosting the so-called hotspots. However, at the same time, the events taking place on the land border between Greece and Turkey in the north-east Evros region have been largely overlooked. Despite a smaller number of peop...