News on migration and refugees - October 2016
GRETA visits France, Italy and Greece
As part of the second evaluation visit to France on the implementation of the Council of Europe Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (5-9 September 2016), a GRETA delegation went to Calais. It visited the Jules Ferry reception centre for migrants, as they represent a...
SRSG fact-finding missions and children’s action plan
The Secretary General’s Special Representative on migration and refugees, Ambassador Tomáš Boček, conducted a fact-finding mission to northern France on 12-13 September 2016. He visited the camps in Calais and Grande-Synthe and the Command and Control Centre in Calais. He had meetings with the...
Human Rights Commissioner's recent activities
In his latest quarterly report, covering the period from 1 April to 30 June, the Commissioner highlighted his activities related to migration. The report refers in particular to the publication of a statement on restrictive changes to Austria’s asylum policy, which threaten the right to...
PACE activities on migration: September-November 2016
Migration was the first theme debated by the Conference of Presidents of Parliaments held in Strasbourg on 15-16 September, where issues of solidarity, international cooperation and burden-sharing gave rise to animated debate among the 350 delegates present. PACE President Pedro Agramunt...
Recent ECtHR case-law on expulsion
On 23 August the European Court of Human Rights handed down a Grand Chamber judgment in J.K. and Others v. Sweden. The case concerned three Iraqi nationals who had been refused asylum in Sweden and whose deportation to Iraq had been ordered. The Court found that substantial grounds had been shown...
Language toolkit for volunteers helping refugees
The Language Policy Unit, in the context of its programme “Linguistic integration of adult migrants” (LIAM), is undertaking the preparation of a language toolkit to guide and support volunteers who are not qualified language teachers but assist refugees in situations where regular language...
Two events on the rights of migrant and refugee children
On 18 September 2016, in the run-up to the UN Summit for Refugees and Migrants, Secretary General Thorbjørn Jagland took part in a high-level event Carry Light for Children co-organised by the Children’s Rights Division of the Council of Europe, UNICEF and the Estonian Mission to the UN. The...
Tackling prejudice against religious minorities
The Council of Europe’s Intercultural Cities programme is organising a seminar on 27-28 October in San Sebastián, Spain. The seminar will examine local policy responses to prejudice and discrimination against religious minorities and pave the way for general guidelines about the intercultural...
“On the move”: Flight and migration in formal education
A teacher training workshop focusing on the educational implications of migration and flight will take place on 20-22 October 2016 in Vienna. Facts, methodologies, school visits and exchange of good practices form the heart of this event for 30 teachers and school heads from across Europe. The...