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Strasbourg 25/10/2016
The report puts the migration issue into an international context and it focuses on respect of human rights. These migrations are globalised but also regional. The report does not address directly EU internal migration policies, it highlights the need to adapt policy-making to the evolution of migration and its multiple and complex causes.
Marie-Christine Vergiat called for greater protection of migrants, especially the more vulnerable populations who make a large proportion of contemporary migration flows:
“I focused this effort on the situation in third countries, which have seen a large number of women and children displaced, including unaccompanied minors: that is vulnerable people who are entitled to special protection.”
Rapporteur Marie-Christine Vergiat outlined the basis of the report:
“We wanted human rights to be a starting point as recognised by international conventions and analyse how the EU partnership policy with third countries can become a vehicle to promote respect for fundamental human rights.”
“This means setting the example by the honest application of international conventions in our territory. It means the rejection of forced readmission of migrants to countries where they risk torture and ill-treatment. It means to refuse collective expulsions and deportations that are contrary to international law. It means respecting the right to family reunification and the right to leave any country, including its own.”
“All of this may seem like a wishful thinking. Some MEPs in this house said it is too progressive. I think we could have gone even further,” Marie-Christine Vergiat affirmed.
“We all know that migration is increasingly important in the EU's dialogue with third countries. We also know that a growing share of these policies are outside the competence of this Parliament. This is why this report recommends to evaluate and monitor agreements in this area, starting with the EU-Turkey deal and the Khartoum and Rabat Processes”, the Rapporteur concluded.
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