Fifty-six organizations, including Amnesty, Oxfam, ActionAid, and Save the Children, addressed a letter to the European institutions which are currently entering the final phase of negotiations on the Migration Pact to denounce "the high risk that the Pact may translate itself in a mal-functioning, expensive and cruel system that fails at the moment of the implementation and leave many critical issues unresolved".

'It normalizes the use of arbitrary detention also for children'

The NGOs warn that "If adopted in its current form", the pact, "will normalize the use of arbitrary detention for children and families, it will also increase racial profiling, crises procedures for refoulement and repatriation of persons to 'safe third countries,' where they are at risk of violence, torture, and arbitrary detention."

According to the NGOs the pact "betrays the work spirit existing in the EU" and "risks perpetuating discriminatory practices within the same structures destined to safeguard justice and protection for all."

Shelter model should follow model for Ukraine refugees

A weakened human rights system will "have consequences for all of us", warn the activists, suggesting to direct resources to provide "effective solutions, based on protection and assistance", which is what happened with persons fleeing from Ukraine.

"We should strengthen, not weaken, our shelter and asylum systems and provide mechanisms to share responsibility equally among European States", is written in the letter that underscores, lastly, the need for the Pact to reflect "a dignified response" by the EU to Ukrainian refugees with the activation of the directive on temporary protection.