10/10/2024 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
An award-winning documentary film showing the human stories behind migration to European shores was screened for parliamentarians on the margins of the PACE plenary session in Strasbourg as the Assembly debated the fates of missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and new proposals to tackle migrant smuggling.
The screening of the documentary The Other Half was organised by the Assembly’s Migration Committee under the auspices of the PACE President, with a special video message to members from its Director Giorgos Moutafis.
The event was introduced by Assembly Vice-President Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), whose 2022 report on pushbacks led to the adoption of an Assembly resolution on this topic, and also heard from the Special Representative of the Council of Europe Secretary General on Migration and Refugees David Best.
Mr Fridez expressed his profound concern at the growing fencing of Europe against people “who, because of their fate, of hunger, of war, of misery, have decided to come to our countries to seek relief and protection”.
In his video message, the Director of the documentary underlined: “Our film comes as a reminder of the timeless mistakes that are being made – that have been made – in managing migration […]. Making crossings more difficult, wasting so many millions of euros on border protection leads to a simple mathematical equation: the passage becomes harder, the deaths rise, the traffickers get richer.”
Concluding the event, Mr Best said: “Thinking through the realities we want to act on is a necessary prerequisite. And to do so, emotions are essential. That is exactly what this film is doing: bringing the reality of human trajectories back into the picture, for everyone to feel the emotions needed to reflect and to act on the situation of men, women and children at Europe’s borders.”
The Other Half was screened just after the Assembly adopted a series of texts on the issue of missing migrants, refugees and asylum seekers and on a shared European approach to tackling migrant smuggling.