16/05/2008 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Strasbourg, 16.05.2008 – The Committee on Migration, Refugees and Population of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) will be holding two hearings in Paris next week, one dealing with asylum policies in Europe, the other with the situation of environmental refugees.
“Improving the quality and consistency of asylum decisions in the Council of Europe member states” is the theme of the first hearing, which will take place on Monday 19 May from 10 am to 12.30 pm. The participants who will be joining the committee members for the hearing include representatives of the French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons, the NGOs France Terre d’Asile, Forum Réfugiés and Service oecuménique d’entraide, and an academic from Worcester College in the United Kingdom. The hearing, which will focus in particular on the situation in France, will provide Boriss Cilevics (Latvia, SOC) with material for the preparation of a report on the subject.
The second hearing, to be held on Tuesday 20 May from 9 to 11.30 am, will address “The problem of environmental refugees”. The parliamentarians present will discuss this topic with, among others, representatives of the International Organization for Migration, the United Nations, the European Parliament and Living Space for Environmental Refugees (LiSER). The hearing forms part of the preparation of a report on the subject by Tina Acketoft (Sweden, ALDE).
The hearings, which will be held at the Council of Europe office in Paris (55 Avenue Kléber, Paris 16e, metro Boissière), are open to the press.
Following the hearings, the committee will hold its ordinary meeting, during which it is expected to adopt draft reports on “Europe’s ‘boat-people’: mixed migration flows by sea into southern Europe” and the “State of democracy in Europe – measures to improve the democratic participation of migrants”.
Contact: Francesc Ferrer, PACE Communication Unit
mobile +33 630 496 822, [email protected]
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