ekathimerini.com | EU wants Turkey and Libya to help fight illegal immigration
STOCKHOLM (AFP) – The European Union will soon undertake tricky political talks with Turkey and Libya as they look for their help in cracking down on people-smuggling rings to stem the flow of illegal immigrants into Europe.
But some of the demands Ankara and Tripoli are making in exchange for their help could prove complicated.
EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot, in Stockholm for a meeting of European Union justice and home affairs ministers on Thursday and yesterday, told reporters he was preparing visits to the two countries.
“I plan to travel to Libya after the summer break and to Turkey in September or October,” Barrot said, adding that he expected “an official invitation” from Turkey’s interior minister soon. The fight against illegal immigration “can only be fought by resolving two issues: ties with Turkey and Libya,” French Immigration Minister Eric Besson told AFP.
“When it comes to Turkey, their willingness to cooperate with the EU needs to be tested,” he added. “The first comments by Turkey’s interior minister have been encouraging. But now we have to see the concrete details.”
The 27-member bloc wants Turkey and Libya to crack down on the organized people-smuggling rings and to agree to take back the illegal immigrants who departed from their coasts, Barrot said.
Barrot is determined to curb the influx of illegal immigrants, which threatens to destabilize some countries in Europe – such as Greece – and hampers EU efforts to handle legitimate asylum requests.
“If we don’t link migration to development and diplomacy we won’t succeed,” he warned.
Yet a number of obstacles remain before Turkey agrees to cooperate with the EU.
“Turkey is ready to sign readmission agreements” to take back immigrants who left from its territory,” Barrot said.
“But it says it is merely a transit country and wants similar agreements signed with Pakistan and Afghanistan” to enable Ankara to send back the immigrants who came from those countries, he added.
timesofmalta.com - Italy told migrants cannot be sent backThursday, 23rd July 2009 - 18:02CET
EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot has told Italy, in very clear terms, that it could not return immigrants to countries where their life was threatened.
Answering questions from members of the European Parliament, Commissioner Barrot said that following the warning, Italy had told the EU that it had not sent back any more migrants and announced a visit to Libya.
Mr Barrot said the commission had asked the Italian government for explanations on how some boats with irregular migrants, some asking for humanitarian protection, were returned to Libya.
He spoke about the voluntary burden sharing proposals for the immigration burden to be shared among the 27 EU states but said that obligatory burden sharing was not possible. He said that the voluntary measures were being embarked upon through a pilot project tailor-made for Malta.
Zapatero propondrá en su presidencia aumentar los medios de Frontex y negociar acuerdos de repatriación - Yahoo! Noticias
lunes, 13 de julio, 15.08
Europa Press
España propondrá en su presidencia de la UE en la primera mitad de 2010 "aumentar" los medios de la Agencia Europea de Control de Fronteras Exteriores (Frontex) contra la inmigración ilegal y alcanzar acuerdos para la repatriación de 'sin papeles' negociados a nivel europeo con los países de origen y tránsito, ha avanzado hoy el presidente del Gobierno, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero.
En rueda de prensa conjunta con el primer ministro griego, Kostas Karamanlis, con quien ha hablado de la próxima presidencia española de la UE, Zapatero reconoció que Frontex "necesita más medios y compromiso de los países de la Unión", pero advirtió de que para controlar la inmigración irregular resulta "esencial" construir una política de cooperación en la materia con los países de origen y tránsito de la inmigración, como la que España ha elaborado con Marruecos.
El fortalecimiento de la política europea de inmigración será una de las prioridades de la presidencia española de la UE, que apostará por que la Unión "lidere" las negociaciones para conseguir acuerdos comunes de repatriación, en lugar de los pactos que existen de forma bilateral entre ciertos países comunitarios y africanos, según Zapatero. Karamanlis señaló que los acuerdos de readmisión tendrán que ir acompañados de ayuda financiera para los países africanos.
Zapatero destacó que la elaboración de una política europea de asociación con los países emisores y de tránsito de la inmigración debe constituir una de las grandes políticas exteriores de los Veintisiete.
Para ello, Zapatero y Karamanlis acordaron proponer en los próximos meses la creación de "un nuevo espacio de concertación política" en torno a la inmigración ilegal dentro de la Unión por el Mediterráneo, la asociación que integra a los Veintisiete con sus vecinos de la ribera sur. "Sin una fuerte asociación, no se pueden conseguir los objetivos", advirtió el presidente español.
Karamanlis confió en que la presidencia española de la UE sirva para dar un "nuevo empuje" a la Unión por el Mediterráneo, una iniciativa del presidente francés, Nicolas Sarkozy, que bebe del Proceso de Barcelona lanzado en la década de los 90 a propuesta de España.
Al margen de la inmigración, Zapatero y Karamanlis repasaron el estado de la situación económica internacional y de las perspectivas sobre la entrada en vigor del Tratado de Lisboa. Zapatero calificó de "muy buenas" las relaciones entre España y Grecia, al que se refirió como el país, junto con Portugal, con el que España más coincide en lo político.
La prensa griega se interesó por si los dos líderes hacían una lectura en clave nacional de los pasados comicios europeos. Zapatero, como ha dicho en anteriores ocasiones, indicó que las elecciones del pasado 7 de junio eran para renovar el Parlamento Europeo y aseguró que su partido "saldrá a ganar" en los próximos comicios generales.
