Welcome to the new PICUM newsletter, where we will update you about issues concerning undocumented people once a month. The updates will focus on systemic issues including regularisations, criminalisation of solidarity, detention and returns, labour rights and channels, access to health-care, access to justice, undocumented children and families.

Let us know what you think of our newsletter on communications@picum.org.

ADDRESSING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC AND ITS IMPACT ON MIGRANTS

Following the temporary regularisation of all people with a pending residence application in Portugal until 1 July 2020, calls for similar measures are growing in several EU countries. In Italy, the government is debating the regularisation of hundreds of thousands migrant workers to address likely labour shortages in the country’s fields due to the lockdown measures. In Belgium, advocates are calling the authorities to regularise undocumented people to grant them access to social support during the COVID-19 pandemic, as did several MPs in France. Calls for regularisation are growing in Spain too, where the Barcelona city council asked the national government to take action on residence permits to tackle the pandemic.

Some countries and cities have made government financial support - linked to the COVID-19 pandemic - available to undocumented migrants too. Using a $20 million donation from Open Society Foundations, the New York City COVID-19 Immigrant Emergency Relief programme will create a citywide network of community based organizations that will provide direct, one-time emergency relief payments to immigrant families – including undocumented workers. California’s $75 million (state-funded) Disaster Relief Fund will support undocumented Californians impacted by COVID-19 who are ineligible for unemployment insurance benefits and disaster relief, due to their immigration status. The Fund will be dispersed through a community-based model of regional non-profits with expertise and experience serving undocumented communities. In Ireland, undocumented migrants are eligible to apply for the Pandemic Unemployment Payment, and can access information from social welfare services free from fear of personal data transfer for immigration purposes.

In the US, the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility, the Columbia Program on Forced Migration and Health, and the Cornell Migration and Human Rights Program have developed 14 Principles of protection for migrants, refugees, and other displaced persons to help policy-makers uphold human rights for all in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Fundamental Rights Agency has published its first bulletin about the impact of restrictive measures adopted to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic on fundamental rights. The bulletin covers the impact on people ”living in institutional settings”, including migrants, who are found to be at greater risk of infection.

NGO denounces use of COVID-19 to normalise lack of rescue at sea

The search and rescue NGO Alarm Phone has denounced the practice of European countries using the COVID-19 health emergency to normalise non-assistance at sea. In this context, many NGOs are not allowed or unable to carry out search and rescue operations. As a result, sea crossings are becoming even more dangerous than in the past.

Advocates bring to court EU Trust Fund for Africa

Several organisations have filed a complaint to the European Court of Auditors against the EU Trust Fund for Africa’s ‘Support to Integrated Border and Migration Management in Libya’ Programme, which aims at reducing migration from Libya. The claimants argue that the EU should suspend funding to this programme as it breaches EU financial regulations and human rights obligations.

Maltese official admits to having coordinated a push-back operation to Libya

Maltese official Neville Gafà has admitted that he coordinated the push back of 51 people to Libya on instructions of the Office of the Prime Minister. The case, investigated by Italian newspaper Avvenire, regards a boat which was left at sea for five days before being picked up by a Libyan fishing boat, which returned it to Libya. The boat had been identified by Frontex, which claims to have informed the maritime rescue coordination centres in Italy, Malta and Libya.

UN calls governments to protect children in migration

EU countries start relocating unaccompanied children from Greek camps

UK: Children denied essential care due to migration status

New study looks at ways missing unaccompanied children are found

New policy brief on stateless children in Europe

Contact-tracing apps: digital rights groups raise concerns for migrants

In response to the recent launch of an EU tool box for member states on the use of mobile applications to monitor and slow the COVID-19 pandemic, digital rights advocates have highlighted specific concerns about further stigmatising those who are sick, reinforcing discrimination against people living in poverty, people of colour, and others disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Particular concerns have been raised by Open Rights Group, a UK digital rights NGO, in the case of migrants in situations of vulnerability.

Spain empties its immigration detention centres

Since the outbreak of COVID-19, Spain has released the majority of migrants in detention centres, and closed all its detention facilities but one. PICUM member CEPAIM has been one of the organisations providing accommodation to released individuals. Read our blog post to learn more.

Bosnian Minister proposes to detain and deport migrants amid COVID-19 crisis

The security minister of Bosnia-Herzegovina suggested that migrants should be detained and deported from the country, rather than accommodated in camps. The minister proposed to allow for detention up to five years to establish their identity.

