ASYLNYTT

Ledarna bedömde genomförandet av slutsatserna från juni och oktober 2021 och erinrade om betydelsen av att ta itu med samtliga migrationsrutter. De uppmanade EU-kommissionen och EU:s utrikesrepresentant att tillsammans med medlemsländerna säkerställa

+ genomförandet, utan ytterligare dröjsmål, av de handlingsplaner som nyligen antagits för ursprungs- och transitländer

+ faktiska återvändanden från EU till ursprungsländer och ett fullständigt genomförande av befintliga avtal och arrangemang om återtagande, och ingående av nya

Europeiska rådet uppmanade kommissionen att se till att tillräcklig finansiering identifieras tydligt och mobiliseras utan dröjsmål för migrationsrelaterade åtgärder på samtliga rutter, i linje med EU:s höjda ambitionsnivå.

Utnyttjande av migranter för politiska syften

För att motverka försök från tredjeländer att utnyttja migranter för politiska syften uppmanade EU-ländernas ledare till en snabb behandling av förslaget om EU-åtgärder mot transportföretag som underlättar eller ägnar sig åt människohandel eller smuggling av migranter till EU.

Europeiska rådet uppmanade rådet och kommissionen att överväga olika sätt att stärka samarbetet mellan medlemsstater som står inför särskilda utmaningar vid EU:s yttre gränser.

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Hämta rådets slutsatser (Extern länk)

Infografik - Migrationsströmmar: östra, centrala och västra rutten (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 201023:

Statewatch 20-10-15:

Tracking the Pact: Cooperation against smuggling with Balkan and African "partners"

The EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum reiterated the long-standing priority for the EU and its member states to work more closely with "third countries" to control migration. In practice, this has led to serious abuses and even deaths, as smugglers engage in increasingly-complex and dangerous circumvention of border controls and police operations. Nevertheless, the EU is pushing ahead with new initiatives seeking to formalise cooperation with Balkan and African states on anti-migrant smuggling operations.

The EU has long sought to step up cooperation with non-EU states on migration issues, including action against migrant smuggling. A number of operational initiatives have been ongoing for some time, as set out in this document (link to "Internal Security Fund - Police " pages 10 and 11, pdf).

The new Pact on Migration and Asylum calls for more such activities as part of "mutually beneficial partnerships with key third countries of origin and transit", and as the documents outlined below indicate, a number of steps are being taken. These partnerships may not be so beneficial for people on the move.

An "operational platform" for the Balkans

Council of the EU: NOTE from: Presidency to: Strategic Committee on Frontiers, Asylum and Immigration: Western-Balkans-Initiative and "Operational Platform Eastern Mediterranean Route" - Presidency discussion paper (10742/20, LIMITE, 18 September 2020, pdf)

The document notes:

"The Eastern Mediterranean / Western Balkans region is of great strategic importance for the EU in terms of migration management."

Significant work is underway:

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EU-kommissionen 20-10-13: Strengthened partnerships on migration discussed at the EU-IOM strategic meeting (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 200715:

IOM 20-07-07:

IOM to EU: human mobility should be part of the solution in COVID-19 recovery

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) encourages Germany to use its six-month tenure at the helm of the Council of the European Union (EU) to promote a safe, coordinated and inclusive resumption of international human mobility as a means to economic and social recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.

"The pandemic has had unprecedented impact on all areas of human life, including migration and mobility," said Ola Henrikson, Director of IOM's Regional Office in Brussels. "But it has also had a disproportionate impact on people on the move. This in turn has affected society and our economies. Our recommendations converge on the assessment that successful recovery from this pandemic will depend on how well we reboot human mobility and include those on the move in all planning."

In recommendations released today (07/07), IOM urges the German Presidency to seize the opening for the EU's next funding programmes to advance inclusive, holistic and balanced migration priorities.

In its efforts to come to an agreement on the next EU budget and the Recovery Fund, the German Presidency should give attention to the fact that migrants and refugees are often on the frontlines of the COVID-19 response and will be essential to socio-economic recovery as agents of revitalization.

"The German Presidency arrives at an exceptional moment, bearing multiple opportunities to improve the prospects of achieving safe, orderly and regular movement across the entire migration cycle now and after the pandemic," said Monica Goracci, Chief of IOM's mission in Germany.

"We rely on the movement of people for our health, our food and our economies. People in turn must rely on States to ensure that movement is safe and predictable, that their rights are respected, and that they are included in health response. Only in this way can migrants help to support the recovery from the ravages of the pandemic."

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Arkiveringsdatum 200306:

ECRE 20-02-19:

Commissioner for human rights pushes for visionary pact on asylum and migration

The Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights, Dunja Mijatovi? published a letter addressed to Vice-President Schinas and Commissioner Johansson in which she lists what she considers the most pressing human rights issues that the Pact on Asylum and Migration needs to address.