Lives in danger as European governments deny refugees protection | Amnesty International
19 June 2009
Governments in Europe are putting lives at risk by denying refugees protection, Amnesty International warned on Saturday.
“Refugees are risking their lives to find safety only to be turned away when they reach Europe,” said Nicola Duckworth, Europe and Central Asia Director at Amnesty International.
“Governments must stop putting lives in danger and start meeting their international obligations to protect these vulnerable people.”
Amnesty International’s call for government action comes on World Refugee Day, which is held on 20 June every year. World Refugee Day sees thousands of organizations in hundreds of countries coming together to focus global attention on the plight of refugees and the causes of their exile.
Countries at Europe’s border are showing a flagrant disregard for their international obligations towards refugees:
* Italy is intercepting refugees in international waters and physically transporting them, without assessing their protection needs, to Libya, where migrants, asylum-seekers and refugees are at risk of ill-treatment and forcible return to countries where they risk serious human rights abuses.
* Greece pushes back people at its land border and sea borders with Turkey without first assessing their asylum claims. For those that do enter the country there are many legal obstacles for refugees to gain protection.
* Spain’s bilateral agreements with several countries in Africa are used to justify the arbitrary arrest, detention and deportation of asylum-seekers and migrants in these countries.
* Turkey continues not to recognise people from outside Europe as refugees, meaning thousands of people are denied the protection they need.
On World Refugee Day, Amnesty International warned EU states that their actions are undermining the protection of refugees not only in their own countries but also across the world, by sending a dangerous message on the treatment of refugees.
The organization said that all countries must meet their obligations towards refugees and asylum-seekers not only within their own borders but wherever they exercise effective control.
El Tribunal de la UE condena a España por no trasponer una directiva sobre asilo - Yahoo! Noticias
jueves, 9 de julio, 13.27
EFE
Bruselas, 9 jul (EFE).- El Tribunal de Justicia de la UE condenó hoy a España por no trasponer a tiempo una directiva comunitaria que establece los requisitos mínimos para el reconocimiento y el estatuto de refugiados o persona que necesitan asilo.
Esas medidas, incluidas en una norma comunitaria de 2004, no han sido aplicadas aún al ordenamiento jurídico español, según constataron los jueces de Luxemburgo al aceptar los argumentos planteados en la denuncia que presentó en 2007 la Comisión Europea.
El Tribunal rechazó el argumento español de que las disposiciones vigentes en la actualidad se ajustan a esa directiva, aunque no garantizan una adaptación completa de la norma, según indicaron fuentes jurídicas.
El proyecto de ley de asilo se aprobó en el Congreso de los Diputados a finales de junio y se espera su aprobación en el Senado para después del verano, según indicaron fuentes españolas.
timesofmalta.com - EU Council to discuss illegal migrationTuesday, 16th June 2009 - 15:01CET
European Unions heads of governemnt are to discuss illegal immigration during a summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, the Foreign Ministry said today.
Also on the agenda is the economic crisis, measures to boost employment, climate change and sustainable development.
The Foreign Ministry said that Malta, Italy Greece and Cyprus insisted at a foreign ministers' meeting yesterday that the Immigration Pact agreed by European leaders last October had to be implemented. They also called for a conclusion to the proposed EU-Libya Framework Agreement by the end of this year
ekathimerini.com | Calls grow to curb immigration
PM to push issue at EU summit this week, as opposition ups the ante and coast guard struggles
Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis yesterday telephoned his counterpart in the Czech Republic, which currently holds the European Union presidency, to press for greater EU support in curbing a seemingly relentless influx of illegal immigrants.
According to government spokesman Evangelos Antonaros, Karamanlis told his counterpart Jan Fischer that Greece cannot shoulder the burden of protecting the EU’s southeastern border. The PM is due to broach the issue at a summit in Brussels later this week.
Meanwhile, Athens Mayor Nikitas Kaklamanis called for municipal council members to forge a united front to tackle the capital’s burgeoning migrant population which is being blamed by some for spiraling crime that has led to a spike in far-right sentiment. Kaklamanis said swift consensus on this issue was crucial, “even if we must all compromise on some of our convictions.”
The leader of the main opposition PASOK party, George Papandreou, seemed less compromising in an article published in Sunday’s Kathimerini, in which he outlines an eight-point plan for “zero illegal immigration.” Papandreou condemns the government for having a “nonexistent policy” for immigration which has marginalized second generation migrants and failed to make a distinction between economic migrants and refugees.
Responding to criticism from other opposition parties, describing the military facilities slated for use as migrant reception centers as “concentration camps,” Antonaros said the ruling conservatives were being treated unfairly. “Two-and-a-half years ago we were being condemned by international bodies for having too few reception centers,” he said.
Meanwhile, the coast guard on Lesvos, where a reception center is full to bursting, detained a total of 126 illegal immigrants this weekend. The migrants were intercepted in four boats that had been heading toward the island from neighboring Turkey.
EU conference on migration and integration kicks off in Berlin | Europe | Deutsche Welle | 15.06.200915.06.2009
A boatload of migrants heading to Spain from Canary Islands
How well is Europe coping with the integration of its foreign residents? A two-day EU conference in Berlin will discuss methods to monitor migratory trends within Europe.
For decades the nations of the expanded European Union, now comprising 27 countries, have wrangled over the integration of the EU’s 30 million foreign residents. The question: how to deal with those who try to enter what human rights advocates call Fortress Europe?
