30/03/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“The Council of Europe has been the pioneer in promoting the protection of the Roma and has been making efforts for a long time now to improve their situation,” stressed Annette Groth (Germany, UEL), who is currently preparing a report on "The Situation of Roma in Europe: movement and migration," at the opening ceremony of the Plenary Assembly of the European Roma and Travellers Forum (ERTF).
17/03/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
EU member states have so far "failed the test of solidarity" when it comes to helping fellow member states facing huge numbers of irregular migrants and asylum seekers, a hearing of PACE’s Migration Committee in Brussels was told yesterday. "If we are serious about building a common EU asylum system by the end of 2012, there needs to be solidarity to help member states who are under pressure – to live up to standards consistently and properly implement regulations," said Cecilia Wikström.
16/03/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
There are proportionately fewer Europeans in the world, and the trend is set to continue, members of PACE’s Migration Committee were told yesterday at a hearing in Brussels on demographic trends in Europe. UNECE expert Vitalija Gaucaite Wittich explained that Europeans made up 22 per cent of the world’s population in 1950. By 2010, that had dropped to 11 per cent, and will drop to 8 per cent by 2050 if the trend continues.
16/03/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“Migrant children are children first and their migrant status is secondary,” declared rapporteur Pedro Agramunt, speaking at the opening of a Brussels hearing on undocumented migrant children. “The best interests of the child should remain primordial.”
11/03/2011 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The EU’s migration and asylum policy will come under the spotlight, in particular the human rights implications, at a PACE hearing in Brussels on Wednesday 16th March, entitled “Beyond Stockholm: implications for migrants and asylum seekers in Council of Europe member states”.
18/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
The Chair of the PACE Migration Committee, Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), made a call “not to ignore or forget the tragedy played out on the rocks of Christmas Island earlier this week, when over 30 migrants, asylum seekers and refugees met their death within sight of safety, sanctuary and solid ground.”
08/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“The Dublin Regulation is an unfair system both for asylum seekers and for states. It is expensive and ineffective and sometimes infringes the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the Status of Refugees,” the newly elected Chair of the PACE Committee on Migration stressed today when summing up yesterday’s committee hearing on “Dealing with Dublin: ensuring fairness for asylum seekers and member states”.
08/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG) has been elected Chair of the Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population. A member of PACE since 2005, Mr Chope is a barrister and former British Minister for Roads and Traffic. He replaces John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG).
08/12/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Participants at a round table on the rights of migrant women, organised by the PACE Migration Committee in Paris today, have called for reinforced protection through legal means and improved practices. “214 million international migrants are women. Whereas earlier the presence of women was attached to family reunification, the current trend shows that women are migrating independently,” the rapporteur Pernille Frahm (Denmark, UEL) stressed.
30/11/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE Rapporteur David Darchiashvili (Georgia, EPP/CD) has expressed his deep concern at the decision taken by the Albanian authorities to extradite Almir Rrapo to the United States on 24 November 2010, ignoring a binding interim measure ordered by the Court that this applicant should not be extradited to the USA. Mr Darchiashvili is the Rapporteur on Rule 39 indications by the European Court of Human Rights.
22/09/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
PACE Migration Committee has called on European governments to suspend planned returns of Roma to Kosovo* “until they can be shown to be safe and sustainable”. Approving a report on “Roma asylum seekers in Europe” today in Skopje, the committee said these Roma faced “an unsustainable social situation with little chance of reintegration upon return, as well as serious threats to their personal security”.
22/09/2010 | Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
“We are just beginning to scratch the surface of the problem of smuggling people for forced labour, be it in domestic service, agriculture, sweatshops or construction,” said the Chair of PACE’s Migration Committee John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG), speaking today at the end of a hearing on the subject in Skopje. “There is a huge need for information, statistics and research on this,” he added, pledging that his committee would seek to prepare a report on the issue.