Fractured

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...

On April 29th Frontex director Fabrice Leggeri resigned as an outcome of the accusations of the Agency of facilitating illegal pushbacks in the Mediterranean. Over the last two years Frontex has consistently claimed that all its operations in the Aegean comply with the EU law and that it consisted of preventing boats from crossing international borders and then asking the Turkish coast guards to r...

Despite the fact that official statistics show the decrease in numbers of people reaching the European Union through the Mediterranean, asylum seekers go on this dangerous journey every day. Many don’t make it. According to the UNHCR data 478 people have already been declared dead or missing in the Mediterranean since the beginning of 2022 until April 20th. We closed 2021 with almost 2000 deaths,...

The admirable EU response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis and how it's contrasted with its response to any other refugee issues. In this episode of Fractured Joel Hernandez explains what is so special about the situation of Ukrainians in Europe and why any other nation hasn't received a similar treatment so far.  Show notes: The EU should treat all refugees like it is treating Ukrainians , by...

Since the beginning of the Russian aggression on Ukraine millions have fled from the East of the country abroad. More than 6 million are internally displaced. Many of them looked for safety in Lviv, one of the largest cities in Ukraine, placed in its West part. Lviv’s location allows it to be a safe port for many, for others is a departure point. As the city has been far from the front line, life...

One of the most important topics you may have missed as war rages in Ukraine are continued pushbacks in the Aegean. An illegal procedure that has been happening for years. It is extremely important to keep our focus on human rights violations at EU external borders as the EU offers services to Ukrainians that it denies to the refugees from other parts of the world. For more go to: https://mixedmig...

As the violence and heavy bombardment by Russian military forces entered its seventh day, the queues of people seeking refuge have been growing longer at the borders of Poland, Hungary, Moldova, Romania and Slovakia. The refugees are arriving by crammed-full trains, by car, and even on foot. All neighboring countries have declared to keep their borders open for refugees fleeing Ukraine. Most have...

Most international assistance was cut off after the Taliban took over Afghanistan in August last year. Hospitals and schools cannot afford to pay their staff, and many people cannot afford to buy food, adding to an already dire hunger crisis. Can the humanitarian situation cause yet another flow of people desperately looking for asylum in the neighboring countries and in Europe? What does Afghanis...