Brussels, 30/06/2003 (Agence Europe) - A conference on 25/26 June on processing camps for foreigners in Europe: Democracy in danger organised under the aegis of the Greens/European Free Alliance group looked at the situation concerning processing centres for foreigners and asylum seekers, following the Thessalonica Council and the British idea of establishing safe havens outside the EU to process asylum applications (see EUROPE of 21 June, p.5). Germany and Sweden staunchly opposed the idea since it would jeopardise rights guaranteed by the Geneva Convention.
The UK, supported by Denmark, Austria and the Netherlands, called for the establishment of pilot international protection zones, but without any official documents, noted Daphné Bouteillet-Paquet, of Amnesty International. She said there was a pilot project in Kenya for Somali asylum seekers and the British have said they may create such camps with Australia or the United States if the EU doesn't agree. Italy is reported to have said on 23 June that it was going to open transit centres in Cyprus and Malta (which have said they have rejected the idea) and to launch a bonus system for countries stopping illegal aliens from leaving their territory.
Ms Bouteillet-Paquet said the idea's starting point was that there was a crisis and flooding of asylum seekers, that camps in the EU were expensive and inefficient in terms of encouraging foreigners to go home, but she pointed out that it is statistically false. There is no invasion of asylum seekers. On the contrary, the numbers have settled down, she commented. Claire Rodier of the Groupe d'information et de soutien des immigrés (GISTI) explained that the EU accepted less than 5% of refugees compared with other parts of the world.
Participants stressed that Member States have replaced the policy of accepting foreigners with a “security” policy and deportation. Cooperation with the relevant non-EU countries is given insufficient budget and political priority, at the same time there is an unprecedented cooperation between Member States to combat illegal immigration through defensive, short-term deportation plans, as shown by the return to Afghanistan plan, explained Daphné Bouteillet-Paquet. Participants explained that the deportation policy is ineffective, because it focusses on forced deportation, even extending to using development aid to bribe countries from which people emigrate to the EU.