Latest European migration plan wants to bully non-EU countries into doing its work – World

EU leaders will meet this week to discuss Europe’s response to migration.

Earlier, Stephanie Pope, Oxfam’s EU Migration Expert, said:

“The latest proposal tries to get non-EU countries to do its job and follow Europe’s narrow-minded policies. EU countries must create migration policies that work for people and are not based on blackmail, forced repatriations and fences.”

Upon returning, Pope said:

“The EU must stop using scarce aid to force countries to take in rejected asylum seekers. Development aid should end poverty, not stop migration. The EU’s unilateral approach undermines its credibility as a human rights defender and its claim to be an equal partner with African countries.

“The EU’s all-encompassing focus on increasing returns is leading to shady deals with countries with far from clean human rights records and leaving the door open to blackmail from countries that threaten to use refugees for political ends.”

At the EU’s external borders, Pope said:

“It is alarming that more money and support is going to Frontex, an agency involved in pushbacks and human rights abuses. Instead, European governments must invest in an independent watchdog to stop the systematic violence at Europe’s borders. They must also put pen to paper and finally create safe and regular routes for asylum seekers to Europe.

“When will European governments find out that closing borders and building fences doesn’t work? It just forces people to take more dangerous paths.”

Regarding the EU pact on migration and asylum, Pope said:

“The proposal that is on the table is far from what is needed. It fails to get EU countries to take on their fair share of people, it fails to meet the needs of refugees and asylum seekers, and it fails to support countries on Europe’s borders. And finally, it uses the flawed Greek “recording” system as a blueprint, despite its clear flaws.”

Notes for editors

Stephanie Pope is available for comment.

Oxfam, other NGOs and journalistic research reports have repeatedly exposed how border guards and other government officials are forcibly and illegally pushing back people at Europe’s borders.

Oxfam calls on the EU and European countries to work together to create a functioning asylum system. In particular, we want the EU to:

• Create migration rules that fairly share the responsibility of welcoming people across Europe. We saw in Greece how Europe’s failure to create a system of shared responsibility caused thousands of people to suffer. Families live in slum-like camps or EU-funded prison-like detention centers in a state of legal limbo.

• Stop signing dubious migration deals with non-EU countries to offload EU responsibility for people seeking security.

• Create independent border surveillance mechanisms to stop human rights violations at Europe’s borders.

contact information

Jade Tenwick | Brussels, Belgium | [email protected] | Mobile +32 473 562260

Julia Manresa | Brussels, Belgium | [email protected] | Mobile +32 473 87 44 26

For updates please follow @OxfamEU.