COMECE: EU Pact on Migration fails to protect human rights

By Lisa Zengarini

European bishops have raised serious concern over the potential risks of the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which they say, is likely to have a negative impact on human rights of migrants and asylum seekers.

The reform was agreed upon on December 20 by the European Parliament and Council (the executive branch of the EU representing the national governments in Europe) after years of discussion on how to redesign its asylum rules.

Its provisions include speedier vetting of irregular arrivals, creating border detention centres, accelerated deportation for rejected asylum applicants and a solidarity mechanism to take pressure off countries facing big inflows of migrants, like Italy, Greece and Spain.

Pact will increase the suffering of migrants and asylum seekers

In a statement issued on Friday , the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), highlighted the negative implications of the new pact for the basic human rights of migrants, adding its voice to that of the dozens NGOs, including Caritas Europa, who have criticized the agreement.

“The danger is that this new Pact will increase the suffering of migrants and asylum seekers, producing massive detentions at our boarders, even of families and small children, and the deportation of people to third countries that are not as ‘safe’ as often depicted”, the statement said. 

The bishops therefore once again called on the EU “to be courageous in facing this epochal challenge of people on the move who seek a safer and better life for themselves and their dear ones”, recalling that “it has already demonstrated its ability to do so with Ukrainians fleeing the war.”

Europe’s vocation is to work for a more just and fraternal world

The agreement reached this week was aimed at allaying pressures from the far right amid rising anti-migrant sentiment in Europe ahead of the European Parliament election in  2024.

The European bishops noted, in this regard, that “the fear of people coming with different cultural or religious backgrounds, who may challenge our ‘European way of life’, as well as the fear of populism and of losing elections, cannot be the guiding principles of our asylum and migration policies”.

Instead, they emphasized that solidarity and respect for the dignity of every person must be the guiding values of such policies. “Europe’s vocation is to work for a more just and fraternal world for all, not only for Europeans”, they said.

Finally COMECE reiterated the Church’s ongoing commitment  to “be on the side of the most vulnerable, of those people forced to move in search of a dignified life”.

“May the Nativity of Christ illuminate our minds and move our hearts to take the right decisions for the good of all!”, the statement concluded.

Widespread criticism from NGOs

The agreement reached this week by the 27 members of the EU has been hailed by European leaders as a major achievement towards a fairer, efficient, and more sustainable migration and asylum process .

However, dozens of NGOs that help migrants and refugees – including Oxfam, Caritas Amnesty International, and Save the Children – have criticised the text, saying in an open letter that it “will normalise the arbitrary use of immigration detention, including for children and families, increase racial profiling, use ‘crisis’ procedures to enable pushbacks, and return individuals to so called ‘safe third countries’ where they are at risk of violence, torture, and arbitrary imprisonment. “We should strengthen, not weaken, our reception and asylum systems and provide mechanisms to fairly share responsibility between European states,” the letter added

Amnesty International also noted that the agreement reinforces the EU’s dependence on states beyond its borders to manage migration, building on recent deals with Albania, Libya, Tunisia and Turkey. “Rather than investing in dignified reception within the EU and expanding safe and regular pathways to allow people to reach protection in Europe without relying on dangerous journeys, this amounts to a further step towards externalising border control and evading Europe’s refugee protection responsibilities,” it said.