Joint open letter to the European Council
Over the past few months, several European Council as well as Justice and Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs Council meetings have been convened to discuss and develop immediate responses and [...]
On eve of international forum on migration and development advocates call for humane treatment and guaranteed rights for all migrants and refugees
ISTANBUL, TURKEY—Meeting in Istanbul on the eve of the intergovernmental Global Forum on Migration and Development, the Women and Global Migration Working Group (WGMWG) will urge greater [...]
Why we need to talk about ‘migrants’
By Elisabeth Schmidt-Hieber, PICUM Communications Officer, And Lilana Keith, PICUM Interim Programmes Director. This blog was first published by La Strada International, Newsletter Issue 38, [...]
LOCAL AUTHORITIES, HEALTH PROFESSIONALS AND NGOS CALL ON GERMAN GOVERNMENT TO CHANGE LAW ON REPORTING UNDOCUMENTED MIGRANTS
FRANKFURT AM MAIN, 2 October 2015 – As Germany has been cast in a favourable light in recent weeks on the EU level due to its increased commitment to welcome migrants and refugees seeking [...]
EU RESPONSE TO MIGRATION: TURN POLITICAL CRISIS INTO OPPORTUNITY
BRUSSELS, 11 September 2015 – On the occasion of the extraordinary Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting taking place in Brussels on 14 September, where ministers will discuss measures [...]
Report: Cost of exclusion from healthcare – The case of migrants in an irregular situation
The European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) released its new report “Cost of exclusion from healthcare – The case of migrants in an irregular situation” on 3 September 2015. The report [...]
Migrant crisis: Inept leaders lay foundations of future unrest
By Edel McGinley, Director of the Migrant Rights Centre Ireland (MRCI) and member of the board of PICUM. This article first appeared in the Irish Examiner on 24 August 2015 Making the hazardous [...]
PICUM Annual Workshop: Challenging Criminalisation of Undocumented Migrants
By Elisabeth Schmidt-Hieber, PICUM Communications Officer. Images of migrants sleeping in tents alongside an imposing line of police cars in Calais, France; an airport security x-ray in Ceuta [...]
The gaps in EU policies on migration, trafficking and victims’ protection
By Cécilia Rolland, And Kadri Soova. Following the launch of the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) report “Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the European Union. [...]
Greece: Social Europe hanging in the balance
As a member of the Social Platform, PICUM signed on to a letter on 9 July 2015 addressed to heads of states and governments, the President of the European Council, the Presidents of the European [...]
Restricting access to the NHS for undocumented migrants is bad policy at high cost
By Lilana Keith, PICUM And Ewout van Ginneken, Berlin University of Technology. This article was first published by BMJ on 16 June 2015. The shocking loss of life among migrants crossing the [...]
PICUM Terminology Leaflet Available in French, German and Spanish
PICUM published its leaflet advocating to end the use of the term ‘illegal migrant’ in French, German and Spanish. The leaflet is the key resource of PICUM’s ‘Words Matter’ campaign and provides [...]
Open letter to the EU Ministers of Health
Ahead of the meeting of the Employment, Social Policy, Health and Consumer Affairs Council (EPSCO) on 19 June in Luxembourg, a group of organisations including Doctors of the World – Médecins du [...]
PICUM Annual Report 2014
PICUM published its Annual Report 2014 on the occasion of the Annual General Assembly on 13 June 2015 in Brussels. Major highlights of PICUM’s work in 2014 included the PICUM Director, Michele [...]
Report: Zero tolerance for severe forms of labour exploitation needed
The EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) launched the report “Severe labour exploitation: workers moving within or into the European Union. States’ obligations and victims’ rights” on 2 June [...]
Publication: Human Rights Indicators for Migrants and their Families
KNOMAD’s Thematic Working Group (TWG) on Migrant Rights and Social Aspects of Migration has published a paper entitled ‘Human Rights Indicators for Migrants and their Families’, authored by Pablo [...]
