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Fact-finding visit to Greece to assess the migrants’ situation after the Moria camp destruction

18/05/2021 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

The Ad hoc Sub-Committee of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons visited Greece on 10-12 May 2021 with a fact-finding mission to look into the situation of refugees and migrants after the destruction by fire of the Moria camp. The sub-committee had meetings with the...

Protecting human rights for people affected by climate-change-induced migration

21/04/2021 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

At its meeting in hybrid mode, the Migration Committee stressed the importance of protecting human rights for people forced to migrate by climate-change-induced disasters or hardship, with particular attention to vulnerable groups such as “persons living in coastal areas, indigenous people...

Migration Committee Chair expresses deep concern over the fate of alleged captives and missing persons from...

12/04/2021 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

“I am deeply concerned about the fate of the alleged captives and missing persons from the recent conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan,” Pierre Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), Chair of the PACE Migration Committee said after an exchange of views on this issue in the Committee. “This is all...

Committee recommends more coordination of humanitarian action for refugees in countries in North Africa and...

15/03/2021 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

The Migration Committee today expressed its deep concern about the extremely serious humanitarian situation of refugees and migrants in many countries in North Africa and the Middle East, a transit region towards Europe for these people, many of whom risk their lives on the Mediterranean Sea. In...

Council of Europe states encouraged to engage with diasporas

15/03/2021 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

A PACE committee has called for the elaboration of a European policy on diasporas, and has suggested the Council of Europe should take the lead in this work. In a resolution and recommendation based on a report by Paulo Pisco (Portugal, SOC), PACE’s Migration Committee spelled out a series of...

Call for parliamentary mobilization in favor of the UN Global Compacts for Migrants and Refugees

21/01/2021 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

The Migration Committee called on national parliaments to mobilize for the adoption and implementation of the United Nations Global Compacts for Migrants and Refugees by all Council of Europe member states. The Commission is convinced "that by joining forces, parliaments can change the course of...

International Migrants Day

18/12/2020 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

On International Migrants Day, Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), Chair of the Migration Committee, made a pressing appeal for increased protection of migrant workers against exploitation and the violation of their human rights. “Thirty years ago, on 18 December 1990, the United Nations...

Protecting and assisting victims of arbitrary displacement

02/12/2020 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

The Migration Committee, meeting by videoconference, today expressed its deep concern over victims of arbitrary displacement. The report by Fabien Gouttefarde (France, ALDE), unanimously adopted by the committee, indicates that, according to the UNHCR, nearly 80 million persons have been...

‘Missile strikes on civilian areas have to stop’, says Migration Committee Chairperson

29/10/2020 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

“Missile strikes on civilian areas have to stop,” said Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), Chairperson of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons. “The strike on the Azeri town of Barda, reportedly killing 21, is a tragedy. So is the strike which reportedly hit a maternity...

Webinar: the importance of migrants’ remittances in times of crisis

02/10/2020 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

A virtual parliamentary webinar on the importance of migrants’ remittances in times of crisis heard evidence of the impact of COVID-19 on amounts being sent home by migrants, and discussed ways of keeping these transfers flowing and making them easier. The webinar, which was organised by PACE’s...

Moria, Lesbos: chronicle of a disaster foretold

11/09/2020 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

“The fires that have now burnt out the Moria camp for refugees, asylum seekers and migrants in Lesbos is a chronicle of a disaster foretold,” said Pierre-Alain Fridez (Switzerland, SOC), Chairperson of the PACE Migration Committee. “We know what happens when thousands of persons are confined in...

PACE committee condemns attacks on NGOs who assist refugees and migrants

07/09/2020 | Migration, Refugees and Displaced Persons

PACE’s Migration Committee has strongly condemned attacks on NGOs and their donors who are assisting refugees and migrants and said that governments or political organisations should not use such NGOs as “vehicles for extending their sphere of influence through political agitation”. It pointed...