Asylum

Asylum, migration and borders

The migrant crisis has triggered challenges across Europe. FRA encourages rights-compliant responses.

We provide practical expertise on this complex issue. This includes regular updates, focus papers and toolkits. We outline policy alternatives and best practices.

Highlights

  • Report / Paper / Summary
    6
    July
    2023
    Following yet another recent tragic shipwreck and loss of life in the Mediterranean, this short report sets out examples of actions the EU could take to meet its obligations to protect the right to life and prevent more deaths at sea. As part of the work that the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) does on upholding fundamental rights in asylum and return procedures, this report calls for better protection for shipwreck survivors, and prompt and independent investigations. It sets out measures that EU Member States should take to improve search and rescue efforts and provide legal pathways to safety to prevent deaths at sea.
  • Fundamental Rights Report
    8
    June
    2023
    Russia’s unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine has resulted in massive internal and external population displacement. The European Union (EU) rapidly activated its Temporary Protection Directive for the first time since it was adopted in 2001. This entitled nearly 4 million people to legal residence and access to work, housing and legal assistance, education and healthcare.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    28
    February
    2023
    Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine triggered scenes not seen in Europe for decades. It has since caused death, immense destruction, and unspeakable suffering. It also set in motion a mass movement of people not seen since World War II. To protect them, the EU activated the Temporary Protection Directive for the first time. In doing so, all EU Member States must offer protection to those displaced from Ukraine.
  • Report / Paper / Summary
    2
    February
    2023
    Many cities throughout the European Union hosted people fleeing Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The EU currently faces the largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II. Since February 2022, over seven million people came to the EU. The arrival of such large numbers of people thrust cities and local governments to the forefront of the EU and its Member States’ relief work. This short publication provides a snapshot of cities’ initiatives to address this humanitarian crisis.
Products
On 24 October, FRA contributed to the training of migration experts in Brussels from the Belgian institution responsible for the reception of asylum seekers, Fedasil.
At the invitation of the European Commission, FRA contributed to NGO discussions on the criminalisation of humanitarian assistance to migrants.
FRA presented the 10 keys to effectively communicating rights and its implementation during a roundtable discussion in Brussels on 18 September.
On 20 September, FRA took part in a National Contact Points meeting of the European Migration Network (EMN).
Upon request by the Spanish authorities, FRA has carried out its fourth capacity building workshop from 10 to 11 September for staff working in El Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes (CETI) Ceuta.
Last year, almost 20,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in the EU; some inevitably have to leave. FRA’s latest focus paper guides national authorities when deciding whether to return children, not accompanied by parents, to their home countries to ensure compliance with EU and international law.
FRA spoke about migration narratives during a European Migration Network seminar in Slovakia that ran from 20 to 22 August.
Across the EU, various promising initiatives have sprung up to support young migrants become part of European society, following the large-scale influx of migrants and refugees to the EU. Marking International Youth Day on 12 August, FRA draws attention to their situation and urges Member States to do more to help them fully integrate.
Food deprivation, removals with no prior notice and the arrest of humanitarian workers carrying out search and rescue operations at sea are some of the fundamental rights concerns FRA identifies in its latest migration quarterly. It reports on some of the fallout in EU Member States as they continue to harden their migration policies and laws. It also highlights longstanding problems resulting from overcrowding and asylum processing.
FRA has just updated its annual overview of effective forced return monitoring systems across the EU.
FRA attended and provided expert input to a Council of Europe ad-hoc expert meeting on statelessness.
FRA research published today highlights the urgent need for European governments to do more to tackle severe labour exploitation in firms, factories and farms across the EU. First-hand interviews with hundreds of exploited workers reveal the illegal practices in sectors including agriculture, construction, domestic work, hospitality, manufacturing and transport.
On 19 June, FRA gave a presentation to the Council of the EU’s FRONTIERS Working Party in Brussels.
FRA joined a panel debate on rethinking the way you cover migration during the Global Editors Summit in Athens that took place from 13 to 14 June.
Following a request from the Spanish authorities, FRA carried out its third capacity building workshop for staff working in the Spanish migrant reception centre, El Centro de Estancia Temporal de Inmigrantes (CETI), in Melilla from 12 to 13 June.
Over six people per day on average died crossing the Mediterranean Sea to reach Europe in 2018. Tougher migration policies have been undermining civil society rescue efforts to save lives and bring migrants in distress at sea to safety, as recent FRA research shows.
Almost one quarter of trafficked victims registered in the EU are children. EU child victims are twice the number of non EU child victims, with girls especially targeted. So what can be done? A new guide developed by FRA suggests 10 ways to protect children moving across EU Member States without parental care.
Many people across the EU risk being left behind, as growing intolerance and attacks on people’s fundamental rights continue to erode the considerable progress achieved to date, finds FRA’s Fundamental Rights Report 2019.
On 4 June, FRA gave a keynote presentation via video conference to a roundtable discussion in Bucharest on the detention of migrant children and alternatives to detention.
FRA attended the Frontex Consultative Forum meeting on 17 May in Warsaw