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Nine people rescued from boat sailing perilous Atlantic route that reportedly left Senegal with 60 people onboard nine days agoAt least 50 people are feared to have drowned after a boat sailing the perilous Atlantic route from west Africa to Europe began to sink 60 miles south of the Canary island of El Hierro.Nine people were rescued from the craft early on Monday after...

Children among those killed in second fatal incident in two weeks close to the Horn of Africa, says UN agencyAt least 21 people have died after a boat capsized off the coast of Djibouti, the UN’s migration agency has said.It was the second fatal maritime accident in two weeks off the Horn of Africa nation, which lies on the perilous so-called eastern migration route...

Attempt to cross via overcrowded dinghy from Wimereux aborted after engine stalls and five people drownThey could have been on a school trip. Fifty teenagers from Vietnam, dressed for the biting cold in puffer jackets, smart trainers and woolly beanies, sat on the pavement by the bus shelter outside Gare Calais listening to music and watching videos on their smartphones.They were waiting for the...

In announcement three weeks before election, José Raúl Mulino gave no details of how he would stop migrant flowPanama’s presidential frontrunner has vowed to “close” the Darién Gap, the swampy jungle straddling the border with Colombia that has become an unavoidable ordeal for many US-bound migrants – but experts criticised the idea as unworkable and potentially dangerous.Presided over by criminal groups and corrupt officials,...

Proponents of legislation for bloc say it will take away far-right arguments but critics claim the oppositeThe European parliament is to vote on Wednesday on sweeping new laws to overhaul its migration policy amid renewed criticism that it is feeding the agenda of the extreme right rather than protecting vulnerable people.Ylva Johansson, the home affairs commissioner who was the driving force behind the legislation,...

Net migration to New Zealand hit a near record high in 2023 after a new temporary work visa was introduced after the pandemicNew Zealand will tighten its visa rules for some migrants as the coalition government moves to overhaul the immigration system it says has led to “unsustainable” levels of migration.Last year, annual net migration to New Zealand hit a near record high of...

Fears of a new migration route grow as more than 800 people land on Gavdos, population fewer than 70, in a few monthsEven by the standards of small Greek islands, Gavdos is tiny. In a population of fewer than 70 people, there are just two families with four children. The rest “are all old people mostly living alone”, its mayor, Lilian Stefanaki, explains.It is...

International Organization for Migration believes those discovered ‘died in process of being smuggled through the desert’A mass grave containing at least 65 bodies has been discovered in south-west Libya this week, the UN migration agency said on Friday.A spokesperson for the International Organization for Migration (IOM) said the mass grave was uncovered by Libyan security forces. Continue reading...

Families say they were promised details of relatives’ whereabouts after contacting people they thought were linked to NGO in SpainFamilies of people who disappeared on the perilous journey from Africa to Europe have said they were asked to pay hundreds of euros in exchange for information about what had happened to their loved ones.In interviews with the Guardian, three families recounted how, as part...

Médecins Sans Frontières says ‘dangerous manoeuvres’ by coastguard put refugees at even greater riskAn NGO performing search and rescue missions in the Mediterranean has accused the Libyan coastguard of hampering an attempt to save more than 170 people making the perilous journey across the sea to Europe.In a statement, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) said its ship had come to the rescue of two boats...

A collection of more than 7,000 letters will form a publicly accessible digital archive that offers a window to the past In the week that Ireland turns ­everything green and celebrates its diaspora, a new online archive has given voice to the human cost paid by generations of emigrants.More than 7,000 letters from emigrants to North America spanning four centuries have been collected and...

Loss of Doctors Without Borders services will probably leave void in potentially lifesaving services for migrantsPanama has ordered Doctors Without Borders (MSF) to stop treating people who have crossed the Darién Gap, one of the world’s most dangerous and fastest-growing border crossings.MSF is one of the largest medical NGOs operating on the dangerous jungle frontier which connects Colombia to Panama and the loss of...

