A loathsome Pact on Migration and Asylum

The European Union’s (EU) Pact on Migration and Asylum that was adopted by the European Parliament last week is being sold by the EU as a solution to the so-called ‘migration crisis’ in Europe. It is not so. Members of the European Parliament voted in favour of a Pact that brings increased violence and suffering to people looking for safety at the borders of the EU; it criminalizes NGOs and pushes border management out to countries that are far from safe.

The EU Parliament has chosen a policy that is excluding and focused on deterrence and violence instead of prioritizing dignity and safety for people, despite the numerous warnings on the human costs. With the implementation of the Pact, we can expect the unavoidable medical and humanitarian repercussions from a larger number of people trapped, hampered, and arrested and deprived of safety and protection across Europe, both at sea and in non-EU countries.

In practice, this Pact will condone abuses and will turn a blind eye to the suffering of those seeking protection, through border procedures that restrict the right to legal assistance, meaning a greater risk of illegal refoulement and a violation of the best interest of the child. This Pact is a perfect recipe for disaster.

We are also concerned at the consequences brought by the new Crisis Regulation that includes many waivers in three types of situations: crises, force majeure and instrumentalization, a concept that is now included into the European legislation and that subverts life-saving humanitarian action by including the vague notion of ‘actions by hostile non-state actors” aimed at “destabilizing the Union”. In practice, this regulation could be used to harass and criminalize NGOs and humanitarian organizations, especially in the field of assistance and rescue at sea and at borders. For persons seeking refuge and asylum, the Pact opens the door to the consideration that a ‘threat to security’ may justify exclusion from international protection.

For years our teams have denounced the consequences of refouling people to Libya. Nevertheless, this Pact promotes the same logic by encouraging the signing of cooperation agreements with third countries considered to be ‘safe’. In practice what this means is returning people back to countries where they are at risk of experiencing violence, torture, and arbitrary imprisonment even before they have the chance to register their application for protection. Such agreements with unsafe countries will trap people in places where their life, health and safety are threatened.

For years we have been providing evidence of the harmful EU migration policies, that are now enshrined in this Pact on Migration. We have proved the real consequences of these policies on the health, wellbeing, and dignity of persons, from Libya to the Central Mediterranean, to the borders of Poland, Hungary, and Greece. Just one example: our report ‘Death, Despair and Destitution: the human costs of the EU’s migration policies'.

For all the reasons above, we call for a Europe that prioritizes reception and protection, ensuring medical assistance, ending violence along borders, establishing a proactive search and rescue mechanism, that does not criminalize persons seeking refuge, and that guarantees legal and safe routes.