Migration

More than 5 million refugees have recently fled Ukraine, the fastest-growing mass displacement in this century. About a quarter of Ukraine’s population and half of its children have fled their homes. The European Union (EU) responded with a first-time activation of the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD). Lurking behind tremendous generosity, States have treated…

Dozens of cases before the European Court of Human Rights claim that Greek authorities are engaged in a policy of secret returns of persons seeking asylum back to Turkey, or ‘pushbacks’. Α post on this blog, ‘Pushbacks as Euphemism’ by Niamh Keady-Tabbai and Itamar Mann drew attenttion to the alleged ‘driftbacks’ in the Aegean. These, however,…

State-sponsored mass migration can be a tremendously effective tool to destabilise a specific target country. The recent events at the Belarus-Polish border are only the most recent example of the so-called instrumentalisation of migration as an instrument of an aggressive foreign policy. The Belarus government pushed thousands of migrants from different countries, like Iraq, Afghanistan and Syria, towards…

While the political and diplomatic power play between the European Union and Belarus over sanctions and gas delivery cuts escalate, the conditions for thousands of migrants physically trapped between borders deteriorates by the hour. Despite a ban of journalists at the border area based on Poland’s declared emergency status, videos and pictures of migrants, including…