Libya asks for more European help to stop illegal immigration

Libya asks for more European help to stop illegal immigration | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 26.05.2009

The EU promised Libya, which has long land and sea borders, 20 million euros ($25 million) in February. Yet the Libyan government says this is not enough to help it stop the flow of migrants. Libya's interior ministry urged the EU on Tuesday to provide additional "technical aid, training and equipment."

More than 67,000 people crossed the Mediterranean Sea, headed for Europe, in 2008, with half of them landing in Italy and Malta, according to the United Nations' refugee agency. The number of illegal immigrants reaching Italy grew by 75 percent in 2008 compared to the previous year. During the same time period, it grew by 65 percent in Greece.

Illegal immigration is also becoming a domestic issue in Libya. Many Libyans blame the increasing numbers of African migrants for a variety of social ills. But the migration issue is a sensitive one for Libya, since leader Moammar Gadhafi, the chair of the African Union, has endorsed a vision of a single African state, which would allow free movement of people and goods within the continent. Libyan and EU flagsBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: The EU and Libya have said they'll work together on immigration

Europe looks to neighbors for help

Gadhafi has also tried to establish a better relationship with the European Union by agreeing to stop banned weapons programs in 2003. The two sides are currently negotiating a pact to expand cooperation on a wide range of issues.

"We must do everything in our power to stop boat crossings, to guarantee coastal checks and help countries like Libya put in place agreements it can keep," European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said last week.

The European Commission is currently preparing new plans to combat illegal immigration, which are to be announced by mid-June. Barroso pointed out that the EU cannot stop illegal immigration on its own and needs to work with governments outside the bloc.

th/AFP/Reuters

Editor: Susan Houlton

Libya can process asylum applications - ambassador

timesofmalta.com - Libya can process asylum applications - ambassador

Friday, 15th May 2009 - 11:20CET


Libya's ambassador to Italy has said that the processing of asylum applications in his country was possible, Italian media has reported.

An Italian newspaper reported the Libyan ambassador Hafid Gaddur saying that people who wanted to work could do so in peace in Libya as long as they did not commit any crimes. He pointed out that in Tripoli there were embassies from all over the world where one could turn to in case of problems. There was also representation of the United Nations.

Malta has proposed the setting up of an agency and checkpoints in Libya where asylum seekers would be able to apply for protection. This proposal is backed by Italy.

French National Assembly approves Bilateral agreements on migration fluxes with Congo and Senegal

See Ratification Law on Senegal: http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/ta/ta0288.asp

See ratification Law on Congo:  http://www.assemblee-nationale.fr/13/ta/ta0289.asp

Immigrati/ Marcenaro a Maroni: Vogliamo conoscere protocollo Libia

A.H.C.S: Immigrati/ Marcenaro a Maroni: Vogliamo conoscere protocollo Libia

Interrogazione urgente per chiedere chiarimenti Il presidente della commissione Diritti Umani, Pietro Marcenaro, ha rivolto un'interrogazione urgente al ministro dell'Interno per chiedere al governo di "conoscere il Protocollo di attuazione, sottoscritto a febbraio, del Trattato con la Libia, in ossequio all'impegno accolto proprio in sede di approvazione della legge sul trattato stesso". "Chiediamo inoltre all'esecutivo - si legge - di riferire rapidamente alle Camere sullo stato di attuazione del trattato con la Libia, in particolare riguardo al rispetto dei diritti umani e agli standard di accoglienza e legali delle persone riaccompagnate sull'altra sponda del Mediterraneo". "Dal ministro dell'Interno - prosegue Marcenaro - vogliamo sapere quali garanzie diplomatiche e consolari siano state chieste ed eventualmente acquisite per assicurare una corretta identificazione delle persone rimandate e trattenute in Libia e se siano previste procedure di asilo e/o protezione umanitaria tali da scongiurare il rimpatrio verso paesi cui l'Italia e l'Unione Europea non respingerebbero per il principio di 'non-refoulement'. L'altra questione che ci sta a cuore riguarda la possibilità per i parlamentari e per la stampa di ispezionare i centri per l'immigrazione in Libia. Si tratta di capire se il governo abbia acquisito dalle autorità libiche specifiche garanzie sulla possibilità d'invio di delegazioni di parlamentari nazionali e se questa stessa possibilità e libertà sia consentita agli organi d'informazione. Quest'ultima condizione - conclude Marcenaro - è infatti ineludibile sul piano della trasparenza e del rispetto dei diritti umani".
Pubblicato da Agenzia Habeshia per la Cooperazione allo Sviluppo

