New immigration countries

Recommendation 1125 (1990)

Author(s):

Parliamentary Assembly

Origin

Assembly debate on 9 May 1990 (4th Sitting) (seeDoc. 6211, report of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography, Rapporteur : Mr Cucò). Text adopted by the Assembly on 9 May 1990 (4th Sitting). Text adopted by the Assembly on 9 May 1990 (4th Sitting).

Thesaurus

1. After undergoing the consequences of the halt to emigration and the return of migrants at the end of the 1970s, the traditional emigration countries of Southern Europe began, in the mid-1980s, to feel the beneficial effects of the economic upturn.

2. In these countries, economic growth has led to a considerable increase in the demand for unskilled labour and to the development of the so-called ‘‘underground'' economy.

3. The populations of developing countries view the countries of Southern Europe as offering better employment opportunities and living conditions than their own countries.

4. The demographic imbalance between the countries of the Mediterranean basin is conducive to the emergence of migratory flows to the countries of Southern Europe from non-European countries.

5. The adoption of restrictive immigration measures and the strengthening of border controls in the industrialised countries of north-west Europe give Third World migrants further reasons for settling in the countries of Southern Europe.

6. The arrival of a large number of foreign workers, some of them clandestine immigrants, has transformedthe countries of Southern Europe into new immigration countries.

7. This transformation of the old emigration countries into new immigration countries is a complex phenomenon calling for a consistent, comprehensive immigration policy which cannot rely entirely on tighter border controls.

8. The Assembly notes that, although the integration of immigrant communities into the countries of Southern Europe differs in many respects from that which the countries of industrialised Europe have been trying to achieve since the 1970s, the latter's experience may prove useful to the new host countries.

9. The Assembly considers that all the Council of Europe member states have a duty of solidarity towards the new immigration countries of Southern Europe.

10. The Assembly strongly condemns the resurgence of xenophobia and racism which, in several European countries, are claiming more and more victims amongst immigrants.

11. The Assembly, therefore, recommends that the Committee of Ministers :

11.1 consider how the immigration experience of the countries of industrialised Europe can help the authorities of the new immigration countries of Southern Europe to work out answers to the problem ;

11.2 encourage the new immigration countries to adapt their local, regional and national administrative machinery to the new situation engendered by the arrival of migrant workers, in particular with a view to their economic, social and cultural integration ;

11.3 promote concerted action by the member states to curb clandestine immigration and the attendant exploitation of migrants ;

11.4 increase the scope and substance of current work on community relations, especially as regards promoting the integration of immigrant communities in the host countries ;

11.5 ask the Conference of European Ministers responsible for Migration Affairs to address the problems of new immigration countries at its next session in Luxembourg in 1991 ;

11.6 set up a full-scale European plan of action against racism and xenophobia, drawing on the work already done by the Council of Europe.