E.U. Countries Pledge to Resettle 34,000 Refugees
Sixteen European Union countries have pledged to resettle 34,000 refugees as part of the group’s target of resettling 50,000 displaced persons within two years.
The new scheme is a step up from the current two-year resettlement program, ending this year, which has brought 23,000 refugees to E.U. member states.
In September, the E.U. announced a 500 million euro ($587 million) package to encourage countries to make voluntary commitments to meet the new target.
European migration commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos urged more countries to participate in the resettlement scheme and warned Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary to stop refusing to relocate refugees from the countries in which most of them first arrive. “If nothing should change, as you know the commission has the power to take things one step further,” he said.
More Evidence ‘Smuggler’ on Trial is Victim of Mistaken Identity
Forensic voice experts provided further evidence that an Eritrean being tried in Italy as a people-smuggling kingpin is the victim of mistaken identity, the Guardian reported.
Prosecutors say the man on trial in Palermo is smuggler Medhanie Yehdego Mered, while numerous reports have documented his identity as 29-year-old refugee Medhanie Tesfamariam Berhe.
Milko Grimaldi of Salento University’s Center for Interdisciplinary Research on Language told the court that his tests showed with 99 percent certainty that a recording of Mered’s voice in 2014 did not match that of the man on trial.
Berhe was arrested in Sudan in June last year with the assistance of the United Kingdom and Italy and extradited to face charges in Sicily.
New Zealand Will Not Bypass Australia to Resettle Manus Refugees
New Zealand has rejected suggestions that it would resettle refugees from Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island by bypassing Australia.
Some 400 men have refused to be relocated from Australia’s offshore center on the island since authorities officially closed the facility on Oct. 31 and cut supplies of food, water and power. The men say they fear for their safety at the new sites.
New Zealand offered to resettle 150 of them amid the standoff, but Australia refused the deal, fearing it would allow refugees to travel on to Australia. The country bars refugees who arrive by boat from entering.
Officials in Papua New Guinea suggested New Zealand could work directly with authorities on the island to resettle some refugees. Australian immigration minister Peter Dutton said such a deal would be possible but would hurt bilateral relations.
New Zealand’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, said her country would not follow that route: “Australia holds all the critical information on the refugees in Manus Island so any take-up has to be organised with Australia’s assistance.”
Australia reached a deal with the Obama administration to resettle some of the refugees held in two offshore centers but only around 50 have arrived in the United States so far.
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