On 23 September 2020, the European Commission issued a Communication on a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, introducing a number of proposals aimed at improving asylum and migration management procedures in Europe. The Parliamentary Assembly welcomes the reflection of the crucial human rights’ concerns in the New Pact monitoring of the screening procedures, vulnerability of migrant children, family reunification, relocation of unaccompanied children, detention of migrants, solidarity of the member States.
The Pact tries to suggest a compromise between hard-line migration policies of some European countries and desire to put forward «more human and more effective migration and asylum system». However, despite this good intent, a number of human rights organisations have expressed their disappointment with the actual approach taken, claiming that proposed management of the European Union external borders will only produce more suffering, and that accelerated asylum procedures will lead to higher rejection rates and inability of migrants to receive adequate legal assistance. Furthermore, the system of mandatory solidarity proposed in the Pact has already been rejected by some European Union member States even before negotiations on the Pact started.
The Assembly therefore considers it is important to provide an analysis of the New Pact from a human right perspective and to propose concrete recommendations on how to make sure that European migration policy contributes to the development of European solidarity, economic prosperity, respect for human rights and protection of the well-being of all.