The letter criticizes the lack of overall preparedness and necessary coordination in reaction to an increase in the number of people arriving which has led to humanitarian crises in many European countries. It argues that renewed efforts are needed to address these emergencies. It also sets out that the New Pact should ensure adequate search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean, and highlights the detrimental impact of withdrawal of state-led search and rescue operations as well as restrictive measures on private ships. The Commissioner urges a more predictable system of responsibility sharing for people rescued at sea, relocation and family reunification to foster solidarity between EU Member States. In addition, the letter calls for an expansion of safe and legal routes to Europe.

In view of the envisaged cooperation between the EU and third countries, the Commissioner warns that transparency and accountability should be increased to assess the human rights impact of potential external action through the introduction of human rights risk assessments, risk mitigation strategies and increased public scrutiny.

To combat pushbacks and ensure access to asylum, the Commissioner recommends that independent monitoring mechanisms are established and strengthened and that the Pact supports a human rights compliant approach to border management which ensures access to asylum.

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Arkiveringsdatum 200224:

ECRE 20-02-14:

The new pact on asylum and migration: An opportunity seized or squandered?

Joint statement

After years of treating asylum and migration in crisis mode, we believe the proposed Pact on Asylum and Migration is an opportunity for the EU and its Member States to change direction. It is an opportunity to develop a rational and rights-based asylum and migration policy. Recent cooperation among Member States signals the possibility of a fresh start, which should build on the lessons of the recently attempted and largely failed reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). However, there is a risk that the Pact may include or prepare the groundwork for damaging legislative proposals, in particular what has been termed the "border instrument".

No more old wine in new bottles

Some Member States continue to promote the idea of a mandatory border procedure in non-papers and other informal contributions. Extrapolating from these documents and debates, the potential border instrument would combine the worst and most controversial elements of the 2016 CEAS reform package, pulling together parts of the Asylum Procedures Regulation, Dublin IV and recast Return Directive.

The procedure would be applied to all persons who arrive in the EU to seek protection and would lead to a massive expansion of detention centres at the borders. It would be truncated, with many necessary safeguards removed - but will still require the establishment of judicial infrastructure in the border centres. It may be combined with new proposals for mandatory safe third country and first country of asylum concepts, which would undermine access to protection in Europe, contribute to containment of refugees in other regions and jeopardize efforts for a more balanced sharing of responsibility for people who are displaced globally.

Reducing rights and increasing detention cannot be the answer

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Arkiveringsdatum 200208:

ECRE 20-02-07:

Council's five-year strategic guidelines reinforce focus on return

A draft version of the strategic guidelines of the Council of the EU in the field of Justice and Home Affairs (JHA), leaked by Statewatch, details how the Council plans to implement the Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 to guide the EU's work in the next five years in relation to migration and asylum. A priority is upscaling the cooperation with third countries across various policy areas to facilitate the "return of migrants". The guidelines will be submitted for endorsement to the Council on 12-13 March 2020 in view of the European Council meeting on 26-27 March 2020.

The council plans to increase the EU's leverage for "securing returns of migrants" by improving coordination between the different EU bodies, actors and member states active in the individual countries. As well as to integrate the objective with a broad set of policy areas including visas, legal migration possibilities, development and trade. Approaches to particular countries should be agreed and streamlined across the EU and its member states to maximize their impact.

In a recent policy note, ECRE has warned of EU development policy being hijacked by migration control conditionality. Tying EU Official Development Aid (ODA) to a country to the readmission of their nationals is likely to divert aid and undermine its prior purpose, the eradication of poverty.

As part of the "lessons learned" from "facing migration and asylum 'crisis'", the Council focuses on preventive measures through upscaling intelligence, technological equipment and coordination to detect intensifying situations early and pre-empt their escalation. To realise its integrated approach to security, the Council also calls for the effective implementation of inter-agency cooperation and the interoperability of databases, including those related to asylum and migration.

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UNHCR januari 2020: UNHCR's recommendations for the proposed pact on migration and asylum (Extern länk)

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Statewatch 20-02-03:

New Council "strategic guidelines" frame the next five years

The Council of the EU is moving towards the adoption of its next five-year set of strategic guidelines for justice and home affairs policies. Priorities listed in a draft document include enhancing the powers of justice and home affairs agencies, such as eu-Lisa and Europol; preventing future migration "crisis situations"; and cooperating more closely with non-EU states to control migration. The intention is for the European Council meeting to adopt the guidelines in March.

NOTE from: Presidency to: Permanent Representatives Committee: Strategic guidelines in the field of Justice and Home Affairs (5636/20, LIMITE, 31 January 2020):

"Delegations will find in annex the draft strategic guidelines in the field of Justice and Home Affairs ahead of the COREPER meeting on 5 February 2020.

