Refugee crisis: latest news from across Europe 14.11.16
Topic
01 November 2016
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EU: Turkey is not safe for children: 56 MEPs call on EU to stop sending back migrants
A letter signed by 56 MEPs addressed to numerous officials from the European Commission, the UNHCR and the International Organisation for Migration highlights the abysmal educational and living standards for children in Turkey and calls for "the cessation of readmissions and returns of migrants to Turkey, especially of vulnerable categories such as children." Of particular concern is the fact that many Syrian children are employed in Turkish textile factories where they "work in painful conditions, in very close contact with a wide range of toxic chemicals and other hazardous substances such as hydrochloric acid."
See: Letter concerning the situation of refugee children in Turkey (pdf)
EU: Salzburg Forum: "unprecedented and uncontrolled migratory flow" must not happen again
A recent statement by the Salzburg Forum, a central European security initiative, emphasises that the "unprecedented and uncontrolled migratory flow along the Eastern Mediterranean-Western Balkans route, which Europe has faced over the last two years, must not be repeated in the future." The "priority goals" for achieving this are findings ways to "strengthen the migration management and the control of the EU external border," and ensuring "the full implementation of the EU-Turkey statement."
See: Salzburg Forum Ministerial Conference, Prague (14274/16, 11 November 2016, pdf)
FRANCE: What Can We Learn from the Existence and Eviction of the Calais Jungle? (Novara Media, link):
"To challenge the mainstream media portrayal of the Jungle as only a muddy, desperate environment without basic facilities or official authority, it is important to highlight what was built there, and to recognise the strength, resilience, and determination of people to create homes, an economy, and hold onto their autonomy in the worst possible conditions.
There have been refugee camps in the Calais region since the early 1990s, and after each eviction people have always come back, to rebuild and start again. Calais and Jungle residents alike are unanimous in the belief there will always be migration at the border, that people will continue to arrive and try to cross to the UK. In light of this, the eviction does not appear to be a sustainable solution; rather, with the upcoming elections in France, this reflects on political, not practical interests.
...as the Jungle comes to an end it is also crucial that we do not just write it off as a terrible by-product of EU border policies, but rather see what can be learnt from the camp and how can this can be integrated into the way Europe supports refugees and asylum seekers."
"Delegations will find in Annex Presidency compromise suggestions for Chapters 7 and 12 to be examined at the meeting of JHA Counsellors on 16 November. Changes to the previous text, as it appeared in doc 13306/16 are indicated in bold and […]."
See: NOTE from: Presidency to: Delegations (14293/16, 11 November 2016, pdf)
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