Just days after the devastating earthquake and as the first vehicles loaded with relief supplies set off from German airports in the region, the German Federal Ministry of the Interior and Community and the Federal Foreign Office made an announcement in favour of further assistance: families with a Turkish or Syrian background would be able to take in their family members affected by the earthquake on a temporary basis.

AI in the context of international conflict is more likely to be associated with lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS) on the battlefield. Hiding on the other side of that coin are, however, rewarding questions regarding AI’s possible contribution to peace.

Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine is a tragedy of an unprecedented scale. The struggle for independence of the Ukrainian society will go down in history, and the heroism and determination of the resistance movement will be remembered by successive generations of Europeans. These values ​are also dear to our Foundation. We are convinced that people who support our activities also want to help Ukraine. There is more than one way to do it.

Ukraine is facing a challenge that could threaten its very existence. It is relying on negotiations, sanctions and its army and needs solidarity and assistance from all European democracies. 

An example of misunderstood identity and representation politics on the part of the UN: the international intervention to include Syrian women in the negotiation process was not a success.

Afghan women political representatives want to establish a parliament in exile in Greece: reason enough for me to pay them a visit and show my support.

A different policy mix of climate protection in the U.S. and EU creates tensions that make a close alliance very difficult. The deep political divide in the U.S. also raises doubts about the durability of climate policy cooperation.

In Tunisia, the first decade of democratization did not lead to an expansion of migrant rights. Despite initial attempts to replace the restrictive policies inherited from the authoritarian regime of Ben Ali, domestic and international forces ultimately put breaks on liberal migration reform.

With a new governing coalition, Germany looks to dare more progress in Europe

This analysis aims to capture and cluster different post-GDPR enforcement styles by DPAs across the EU to better understand why enforcement over data protection issues vary across borders.

From Sweden to Mexico, an avant-garde of countries is pioneering feminist foreign policy. The European Union has made progress in promoting gender equality in its external action, but much remains to be done before it will deliver structural change. Juliane Schmidt calls for a green feminist foreign policy rooted in intersectionality that will enable the EU to live up to its values of freedom and equality.

In recent days, there has been a lot of talk in the EU about an emerging “wave of refugees” or “migration disaster”. However, the real disaster is the failure of Western governments to rescue people from Afghanistan who deserve our protection, the Director of our office in Brussels, Eva van de Rakt, comments.

Just days after Taliban violently seized control of Afghanistan, the Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum, Notis Mitarakis, has warned of a repeat of the situation in 2015 and announced that Greece will not be the “gateway to Europe for illegal Afghan migrants”.

This short sentence is all you need to understand why the German government committed an error of judgment concerning Afghanistan. An error of judgment that kills people every day – and democracy throughout the world as well, by the way.

What is needed now is a special programme to resettle people living in danger in Afghanistan and to give Afghan nationals already living in Germany the right to remain and prospects for their futures!

As part of the examination of the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum proposed by the European Commission, the Heinrich-Böll-Stiftung Paris office publishes a series of analyses devoted to this subject. This second article examines the progress of the debates on the Pact at European level, considering in particular the external dimension of migration and asylum policies and the relationship with third countries, as well as the legal routes of entry of refugees, asylum seekers and migrants into the EU.

Interview with Rahmatullah Amiri on the withdrawal of international troops from Afghanistan and the increasing challenges for the peace process and civil society.

This article outlines the main features of the New EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, and describes the context in which the proposal has been drafted. Some of the initial critical comments made by different stakeholders will be further highlighted, to draw some preliminary conclusions.

US President Joe Biden is visiting Europe for the first time, on the occasion of the G7, NATO and EU-US summits. The opportunities for a new era of transatlantic cooperation are immense, but the window of opportunity to seize them is small.

This report outlines the development of the EU’s naval operations in the Central Mediterranean since irregular migration to its shores had increased in 2015

 The neoliberal political elite are uninterested in the needs of a society stricken by a pandemic. Their egotism favours informal structures leading to a creeping "Russification" of the country.

As part of a larger geopolitical region, the Wider Black Sea requires greater commitment from the EU in the areas of security, renewable energy, and connectivity.

The election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris is an historic opportunity. They both stand for a political commitment to liberal democracy and a societal commitment to unity instead of division. Democracy instead of autocracy, cooperation instead of divisiveness and nationalism: these are also the most important political fault lines for the shaping of the future global order.

Aliyev’s popularity reached its peak during the war; the oppositional leaders stopped their criticism, while Aliyev’s actions were perceived as a just and victorious war. The active support of Turkey during the conflict inevitably led to the re-articulation and dynamic perception of Turkey as the “big brother”.

Our EastMed dossier concludes with the article of Emre İşeri, where he suggests seeing the matter primarily from an environmental perspective.

