Common European Asylum System - Letter to the members of the Luxembourg Parliament - 11 june 2013

Serge Kollwelter, Chair of the AEDH address on 11 June 2013 a letter to the members of the Luxembourg Parliament in order to alert them on the modifications within the framework of the “asylum package” - which will be adopted by the European Parliament the same day. In this letter, the AEDH encourages the members of the Luxembourg Parliament to be very attentive to the transposition of these texts in the national legislation but also to be more ambitious on this transposition by going beyond what is proposed by these texts.

"Establishing a Common European Asylum System: still a long way to go" - Joint press release 10 June 2013

Our organisations acknowledge the improvements in the second phase of legislative harmonisation but remain concerned about a number of key aspects of the asylum package in particular with regard to the detention of asylum seekers, legal assistance to asylum seekers in increasingly complex asylum procedures, the lack of sufficient procedural safeguards with regard to vulnerable asylum seekers and the detrimental impact of the Dublin Regulation on the fundamental rights of asylum seekers. Emphasising the fact that a Common European Asylum System is far from being completed in practice by the vote in the European Parliament we call for strict monitoring of the transposition and implementation of second phase instruments and meaningful dialogue with civil society organisations in this process.

" Do not criminalize the asylum seekers ! " asks the AEDH to the Members of the European Parliament - 7 June 2013

On 11 June, your Parliament will rule on the latest texts to be adopted for a reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). In the light of the very marginal amendments finally made to the various draft texts, our association can only reaffirm its opposition to this reform. The AEDH send to the Members of the European an open letter, on 7 May, to encourage them to refuse the detention of the asylum seekers and the opening of the files of fingerprints to the national repressive authorities and Europol.

NGOs and UNHCR call for more involvement in the definition of funding priorities under the future EU Asylum and Migration Fund, 28 May 2013

UNHCR, together with a coalition of 10 non-governmental organisations – including the AEDH – has released a statement on the need for Member States to involve Civil Society and International Organisations when defining the future national priorities under the Asylum and Migration Fund (AMF) in order to increase the impact of the activities funded.

EU Seasonal Migrant Workers’ Directive: Ensure effective Equal Treatment - Joint press release 8th May 2013

In view of the on-going trialogue on the proposed EU directive on seasonal workers, the European Network Against Racism (ENAR), Caritas Europe, le Ciré (coordination and initiatives for refugees), the Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME), The European Federation of National Organizations Working with the Homeless (Feantsa), the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) and the European Association for the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH), recall the need to guarantee a uniform and extensive sets of labour rights for third-country workers across the EU.

AEDH in the quaterly magazine Government Gazette

Serge Kollwelter , Chair of the AEDH contributed to the March 2013 Government Gazette editon on EU Border Security with the article Legitimate Border Controls and Amalgams.

L’AEDH in the report "Derechos Humanos en la frontera sur"

Catherine Teule, Vice-Chairperson of the AEDH, contributed to the report of the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos de Andalucía (APDHA) on the Human Rights situation on the Southern Border of Europe in 2013 published in March 2013. Catherine Teule has expressed her view on the Common European Asylum System with the article “the asylum package scandal”

AEDH co-organises a conference in Paris: "The state of right to vote for foreigners in Europe" - 14 December 2012

On Decembre 14, the AEDH and the Ceri-Sciences po organise a conference at the Europe House in Paris on "The state of right to vote for foreigners in Europe".

The AEDH addresses an Open Letter to the Members of the European Parliament - 10 December 2012

The project of Common European Asylum System (CEAS) aimed to put an end to the lottery, unworthy of States of Law, which people who look for protection in the EU are facing.

The AEDH publishes an analysis of the forthcoming Common European Asylum System (CEAS) - 10 December 2012

On September 19, the Committee for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) was very pleased to have reached, by a large majority, an agreement on the recast of the Reception directive on the one hand, and the Dublin II Regulation on the other hand.

the HLHR publishes a press release: "Xenios Zeus, the Dorian invasion and the Lernaean Hydra" - September 2012

The Hellenic League for Human Rights publishes a press release entitled "Xenios Zeus, the Dorian invasion and the Lernaean Hydra".

