Migration and asylum

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.

Help knows no borders. There are many people who are willing to take in survivors of the earthquakes in Syria and Turkey. Medical support in the stricken areas is desperately needed. But this will require support at political level.

Turkey hosts the most refugees in the world. According to the UN Refugee Agency, 15% of the world's displaced refugees live in Turkey, which equals 4 million people.  Most of them are Syrians, but people from Iran, Afghanistan and Iraq have also found refuge in Turkey.

The German government is currently working out guidelines for its feminist foreign policy (FFP). If it adopted a thorough approach, it would have to reassess bilateral cooperation with Egypt in all fields, including security, the economy, and migration.

In order for Turkey to overcome its refugee crisis, elites need to accept the country’s new reality, change their rhetoric, and devise integration policies that foster social harmony and protect Turkey’s new residents.

Some 100 million people are currently forcibly displaced worldwide. This year's World Refugee Day therefore, once again, marks a sad record: never before have there been so many refugees as this year, according to UNHCR figures. The brutal war of aggression against Ukraine has played a part in that.

Since the start of Russia's war against Ukraine on 24 February 2022, three and a half million people have fled the country. A conversation with Tineke Strik MEP on the triggering of the EU Temporary Protection Directive and what chances and challenges come with it.

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.

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.