01/06/2010 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Strasbourg, 01.06.2010 – The Chair of PACE’s Migration Committee has challenged European states never to detain children in the context of migration.
Issuing the call during a major conference on Human Rights and Migration which ended today in Lisbon, John Greenway (United Kingdom, EDG) said: “Let’s be clear: when it comes to migration, children should never be put in detention. Full stop.”
Mr Greenway said participants at the conference, jointly organised by the Portuguese Parliament, the Portuguese Interior Ministry and the Council of Europe, had given “strong backing” to this and other recommendations from the Parliamentary Assembly concerning migration.
“The conference gave a ringing endorsement to the Assembly’s guidelines on detaining migrants and asylum seekers – and we are now waiting for Europe’s governments to do the same,” he said. The Assembly’s resolution on this topic is currently being considered by the Council of Europe’s executive body, the Committee of Ministers.
Mr Greenway went on to say it was “simply not acceptable” for migrants and asylum seekers to be held in conditions which did not meet European standards, and were sometimes worse than conditions in regular prisons.
The conference – attended by government representatives, academics, experts, parliamentarians and civil society representatives from across Europe – focused on the interception of migrants at sea, how they are detained and treated in receiving countries, the dangers they can face such as trafficking and racism, as well as what happens when they are expelled or forced to return.
Paying tribute to the hosts, Mr Greenway added: “It is clear that the Portuguese Parliament and government regard the work of the Council of Europe on migration as the touch-stone in this field.”