At the Berlin conference the catchwords will be “monitoring” and “benchmarking,” in other words, how to measure the success or failure of efforts to integrate so-called “legal migrants” across Europe.
Residents with foreign passports make up about five percent of the EU’s total population of nearly 500 million. Luxembourg excels, with 38 percent of its population listed as foreigners. Germany is in mid-field at 8.9 percent or about seven-million foreign residents.
Foreign student being showed some technologyBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Immigration policies diverge widely within the EU
The German Federal Statistics Office pointed out recently, however, that the underlying trend is far greater. It counted those with “migratory backgrounds,” including persons who have adopted German citizenship and children raised in families with origins abroad. The count soared to 15 million, or more than 18 percent of Germany’s total population of 82 million.
Since the 1980s, go-it-alone policies pursued by individual nations have been superseded by an EU Commission drive to coordinate a patchwork of policies on asylum and integration under a so-called Global Approach to Migration. Adopted in 2007, its measures range from promoting language acquisition and job skills among newcomers, to worker mobility within the EU’s visa-free internal borders, to Frontex, the EU agency which patrols waters off northern Africa.
Frontex often draws criticism from non-governmental organizations. Scenes of would-be migrants struggling ashore from sunken boats and recovered bodies prompted EU Commission President Jose Manuel Borroso last week to call for a summit of EU Mediterranean states.
Aging EU will need younger workers
The head of the EU’s Social and Economic Committee Mario Sepi concedes that the demographics of an ageing EU population have also prompted Europe’s nations to boost their efforts to successfully integrate foreigners. By 2050 a third of the EU’s population will be 65 years or older, requiring many younger skilled workers including foreigners, and as taxpayers, to fill the gap.
“The European model of integration is a very broad model," Sepi said. "And, if we’re unable to integrate new citizens into the EU, then we wouldn’t be true to what our message to the world is: integration at (the) national, social and economic levels.”
Interior Minister Wolfgang SchaeubleBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: German Interior Minister Schaeuble puts the onus on immigrants
Ahead of the EU’s Berlin conference, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Federal Interior Minister, Wolfgang Schaeuble, of her conservative Christian Democratic Union party (CDU), praised the integrative efforts of more than two million so-called Russian-Germans who have resettled in Germany since the collapse of the former Soviet Union.
Schaeuble also insisted that potential immigrants had to make the first steps.
“If you know nothing about where you live or where you’re going to and if you don’t have a basic knowledge of the language, then you’ll have only a small chance of making it in the new country.”
Don't exclude skilled migrants
But associations representing foreigners in Germany and the DGB trade union federation have advocated an alternative migration concept for 2009, Germany’s super election year. One group, Pro-Asylum, says recruitment of skilled migrants should not lead to situations where refugees find it increasingly difficult to obtain asylum in the European Union.
Experts, including staff at the SINUS social research institute in Heidelberg, say the migratory policies and trends across the EU’s 27 nations are very diverse. Even the terminology “migrant” and “foreigner” are interpreted differently from country-to-country.
In a recent study, SINUS researchers Carsten Wippermann and Berthold Bodo Flaig dismissed negative cliches of supposedly uneducated Gastarbeiter or "guest workers" recruited by Germany in the 1960s, mostly from Turkey.
German integration
Three decades of research had instead shown that many migrants in Germany are educationally and vocationally advanced, with a strong work ethic and modern attitudes, they said.
"Among a broad cross-section of the migrant population there is a high degree of cultural adaption and willingness to integrate. Many have a bicultural self-definition. That means, they don’t even regard themselves as 'migrants' but as an obvious part of German society," the researchers said.
Those results are reflected in a new study by Germany’s Allensbach research institute. It says 69 percent of migrants feel comfortable in Germany; and 58 percent regard themselves as part of German society. Amongst Turkish migrants, however, a quarter said they still felt as if they were foreign or different.
Ipj/EPD/KNA/bpb/APuZ/Eurostats
Editor: Jennifer Abramsohn
ekathimerini.com | Focus on immigrationFocus on immigration
Responding to growing pressure to tackle a burgeoning problem with illegal immigration, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos yesterday heralded the imposition of tougher sentences to discourage human smugglers and the creation of reception centers where undocumented migrants would be held for up to 12 months until their fate is decided.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis sent a letter to Jan Fischer, his counterpart in the Czech Republic, which currently holds the European Union’s rotating presidency, asking for the union’s full support in curbing the migration flows that have hit countries like Greece, Italy and Spain particularly hard.
“The big issue that Greece and other EU countries face is the uncontrolled entry of illegal immigrants at Europe’s borders, mainly through people smugglers,” Pavlopoulos said after yesterday’s Cabinet meeting, noting that traffickers would face felony rather than misdemeanor charges which carry heavy jail terms.
The minister added that he would press EU officials at a summit next week for the signing of repatriation agreements with migrants’ countries of origin and urge Turkey to honor a bilateral pact with Greece for migrants’ repatriation.
Pavlopoulos added that the government would push ahead with stalled plans to build a mosque for the capital’s Muslims in the central Votanikos area and a Muslim cemetery in Schisto, western Attica.
