Over 90 civil society organisations address EU Commission in a joint statement published on 3 March 2017. Social Platform, EPA is a member of, is one if the signees and the statement is fully in line with EPA's advocacy efforts. Bowing down to political pressure to be “tough” on irregular
migration, the European Commission has turned its back on the full
implementation of human rights safeguards in its Returns’ Directive and is
actively pushing member states to lower the bar.
Yesterday
morning, the European Commission launched a set of recommendations to member
states on return and detention. The policy was released without any prior
consultation with civil society and local authorities, on the same day they
gathered for the EU Migration
Forum, the
Commission's official annual forum to consult stakeholders. As well as falling
short in terms of good governance, the Commission document puts forward an
interpretation of human rights that effectively undermines them. It urges
member states to detain migrants more quickly and for longer periods of time,
and presents increased returns as a key deterrent to migration. The results of
such policies are expected to be a weakening of human rights safeguards in the
return and the asylum process. The linking of asylum to return, as well as the
explicit targeting of specific nationalities of asylum seekers accused of «
abusing » the asylum system is shocking.
As just one
of the extremely worrying examples, the Commission instructs member states to
opt for prolonged detention and to apply the maximum possible detention period,
specifically targeting member states that apply shorter periods as “bad
examples”. It encourages widespread detention of persons deemed to be at risk
of absconding, a notion which the Commission has significantly broadened. It
promotes the wide use of entry bans and insists that member states use all of
the flexibility foreseen in the legislation to derogate from the full
application of the safeguards in the Returns’ Directive.
There is no
evidence that immigration detention or forced removal has a deterrent effect,
or is sustainable. Detention and forced returns are extremely harmful practices
that have long-lasting severe physical and mental health impacts as well as
high risks of suicide. Re-emigration rates among returnees are high and forced
removal has not been shown to lower the migration aspirations of the
communities where people are returned to.
The
Commission has set out to dismantle the key tenets of the EU Returns’ Directive
by encouraging member states to interpret the directive in a way that would
allow for the lowest possible safeguards to be applied, abandoning positive
advances made by a number of member states. The Commission has also stated that
it stands ready to revise the Returns’ Directive if it transpires that the
safeguards presented in the directive will stand in the way of increasing
return rates.
As civil
society representatives of citizens and migrant communities we would like to be
proud of the Europe we live in and continue to support the European project. We
cannot do this unless the EU Commission will hold firm to its commitments to
human rights and rule of law, promote the implementation of the highest human
rights standards in its legislation, consult with civil society and rely on the
strength of evidence on how to best manage a complex social and economic
phenomenon in the face of pressure to find quick fixes.
To view the
full statement including the list of 90 organisations who signed the statement,
click here.
Source: PICUM
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