EU migration policy will fail unless comprehensive and
grounded in human rights – Zeid
GENEVA (6 October 2015) – Ahead of a key high-level
European Union meeting this week, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid
Ra’ad Al Hussein called on EU Member States to ensure that all discussions of
migration policy are grounded firmly on the need to protect the human rights of
all migrants.
Speaking ahead of the 8 October meeting of the EU Justice
and Home Affairs Council, Zeid expressed concerns about the continued
security-driven agenda that appears to dominate the EU’s response. He raised
particular concerns about the nature of the ‘hotspot’ approach.
“These ‘hotspots’ seem to be conceived not simply as a
means of registering new arrivals, but also as a way of preventing them from
moving further until it is decided whether they are in need of international
protection or should be returned,” the High Commissioner said. “While we
welcome the efforts of the EU to offer support to the frontline Member States
receiving large numbers of migrants, States must ensure that these ‘hotspots’
are not, in effect, detention centers in disguise.”
“Italy and Greece have both reduced the use of
immigration detention. It is important to guard against a return to, or
expansion of, a practice which is fraught with human rights concerns centred on
the legality and conditions of detention,” he added. “I urge the EU and its
individual Member States to avoid the ugly spectre of arbitrary or prolonged
detention of people who are not criminals, and to ensure the adoption of human
rights-based alternatives to detention.”
Zeid welcomed the earlier decision by the EU Justice and
Home Affairs Council on the relocation of 120,000 asylum seekers from Greece
and Italy, as well as the European Council’s subsequent commitment to provide
more funding to improve conditions for the millions of Syrians displaced to
neighbouring countries. However, he urged the EU and its Member States to move
away from the flawed view of law enforcement as the main, or sole, panacea to
contemporary migration challenges, especially when so many people are fleeing
their countries of origin because of serious human rights violations or
decaying or collapsing economies.
“Narrow exclusion-focused policies have clearly failed,”
Zeid said. “Increased border control and surveillance have
not reduced the number of new arrivals – they have only forced them to use more dangerous
routes, leading to increased human rights abuses and loss of life. Rather than
‘destroying the business model of smugglers,’ the emphasis on law enforcement coupled with the
near absence of legal channels for refugees and migrants to enter EU
territory have enabled unscrupulous
smugglers to expand their business by preying on desperate individuals
who have no other option.”
Highlighting just one example, the High Commissioner
pointed out that the risks incurred by refugees and migrants crossing the
Aegean Sea from Turkey to the Greek islands were directly linked to the
strengthening of border control and surveillance, including the fence at Evros,
along the land border between Turkey and Greece.
“A few years ago, most refugees and migrants entered
Greece by land,” Zeid said. “It was the sealing of the land border which, more
than anything else, pushed them to resort to the dangerous sea route instead.”
High Commissioner Zeid stressed it is the duty of States
to ensure that the human rights of all migrants are protected, regardless of
their status. He urged EU Member States to open more legal channels for migrant
workers whose skills are needed, for family reunification and for the resettlement
of refugees.
“A migration policy that seeks simply to exclude
irregular migrants, without taking into account a holistic analysis as to why
they are moving, is unlikely to result in better management of migration.
Instead, it is very likely to come at an unacceptable cost to the rights of
migrants, including more deaths, detention and abuse of innocent people,” Zeid
said.
ENDS
For more information or media requests, please
contact Cécile Pouilly (+41 22 917 9310
/ cpouilly@ohchr.org).
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