The government’s proposals attracted strong opposition criticism. George Papandreou, the leader of Socialist PASOK, described the measures as “sketchy and inadequate” and proposed instead an eight-point plan foreseeing the boosting of border controls and a drive to upgrade parts of the capital that have turned into ghettos for migrants. The Communist Party accused the government of seeking to imprison migrants in “concentration camps.”
Speaking to reporters after the Cabinet meeting, Pavlopoulos insisted that the new measures were not a reaction to the government’s losses in last Sunday’s European Parliament elections and to the gains made by the far-right Popular Orthodox Rally (LAOS).
VERS UNE EUROPE FORTERESSE :: Le Courrier :: Quotidien suisse indépendant
Paru le Lundi 08 Juin 2009
CARLO SOMMARUGA*
Contrechamp MIGRATIONS - Les politiques coercitives menées par la Suisse et l'Union européenne s'avèrent incapables de réguler les flux migratoires. Agir sur les causes des migrations de masse passe nécessairement par la refondation du système économique mondial.
Aujourd'hui, les personnes en mouvement de par le monde sont plus nombreuses qu'elles ne l'ont jamais été. On recense en effet plus de 200 millions de migrants internationaux, ce qui représente environ 3% de la population mondiale. Bien que le chiffre soit difficile à estimer, selon une étude de l'ONU de 2005, 20 à 30 millions de migrants se trouvent en situation illégale, ce qui représente 10% à 15% de la population mondiale de migrants. Selon l'Organisation internationale des migrations, trois millions de personnes vivent en situation irrégulière en Europe. En Suisse, selon une étude de 2005, entre 80 000 et 100 000 personnes seraient sans-papiers, parmi lesquelles 12 000 à 15 000 dans le canton de Vaud et 8000 à 10 000 dans celui de Genève. Face à cette réalité, aucun Etat – ou groupement d'Etats comme l'Union européenne – ne peut faire l'économie d'une réflexion approfondie sur la question des migrations. La réflexion doit être globale. Elle doit intégrer non seulement la dimension de l'apport humain, social et économique de la migration pour les sociétés et les économies des pays d'accueil, mais aussi et surtout l'impact de cette migration pour la communauté humaine des pays d'origine. Cette réflexion doit également porter sur le cadre fixé à la migration légale et, plus encore, sur le traitement de la migration irrégulière, tout particulièrement sur les mécanismes de régularisation des sans-papiers. Enfin, il faut définir avec humanité une politique d'asile.
Ces dernières années, en raison du rapprochement avec l'Union européenne, la question migratoire en Suisse a progressivement changé de visage. Rappelons que ce rapprochement s'est matérialisé par l'acceptation, le 21 mai 2000, de l'accord de libre-circulation des personnes et par l'acceptation, le 5 juin 2005, de l'entrée de la Suisse dans l'espace Schengen-Dublin. Résultats? L'Européen est devenu un alter ego et les frontières se sont effacées à travers le continent. Mais parallèlement à cette ouverture, la Suisse et l'Union européenne se rejoignent dans un mouvement inverse: une véritable forteresse européenne se construit à notre insu.
Dans cette Europe forteresse, la criminalisation rampante des liens personnels et de solidarité avec les sans-papiers ou les requérants d'asile déboutés devient la règle. Ainsi, l'on ne peut éviter d'évoquer le cas de Jennifer, cette Française de vingt-trois ans qui, alors qu'elle diligentait à la préfecture les procédures en vue de son mariage, a vu son futur époux sans-papiers expulsé vers le Maroc et elle-même être renvoyée devant le Tribunal pour avoir hébergé un sans-papiers1. En Suisse, la situation n'est guère meilleure: après le Conseil National, le Conseil des Etats vient d'accepter, lors de la session en cours, la loi inspirée par la proposition du président de l'UDC visant à interdire la célébration de mariages avec des sans-papiers résidant en Suisse.
La «Directive européenne du retour», dénoncée par les organisations de défense des droits humains et de défense des migrants dans toute l'Europe comme «la directive de la honte», trouve son pendant plus dur encore en Suisse. En effet, alors qu'en Europe une personne peut être privée de liberté en vue de son refoulement jusqu'à dix-huit mois – sans même qu'il y ait eu d'infraction pénale –, en Suisse la loi sur les étrangers permet une détention administrative de vingt-quatre mois. Un nouvel échelon de cette fermeture sidérante de l'Europe a encore été atteint dernièrement: au début du mois de mai, malgré les appels à la raison de philosophes et des églises, le Parlement italien a adopté une réforme du droit pénal permettant de condamner le migrant foulant le sol italien de manière irrégulière à des amendes allant jusqu'à 10 000 euros. Absurdité totale dès lors que ces personnes sont issues de la misère et que de telles sanctions ne mettront pas fin aux flux migratoires.
En ce qui concerne le droit d'asile, c'est le désordre total. Il est en effet scandaleux que, selon le type de persécution ou le pays d'origine du requérant, l'asile soit accordé dans certains pays et refusé dans d'autres. Le cas de Fahad Kammas, devenu héros malgré lui du film de Fernand Melgar La Forteresse, est exemplaire. Ce traducteur irakien au service de l'armée américaine avait demandé l'asile politique d'abord à la Grèce – qui n'accorde pas l'asile aux Irakiens –, puis à la Suède et enfin à la Suisse. En vertu de l'accord de Dublin, il a été renvoyé en Suède où sa demande d'asile avait été rejetée en raison de la décision préalable de la Grèce, alors que son cas remplissait parfaitement les conditions d'octroi de l'asile en Suisse. Au-delà des questions de procédure, il est urgent que les pays européens unifient le droit d'asile. Toutefois, cette unification ne doit pas être le prétexte pour un nouveau tour de vis du droit d'asile.