International Labour Day: Employers’ Sanctions do not Protect Undocumented Workers from Exploitation
On the occasion of International Labour Day, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) calls for political commitment to effectively address the persistent and [...]
WILL EU RESPONSE TO MIGRANTS DYING IN THE SEA STRENGTHEN OR WORSEN HUMAN RIGHTS?
The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) is extremely concerned that a statement agreed by the European Council on 23 April in response to record numbers of [...]
PICUM Publishes Position Paper on ‘EU Return Directive’ Following First Working Group Meeting on EU Migration Policies
By Maria Giovanna Manieri, PICUM Programme Officer. Following the unprecedented loss of an estimated 1,600 migrant lives in the Mediterranean in the first months of this year, heads of EU [...]
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe is launching the Campaign to End Immigration Detention of Children
The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) has launched the Campaign to End Immigration Detention of Children during an event in Strasbourg from 20 to 21 April 2015. The campaign [...]
Global Mobilisation for Migrant Rights, 1 May 2015
A group of migrants’ rights organisations has launched a campaign to promote a global mobilisation to support migrants’ rights on 1 May 2015 in the context of the celebration of the [...]
Implementation Handbook Published on How to Put Recommendation of the European Commission into Practice
The EU Alliance for Investing in Children published on 1 April 2015 its “Implementation Handbook – Putting the Investing in Children Recommendation into Practice”. The handbook which was launched [...]
Protecting undocumented children: Promising policies and practices from governments
PICUM launched a new report entitled “Protecting undocumented children: Promising policies and practices from governments” on 19 March 2015. The report gathers several examples of practices by [...]
Side Event at the 28th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
The Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Migrants in an Irregular Situation The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in collaboration with the Permanent Mission of the [...]
Migrants in the Mediterranean: mourning deaths, not saving lives
By Maria Giovanna Manieri and Elisabeth Schmidt-Hieber. This article was first published by OpenSecurity on 23 February 2015. For as long as the humanitarian impulse to rescue the desperate and [...]
‘Istanbul Convention’ – How Civil Society Can Engage in the Monitoring Process
By Eve Geddie, PICUM Programmes Director. The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Istanbul Convention) has great potential to [...]
Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants discussing policy developments in Brussels
The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants, François Crépeau, visited Brussels from 2 to 5 February 2015 as follow-up of his study on the management of the external [...]
PICUM Working Group on Access to Health Care for Undocumented Migrants
By Lilana Keith, PICUM Programme Officer. Focus on: children’s health, local and regional service provision and strategies for the UK How can we drive change at EU and national level so that all [...]
Protecting the rights of undocumented workers
PICUM and the Polish organisation Stowarzyszenie Interwencji Prawnej (Association for Legal Intervention) today call on the EU to prioritise the enforcement of the labour rights of undocumented [...]
Organisations ask new EU Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs to ensure the rights of all migrant children
In a joint letter, a group of 26 migrants’ rights and children’s rights organisations urged Dimitris Avramopoulos, new EU Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs, to take measures [...]
Why a rights-based approach to migrant children? The case of undocumented children and families
By Lilana Keith, PICUM Programme Officer. The current approach to migrant children is piecemeal, focusing on protecting certain categories of children, such as unaccompanied, asylum seeking, [...]
Child Rights Action Group Addresses New President of the European Commission in Open Letter
Dear Mr Juncker, The Child Rights Action Group (CRAG) congratulates you on your election as President of the European Commission. CRAG brings together 15 International and European organisations [...]
PICUM sends letter to The Guardian asking to change terminology
The Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) sent the following letter to The Guardian authored by PICUM’s Director, Michele LeVoy, in response to their call [...]
PICUM Members Take the Floor
This June, over 100 PICUM members came to Brussels to participate in PICUM’s 2014 Annual Workshop and General Assembly. Exploring how civil society can actively shape migration policies in the [...]