Police Commissioner answers MPs' questions on migration

timesofmalta.com - Police Commissioner answers MPs' questions on migration

Thursday, 14th May 2009 - 10:10CET

Police Commissioner John Rizzo spoke about the police having to deal "with the unknown" when he answered questions by MPs during a meeting of the Parliamentary Select Committee.

He also replied to questions on the risks to security installations posed by the nearby siting of detention camps, and dealing with crime by migrants.

Asked whether detention centres could be sited in more secure locations, Mr Rizzo said that since Malta was small, there was no area where no threat was posed. It was always a concern to the authorities that should there be a riot, migrants could gain access to the airport, the army armoury or the police quartermaster store, he said.

There were currently 1,800 migrants in the detention centres. Earlier this year there were 2,400, which was 500 more than the whole police force. There were only 1,700 soldiers in the AFM. Therefore the risks were there, Mr Rizzo said. But he was very happy with the way the police, the AFM and the Detention Service had acted to contain any disturbance or riot, firmly but with the least force.

Turning to the identification of migrants, particularly rejected migrants who file appeals for protection, Mr Rizzo said the police were dealing with the unknown. These people arrived in the country without any ID papers. They could be coming from convents or prisons, he said.

He often asked himself why these people destroyed their identity papers when they claimed to be escaping from strife and needed to convince the authorities to protect them. What did they have to hide?

Mr Rizzo said that eight years after the migration problem started, the police with assistance particularly from Frontex, had amassed intelligence from various countries and had refined their interviewing techniques so as to be able to verify what the migrants said. Language expertise had also been increased, to the extent that Malta was now helping Frontex in this regard.

On the investigation of the people traffickers who actually brought the migrants to Malta, Mr Rizzo said such investigations were started as soon as any migrants’ boats arrived. When it was established that the migrants’ boats had a master, criminal action was taken. But in many cases, the migrants denied that there was anybody responsible for the boat and said they all acted together. They said they were given a compass and told to head North.

However in the larger boats, the police sometimes established the presence of a master or a navigator and took criminal action.

Asked which migrant groups caused most trouble, the Commissioner said trouble was caused by migrants of various nationalities, particularly Somalis, while some Nigerians were a cause of concern for reasons of drug trafficking.

As for the crime rate, Mr Rizzo said there was no denying that some crimes were caused by migrants, but he could not give percentages. Given that thousands of migrants had arrived in Malta, the numbers were not insignificant (mhux ħazin) Overall, however, the crime rate in Malta was actually down by an average of 12 percent per year for the past four years.

Replying to a question on what the police were doing with regard to migrants at Marsa, the Commissioner said this was a community of 1,000 people of different cultures and denominations, and incidents sometimes cropped up. The police, he said, lacked the resources to watch over every migrant to ensure that no one was employed illegally, and the focus therefore was on surprise inspections at places of work.

Such raids, the Commissioner stressed, were not against illegal immigrants, but against all people employed illegally. Indeed, the police often came across the illegal employment of foreign students.

NO REPATRIATION AGREEMENT WITH LIBYA

Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, who spoke at the same meeting, said the situation on the repatriation of migrants was in a state of flux. For example, last week Italy repatriated migrants picked up from five boats but in a more recent case, Italy had asked to bring the migrants to Malta and then took them to Sicily after Malta refused.

He confirmed that even if Italy had an agreement with Libya to repatriate the migrants, Malta did not. He had however been invited for talks in Libya along with the Italian Home Affairs Minister and the EU Commissioner for Justice and Home Affairs.