Par ailleurs, depuis 2008, la Suisse participe à l'Agence européenne de contrôle des frontières FRONTEX. Cette agence est le lieu de la coopération et de la solidarité entre les Etats européens dans le contrôle des frontières extérieures. Il est donc juste d'un point de vue institutionnel et de solidarité avec les Etats européens que la Suisse y participe. Mais n'oublions pas que derrière sa devise «Libertas Securitas et Justicia», FRONTEX est la muraille réelle et concrète de la forteresse européenne: patrouilles sur terre ou sur mer, installations high-tech de détection de mouvement, radars, caméras, caméras infrarouges, grillages, autant de moyens de repousser l'étranger loin de nos frontières.
La concrétisation de ce contrôle, bien lointaine des préoccupations quotidiennes des citoyens européens et invisible pour l'écrasante majorité de ceux-ci, est terrifiante. Ainsi, la ville espagnole de Melilla sur terre africaine est entourée par un double système de grillages ponctué de miradors de verre et de béton, l'ensemble ayant été financé par l'Union européenne. Le tout est sévèrement contrôlé par la garde civile espagnole qui dispose d'un système électronique de détection hautement sophistiqué. La situation n'est pas très différente à Ceuta, où en 2005 la garde civile espagnole a tiré sur des migrants en faisant cinq morts. A la frontière Est de l'Union européenne avec l'Ukraine, c'est la mise en place de caméras infrarouges tous les 186 mètres en moyenne qui s'accompagne de patrouilles mixtes incluant les Ukrainiens. Les milliers, voire les dizaines de milliers, d'immigrants irréguliers en provenance d'Asie sont ainsi bloqués ou refoulés dans les 48 heures vers l'Ukraine où ils vivent dans des conditions effroyables dans l'attente de nouveaux essais de franchissement de la frontière. Mais FRONTEX, c'est aussi les collaborations avec la Libye et le refoulement vers ce pays de centaines de personnes sans même l'examen de leur demande d'asile, alors que la Libye – connue pour son arbitraire – n'a pas signé la Convention de Genève du 28 juillet 1951 relative au statut des réfugiés.
Aujourd'hui, il est permis de douter que les politiques adoptées par la Suisse et l'Union européenne aient l'impact recherché sur les flux migratoires. Il est en effet certain que ces flux ne tariront que si l'on s'attaque préalablement aux motifs qui poussent des millions d'enfants, d'adolescents, d'hommes et de femmes à tout quitter pour le terrible et dramatique exode vers un lointain et virtuel Eldorado. Il en est des flux migratoires comme des cours d'eau: s'ils ne tarissent pas, aucun barrage – quelle que soit sa taille ou sa solidité initiale – n'évitera le débordement et ne résistera à long terme, sauf à ouvrir les vannes. A cet égard, rappelons qu'en l'an 2000, 50% de la richesse mondiale appartenait aux 2% les plus riches, alors que plus d'un milliard de personnes subsistaient avec moins d'un dollar par jour. Par ailleurs, en 2009, un quart des enfants de moins de cinq ans dans les pays en développement souffrent toujours de malnutrition, 11 millions d'enfants meurent chaque année avant d'avoir atteint l'âge de cinq ans et 115 millions d'enfants en âge d'être scolarisés n'ont pas accès à l'éducation. Voilà les causes de l'émigration de masse auxquelles s'ajoutent les guerres et les catastrophes environnementales, et auxquelles il convient de répondre en priorité.
Avant la définition de toute politique migratoire, il y a nécessité de repenser les fondements du système économique mondial actuel, générateur de nombreuses injustices et d'immenses souffrances. Cette refondation du système est demandée avec de plus en plus d'insistance par de multiples acteurs de la scène internationale, partout dans le monde: les altermondialistes, les petits paysans, les mineurs exploités, les ouvriers au chômage ou encore les Prix Nobel tels que Muhammad Yunus et Joseph Stiglitz. Le blocage des négociations du Cycle de Doha à l'Organisation mondiale du commerce (OMC), le maintien de la mainmise des puissances industrielles sur le Fonds monétaire international (FMI) et la Banque mondiale, de même que la non-tenue des engagements en matière de développement – soit l'attribution du 0,7% du Revenu national brut (RNB) à l'aide publique au développement, notamment en vue de réduire de moitié la pauvreté dans le monde d'ici 2015 – montrent que nous sommes encore loin de toute refondation économique, sociale et politique au niveau mondial, pourtant indispensable à réduire les inégalités, les tensions sociales, le protectionnisme, les nationalismes et les guerres.
Pour un Européen convaincu, ayant un regard critique et lucide sur la face cachée des politiques institutionnelles, il est difficile de continuer à promouvoir un rapprochement permanent et l'adhésion à l'Union européenne. Toutefois, ce rapprochement institutionnel est inéluctable. C'est uniquement dans l'espace européen que la bataille politique, sociale et syndicale doit être menée pour renverser la logique libérale actuelle et développer une économie et une société fondée sur les valeurs d'humanité, de solidarité et de partenariat. Cette refondation de l'équilibre mondial sera le seul moyen susceptible de résoudre à la racine le déséquilibre économique et l'injustice sociale et donc le problème des migrations internationales. * Conseiller national Soc./GE. Ce texte est issu du discours de Carlo Sommaruga, prononcé dans le cadre du 7e Dialogue européen de la Fondation Jean Monnet, Lausanne, 15 mai 2009.