NGO joint letter to MEPs on Eurosur - 3 September 2012

AEDH, the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM), the Jesuite Refugee Service (JRS), the Euro-mediterranean Human rights Network (EMHRN), the European Network Against Racism (ENAR) and Solidar sent a common open letter to the members of the Civil liberties, Justice and Home affairs of the European Parliament to raise their interest on the highly political dossier that constitutes the Eurosur proposal.

APDHA press release: "Twelve Spanish associations call for a public, universal and free health system for all" - 30 August 2012

The APDHA publishes a press release to call for a public, universal and free health system for all.

The APDHA launches a campaign for the rights of carrier women in Ceuta and Melilla - August 2012

The APDHA launches a political campaign that aims at drawing the attention of Spanish, Moroccan and European institutions on the humiliations suffered by the carrier women who transport merchandises through the border between Morocco and Ceuta and Melilla and on the violation of their human rights.

AEDH relays an NGO press statement on the death of Mamadou Kamara in detention in Malta - 1st July 2012

AEDH relays a joint press statement from Maltese NGOs on the death of Mamadou Kamara, asylum seeker, allegedly beaten to death during his transport to a detention centre.

Eurosur: When border control takes precedence over migrants’ lives - Press release 20 June 2012

Eurosur, the proposal for regulation concerning a border monitoring system, was presented by the European Commission on December 12th 2011, and puts cross-border crime on the same level as illegal immigration. It overlooks search and rescue at sea, despite it featuring in the 2008 Communication.

Contribution of the AEDH to the Eurosur overhaul proposal - 20 June 2012

AEDH decided to participate to the Eurosur overhaul proposal, by answering the questions of Ska Keller, a Green/EFA MEP, to help improve the regulation.

AEDH response to the Commission Green Paper on family reunification - 5 March 2012

AEDH sent to the European Commission its response to the Green Paper “on the right to family reunification of third-country nationals living in the European Union (Directive 2003/86/EC)”.

Dignity, equality and solidarity should be the basis of European migration policies - 3 November 2011

For the last few months, the AEDH has undertaken the consolidation of its relationship of reciprocal consultation with Members of the European Parliament from different political groups. The aim of this informal group of ‘Friends of the AEDH’ is to contribute to the development of a profound reflection on all the issues related to fundamental rights in the European Union.

Foreign workers in the EU : moving towards multiple standards, founded on unequal treatment? - 17 October 2011

The AEDH finds the legislative package on labour immigration unacceptable in its current form because it undermines social rights and equal treatment. It also disagrees with the general underlying logic of the texts, which fragment the labour market and exploit regular immigration for European growth and as a tool against irregular immigration.

AEDH supports the documentary film "Ceuta, sweet prison" - 21 September 2011

AEDH supports an initiative launched by the Zaradoc documentary production company which aims at finishing the production of a documentary film of 52 minutes entitled “Ceuta, sweet prison”, directed by Jonathan Millet and Loïc H. Rechi.

This film tackles the situation of Ceuta, this Spanish enclave in the north part of Morocco, which belongs to Europe but does not belong to the Schengen area. The film deals with the construction of the wall built by Europeans to prevent migrants from entering the EU and with the situation of migrants who have been able to go over the wall but who are now waiting in Ceuta, sometimes during years, to find a way to access the EU which constitutes a dreamland for them.

The Mediterranean : NATO finally comes to the aid of shipwrecked migrants, but the European Union refuses to admit them - 28 July 2011

The signatory organizations named below demand that the European Union provide a unified response to the tragedy in the Mediterranean. We insist that migrants and refugees who risk their lives crossing the sea must be admitted onto European soil.

AEDH participates in the writing of the report "Calais, the violence of the border" - 4 May 2011

AEDH participated in the writing of the report "Calais, the violence of the border", issued by the EMHRN Network which details the results of a fact-finding mission to Calais and the surrounding area in order to investigate impacts of the police clamp down on the situation of migrants and refugees rights in the region.

AEDH comments the CJEU El Dridi ruling - 28 April 2011

The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) decided, on April 28th 2011, that prison term does not respect the 2008 “Return” European directive when irregular stay is the only motive.

EU Seasonal Migrant Workers’ Directive : Full Respect of Equal Treatment Necessary - 20 April 2011

A joint statement on the seasonal workers proposal for a directive, made by AEDH together with other NGOS, was released on April 20th 2011, at the occasion of a LIBE hearing on “Legal migration after the Lisbon treaty”.

