Council of Europe Speech on The “left-to-die boat”: actions and reactions

Madame President, Colleagues

 

I want to begin by congratulating and thanking the authors of these two excellent reports. The detailed research of difficult and often secretive and even criminal subject matter, as well as their thoughtful conclusions, is impressive.

 

The authors understand, as we all do, that the shift of population from south to north has immense implications for every single European country, as well as, of course, for the migrants themselves and for the countries they leave behind. It is our joint responsibility to deal with those implications.

 

It cannot be left to Italy to prevent the Mediterranean becoming a graveyard, nor can we expect Italy alone to be the responsible recipient of every refugee that comes north. Expecting Italy and the other ‘frontline’ countries to hold back the tide on our behalf and, at the same time, to do so in a humane manner, respecting the human rights and vulnerabilities of all migrants is not just selfish, it is completely unrealistic.

 

There are no simple solutions to handling the flood of people trying to reach Europe and leave war, civil war, persecution and poverty. Reading both reports I was struck by the complexity of the issues at play, how trying to solve one problem created another, how speedy identification and processing conflicts with opportunity to claim asylum, and how well meant policy decisions had unintended and sometimes tragic consequences.

 

For instance the policy of deterrence, stopping refugees before reaching Europe at all, forced them into more perilous and riskier journeys resulting in appalling death tolls at sea, which in turn led to world-wide outrage, which led to mare nostrum, Italy’s lone and highly praiseworthy search and rescue in the Mediterranean which has saved so many lives. The knowledge that they would be picked up and transported safely to Italy emboldened both migrants and their smugglers resulting in ever greater numbers arriving in Italy which in turn, intentionally or unintentionally but certainly inevitably, resulted in outflows from Italy to the rest of Europe.

 

I don’t pretend to have the whole solution but I know a piecemeal one will not work nor will one which leaves the responsibility to a few countries. We must find a mechanism for joint search and rescue of the Mediterranean and for joint responsibility, and not just financial responsibility, for the reception and processing of migrants.

 

We need too, clarity and uniformity around identification processes such as fingerprinting or use of DNA so there can be some attempt at genuine border control and at the same time genuine asylum seekers, fleeing for the lives, can be quickly and humanely offered a safe haven.

 

The financial incentive of the system of assisted voluntary returns could perhaps be extended to involuntary returns to provide such persons with some small seed capital to help make a better life.

 

The migratory ‘pull’ from the rich north and the ‘push’ from the poor south is, and will remain inevitable and unstoppable as long as the wide disparity of income and quality of life remains between the two regions.

 

This pull and push effect is exploited shamelessly and extremely profitably by people smugglers, secure in the knowledge they have an infinite number of customers.

 

Any long term reduction in this mass population shift can only be achieved in tandem with improved economic circumstances and prospects in the countries of origin. This is a long term project of strengthening democracy and governance in such countries, of aid but primarily of ethical trade, of transparent and sustainable investment in land and resources and of fair tax treatment.

 

If we cannot, and clearly we can’t accommodate the huge numbers fleeing poverty in Africa, then we must do what we can to end that poverty and certainly avoid the exploitative practices which regrettably, are still so commonly inflicted on Africa and other developing countries.