Tag Archives: France

Nationality + Migration
Italy PM calls for EU asylum rule revision as his country struggles with migrant influx
  • PM Matteo Renzi has called for a change in the Dublin II regulation, which stipulates that refugees must apply for asylum in the country of entry, as neighboring states France and Austria tighten their border controls.
  • With Southern European states like Italy and Greece bearing the brunt of the historic trans-Mediterranean migration taking place, Renzi argues the regulation is standing in the way of other countries bearing their fair share of incoming refugees.
  • Renzi criticized the EU’s proposed refugee distribution plan that will relocate 24,000 from Italy and 16,000 from Greece to other countries in the European bloc.

“Migration is a serious issue and – let’s be frank – the answers that Europe is giving are insufficient. Relocating only 24,000 people is almost a provocation.”

More on this story at Deutsche Welle.

(Image Credit: via Deutsche Welle)

Nationality + Migration
Aspirational emigration, not violence or economic destitution, is sending large numbers of Senegalese abroad in search of opportunity
  • Senegal has seen a 123% emigration rate increase versus the same time period last year, with 1,187 leaving for destinations such as France (its former colonizer), Morocco, Latin America, and Turkey.
  • Senegalese emigrants, who have at times outnumbered refugees from war-torn countries like Syria and Eritrea along Mediterranean migration routes, are leaving a politically stable, economically growing country that has seen great improvements in citizens’ standard of living.
  • Remittances from abroad have comprised an increasing share of Senegal’s economy, allowing for the infrastructural improvements driving Senegal’s success.

“People don’t go because they have nothing, they go because they want better and more. It’s aspiration. …What is happening now is not that different from the time of slavery. We are losing the arms we need to build this country.”

More on this story at The Wall Street Journal.

(Image Credit: Mackenzie Knowles-Coursin/The Wall Street Journal)

Gender, Religion + Belief

As some call for expansion of laïcité laws in France, observant French Muslim women struggle with discrimination and exclusion from opportunity.  More from The New York Times.

The Rounds

The Mid-week Rounds

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Protests in Saudi Arabia following the anti-Shiite suicide bombing, assisted suicide debates in the U.K., Myanmar’s anti-Rohingya protests, Russia’s community for parents and their gay children, immigration reform’s stumble in the U.S., Dubai’s motorcycle women, and 45 other stories in this week’s news rounds… Continue reading The Mid-week Rounds →

The Rounds

The Thursday Rounds

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The rise of the “others” in the UK, Lebanese immigrants’ success in Canada, LGBT anti-discrimination events in Kyrgyzstan, compulsory Chinese in Zimbabwean education, and more in today’s news rounds… Continue reading The Thursday Rounds →

The Rounds

The Wednesday Rounds

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China confiscates citizens’ passports along its Kazakh border, former South Korean comfort women reach out to Nepal, two Canadian girls fight for a gay-straight alliance, France reexamines its secularist policy, and more in today’s news rounds… Continue reading The Wednesday Rounds →