EUROPE CHRONICLE | November 11 to December 11, 2008

November 11
The official number of migrants who died in 2008 while attempting to reach the Canary Islands exceeded that of 2007. But no one knows the real number of deaths, meaning the number of people who died during the crossing and whose bodies were not recovered.

November 17
Paris refuses to join London in organizing a joint charter of rejected Afghan asylum seekers.

November 21
71 rejected asylum seekers were deported by charter to Nigeria, then The Gambia, as part of the largest joint operation conducted by 11 European Union (EU) member states. The cost of the operation was 570,000 euros, funded by the budget of the European border surveillance agency, FRONTEX.

November 21
«Given the situation in the Democratic Republic of Congo, it is not reasonable to expect a single woman, without a social network, to be able to survive as an internally displaced person,» estimated the Swedish Migration Agency. Residence permits may be granted to single women in countries experiencing
internal conflicts.

November 27
Over 100,000 Iraqis who are refugees in Syria or Jordan could be resettled in one of the European Union member states, but on a voluntary basis (see opposite). Germany has offered to host 2,500.

December 3
The European Commission adopts three proposals to amend European asylum legislation. The first aims to improve reception conditions, notably through guarantees during detention, greater protection for vulnerable persons, and easier access to the labor market. The second concerns Dublin, with proposed measures including, among others, alleviating the burden among Dublin member states and providing for the possibility of suspending returns to countries experiencing exceptional situations (e.g., Southern European states) or in which the minimum standard for access to the asylum procedure and reception conditions is not guaranteed.
The last one aims to improve data protection control in Eurodac.

December 11
The European Court of Human Rights has asked Ireland to suspend the expulsion of a Nigerian woman and her two daughters pending the examination of her case. The asylum application is based on fears of female genital mutilation.