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Crisis in the Mediterranean: Europe must change course

Piquing Europe's conscience: demonstrators in Brussels earlier this week wore white masks to represent those who had drowned in the Mediterranean. Demotix / Frederik Sadones. All rights reserved.

The
Mediterranean Sea has for centuries been the cradle of modern European civilisation.
It has today become a huge graveyard, as thousands of migrants continue to drown
under Europe’s distracted look. When in October 2013 a shipwreck off the
Italian island of Lampedusa took the lives of 300 migrants, European leaders were
unanimous in declaring ‘no more deaths’. Yet, 18 months and some 5,000 deaths
later, we see these tragedies again and again.

Since
last weekend more than 1,000 people have drowned off the coast of Libya and another
600 died during journeys to Europe earlier this year. In the first four months
of 2015 we have already mourned half the number of people who died in 2014. As
meteorological conditions improve, the season of death has just begun.

These
tragedies were foreseeable and, as the Italians proved, preventable. Operation Mare
Nostrum, put in place by the Italian government in October 2013,
rescued more than 150,000 migrants in 14 months, seized five mother ships and
brought to justice more than 300 alleged smugglers. Italy not only bore alone
the cost of these operations, estimated at more than €100m, but also came under
criticism from some fellow European Union member states, including Germany and the United Kingdom, which
took the position that saving the lives of those in danger at sea was creating a
magnet for irregular migration.

Unfortunately,
to date, the EU’s response to this unprecedented loss of life has failed to
rise to the challenge. While the Frontex-coordinated Joint Operation Triton has
helped save several thousand migrants since its inception last November, its
main role as a border-control mission does not sufficiently address the need to
strengthen search-and-rescue capabilities in the Mediterranean.

It
is high time for Europe to change its course and assume responsibility for
preventing similar tragedies. Last Monday, EU foreign ministers adopted a
ten-point action plan to
improve Europe’s response to migratory flows. It is a first step in the right
direction. But there is an urgent need to take concrete steps to enact adequate
laws, devise effective policies and change political rhetoric concerning
asylum-seekers and migrants.

Overhaul of European
migration laws

One
of the most urgent measures is reform of legislation governing asylum and
migration. Tougher border controls only increase migrants’ vulnerability—and
make smugglers richer. European states must develop transparent and efficient
legal migration avenues.

In
this context, legislation on humanitarian visas, as well as family
reunification, should be eased. Many of the migrants taking their chances on
perilous sea and land routes have family members regularly residing in Europe.
It is cruel to restrict their right to family unity.

There
is also a need to overhaul the Dublin Regulation, which allows the majority of
EU member states to leave the challenges of dealing with the influx of asylum-seekers
to frontline countries like Greece, Malta, Italy and Spain. The EU has still to
make the much-needed adjustments to the Common European Asylum System to
provide for effective solidarity with these countries, whose asylum and
reception systems are overwhelmed and, in certain cases, even dysfunctional. Regrettably,
most European countries seem unwilling to share responsibilities in terms of the
reception and protection of refugees—as shown by the Syrian refugee crisis, for
which only Germany and Sweden in the EU have tried to live up to their
obligations. 

In
addition, European states should rid from their laws provisions criminalising
migrants’ irregular entry and presence. Laws allowing for the administrative
detention of migrants should be repealed and replaced by laws which ensure a
humane approach to the needs of migrants. In particular, despite international
standards which clearly prohibit the detention of migrant children only because
of their immigration status or that of their parents, most European countries
still maintain internal legislation providing for the detention of these
children and continue to detain them, sometimes in prison-like centres.   

Necessary migration-policy
changes

Legislation
alone, however, will not change the fate of migrants. Better migration policies
are needed. First of all, Europe should establish a ‘European Mare Nostrum’,
ensuring extensive search-and-rescue operations in the Mediterranean.

Secondly,
there needs to be an effective system to share protection and reception
responsibilities. EU countries have to team up not only to save lives but also
to alleviate the pressure on frontline countries and ensure respect of human-rights
obligations by member states. The European Commission’s proposal to establish a
voluntary pilot project on refugees’ resettlement is encouraging and should be
fully embraced by all member states. The same positive response should be given
to recent proposals from the
United Nations refugee agency, UNHCR, for life-saving actions in the
Mediterranean, which include sensible and attainable measures to prevent
tragedies and help resettle people in need of protection.

Tougher border controls only increase migrants’ vulnerability—and make smugglers richer.

Another
proposal under discussion by European leaders is the long-debated idea of
establishing asylum outposts in Africa and the Middle East. If such a measure
can save lives, so much the better. But it must be part of a broader, human-rights
based asylum-and-immigration strategy and should be subject to effective
monitoring to safeguard the human rights of migrants and asylum-seekers. The
offshore processing of asylum claims, often in areas whose human-rights records
are not clean, must be done with the utmost care and can in no case mean diminishing
responsibility for strict respect of the human rights of migrants and asylum-seekers.

Development
policies in the countries of origin are also needed to eradicate the main
causes of migration: war, poverty and environmental disasters. This requires
comprehensive and long-term action plans, in which host and origin countries
work together to improve the protection of human rights of the people who feel
themselves obliged to migrate for a better life.

In
addition, governments should devote more attention and resources to the
integration of refugees, including by strengthening the capacities of the local
authorities which are essential actors in this process.

Eradicating anti-immigrant
rhetoric

A
third, key element in the migration equation is political discourse.
Legislative and policy changes will hardly be possible if political leaders
continue pandering to people’s fears and insecurities. Some mainstream
politicians are surfing on the racist and xenophobic waves sweeping over
Europe, often in connection with national and regional elections. This is the
wrong approach. Political leaders and opinion-makers have to confront a fearful
public opinion from a principled standpoint, stressing the values and
principles that have defined a certain idea of Europe built on tolerance,
acceptance and solidarity. They have to refocus the debate on the human-rights
dimension of migration.

The
role played by the media in this regard is absolutely crucial. Journalists and
editors, who make an important contribution to shaping the public debate,
should abstain from negative stereotyping of migrants and should inform the
public about their situation in a fair way. Bringing examples of migrants’
successful integration in European societies into the public debate can help
people understand that migrants are a resource and not a danger.

Striking the right
balance between security and rights

Managing
migration flows is certainly not an easy task—in particular now that wars and
instability at Europe’s doorstep increase the pressure on people to leave and
on states to find solutions. States have of course the right and duty to keep
control of their borders and to know who is inside them. But this comes with
the obligation to uphold international human-rights standards to ensure access
to asylum, adequate protection and humane reception.

So
far the EU has failed to strike a proper balance between these duties. Too much
emphasis has been put on security concerns, to the detriment of human rights.

As
the heads of state and government meet tomorrow to shape Europe’s future
response to migration, my hope is that they will move from words to action. Europe
has to move quickly from ineffective emergency plans to long-term policies
which uphold its obligations towards immigrants and asylum-seekers—and save
human lives.

European
leaders do not need to reinvent the wheel but just to implement what the
Council of Europe, the United Nations, the European Parliament, the International
Organisation for Migration and many non-governmental organisations have been recommending
for years—a more human-rights based migration-and-asylum policy. This change is
possible, and it has to happen now. 

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