EU

French Immigration Minister Brice Hortefeux (R), EU commissioner Jacques Barrot (C), Spanish Interior Minister Alfredo Perez Rubalcaba, in Cannes Monday. (Photo: AFP)

Immigration pact unveiled

France's proposed pact on immigration was tentatively endorsed by European Union leaders at a meeting in Cannes on Monday 7 July 2008. An attempt to establish common policies on the issue was Paris's top priority when it took over the European Union's rotating presidency this month.

2008-07-10 15:10 TU

Report - EU meets in Cannes

Immigration plan aims to cherry-pick labour

France presented its plan for European immigration at an informal meeting of European interior and immigration ministers in the southern French resort city of Cannes on Monday 7 July. The pact calls for member-states to tighten up borders, while also encouraging legal immigration to fill gaps in the labour market.

2008-07-10 15:25 TU

Europe

Europe targets human smugglers

Police in Europe have arrested 75 people suspected of smuggling illegal immigrants, mainly Iraqi Kurds, into northern Europe. Dubbed "Operation Baghdad", the sweep targeted a network believed to have brought hundreds of people from Iraq and Afghanistan to European countries.

2008-07-10 14:57 TU

Italy

500 soldiers to be deployed to troubled Naples region

The Interior Ministry announced on Tuesday the deployment of 500 soldiers to a troubled area of Naples after two attacks in the area killed seven people last week. The killings were purportedly carried out by the local mafia.

2008-09-23 15:11 TU

EU/Latin America

Chavez threatens oil cut-off over European immigration rules

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has threatened to cut off fuel imports to Europe if the European Union puts tough new immigration rules into practice. The laws, which were passed on Wednesday, have triggered outrage throughout Latin America.

2008-06-20 12:57 TU

European Union

UN criticises new immigration rules

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour has criticised a law clamping down on unauthorised immigrants which was passed Wednesday by the European Parliament. Arbour said that the new law lowers the standards of existing rules in the EU, setting a bad precedent.

2008-06-19 14:29 TU

Jeremy Corbin, British Labour MP and vice-chair of British all-party human rights group.

UN refugee report

Three million more flee conflict in 2007

The number of people forced from their homes by conflict in 2007 rose by more than three million people, the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) said in a report published Monday. Most of the increase was due to war in Iraq and Afghanistan, whose refugees make up almost half of the total worldwide, while Palestinian refugees are not counted in the report's total.

2008-06-17 11:58 TU

France

Immigrant workers strike over status

Some 300 immigrant workers went on strike yesterday in the Paris region, demanding to be given legal status in France. The workers, mostly from west Africa, were calling for the application of a government initiative which dates from January of this year.

2008-04-17 12:55 TU

Listen

Immigration 1: the European origin of asylum

Sarah Elzas looks at how the laws that govern refugee status originated in Europe, right after World War II.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

2008-12-23

Immigration 2: A thousand African refugees in Malta

Since Malta's accession to the EU in 2004, immigrant figures have exploded as other countries' border controls become stricter. Jan Van Der Made visits Malta and follows the tortuous asylum process.

(Photo: Jan Van Der Made)

2008-12-23

Immigration 3: On board with the coastguard in Greece

Greece is on the frontline of immigration into Europe, with tens of thousands of people coming each year via Turkey. Sarah Elzas joins the coastguard patrol and sees how Greece is coping with so many newcomers.

(Photo: Wikipedia)

2008-12-23