20 November 2010 - "Migration and inclusion : dialog with the new generation for the development of a peace culture"

Catherine Teule, one of the AEDH Vice-Presidents, participated in a roud-table organized by the MEP Patrick Le Hyaric (GUE/NGL), on November 20th 2010, related to migrants’ inclusion.

The AEDH questions EU agency FRONTEX during the visit of the Delegation of the European Parliament - 1st October 2010

Whereas respect for human rights and asylum law are core values of the EU, and recalling that the Charter of Fundamental Rights is now binding and guarantees in its Article 18 the right of asylum, and that EU is in the process of joining the European Convention on Human Rights, the AEDH wishes to raise a number of questions during the visit of the delegation of the European Parliament to the FRONTEX Agency. Such questioning has its place when the EU intends to expand the number of participants to the Agency by including the Swiss Confederation and the Principality of Liechtenstein.

Europe, it’s TIME to ratify the Migrant Workers Convention

The International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families was signed 20 years ago by the UN General Assembly. However, none of the EU Members States has ratified it yet.

The AEDH asks members of European Parliament not to approve the readmission agreement with Pakistan - Press release, 12 July 2010

The AEDH is deeply concerned about the content and practical enforcement of the readmission agreement signed between the European Union and Pakistan and calls on MEPs to reject it. It raises significant concerns about the respect of human rights and in particular those of refugees.

The Agreement between the European Community and Pakistan on readmission raises significant questions concerning the respect of human rights - Press release, 26 April 2010

The AEDH challenges the manner in which a readmission agreement between the European Union and Pakistan would be implemented. The Agreement concerns Pakistani nationals and individuals who have transited through Pakistan, particularly Afghan nationals, who would be irregular on the territory of the European Union.

ANALYSIS: The Agreement between the European Community and Pakistan on readmission raises significant questions concerning the respect of human rights - 26 April 2010

AEDH can only challenge the manner in which a readmission agreement between the EU and Pakistan would be implemented. The agreement concerns Pakistani nationals and individuals who have transited through Pakistan, particularly Afghan nationals, who would be irregularly staying on the territory of the European Union.

The AEDH says "No!" to joint return flights - Press release, November, 9th 2009

The EU heads of state and government that met within the European Council on 29-30 October 2009 came to an agreement regarding the "examination of the possibility of regular chartering financed by FRONTEX [the European agency in charge of managing the EU’s external borders] of joint return flights." Accordingly, they have invited the Commission to present proposals to this end in early 2010. The AEDH has always expressed its opposition to organising "charter flights" to return migrants to their country of origin or even a country of transit.

Human Rights must be the cornerstone, not just a reference, of the Stockholm Programme - Press release, October, 7th 2009

The European Association for the Defense of Human Rights (AEDH) welcomes the adoption for the upcoming 5 years of a Programme on the “freedom, security and justice area” which will succeed the Hague Programme. AEDH wishes for a more global and balanced Programme, in the vein of the 1999 Tampere Programme. The Hague Programme took a security-based and sectoral approach that tended to confuse security, criminality and migration. This led to discriminative legislative content that often infringed on Fundamental Rights. AEDH took a position many times on the topic through its reports and press releases.

Publication of the report by the FIDH “Délit de solidarité”: Stigmatization, repression and intimidation of migrants’ rights defenders - July, 2nd 2009

The Observatory for the protection of Human rights defenders (FIDH-OMCT) released an investigation report regarding the hindrances made to the migrants’ rights defenders in France, entitled “Délit de solidarité”: Stigmatization, repression and intimidation of migrants’ rights defenders.

A new tragedy at the Cadix Coasts - APDHA Press release, June 29th 2009

It has been hardly a month, we regretted the death of 20 people, 4 miles away from Tangier. Today, we have to mention a new tragedy for which we do not know all datas.

The European Union must change its asylum and immigration policy - Press release, April, 2nd 2009

The new tragedy that just happened off the coast of Libya shows to the extent that European policies took to prevent immigration which is said to be illegal, are not only inefficient, but daily putting human lives in danger.

