News

On 27 November the LIBE Committee of the European Parliament approved the draft text of the EUROSUR regulation. Negotiations with the European Council are now bound to start with a view to making the system operational as of 1 October 2013. EUROSUR will be a new border surveillance system designed to improve the monitoring, detection, identification, tracking, prevention and interception of illegal border crossings and it will serve as an information exchange system with the EU Member States and FRONTEX.

UNHCR published on 14/06/2012 its Statement on the Application of Article 1A(2) of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol to Victims of Trafficking in France.

The Jesuit Refugee Service released a report on the strained asylum systems in Croatia and Macedonia. Poor protection capacities in Macedonia, a frequent country of transit for asylum seekers, together with an inadequate asylum system in Croatia, means the EU must take action to prevent another collapse like in Greece. The number of asylum seekers in Croatia rose by 50% between 2011 and 2012, and this trend may continue. The state of Croatia’s asylum system is especially important as it is about to join the EU, and as a border state it will become a new point of entry into the Union.