03/07/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
PACE rapporteur Andrea Rigoni (Italy, ALDE) will make a fact-finding visit to Ukraine on 4-6 July 2012, in preparation for his report on “Management of mixed migration and asylum challenges beyond the European Union’s eastern border”.
20/06/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, Giacomo Santini (EPP/CD), President of the PACE Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, today made the following statement: “From time immemorial, conflicts throughout the world have forced people to flee from their countries in millions..."
01/06/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Roma face “double stigmatisation” when they are on the move, firstly as a persecuted and victimised minority and secondly as migrants, according to PACE’s Migration Committee. In a draft recommendation approved today in Paris, based on a report by Annette Groth (Germany, UEL), the committee points out this stigma is “based on three deep-rooted prejudices, namely that all Roma are nomads, they all come from abroad, and their migration is illegal”.
31/05/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
PACE rapporteur Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC) has called on members of the European Parliament to help uncover further details related to the deaths of 63 refugees who died in the Mediterranean last spring after their distress calls went unanswered. She was briefing the European Parliament’s Civil Liberties Committee today in Brussels on her continuing investigation into the tragedy.
25/05/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), whose report “Lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea: who is responsible?” was recently adopted by the PACE, will be in Brussels on 30 May to brief members of the European Parliament on her findings and seek their assistance in clarifying further how 63 people fleeing the Libya conflict by sea in March 2011 were “left to die”.
29/03/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
A failure to react to distress calls and a “vacuum of responsibility” for search and rescue are among a “catalogue of failures” which led to the deaths of 63 people fleeing the conflict in Libya by sea during a tragic 15-day voyage in March 2011, according to a PACE committee. A report by Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), adopted this morning in Brussels by PACE’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons, says Italian search and rescue authorities, NATO, the flag states of naval vessels in the area, the Libyan authorities and reckless smugglers are among those who share responsibility.
23/02/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
“The European Court of Human Rights has today delivered a landmark judgment which clarifies member states’ obligations regarding interception at sea,” said Giacomo Santini, PACE Chair of the Committee on Migration. “The Hirsi and others v. Italy judgment unambiguously upholds the right of persons intercepted at sea not to be pushed back and to request asylum,” he added. “In this way, the Court has closed the door to any state wanting purely and simply to push back those intercepted at sea.”
13/02/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
“Family reunification is an important element of the right to family life and an essential part of the integration process for migrants,” said Giacomo Santini (Italy, EPP/CD), Chair of the PACE Migration Committee, following the approval by the committee of a position paper on reform of the EU Family Reunification Directive.
09/02/2012 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
The President of the PACE Migration Committee, Giacomo Santini, has stated that "the erection of a barbed wire fence between Greece and Turkey will not solve anything at all. It will simply give rise to greater distress and more loss of human lives. People attempting to reach Europe will look for alternative routes," he went on.
16/12/2011 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
“This visit to Malta was important for my inquiry into who is responsible for lives lost in the Mediterranean Sea, and enabled me to piece together another part of the puzzle in the case of the ‘left-to-die boat’”, said PACE rapporteur Tineke Strik (Netherlands, SOC), speaking at the end of a two-day visit to Malta.
16/12/2011 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
In a statement to mark International Migrants Day (18 December), the Chair of PACE's Migration Committee has reaffirmed the importance of upholding both the rights of migrants and the rule of law. Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG) said: “Trafficking and irregular migration have given all migrants a bad name, which has meant the weak and innocent lose out. This unfortunately translates into an over-reliance on detention of migrants and asylum seekers.”
15/12/2011 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons
“The humanitarian situation in the Gali region has now reached a turning point, but whether the turn is for the better or for the worse depends on all parties involved,” said Tina Acketoft (Sweden, ALDE), rapporteur of PACE Migration Committee, speaking at the end of a four-day visit to Georgia, including Tbilisi, Gali and Sukhumi. The fact-finding visit took place as part of preparation for her report “Follow-up on the humanitarian consequences of the war between Georgia and Russia: the humanitarian situation in the war-affected areas.”