Human Rights first!
EU must at all costs avoid a
moral defeat and put in practice its best reasons for existing: solidarity,
defence of human rights and peace.
Brussels, 5th July 2017
Thousands
of boat-people in search of a better
future, or simply in search of survival, are landing daily on the southern
borders of Europe. They land on European soil and are exhausted, hungry,
frightened; many have been tortured and, if women, raped.
They
are our brothers and sisters: they are part of the people EAPN work with and
for, making no distinction as to where they come from or the color of their
skin, aware as we are that only by chance were we fortunate enough to be born
in the “right” part of the world.
“The Member States seem unable to respond
with dignity, solidarity and humanity to this emergency, one that concerns not
banks, money or free markets but people. And this puts totally at stake the EU
reasons for existing. We must once and for all start tackling the causes of
poverty by challenging the economic model that brought us to this unbalanced
and unequal world which precisely impacts firstly on the people in the
countries facing the most extreme poverty”, says Sérgio Aires, EAPN President.
In
the face of this situation that threatens to put an end to the European Dream,
EAPN asserts the following:
-
The European governments should stop entrenching
themselves behind the hypocritical distinction between political and economic
refugees. Whether they are fleeing death from hunger, poverty or from bombing
does not make a difference.
-
The European governments should implement the
relocation scheme as agreed and expand this to cover the migrants who are
currently arriving in desperation.
-
At the next Summit of the EU Ministers of the
Interiors (Tallin, July 6th), the Member States bordering the
Mediterranean should agree to open their ports for the landing of the boats
that saved these people at open sea, as requested by the Commission and the
Italian government.
-
The Dublin Agreement, which was signed in a different
period, when this emergency was not even envisaged, needs to be revised in
order to cover broader groups of migrants escaping poverty and favor
reallocation and respect the right of those concerned to live and work in the
country of their choice.
-
The European governments should stop laying the blame
and in some cases criminalizing, initially between the lines but more and more
explicitly every day, on the NGOs that are working at sea and saving thousands
of lives every day. Instead they should be actively supported and resourced.
-
No agreement should be made between the EU governments
and countries, such as Libya, where there is no respect for human rights or
lives. The agreement with Turkey should have taught us a hard lesson!
EAPN
also declares the following:
- The
EU needs to open humanitarian corridors. Only by doing this will the refugees
arrive in safety and will criminal organizations cease making money by
smuggling (and killing) innocent people, many of whom are women and children.
- A
huge, sustainable and democratic “Marshall Plan” for Africa and other sending
countries with large scale investment
designed together with the local population, needs to be put in place as soon
as possible.
Lastly, EAPN
asks that the EU institutions and member states make all the necessary efforts
to counter the xenophobic, racist and fascist wave of opinion, skillfully
propagated and abetted in some quarters, that is not only putting the social
cohesion and the future of Europe at serious risk, but that, if not stopped, will
be the cause of the greatest European Union moral defeat.
For further information, please contact:
The European Anti-Poverty
Network (EAPN) is the largest European network of national, regional and local
networks, involving anti-poverty NGOs and grassroots groups as well as European
Organisations, active in the fight against poverty and social exclusion. It was established in 1990.
EUROPEAN
ANTI-POVERTY NETWORK
RESEAU
EUROPEEN DES ASSOCIATIONS DE LUTTE CONTRE LA PAUVRETE ET L’EXCLUSION SOCIALE
BOULEVARD
BISCHOFFSHEIM, 11 – 1000 BRUXELLES – TEL: 0032 2 226 58 50 – FAX: 0032 2 226 58
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