21/10/2024 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
In-depth discussions on how Council of Europe member states should balance their right to protect their borders while respecting fully their international human rights obligations were the focus of a series of exchanges of view during a meeting of PACE’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, under the chairmanship of Oleksii Goncharenko (Ukraine, EC/DA), held in Ljubljana from 17-18 October and hosted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia.
In a keynote speech, Urška Klakočar Zupančič, President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Slovenia, highlighted the two-fold task of European states: to regulate and protect human mobility while also increasing resources dedicated to investigating and sanctioning organised cross-border criminal groups involved in migrant smuggling. She also recalled the duty to enhance effective access to safe and legal pathways for labour migration, for family reunion, and for those seeking international protection.
Stressing that migration management was a top priority for the Government of the Republic of Slovenia, Tamara Vonta (Slovenia, ALDE), head of the Slovenian delegation to the Assembly, underlined the necessity to recognise that migration can also be viewed as an opportunity, particularly given the increasing demand for labour in both the private and public sectors.
PACE Secretary General Despina Chatzivassiliou-Tsovilis emphasised the committee’s special responsibility to address challenges in migration management and commended it for providing possible solutions to those challenges in real time.
Exchanges of view were held in the framework of the preparation of reports on artificial intelligence and migration (rapporteur: Petri Honkonen, Finland, ALDE), putting an end to collective expulsions of migrants (rapporteur: Pierre-Alain Fridez, Switzerland, SOC), saving migrants’ lives at sea and protecting their human rights (rapporteur: Paulo Pisco, Portugal, SOC), the challenges faced by public and private actors in migration management (rapporteur: Sandra Zampa, Italy, SOC) and in the framework of follow-up to the report on a shared European approach to address migrant smuggling (rapporteur: Lord Simon Russell, United Kingdom, EC/DA).
During the meeting, on the occasion of European Anti-Trafficking Day, the committee adopted a declaration and held a round table on “Precarious and irregular work situations of migrant workers”, chaired by Tamara Vonta with the participation of Kate Osamor (United Kingdom, SOC) and Diana Stoica (Romania, ALDE). It also declassified the report of the Ad hoc Sub-Committee to carry out a fact-finding visit to Sicily (Italy), after hearing from its chair Paul Gavan (Ireland, UEL), and held an exchange of views with David Best, Special Representative of the Secretary General on Migration and Refugees.
