Migration

 In a few underreported incidents, last Thursday a migrant boat with 20 aboard disappeared in the Mediterranean Sea near Sicily on its way to Europe. Last Wednesday, 23 migrants were also picked up by Italian coastguards found clinging to a tuna cage near Sicily. Numerous other migrants were picked up as well last week from various boats. It was reported that 35 people had drowned since the beginning of the month of June in between Libya, Malta and Sicily.

The incidents of boat people are seen as an ever-growing cause of concern in the Mediterranean and worldwide as noted by the UNHCR. Beyond drowning, often migrants are killed or thrown into the sea on purpose by smugglers, which add an ever more dangerous element to the fate of asylum seekers, refugees and economic migrants trying to flee Africa and other regions towards opportunity in other nations. On July 3rd the IMO and UNHCR met in London to address the issue.

With the new EU Presidency of Portugal coming soon to shape the future of EU policy, Lisbon has stated publicly that there needs to be some real action in addressing illegal immigration. With countries like Spain, Portugal, Malta and Italy having to deal with the majority of boat people, the victims, security and ensuring their human rights are met; Portugal challenged the EU to seek a real combined effort in addressing the issue. Many in Southern Europe feel that leaving the problems to be dealt solely by Mediterranean countries where most of the migrants enter the entire EU by sea requires an EU approach and not solely a national effort.

Despite protests from Portugal, the issue of illegal migration is still intertwined with political challenges and administrative red tape in addressing the issue via the EU. With the Portuguese Presidency of the EU and UN now refocusing on the issue, there is some hope that progress will be possible in the near future.

For Other Sea and Migrant Stories:

FPA Migration Middle East and Africa
FPA Migration Europe

This week’s news roundup covers EU initiatives to create a Common European Asylum System as well as France’s possible new focus on immigration policy as well as highlighting opinion tools for Americans on their attitudes towards immigration after the failure of the Immigration Bill to be passed through the US Senate. Also stories on Aid workers killed in Lebanon and links towards the refugee tragedy in the Mediterranean are highlighted:

• French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said last Friday in his tour of Africa that France will not tolerate waves of African migrants coming to France. Since the election of France’s new President Nicolas Sarkozy, many migrants have been worried about the possible changes to France’s immigration policy. While Kouchner did show a tough stance on France’s new approach to immigration, he did clarify that France’s immigrants should be treated fairly and that much of the concern came from the high risk illegal immigrants. He may have been influenced by events last week where 110 bodies where discovered in the Mediterranean Sea between Malta and Libya, thought to be illegal immigrants who became victim to their “uncertain vessels” and a fortuneless journey.
• On June 6th 2007 the European Comission published a Green Paper to create the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) as well as an evaluation of the Dublin System and a Directive on long-term residence for the beneficiaries of International Protection. It is hoped that the focus on irregular migrations, which has dominated European Immigration Policy in the past, will be refocused towards the rights and obligations of all EU Member states on the rights of Asylum seekers in the EU. After the tragedy mentioned above, a mechanism to ensure the rights of Asylum seekers needs to be established equally in all EU states.
• With the failed progression on the Immigration Reform Bill, MSNBC has created a website to gain American’s opinions on the immigration issue and the reform bill from American citizens. While the Bill has been set aside indefinitely, the issue of immigration in the US still holds strong among many people. See the links here for opinions.
• In a June 11th article for the Guardian Newspaper, two Red Cross workers were killed and one seriously wounded today in Lebanon. The shell that hit their vehicle came from Fatah Islam militants held up inside the Northern edge of the Nahr al-Bared camp. For more information see the Lebanon post below.

This week’s news roundup takes a first look at France’s new ministry of immigration and national identity, Switzerland’s refusals to accept more Iraqi refugees and newest EU plans to curtail the number of illegal migrants employed throughout Europe:

• Nicolas Sarkozy is a man of his words. On May 18 he appointed Brice Hortefeux to lead the newly created ministry of immigration and national identity. In response, eight historians working on a national project on French immigration history resigned in protest. Among the eight is Patrick Weil, who developed the immigration policy program for the Jospin government back in 1997. Liberation has a full article on the demissions, while Le Monde quotes one of them as saying “to associate immigration and national identity is to portray immigration as a problem for France and the French in terms of their self-understanding.” The new ministry, headed up by a 30-year personal friend of M. Sarkozy, will eventually pull together all administrative functions related to immigration (i.e. visa and expulsion matters, asylum, integration and the elusive national identity) under one roof. For now, however, these areas will remain with their current ministries, while a full-fledged plan for their integration is developed, i.e. the foreign ministry will remain in charge of visa attribution.
• While Senators put the finishing touches on a compromise solution toward new a new US immigration policy, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights of migrants, Jorge Bustamante, was kept out of immigrant detention centers in Texas. A scheduled visit to the T. Don Hutto facility in Taylor, Texas was called off at short notice, leaving Dr. Bustamante “frustrated,” though that must be a diplomatic understatement. The Dallas Morning Herald reports the following:
  “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement canceled Mr. Bustamante’s visit to Hutto because of pending litigation regarding the facility, according to a State Department spokesman. ICE officials have invited Mr. Bustamante to visit another family detention facility near York, Pa. The Hutto detention center – a former prison – houses about 400 noncriminal immigrants awaiting deportation or other outcomes to their immigration cases. “I am particularly concerned with the treatment of children and children’s human rights,” said Mr. Bustamante, who is from Mexico. The Hutto center has come under fire from civil liberties and immigration advocates, who contend families detained there are subjected to psychologically abusive guards, inadequate medical care and inhumane conditions.”

• The ACLU has a full site, including podcasts, dedicated to Dr. Bustamente’s trip and his insights. We will continue to follow this story in the coming days.
• The New York Times examines the situation of Haitian migrants leaving their country, frustrated with the lack of change. On their way to the promised land of the United States many get stranded on the Turks and Caicos islands, and have become an administrative burden for the local government. A tragic incident on May 4, when a Haitian refugee boat capsized off the Turks and Caicos leaving 90 dead and survivors blaming the aggressive tactics by local authorities for many of the deaths.
  
• Business Week reports on EU immigration Commissioner Franco Frattini’s new plans to penalize employers who take on illegal immigrants.
  
• We recently reported on the plight of Iraqi migrants. Switzerland is the latest country to refuse the UNHCR’s request to accept a contingent of the 20,000 migrants the organization has identified as particularly in danger of falling prey to excessive violence and torture. The majority of these would-be migrants are women and children. According to an article in the Neue Zuericher Zeitung, Switzerland is refusing to accept additional Iraqi migrants pointing to the fact that 5,000 refugees already reside in the country. Instead, government officials want to step up humanitarian aid to internally displaced Iraqis.