Asylum seeker

Greek Migration Minister Dimitris Keridis was on his first visit to the eastern Aegean island of Lesvos since being appointed on Tuesday, touring migrant and refugee camps and meeting with local officials.

European Union countries have reached a long-delayed agreement on a fair distribution of refugees and migrants. The decision was reached last night in Luxembourg by interior ministers.

The reform is in two directions - on the one hand with the countries under pressure, and on the other - an accelerated procedure for some of the migrants' applications.

The European Commission has called on Greek authorities to conduct a thorough and impartial investigation into fresh allegations of illegal migrant pushbacks, stated Ylva Johansson, the EU's Home Affairs Commissioner, on Monday.

Many European countries are illegally returning migrants and asylum seekers, according to a report by the Council of Europe's anti-torture committee, which has identified a systematic policy of physical abuse of people trying to enter Europe.

In 2022, 881,200 people who were not citizens of the European Union applied for asylum for the first time in member states, which is 64% more than in 2021, shows the latest Eurostat data published on Thursday on the website of the statistical agency. 

The UK government's proposed asylum law is "very worrying", the UN refugee agency has warned.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees representative in the United Kingdom, Vicky Tennant, commented to the BBC that the measure would violate international law and was not necessary to stop Channel crossings.

The new executive director of European Union border agency Frontex pledged Thursday to ensure that illegal pushbacks of migrants trying to reach Europe wouldn't take place under his watch.

The number of migrants arriving in Greece has dropped dramatically over the past two years, while the number of asylum-seekers living in the country has also fallen, Migration Minister Notis Mitarakis has said.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams said migrants should be warned that there is "no more room" for them in the Big Apple. He called on the federal government to step up coordination to deal with this "national emergency."

The controversial trial of 24 aid workers who helped dozens of migrants and asylum seekers land safely on the shores of Lesvos at the peak of the refugee crisis is set to begin on the eastern Aegean island on Tuesday.