1 Cf. Le Monde, 7 mai 2009.
Note : * Conseiller national Soc./GE. Ce texte est issu du discours de Carlo Sommaruga, prononcé dans le cadre du 7e Dialogue européen de la Fondation Jean Monnet, Lausanne, 15 mai 2009.
1 Cf. Le Monde, 7 mai 2009
Vietnamese immigrants in mass deportation | Germany | Deutsche Welle | 08.06.2009Immigration | 08.06.2009
Amid high security, a group of around 100 Vietnamese have been deported from Germany. It was the first group deportation for years in Berlin. Refugee and human rights organisations protested against the move.
It is the first time that the European Union agency for external border security, Frontex, is financing a group deportation.
One hundred and three women and men as well as one child were put on a plane to Hanoi on Monday evening.
Around 200 demonstrators had gathered beforehand at Berlin's Schoenefeld Airport to protests against the mass deportation. The case had attracted widespread public attention in recent days as many of the Vietnamese immigrants had been living in Germany for several years.
Human rights and refugee organizations had organised opposition to the deportation, warning that the immigrants could face reprisals if sent back to Vietnam.
"We are protesting primarily against the fact that we are deporting people to a country like Vietnam that violates human rights," said Wolfgang Lenk, a Green Party city counsellor who turned out to support the protest.
Two vietnamese men with a stack of cigarettesBildunterschrift: Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift: Some illegal Vietnamese immigrants in Germany have been involved in cigarette smugglingHe warned that any form of mass deportation usually meant that individual cases were not considered with sufficient care.
Despite a large police presence two demonstrators managed to enter the airport and were briefly detained by police, officials said.
Most of Vietnamese had been living in Germany without residence permission, the 26 others had been living in Poland. The deportation operation was organised in cooperation between the German and Polish authorities.
For many of the Vietnamese, the trip home is the end of a long and difficult journey. Lured by the promises made by people smugglers of a better life, many of these would-be immigrants paid huge sums of money to get to Germany, only to submit an asylum application that in most cases was rejected.
Nevertheless, the number of new arrivals from the Asian country has been growing, not just in Germany, but also in neighboring Poland and the Czech Republic.
About 85,000 Vietnamese live legally in Germany; the number of undocumented Vietnamese immigrants is unknown. Unlike this most recent wave of arrivals, the Vietnamese who arrived in the 1970s and 1980s succeeded in establishing a life for themselves. Those in what was then West Germany were "boat people" fleeing from the Communist regime; those in East Germany arrived as guest workers.
ai/dpa/EPD/AFP
Editor: Chuck Penfold
In Europa crescono destra e xenofobia Ungheria e Finlandia contro gli immigrati - Il Messaggero
Ungheria e Finlandia contro gli immigrati
ROMA (7 giugno) - Avanzata dei partiti di estrema destra anche in Ungheria e Finlandia dopo la vittoria in Olanda del movimento di Wilders (Partito per la libertà al 17%, 4 seggi nel Parlamento europeo).
Ungheria: l'estrema destra terza forza del Paese. Il partito conservatore di opposizione Fidesz ha vinto le elezioni europee in Ungheria, conquistando 56,37% dei voti (14 deputati su 22), ma la grande sorpresa è il risultato dell'estrema destra: Jobbik al 14,77% e 3 eurodeputati su 22 con un programma nazionalista, antieuropeo, antiglobalizzazione. Il leader è Gabor Vona ha fondato due anni fa la Guardia Ungherese, organizzazione paramilitare con uniformi simili a quelle dei Crocefrecciati (i nazisti ungheresi del 1944), e ha dichiarato guerra alla «criminalità tzigana» con marce intimidatorie nei comuni rom. La mano della Guardia è sospettata dietro a una serie di attentati contro rom con un bilancio di sette morti e molte case incendiate. Questi i punti essenziali del programma di Jobbik: fare ordine ristabilendo la gendarmeria (corpo armato esistente prima della seconda guerra) per combattere la criminalità; mandare in galera Ferenc Gyurcsany, l'ex premier socialista e i suoi ministri; far pagare le tasse a multinazionali e banche; cacciare dal Paese il capitale straniero; vietare l'acquisto di terreni agli stranieri (consentito dall'Ue).
Gli altri partiti. Il centro moderato (Foro democratico, Mdf) al 5,3%, 1 deputato. Non hanno ottenuto seggi i liberali (Szdsz). I socialisti al governo sono stati sconfitti in conseguenza della grave crisi economica e finanziaria del Paese, mentre la vittoria della Fidesz di Viktor Orban era prevedibile.
Finlandia, sfondano gli euroscettici. Il partito nazionalista ed euroscettico dei Veri Finlandesi (conteggio dell'80% dei suffragi), partito anti-immigrati e anti-europeo ottiene il 10% dei voti (rispetto allo 0,5% delle precedenti elezioni europee del 2004), il che gli permette di fare il suo ingresso nel Parlamento europeo con uno dei 13 seggi attribuiti alla Finlandia. Il capo del partito, Timo Soini, avrebbe conseguito 120 mila voti, più di ogni altro candidato. Al partito di Centro del capo di governo 3 seggi, con il 21% dei voti (nel 2004 arrivò al 23,4%), così come il suo alleato, il partito conservatore della Coalizione nazionale 21,9% (23,7% nel 2004). Due seggi dovrebbero andare ai socialdemocratici, altri due ai verdi. L'affluenza è stata del 40,3%, rispetto al 41,4% del 2004.
