17/10/2017 Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
PACE’s rapporteur on family reunification for migrants and refugees, speaking ahead of a meeting with EU officials, has underlined the suffering that migrants can experience if they are separated from their families.
Ulla Sandbæk (Denmark, UEL), who begins a two-day meeting with officials of the EU Council, Commission and Parliament in Brussels tomorrow, said she would emphasise to them that Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights protects the right to family life for everybody, including migrants.
“Psychological problems are often inter-related with violence and social problems. It is a vicious circle, which traumatises persons who are vulnerable and already traumatised by the circumstances of their migration,” she said. “Besides the severe human suffering of individuals caused by family separation, the refusal of family reunification thus also creates costs for the host societies.”
During her fact-finding visit (18-19 October 2017), which takes place in advance of an EU Council meeting on migration, Ms Sandbæk is to meet the Director General for Justice and Home Affairs of the Council and the Director for Migration, Mobility and Innovation of the Commission, as well as members of the European Parliament, among others.