Centre-right European People’s party says it wants to create deportation deals with non-EU countries to head off rise of far rightA group of political parties backing Ursula von der Leyen for a second term in one of the most powerful jobs in Brussels at the head of the European Commission is planning to call for further migration reforms, similar to the UK’s Rwanda policy,...

Boat carrying 10 other children between seven and 13 years old, along with girl’s pregnant mother, father and three siblings, sankA seven-year-old girl has died in a canal close to Dunkirk after a makeshift boat carrying 16 people from northern France to the UK capsized, the prefecture in France’s Nord department said.The boat, which was carrying 10 other children between seven and 13 years...

Attempt to stop movement through perilous rainforest leaves people stuck in two remote Caribbean townsMigration towards the US through a perilous but increasingly well-trodden rainforest border crossing has ground to a halt after the Colombian navy arrested two boat captains for trafficking migrants.But the attempt to stop movement through the Darién Gap between Colombia and Panama has left more than 3,000 people stranded in...

Officials say 179 people trying to cross Channel were rescued after four French-led operationsOne person has died and two others are missing in the Channel after an incident involving a small boat, French rescue services have said.According to the Préfecture maritime Manche et mer du Nord, four French-led rescue operations took place in the Channel on Wednesday, coordinated by the regional operational surveillance and...

Ombudsman says papers show EU agency made four offers to help Greece with surveillance of boat that sank, but got no responseOpinion: Emily O’ReillyThe rules governing the EU’s border and coastguard agency Frontex must be urgently revised if Europe is to avoid a repeat of last year’s tragedy off the coast of Greece in which about 600 people are thought to have died, an...

Lawyers see Basir’s case as test of European policies that fail to provide safe routes to sub-Saharan asylum seekers For 25-year-old Basir, it was a ray of hope after fleeing Sudan more than a decade ago. For his lawyers, the asylum request he made from Morocco was the ultimate test of whether Spain – and more broadly the EU – was willing to provide...

Gun Ufuk, 29, sentenced to 20 years in prison over deadly sinking that occurred metres from shoreAn Italian court has sentenced a people smuggler to 20 years in prison for involvement in a shipwreck last year that killed at least 94 migrants.The court in the southern city of Crotone found Gun Ufuk, a 29-year-old Turkish national, guilty of crimes including causing a shipwreck and...

Atlantic route to chain of islands is deadliest migration passage to Spain with 6,007 people dying last yearThe number of people from west Africa who braved the sea in boats to reach Spain’s Canary Islands jumped more than 1,000% in January from a year before, according to data released by the country’s interior ministry.A total of 7,270 people reached the archipelago in the Atlantic...

Scheme to help African economies aimed at curbing illegal migration from continentThe Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, is poised to announce her grand plan for Italy in Africa as she strives to position her country at the forefront of European cooperation on the African continent in return for curbing illegal migration.The so-called Mattei plan, named after Enrico Mattei, the founder of the oil company...

District runoff in Thuringia closely watched to gauge whether huge protests against party have dented supportThe far-right populist Alternative für Deutschland party has been narrowly beaten in its first electoral test since revelations came to light of its involvement in a plan for the mass deportation of foreigners that has sparked huge protests across Germany. Its candidate lost against a conservative rival in a...

Rights of lone minors were not protected, with some deported and others left homeless for monthsSpain, Greece and Hungary have been rebuked by courts for failing to protect the rights of children.It adds to a string of recent rulings that have reprimanded countries across Europe over the treatment of lone minors who are seeking asylum. Continue reading...

Exclusive: Pekka Haavisto says being ‘united against all external threats’ is key to security amid tension with RussiaFinland must crack down on hate speech against minorities if it is to appear “united against all external threats”, including from Russia, a leading candidate in the country’s presidential election has said.The Nordic country, which is governed by a coalition including the far-right Finns party, needs to...