News Item

EU migration situation: fundamental rights challenges persist

Person standing at a border with EU flag.
BillionPhotos.com, Adobestock.com, 2024
Deaths at sea, reports of rights violations at EU borders, harsher return policies and inconsistent rights monitoring; these are some of the fundamental rights issues highlighted in the new migration bulletin from the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA).

FRA’s relaunched quarterly bulletin on migration examines where the fundamental rights of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees stand in March 2026. It describes key developments since January 2025 and highlights the persistent issues and emerging concerns across 13 areas:

  • Sea rescue: many people continue to die at sea while trying to reach Europe. Search and rescue efforts remain insufficient.
  • Humanitarian support: several Member States have launched legal proceedings against humanitarian actors supporting migrants at borders or have restricted their work.
  • Rights violations at the EU’s external borders: reports of violence and summary returns at the EU’s external borders continue, and accountability mechanisms remain weak.
  • Fundamental rights monitoring: monitoring has expanded but several Member States have not finalised plans for the establishment of independent monitoring mechanisms required under the EU’s Migration and Asylum Pact.
  • Access to asylum: measures to counter the instrumentalisation of migrants continue to raise fundamental rights concerns. Other legal and practical barriers made access to asylum difficult in some Member States. Opportunities for protection through resettlement and humanitarian pathways remain limited.
  • Protecting people fleeing Ukraine: as the end of temporary protection approaches, Member States are adopting different national residence solutions. While labour market integration has been strong, children’s access to education remains uneven.
  • Reception conditions: longstanding infrastructure gaps and overcrowding in several Member States continue to stretch reception systems.
  • Protecting unaccompanied children: reception, guardianship and age assessments are improving but capacity gaps and delays continue.
  • People with special needs: training and guidance has helped identify victims of trafficking, torture and gender‑based violence but some vulnerabilities still go unnoticed.
  • Immigration detention: several countries are expanding immigration detention, including for children, and alternatives to detention remain underused.
  • Return procedures: return policies have become more enforcement-driven and gaps in forced return monitoring systems continue to undermine effective oversight.
  • Migrant exploitation: preventing labour exploitation remains a major challenge, particularly for workers with insecure residence permits.
  • Family reunification: rules have tightened across the EU, creating growing obstacles for families to remain together.

FRA’s latest bulletin covers the period January 2025 – March 2026. The next edition is due in the summer of 2026.

FRA’s previous migration bulletins ran from September 2015 to May 2023.