In a press release on Monday 7 April, the migrant assistance association PICUM welcomed the draft report by Birgit Sippel (S&D, German) on tackling trafficking of migrants and the facilitation of irregular entry (see EUROPE 13611/5), which “includes a legally binding provision that would exempt humanitarian assistance from criminalisation”.
This element “is particularly welcome as both the Commission’s proposal and the Council’s negotiating position confined this exemption to a non-legally binding provision, de facto leaving the door open to the criminalisation of solidarity with migrants”.
The European Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties will hold an initial exchange of views on 8 April.
The draft report also deletes other problematic provisions included in the Commission’s proposal. However, while it clearly exempts ‘humanitarian assistance’ from criminalisation, it leaves the exact definition of what can be considered a ‘humanitarian act’ to the Member States and does not clearly protect from criminalisation those who have obtained a lawful financial benefit by assisting an illegal immigrant.
EUROPE will continue to follow this story. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)