In contrast to many declarations that Italy should not be left to face the challenges of mass boat arrivals from North Africa alone, the New Pact's proposals if anything renew the obsolete “Dublin system”.

In Czechia, debates about the EU's New Pact focus only on border protection, return and detention, rather than discussing more relevant proposals on legal migration, integration and inclusion.

In mid-September 2020, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke out strongly in favour of a human and humane approach to the common EU Asylum Policy. Her lofty promises did not, however, survive very long.

On 23 September, the European Commission tabled the “New Pact on Migration and Asylum”. An interview with MEP and migration policy spokesperson of the Greens/EFA group at the European Parliament, Erik Marquardt, on the future of European asylum and migration.

Unless conditions in poor countries improve drastically, their citizens will continue to seek a better future elsewhere, even under the pretext of requiring international protection.

The EU’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum intends to sustain EU-Turkey partnership with same old political incentives rather than new responsibility-sharing mechanisms. The Pact will thus promote securitisation in the Mediterranean without generating meaningful change.

With the New Pact on Migration and Asylum the European Commission intends to square the circle – but does not succeed. An analysis from a legal perspective.

In Tunisia, the EU Migration Pact is received with diplomatic silence from politicians, apathy from the Tunisian authorities and powerless indignation from the civil society. This sobering pact only confirms once again for many Tunisians that the EU migration policy is a one-way affair.

Since 2015, the EU and its Member States have been moving away from an externalisation of migration control to an externalisation of their obligations to afford protection. The New Pact does not change this.

The Moroccan government can live happily with the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. But many activists are disappointed by the contents of the Brussels Pact.

Is Serbia a transit country or slowly becoming a buffer zone for the EU’s illegal pushback policy and overall goal to reduce migration to its territory?

Neither the Senegalese government nor the media have reacted to the publication of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. However, the close cooperation with FRONTEX remains a cause for concern.

Can the geopolitical crisis in the Eastern Mediterranean be overcome by an increased regional cooperation?

In 2020, we celebrate 75 years of the UN, the intergovernmental organization that, since its formation, aimed to maintain international peace, security, and a protection of human rights. Silke Voß-Kyeck, an expert on the United Nations and rapporteur for Forum Menschenrechte, explores the correlation between finances and human rights protection within the UN for the 75th anniversary of the organisation.

The peaceful resolution of the ongoing conflict between Turkey and Greece would also help secure the stability and prosperity of today’s Europe.

Recent "developments in Cyprus, coupled with the changing dynamics around Cyprus and across the wider Eastern Mediterranean region are making a federal solution increasingly unattainable."

The pandemic-driven boost of digital innovation holds opportunities, but it needs a sound political framework. From countering disinformation to preventing algorithmic discrimination, the U.S. and the EU need to work together to set the rules for our digital economies and societies.

In the future, the US and the EU will have to make even greater efforts to ensure the permanence and vitality of their relationship. Most importantly, the future dialogue will have to reflect the social, demographic and political realities on both sides of the Atlantic. This means, for example, that all sections of society must be represented in Washington and Brussels.

They talk about that time, about the summer of 1995, when they were children, when they had to pack their toys hastily in order to get themselves into safety from the Serbian troops. The attacks, the fears – the world seemed to stand still for them then. They talk about how it felt at that time when the then so-called UN safe area no longer provided any protection. How it felt when the hopes to get protection from the internationals from the hatred of the advancing Serbs, dissolved into thin air. At that time, when the international community folded in face of the violence overrunning the whole of Bosnia since 1992 and ultimately culminating in Srebrenica. At some point, as reported by one of the survivors, she understood that she did not have a father anymore.  

The Covid-19 pandemic affects different groups of people differently. It is, however, possible to argue that asylum seekers, migrants and refugees scattered across the globe are among the most vulnerable groups to the outbreak. Yet, what are the key challenges facing migrants and refugees in Turkey, particularly challenges in accessing healthcare services during the pandemic?

The old arms control framework between Russia and the West does not work any more. The erosion of central arms control treaties has led to new tensions between NATO and Moscow. A new approach aimed at reducing tensions in Europe must take into account that central geopolitical coordinates have changed, and that new weapon technologies are rendering the old arms control paradigms obsolete.  

Erik Marquardt got a first-hand impression of the inhuman conditions in the Moria refugee camp, where more than 20,000 people live in the most miserable conditions. An outbreak of coronavirus would be devastating. In order to draw more attention to this issue, he has co-created the Leave no One Behind campaign.

The recent escalation of violence in Idlib is also a result of the increasing tensions between Turkey and Russia. The victims are those in Idlib, caught up in a hopeless situation amid a huge spectrum of differing interests.

Close coordination and smooth cooperation between Berlin and Paris is crucial for Europe and its foreign politics, particularly considering rising intricate geopolitical rivalries. Differences in style and approach must not impede cooperation on substance and common interests.