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Timeline: European Union and Migration in 2021 | Migration

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Shipwrecks, barriers and internal disagreements It marked the European Union’s efforts this year, to prevent new arrivals of refugees while trying to pursue a humane migration policy in line with international law.

Al Jazeera takes a look at some of the most significant developments on the subject in 2021.


March

March 20 – Greece, Cyprus, Malta, Italy and Spain meet in Athens to meet with migration or interior ministers. They call for a strengthening of external borders and a European mechanism for the return of migrants and refugees to their countries of origin.

March 29-30 – European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson visits Samos and Lesbos Reception and Identification Centers for the first time. It announces the approval of 155 million euros ($ 175 million) for the construction of new camps in Lesbos and Chios, in addition to the 121 million euros ($ 137 million) approved for the new camps to be built in Samos, Leros and Kos in 2020, and 22 million euros (25 million). million) to expand the Fylakio reception center near the Turkish border.

April

April 22 – Disaster on the Libyan coast It claims the lives of 130 people. The Ocean Viking search and rescue ship found dozens of bodies in the water.

April 24 – Greece closes the Kara Tepe refugee camp in Lesbos, bringing hundreds of its residents into a tent city in Mavrovounio. After the burning of the Moria camp in September 2020, Mavrovounio is the only large-scale refugee facility on the island. It will be replaced by a new camp in 2022.

may

May 11 – Greece proposes to allow Frontex – the EU’s border and collective shipping agency – to operate outside the EU to better prevent the flow of migrants to Europe. In the context of the Mediterranean, this may mean patrolling international waters, but in the Aegean, it would almost certainly mean patrolling Turkish territorial waters.

May 18 – Thousands of migrants and refugees from African countries try to swim From Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, threatening to overrun security forces. In video recordings, authorities are throwing people back into the sea, but the European Commission remains silent about the incident. Dozens of migrants and refugees are also trying to enter the Spanish enclave of Melilla.

May 24 – Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis receives Frontex leader Fabrice Leggeri in Athens, offering political support to oust him from French office in the midst of the European Parliament’s efforts, allegedly turning a blind eye to illegal setbacks at EU borders.

May 26 – Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko threatens to allow “migrants and drugs” to flow to neighboring countries. As of September, the number of Iraqi refugees crossing from Belarus to Lithuania was reported to be 4,100 by September, 55 times the flow of the previous year.

June

June 7 – A Greek ministerial decision introduces Turkey as the third safest country for Afghanistan, Syria, Somalia, Pakistan and Bangladesh. These nationalities make up 67 percent of Greek asylum seekers. They rarely process asylum today. Instead, they are asked if there is a reason why they should not appear in Turkey.

June 29 – The European Asylum Support Office welcomes the agreement to reinstate the organization as a full European Union Asylum Agency with more autonomy and funding. Ultimately, it will be responsible for distributing asylum applications throughout the EU, depending on the economic and social capacity of the Member States to absorb them. A quota system proposed for the first time in 2015 was rejected by a core of anti-immigration states.

At least 6,000 migrants and refugees tried to swim from Morocco to the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in May. [File: Jon Nazca/Reuters]

July

July 11 – Authorities in Havana, Cuba, suppressed a large-scale demonstration sparked by food shortages. Over the next few weeks, police go door-to-door, arresting the shot participants. The crackdown is likely to result in the mass exodus of thousands of Cubans to Moscow, Minsk, Istanbul and Belgrade, from where they enter EU member states to seek asylum.

July 15 – The European Parliament publishes a report stating that Frontex has witnessed unforeseen delays. The report does not find direct involvement of Frontex in the delays. Members of the European Parliament or MEPs called on the head of Frontex to resign Fabrice Legger for the December 2020 delays.

July 19 – Lesbos police hold a press conference to announce the alleged espionage and trafficking of 10 people in four NGOs or NGOs. All of these NGOs are active in search and rescue, and have accused the Hellenic Coast Guard of abandonment at sea.

July 21 – Greece and Germany issue a joint statement in Berlin calling for a direct distribution of asylum seekers among member states.

July 25 – Perhaps the worst tragedy of the year occurred in the Libyan Sea, when 150 people drowned in a catastrophe. Filippo Grandi, head of the UN Refugee Agency, urges countries to take responsibility for rescuing those in an emergency.

July – Greek government picks up thousands of homeless refugees and takes them to camps on the mainland.

August

August 15 – Taliban invade Kabul as then-President Ashraf Ghani flees, sealing control of almost the entire country after a three-and-a-half-month campaign. Terrified residents flee Kabul airport to escape Afghanistan, and as a result, an international campaign has been launched to rescue them as secretly as possible. Greece receives 819 evacuees from Afghanistan by the end of November.

August 19 – Forty-five people, including children, ito When their boat’s engine explodes in northern Libya.

August 25 – Greece introduces a bill to extend police power to order deportations to Greece, tightening the appeal process and shortening voluntary exit windows.

September

September 20 – The Samos Access Control Center begins to receive the refugee population from the village of Vathy.

September 22 – Greece receives the first evacuations in Afghanistan since the fall of Kabul – seven women members of parliament and their families.

September 28-29 – About 300 African migrants and refugees tried to enter Ceuta after false rumors calmed border security.

October

October 1 – The Greek Ministry of Migration takes over the management of the refugee grant, but payments are delayed due to hunger and difficulty moving.

October – Lithuania continues to build a 500-kilometer-long (311-mile) border on its border with Belarus. By then, refugees are crossing the border into Belarus with Latvia and Poland. The EU accuses Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko of trying to destabilize neighboring countries.

October 31 – Hellenic Coast Guard It rescues 380 refugees On a ship bound for southern Crete, the largest refugee transport of the year. GPS information provided by satellite navigation systems or NGOs suggests that the authorities tried to return to Turkey before taking the passengers to Kos.

Greece is one of the main access routes to the EU for migrants and refugees fleeing conflict and poverty in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and abroad. [File: Yannis Behrakis/Reuters]

November

November 12 – A boat full of refugees sinks off the Libyan coast. 46 people have been rescued and 30 bodies have been exhumed, but another 74. drowned in fear.

November 24 – Twenty-seven refugees drown in the English Channel as they were trying to cross from France to Britain, which was described as the worst tragedy in northern European waters.

November 27 – The Leros and Kosko Closed Access Control Centers are inaugurated.

November – European Commission suspends flights Refugees to Belarus, and convinces Iraq to repatriate some of its citizens.

December

December 1 – The European Commission introduces a temporary asylum procedure in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland on the borders of Belarus, extending the asylum register and allowing “simplified and faster national procedures” to expel asylum seekers. discard.

December 20 – Albania and Northern Macedonia are added to the official list of safe third countries of the Greek Ministry of Migration.

Dec. 23-25 ​​- Three refugee-filled sailboats capsize in relatively mild weather in three different parts of the Aegean, killing at least 31 people and missing dozens. yes The highest number of deaths in the Aegean Since a shipwreck on the coast of Lesbos since October 2015.



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