SIHMA Press Review for July 2026

Africa

Time

31 July 2026

Why Thousands of Moroccan Migrants Crossed Into the Spanish Exclave Ceuta

The Spanish exclave of Ceuta declared a humanitarian emergency after roughly 50,000 migrants swam across from Morocco since Thursday, killing at least 67 people, though Spain's Interior Ministry said over 48,300 had already been returned to Morocco by Friday; Ceuta's President Juan Jesús Vivas called it "a situation of absolute humanitarian and social emergency" comparing the scale to a million people entering mainland Spain, while Morocco's ambassador said the surge was unwanted by Rabat, which prefers "legal, orderly, and safe immigration." Spain's Interior Ministry blamed human trafficking networks for exploiting a June 29 Supreme Court ruling that barred summary returns of migrants swimming into Ceuta and Melilla, a ruling reportedly spread on Moroccan social media to encourage crossings; the crisis drew international reactions including US President Trump calling it an "invasion," Italy's Giorgia Meloni suspending Schengen free movement with Spain, France tightening its Spanish border, EU chief Ursula von der Leyen demanding swifter returns and dismantled smuggling networks, and Spanish opposition figures Santiago Abascal and Alberto Núñez Feijóo blaming PM Pedro Sánchez's mass migrant regularization program, which has drawn over a million applications.

The guardian

21 July 2026

As Sudan’s war crosses borders and millions are made refugees, could Ethiopia’s plan solve ‘humanity’s migration issue’?

Sudan's civil war is destabilizing neighboring Ethiopia, where a clandestine RSF training camp has emerged near the town of Asosa, prompting fear among the 14,500 Sudanese refugees at the nearby Ura camp including Khadijah Ahmed and Dawud Suliman that the RSF may hunt them down inside Ethiopia much as it did in Sudan, even as residents report militia already infiltrating the camp to compile potential kill lists. Amid this volatile backdrop, including PM Abiy Ahmed's contested re-election and fears of renewed conflict with Tigray or Eritrea, Ethiopia launched "Makatet," a pioneering initiative giving its 1.1 million refugees improved access to education, healthcare and work to make them self-reliant contributors rather than aid-dependent, an approach UN refugee chief Barham Salih calls the most ambitious response yet to global displacement and a potential alternative to the West's restrictive migration policies. While some refugees, like entrepreneurs building soap and perfume businesses in Ura, embrace the initiative's promise, others including South Sudanese refugees at the violence-plagued Jewi camp in Gambela and Sudanese refugee Ruaa Idris, still hoping to become a gynecologist remain caught in uncertainty, torn between newfound opportunity and enduring danger, with the piece noting roughly 70% of the world's 41.6 million refugees have been displaced for at least five years.

Amnesty International

2 July 2026

Tunisia: Refugees and asylum seekers trapped in cycle of abuse after authorities dismantle crucial safeguards

Amnesty International accused Tunisian authorities of systematically excluding refugees and asylum seekers particularly Black people from protection, through racist policies since 2023, including a June 2024 order suspending UNHCR asylum registrations (causing registered numbers to plummet from 18,362 to just 7,515 by April 2026), discriminatory arrests, collective expulsions to Libya and Algeria, and detention in facilities like Tunis's Ouardia centre, all occurring amid the EU's migration-control cooperation with Tunisia. Based on interviews with 24 asylum seekers and one refugee, Amnesty documented horrific abuses including torture, electric shocks, sexual violence and rape-constituting strip searches during expulsions, cases of children handed to armed groups for ransom in Libya, and forced returns to conflict zones like Kabul, while inflammatory rhetoric from officials, following President Kais Said's 2023 racist speech has fueled evictions, homelessness, crackdowns on civil society aid groups, and desperate survival measures including women reporting being forced into sex for money, prompting Amnesty's Sara Hashash to call for Tunisia to reverse its "policy of racist exclusion" and restore asylum access without discrimination.

 South Africa

Unesco

21 July 2026

South Africa unites against hate speech amid anti-migrant tensions

On June 29, 2026 one day before a planned nationwide anti-migrant shutdown nearly 100 representatives from South African government, civil society, media, faith and migrant-led organizations gathered for UNESCO's "#NoToHate Dialogue," convened with the Social Media for Peace South Africa Coalition and the South African Human Rights Commission to reject hate speech and reaffirm democratic values amid intensifying xenophobic mobilization ahead of the 2026 Local Government Elections. Speakers including SAHRC's Rev Chris Nissen and UNESCO's Al Amin Yusuph warned that dehumanizing rhetoric and weaponized online hate campaigns threaten social cohesion and can incite violence, while Moxii Africa's William Bird noted organizers had to relocate the event over safety fears, a first since South Africa's democratic transition and the dialogue produced a draft "#NoToHate Declaration on Democratic Solidarity" calling for stronger legal accountability for online harms, responsible media coverage, and platform action against disinformation ahead of the elections.

Aciafrica

03 July 2026

Catholic Archbishop Calls for Dignified Solutions to South Africa's Social Challenges amid Migrant Crisis

After receiving the pallium from Pope Leo XIV in Rome on June 29, Cape Town Archbishop Sithembele Sipuka urged South Africans to confront the country's social challenges through solidarity and human dignity rather than blame, saying "our pain calls us not to find someone to blame but something to build." Sipuka, who also leads the South African Council of Churches (SACC), recalled a June 17 meeting with President Cyril Ramaphosa where faith leaders warned against scapegoating migrants, arguing the nation's real problems,an education system failing to prepare youth for work, corruption, and collapsed public services, which would persist even if every foreign national left, using the isiXhosa saying "ukufa kusembizeni" (the problem is in the pot itself) and warning that law enforcement's weak response to anti-migrant attacks risked constituting "silent complicity."

World Council of Churches

01 July 2026

Fellowship of Christian Councils in Southern Africa expresses concern over xenophobic attacks

A religious fellowship's statement expressed alarm over rising hate speech across Africa amid xenophobic attacks, acknowledging genuine socio-economic struggles like unemployment and poverty while insisting these challenges can never justify violence, scapegoating or dehumanization of migrants. The statement calls on South Africa's government to protect all people regardless of nationality, prosecute perpetrators of xenophobic violence, and strengthen social cohesion education, while urging African governments broadly to address root causes of forced migration including conflict, poor governance and climate displacement and uphold international obligations to protect migrants and refugees; it further calls on churches to challenge xenophobic narratives, foster dialogue between host and migrant communities, and urges leaders at all levels to avoid inflammatory rhetoric that fuels division.

 

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