Right of asylum

The United Nations welcomed on April 24 the European Union's plan to triple the size of its naval search mission in the Mediterranean, but said the key test was whether lives were saved and those fleeing war had a chance of gaining asylum.

BELGRADE - Serbia should adopt measures for the reception of migrants, because the Balkans and the Mediterranean are experiencing a great wave of migration, Executive Director of the Asylum Protection Center Rados Djurovic said.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees has noted that 1,300 emigrants have found their death in the Mediterranean only in April.

By Stephanie Nebehay

GENEVA - The UN refugee agency on Tuesday urged European leaders to do more to help Greece and Italy cope with the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean and to put protection of people at the center of debate.

Government spokesman Gavriil Sakellaridis on Sunday called for action concerning dangerous refugee and migrant crossings in the Mediterranean following the tragic shipwreck claiming hundreds of lives in the waters south of Italy.

In a written announcement, he stated

"The Iron Curtain is back... It stretches along part of the Bulgarian and Greek frontiers with Turkey," an article published by Newsweek argues.

BERLIN - European activities aimed at halting the influx of asylum seekers from Southeast European and Western Balkan countries need to be stepped up, German Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said on Friday.

New rules in Lebanon, which has the highest per capita concentration of refugees in the world, have left many thousands of them at risk of abuse from landlords and detention at any time, aid workers and a rights group has said. 

Mistreatment, accommodation centers that are unfit for human beings and month-long detentions are just some aspect of Bulgarian authorities' attitude to refugees, a German NGO argues.

In a 50-page report [DE], it outlines numerous stories of immigrants from the Middle East who were not properly treated upon their arrival in Bulgaria as asylum seekers.

A Human Rights Watch report on the treatment of migrants and asylum seekers in Serbia states border police have been threatening, beating, insulting and extorting money and valuables from migrants and asylum-seekers.