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Matthew Vella
In the ongoing debate on a common asylum and immigration policy for the European Union, support is growing for the establishment of immigrant reception camps on the North African coast for asylum seekers – a proposal hailed as controversial by several human rights organisations, including Amnesty International and Statewatch.
The proposal, first sounded out by Prime Minister Tony Blair during the Greek Presidency of the EU back in June 2003, has gained support amongst EU Member States following statements by Italian commissioner-in-waiting Rocco Buttiglione, formerly a member of the Berlusconi cabinet, who will be taking on the EU’s Freedom, Security and Justice portfolio.
Home Affairs and Justice Minister Tonio Borg has also expressed Malta’s support for the proposal, in comments given to the press during the presentation of a Magisterial inquiry on the deportation of 220 Eritreans back in 2002, following claims by Amnesty International that the Eritreans were imprisoned and tortured on their arrival in Eritrea.
“This proposal was discussed with Italian Minister Giuseppe Pisanu. Malta supports the proposal. We agreed to lobby in favour of the proposal in the upcoming meeting for the Council of Ministers, and more States are joining in their support for the idea but it is not easy,” Borg said, who joins a chorus of approval which includes those of Germany and the United Kingdom.
Borg explained that the reception camps would be situated outside the European Union, describing them as “centres of assistance and information.” He justified the proposal by saying that economic migrants would be ‘hand-picked’ by EU countries to be allowed entry into Member States to work and live there:
“Given that Europe, with the decrease in the birth-rate, needs workers from outside the EU and that industrialised countries need workers, wouldn’t it be more worthwhile to channel irregular migration into a regular form by having the big countries offering employment quotas, instead of having migrants risking their lives and causing us inconvenience?”
The statement has presented several questions as to the direction of Malta’s refugee policy, which supports the United Nation’s definition of the refugee, that does not include economic migrants (those migrants which leave their home country for economic reasons rather than for matters of persecution). Malta’s refugee commission also makes a clear distinction between asylum seekers and economic migrants, and does not consider the latter as deserving of refugee status.
Borg said the employment quotas would be issued by the big countries, saying that Malta was not able to offer such allowances. “This has already been experimented. Italy has already tried it with Sri Lanka, stopping irregular migration from the country to Italy. Any initiative that eases or decreases the need for someone to leave North Africa to go to Italy, will benefit Malta indirectly.”
Borg also said the camps would be administered by the host countries themselves, with EU assistance. Critics of the idea however believe the EU is attempting to shift responsibility for asylum to border nations which have not yet reached satisfactory levels of human rights, particularly in Turkey, Eastern Europe and North Africa.
The proposal for the establishment of “safe havens” at the borders of the EU, including camps in North Africa, particularly Libya, has attracted considerable criticism for aiming to create barriers to refugee movement and expand the EU’s authority over poorer neighbours.
The European Council for Refugees and Exiles believes that transferring responsibility for refugee status determination outside the EU “could risk being incompatible with the fundamental right to seek and enjoy asylum… we have serious concerns regarding the capacity of countries bordering an enlarged EU to undertake additional protection responsibilities… The current economic instabilities in the region and hostile public opinion, with increasing reports of violent attacks on ethnic minorities and asylum seekers are also obstacles to the implementation of this proposal.”
matthew@newsworksltd.com
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