Malta, he said, was calling for more resources to be placed in Libya by the EU and particularly the UNHCR, so that migrants who felt they should apply for protection, would do so there.

A recent reported development, he said, was that some migrant departures from Libya seemed to have shifted east, towards Benghazi, with the migrants heading for Crete.

The situation, he said, was very delicate. Malta would stick to its position of respecting its international obligations by coordinating the search and rescue zone and rescuing migrants who were in distress when the nearest port was in Malta.

“We are keeping our feet on the ground, holding firm to our views and obligations and trying to instil logic into the issue” Dr Mifsud Bonnici said, adding that he was also spending a lot of time explaining to the foreign media what the situation was.

Les syndicats préparent une riposte unitaire à l'annonce de quotas pour les etrangers

Les syndicats préparent une riposte unitaire :: Le Courrier :: Quotidien suisse indépendant

Paru le Mercredi 13 Mai 2009
philippe bach

Genève GENEVE - La libre-circulation a été un facteur de croissance. Instaurer des quotas risque paradoxalement d'augmenter le chômage.
«Cette proposition est inefficace sur le plan économique, et il s'agit d'une bêtise sur le plan politique.» Christian Stoll, cosecrétaire général du Syndicat interprofessionnel de travailleuses et de travailleurs (SIT), ne mâche pas ses mots. L'idée évoquée par le Conseil fédéral de faire jouer la clause de sauvegarde contenue dans les accords de libre-circulation – concrètement: contingenter la main-d'oeuvre étrangère – sera combattue.
La Communauté genevoise d'action syndicale (CGAS), l'organe faîtier regroupant l'ensemble des syndicats du privé et du public, doit se réunir d'ailleurs aujourd'hui pour en discuter. Et pour organiser la contre-offensive.
«On sait très bien qu'économiquement cette proposition est tout simplement stupide», indique Hervé Pichelin, cosecrétaire général du SIT, «on ne va pas créer un seul poste de travail, au contraire».
Le syndicaliste relève deux phénomènes. Tout d'abord, diverses études ont mis en évidence que la libre-circulation a été un facteur de croissance économique. «On est donc en train de ralentir les secteurs qui se portent bien. Où est la logique?»
Deuxième remarque, même si les chiffres font quelque peu défaut, la Suisse, et plus particulièrement Genève, semble exporter une partie de son chômage vers la France voisine dans des secteurs comme l'hôtellerie ou la restauration. La crise économique n'a donc pas eu pour conséquence que les entreprises, prises à la gorge, licencient des Suisses pour engager des frontaliers moins chers. Au contraire.
Quelle serait une réponse plus adéquate? «Si l'on veut répondre aux angoisses bien réelles de la population, il faut donner des garanties au niveau du filet social», résume MmeStoll. Par exemple en rallongeant la durée de l'indemnisation en cas de chômage de un an et demi à deux ans. Ou encore en faisant passer le taux d'indemnisation de 80% à 90%. Philippe Bach

Switzerland considers limiting EU labor migration

Switzerland considers limiting EU labor migration | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 11.05.2009

11.05.2009


Switzerland may impose temporary limits on immigration for EU jobseekers, amid rising unemployment there.

Swiss newspapers report that the country could make use of temporary measures to cut back on foreign jobseekers in the Alpine nation.

"Backed by the latest job market and migration statistics, the government will soon make a decision on the possible activation of the protection clause," justice department spokesman Philippe Piatti told Swiss media on Sunday.

Government discussions on the issue are set to take place on Wednesday.

Switzerland has an agreement with the EU which allows European workers to take jobs in Switzerland without being subject to the country's strict work permit quota system.

Deal to prevent market over-saturation

An open Swiss Army knife with a USB stick and red map lightBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Switzerland's strong export-based economy has attracted many EU workers

But the deal also allows Switzerland to protect its domestic job market with temporary restrictions if immigration grows by more than 10 percent annually compared to the average rate in the previous three years.

Justice Minister Eveline Widmer-Schlumpf and Economics Minister Doris Leuthard were preparing a dossier to discuss a temporary limit on immigration from the EU, the justice department said.