Olanda. I risultati elettorali definitivi danno il Partito per la Libertà (Pvv) del discusso politico xenofobo, anti-islamico ed euroscettico Geert Wildersal 17% dei voti, quasi il triplo di quanti ne aveva raccolti alle politiche del 2006. La formazione diventa il secondo partito del Paese e si assicura 4 seggi a Strasburgo. Le vere vincitrici delle elezioni europee, nelle quali ha votato il 36,5% degli elettori, in calo rispetto al 39,3% a quelle del 2004, sono le posizioni più estreme: la destra islamofoba e nazionalista da un lato, e i partiti dichiaratamente a favore dell'Ue dall'altro. I grandi sconfitti invece sono stati i due principali partiti al governo, i Cristiano democratici (Cda) del premier, Jan peter Balkenende, e i laburisti (PvdA), che hanno pagato a caro prezzo la loro indecisione e le continue tensioni.
ekathimerini.com | EU offers help with immigration
The European Union moved a step closer to meeting the requests of Greece and other Mediterranean countries for greater assistance in their efforts to tackle illegal immigration during a meeting of justice and interior ministers that ended yesterday.
Following the Luxembourg meeting, the EU Justice and Home Affairs Commissioner Jacques Barrot said that he would make it a priority to work closely with countries such as Turkey and Libya so that they would be obligated to improve their border controls and honor the repatriation agreements that they have signed.
Greece has long complained about Turkey accepting only a small percentage of the thousands of illegal immigrants that arrive every year after setting off from neighboring countries.
Athens has found it increasingly difficult to deal with a growing influx of migrants and the city’s mayor, Nikitas Kaklamanis, applauded the news from Luxembourg.
“I welcome this decision, which, once implemented, will significantly stem the unrestrained flow of migrants from our neighboring country into Greece,” he said.
“Elevating the mass illegal immigration problem from a national to a European matter must be accompanied by generous financial and technical assistance from the European Union to Greece to meet the needs of both the Greek Police and the Coast Guard, so that the protection of our borders, particularly at sea, brings substantial results,” added Kaklamanis.
Greece is also likely to have been encouraged by an agreement for a pilot burden-sharing scheme, under which EU member states will accept refugees from Malta on a voluntary basis.
“Through this pilot project, refugees and other persons with humanitarian protection currently in Malta will have the opportunity to move to other EU member states and resettle there,” said Barrot.
He said that the EU could not force member states to accept asylum seekers but that the Commission intended to ask the countries to pledge how many migrants from Malta they would accept.
Italy had been pushing for obligatory burden sharing but a number of states raised objections.
The issue will be picked up for discussion again when Sweden takes over the rotating EU presidency next month.
EU unlikely to agree on African refugees in June | Prague Monitor
ČTK |
5 June 2009
Luxembourg, June 4 (CTK) - The European Union is unlikely to reach an agreement on how to help countries like Italy and Malta cope with waves of illegal migrants under the Czech EU presidency that will last till the end of June, Czech Interior Minister Martin Pecina told journalists Thursday.
Thousands of illegal immigrants get from north Africa across the Mediterranean Sea to Europe every year.
"The discussion has only just started," said Pecina who headed an EU meeting dealing with the issue Thursday.
Pecina said he believes some form of voluntary cooperation will be agreed on.
France and Portugal have already accepted some refugees from Malta, for example.
EU Commissioner Jacques Barrot, in charge of justice, freedom and security, Thursday also spoke about voluntary help.
However, Italy would like other EU countries to help it compulsorily. Some EU countries seem to consider this unacceptable.
According to the Italian authorities, 36,900 refugees reached Italy's shores in 2008, which was 75 percent more than in 2007.
The Italian parliament passed a new law in May that considers the country's illegal entry and illegal stay a crime. Italy has returned some 500 migrants to Africa based on the law since then. This was criticised by the United Nations, the Catholic Church and humanitarian organisations.
The issue is to be discussed at the EU summit on June 18-19, but a compromise solution will probably be sought by the Swedes to whom the Czechs will hand the EU presidency.
UNHCR | Refworld | European migration policies must not undermine refugee rights - UN official
The top United Nations refugee official has called on the European Union (EU) to ensure that migration control measures do not undermine fundamental rights of asylum-seekers and refugees.
High Commissioner António Guterres expressed concerns about the situation of people intercepted at sea in the Mediterranean and the responses of governments to this, including those of Italy, in a letter addressed to the Czech EU Presidency ahead of a meeting of the group’s Justice and Home Affairs Ministers later this week.
The UN refugee agency (UNHCR) voiced its concern last month after Italy sent over 200 people it rescued off Maltese waters back to Libya before properly assessing their possible protection needs.
Mr. Guterres called for EU support to Libya to improve the general conditions for asylum-seekers and refugees in the country, and appealed to EU Member States to admit those who appear to be in need of international protection.
