Mayday! Strengthening responses of assistance and protection to boat people and other migrants arriving in Southern Europe

MAYDAY!—the universal distress call, broadcast by those on ships or planes in mortal distress, and urgently in need of assistance. This report sheds light on gaps in responding to boat people and other migrants arriving in irregular circumstances across EU border states, in particular Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain. It includes detailed information obtained from country surveys, interviews with government officials and NGOs as well as surveys with migrants. It further looks at good practices developed and provides recommendations to stakeholders.The report calls on the European Commission and its agencie to jointly develop a framework to promote protection–sensitive entry procedures at borders and points of embarkation. This report is produced in the framework of the project “DRIVE” (Differentiation for Refugee Identification and Vulnerability Evaluation”), supported by the European Commission and implemented by ICMC Europe in partnership with ACCEM, CEAR (Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid), CIR (Italian Council for Refugees), ECRE (European Council on Refugees and Exiles), JRS (Jesuit Refugee Service) Malta, PRAKSIS and Save the Children Italy.