Last week's European Council meeting has given a "new gift" to human traffickers, according to Italian associations promoting migrant rights. The organizations said defending the European Union's external borders is not incompatible with a more humane and effective asylum system respecting the principle of solidarity.
The organization Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione, which groups Italian associations promoting migrant rights, said in a joint statement published on Friday, February 10, that a "more human, effective and sustainable asylum system is certainly not incompatible with the right of member States to manage their external borders effectively."
"It is perfectly possible for European leaders to design a way to manage migration that responds to principles of solidarity and the sharing of responsibilities, guaranteeing at the same time the respect of fundamental principles of the Union and the rights it recognizes," the statement added.
The umbrella group is a coalition of associations, organizations and unions representing civil society working to promote and safeguard the rights of people of foreign origin in Italy.
It includes A Buon Diritto, ACLI, ActionAid, Amnesty International Italia, ARCI, Casa dei Diritti Sociali, CIES, CIR, CNCA, Comunità Papa Giovanni XXIII, Emergency, Europasilo, Forum per Cambiare l'Ordine delle Cose, Legambiente, Medici Senza Frontiere, Movimento Italiani Senza Cittadinanza, Oxfam, Senza Confine, Refugees Welcome, SIMM and UIL.
European migration policies since 2015 increasingly short-sighted
The organization said in the statement that Europe will provide "another gift to traffickers, at the expense of rights."
"The special European Council meeting of February 9 closed, on matters concerning immigration, by relaunching indications already proposed by the Commission last November 21, in continuity with a European migration policy that has been increasingly restrictive and short-sighted since 2015," Tavolo Asilo e Immigrazione said.
'Walls will not prevent people from risking their lives'
"The decisions taken go in the opposite direction of policies that don't appear necessary today but would certainly prove to be more efficient and effective. Building walls, funding further initiatives of aerial surveillance and boosting border controls will not prevent people from risking their lives in search of security in Europe", the organization said.
"On the contrary, these measures only force people to run more risks in order to seek protection, putting them even more in the hands of human traffickers and forcing them to flee through increasingly dangerous routes."