Between January and December 2022, at least 102 people faced criminal or administrative proceedings in the EU for acts of solidarity with migrants. The figures stem from extensive media monitoring of national news conducted by PICUM and our network of volunteers over the past year.

In addition to judicial proceedings, human rights defenders and NGOs face other forms of harassment. Our media monitoring recorded at least 11 different cases of non-judicial harassment, in addition to the 102 cases mentioned above, concerning at least four people and 15 NGOs.

People have been criminalised for actions including helping with an asylum application; driving people by car; buying or giving money to buy public transport tickets for migrants; giving food, water and/or shelter to migrants; and occupying abandoned buildings to shelter migrants.

Three out of four people in the study were charged with facilitation of entry, transit or stay or migrant smuggling. Our study also shows that the criminalisation of solidarity with migrants does not only target search and rescue operations at sea, as half of the cases concerned acts of solidarity at land.

The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee voted on key proposals of the EU Migration Pact, that would increase detention and speed up deportations against people coming to Europe via irregular routes. Under these proposals, children above 12 could be detained at borders in some circumstances. People will only have seven working days to appeal deportation decisions, and they could be deported while waiting for the outcome of their appeal. Read more on our Twitter.

On 7 March, the UK government introduced a draft bill (“Illegal Migration Bill”) that would make it easier to detain and deport people coming to the UK by boat, including when they seek asylum. The bill would also allow for an annual cap on the number of admitted asylum-seekers. The bill has sparked widespread criticism from civil society organisations and political opposition, and protests across the country. The parliamentary human rights committee opened a call for evidence on potential human rights abuses, and requested the Home Secretary appear before the Committee.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron struck a deal to cooperate on border control in the Channel, that would see the UK help fund an immigration detention centre in northern France.

On 14 March, the European Commission presented the strategic framework for European integrated border management for the next five years, which aims at stepping up the use of surveillance technologies and information systems to control borders. The Commission also adopted a recommendation that urges member states to strengthen the mutual recognition of return decisions to expedite returns, and to establish closer links between authorities managing asylum and returns. PICUM had previously highlighted why this approach is problematic in this briefing.

The Greek government released a first draft of the new Migration Code that would make it harder for migrant children and young adults to access a secure residence permit. The current text includes a new 10-year residence permit for young adults who had come to Greece as unaccompanied children, only if they completed three years of schooling in Greece before turning 21. Civil society is worried that this will exclude many (former) unaccompanied children as many do not have access to the Greek education system in practice. The proposal may also hinder access to a secure status for children born to undocumented parents.

The Dutch Inspectorate for Education published a report denouncing the unsafe environment for children who have been refused asylum but cannot be deported for legal or practical reasons. These children and their parents are housed in semi-open centres, often for many years. The lack of privacy, frequent unforeseen moves and a constant fear of deportation significantly impact these children’s psychological wellbeing and ability to learn. Child rights organisations, municipalities, paediatricians and child psychologists are demanding urgent and systemic changes to the housing and migration policy.

The EU Court of Justice confirmed that a child’s best interests must be protected at every stage of a return decision, including in the proceedings before it is issued. The case concerned a Nigerian child born in Germany to a mixed status family who had been issued a deportation order. The ruling rejects Germany’s argument that the best interests of the child could be considered after the return decision is issued, when a court could decide to suspend its enforcement.

Following the death of at least 88 people in a shipwreck near Calabria, Italy in February 2023, the Italian government adopted a decree that exacerbates sentences for acts linked to the facilitation of irregular migration, and introduces a new crime against those who cause “death or serious injuries as a result of smuggling”, punishable with 10 to 30 years in jail. The decree also simplifies deportation procedures.

A new report by the Greek Council for Refugees documents widespread violence, including sexual violence, against people seeking asylum at the Greek-Turkish border. The report provides detailed accounts of pushback and pullback practices, arbitrary detention, and the criminalisation of human rights defenders supporting migrants, noting that these organisations are often framed as enemies of the state and smugglers in an attempt to silence them and hinder their human rights work.

Two new reports by Border Violence Monitoring Network and the Mobile Info Team highlight the severe and systematic use of violence in detention centres across Greece, including pre-removal detention centres, police stations, and holding facilities. Reported violence include physical violence, psychological ill-treatment, humiliation, denial of medical care, and verbal aggression, indicating a grave violation of human rights and potential torture.

The Global Detention Project has reported that 44 people continue to be detained in dire conditions in Ukraine’s Volyn immigration detention centre. Many of the detainees, mainly ethnic Tatars, Dagestanis, Russians, Azerbaijanis, Armenians, and Uzbeks, fled persecution by Russian security services and would be in extreme danger if deported to their countries. Ukraine’s continued detention of migrants violates international legal standards that underscore the necessity of releasing people from administrative detention during war.

A new study by the HumMingBird project, and supported by the European Network of Migrant Women based on surveys and interviews with grassroots experts in Ireland, Malta and Poland, shows that the COVID-19 pandemic and related restrictions have exacerbated situations of vulnerability for undocumented women. In many cases, lockdowns meant both loss of income and higher risks of losing a residence permit, and increased domestic violence and abuse. Access to health care remained limited.

The UK police reported more than 2,000 victims of serious crimes, including child sexual exploitation and domestic abuse, to immigration enforcement between 2020 and 2022. The policy has been criticised by civil society groups and MPs for deterring victims from seeking help, and for putting them in dangerous situations. The police inspectorate had called for an end to the policy in 2020.

The Belgian government struck a new migration deal between majority parties, that aims at creating more places to accommodate asylum-seekers and speeding up asylum procedures. The deal also provides for a new right to residence for stateless persons (initially for five years and possibly indefinitely thereafter) and for parents of recognised refugee children, improved protection against loss of status for migrant women who are victims of domestic violence, and the prohibition of child detention. At the same time, this new deal makes it mandatory for unsuccessful asylum-seekers to cooperate in returns procedures, or face faster deportation.

In a new policy note, ECRE and PICUM analyse the requirements related to fundamental rights compliance of EU funding in the areas of migration, inclusion, and borders and security, inside the EU. The organisations call for greater participation of civil society in designing and monitoring these funding programmes to ensure full compliance with fundamental rights and prevent misuse of funds.

The European Parliament’s civil liberties committee adopted its position on the revision of the Single Permit Directive that would make work and residence permits fairer for migrant workers. Under this proposal, workers would be able to change employer on the same permit, which is key to prevent exploitation, and would have nine months to look for work in case they lose their job. The scope of application of the directive would be extended to seasonal workers and au pairs, those with residence permits linked to national forms of protection or temp protection, and those whose deportation has been suspended and have a right to work. The Council is currently negotiating its own position. Read more on our Twitter.

The German government is planning to extend its “Western Balkans Regulation”, which allows workers from Western Balkans countries to obtain a work and residence permit to work in Germany, irrespective of their qualifications. This scheme was set to expire in 2023 but has now been extended indefinitely, and its annual quota of work permits will double to 50,000. Trade unions have raised concerns around the high dependency that such workers endure under this pathway, as the work permit is tied to one employer.