In June 2019, the European Council adopted the Strategic Agenda 2019-2024 to guide the European Union's work in the next five years.

The Council is to turn the new priorities into reality and to integrate the priorities of the new Strategic Agenda into its work. The first step in the implementation of the strategic agenda in the field of Justice and Home Affairs was a reflection process initiated by the Romanian Presidency and continued during the Finnish Presidency, which was wrapped up in December 2019. The Croatian Presidency inherited the results of this reflection process and prepared the ground for strategic guidelines under Article 68 TFEU to take forward the strategic agenda and facilitate its implementation.

The following strategic guidelines are submitted for endorsement to the Council (Justice and Home Affairs) on 12-13 March 2020 in view of the European Council meeting on 26-27 March 2020."

On the interoperability of databses, the document proposes moving beyond the interconnection of just policing and migration systems (emphasis added in all quotes):

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Se även det läckta dokumentet:

Note from Presidency 20-01-31: Strategic guidelines in the field of Justice and Home Affairs (Extern länk till pdf-fil)

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Arkiveringsdatum 191214:

Rådet 19-12-03:

Rådets möte (rättsliga och inrikes frågor), 2-3 december 2019

/utdrag ur pressmeddelande:/

EU:s framtida migrations- och asylpolitik

Ministrarna diskuterade EU:s framtida migrations- och asylpolitik på grundval av en rapport från Finlands ordförandeskap. Under debatten välkomnade ministrarna kommissionens avsikt att lägga fram en ny migrations- och asylpakt. De bekräftade behovet av en övergripande strategi för migration med ett tillvägagångssätt som inbegriper hela statsförvaltningen och hela linjen.

Rådet har tagit tillfället i akt vid inledningen av en ny lagstiftningscykel och gått tillbaka till grundläggande principer och diskuterat dessa delar av vår övergripande strategi avseende migration som fortfarande bör förbättras. Mycket har åstadkommits i vårt samarbete med tredjeländer, förvaltningen av våra yttre gränser och hur våra migrations- och asylsystem fungerar. Det finns dock fortfarande utrymme för att göra mer på dessa områden, och i dag uttryckte ministrarna sin tydliga vilja att fortsätta samarbeta om detta.

Maria Ohisalo, Finlands inrikesminister

Hämta rapport från ordförandeskapet: den fortsatta inriktningen för EU:s migrations- och asylpolitik, 22 november 2019 (Extern länk till pdf-fil)

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Odysseus Network 19-12-11:

From Tampere 20 to Tampere 2.0 - Towards a new European consensus on migration

This publication is centred on the twentieth anniversary of the Council Tampere conclusions of October 1999. The Tampere conclusions sketched out principles and guidelines that are still relevant for EU migration policy today. The anniversary of their adoption and this publication launch offer an ideal moment to discuss the future EU migration agenda in the light of the Commission's plans for a New Pact on Migration and Asylum. This joint publication looks back at the Tampere legacy and puts forward proposals that can inform future EU migration, asylum and integration policy.

The publication was informed by a series of roundtables and consultations held by the partners over the course of the summer of 2019 in Brussels and by the Tampere 2.0 conference on 24-25 October in Helsinki, organised as a side event of Finland's Presidency of the Council of the European Union.

Hämta dokumentet (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 191017:

EU-kommissionen 19-10-16:

Den europeiska migrationsagendan: Framsteg måste konsolideras i instabilt läge

Inför Europeiska rådets möte i oktober redovisar kommissionen i dag de viktigaste framstegen med den europeiska migrationsagendan sedan 2015 med fokus på vad som gjorts sedan den senaste lägesrapporten presenterades i mars 2019. Kommissionen preciserar också på vilka områden arbetet måste fortsätta för att man ska kunna möta aktuella och framtida migrationsutmaningar.

När migrationskrisen började 2015, vidtog EU snabba och beslutsamma åtgärder för att möta exceptionella utmaningar med gemensamma europeiska lösningar. De senaste fyra åren har vi lagt grunden för en stark och kollektiv migrationspolitik för EU och infört nya verktyg och förfaranden för en effektiv samordning och ett gott samarbete. EU är nu bättre rustat än tidigare att ge operativt och ekonomiskt stöd till medlemsländer under press, förvalta de yttre gränserna och arbeta i partnerskap med länder utanför EU. Det krävs dock fler insatser för att avsluta arbetet och verkligen framtidssäkra EU:s migrationspolitik och göra den effektiv och flexibel.

