The Rocky Road to Globalization
UN News writes: The European Union should establish a human rights-based, coherent and comprehensive migration policy which makes mobility its central asset, a United Nations expert today advocated, assuring is the only way in which the EU can reclaim its border, effectively combat smuggling and empower migrants.
“Let’s not pretend that what the EU and its member states are doing is working. Migration is here to stay,” Mr. Crépeau of the UN stressed. “Building fences, using tear gas and other forms of violence against migrants and asylum seekers. Democratic borders are porous by nature. Providing migrants and asylum-seekers with legal and safe mobility solutions will ensure such a control.”
The Special Rapporteur urged Europeans to start focusing on regaining control of their external border from the smugglers by increasing mobility solutions available to most migrants, investing in integration measures– especially through supporting the action of cities – and developing a strong public discourse on diversity and mobility as cornerstones for contemporary European societies..
“Opening up the regular labour markets through smart visas allowing people to come to look for work and incentivize them to return if they don’t find the job in question would allow for a much better regulated and controlled official labour market,” Mr. Crépeau noted.
Welcoming the positive steps taken by the EU in rescuing migrants and asylum-seekers at sea so far, Mr. Crépeau however warned that rescuing people who arrive by sea and then turning a blind eye to their plight leaving them vulnerable to human rights violations is irresponsible,” the expert said.
“Talking about ‘flows,’ ‘marauders,’ and ‘swarms’ is an unsubtle way of dismissing the legitimacy of the asylum-seekers and migrants’ claim to human rights, by creating images linking them to toxic waste or natural disasters” he noted. “We are talking about men, women, children and even babies, who have faced traumatic experiences. These are people just like you and me, and none of us have the moral high ground to say that we would never do the same if we were in their shoes.”
The UN Special Rapporteur warned that the political and popular discourse in Europe has seen a race to the bottom in the anti-migrant sentiments and use of inappropriate language which is often linked to criminalizing migrants. “Migrants are human beings with rights. When we dehumanize others, we dehumanize ourselves,” he underscored.
Mr. Crépeau therefore called on European political leaders “to show moral and political leadership in fighting much more vigorously racism, xenophobia and hate crime, in consolidating the common human rights culture that is now framing the evolution of all traditions, in strengthening the free movement of persons throughout the EU while developing regulated mobility solutions at its external borders, and in celebrating the diversity of cultures and religions as enrichment for everyone, citizens and foreigners alike.”
An equitable redistribution of refugees and asylum-seekers across the European Union was needed, the spokesperson stressed.
