| Author (Person) | Carroll, Freda | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Publisher | ProQuest Information and Learning | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Title | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Series Details | October 2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Publication Date | 05/10/2001 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Content Type | News, Overview, Topic Guide | In Focus | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Since the completion of the internal market, the advent of complete freedom of movement for persons within it and the abolition of controls at internal frontiers, the issues of asylum and immigration have risen up the political agenda in many of the Member States and at the EU level. Ruud Lubbers, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (and former Prime Minister of the Netherlands) has criticised the 'political hysteria' surrounding asylum issues and called for more managed immigration policies to provide a legal route for economic migrants to the west. The European Council of November 1999 at Tampere, devoted to an area of freedom, justice and security, asked the European Commission to draw up proposals on the issues of asylum, refugees and immigration. On 22 November 2000, the Commission launched an asylum and immigration debate and published two communications: Towards a common asylum procedure and uniform status, valid throughout the Union, for persons granted asylum COM(2000)755 and A Community immigration policy COM(2000)757. They are separate publications because asylum issues are legally quite distinct from immigration, but are issued at the same time because they often overlap in the day-to-day work of national administrations and because they have become indissolubly linked in the mind of the public and in political debate. UNHCR has been voicing concern over the current trend in Europe of failing to distinguish between asylum-seekers and other migrants entering the Union. It claims that governments have progressively resorted to a wide range of control and deterrence measures to deter immigrants. These measures can affect asylum seekers. The public debate on asylum and immigration concluded at the European Conference on Migration (Brussels, 16-17 October 2001) in Brussels in preparation for the Laeken European Council in December 2001, which will review progress and decide on the next steps. Migratory flows Europe experienced significant emigration in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The large scale population movements then were to benefit both the countries of destination and Europe itself. The situation was reversed in the two decades following the Second World War when some European countries relied on immigration both from within Europe and from outside to meet their labour requirements. These immigrants made a significant contribution to the reconstruction of Europe and to the economic expansion which followed. The oil crisis of the 1970s caused a recession which led to a reduction in legal immigration opportunities. For the last 30 years there has been virtually a zero immigration policy in the EU, although some Member States have undertaken actions such as legalising the status of some long-term illegal immigrants and allowing family reunifications. Since 1974, over 1,800,000 requests for regularisation have been accepted in the seven countries where such policies exist. In the long-term, for demographic purposes, Europe may have to increase possibilities for legal immigration. Migratory flows in Europe in the 1990s have been greater than at any time since the Second World War. Net migration to the EU reached a record figure of more than one million at the beginning of the 1990s, before dropping to 500,000 and then rising above 700,000 in 1999. In the period 1990-1998, the net official migration rate in the Union was 2.2% compared with 3% in the United States and 6% in Canada. However, there is also the problem of illegal immigration, estimated by Europol as about 500,000 per year. The 1990s has also been a decade which saw new immigration trends and patterns emerge with new flows coming from Eastern Europe and movements resulting from instability in the Balkans. Migratory flows today are composed of various categories of persons:
Flows have become more flexible and dynamic. Short-term and cross-border movements have increased. People leave the Union as well as entering it. Western Europe has a long tradition of respect for human values and social justice. Yet there has been some polarisation in the attitude of different sectors of society towards the issue of new immigration and towards established immigrant communities. This is aggravated at times of high unemployment. Governments need to ensure that people are better informed about the social and economic benefits of immigration and to show that there is a coherent long-term strategy in place to control it. There is a need for accurate figures on actual and potential migratory flows. At present such figures are primarily available for asylum seekers. As a consequence, the public debate tends to concentrate on asylum, whereas other migratory movements, such as illegal migration, are more substantial. Asylum seekers in EU Member States On 1 January 2001 UNHCR said the number of 'persons of concern' worldwide was 21,793,000 of which 5.5 million were in Europe, 8.5 million in Asia and 6 million in Africa. Nearly 400,000 people applied for asylum in the EU in 2000 with most applications being received by just 6 Member States. BBC News Online shows asylum applications in 2000 (based on UNHCR statistics) and the benefits available in each country in Europe's asylum 'soft touch'?:
United Kingdom
Germany
Netherlands
Belgium
France
Austria
In November 2000 appeared a more detailed study, commissioned by the European Commission in 1999, on the legal framework and administrative practices in the Member States of the European Community regarding reception conditions for persons seeking international protection. Part A was a Comparative Analysis of Reception Conditions, while Part B consisted of separate country profiles:
Treaties and Conventions
The Treaty on European Union or Maastricht Treaty, which entered into force on 1 November 1993, required Member States to co-operate in matters of justice and home affairs. The relevant Ministries of the 15 Member States come together for dialogue, mutual assistance, joint effort and co-operation between the police, customs, immigration services and justice departments.