Mer arbete och omgående insatser krävs på viktiga områden

Den samlade situationen på samtliga migrationsrutter har visserligen återgått till nivåerna före krisen - inresorna i september 2019 var runt 90 procent lägre än i september 2015 - men läget är fortsatt instabilt och den geopolitiska utvecklingen har skapat nya utmaningar för EU. Det krävs fler insatser för att lösa de viktigaste omedelbara problemen och komma vidare med det pågående arbetet, särskilt på följande områden:

+ Akuta åtgärder för att förbättra förhållandena i östra Medelhavsområdet

+ Mer solidaritet i fråga om sök- och räddningsinsatser

+ Påskyndade evakueringar från Libyen

Pressmeddelandet med länkar till lägesrapport och faktablad (Extern länk)

ECRE 19-10-18: Commission 4-year-progress report lists fall in arrivals as key achievement (Extern länk)

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Arkiveringsdatum 190620:

UNHCR 19-06-11:

UNHCR calls on Finnish EU Council Presidency to push for progress in asylum reform

UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, today released its recommendations for the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU) which starts on 1 July 2019.

"Finland will hold the EU Presidency through a crucial period that includes the formation of a new European Commission, a decisive stretch in the long-term budget negotiations and the adoption of key priorities that will guide the work of the EU over the next five years," said Gonzalo Vargas Llosa, UNHCR's Regional Representative for EU Affairs.

UNHCR recommends that the Finnish Presidency focuses on two urgent priorities: building cooperation and solidarity with refugees and host communities and pushing for an effective way of sharing responsibility among EU Member States. "The EU has a unique opportunity to finally move forward and tackle reforms that are necessary and can be delayed no longer," Vargas Llosa added.

Until there is progress towards a fair and well-managed protection system, UNHCR reiterates its call for practical and reliable arrangements among Member States to share responsibility for the disembarkation of people rescued in the Mediterranean.

The recommendations also call for the EU to show leadership globally by expanding resettlement and other legal pathways of admission for refugees. UNHCR urges the Finnish Presidency to support a global resettlement strategy developed by UNHCR and partners to reduce the gap between resettlement opportunities and needs. As more legal options become available, fewer people are likely to risk their lives in their search for safety in Europe.

The EU should also continue to lead among humanitarian donors. For this, it is key to keep EU humanitarian funding at high levels, so that there is sufficient financial support devoted to helping those who are forcibly displaced.

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Statewatch 19-06-19:

EU must rethink migration policy that empowers "unaccountable militias and regimes"

A coalition of civil society organisations working for democracy and human rights in Africa have accused the EU and its member states of empowering "unaccountable militias and regimes" and "undermining rule of law, good governance, respect for human rights and the role of civil society" through activities undertaken as part of the EU-driven 'Khartoum Process' and the EU Trust Fund for Africa.

In an open letter addressed to Donald Tusk and other high-level EU officials in the run-up to the European Council meeting next week, over 20 different rights groups take aim at the Khartoum Process, designed to address the root causes of migration in the Horn of Africa; and the EU Emergency Trust Fund for Africa, introduced after the 2015 Valletta Conference between EU and African Union heads of state.

The letter says the EU's externalised migration policies in Sudan have "directly benefitted and emboldened militia such as [the] Rapid Support Forces (RSF), the former Janjiweed by their own admission," who have "allegedly raped and murdered hundreds of protesters in recent months" during attempts to repress the uprising in the sub-Saharan state.

The letter also cites five different legal cases recently brought against the EU and its member states, concerning the funding of detention centres in Libya; support for the 'Libyan Coast Guard'; attempts to block rescue missions in the Mediterranean; the funding of projects using forced labour in Eritrea; and most recently the submission to the International Criminal Court concerning crimes resulting from EU policies in the Central Mediterranean and Libya.

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Källor: Informationen på denna sida är hämtad från följande källor (externa länkar): EU (kommissionen, ministerrådet, parlamentet och domstolen), Europarådet (mr-kommissionären, domstolen, kommittén mot tortyr), FN:s flyktingkommissariat UNHCR, FN:s kommitté mot tortyr m.fl. FN-organ, Sveriges Radio, SvT, andra svenska media via Nyhetsfilter och pressmeddelanden via Newsdesk, utländska media till exempel via Are You Syrious och Rights in Exile, internationella organisationer som Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, ECRE, Statewatch och Picum, organisationer i Sverige som Rädda Barnen, Asylrättscentrum, Svenska Amnesty, FARR och #vistårinteut samt myndigheter och politiska organ som Migrationsverket, Sveriges domstolar, JO, Justitiedepartementet m.fl. departement och Sveriges Riksdag.

Bevakning: Hjalte Lagercrantz och Sanna Vestin. Sammanställning: Sanna Vestin. Asylnytt är ett ideellt projekt. Sponsring avser prenumerationsavgifter. Tips emottages tacksamt.