Migreuropin raportti Euroopan ulkorajojen valvonnasta (2010)

[Roope]

Migeuropin laaja ja yksityiskohtainen raportti käsittelee EU:n keinoja kontrolloida laitonta maahanmuuttoa ulkorajoillaan ja yhä enenevässä määrin jo kauempana esimerkiksi Afrikassa. 128 sivulla on tarkoitus osoittaa politiikan epäinhimillisyys ja vaikutukset siirtolaisiin, jotka usein jäävät epämääräiseksi ajaksi limboon jonnekin rajaseudulle.

Kontrollin ja kurjuuden kuvauksen ohella raportti kertoo ainakin minulle lähinnä EU:n skitsofreenisestä maahanmuuttopolitiikasta, kun toisella kädellä maahanmuuttoon yllytetään (seurauksista välittämättä) ja toisella sitä yritetään pitää edes jotenkin kurissa (taaskin seurauksista välittämättä). Tulijoita ja rajavalvonnasta kärsiviä ei olisi niin paljon, ellei EU:n alueelta poistaminen olisi niin vaikeaa. EU haluaa paistatella koko maailman edessä ihmisoikeuksien ja humanitaarisen maahanmuuton supervaltana, mutta ei ole oikeasti valmis maksamaan siitä koituvaa hintaa.

European borders: controls, detention and deportations

| 12 November 2010 |


For its second annual report on the European borders, Migreurop has chosen to emphasize three main steps of the fights led by the authorities against the candidates to migration : the controls of their movements, detention and deportation.

Based on evidences from fact finding missions, the report gives dramatic examples of this war against migrants which implies a general decline of the law protecting the freedom and integrity of human beings.

Denouncing the « externalization » process of the European union migratory policy, Migreurop shows how third countries are obliged, through the threat of the reconsideration of cooperation agreements and development aid, not only to readmit the migrants chased from Europe, but also to keep them on their own territory from travelling towards its doors.

From Calais area in France to the edge of Turkey and the Adriatic sea, from the surroundings of Gibraltar to the Sahel Saharan desert and the new member states of eastern Europe, a subcontracting of migratory control is carried out in series, sometimes very far away from the Union but also within its territory, especially when it deals with sending asylum seekers from country to country considered as unwanted. A large population of exiles, from both sides of the European borders, is subjected to arbitrary incarceration, wandering, and the constant humiliation of a hostile environment.

While for the first time since its beginning, the Frontex agency displays its rapid intervention military teams to face the "massive flow" of migrants at the Greek border as if they were dangerous enemies, the Migreurop report, strongly recalls that the right, admitted by international treaties, to leave a country and ask for protection from another, loses its meaning if the candidates to emigration or to asylum are put under house arrest or held up on their way.

Based on evidences from field surveys as well as the 2009 edition, this
second Migreurop annual report is a criticism towards the externalization
of migration policies implemented by the now enlarged 27 member
states European Union. In the framework of a containment strategy
to keep migrants away from European borders, "externalization" by
EU here signifies, on the one hand, the outsourcing to third states the
responsibility for stopping by all means departures to Europe and, on
the other hand, obliging them to take back all those considered as
undesirable people. This twofold injunction is now exerted further and
further on, away from EU. It is financially bargained and negotiated with
third states, as it is proved in the case study on Sahelian and Saharan
countries presented in this volume.

The externalization keeps weighing down heavily on the inner border
countries of EU, which are challenged as first transit destinations, and
requested by the Union to stop the so-called "illegal" migrants on their
soil: thus Poland, Romania, Greece (for a long time) but also Ceuta, all
countries located at the frontline of the war waged against migrants
and are now in charge of dealing with asylum claims through rejection,
detention or indefinite pending periods, as shown in the cover picture,
where migrants trapped in Ceuta protest in placards such as: "2 years
here. Too much time here. Why? Why do we are not free?"

It is also within Europe itself that, in accordance with legally dubious
bilateral agreements or with the "Dublin II" regulation, migrants in exile
end up in an endless wandering process with nowhere to go, like on the
coasts along the sea that separates Italy and Greece. The situation in
France and Belgium, where migrants are constantly chased at England's
gates, is not much different.

Before such a stream of distress, wandering, and too often deaths caused
by European anti-migrant policies, Migreurop recalls that the first and
foremost goal is to ensure the respect of the imprescriptible right of
the people, such as recognized by international treaties, to leave one's
country and to seek protection elsewhere, even in Europe.

October 2010

European borders: controls, detention and deportations (pdf)