The 1997 Dublin Convention obliges the first EU country entered to process an asylum application. This was unpopular with many EU countries on the southern and eastern borders of the Union, who feared they would bear the brunt of applications. The Convention has not worked as intended, as is clearly shown by the number of asylum seekers trying to enter the UK from France through the Channel Tunnel. The European Commission is reviewing the effectiveness of the Dublin Convention.
The Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force on 1 May 1999, assigned new powers to the European Union in the field of justice and home affairs. EU Member States agreed to create a common 'area of freedom, security and justice'. This included an agreement on minimum standards in asylum policies and practices by 2004 at the latest. The European Commission converted its task force on justice and home affairs into a Directorate General. Articles 61 - 63 of the Treaty establishing the European Community (as amended by the Treaty of Amsterdam) sets out the objectives to be achieved in the following areas:
All the measures except the last two must be adopted within five years, ie. by 2004. Unanimity is required in the Council and the European Parliament must be consulted. After 1 May 2004, the Commission will have an exclusive right of initiative. European Council, Tampere, October 2000 Following the entry into force of the Treaty of Amsterdam, a special meeting of the European Council was held at Tampere in Finland in October 1999. The Tampere Council was dedicated to the subject of an Area of Freedom, Security and Justice and the political guidelines it established for the next few years included those in the field of asylum and immigration. It stressed the need for:
and asked the European Commission to draft proposals and draw up a 'scoreboard' to monitor progress in this area in the Member States. The scoreboard is updated twice a year and, while being an instrument of transparency and openness, it is hoped that peer pressure will be brought to bear on dilatory countries. Common European Asylum System The Tampere Council agreed to work towards establishing a Common European Asylum System, based on the application of the Geneva Convention. Initially the Common System would include:
Eventually, the Common System would comprise a common asylum procedure and a uniform status, valid throughout the European Union, for persons who are granted asylum. The Tampere Summit said that a future common asylum system should be based on the 'absolute right to asylum' and called for full and inclusive application of the Convention and Protocol relating to the status of refugees (1951 Geneva Convention). It is the first and only international agreement seeking to protect refugees all over the world. The Convention defines a refugee as a person who
The 139 countries that have ratified the Convention are obliged to protect refugees on their territory and grant them at least the same standards of treatment received by other foreign nationals. A refugee has the right to safe asylum. They should also have basic civil rights (freedom of thought, freedom of movement and freedom from torture and degrading treatment) as well as basic social and economic rights (access to medical care, the right to work and education for children). Refugees also have obligations: they must conform with the laws of the host country. While the UNHCR can offer advice (through its publications) on determining refugee status, it is individual governments who set up status-determining procedures, in accordance with their own legal system. The UK would like the Geneva Convention revised to make it easier to return people to the first EU country in which they arrived and would like an international list of safe countries, whose citizens would be barred from seeking asylum elsewhere. But refugee welfare agencies say the definition of safety depends on the individual claiming asylum and the UNHCR fears that revision of the Convention would erode international responsibility for refugees. A list of the proposals adopted by the European Commission or Council of the European Union can be seen in Background note on the common European asylum system, issued on 15 October 2001. They include:
These complete the Commission's work and is the first step in the establishment of the Common European Asylum System. In launching the asylum and immigration debate in November 2000, Commissioner Antonio Vitorino had emphasised that:
