Menu

As European Union (EU) leaders and African heads of state prepare to meet in Malta on 11 and 12 November for a ‘Summit on Migration’, Amnesty International has issued a stark warning to all leaders in attendance of the dangers posed by border and migration management agreements that fail to include human rights safeguards.

At the Summit, EU and African leaders are expected to agree on a joint declaration, ostensibly focusing on saving lives and the protection of refugees, development, and legal migration and mobility. So far, however, the response of the EU and its member states to the influx of refugees and migrants has focused on keeping people out, by preventing their arrival and facilitating their return, with no meaningful steps taken to increase mobility nor safe and legal routes for refugees.

Amnesty International says little change is expected at the Valetta Summit, or the ensuing European Summit on 12 November.

“Stated commitments to human rights at Valetta will be nothing more than hollow words unless the Summit concretely results in an increase in the availability of resettlement places and watertight safeguards for human rights in any agreements made on border and migration management,” said Iverna McGowan, Acting Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions office.

“Clear and concrete proposals on safe and legal routes are glaringly absent from the Valetta agenda and declaration, and backroom bilateral agreements in the margins risk having serious adverse human rights impact. The lack of transparency around so many of these agreements is already a red flag.”
The EU and its member states have entered into a range of cooperation arrangements with neighbouring and African countries over the last decade aimed at strengthening border control systems and facilitating the return of migrants. Some of these have exposed asylum-seekers and migrants in cooperating countries to arbitrary detention, refoulement and ill-treatment.

“With the EU seemingly intent on enlisting African nations as proxy gatekeepers, the Valetta summit is likely to result in a one-sided border control contract dressed up as a cooperation agreement. Refugees and migrants deserve and are entitled to better,” said Iverna McGowan.

Amnesty International is calling on EU leaders to increase safe and legal routes to Europe, including through resettlement, family reunification and humanitarian admissions. This is particularly pertinent in the context of the Valetta Summit given that almost 50 percent of people arriving in Italy from North Africa are coming from the top 10 refugee-producing countries according to the UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR. Safe and legal routes must feature on the agenda of the following European Summit in Valetta and in the EU’s response to the global refugee crisis without delay.