22/11/2013 Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Speaking at the opening of a conference in Strasbourg on immigration detention in Europe, Annette Groth (Germany, UEL) said that “parliamentarians could help shift attitudes on this issue and push for more alternatives to detention.” “Being the link between citizens, civil society and governing bodies, parliamentarians can easily raise awareness on the conditions of immigration detention within their various national and international political platforms as well as in the media. They can also have an added value to the important work of national preventive mechanisms against torture” she added.
The conference gave more impetus to the call in Resolution 1707 (2010) of the Parliamentary Assembly for the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe to develop a set of immigration detention rules applicable to member States.
This conference, held on 21-22 November was organised by the Council of Europe Migration Co-ordination Division, in co-operation with PACE and the United Kingdom’s national preventive mechanism against torture.