Source: https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/eu-visa-application-approved-document-applying-2118956066
By Amy Weatherburn
Labour migration in the EU: legislative developments
The most recent legislative developments under the auspices of the European Skills Agenda have focused upon developing sustainable EU policy on legal migration by simplifying migration procedures and improving migrant workers’ rights. Two main pieces of EU legislation that set out the framework for procedures and rights of legally residing third-country nationals have been put under the spotlight: the Long-Term Residents Directive 2003/109/EC and the Single Permit Directive 2011/98/EU (hereinafter the Single Permit Directive). In this post, we will discuss the legislative journey (to date) of the recast Single Permit Directive with a view to determining to what extent it offers migrant workers a simplified, rights-based procedure that grants fair and equal access to the EU labour market - also addressed here in an op-ed by the Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM).More...
Dr: Jasper Krommendijk - Chair of the NNHRR Steering Committee
By Melanie Schneider
On 1 January 2023, Dr. Jasper Krommendijk became the new Chair of the NNHRR (Netherlands Network of Human Rights Research) Steering Committee succeeding Prof. Yvonne Donders (University of Amsterdam). Jasper is Associate Professor of International Law and European Law at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen, where he directs the Research Centre for State and Law (SteR). Jasper has been a member of the NNHRR Steering Committee, where he was elected to his new role by his peers, since September 2020. We sat down with Jasper to discuss his vision for the NNHRR in the context of the contemporary research landscape, as well as his own work in the field of human rights. More...
Banning Russia Today and Sputnik in Europe is a bad idea
Source: https://wordpress.org/openverse/image/0ba994c4-1df9-4667-9904-da741ecb187c/
By Raghav Mendiratta and Natalie Alkiviadou
On March 1, 2022, Regulation 2022/350 of the Council of the European Union (EU) suspended broadcasting activities of Russia Today (RT) and Sputnik in the EU until Russia ends the aggression against Ukraine and its media “cease to conduct propaganda actions” against the EU and its Member States. The Regulation (as well as the respective Council Decision) justified this measure on the grounds that Russia has engaged in a "systematic, international campaign of media manipulation and distortion of facts to enhance its strategy of destabilization of its neighboring countries and of the Union and its Member States". More...
Returns in core of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and the leading role of Frontex
By Mariana Gkliati
Credit: Jonathan Stutz/ Fotolia, European Parliamentary Research Service Blog
In September 2020, the European Commission presented the new European Union (EU) Pact on Migration and Asylum. This following reflects what we can expect to see in the coming years with respect to returns and the role of Frontex, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (EBCG). In the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, the Commission reaffirms returns as one of the main priorities of migration management. The proposed initiatives aim at further efficiency and intensification of returns with Frontex playing an ever more active role in this field.
Blog series: EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum
Introductory blog
By Lynn Hillary
Credits: By EmDee - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Dear reader of Human Rights Here,
In September 2020, the European Commission unveiled the New Pact on Migration and Asylum, a series of long-awaited measures to reform the EU migration regime. On November 23rd the Migration & Borders Working Group of the NNHRR gathered with migration scholars of Tilburg University to discuss several aspects of the EU New Pact.
The pact aims to ‘rebuild trust between Member States and to restore citizens' confidence in our capacity to manage migration as a Union.’ Commission President von der Leyen also stressed that ‘[i]t is now time to rise to the challenge to manage migration jointly, with the right balance between solidarity and responsibility.’
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Painting by the children of the 13th Primary School in Trikala (Greece), which won the 1st prize in the contest 'Opening hearts and minds to refugees' organised by UNESCO Associated Schools Network. Source: Municipality of Trikala
Tihomir Sabchev
Utrecht University/University College Roosevelt
t.y.sabchev@uu.nl
In the context of recent failures to protect refugees’ human rights, how can EU Member States develop a more effective approach to manage the consequences of forced migration?
In the very beginning of his book ‘The Global Migration Crisis: Challenge to States and Human Rights’, the political scientist Myron Weiner notes that “the number of people fleeing to escape violence or persecution, to find employment, or to improve their own lives and those of their family members is greater than it has ever been” (pp. 1-2). The author describes some of the major migration policy changes in Europe in light of the “recent massive influx of migrants and refugees from the east” (p. 47). More concretely, he argues that “with the rise of antimigrant right-wing parties […], European governments have virtually halted migration and made entry difficult for refugees from Third World countries” (p. 145).
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