The diplomatic quarrel over the Aquarius migrant ship is the latest battle in a war of words in which men, women and children are being held hostage to politicking.

A few weeks ago, we were in Utrecht in the Netherlands, to work on a report on Plan Einstein, an integration programme for refugees and asylum seekers. We met a young Syrian Refugee who benefits from the programme. Her name is Dima Kadri, this is our video conference conversation.

He's not your typical asylum seeker, but Radu Mazare says he is simply trying to escape political persecution in his home country of Romania.

Take a look at our latest updates to see how the news unfolded this morning.

Europe’s most vulnerable migrants were boosted by a ruling that gives greater protection to those who have been tortured, according to an expert.

EU member states as well as Norway, Iceland and Switzerland granted protection status to 538,000 asylum seekers in 2017, according to new data released by Eurostat on Thursday.

Around 10,000 refugees from North Africa and the Middle East will be allowed into Germany from Greece, the European Commission has confirmed.

"Fear is a constant," says a Syrian woman living in a camp on the Greek islands, where thousands of asylum seekers remain stuck because of a deal the EU struck with Turkey two years ago, according to Amnesty International.

Hungary’s foreign minister Peter Szijjarto has hit back at Jean Asselborn’s claims that Viktor Orban was a “dictator”.

Ali's daughter, Noor, is adamant her father was killed by the same people who had made him seek refuge in Finland in 2015.

A Turkish asylum-seeker describes the moment the flimsy vessel carrying him and others capsized while crossing the Evros River to Greece.

The two members were beaten and detained in Russia after criticizing Putin — and have since fled the country to claim asylum in Sweden.

The European Court of Justice barred the "sexuality tests" from being used as grounds to reject an asylum application.

Swedish media say two members of the Russian protest group have claimed asylum in the country, saying they are persecuted in Russia.

The French president has visited the northern port – long a magnet for UK-bound migrants – to defend his government’s much-criticised immigration and asylum policy.