Listen to me! I am building my future
Originally posted by Terres des Hommes on Destination Unknown, on 20 June 2014. Geneva, 19th June 2014, United Nations – “I want to continue writing, I want to travel the world, I want to go into [...]
What a Multicultural Cookbook can tell us about the Lives of Migrant Domestic Workers
By Mercedes Miletti. International cuisine has become very popular as recipes from different regions of the world are becoming an increasingly common part of our weekly menus. But what do we [...]
Check Before You Vote: The European Parliament Resolution on Undocumented Women and the EU Elections
By Louise Bonneau and Eve Geddie. As Europe prepares to go the polls this month to elect its representatives for the 2014-2019 European Parliament, we invite you to take a deeper look into the [...]
A Child is a Child – How the European Union can Ensure the Rights of Undocumented Migrant Children
Over the past decade of advocacy work for the rights of undocumented migrants, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) has recorded how immigration control has [...]
Voluntary return for undocumented migrants in Morocco, a solution for whom?
By Leila Marzo. After the boat tragedies off the shores of Lampedusa and Malta made international headlines, the European Union came under high pressure to rethink its immigration policies. [...]
PICUM WORKING GROUP ON ACCESS TO JUSTICE FOR UNDOCUMENTED WOMEN
By Eve Geddie, PICUM Programmes Director. An in depth-discussion about the Victims’ Directive The EU Directive establishing minimum standards on the support and protection of victims of crime [...]
PICUM Working Group Explores Legal Strategies in Advocating for Undocumented Migrants
By Maria Giovanna Manieri, PICUM Programme Officer The first meeting of the PICUM’s Working Group on Legal Strategies was held in Brussels on 12 December 2013. The meeting brought together legal [...]
PICUM says thank you!
By Elisabeth Schmidt-Hieber, PICUM Communications Officer As Christmas approaches, PICUM has received many seasonal greetings underlining the large number of activities and campaigns taking place [...]
The EU Must Do More to End the Exploitation of Seasonal Workers
By Eve Geddie, Programmes Director at PICUM. The debate on migration to the EU has been very much focused on death at sea, mainly in the Mediterranean, as Europe deliberates how to control [...]
Working group discusses how to end child detention and ensure access to services for undocumented migrant children and their families
By Nicola Delvino, Advocacy and Communications Intern at PICUM. PICUM hosted its third thematic working group on undocumented children and families on 13 November 2013 in Brussels. PICUM used the [...]
A Postcard from Britain – ‘Hostile Environment’, Border Control in Communities and Indefinite Immigration Detention
By Eiri Ohtani, The Detention Forum, London, UK. A stone’s throw from a relatively upmarket hotel, near London’s Heathrow airport, stand two detention centres, Harmondsworth and Colnbrook [...]
More than 100 people are dead and hundreds still missing – What will the tragedy in Lampedusa change?
By Elisabeth Schmidt-Hieber, PICUM Communications Officer. ‘The sea is full of dead bodies.’ ‘Corpses are crammed into the wreck and some of the bodies – even in death – seeming to [...]
New Portuguese legislation grants rights only partially to undocumented migrants
By Juliana Moya, Portuguese Association for Victim Support (APAV). A change of legislation grants more protection to undocumented migrants in Portugal such as a residence permit for victims of [...]
How relevant, effective and humane is the EU border control regime?
By Michele LeVoy (PICUM Director), and Kadri Soova (PICUM Advocacy Officer). 1999 saw the historic conflation of the security agenda with migration that would shape all the future EU policy [...]
Let’s save hospitality!
By Nacho Sánchez, Málaga Acoge. On 31 December last year, a radio programme gathered several individuals and groups to spend an untypical New Year’s Eve together and to start the New Year [...]
Empowerment of a grassroots migrant organisation in Morocco – MRCI Ireland meets ODT Immigrés in Morocco
By Pablo Rojas Coppari, Strategic Advocacy Officer MRCI Ireland. Recent news reported on efforts of Spanish and Moroccan authorities to reinforce border security and raised the question of [...]
