Warsaw, 25/11/2011 (Agence Europe) - Even if people are illegal immigrants, they have certain rights while they are in the European Union and the passport that gives access to those rights is the fact that the people in question exist in a human body - the passport for access to human rights, explained Morten Kjaerum, Director of the EU's Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA), at a conference in Warsaw on 21-22 November on the dignity and rights of illegal immigrants.
Throughout the European Union immigrants are exploited at work and cannot access key services and the legal system. This has to change, argued Kjaerum, to make fundamental rights a reality for anyone living in the EU.
He said that even today, if immigrants demand their rights, they can be deported for their pains.
In order to find solutions to the problems facing illegal immigrants, the FRA has commissioned research in all EU member states. Several FRA reports show that the absence of recognised legal papers means that illegal immigrants suffer gross violations of basic rights. The conference in Poland will contribute to the debate at EU level and help encourage the introduction of standards in the way immigrants are dealt with. A forum to share best practice is expected to be set up.
Adriano Silvestri of the FRA said that the current situation facing illegal immigrants is dangerous because they are scared off by the connections between government bodies and immigration policy. It happens at times, for example, that information about an individual from one official body is passed on to the authority responsible for clamping down on illegal immigrants, which means that immigrants are always frightened to access healthcare and the like. (VW/transl.fl)