Asylum in industrialized countries shows claim rates sharply up in 2011
In Europe, the largest relative increase in annual asylum levels occurred in the eight Southern European countries which received 66,800 asylum requests during 2011, an 87 per cent increase compared to 2010.
Unequal treatment of women risks creating statelessness in at least 25 countries
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Landmark judgment of the Strasbourg Court on push-backs in the Mediterranean Sea
The European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg has issued a decision concluding that Italy violated the European Convention of Human Rights by intercepting and returning to Libya in 2009 a group of Somalis and Eritreans without examining whether this would constitute a real risk to their lives. The case is known as Hirsi Jamaa and Others v. Italy.
UNHCR, IOM and Save the Children express concern over Italy’s decision to declare Lampedusa an ‘unsafe port’
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the International Organization for Migration (IOM) and Save the Children – working together as partners since 2006 in the framework of Praesidium Project at the Reception and Rescue Centre of Lampedusa – are expressing their concern over the Italian authorities’ decision to declare Lampedusa an unsafe port.
UNHCR calls on States to uphold principles of rescue-at-sea and burden sharing
In light of the massive loss of life in the Mediterranean this week in a refugee boat capsizing, UNHCR is calling on the European Union (EU) to urgently put into place more reliable and effective mechanisms for rescue-at-sea.
UNHCR urges International community not to forget people left without support to evacuate Libya
Fighting continues in some areas of Libya despite the imposition of a United Nations- sanctioned no-fly zone over Libya. So far more than 320 000 have fled the country.