UN Expert on Migration Advises Europe to Take Syrians and Eritreans as Most Affected Refugees

2014-12-12 16:27:19 Written by  EPDP Information Office Published in EPDP News Read 4850 times

EPDP Information Office

After his recent visit to Malta and Italy and discussions at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva on 11 December, the UN Human Rights Rapporteur for Migrants said “Europe has no choice other than integrating refugees and migrants”. He believed that Syrian and Eritrean refugees are the most immediate cases that deserve the attention of Europe and other developed countries.  

Migration1In an interview published on the 12 December issue of Tribune de Genève, Mr. François Crepeau, a Canadian law professor who followed up migration issues for the past 30 years, welcomed the recent decision by EU to accept 100,000 Syrian refugees but hoped that more measures could be taken to alleviate the suffering of most affected refugees, on top of the list being Syrians and Eritreans who face insurmountable difficulties at home.

He said the case of migrants should be regulated through legal openness to accept the required number of workers in the developed world and stop frontier controls which usually open markets for criminal trafficker organizations. He surmised that Europe can legally accept up to one million refugees and migrants in the coming five years and thus shut the door to criminal organizations.

The UN expert added that in the 1950-60s, big numbers of North Africans were legally allowed to migrate to Europe as labourers, and that time there were no casualties at sea. “The logic of frontier control by the Treaty of Dublin has utterly failed” he said stressing that it is “unsupportable to let people die in the gates of Europe.”

Mr. Crepeau also expressed satisfaction with the continued work by Italy to save lives in the sea despite the decision to stop the operations of its Mare Nostrum. The EU operated Triton is also far successful in saving lives in the sea a little beyond the limits previously reported.

During the first 11 months of 2014, over 207,000 refugees and migrants reached Europe via the Mediterranean Sea, while 3,400 have died or are still missing.

In 2013, the number of arrivals to Europe was 60,000 and deaths in the sea over 600. Those who died in the sea in 2012 and 2011 were 1,500 and 500 out of 22,500 and 69,000 arrivals, respectively. No estimates were made as to how many of those arrivals and deaths affected Eritreans.

Last modified on Sunday, 14 December 2014 18:28