"The High Commissioner is aware that some EU Member States, and particularly those located along the Mediterranean, face particular pressures from the arrival of asylum-seekers and refugees," UNHCR spokesperson Ron Redmond told a news conference in Geneva today.
He said the agency is prepared to support responsibility-sharing mechanisms within the EU, including some relocation of people found in need of international protection, when reception and asylum systems in specific Member States are under strain. However, UNHCR’s activities cannot be a substitute for State responsibility.
"For that reason, UNHCR continues to call on EU countries to offer resettlement places for refugees who are currently without solutions in Libya and other countries where durable solutions are not available," Mr. Redmond said.
Topics: Asylum-seekers, Right to seek asylum,
* Search
Search
* Advanced Search
* Search Tips
* Regions
Region maps
* Africa
* Americas
* Asia
* Europe
* Oceania
* Countries
Countries
* Categories
* Country Information
* Legal Information
* Policy Documents
* Reference Documents
* Browse by
* A-Z Index
* Topics
* Publishers
* Document Types
* Resources
* Special Features
* Standards and Training
* Information Alerts
* Protection Starter Kit
* Library
* News
* Refworld Personalization
* External Links
timesofmalta.com - Italy insists on EU burden sharing, says latest proposals not enoughThursday, 4th June 2009 - 16:23CET
Italy today joined Malta in appealing to the European Union to oblige member states to share the burden by taking in migrants.
Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said before a meeting with EU counterparts in Luxembourg that recent proposals from the executive European Commission on asylum were "interesting, but ... not sufficient".
"We asked for obligatory burden sharing, the proposal foresees a voluntary system -- so those who don't want to needn't take in any refugees," he told reporters.
In a Financial Times interview published today, Prime Minister Lawrence Gonzi called the Commission proposals a step forward, but expressed disappointment that fellow EU states had not agreed to take on asylum seekers.
Maroni said Libya, to where Italy has returned migrants intercepted in the Mediterranean, had given him concrete requests for help from Europe to fight illegal immigration and he would pass these to EU Justice Commissioner Jacques Barrot.
Barrot has criticised Italy's recent decision to return migrant ships intercepted on the voyage across the Mediterranean from Libya, saying it did not distinguish between illegal migrants and those deserving asylum.
He has proposed that the European Union work with the United Nations refugee agency (UNHCR) to set up screening centres for asylum seekers in Africa to stop them falling into the clutches of human-trafficking networks.
He has urged UNHCR to work with Libya to establish a scheme for receiving and protecting asylum seekers that meets international standards.
Maroni has argued that Italy's policy is working and the arrival of migrant boats from north Africa has practically stopped, but it has been sharply criticised by non-governmental organisations dealing with refugees.
Yesterday, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, a network of 69 refugee assisting organisations in 30 countries, said Italy should face sanctions under EU rules for "flagrant violation" of human rights principles.
Asylum a) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member States responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (recast) (LA) b) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and the Council concerning the establishment of "Eurodac" for the comparison of fingerprints for the effective application of the Regulation establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member States responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national or a stateless person (recast) (LA) c) Proposal for a Directive of the European Parliament and the Council amending Council Directive 2003/9/EC laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers (recast) (LA) d) Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing a European Asylum Support Office.
Proposal
timesofmalta.com - Frontex may lease aircraft to repatriate migrantsWednesday, 3rd June 2009 - 20:20CET
Frontex, the EU border control agency, has agreed to strengthen its capacity for the repatriation of migrants and may lease an aircraft for the purpose, director-general Ilka Latenen said today.
Speaking after talks with Justice and Home Affairs Minister Carm Mifsud Bonnici, Mr Latenen said Frontex would consider leasing an aircraft for repatriation flights to start from Malta.
At present most repatriations from Malta are made through arrangements with other countries, with aircraft stopping over in Malta on their way to the migrants' countries whenever they have empty seats.
A spokesman for the Home Affairs Ministry said that Frontex will also be helping Malta to obtain the travel documents needed to make repatriations possible, a role currently undertaken by the police. No migrants may be repatriated without such documentation.
Only half of the migrants who arrive in Malta are found to be eligible for humanitarian protection and the rest, therefore, have to be repatriated.
LeTemps.ch | L’Europe aux prises avec l’immigration de masseAnalyse mercredi3 juin 2009
Emmanuel Garessus
L’Europe est pour la première fois de son histoire un continent de migrants. 40 millions sont nés dans un autre pays. Plus de 10% du total. L’effet de taille compte énormément, écrit Christopher Caldwell, éditorialiste au «Financial Times»*
L’Europe est pour la première fois de son histoire un continent de migrants. 40 millions d’habitants sont nés dans un autre pays. Plus de 10% du total. L’effet de taille compte énormément, écrit Christopher Caldwell, éditorialiste au Financial Times*. On dénombre 15 à 17 millions de musulmans en Europe. C’est unique dans l’histoire. Et cette immigration constitue le plus grand problème que rencontre l’Europe. Il est frappant de constater le manque de confiance de la démocratie, sa plus importante valeur morale, à le traiter, écrit-il. Si l’Europe accueille davantage d’immigrants que ses citoyens ne le souhaitent, c’est une bonne indication que la démocratie fonctionne mal. Dans ce contexte de «confrontation avec l’islam», il dépeint des Européens de souche qui «se sentent exclus chez eux, victimes d’une OPA culturelle» et propose ses propres pistes.
Continue...
Posts
