(11/10/05) Spanje/Marokko - Hekken lossen niet alle problemen op

• 2005-10-11

Council should tackle problems at Ceuta, Melilla, Lampedusa and Malta:

Fences and camps are not the right answer to migration – Buitenweg

Commenting on the recent deaths of African migrants at Spanish border posts in Ceuta and Melilla, as well as the revelations about mistreatment and inhumane conditions at refugee camps on the Italian island of Lampedusa and in Malta, Kathalijne Buitenweg, Dutch MEP and Greens/EFA coordinator of the European Parliament's Justice and Home Affairs committee said fences and camps were not the right answer to migration. Speaking ahead of a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers in Luxembourg on 12-13 October, Buitenweg said:

"The recent tragic events in Ceuta and Melilla prove the self-centredness of EU member states. The walls of Fortress Europe are raised and fences fortified, but there is no serious attempt to regulate migration through a legal channel. Information on the mistreatment of migrants in camps in Lampedusa and Malta prove that many governments believe that inhumane treatment is the only effective way to discourage migrants."

"Many migrants are well-trained workers made desperate by the lack of prospects in their country of origin. Neither the tremendous risks of travel, nor the barbed wire fences will stop them from seeking new, better opportunities. It is seen positively within European countries if individuals seek out new opportunities and chances for themselves. We cannot then call people from other continents criminal when they do the same."

"The Greens/EFA group supports the European Commission in developing a European migration policy. The zero immigration policy cannot continue any longer. A European entrance can partly regulate legal migration, offer new chances for migrants and create a dynamic in the European economy."

"Still, no migration policy can fully undo the incredible difference in prospects between people from North and South. In that sense it is particularly shameful that many European countries have never fulfilled the financial promises they made to developing countries, such as the commitments made in Cairo to invest in health care."

"We are calling on justice and home affairs ministers to deal with the dramatic situations at Ceuta, Melilla, Malta and Lampedusa. These issues are so far not even on the agenda of the meeting! Following the visit of a Commission delegation to Ceuta and Melilla, we ask Commissioner Frattini to provide for similar monitoring of the situation in Malta and Lampedusa. We also call on the Commission to pay particular attention to the conditions of people sent back to transit or origin countries. The Commission must monitor how people are treated when readmitted. Recent reports reveal that several migrants readmitted in neighbouring countries died after they were turned away from borders and sent out into the desert without water."

"The UNHCR, NGOs and MEPs must also be permanently authorised to enter and visit retention centres without notice in every member state."