Emergency in Lampedusa - Press release, February, 3rd 2009

February, 3rd, 2009. In view of the deterioration in the situation on the island of Lampedusa, the Italian authorities, supported by the European authorities, must make every effort to stop an intolerable situation for migrants, who are affected in their rights and their dignity, and for the island’s inhabitants who showed their solidarity.

Sanction those who exploit, not those who are exploited - Press release, October, 27th 2008

Sanctioning employers who exploit illegally-staying third-country nationals must not result in sanction of those who are exploited; yet, this is the outcome under the proposal for a directive1 currently being discussed by Parliament and the Council.

The “European pact on migration and asylum” confirms the securitarian political orientation of the European Union regarding migration and asylum - July, 9th 2008

AEDH positively welcomes the fact that several member States opposed a certain number of propositions contained in the first version of the Pact, particularly the one concerning the integration contract. But, fundamentally, the very principle of the Pact remains inadmissible as it embraces a purely utilitarian vision of migrations, makes repression the privileged way to regulate immigration and brings important regressions with regard to international conventions on migrants and asylum seekers rights.

Synopsis of the Return Directive - June 2008

This document is an analysis of the Return Directive and of what it represents. The AEDH focuses on the numerous and inadmissible disadvantages of this directive.

Study on the Retention Centres in Poland - April 2008

Note of the AEDH to the Parliamentary delegation on its visit to the detention centres in Poland, April, 1st 2008 to April, 3rd 2008 - March 2008

From 1st to 3rd April 2008, the delegation of the European Parliament is visiting the detention centres of Lesznowola and Biala Podlaska, in Poland, in order to analyse the conditions that people who are present in these centres receive.

Note to the delegation of the European Parliament which is going to visit the detention centre of Schiphol in the Netherlands - December 19th, 2007

’’L’asciate ogne speranza, voi ch’intrate’’
’’Give up all hope, when you enter here’’
With those words, Dante made his entrance in ’’the hell’’, in his ’’Divina Commedia’’.
Although this is only a metaphor, the detention conditions in the Dutch detention centres are in general worse. Many irregular people have the same feeling entering there.

AEDH answers to the European Commission’s consultation on the futur Common European Asylum System - September 2007

AEDH answered to the European Commission’s consultation on the Green paper on the futur Common European Asylum System on September 2007.

Deportation measures clearly aimed at Romanian migrants are shameful and unacceptable - Press release, Novembre, 15th 2007

The Lega Italiana dei Diritti dell’ Uomo, LIDU, and the European Association for Human Rights, EAHR, of which the LIDU is a member, wish to make their position known concerning the “dispute” on migrants, particularly those who are EU citizens residing in Italy.

Note to the European Parliament delegation in Greece from the 13 to the 16 June 2007 which is going to visit the detention centres for irregular immigrants and for asylum seekers - June, 11th 2007

Guidelines for the delegation visiting Malta as part of the review of the European Union’s policies on reception for asylum seekers and border control - March 2006

“As a member of the European Union, Malta has accepted to adhere to the principle of protection of fundamental human rights which marked the foundation of the Union itself. European legislation concerning asylum and reception of refugees is far from satisfactory the IFHR (FIDH) and its members have often highlighted this fact in the past few yearsnonetheless, it establishes minimum standards. It would therefore be unacceptable should Malta try and exonerate itself from these minimum standards that were established by the EU.” (FIDH Report, n°403, September 2004)

A ’secure zone’ to the detriment of freedom and justice - AEDH report on the respect of human rights 2004

It will be remembered that the conclusion of the Tampere Council in 1999 gave rise to a certain optimism. However, in the years since, it has become evident that the development and enlargement of the European Union has at base a concept of heightened security measures, using police forces in order to control the flux of migrants and thus making a mockery of the concepts of justice and freedom that are fundamental to democracy. This background manifests at all levels, be it in the recommendations issued by the Council of Ministers and the directives already adopted or those simply proposed.

The control of migrant flow and the threat of their rights

For the last thirty years, the policy of major industrialised countries to severely limit the entry of migrant workers into their territories has led to the economic immigration of undeclared workers and their exploitation by employers. This practice is implicitly tolerated by host countries who eventually declare people group by group or end up giving them legal status after many years. According to the Commission, this situation is not favourable to the European economy. Above all, it goes against human rights guaranteed by many international conventions.