Migrant Workers

Dirty Work—The Hidden Machinery and Human Toll of Europe’s Broken Recycling Trade

As Europe sends increasing amounts of illegal waste to Turkey, activists and investigators are revealing how the country’s state-backed recycling boom depends on fraud, off-the-books subcontracting and a rising death toll of migrant laborers.

Adnan Khan • 15 min read

Current Analysis

At Any Cost—The War in Sudan and Europe’s Flawed Migration Policies

The current conflict in Sudan reveals the deep flaws in EU border regimes.

Parastou Hassouri • 9 min read

MER Article

Extending the Borders of Europe

European policies on refugees and asylum seekers are increasingly restrictive. Borders are effectively being pushed off-shore, extending the problems of border management as far south as possible. Aurélie Ponthieu explains the effects of these measures, including crowded refugee centers on the Itali

Aurélie Ponthieu • 8 min read

MER Article

Letter from Ellinikon

On a bright and sunny day in early April, outside a terminal at what was once the Ellinikon International Airport in Athens, I listened as Javad, 16, told the story of the second refugee flight of his life. Javad (not his real name) is a member of the Hazara ethnic

Parastou Hassouri • 5 min read

Current Analysis

We Can—and Should—Do More to Help Syrian Refugees

Imagine that 58 million Americans were streaming into Canada and Mexico, many with only a small satchel and the clothes on their backs. Picture another 102 million residents of the Eastern seaboard seeking refuge with relatives in the Midwest and West. That terrifying mental exercise gives a sense

Chris Toensing • 2 min read

Current Analysis

Crushing Repression of Eritrea's Citizens Is Driving Them Into Migrant Boats

Abinet spent six years completing her national service in one of Eritrea’s ministries, but when she joined a banned Pentecostal church, she was arrested, interrogated, threatened, released and then shadowed in a clumsy attempt to identify other congregants. She arranged to be smuggled out of the cou

Dan Connell • 4 min read

Current Analysis

From Sinai to Lampedusa: An Eritrean Journey

Two human tragedies will forever scar Eritreans’ memories of the past decade, during which hundreds of thousands fled repression and despair in their homeland to seek sanctuary in more open, democratic societies: the brutal kidnapping, torture and ransom of refugees in the Egyptian Sinai and the dro

Dan Connell • 12 min read

MER Article

Lampedusa

More than 52,000 would-be migrants have landed on the tiny Italian island of Lampedusa in 2011. Roughly half of the arrivals are young Tunisian men looking for job opportunities in Europe. Most of the others are Sahelians, sub-Saharan Africans or South Asians fleeing the violence in Libya. In many c

Amanda Ufheil-Somers • 5 min read

MER Article

Europe's Border Control with a Humanitarian Face

“Suppose that Jordan decides to release its 2 million Iraqi refugees or that there is a regime change in Algeria,” hypothesized a risk analyst from Warsaw headquarters of Frontex, the European Union’s external border control agency, in 2008. Added his colleague, an operations specialist: “We have Cyprus, which has

Greg Feldman • 10 min read

Current Analysis

Turkey, Cyprus and the European Division

More than years after the opening of the ceasefire line that divides Cyprus, the island is closer than ever to rupture. When the Green Line first opened in April 2003, there was an initial period of euphoria, as Cypriots flooded in both directions to visit homes and neighbors left unwillingly behind

Rebecca Bryant • 12 min read

Current Analysis

Grinding Palestine To Powder

Secretary Rice’s recent Middle East tour concluded without any discussion of peace between Israel and Palestine. Unity talks between Fatah and Hamas have hit a standstill. In other words, the possibility of an Israeli-Palestinian political compromise appears bleaker than ever. Meanwhile, US and Euro

Lori Allen • 4 min read

MER Article

Storming the Fences

"'Black locusts' are taking over Morocco!" So ran the September 12, 2005 headline of al-Shamal, an Arabic-language Tangier newspaper, describing the forays of masses of in-transit sub-Saharan Africans trying to scale the security fences separating Morocco from the Spanish-ruled enclaves of Ceuta and

Elie Goldschmidt • 17 min read