Brussels, 09/05/2011 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday 8 May, the commissioner for home affairs, Cecilia Malmström, said that she was still very concerned about the fate of the refugees leaving Libya and trying to get into the EU. On Sunday, the Italian authorities had to rescue a ship carrying 500 refugees, who mainly came from sub-Saharan Africa and who were fleeing the fighting in Libya. The ship sank near the island of Lampedusa. The Italian authorities confirmed that they had been able to rescue all the members of the boat but that another ship from Tripoli had also sunk and many lives had been lost. The commissioner is worried about the situation and has called on the EU27 to show solidarity to these refugees and step up their migrant resettlement programmes. In a press release, Malmström said: “the EU must show solidarity towards the most exposed member states and also towards North African countries that bear the highest burden, caused by the conflict in Libya. We cannot forget that Tunisia and Egypt have received most of the 650,000 people who fled the violence in Libya in recent months.”
The EU needs “concerted action” in order to facilitate the relocation (in countries bordering Libya) and the resettlement (in the EU) of people benefiting from international protection. The commissioner said that she welcomed the commitment made by certain member states to provide shelter for some of the refugees from this region. On 11 April, in Luxembourg, EU27 home affairs ministers agreed on the extension of the pilot project carried out in Malta. This is done on a voluntary basis and involves countries taking in refugees who arrived in Malta. Germany, Belgium and Sweden have said that they support this “resettlement” on their respective territories. According to the high commissioner for refugees (HCR), almost 10,000 Libyan refugees have arrived in the EU over recent weeks, 3000 of them over the last few days. For the time being, this resettlement is subject to the agreement of member states, as part of their own national programmes, whilst waiting for a European resettlement programme to be set up, which will be the subject of Commission proposals. In its communication on 4 May on migration, the Commission called on the Council and Parliament to reach an agreement as quickly as possible on this instrument. In this communication, the Commission also underlined a number of figures. “In 2010, around 5,000 refugees were resettled throughout the EU, compared to around 75,000 refugees resettled in the US over the same period.” The Commission pointed out that “EU member states as a whole have currently agreed to resettle fewer refugees than Canada”.
The Commission considers that resettlement should become an integral part of EU asylum policy and adds that it involves a measure that could save the lives of genuine refugees, who would otherwise be obliged to make dangerous journeys towards a place of permanent refuge. On 12 May, in the follow-up to the special home affairs ministers' meeting, which is expected to focus on the future temporary suspension mechanism in Schengen area rules, the Commission will organise a conference on the resettlement of migrants in the EU. This will be attended by the HCR, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and the International Migrants Organisation (IMO). This conference will be used to call on member states to help resettle refugees, explained Commissioner Malmström, who added that it would also be used to discuss and examine the commitments taken by member states in this regard. (S.P./transl.fl)