European Advocate General declares detention in Hungarian transit zone unlawful

The Court of Justice of the European Union Advocate General Pikimae declared in its opinion that the detention of the applicants in the Röszke transit zone is contrary to art. 2 of the Asylum Procedures Directive. The opinion marks a departure from the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights Ilias and Ahmed, where it was held that the accommodation of applicants of international protection in the Röszke transit zone did not amount to a deprivation of liberty.

UN Migration Network calls for a stop to immigration detention

The UN Migration Network Working Group on Alternatives to Immigration Detention has published a policy brief on COVID-19 and immigration detention, which includes guidance for governments on how to deal with immigration detention during the pandemic. The recommendations include stopping any new detention and releasing people currently held in immigration detention.

New global mapping of immigration detention

The Global Detention Project has launched a new global tracking platform to monitor the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on immigration detainees, including government responses to the pandemic in their treatment of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants behind bars. The platform can be visited here.

Advocates take legal ac tion against immigration detention conditions in Cyprus

PICUM member KISA announced legal action against the Cyprus government over poor immigration detention conditions, including by taking a case to the European Court of Human Rights. KISA denounces the fact that no measures have been taken for the protection of people in detention and none of them have been tested for COVID-19, despite reports of detainees presenting symptoms.

Advocates call on UK government to ensure safe access to health care for migrants

The UK government recently updated its regulations to include COVID-19 in the list of conditions exempted from charges for migrants. However, organisations say the government guidance comes off as vague specifically where undocumented migrants are concerned – and gives no definitive assurances a firewall between the NHS and the Immigration Office is in place. Organisations such as the Migrants’ Rights Network have called on the government to establish such a firewall and grant undocumented migrants the right to remain in the UK.

UK Court of Appeal finds Right to Rent scheme causes discrimination

The Court of Appeal confirmed that the UK government’s Right to Rent scheme, which forces landlords to carry out immigration checks, causes racial discrimination. The Court agreed that as a result of this policy, it is harder for black people, ethnic minorities and migrants to rent a home than it is for white British people. However, the Court stopped short of finding that the Right to Rent scheme violated human rights law.

Amid evidence of escalating domestic violence, calls for more support to migrant women

The UN Secretary General, the President of the Council of Europe’s body overseeing implementation of the Istanbul Convention, and members of the European Parliament are among those calling attention to the rise in incidents of domestic violence during confinement measures imposed to slow the spread of COVID-19. This includes undocumented women, who cannot safely report violence to the police nor access support services as victims of gender based violence due to fears of being reported. The Portuguese High Commission for Migration published a webpage on measures, guidelines and recommendations, which includes recommendations on domestic violence during isolation. In the UK, more than 20 organisations wrote a joint letter to the Home Secretary calling for emergency support to help migrant victims of domestic abuse during the pandemic.

European trade unions call EU leaders to protect agri-food migrant workers

Thousands of migrant workers, many of whom undocumented, continue to toil in dire conditions in European fields and farms, including in Germany, Greece and Spain, often with little to no protective equipment against COVID-19. The European Federation of Food, Agriculture and Tourism Trade Unions (EFFAT) issued a joint statement, signed by several civil society organisations, including PICUM, calling EU leaders to protect migrant workers in the agri-food sector.

ILO and ETUC call on governments to ensure rights for all workers

The International Labour Organisation has published global policy guidance to protect migrant workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The ILO recommends including migrant workers in national income and related policy responses; extending access to health services and social protection coverage to migrant workers; ensuring migrant workers have regular status or do not fall into irregular status; and providing  all  migrant  workers  with  access  to  legal  remedies  for  unfair  treatment.

The European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) has published a statement calling EU institutions and national governments to adopt necessary measures to protect migrant workers in Europe. The recommendations include: ensuring income support measures for all those that have no access to any social protection, ensuring safe access to health care for undocumented migrants, and introducing regularisation measures and extending or issuing temporary permits or visas to prevent further irregularity.

New research exposes information flows from UK police and labour authorities to immigration enforcement

New research from FLEX and the Labour Exploitation Advisory Group (LEAG) maps the information flows from labour inspectorates and the Metropolitan Police to Immigration Enforcement in the UK. It finds that despite a lack of legal requirements to do so, information regarding irregularities with workers’ and victims’ immigration statuses are being reported to the Home Office through referrals to other bodies that report or through joint inspections. As a result, some abusive employers are financially benefiting from underpaying their workforce without facing consequences. LEAG is calling for secure reporting systems that guarantee workers will not face immigration consequences when they report problems at work.