Latest European and International developments on migration and asylum (May – June 2016)

Latest Developments

• Justice and Home Affairs Council conclusions on the return and readmission of illegally staying third-country nationals (9 June 2016) seeks to build on existing and continue collecting best practices of return and readmission procedures as well as reviewing national legislation through the European Migration Network, with a view to amending relevant aspects of legislation.  See also meeting conclusions (9-10 June 2016).
• Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) confirmed, on behalf of the Council, the compromise text agreed with the European Parliament on the proposed regulation on the European Border and Coast Guard.
• Foreign Affairs Council extended  the mandate of the EUNAFOR MED Operation Sophia, until 27 July 2017.
• Foreign Affairs Council adopted the thematic part of the EU annual report on human rights and democracy in the world in 2015.
• European Commission has issued its second report on the progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement. 
• European Commission adopted second recommendation identifying steps to restore Dublin transfers to Greece. 
• European Commission adopted new measures to promote stability and combat the root causes of irregular migration in the Sahel region and Lake Chad Basin under the Emergency Trust Fund for Africa
• Statement by Commissioner Avramopoulos to mark the 31st anniversary of the Schengen Agreement.  
• European Commission presented Action Plan on Integration and reforms ‘Blue Card’ scheme for highly skilled workers from outside the EU.
• European Commission set out plans for a New Migration Partnership Framework: reinforced cooperation with third countries to better manage migration.

Reports

• European Commission issued its fourth progress report on the EU’s emergency relocation and resettlement schemes.
• Frontex published Western Balkans Annual Risk Analysis Network 2016.
• IOM issued latest edition of its publication Fatal Journeys Volume 2: Identification and Tracing of Dead and Missing Migrants.
• UNICEF released a Mediterranean Child Alert entitled Danger every step of the way – A harrowing journey to Europe for refugee and migrant children .
• European Parliament LIBE Committee published study on The Implementation of the Common European Asylum System.
• European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and the European Court of Human Rights launched a practical handbook on European law relating to access to justice. 
• Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM): published its Annual Report 2015.
• European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) published its consolidated Annual Activity Report 2015 and its Fundamental Rights Report 2016 as well as a report on Asylum and migration into the European Union in 2015. 

Newsletter

• Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM): Newsletter May 2016. 

Statistics / Trends

• Eurostat: Latest figures show number of first time asylum seekers down to fewer than 290,000 in the first quarter of 2016.
• Eurostat: EU Member States granted citizenship to almost 900,000 persons in 2014.
• EASO: latest asylum trends April 2016
• Frontext update: Approx 19 000 migrants arrived in Italy in May. For the second month in a row, the number of migrants coming to Italy from Libya and Egypt exceeded the number of migrant arrivals in Greece.
• IOM Update: An estimated 214,691 migrants and refugees entered Europe by sea in 2016 through 19 June 2016, arriving in Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Deaths so far this year are 2,861.
• Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA): Monthly Overview June 2016 and Thematic focus: Gender-based violence.

Events

29 June 2016: EMN French National Contact Point annual conference on the “Integration of refugees into the labour market in France and in the European Union”. Email: [email protected]

6 –  7 July 2016: EMN Conference on Rethinking Returns from the EU: Sustainable Returns and Cooperation with Countries of Origin, in Bratislava, Slovakia.  

11 – 13 July 2016: European Network on Statelessness, #StatelessKids Youth Congress 2016 at the Maastricht University Campus, Brussels, Belgium.

Summer schools 

27 June – 8 July 2016: Migration Policy Centre Migration Summer School: Approaches to International Migration at Origin and Destination: Theories, Policies and Methods for Analysis in Florence, Italy.

4 – 15 July 2016: Odysseus Network Summer School on EU Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy, Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) in Brussels, Belgium.

Event conclusions

EMN Conference Norway on the future of the European asylum and refugee system, Rethinking asylum and refugee protection in Oslo, Norway.