If the clause is activated, immigration from the 15 older EU states, as well as Cyprus and Malta, would be limited to the average migration rate of the previous year plus five percent, for a maximum of two years.

Germany, Portugal most affected

Workers from Germany and Portugal make up the two biggest groups of EU migrants in Switzerland.

Swiss exports have been hard hit in the global slowdown. The country reported 3.5 percent unemployment in April, up from 3.4 percent in March, according to government statistics released last week. April's jobless total jumped 35.5 percent from the figure a year earlier, the State Secretariat for Economic Affairs said.

Unemployment averaged 2.6 percent in 2008 compared with 2.8 percent in 2007.

Eurozone has most jobless

A person covered with the EU flag standing at the border between Switzerland and FranceBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Swiss voters supported a motion to extend cooperation with the EU in February

While the new unemployment rates are alarming for the Swiss, many EU countries are in much worse shape.

The European Commission last week released a new economic forecast predicting that the 27 member states would see unemployment rise to 10.9 percent in 2010.

The data are worse for the 16 countries using the euro. Spain has been particularly hard hit by the crisis, and is set to be burdened with an average unemployment figure this year of 17.4 percent.

EU and member state officials met in Prague last week at a specially convened employment summit in an attempt to come up with solutions to the growing problem.

th/pfd, AFP/dpa/Reuters

Huit associations appellent l'Assemblée à rejeter des accords de "gestion concertée" sur l'immigration

LEMONDE.FR avec AFP | 13.05.09 | 20h28

uit associations ont appelé, mercredi 13 mai, les députés à rejeter quatre accords de "gestion concertée des flux migratoires" avec la Tunisie, le Congo-Brazzaville, le Bénin et le Sénégal, estimant que ces textes étaient "déséquilibrés" et comportaient des "risques" pour les migrants. Jeudi, l'Assemblée nationale doit examiner ces quatre projets de lois autorisant l'approbation des accords relatifs "à la gestion concertée des flux migratoires et au codéveloppement".

Act-Up Paris, l'Association des travailleurs maghrébins de France, la Cimade, le collectif Haïti, le Gisti, le MRAP, la Plateforme d'associations franco-haïtiennes et l'Union des associations latino-américaines en France "appellent les députés à refuser" ces accords, dans un communiqué, estimant que la gestion "concertée" des flux migratoires se fait "au détriment des droits des migrants". "Outre que ces accords sont déséquilibrés, conclus essentiellement à l'avantage de la France pour servir ses objectifs de renforcement des contrôles migratoires, ils portent en eux des risques importants de violation des droits des migrants", assurent-elles, mettant notamment l'accent sur le volet consacré à la réadmission des personnes en situation irrégulière qui "soulève les plus grandes inquiétudes".

POUR L'UMP, UN "COMPORTEMENT AUX ACCENTS COLONISATEURS"

Ces associations expliquent que ce volet permet "le renvoi de personnes vers des pays qu'elles ne connaissent pas, sans garantie suffisante de respect des droits fondamentaux", mettant en avant l'exemple des accords conclus entre l'Italie et la Libye par exemple. Elles jugent par ailleurs "inacceptable de subordonner l'aide au développement à la 'maîtrise des flux migratoires'".

Le premier accord de ce type, entre la France et le Gabon, est entré en vigueur en septembre 2008. D'autres accords ont été signés avec le Cap Vert, l'île Maurice, le Burkina Faso ou sont en cours de négociation (Mali, Cameroun, Haïti, Philippines et Egypte). "De quel droit huit associations dont on connaît la mesure dans leurs prises de positions peuvent-elles s'ingérer dans la politique des pays sources d'immigration ?", s'est indignée l'UMP par la voix de son porte-parole Frédéric Lefebvre. "Ce comportement aux accents colonisateurs de la part d'associations qui n'ont pas de dimension internationale est tout simplement inacceptable ! Ces pays sont assez grands pour juger de ce qui est bon pour eux et pour leurs ressortissants."