Commission Press Release: IP/00/1340 Common Immigration Policy The Tampere European Council recognised that a common European Union approach was needed for migration which would address political, human rights and development issues in countries and regions of origin and transit. Partnership with third countries was seen to be a key element for the success of such a policy, with a view to promoting co-development. It acknowledged there was a need for approximation of national legislation on the conditions for admission and residence of third country nationals, based on a shared assessment of the economic and demographic developments within the Union, as well as the countries of origin. It called for more efficient management of migration flows to include information campaigns on the actual possibilities for legal immigration, prevention of all trafficking in human beings and promotion of voluntary return. Commissioner Vitorino says:
The Commission proposes the opening up of a new phase of immigration policy including the admission of economic migrants by legal channels which recognises the realities of the situation today. On the one hand migratory pressures will continue and on the other hand, in the context of economic growth and a declining and ageing population, Europe needs immigrants. The key elements of the proposed Community policy are:
It proposes a 'common legal framework' framework laying down the conditions of entry and stay of immigrants and also an 'open co-ordination' mechanism to encourage progressive convergence of the policies of Member States. To establish the framework legislative proposals have already been drafted on family reunification, the status of long-term resident third-country nationals and admission for the purpose of employment. Two more are planned on admission of students and admission for non-remunerated activities. The proposal for an open co-ordinated method for immigration policy is designed to ensure that Member States exchange information on their implementation of immigration and asylum legislation so as to encourage best practice and solutions to common problems. Several EU states have criticised the European Commission for its bold approach and are against harmonisation as it is seen as a threat to their national sovereignty. The UK's Home Secretary, however, says that 'those with unfounded claims for asylum are using the current, very complicated and often contradictory practices of EU countries as a means of evading normal immigration controls. These immigration and asylum regulations need harmonising'. In November 2000, when launching the asylum and immigration debate, Antonio Vitorino said:
Recent developments An immediate response to the terrorist attack on the United States in September 2001 was enhanced security measures, designed to prevent terrorism, and greatly increased border controls. While this may result in a temporary alteration of migratory patterns, fundamental changes in migration are unlikely to occur while the root causes in the countries of origin persist. There is likely to be, instead, a more clearly recognised need for the development of migration policies at both national and international level. The European Conference on Migration (Brussels, 16-17 October 2001) was intended to 'provide an opportunity for an in-depth political debate on the issue of migration and to develop a consensus around the ideas put forward by the European Commission for a European approach to migration', as well to be a preparation for the European Council to be held in Laeken in December 2001, which will review progress since the meeting at Tampere. The conference focused on four themes:
In his speech on the immigration policy to the European Conference on Migration, Commissioner Antonio Vitorino said:
In his contribution to the European Union Conference on Migration, Brunson McKinley, the Director General of the International Organization for Migration, said:
Further information within European Sources Online: European Sources Online: Topic Guide:
European Sources Online: In Focus:
Further information can be seen in these external links:
Council of the European Union
European Commission: DG Press and Communication: SCADPlus
Council of Europe. Human Rights Web United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (Geneva)
United Nations. Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (Geneva)
Amnesty International Library. News and reports British Helsinki Human Rights Group, monitoring the development of democracy in the formerly communist countries European Migration Information Network European Refugee Fund Human Rights Watch International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights (Vienna) International Organisation for Migration MINELRES: Minority Electronic Resources. (Riga, Latvia)
Refugeenet: EU Networks on Reception, Integration and Voluntary Repatriation Project The Runnymede Trust World democracy audit (U.K.)
United Kingdom. Home Office
Further and subsequent information on the subject of this In Focus can be found by an 'Advanced Search' in European Sources Online by inserting 'asylum' or 'immigration' in the keyword field. Freda Carroll, KnowEurope Researcher Overview of the various issues of asylum and immigration that have risen up the political agenda in many of the Member States and the action that is being taken at the EU level. |
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