Protecting refugees and migrants: Misereor

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Fleeing means setting off with the bare essentials. Fleeing means surviving on the streets, in emergency shelters, in tent cities. Fleeing means not knowing what will happen tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, in a year's time. Fleeing is life-threatening.

Refugees and displaced persons need more protection and genuinely humane responses. The Geneva Refugee Convention was developed and adopted after the Second World War due to the dramatic situation of refugees and displaced persons with a focus on Europe. Today, Europe is curtailing the rights and protection of refugees, thereby jeopardising the Geneva Refugee Convention.

The EU's external border with Morocco is located in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta. The border is secured with a border fence.

Syrian refugees are stuck at the border with Poland for days waiting for help.

SOS Humanity rescue operation for people in a wooden boat off the Libyan coast.

Young migrants are surrounded by Spanish police officers on the beach.

Mourning for deceased migrants and protest against EU migration policy in Spain

Mariana Ghawaly Giacaman

Policy Officer

Telephone: +49 30 4435198391
E-mail: Mariana.GhawalyGiacaman@misereor.de

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Our partner organisations support refugees with many different measures:

In the short term, our partners provide emergency aid, distribute food, medicines, blankets and hygiene products.
Children and young people are supported in learning again, even under difficult conditions. Girls and young women are given special support.
Long-term prospects for the future are also important - in the new or old home country. Education and training are immensely important for refugees.
Fear is a constant companion for many refugees. Traumatised people are offered psychotherapeutic support.
Encounters support reconciliation work and peaceful coexistence between refugees and host communities.
Misereor helps people where they are: Most of the funds go towards caring for people in the conflict and crisis areas in Syria and its neighbouring countries. However, the work also focuses on South Sudan, Cameroon, Mozambique, South Africa, Myanmar and Colombia.

Most refugees and migrants are still displaced within their home regions or are looking for protection in their own country. We support them through local partner organisations in a variety of ways in their regions of origin and along their escape routes.

Helene Mekhijan looked after her granddaughters for three years during the Syrian war and finally managed to flee to Lebanon with the two girls.

The Misereor partner organisation Pontifical Mission offers refugees a contact point so that they can better manage their everyday lives. Refugees in Lebanon are safe from the war, but they have no access to education, healthcare or the regular labour market.

In Lebanon, the fifth generation of Palestinian refugees is already living in camps that have now become urban neighbourhoods. Very few of them have citizenship and their children have few opportunities in the education system. Misereor partners organise summer schools for children to give them better prospects for the future.

"European asylum and migration policy is increasingly shifting its responsibility to protect refugees to the countries of the Global South. The EU and its member states are therefore not living up to their own claim of pursuing a values-led policy. Nor are they able to establish partnership-based cooperation in favour of people affected by war and persecution."

Lucas Rasche
Expert on displacement and migration at Misereor

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TUNISIA Europe's gatekeeper?

In the study on the migration partnership with Tunisia, published…

TUNISIA Europe's gatekeeper?

In the study on the migration partnership with Tunisia, published jointly with Bread for the World, we show the consequences of the EU's externalisation policy on migration on the ground and call for a rethink in the cooperation between the EU and Tunisia on migration.

Publisher: Misereor & Bread for the World
Year of publication: December 2023
Pages: 8

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TUNISIA Europe's gatekeeper?

Publisher: Misereor & Bread for the World
Year of publication: December 2023
Pages: 8

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Country dossier on the EU migration partnership with Niger

Brief study on Niger in English

Since 2015, the EU has increasingly sought cooperation in the area…

Brief study on Niger in English

Since 2015, the EU has increasingly sought cooperation in the area of migration with many countries, including African states. Bread for the World and Misereor look at these migration partnerships and their impact on the ground in short studies.

How do European and German policies influence the situation of people on the ground? How cooperative is this policy? And what do we demand from the EU Commission and the German government?

Publisher: Misereor and Bread for the World
Year of publication: April 2023
Pages: 8

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Brief study on Niger in English

How do European and German policies influence the situation of people on the ground? How cooperative is this policy? And what do we demand from the EU Commission and the German government?

Publisher: Misereor and Bread for the World
Year of publication: April 2023
Pages: 8

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Country dossier on the EU migration partnership with Egypt

Country brief

The migration partnership between Egypt and the EU has gained new momentum thanks to…

Country brief

The migration partnership between Egypt and the EU has gained new momentum thanks to the most recent agreement on March 17. The background to this is the EU's concern about an increase in irregular arrivals, which is putting previous cooperation in the externalisation of European asylum responsibility to the test. How will the partnership be implemented in practice? What impact does it have on migrants, refugees and the partner country? These questions are answered in the current country brief by Misereor and Brot für die Welt on the EU migration partnership with Egypt. (The German version will follow shortly)

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Country brief

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All articles on the topic

The Federal Office for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) provides up-to-date statistical information on the topics of asylum, migration and integration. Statistical information is provided in the form of tables, diagrams and explanations in regular update cycles.

Find out more and view statistics now

Refugee aid from the Catholic Church in Germany in the Internet dossier of the German Bishops' Conference (DBK)

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Protecting refugees and migrants

Protection for refugees and displaced persons

Mariana Ghawaly Giacaman

Donation projects on the topic

Bangladesh: help for forcibly displaced Rohingya

Syria | Iraq | Lebanon: Refugee work in the Middle East

South Sudan: Schools for peace

Our publications on the topic of flight

Country dossier on the EU migration partnership with Tunisia

Country dossier on the EU migration partnership with Niger

Country dossier on the EU migration partnership with Egypt

Flucht, Hunger und Gewalt: Die Tragödie des Sudan und Südsudan

Frauen auf der Flucht

Italien-Afrika-Gipfel: Ein weiteres Indiz für neokoloniale Tendenzen in den europäisch-afrikanischen Beziehungen?

„Das Wichtigste war wohl die Erfahrung, dass Menschen nicht gleichartig, wohl aber gleichberechtigt sind“

Further information

BAMF statistics

Refugee aid from the Catholic Church

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