Brussels, 27/06/2016 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 27 June, 104 NGOs working in the field of human rights, medical assistance, humanitarian aid, migrant support and development aid warned that unless the 'migration pacts' proposed by the European Commission at the beginning of June were rejected "the European Union is set to open a dark chapter in its history". These migration pacts seek to return illegal migrants who mainly come from Africa and the Middle East (see EUROPE 11567).
The NGOs involved include the ACT Alliance EU, ActionAID, Afrique Culture Maroc, Agir ensemble pour les droits de l'Homme, Amnesty International, Save the Children, Oxfam International, Church of Sweden. In a joint declaration they call on the European leaders to abandon these future agreements inspired by the EU/Turkey agreement, which they believe "risks torpedoing human rights in its foreign policy, and undermining the right to asylum internationally".
Instead, the NGOs call on the EU to develop an evidence-based sustainable long-term strategy for migration management. This appeal was deliberated launched ahead of the European Council on Tuesday 28 June, which is expected to call for a swift conclusion of these agreements in order to use development aid, aid for trade and other funding to encourage these countries to reduce the number of migrants arriving in Europe.
These NGOs deplore the fact that despite the EU's stated commitment to respect the principle of non-refoulement "There are no safeguards envisaged to ensure that human rights, rule of law standards and protection mechanisms are in place" when the EU strikes deals with governments it deems useful for stopping migration to Europe.
The NGOs explain that this leaves a very real risk of a breach of international law, which forbids pushbacks to places where people are at risk of rights violations and that "Responsibility and liability for human rights violations do not end at Europe's borders".
They claim that the proposal on the table ignores "all the evidence that deterrence strategies aimed at stopping migration are ineffective. The EU's current approach will not only fail to 'break the business-model' of smugglers but will increase human suffering as people will be forced into taking more dangerous routes to reach Europe".
The organisations warn that striking 'migration management' agreements with countries where grave human rights violations are committed will be counter-productive in the longer term and even worse than this, such deals will be undermining human rights around the globe and perpetuating the cycle of abuse.
The NGO coalition is also very concerned that the proposal will result in a wholesale reorientation of Europe's development aid towards stopping migration. “This is an unacceptable contradiction to the EU's commitment to use development cooperation with the aim of eradicating poverty", as stipulated in the Lisbon Treaty. This point reiterates the criticism made by MEPs at the Parliamentary Development Committee, who recently pointed out that development aid should not be aimed at stopping the flows of migrants (see EUROPE 11578). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)